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OXNARD, Calif. (AP) -- Although the Los Angeles Rams have waived Stedman Bailey, they intend to keep the receiver around the team this season while he continues to recover from his gunshot wounds. Bailey will be placed on the Rams' reserve non-football injury list after clearing waivers, coach Jeff Fisher said Wednesday. Bailey was shot last November while sitting in a car back home in Miami with his cousin and two children. He survived and underwent numerous medical procedures, but hasn't been cleared to resume a football career. "He will not be able to play," Fisher said. "As I've said numerous times, he's lucky to be alive. ... I'm so impressed he's gotten back into shape and is willing to play. Really at this point, there's no medical research that will permit him to play. He's seen several specialists. With that being said, we're going to take care of Sted." While Bailey continues to heal, the Rams intend to introduce the 25-year-old former West Virginia receiver to other aspects of football. Bailey has been with the Rams in their new offseason home during organized team activities, and he will continue to work with their coaching staff. Bailey has been a vocal, encouraging presence with the Rams' group of receivers in Oxnard, and Fisher sees promise in the young player. "I'm going to be selfish and try to bring him over on the coaching side and have him help," Fisher said. "He's done some of that already out here. He's worked with some of our punt cover guys. Sted was an outstanding special teams player for us. ... There's a lot of work behind the scenes that needs to be done, so we'll put him behind a desk and bring him out on the field and see how he likes it." Bailey was a third-round pick in St. Louis in 2013. He played in 38 games over three seasons with the Rams, catching 59 passes for 843 yards and two touchdowns while also contributing on special teams. Fisher and the Rams were similarly accommodating last season to receiver Bud Sasser, a sixth-round pick. The Rams signed Sasser to his rookie contract and paid a six-figure signing bonus despite discovering he had a pre-existing heart condition, and they gave him a short-lived job as their external football affairs coordinator. The Rams also signed defensive tackle Cam Thomas, quarterback Dylan Thompson, tight end Benson Browne and running back Terrence Magee to flesh out their roster heading into the final two weeks of voluntary workouts prior to training camp next month. Thomas is a veteran defensive lineman who spent four seasons with San Diego and the past two with Pittsburgh. Thompson is helping out as the Rams' fourth quarterback in the absence of Nick Foles, who has declined to attend offseason workouts since the club drafted Jared Goff. Thompson, who spent last season with the 49ers, is a former college teammate of Rams rookie receiver Pharoh Cooper at South Carolina. The Rams waived receiver Kain Colter, linebacker Zack Hodges and defensive tackle Doug Worthington. --- AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL | 1 | 99,300 | sports |
The Isle of Man TT course is not for the faint of heart. It's a rather terrifying blast through two-lane roads, slicing into tiny towns, mountains, and sweeping pastures. The surface is uneven, the roads are claustrophobic, and the competing vehicles are extremely fast. This nerve-wracking environment didn't discourage Subaru, however, who just announced a highly-modified WRX STI broke the course record by an astounding two minutes. As you might expect, the STI used in the record run is far from stock. Not much technical info was provided, but Subaru claims the weaponized WRX STI packs 600 hp from a turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four engine, not the 2.5-liter engine U.S.-spec STIs get. With a weight right around 2,590 pounds, and a top speed of 180 mph, the STI cracked the TT course in a scant 17:25, a far cry from the previous record of 19:26. The STI was manhandled to this record by stunt driver Mark Higgins, who maintained an average speed of 128 mph, beating his previous average of 116 mph. The car was prepared through a partnership with Subaru and the rally car maniacs at Prodrive. If you think the only TT course records that matter involve just two-wheels, we've got great news. TT familiar Michael Dunlop delivered the first-ever sub-17 minute lap of the Mountain course. Better yet, the whole endeavor was caught on helmet cam, a seamless rush of villages, forests, and hills with speeds reaching up to 200 mph. Though these feats are impressive, the event was again marred by tragedy as two motorcyclists died from injuries sustained during competition. Take a look at both the Subaru and the Dunlop TT record runs in the videos below. | 9 | 99,301 | autos |
WASHINGTON Bernie Sanders has newfound clout within his grasp if he exits the presidential race quickly and gracefully. When and how he'll exit remains a mystery. Top Democrats from President Barack Obama to Vice President Joe Biden to some Senate colleagues are gently nudging him to give up his quixotic quest for the party's nomination. Sanders and Obama are to meet at the White House Thursday. Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, has made it clear that he doesn't plan to leave the race until after the final primary, Tuesday in Washington, D.C., even though that vote doesn't carry enough delegates to change the math. "I am pretty good at arithmetic, and I know that the fight in front of us is a very, very steep fight, but we will continue to fight for every vote and every delegate we can get," Sanders wrote Wednesday in an email to supporters. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has 2,765 Democratic convention delegates, well above the 2,383 needed to nominate. Sanders has 1,864. Steve Schale, a Democratic strategist in Florida who worked for Obama in 2008, said Sanders should take a few days to rest and consider what he is looking for as his race winds down. Should Sanders endorse Clinton soon and, equally important, urge his supporters to back her, he could increase his influence in the party. "You were a minor figure, and now you come back to the Senate with a greater kind of stature," said Norman Ornstein, congressional analyst at Washington's center-right American Enterprise Institute. "But he can also fritter it away." Party leaders want quick unity, as polls show vividly that the sooner Sanders embraces Clinton, the quicker her tight lead over likely GOP nominee Donald Trump will jump. Political observers say Sanders, who requested the meeting with Obama, may try to work out an exit strategy with the president. Obama, they said, can be a sounding board, assure Sanders he will be influential in the party in the coming months, and even act as an arbiter between the two campaigns. Obama and Sanders spoke Sunday. One thing Obama could do is talk to Sanders about ways the senator could continue to be influential, said Lynda Tran, who worked on numerous presidential races and previously served as national press secretary for Organizing for America, which grew out of the Obama campaign as a way to mobilizing grass-roots support. Obama, Tran said, could promise to push some of Sanders' most-important issues, such as reining in Wall Street, lowering college costs and raising the minimum wage, all proposals the president supports, even going as far as issuing executive actions or new legislation. Sanders also has the potential to address those issues as he returns to the Senate. Some also-rans have found greater stature in the Senate, post-campaign, such as the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Sanders has been an independent since coming to Congress 25 years ago, though he caucuses with the Democrats. He's never been a party insider. His presidential campaign was a long shot, a bid to get his agenda discussed, and it wound up a movement. The danger for Sanders is that he could easily revert to his old Senate self. "He hasn't had a reputation of being much of a doer," said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group. If Democrats win Senate control in November, a real possibility, Sanders is in line to chair its Budget Committee. The panel's big job is to write the general outline for the future budget, a blueprint setting priorities for a long list of domestic, defense and foreign policy issues. Trouble is, in recent years, that committee hasn't had much clout. While it holds hearings and writes budgets, the biggest decisions have been made at higher levels. If Sanders is to be a big player, "he still would have to prove that he could put a coalition together if he wants to legislate," said Burdett Loomis, a congressional expert at the University of Kansas. That's where the promise of 2016 comes in. "The budget committee platform is a real platform to promote your agenda," Ornstein said. The media notice, and while Sanders' agenda may not get far if the House of Representatives remains in Republican control, which is likely, he can build momentum. Sanders and Clinton served together in the Senate from 2001 to 2009. The two spoke Tuesday night, according to a Clinton aide, who would not reveal details of the call. A Sanders spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Biden, also in the Senate during those eight years, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that people need to be patient with Sanders. "I think that's his call," Biden said. "It's clear we know who the nominee is going to be. I think we should be a little graceful and give him the opportunity to decide on his own." (William Douglas contributed to this report.) | 5 | 99,302 | news |
The eligible royal and superstar singer are spotted at a recent polo match, so are they really together? Get the details! | 6 | 99,303 | entertainment |
PITTSBURGH When the Sharks, facing elimination, look for inspiration, they have plenty of sources to choose from, including their own past history of blowing a three-game lead against the Kings just two years ago. Add to that the fact that San Jose has played a bit better in every game so far in the Stanley Cup Finals and the team's record of success on the road and, well, the Sharks sound downright upbeat going into Wednesday's Game 5 at Consol Energy Center. "I think the one thing about our group is there's a lot of belief in our game and in each other," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said Tuesday. "The other thing about our group is they've been on the other side, up 3-0, and saw how quickly that vanished against L.A. … They know how quickly a win can turn the momentum." San Jose defenseman Paul Martin wasn't with the Sharks when they collapsed after going up 3-0 on the Kings, but he was on a Penguins' team that took a 3-1 lead against the Rangers but lost the series to New York that same postseason. "I've been up 3-1 a couple of times, and once you get that first win, a lot can happen from there," Martin said. "It happens. It's never over until it's over. So many things can change. That's our focus: get this game. "You listen to what people say, you read the papers, everyone knows the odds aren't good. We focus on what's going on in here and what we have to do to win and hold each other accountable. We haven't really seen our full capability and we have gotten better each game." In Game 4 on Monday in San Jose, the Sharks outshot the Penguins for the first time in the series (the first time Pittsburgh had been outshot in the past 13 games) and they held the Penguins to just 20 shots, their lowest total of the postseason. "I think we've improved every game, out-chanced them, had more opportunities," Martin said. "We just didn't capitalize, we had some unfortunate bounces, that's the way it is. We have to find a way to finish it." The Sharks feel good on the road, despite dropping the first two games of the series here. They set a team record with 28 road wins during the regular season, the second-most in NHL history. "I don't think, this group, it matters where we play," team captain Joe Pavelski said. "We realize we're here and we have to win this game. The fact we've been good on the road gives us confidence, I think. At the end of the day, it's going to take every guy in here doing their part, that's how we'll be on the right side of a one-goal game." The Sharks also can draw from the fact that they have yet to put together their best game. There is more in there somewhere. "Unfortunately, I don't think we've shown it yet," fourth-line center Tommy Wingels said. "It's dictating the pace of play, it's breaking out cleanly, it's being physical, it's winning puck battles, it's pressure all over the ice, it's things that for some reason we haven't been able to accomplish thus far. Credit to them for not allowing us to do those things, but we have to find a way to get it done." A better start will go a long way. Much has been made of the fact that San Jose has yet to hold a lead during a game in the series (the Sharks' lone win came on an overtime goal by Joonas Donskoi in Game 3). San Jose is 12-3 this postseason when scoring first, and 3-4 when the opposition scores first. That said, if the Penguins score first, all is not lost. The Sharks can't get caught up in the idea that goal No. 1 is the make-or-break key to the game. "It's important, but at the same time, the game's not over if you don't score first," Wingels said. "You play 60 minutes and it's a close game, where the winning goal is scored in the last minutes. "So yeah, the first goal is important, but so are the 55, 58 56 minutes after that, it's a full game. If you get ahead, you have to play with the lead, if you fall behind, you have to press and find a way to get back into it." With every game essentially being a one-goal game the late goal Monday aside, Game 4 was tight throughout San Jose knows that a break here or there, a penalty, a Penguins' mistake, could turn the tide. "We think every game has been winnable, one way or another, close games," Wingels said. "That said, you earn your bounces. There's a reason they're leading the series. They've done more and deserve it more thus far. But we can change that, come home and feel good about that game." Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com . Twitter: susanslusser Stanley Cup Finals Sharks vs. Penguins Penguins lead series 3-1 Game 1: Penguins 3, Sharks 2 Game 2: Pens 2, Sharks 1 (OT) Game 3: Sharks 3, Pens 2 (OT) Game 4: Penguins 3, Sharks 1 Thursday: at Pittsburgh Sunday: at SAP Center* June 15: at Pittsburgh* Remaining telecasts begin at 5 p.m. on Channel: 11 Channel: 3 Channel: 8 *If necessary | 1 | 99,304 | sports |
Watch Hillary make history and drink in the cheers. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports on breaking the glass ceiling. | 5 | 99,305 | news |
Stocks are getting closer and closer to all-time highs, and bond yields, which move opposite prices, are near their lows of the year. That might normally lead to head-scratching, but both are the by-products of central bank easing, and strategists say U.S. long-end yields could keep moving lower even if the Fed does raise interest rates. Investors Thursday will be watching U.S. weekly jobless claims, wholesale trade data and the 30-year bond auction. But they will also be watching the action in global bond markets, as the 10-year German bund yield at 0.05 percent late Wednesday edges closer to zero and threatens to join its Japanese counterpart with negative yields. Comments from European Central Bank 's Mario Draghi at a Brussels economic conference could also be key for global markets ahead of the U.S. open Thursday. Treasury yields have been moving lower with global rates for weeks, and the 10-year (US10Y) yield is now at the 1.70 percent level it's held above since February's market turbulence, when it hit its 2016 low of 1.66 percent. The S&P 500 (.SPX) on Wednesday closed six points higher at 2,119, just below 2,120 resistance and not far below the all-time May 2015 high of 2,132. U.S. yields are being dragged down as investors look for alternatives to the super-low yields in other parts of the world brought on by the activities of foreign central banks. This week, the European Central Bank expanded its buying of sovereign debt to include purchases of corporate bonds. "The policy elephant on the other side of the globe is sitting on the rate structure, while all other market signals say rates should be higher. There's always been a sense that, throughout this recovery, that policy officials have been artificially affecting interest rates, divorcing them from the economic cycle," said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management. "Commodities prices went up, bond yields didn't. Oil prices got better. Bond yields didn't go up. It seems like bond yields have no relation to anything right now. There's a really heavy override of policy officials holding rates down." Boris Rjavinski, senior rate strategist at Wells Fargo Securities, said the big question from investors is how low can U.S. rates go. "There is really unrelenting demand for fixed income, particularly from Asia," said Rjavinski. "You would think fundamentals would start to assert themselves at some point. Inflation is picking up in the U.S.," he said. The $20 billion auction of reopened 10-year notes Wednesday drew good demand, and a record number of indirect bidders, at 73.6 percent. The reopening stopped at 1.702 percent yield. Indirect bidders can include foreign bidders as well as large U.S. asset managers. "If it is foreign interest, it is very consistent with what I've been told by our clients in Asia. People literally say they can't put cash to work fast enough. There's a number of portfolios that are limited to conservative fixed income investments," he said. Compared to U.K. gilts, JGBs and bunds, the yields in the U.S. would look good. Strategists have been expecting the long end of the Treasury curve to stay depressed by the low yields in other parts of the world, but the short end could move higher when the Fed gets closer to raising rates. Rjavinski said investors he visited in Asia see one rate hike this year as already priced into the market. "If you just look at fundamentals, it should probably be higher," he said of the 10-year yield. His year-end target is a yield of 2.02 percent. Robert Tipp, chief investment officer and head of global bonds at Prudential Fixed Income, said the 10-year yield could stay in the 1.25 to 2.25 percent range for the next year and a half. "It's a pretty damp squid world, and the U.S. is part of that," he said. He said it is unlikely the U.S. will join Europe and Japan with negative yields. "The fact of the matter is, economies are not overheating. If economies were overheating and inflation was rising, there would be a belief this was an environment that would bring us to an end of negative yields, but all we're seeing is the world needs negative yields in order to have respectable growth," he said. As for negative yields, he said the liquidity is helping to support the market. "I think though one area of danger is to the extent that negative yields are hurting the financial system," he said. "That could create some risk that could create strains in markets." Some traders have said the move into bunds was also the effect of concerns about Brexit, the U.K. vote on whether to leave the European Union . Tipp said that June 23 vote is the nearest risk to markets. Paulsen said the bond markets appear more "manipulated" than ever by central banks. Telling is the fact that U.S. yields keep slipping, as if in a flight to quality, while corporate spreads are narrowing. "The story might be if we make a run and breach a new high in stocks, will bonds finally respond?" he said. | 3 | 99,306 | finance |
Suicide is a tricky public health issue, with experts and policymakers attempting to address both the roots of the problem and the crucial moments of crisis when people try to act on their suicidal feelings. Yet it's still the second leading cause of death among those 25 to 34, and the third among those ages 15 to 24. Worldwide, there are more than 800,000 suicides every year. It's still nearly impossible to identify those at risk for suicide before they begin exhibiting suicidal thoughts or behaviors in the first place. But a new international review has taken a look at all the methods available to reduce suicides and determined that some really do work while others show little effectiveness. Researchers from the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the Expert Platform on Mental Health, Focus on Depression examined almost 1,800 studies on suicide published over ten years. The authors' results were printed in Lancet Psychiatry. One important finding was that restricting a person's access to ways of committing suicide has a significant impact. Erecting barriers at popular suicide spots like high bridges and restricting the number of pills in packets are two measures that have proven effective. Places that have stricter gun licensing laws also have lower suicide rates. The report notes that if impulsive attempts at suicide could be blocked, many lives could be saved. Addressing depression, which is an important risk factor for suicidal behavior, also proved to be effective in certain populations. Medicines like lithium and clozapine have reduced suicides among those over 75, but in children and adolescents the drugs may actually increase suicidal thoughts. Untreated depression, however, is also a risk, so the problem is highly personal and consequently complicated. Additional methods that showed some positive effects included placing professionals trained to recognize at-risk behavior in schools, but this was only useful if integrated with other suicide prevention measures. The study also noted that following up with those who have previously attempted suicide is strongly recommended. "We found that there is no single way of preventing suicide ," Zohar said in a press release. "However, implementation of the evidence-supported methods described in this study, including public and physician education and awareness together with appropriate legislation, has the potential to change public health strategies in suicide prevention plans. With these measures, we can significantly reduce the number of deaths due to suicide." The president of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, psychiatry professor Guy Goodwin, said the college was proud to have supported such a definitive review. "As is still not sufficiently known, suicide is always among the commonest causes of death in young people ," he said. "Policies to reduce it need to be evidence-based and this review highlights where evidence does and does not exist currently." Source: Zalsman G, Hawton K, Wasserman D, van Heeringen K, Arnsman E, Sarchiapone M, et al. Suicide Prevention Starategies Revisited: 10-year Systematic Review. Lancet Psychiatry. 2016. | 7 | 99,307 | health |
From sending SWAT teams into exam centres to arresting rule-breakers, China's public security authorities have been cracking down hard on college entrance examination cheaters who could face jail if caught. This week's university entrance exam, whose origins date back to imperial China, determines which university students will attend and what major they're able to select - and as a result, much of their future. This year, 9.4 million high school students have been taking the exam, known in China as the "gaokao", competing for few places in universities, state media reported. Students caught cheating risk for the first time going to prison, the official Xinhua news agency said, possibly for as long as seven years. Exam test papers were delivered by a police SWAT team in Beijing for the first time this year and at least eight police officers guarded each test centre, state media reported. Authorities are cracking down on wireless devices and substitute exam sitters in particular, according to Xinhua. Police in the central province of Henan nabbed 9 people for selling fake exams, according to a local media report this week. Dozens of others had been caught elsewhere in the country, state media said. Most university hopefuls sit the two-day test simultaneously across the country. Chinese, maths and a foreign language are required. For students from rural homes, the exam has been praised as a leveller of the playing field and a catalyst for social mobility. Xiong Bingqi, an expert at China's 21st Century Education Research Institute, told Reuters by phone that China would continue to hit back hard against cheaters and the scams that aid them. "There's absolutely no doubt," he said. "Cheating on the gaokao exam diminishes the exam's authoritativeness, and could even impact the credibility of the government." "The government will take a whole series of measures to prevent that." (Reporting by Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Richard Balmforth) | 5 | 99,308 | news |
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Yu Darvish felt tightness in his right shoulder and made an early exit Wednesday night from his third start for the Texas Rangers since Tommy John surgery. Texas said Darvish didn't return to the mound after the fifth inning against the Houston Astros as a precaution, and that an examination by team physician Dr. Keith Meister revealed no issues. Darvish appeared to show some discomfort after a 63 mph breaking pitch that struck out George Springer for the second out of the fifth. The right-hander from Japan shook his right arm a couple of times after the strikeout, and then walked Jose Altuve before pitching coach Doug Brocail visited the mound with a trainer and an interpreter. After throwing a couple of warmup pitches, Darvish remained in the game and retired Carlos Correa on an inning-ending flyout. Shawn Tolleson started warming up in the bullpen after that, and took over in the sixth for the Rangers with the game tied 1-1. Texas had planned for Darvish to throw up to 95 pitches after he won in each of his first two starts. But he threw only 76 pitches, with seven strikeouts and four walks. The only run he allowed was a homer to Springer leading off the game. Darvish had elbow surgery on March 17, 2015, after missing the last two months of the 2014 season because of right elbow inflammation. He made five injury rehabilitation starts for Double-A Frisco and Triple-A Round Rock last month and rejoined the Rangers May 28 against Pittsburgh, when he struck out seven and allowed one run while throwing 81 pitches over five innings. He struck out five and walked one in 5 2/3 innings against Seattle on Friday night. Darvish was an All-Star in each of his first three seasons with the Rangers (2012-14) after seven seasons in Japan. | 1 | 99,309 | sports |
After being pulled from a collapsed septic drain, the puppy was in need of several baths. | 8 | 99,310 | video |
NEW YORK Freddie Roach's tilted neck and the slight tremor of his hands were obvious to the onlookers at Mendez Gym, as the boxing trainer walked through the ropes and into the center of the ring, But as the 56-year-old former boxer picked up his pink and blue mitts and started pad work with Chinese Olympian Zou Shiming, Roach's Parkinson's symptoms came to a noticeable halt. "Again, again, again," Roach instructed Zou, catching every punch the 35-year-old boxer threw his way. In his 24-hour-a-day fight against Parkinson's, boxing is his comfort zone, Roach says. It was Muhammad Ali's too. Ali died Friday at age 74 in Arizona following a long battle with Parkinson's a disease Roach has been living with since he was 27. The trainer famous for his work with Manny Pacquiao has no plans to slow down. He's preparing Zou, who won two Olympic golds and a bronze, for his U.S. debut Saturday night on the undercard of the Roman Martinez-Vasyl Lomachenko fight on HBO. About 10 to 15 years ago, Roach said Ali and his daughter visited Roach's gym, Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles, completely unannounced. The two men discussed boxing and the medical treatment they were taking to cut down the symptoms of Parkinson's. "We got to know him pretty well," Roach said, smiling as he recalled the memory. "He played jokes, he did magic, he hit the heavy bag and the best thing for me was when he started hitting the heavy bag, his tremors went away and he had no problems at all and it was like when I have Parkinson's also and when I get in the ring and get on the mitts with the fighters and so forth, all my symptoms kind of go away so our comfort zone was similar." Roach was diagnosed years after Ali was in 1984. At the time of his diagnosis, Ali was 42. Parkinson's is a chronic and progressive movement disorder of the nervous system. Nearly one million people in the U.S. are living with the disease and presently there is no cure, but there are treatment options to manage its symptoms. Many doctors believe it can be caused by repeated head trauma, and both Roach and Ali took many punches during their fighting career. Roach said Parkinson's gets harder to deal with as people with the disease get older. He is younger than the majority of people who have the disease, so he feels like he can deal with it better than most. The Hall of Fame boxing trainer has an alarm system that reminds him four times a day to take his medicine. When Ali visited Roach, they spoke about their treatment. "We talked a little bit about the medication at that time," Roach said. "He was having trouble with the dopamine. It's very hard to take. It makes you very sick. It's really hard to get used to and sometimes you rather not take it and deal with the tremors just on your own because the medication doesn't make you feel so well so we hit on that a little bit back then, but that was quite a while ago and the medications are getting better and they're a lot more knowledge about Parkinson's than ever. I think that there will be a cure soon." When Roach was fighting, his trainer was Eddie Futch, who had also trained Joe Fraizer, one of Ali's biggest rivals. Back then, Roach didn't think Ali was the best fighter in the world. Now, he does. "He was a friendly, happy, and just real nice guy," Roach said. "I really got to know him in those four hours." | 1 | 99,311 | sports |
CNN's Barbara Starr reports there are new signs that North Korea may be taking steps to build more nuclear weapons. | 5 | 99,312 | news |
Meet nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and oganesson, the newest elements on the periodic table to receive names. But don't get too attached to the nomenclature for these elements, which were formerly known by their respective atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118. The names are on a five-month probation before things are made official. According to CNN, the elements were recognized by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the U.S. | 8 | 99,313 | video |
The 2016 CMT Music Awards red carpet delivered. CMT Music Awards red carpet See who brought the glitz and who brought the glam. Cassadee Pope Martina McBride Kelsea Ballerini Mary Sarah Jamie Lynn Spears Cam Shawna Thomson Greer Grammer Fifth Harmony Jessie James Decker Maren Morris Meghan Linsey Clare Bowen Lauren Alaina Elle King Leona Lewis Danica Patrick | 4 | 99,314 | lifestyle |
CLEVELAND Hours before the walls of the Quicken Loans arena would cave in on the defending champs, the Cleveland Cavaliers finally putting up a fight in a 120-90 rout of the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, their mystified MVP was asked a question that would prove to be quite poignant. BOX SCORE: CAVALIERS 120, WARRIORS 90 "Can you win here without you or Klay (Thompson) having a big night?" the reporter asked Stephen Curry. He shrugged, then replied. "Hopefully we don't have to answer that question." The Warriors have two days to come up with the answers now. The Splash Brothers, who were outscored 50-29 by the revived Cavs backcourt of Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith, are officially sinking. This dynamic duo that torched the nets all season had spent the first two games of the Finals playing with fire, the two best players on the league's best team coming up short in every way on the biggest stage. Their depth had masked the struggles, the Warriors winning Games 1 and 2 big in large part because of the rising-tide-lifts-all-ships effect of their mere presence. The Cavs had made it their top defensive priority to dry Curry and Thompson out, yet forgot to put their fingers in all the other Warriors dykes that flowed so freely. From Shaun Livingston to Andre Iguodala to Leandro Barbosa and the rest, there was plenty of cover from criticism because, well, they won. Still, Curry and Thompson's production had essentially been cut in half, with Curry averaging 14.5 points in the first two games on 42.3% shooting while Thompson averaged 14 points on 40%. Curry, even more than Thompson, had failed to play the kind of all-around game that his foes have come to know (just 10 assists to nine turnovers and zero steals). The theory of relativity had been their greatest ally, as Irving's awful play on both ends combined with Smith's disappearing act meant Curry and Thompson's struggles were mostly under the radar. But in this environment, against a desperate Cavs team that had yet to lose a home game during the playoffs and lost three consecutive games just once all season long, they had to know it was time to get back to the Splash Brothers basics. Or, perhaps, be drowned in LeBron James' personal wave pool. "Unfortunately, it was all me," Curry said. "They were playing aggressive defense and they came out with a big punch. I didn't do anything about it or play my game, and for me to do what I need to do to help my team, I have to play a hundred times better than that, especially in the first quarter, to kind of control the game, and I didn't do it. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson in 2016 Playoffs | PointAfter "I've just got to be aggressive and play better, and be more assertive in my scoring positions and my playmaking positions on the floor. Yeah, there's a sense of urgency knowing how big Game 4 is (on Friday), and I need to be ready." Curry's outing, one in which he was outscored 16-0 by Irving in the first quarter that Cleveland won 33-16 and finished with six of the the Warriors' 18 turnovers, was more puzzling even than Thompson's (10 points on four of 13 shooting). At least Thompson had an excuse of sorts, as the knee delivered to his left thigh by Cavs big man Timofey Mozgov late in the first quarter clearly affected his movement. Yet for Curry, who looked so listless but swore he's fine physically, even the good times were bad. He scored 13 of his 19 points in the third quarter, yet logged a minus-12 rating while the Cavs' lead grew from eight at halftime to 20 (89-69). James, the four-time MVP who had his best game of the series by a healthy margin (32 points on 14 of 26 shooting, 11 rebounds and six assists) punctuated that period in fitting fashion. As Curry went for an after-the-whistle layup with 11 seconds left, James pinned his shot against the backboard and offered a long stare that sent a clear message. Not here, James surely thought to himself. Not tonight. "When you have the greatest shooter in the world trying to get an easy one or trying to get in rhythm, it's our job to try to keep him out," James said when asked about that play. "No matter if it's after the whistle or not. That was just my mindset … I didn't want him to see the ball go in." His wish was the Warriors' command. "Those guys can get it going in bunches … so just having our antennas on the defensive end, but as well as making them work on the offensive end while we're just being aggressive," Irving said of Curry and Thompson. "Guys are in your face, and we just try to make it difficult for those guys. But it's a total team effort on our end, and Swish [Smith] does a great job on Klay. I just try to pick up Steph as high as possible, and our bigs do a great job getting up to touch. So great job on just total team awareness." The Warriors have to know that they missed a golden opportunity, as the Cavs spent the first 48 minutes of the Finals rematch anything but aware. And now, with veteran Richard Jefferson starting in a small-ball lineup in Game 3 because forward Kevin Love was forced out by his Game 2 concussion, it seems the Cavs have found a formula that could cause problems for the Warriors going forward. Coach Steve Kerr, who used the word 'soft' six times after the game in describing his team's effort, has a harder challenge on his hands than we'd realized. "They're being very aggressive with them out on the perimeter," he said of the Cavs' defense on Curry and Thompson. "(It) didn't matter in the first two games because other guys scored and we've got lots of good offensive possessions. Tonight, obviously, it did matter. We didn't get a lot of great looks for them, but we didn't get much of anything going." Watch the top 5 plays from Game 3 | 1 | 99,315 | sports |
It's the world's classiest flash mob, when a highly selective group of guerrilla gourmets armed with picnic baskets and linen napkins take over a famous landmark. The latest "Diner en Blanc" (Dinner in White) took place in Paris Wednesday when some 7,000 people dressed in white from head to toe descended on the swanky Place Vendome to dine al fresco on fine food and wine in the heart of the capital's luxury district. The venue of the annual event -- which has now spread across the globe from Stockholm to Mumbai and Shanghai -- was kept tightly under wraps until the last minute. Last year 13,000 took over the court of honour of the 17th-century Palais Royal in the French capital, sitting down to eat at rows of tables laid along the length of the square. In previous years the secretive uppercrust club has taken over the Champs-Elysees, the Chateau de Versailles and the gardens under the Eiffel Tower for its impromptu soirees. Having dined and then danced their fill, members of the group -- which attempts to recreate the glamour and elegance of bygone French high society -- go home on the stroke of midnight. The organisers demand that guests "conduct themselves with the greatest decorum, elegance, and etiquette". And they pride themselves on tidying up afterwards, leaving the venue just as they found it. The phenomenon began in the French capital nearly three decades ago long before social media kickstarted the trend for flash mobs, and it has since spread to 70 cities worldwide. Only people invited by Diner en Blanc members can attend the gatherings, which are run with almost military precision, with the guests as well as the authorities only alerted to the precise venue at the last minute. The movement was founded by the French businessman Francois Pasquier in 1988 who dreamt of eating in the open air in unusual places. The first dinner was held in the city's Bois de Boulogne park. | 2 | 99,316 | travel |
Violence and worsening conflict cost the world more than $13.6 trillion last year, according to an annual study of the toll of violence worldwide. That figure amounts to some 13 percent of global GDP. The analysis can be found within the Global Peace Index 2016 report , which is put out each year by the Institute of Economics and Peace, an Australia-based think-tank. It ranked 163 countries on the degree of peace within their borders. The results since the initiative began are not encouraging: "The last decade has seen a historic decline in world peace, interrupting the long term improvements since WWII," a press release indicates . Moreover, peace and safety, like the incomes of the rich and poor, are growing more unequal, with prosperous, relatively harmonious countries improving, according to the index, and countries already wracked by conflict and violence getting worse. An image from the report's precis charts this trend: The five most precipitous declines don't even include Syria, which is in the grips of a brutal five-year civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people and triggered an unprecedented regional refugee and security crisis. "The historic 10-year deterioration in peace has largely been driven by the intensifying conflicts in the [Middle East and North Africa]," says the report . "Terrorism is also at an all-time high, battle deaths from conflict are at a 25-year high, and the number of refugees and displaced people are at a level not seen in 60 years." The estimated cost of conflict to the world's resources in 2015 is a tabulation based on military spending, the damage caused by conflict, and losses from crime and interpersonal violence. The report stresses how disproportionately greater such security spending is compared to global efforts to build and preserve peace. You can read more about the report, and its methodology, here . | 5 | 99,317 | news |
Here is a no-bake pie recipe to unite foodies and nerds alike. Happy Pi Day! | 8 | 99,318 | video |
Four people have been injured at a shopping centre in Sydney after police opened fire at a man who "waited for them" and lunged at the officers with a knife. The incident occurred during the busy lunch-hour period at a Westfield mall in Hornsby, a northern Sydney suburb. The motive of the man is unknown. Witnesses said the man was ranting and lunged at police officers before he was shot in the stomach. "It's just chaos down here at the moment," Adam Stratton, a butcher, told Channel Nine. "I saw four people down with blood streaming out of them… It was just like, what the hell is going on?" Three of the injured people were believed to be elderly bystanders. A man has been reportedly been shot by police and 4 people being treated for injuries at Hornsby Westfield. #9News https://t.co/2kIKrc8piI Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) June 9, 2016 Geoff Milner, a local businessman, said the man wandered through an outdoor market with a knife and appeared to be waiting for the police to arrive. When I walked out of the cafe he was just standing there, like he was waiting for them [the police officers], he told Sydney s Daily Telegraph. The female officer asked him to put the knife down and she drew her gun. He lunged at her, he ran at her, then the officers split and sort of stood aside. I heard two shots but he didn t go down. Police said the cause of the attack on Thursday was not yet known. "Following a confrontation, a number of shots were fired by police," a police spokeswoman said. "As a consequence four people have sustained various injuries and have been taken to hospital." . @nswpolice appeal for anyone with information on #Hornsby shooting to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. #9News pic.twitter.com/ZhNOclx8Yp Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) June 9, 2016 Police said a Critical Incident Team would investigate the circumstances around the shooting. Magdy Abdalla, from the Java Lava Cafe, on Florence Street, told AAP fell to the floor after hearing gunshots. I told all of the customers just stay on the floor, he said. I was scared. I just heard the shooting. I saw some people running and I just had a look. I found three older ladies on the floor bleeding, one injured in the leg, one in the arm and the other one maybe in the back. Abdalla also reported seeing a young, skinny man, aged in his early 20s, lying on the ground. Police officers came in one minute, he said. Islamic extremists in Australia have repeatedly targeted police in recent years, including a knife attack against two officers in Melbourne and a fatal shooting at a police headquarters in Sydney . The attack at Hornsby comes just three months after a fatal stabbing at the same centre, reportedly involving a domestic dispute. | 5 | 99,319 | news |
Ellen DeGeneres had the loving support of wife Portia de Rossi at the LA premiere of her new movie, Finding Dory, on Wednesday evening. In addition to flashing their bright smiles for the cameras, the pair - who have been together for over 10 years - put on a loving display, holding hands as they walked down the red carpet. The last time the couple made a public appearance together was at the Saint Laurent fashion show in LA back in February, though Portia often takes to social media to share sweet photos of the two. Read on for more cute pictures, then check out 18 power couples who are slaying (or will soon slay) same-sex marriage. | 6 | 99,320 | entertainment |
The best of the best from Wednesday's Game 3 of the NBA Finals. | 1 | 99,321 | sports |
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Crawling on the floor after a loose ball, LeBron James gathered himself and quickly got to his feet. He stood tall, and so did the Cavaliers. James had 32 points and 11 rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 30 points and Cleveland, pushed for 48 minutes by a delirious, championship-starved crowd, hammered the Golden State Warriors 120-90 in Game 3 on Wednesday night to pull within 2-1 in the NBA Finals. BOX SCORE: CAVALIERS 120, WARRIORS 90 On their home floor, where they have been dominant all postseason, the Cavs yanked their season from the brink of disaster following back-to-back blowout losses in the Bay Area. "Coaching staff gave us a great game plan and we executed it," said James, whose energy from the start electrified 20,000 fans, and most importantly his teammates. They Cavs did it without starting forward Kevin Love, with little help from their bench and by keeping Stephen Curry penned in. The league's MVP was mostly MIA, scoring 19 points -- two in the first half -- on 6-of-13 shooting. Harrison Barnes scored 18 and Klay Thompson 10 for the Warriors, who had won seven straight over Cleveland -- the first two finals games by a combined 48 points -- and came back to the birthplace of rock and roll looking to party like they did after winning the title in Quicken Loans Arena last year. The Cavs, though, have made this a series after it appeared the Warriors were on the fast track to another crown. James had called it "do or die" for Cleveland. Well, done and living. "We've got to give the same effort on Friday," James said. "It started defensively and it trickled down to the offensive side." The Warriors didn't look anything like the team that won a record 73 games during the regular season or the one that overcame a 3-1 deficit in the Western Conference finals. "We were soft," said coach Steve Kerr. "When you're soft, you get beat on the glass and turn the ball over." Curry didn't offer any excuses. "I've got to play 100 times better than this," he said, dismissing any notion he's slowed by injuries. "I'm fine. Not the way we wanted the night to go." Irving bounced back from two rough games out West, J.R. Smith made five 3-pointers and Tristan Thompson did the dirty work inside, getting 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who improved to 8-0 at home and can even the series with a win in Game 4 on Friday night. The Cavs hardly missed Love, still suffering from a concussion sustained in Game 2. He wanted to play, but is still in the NBA's concussion protocol and has not yet been cleared to return by league and team doctors. Coach Tyronn Lue started veteran Richard Jefferson and moved James into Love's power forward spot, giving the Cavs a smaller lineup better equipped to run with the Warriors. The 35-year-old Jefferson gave the Cavs a huge boost in 33 minutes, scoring nine points with eight rebounds. Leading by eight at halftime, Cleveland took control in the third quarter when James and Irving combined on a play that symbolized the Cavs' resurrection. Scrambling on his hands and knees after a loose ball near midcourt, James got to his feet and whipped a pass to Irving on the left side. Irving returned a lob to James, who leaped high and flushed it with his right hand, a basket that seemed to erase all that went wrong for the Cavs in California. Before taking the floor, James and the Cavs huddled in the hallway outside their locker room and prayed. James then gave his teammates some instructions. "Follow my lead from the beginning!" he screamed. "And do your job!" The Cavs listened, scoring the game's first nine points and opening a 20-point lead in the first quarter, rattling the Warriors. PICKED OFF Klay Thompson left briefly in the first quarter with a thigh bruise after he crashed into Cleveland's Timofey Mozgov trying to set a screen. "It seemed kind of dirty to me," Thompson said. "He stuck his knee out, too." SIT DOWN Curry was beaten on two back cuts early in the game and was benched by Kerr. "I would have done the same thing," Curry said. "He's trying to figure out a way to get me going." SAY WHAT? Kerr was startled when the opening question in his postgame news conference was whether he's considering changes. "We just lost one game," Kerr said. "Change the starting lineup?" TIP-INS Warriors: Shot just 9 of 33 on 3-pointers. ... Kerr became emotional before the game when paying his respects to Sean Rooks, his former Arizona teammate who died Tuesday at the age of 46. ... Green has become Public Enemy No. 1 in Cleveland -- and elsewhere. He smiled while being booed during pregame warmups. Cavaliers: James has 82 career 30-point games in the playoffs, third most all-time. Only Michael Jordan (109) and Kobe Bryant (88) have more. ... Smith nailed a shot from halfcourt at the end of the second quarter, but the shot came after the horn and was waved off. ... Lue said he doesn't pay any attention to the all the outside second-guessing about his lineups. "I don't care," he said. "They (critics) should be coaches." ... Legendary Browns running back Jim Brown sat courtside and gave the crowd a thumbs-up when he was shown on the giant scoreboard. NBA Finals - Game 3: Warriors at Cavaliers Complete Game Stats | PointAfter | 1 | 99,322 | sports |
During a stoppage in the closing seconds of the third quarter, Stephen Curry thought he'd sneak into the lane and make a layup just to see a ball finally go through the hoop. LeBron James saw the sequence unfolding, raced toward the rim and violently rejected Curry's shot off the backboard. Man, if the Cavaliers cared that much about a shot that wouldn't have counted, you can image the desperation they brought to the defensive end during the 48 minutes that did matter in a 120-90 Game 3 NBA Finals demolition Wednesday night in Cleveland. "It wasn't lineups. It wasn't substitution patterns," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters after the game. "We just got our tails kicked." Don't think Kyrie Irving didn't hear the chatter about his lackluster defense playing a role in the Cavaliers losing the series' first two games by a combined 48 points. The point guard nearly smacked the floor to get into a defensive stance on the first possession, setting the tone for a night full of ball pressure. He forced two turnovers and scored four points in the game's opening minutes, giving Cleveland a 6-0 lead equaling their largest of the series to that point. The advantage would balloon to as many as 31 as Cleveland locked into its defensive scheme and repeatedly contested three-point shots. The Warriors missed their first seven threes, before Marreese Speights knocked one down with 66 seconds left in the first quarter to cut the deficit to 30-13. Among the best shooters in the history of the game, Curry and Klay Thompson, were 0-for-8 from the field, 0-for-6 from three-point range and 0-for-2 from the foul line at the end of the first quarter. Harrison Barnes had 10 points before either of the Splash Brothers got on the board. Curry had two points and three turnovers when Kerr pulled him from the game with 3:17 remaining in the second quarter. Kerr asked him if he was OK. Convinced by Curry, Kerr put Curry back into the game, but he still commented to a broadcaster at halftime that Curry "looked out of sorts." The Warriors can sometimes get away with inefficient games from Curry and Thompson when they're getting production from their big men, but that was pretty nonexistent, too. The Warriors' conventional centers, Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao, had more fouls (five) than rebounds (four) and as many turnovers as field goals (two). They combined to play 25 minutes, and the Warriors were outscored by 27 points during those stretches. Even without power forward Kevin Love, who wasn't cleared by the concussion protocol to play Game 3, Cleveland got plenty from center Tristan Thompson. He had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and the Cavaliers outscored the Warriors by 21 points in his 31 minutes. Cleveland outrebounded the Warriors 52-32 and dominated second-chance points 23-3. The Cavaliers converted the Warriors' 18 turnovers into 34 points and won in paint points 54-32. "They came out and played like a team of desperation, like their season was on the line," Warriors power forward Draymond Green said. "We played like everything was peaches and cream. "They punched us. … We got bullied. We can't get bullied. I'll take that one on the chin." The Warriors did have one more blocked shot than Cleveland. But James' block on Curry that didn't count on the stat sheet might have been the game's most telling. Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: Rusty_SFChron | 1 | 99,323 | sports |
After Boko Haram killed more than two dozen soldiers in Niger last week, it claimed the attack in the name of Islamic State-West Africa Province -- a title meant to tell the world it is an arm of the Syria-based extremist group. But U.S. officials tell Reuters they see no evidence that Boko Haram has received significant operational support or financing from Islamic State, more than a year after the brutal West African group's pledge of allegiance to it. That assessment, detailed by multiple U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, suggests Boko Haram's loyalty pledge has so far mostly been a branding exercise designed to boost its international jihadi credentials, attract recruits, and appeal to the IS leadership for assistance. The U.S. view of Boko Haram, which won global infamy for its 2014 kidnapping of 276 school girls, as a locally-focused, homegrown insurgency is likely to keep the group more to the margins of the U.S. fight against Islamic State in Africa. The U.S. military's attention is largely centered on Libya, home to Islamic State's strongest affiliate outside the Middle East and where the United States has carried out air strikes. No such direct U.S. intervention is currently being contemplated against Boko Haram, officials say. "If there is no meaningful connection between ISIL and Boko - and we haven't found one so far - then there are no grounds for U.S. military involvement in West Africa other than assistance and training," said one U.S. official, using an acronym for Islamic State. "This is an African fight, and we can assist them, but it's their fight," the official added. In public comments, senior U.S. officials have said they are closely watching for any increased threat to Americans from Boko Haram and any confirmation of media reports of deepening ties with IS. Despite suffering a series of setbacks, Boko Haram remains lethal. It launched its deadliest raid in over a year last week, killing 30 soldiers and forcing 50,000 people to flee when it took over the Niger town of Bosso. Chad has sent 2,000 troops to Niger to prepare a counterattack against the group, two senior military sources said on Wednesday. U.S. military action against ISIL in Iraq and Syria is conducted under legislation Congress passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and authorizes the use of American military power against "those responsible for" those attacks. As the Obama administration has interpreted it, that includes Islamic State as a third-generation descendent of Osama bin Laden's core al-Qaeda group, but not Boko Haram, said the official. U.S. officials acknowledge their intelligence about the internal structure and leadership of Boko Haram is imperfect. But the United States has closely tracked ISIL's leadership, finances and other activities, including its cooperation with other groups such as its branch in Libya, to which Islamic State has sent fighters, commanders and other support. Multiple U.S. officials said they have seen no evidence that Islamic State leaders, based in Syria and Iraq, have transferred significant amounts of cash or weapons or sent high-level representatives to Nigeria. The absence of such evidence comes as the administration of President Barack Obama debates how Washington and its allies can best support Nigeria and its neighbors. Some U.S. lawmakers already argue that U.S. aid to the region has been too heavily weighted towards security. DEBATE ON ASSISTANCE U.S. security assistance to the four African countries plagued by Boko Haram - Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon - has soared to more than $400 million since 2014, surpassing aid for governance, human rights, education and rebuilding infrastructure, according to a recent Congressional Research Service report. The Obama administration is poised to approve the sale of 12 attack aircraft to Nigeria, Reuters reported last month. The United States also has offered to send a Special Operations mission to advise Nigerian units, and has dedicated more intelligence and surveillance assets to help African forces fight Boko Haram. Still, some U.S. government experts warn that defeating it requires Nigeria to boost policing, education and development in its Muslim-dominated northeast and to crack down on corruption. Administration officials say that it's easier to win congressional support for military assistance to fight extremist groups - especially if defense contracts are involved - than it is to muster backing for steps to attack radicalism at its roots. While it is estimated to have killed more than 15,000 people since 2009, Boko Haram has not attacked U.S. interests and has deep roots in Nigeria's Christian-Muslim divide, which long predates the Syrian-based Islamic extremist group. Those uncertainties have fueled tension over how best to combat the group, and even how to characterize it. In public, U.S. officials rarely call the group Islamic State-West Africa Province, the name it adopted in March 2015. There have been periodic reports of cooperation between Boko Haram and ISIL's Libyan branch. In April, the New York Times cited a U.S. general in reporting that an arms convoy believed bound for Boko Haram from Libya was intercepted in Chad, providing one of the first concrete examples of cooperation. PROPAGANDA SUPPORT A U.S. counter-terrorism official, however, said that American intelligence has no evidence to support that report. The region is awash in arms, and it's nearly impossible to determine who is sending what to whom, this official said. U.S. officials told Reuters that they assess that slicker Boko Haram videos prominently displaying Islamic State logos were produced by ISIL operatives outside the region. "It was clear to us that there (were) not guys in Nigeria sitting at their laptop putting this stuff together," one official said. A senior U.S. intelligence official said that some Boko Haram fighters have traveled to Libya to "work with Islamic State elements", and that its shadowy leader Abubakr Shekau has established a relationship with the IS Libya branch. But another U.S. official viewed Shekau's pledge of allegiance to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi "primarily as a rebranding exercise" aimed at boosting the stature of his group, whose leaders previously said it was aligned with al-Qaeda. U.S. officials and private experts say they fear that as the African military pressure intensifies, the extremists could shift from a regional campaign of suicide bombings, rape and pillage to striking international targets. "The resources and intent of ISIL to attack Western targets, combined with Boko's ability and strength in that part of Africa is a mix that causes great concern," another U.S. official said. Senator Chris Murphy, a Foreign Relations Committee member, said that whatever its cooperation with Islamic State, Boko Haram is so deadly that Nigeria and its neighbors should get U.S. help to crush the group. "I think we have an interest in combating this group regardless of their connection to ISIL," he said. (Editing by John Walcott and Stuart Grudgings) | 5 | 99,324 | news |
A French court has convicted Uber and two of its executives of deceptive commercial practices and illegal business activity over its lowest-cost ride service. The court fined the company 800,000 euros ($907,000) and fined regional Uber executive Pierre-Dimitry Gore-Coty 30,000 euros, and Uber's France general manager Thibaud Simphal 20,000 euros. Half of all the fines were suspended. The court did not hand prison terms, and rejected a prosecutor's request that the two executives be barred from running any company for five years. And the fines were much lower than the 100 million euros that traditional taxi services had sought. They accused the low-cost UberPop service of unfair competition because it uses non-professional drivers. UberPop is now banned in France but Uber still operates a service with professional drivers. | 3 | 99,325 | finance |
Check out Wednesday's top plays, including LeBron James' unbelievable alley-oop. | 1 | 99,326 | sports |
California's Right-to-Die law goes into effect on Thursday, giving people who are diagnosed with a terminal illness an option to end their own lives. | 7 | 99,327 | health |
Honda Motor Co said on Thursday it was recalling around 784,000 vehicles in Japan, part of an expanded recall for potentially deadly Takata Corp airbags. Automakers are ramping up recalls after the auto parts maker, under pressure from the U.S. government, agreed last month to declare more of its airbags as defective in the United States. Takata's airbag inflators can explode with excessive force in hot, humid conditions, and have been linked to more than 100 injuries and 13 deaths, mainly in the United States. More than 100 million vehicles have been recalled worldwide over faulty Takata airbags, and Honda's recall is part of a push by Japanese authorities to make sure that Takata air bags without a drying agent are off the road by March 2019. Honda, a major customer of Takata air bags, said it is recalling models including its Odyssey minivan, Fit subcompact model and Civic sedan with production dates ranging between 2003 and 2009 to replace passenger-side air bags. Facing ballooning recall costs and lawsuits over its faulty airbags, Takata is seeking financial backers. Private equity firm KKR & Co and Chinese auto supplier Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp have expressed interest in investing. Separately, Nissan Motor Co recalled some 230,000 Note mini multi-purpose vehicles in Japan over a potential fault with its engine bracket mount, and around 57,200 of its Skyline and Infiniti Q50 sedan models in Japan, North America, Europe and other regions over steering issues. (Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Edwina Gibbs) | 3 | 99,328 | finance |
The Twins beat the Marlins 7-5 on Wednesday. Trevor Plouffe hit a two-run homer and added the go-ahead RBI double. Eduardo Nunez made two great plays in the field. | 1 | 99,329 | sports |
The Cavaliers beat the Warriors 120-90 in Game 3 on Wednesday and now trail the NBA Finals 2-1. LeBron James led the way with 32 points and J.R. Smith made five three-pointers. | 1 | 99,330 | sports |
BOSTON (AP) A chicken claw. An FDR pin. A crucifix. A toy sheriff's star. Those are some of the weird items that have been removed from kids' throats, nostrils and ears by doctors at Boston Children's Hospital and are included in a macabre, yet important, display. A visitor's first reaction might be to laugh at the framed collection of dozens of items that dates to 1918 and hangs at the entrance to the hospital's ear, nose and throat department, but it's also a reminder to the parents who walk past it every day to remain vigilant. "It is definitely something that catches the eyes of parents and makes them think twice about what their kids are exposed to," said Dr. Anne Hseu, a head and neck surgeon at Children's who has removed Christmas ornaments, toys, carpet tacks and other items from young patients. One of Hseu's colleagues removed a rosary bead that had blocked a boy's breathing passage. The boy might have died, but the bead lodged vertically, so he was able to get air through the bead's threading hole. Disc-like button batteries are among the more commonly swallowed items these days, and particularly dangerous because the chemicals in them can burn esophageal tissue in a couple of hours, Hseu said. Latex balloons, magnets and colorful laundry detergent pods are also frequently swallowed, said Dr. Sarah Denny, an emergency department pediatrician at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who has extracted a cellphone button from a teenager's ear and a gum wrapper that was stuck in a child's nostril for a couple of weeks. The Boston collection, which also includes a screw hook, a tiny doll hand and a sardine tin key, is a tribute to late Children's Hospital physician Charles Ferguson, who worked there for 35 years and removed most of the items himself. Thousands of children a year are treated for sticking stuff they're not supposed to in their mouths, noses and ears, Denny said. Parents need to keep small objects out of the reach of toddlers and make sure toys are age appropriate. Besides the obvious hazards of choking brain damage or death ingesting a foreign object can lead to infection. Pain, a chronic cough or even recurring pneumonia could indicate a child has swallowed something they shouldn't have and needs a doctor's attention. A foreign object can often be removed without surgery using an instrument that doctors call a "peanut grasper," Hseu said. | 5 | 99,331 | news |
The NHL has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against its players' union, seeking to overturn the arbitration ruling that reduced a suspension of Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman from 20 games to 10 earlier this season. In a complaint filed Wednesday in Manhattan, the league argued arbitrator James Oldham "applied his own brand of industrial justice" by ignoring the findings of commissioner Gary Bettman, who had upheld the original suspension after Wideman appealed. Wideman was suspended 20 games by the league for cross-checking linesman Don Henderson from behind during a Jan. 27 game against the Nashville Predators, resulting in a concussion for Henderson. Moments before the hit in question, Wideman smacked his head on the end boards during a check and appeared woozy as he skated to the bench. He said he mistook Henderson for an opposing player. MORE: Longest NHL suspensions of all time By the time Bettman heard his appeal Feb. 17, Wideman had already sat out 19 games. Wideman and the NHL Players' Association then brought the case before Oldham, a "neutral" arbitrator, who concluded on March 10 that evidence submitted by the NHL was not "substantially supported" and ordered that the punishment be reduced by half. He also ordered Wideman to recoup $282,258 of the $564,516 in salary he was going to forfeit. In Oldham's opinion, Wideman did not display intent to injure Henderson, which the league claimed. The NHL stated it "strenuously disagrees" with the ruling and vowed to fight it at the time. In its filing Wednesday, the league said Oldham exceeded his authority in relation to its collective bargaining agreement with the NHLPA. MORE: The faces of Deflategate after 500-plus days "Today's action was motivated primarily by our regard for the collective bargaining process and the importance of maintaining and safeguarding the parties' reasonable expectations arising from the agreements made in that process," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement. It's a situation that is eerily similar to the NFL's notorious Deflategate saga, which has dragged on for more than a year through a series of legal battles between the league and its players union. In that case, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is expected to serve a four-game suspension to begin the 2016 season after the league appealed a U.S. District Court judge's ruling that negated the original suspension a year ago. Brady's legal team is exploring last-hope legal avenues to avoid the ban again. | 1 | 99,332 | sports |
From Steve Kerr's perspective, it's easy to explain what went wrong in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday that led to his Golden State Warriors being blown out by 30 points by the Cleveland Cavaliers, 120-90. Kerr says it's a simple matter of the Warriors being "soft" to start the game and not coming out ready to play compared to the Cavaliers. "We weren't ready to play," Kerr said after the game. "Obviously they just punched us right in the mouth, right in the beginning. We were turning the ball over like crazy. Soft. We were extremely soft to start the game, and they set the tone with their intensity. I think it was 9-0 and we had to call a timeout. Steph (Curry) got beat backdoor, a couple turnovers … just a horrible way to start. "It's going to take more than an effort like that to win a Finals game against a great team." Kerr was asked about Curry's play and said the MVP "didn't play well." The numbers reflect that, as Curry had just 19 points and committed six turnovers in 31 minutes. Kerr, who was visibly frustrated after the first quarter , was able to get his team to close the margin to eight at halftime, but the Cavs rebuilt their lead in the second half. Just when many thought the series was over after the Warriors slammed the Cavs by 33 points in Game 2, Cleveland turned it around. Asked to account for the 63-point swing between Games 2 and 3 of the Finals, Kerr said he wasn't surprised. "It's the NBA. This is just how it is," said Kerr. "Most of the teams in the league are pretty equal in talent. … When you get to this level, everybody's got talent. Every team you go against has great talent. Every player in the NBA is a great player. If you let your guard down and the other team is angry, you can see this kind of turnaround. It's happened every series for us. That's the way it goes." Game 4 of the series will be on Friday. The Warriors will be unlikely to have their guard down in that one after getting blown out on Wednesday night. | 1 | 99,333 | sports |
CLEVELAND With his Cleveland Cavaliers trailing 2-0 in the NBA Finals, LeBron James said Game 3 was a "do-or-die game" for he and his teammates. James backed up his words, finishing with 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists including 13 points in the decisive third quarter to power the Cavaliers to a 120-90 victory over the Warriors in front of a raucous sellout crowd at Quicken Loans Arena and give Cleveland life in this best-of-seven series. The Cavaliers never trailed, jumping out to a big lead in the first quarter behind 16 points from Kyrie Irving. And after the Warriors managed to cut what was once a 20-point lead down to eight at halftime, James took over in the third to put the game away. He scored 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the third, nailing a series of midrange jumpers before hammering home an alley-oop to put the nail in Golden State's coffin. It wasn't a coincidence Cleveland's runs came in the first and third quarters the two quarters when the Cavaliers primarily had their starting lineup on the floor. With star forward Kevin Love forced to sit out of Game 3 because of a concussion he suffered from an inadvertent elbow from Warriors forward Harrison Barnes in Game 2, Cavaliers Coach Tyronn Lue opted to go with a small starting lineup, using 35-year-old Richard Jefferson in Love's place. "Coach had a game plan," James said, "and we executed it for 48 minutes." The moves worked, as Cleveland wound up outscoring Golden State by a combined 29 points in the first and third quarters. While James and Irving (30 points) were stellar, the Warriors got nothing from two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry. He finished with 19 points in 31 minutes, but had six turnovers and scored most of those points after the game's outcome had already been decided. The Warriors dropped to 2-6 in Game 3s of playoff series the past two seasons under Coach Steve Kerr including 0-4 this postseason. The Cavaliers blitzed the Warriors right from the opening tip, scoring the first nine points and forcing Kerr to call timeout two and a half minutes in to try and get things under control. That didn't help, either, as Cleveland continued to torch Golden State throughout the opening 12 minutes. By the time the dust had settled, Cleveland had shot 15 for 21 (71.4 percent) in the quarter, led by 16 points from Kyrie Irving, and had taken a 33-16 lead after one. Not only could Golden State not get anything to fall going 7 for 20 from the field, 1 for 10 from three-point range and 1 for 4 from the free throw line but the Warriors also saw Klay Thompson exit the game after taking a knee to the thigh on a screen set by Cavaliers center Timofey Mozgov. Though Thompson eventually returned to the game in the second quarter, it was emblematic of the disastrous start for both he and Curry. The pair missed their first eight shots before Thompson made a layup upon his return midway through the second. But once Golden State started the second quarter employing its small lineup featuring Draymond Green at center things began to change. Although Cleveland continued to keep knocking down 3-pointers, the Warriors took control of the game at both ends, and slowly began reeling the Cavaliers in. Thompson caught fire, scoring 10 points upon his return, and Golden State cut Cleveland's to 51-43 at halftime. The assumption after the way Golden State played in the second was the Warriors would begin the second half with their small lineup again. Instead, they went back to their traditional starting lineup, featuring Andrew Bogut at center. The results looked familiar. Cleveland scored seven straight points to open the third, at one point ballooning its lead to as many as 22 points. After James looked terrified to shoot jumpers in the first half, he knocked down four straight for the Cavaliers midway through the quarter, then put an exclamation mark on his night with an emphatic slam off an alley-oop from Irving after stealing the ball from Curry. Golden State made a brief push back into the game behind a few buckets from Curry, but the outcome was never seriously in doubt again. After two blowouts in Oakland made it seem like the Warriors could cruise to a second straight championship, James and the Cavaliers turned the NBA Finals into a series again. Game 4 is Friday in Cleveland and James knows what is required. "The same effort," he said. "We have to get the same effort on Friday. We finally started playing our basketball, like the coaching staff wanted us to do, and it resulted in us having a great game." | 1 | 99,334 | sports |
He admires and appreciates your competency and is pretty sure you could be President of Everything if you set your mind to it. 1. He thinks you're the best at what you do. He admires and appreciates your competency and is pretty sure you could be President of Everything if you set your mind to it. 2. He tolerates your many quirks and even finds some of them awesome. He doesn't have to think your myriad of eccentrics are ~ZoE dEsChAnEl aDoRaBlE~ but he does find many of them endearing and/or hilarious. For instance, he thinks the time you paid $100 for sweatpants (because you saw a pic of Gigi Hadid wearing them and she looked AMAZING) that made you look like a chubatron reject from a Kanye West fashion show was crazy funny. If you can both celebrate (or at least laugh about) your weirdnesses, that's a keeper. 3. He's always looking at you. You know, looking. You know what I'm talking about. 4. He knows how you take your coffee. He knows that a Double Tall Vanilla Soy Latte is the key to your underwear drawer. 5. He knows all about your allergies. He even knows that you're not TECHNICALLY allergic to tomatoes, you just really really hate them and if they touch your burger, you might *actually* cry. 6. He's on your side, but he'll call you out. He's totally onboard to listen to you go off on the ridiculous doofus at work who asked you to make him coffee even though you're his superior, but he'll call you out when you get nasty at someone who doesn't deserve it. 7. He knows your Love Language. He knows the ways in which you like to be loved, and he loves you in those ways. (You've done the same for him because you are an awesome partner.) 8. He treats your pet like she's your kid. He gets that Maddie the Cattie is more important to you than an actual pile of gold and treats her accordingly. 9. He thinks you're prettier than the Statue of Liberty. Or, you know, every other hot chick out there. He doesn't disparage other women's looks to compliment yours, but he lets you know you're the hottest thing in a million mile radius on the regular. 10. He thinks you're smarter than Einstein. He wants you on his pub trivia team because he knows you'll bring it. Even if you only think you'll do well if reality TV is a section, he's pretty sure you'd kill in the "Former Eastern European Dictators' Pets" category. 11. His gifts are really special. They don't have to be frequent or even on the "right" days, but every once in a while he'll present you with something that makes you legit cry because it's so special. Like the time he had his friend paint you a picture of a bear skating backwards on a lake of frozen hot chocolate because it's a hilarious and delicious reoccurring dream you have. Or he bought you tickets to the Formation tour even though he had to talk to a Ticketmaster rep for over an hour, which is basically the pain equivalent of giving birth to a ball of knives. 12. Your enemies are his enemies. Like, if he ever meets Mark from middle school who called you fat and then ate your pudding cup, he will glare at him SO hard. 13. When you're spooning you fit ~perfectly~. Same goes for hand holding. 14. You finish each other's sandwiches. And sentences. 15. He can totally fake your voice in text. You're driving and you need him to text your best friend and he uses the right number of exclamation marks? MARRY HIM. 16. You have similar opinions on the Big Three: religion, politics, babies (as in, yay or nay to babies in your life together). You don't have to be, and probably shouldn't be, 100-percent on the same page about everything, but these are big ones and the fact that you agree makes things a lot easier. 17. He's learned the way you fight. And you've learned the way he fights. And you've talked about it and now you're on, more or less, the same page when it comes to fighting. (You're also on the same page when it comes to makeup sex. MEOW!) 18. You're sexually compatible. To put it bluntly: you both like the same stuff and are supportive of each other's desires and your bedroom is basically a party zone for sex angels. 19. He just feels "right". This one is hard to put a finger on but when you feel it, you'll know it. Everything is easy and it fits and makes sense. You're not looking for a way out, and neither is he. You're a team and you could basically solve world peace together if you won't so busy watching Netflix and doing it. Follow Laura on Twitter . | 4 | 99,335 | lifestyle |
Craving a pizza but unnerved by the complicated ordering process? Just darn lazy? A soon-to-be launched app function could enable you to place an order without a single click. One of the ten new services announced at Domino's Abacus tech series event in Sydney is the "zero click order" which is expected to be launched in coming months. This service simplifies the order process down to launching the Domino's mobile app which will count down 10 seconds before sending an order for the customer's favorite pizza or previous order. There are security measures in place for the service so customers don't accidentally order pizzas, such as the choice to lock the app, said Don Meij, group CEO and managing director of Domino's Pizza Enterprises (DMP-AU) . Another new service is the "on-time cooking" for pick up customers. With the use of a GPS customer tracker, Domino's will only start making the pizza when the customer is in close proximity to the store. This will help to ensure that customers receive their pizzas fresh. "50 to 60 percent of our business is pick-up or carry-out, so we wanted to create a GPS tracking system to try and align the customer with the product," Meij said. The pizza chain is also planning to cut delivery time down to ten minutes, with the program first expected to roll out in Australia, followed by New Zealand, Japan and Europe. The average delivery time globally is 22 minutes. A Domino's outlet in Gold Coast, Australia actually managed to clock an average time of 9.49 minutes for pizza deliveries for an entire week, Meij said. Earlier in March, the company announced the launch of a four-wheeled autonomous delivery vehicle known as Domino's Robotic Unit (DRU) to deliver pizza to customers' doorsteps, but the service is still being trialed. Domino's isn't the only pizza company to be experimenting with robots. Yum Brand (YUM) 's Pizza Hut Restaurants Asia had announced a collaboration with MasterCard (MA) to deploy Pepper, a robotic waiter , across Asia to take orders and accept digital payments, Pepper is also able to make small talk with customers and even give food recommendations. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook . | 3 | 99,336 | finance |
LIMA, Peru (AP) Former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski won the majority of votes in the country's closest presidential contest in five decades, Peruvian electoral authorities said Thursday. His rival Keiko Fujimori has yet to concede however. Four days after voting, the electoral board said that all ballots had been processed and Kuczynski had won 51.1 percent compared to 49.9 percent for the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori. Supporters immediately celebrated outside Kuczynski's campaign headquarters while the apparent President-elect sent a brief message on Twitter thanking his countrymen. "Now it's time to work together for the future of our country," he wrote. Some ballots representing up to 50,000 votes remain in dispute but experts say it's almost impossible for Fujimori to make up the roughly 40,000 vote difference to overtake Kuczynski. Fujimori was the favorite to win the runoff but lost ground in the final stretch as fellow conservative Kuczynski warned voters that the corruption and criminality associated with her father's authoritarian rule could return. | 5 | 99,337 | news |
PARIS Union militants have thrown eggs and vegetables at his head. Newsmagazines compete to put his boyish face on their covers, one recently calling him, "The Dynamiter." He himself has audaciously insinuated a comparison to one of France's patron saints and its 15th-century savior, Joan of Arc. Emmanuel Macron, the 38-year-old economy minister, whiz-kid technocrat and ex-Rothschild & Co. banker, has crystallized the hopes, fears, and rage in the labor turmoil now unsettling France. Bolstered by his polls, he has started his own political movement, En Marche!, in what many here consider a campaign in all but name to explore whether to challenge President François Hollande as the Socialist candidate for president next year. He and his supporters are ambiguous on the question of whether he will in fact run. But the bigger question may be whether Mr. Macron has the political skills to do for the Socialists what, say, Bill Clinton did for the Democrats in the United States, or Tony Blair for Labour in Britain: Update the party and move it to the center to address the challenges of a global economy. Given Mr. Hollande's unpopularity, Mr. Macron has clearly got an opening, even if critics, especially on the left, deride him as out of step with France's protective social model. Behind his back, colleagues in France's Socialist government whisper about his vaulting ambition. Many of them see him as a capitalist interloper, a traitor to Socialist ideals and a threat to their traditional base among workers. On Monday, it was militants from the far-left CGT union who greeted the young minister with eggs one landed in his hair and catcalls in the Communist-controlled Paris suburb of Montreuil, shouting at him to "Get lost!" The melee followed months of demonstrations in the streets by workers who have blocked oil refineries, nuclear plants, factories and the country's rail network. A government economic overhaul has set off the unrest an attempt, bold at first, to loosen France's ultratight labor laws, making hiring and firing easier and throttling back the union grip. As much as anyone's, it is Mr. Macron's ideas the demonstrators are protesting. In addition, his banking background, elite education, button-down persona, and technocratic aura "the best way to afford a suit is to get a job," he angrily told a T-shirted demonstrator several weeks ago have made him the focus of much of the rage. France appears both terrified and absorbed by Mr. Macron's ideas of making it easier to get and to lose a job, to move to a new job, and to shake off the lifetime security of unbreakable contracts in search of something better. "There's a desire for change, but a fear of change, too. That's France," said Philippe Aghion, a Harvard economist who worked with Mr. Macron on an influential reform commission in 2008 and who has influenced the young man. The ideas generated by that commission weigh in the minister's thinking, Mr. Aghion said. The T-shirt incident was captured on video and quickly went viral, earning Mr. Macron a mocking hashtag, #UnTshirtpourMacron , and much derision in the news media. At the same time Mr. Macron polls far higher than his boss, Mr. Hollande , whose re-election prospects next year look increasingly shaky. Mr. Macron is the darling of the businessmen's confederation, the favorite of right-leaning pro-capitalism media in France, and he earned applause and rage in equal measures when he said in an interview last year, "We need young Frenchmen who want to become billionaires." In a recent visit to the northern industrial town of Valenciennes, Mr. Macron appeared to be in full campaign mode. The police blocked off the city center, fearing protests. At a training center, apprentice welders and home-health aid workers waited to take selfies with him. He quizzed them attentively, like a candidate, about their hopes and aspirations. "What's at stake for me is to inspire confidence again," Mr. Macron told a worker grumbling about the labor reform law at a mattress factory, striking a broad theme for France's future. Nearby, other workers waited patiently for pictures. To the Socialist establishment, Mr. Macron is too ready to lecture much older politicians, and is the man who wants to "reintroduce mobility in the labor market," as he wrote in an article last year, but also end "our culture of paying managers more." In his characteristic rapid-fire delivery he told a parliamentary committee last month: "We've created rigidities at the entrance-point in artisanal occupations," like hairdressers and nail salons. "We've put up barriers." France needs to "help in the creation of jobs for which qualifications are limited," he said. He was one of the youngest men in the room. An older Communist representative would have none of it. "There is always with you this, I won't say, obsession, to liberate activity," André Chassaigne, a factory worker's son, scolded Mr. Macron. "As a society, we would lose our bearings." The French news media can't get enough of Mr. Macron. Intrigued by his combination of brains (he once served as assistant to one of France's leading 20th-century philosophers, Paul Ricoeur) and heterodoxy, they have put him on the cover of newsmagazines more in the last six months than any other political figure, despite his thin record of accomplishment so far. "The Macron Rocket His Secret Plan for 2017," was one recent cover; "Macron: Why not him? How he wants to break the system," was another. Even glossy gossip magazines like Paris Match follow him, intrigued by his unusual domestic arrangements: He is married to his high school teacher from the town of Amiens, who is 20 years his senior. In the central city of Orléans last month, he was invited by an opposition party mayor to preside over ceremonies honoring Joan of Arc, who made her decisive stand against the English there in 1429. "Jeanne was a shepherdess, but she beat a path to the king," Mr. Macron told hundreds spread out in the plaza in front of the towering 17th-century cathedral in the city where she led the French troops in battle. "Jeanne was a nobody. But she carried on her shoulders the will to progress and justice of an entire people. She was a crazy dream. But she wound up imposing herself as something obvious," he said. "Believe in individual initiatives, in courage, in risk." The applause for Mr. Macron was polite his highfalutin style, nurtured at France's best schools like the École National d'Administration, is peppered with references to the country's literary and political heroes. But the audience was attentive, even if his arrival was greeted with boos from union members. "Maybe it's a crazy dream, impossible," he told a crowd in Lyon last week, "but this great change, necessary to our country, I'm persuaded we can accomplish it together." The City Hall in Lyon was packed, and the mayor there greeted him like a hero. "He's a free atom. One doesn't really know where he is going," said Mr. Aghion, the Harvard economist. "The problem is," Mr. Aghion added, "he doesn't really have any allies." Much of the challenge Mr. Macron will face, if he enters the lists in next year's race, was summed up in an encounter with reporters in Valenciennes. Defending himself over the harsh T-shirt encounter, he said, "One doesn't tutoie a minister" referring to the familiar form of the second-person pronoun. True, the "tu" form is generally used only with children and friends, and not with ministers. But a politician with national ambitions in France might be better off not pointing that out to a gaggle of journalists. "He's got to separate himself from his image as a technocrat," Mr. Aghion said. | 5 | 99,338 | news |
PITTSBURGH (AP) Tasked two summers ago with rebooting a franchise whose window for success around stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin appeared to be closing, Jim Rutherford didn't tinker. He gutted. The man they call ''Trader Jim'' spent the better part of the next 18 months making over the Pittsburgh Penguins on the fly. It started almost immediately after he took over as general manager in June, 2014. The early returns were hardly promising. Marred by injuries and dispassionate play under then-head coach Mike Johnston, the Penguins fell to the New York Rangers in five listless games last spring, leading to concerns the man who built a Stanley Cup winner in NASCAR country in Carolina a decade ago had lost his touch. Now, the 67-year-old has his fingerprints all over a team that heads into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final on Thursday night up 3-1 over the San Jose Sharks. Asked recently about the heat he took during the transition, Rutherford deadpanned, ''I did?'' Yeah. Kinda. Not that it stopped Rutherford from continuing his search for the right pieces to put around his high-profile core, a process that included admitting to a few mistakes of his own along the way. Only a small handful of familiar faces remain from the roster Rutherford inherited from Ray Shero. The departed have been replaced almost universally by quicker, more versatile players who - along with a needed jolt of intensity from new coach Mike Sullivan - have the Penguins on the brink of a fourth title. ''I think what Jim has done has given us an identity,'' backup goaltender Jeff Zatkoff said. One that will have three shots over the next week to add another adjective: champion. A quick look at Rutherford's most significant moves during an overhaul that's made the former goaltender a finalist for the NHL General Manager of the Year and propped open that window that no longer appears on the verge of slamming shut. THE DATE: June 27, 2014 THE DEAL: Sending forward James Neal to Nashville in exchange for forward Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling. THE FALLOUT: Rutherford wasted little time getting to work, sending the productive but volatile Neal to the Predators. While Spaling's tenure didn't last long - he's actually playing for the Sharks during the Cup Final - Hornqvist has gelled nicely with Crosby. Hornqvist's ability to get to the net frees up space for Crosby, and his eight playoff goals this postseason include an overtime winner against Washington and a hat trick in the first round against the Rangers. THE DATE: July 1, 2015. THE DEAL: Acquiring Phil Kessel from Toronto in a trade that included six players and a couple of draft picks. THE FALLOUT: Pittsburgh needed depth - badly - to help take some of the scoring burden off Crosby and Malkin. Enter Kessel, who spent six seasons in Toronto scoring goals and becoming a three-time All-Star while also becoming an unwitting avatar for a fan base frustrated by the team's inability to generate any momentum in the postseason. Put together with Carl Hagelin and Nick Bonino (like Kessel, brought in by trades) as part of the ''HBK'' line in March, Kessel has been the Penguins' most consistent player. His 21 points through 22 playoff games have him as one of the favorites to earn the Conn Smythe Trophy given to the playoff MVP. THE DATE: Dec. 12, 2015 THE DEAL: Firing Johnston and promoting Sullivan to head coach THE FALLOUT: Johnston wasn't Rutherford's first choice to replace Dan Bylsma, and the professorial Johnston's brief tenure was marked by a sometimes nonchalant style that hardly seemed to take advantage of Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang's unique talents. Sullivan took over with the Penguins on the fringe of the playoff picture and issued a challenge to the entire roster to hold itself accountable while evolving as a group. After a sluggish start, Pittsburgh took off around Jan. 1 and tore through the final weeks of the regular season by forcing opponents to play 200 feet. THE DATE: Dec. 14, 2015 THE DEAL: Sending defenseman Rob Scuderi to Chicago for Trevor Daley THE FALLOUT: Scuderi, who helped the Penguins to a Cup in 2009, was brought back in 2013 to provide guidance and grit at the blue line. By last fall, Scuderi's best days were firmly in the rearview mirror. Rutherford found an unlikely partner in Chicago, who sent the underperforming Daley to Pittsburgh so long as the Penguins held on to a portion of Scuderi's contract. The deal went down as the Penguins were finishing a dismal 5-1 loss to Washington in Sullivan's coaching debut. Daley immediately upgraded Pittsburgh's skill at the blue line and was playing perhaps the best hockey of his career before an ankle injury suffered in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. THE DATE: July 1, 2015 & March 14, 2016 THE DEAL(S): Signing Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl and Bryan Rust to two-year contracts THE FALLOUT: On the surface, the respective deals for the three young forwards - all 25 and under - barely caused a ripple when they were announced. Yet, the trio's precocious play has given the Penguins an influx of speed and youth. All three were regulars by March and have been factors through June. Sheary has two goals in the Cup Final, including the overtime winner in Game 2. Rust has more goals in the playoffs (six) than he did during the regular season (five) and Kuhnhackl is an effective penalty killer with plenty of defensive chops. Rutherford raised eyebrows when he took the job, saying he figured to be around only a few years. He's chucked the timetable for now and perhaps for good. ''I'm not worried about myself,'' he said. ''I've been around a long time. If you want me to leave today, I'll leave.'' PHOTOS: 2016 Stanley Cup Final | 1 | 99,339 | sports |
Has the election made you anxious about the future of the United States? Do you feel as if your job is not secure in this lukewarm economy? Are you just generally in the dumps? If so, take a look at the stock market. After a couple of steep sell-offs since last summer, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index has risen to within a whisker of the record high it hit in May 2015. To get to this latest peak, investors have overcome worries about energy prices, China, Europe, monetary policy and, more recently, some unpleasant-looking job numbers and the increased likelihood that Britain may soon vote to leave the European Union. The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 18,000 on Wednesday, putting that benchmark up 3 percent for the year. Sign Up For The Your Money Newsletter As I've said before , it can be a mistake to cite movements in the stock market as evidence for your view of the economy's strength. This can lead to economic optimists ignoring inconvenient stock market plunges and pessimists self-servingly dismissing the rallies. What's more, there are many ground-level economic numbers we can use to gauge the future strength of the economy. Why place so much emphasis on a noisy signal like stock prices? Still, when stocks have moved higher for several years, notching the second-longest bull run in Standard & Poor's records, the market's optimism should be taken seriously. Indeed, betting against the market's doubters has been a surefire way to make money. As analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch periodically point out , when stock market strategists' bearishness increases to certain levels, it has been an astonishingly reliable signal to buy stocks. And right now, the contrarian "sell-side indicator" is still signaling that stocks will go up. The latest rally, which has lifted the market more than 16 percent from the low point it hit in February, suggests that investors do not believe that the bad jobs numbers are an early signal of a slowdown. They are also probably betting that the Federal Reserve will not be in such a hurry to raise interest rates. Investors may also be seeing less political risk in the United States. The Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump favors combative trade policies that, if put into place, might disrupt global commerce, unsettle the markets and unnerve investors. A trade war could harm the earnings of American exporters if other countries retaliated. After watching a difficult few days in Mr. Trump's campaign, investors may have bought more stock this week in the belief that his chances of becoming president have weakened. But there is good reason to believe that investors have become too optimistic. This turbulent presidential campaign will no doubt disquiet investors in other ways. All politics aside, the stock market's rise has made stock prices look expensive when compared with corporate earnings. In aggregate, the companies in the S.&P. 500 were trading at 22 times their earnings for the 12 months through the end of March. That is considerably higher than the average of 16 times earnings for the five years through the end of 2015. Stocks are also expensive when their prices are compared against expected future earnings. The S.&P. 500 is trading at 18 times projected 2016 operating earnings, but that's still above the average of the last five years. That high level of optimism can also be seen in how much profit growth analysts are expecting. They project 14 percent this year, and a scorching 17 percent in 2017. Here's the problem: When investors are this sanguine, they are prone to dash for the exits at small signs of trouble. The impetus might come from a surprisingly hawkish remark about interest rates from an influential Federal Reserve policy maker or Britain voting on June 23 to exit the European Union. Or something else that catches most investors by surprise. But this is not necessarily a reason to feel gloomy. When an expensive stock market sells off, it's not a given that the economy will also dive. In the last 10 months, stocks sold off heavily on two occasions. The United States economy kept chugging along. It's when the economy stops chugging that it will really be time to avoid the stock market. The Upshot provides news, analysis and graphics about politics, policy and everyday life. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter . Sign up for our newsletter . | 3 | 99,340 | finance |
South Korea on Thursday cut its key interest rate to a record low 1.25 percent in a surprise move to address concerns over the impact of corporate restructuring on the sluggish economy. The Bank of Korea's 0.25 percentage point reduction was the first in 12 months but there had been little hint of such a move, with many expecting it to maintain a wait-and-see policy after officials had said there were signs of improvement in the economy. But mounting concerns over the negative impact on consumption from layoffs sparked by ongoing corporate restructuring, particularly in shipyards, apparently forced the bank's hand. "Global trade turned out to be weaker than expected and downside risks are likely to grow in coming months when corporate restructuring gets underway in earnest," Governor Lee Ju-Yeol told journalists. "We need to pre-empt negative impact from corporate restructuring," he said. The cut came after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen hinted at a more gradual rise in US rates earlier this week, dampening expectations for any hike during the summer. Lee left open the possibility of further cuts, saying low inflation dampens consumer sentiment. The country's inflation is likely to remain below the government target of two percent this year. In a statement the bank's policy committee forecast the economy will sustain its "trend of modest growth going forward" but that warned "downside risks" have expanded. Momentum for economic recovery, which was already weak, recently further ebbed, with production, investment and consumption all in the doldrums. "Exports have continued their trend of decline and the improvements in domestic demand activities such as consumption have weakened, while the sentiments of economic agents have also been sluggish," the bank said. First quarter economic growth came in at just 0.5 percent from the previous three months, the lowest since April-June last year when consumption was battered by the MERS outbreak. Facilities investment fell 7.1 percent on-quarter, the first negative growth in two years. South Korea's giant shipbuilders have announced plans to sell assets and cut jobs to reduce debt. The government and the central bank on Wednesday announced a plan to create a $9.5 billion fund to help recapitalise policy banks and ease the impact on the financial market from corporate restructuring. Finance Minister Yoo Il-Ho said Thursday that slumping exports, which fell six percent on-year in May, could put further pressure on facility investment and other domestic demand sectors. He blamed oversupply, excessive regulation and weakening competitiveness for the country's economic woes. "The cure for reactivating the economy is only to be found thorough corporate restructuring and industrial reform," he said at a meeting of cabinet ministers. | 3 | 99,341 | finance |
Deflationary pressures in Chinese industry eased in May while consumer inflation remained relatively steady, official data showed Thursday, leaving authorities room for further policy easing to boost growth. The producer price index (PPI), which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, fell to 2.8 percent year on year last month, much narrower than the 3.4 percent decline in April and also better than the 3.2 percent drop forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. The figures come after the government promised reforms to cut capacity in the nation's factories, which has hammered prices and at one point led to fears of deflation, causing a major drag economic growth. Protracted declines in PPI bode ill for industrial prospects, but May's result fuelled hopes the world's number two economy and key driver of global growth could be reaching the bottom of a painful slowdown. Thursday's result comes a day after trade statistics showed imports fell last month at their slowest rate since October 2014. While broadly encouraging, they are upbeat enough to provide hope for the economy while also giving authorities the room to unveil growth-boosting stimulus measures. "We anticipate a further recovery in producer price inflation in the coming quarters as commodity price deflation continues to ease, with a return to positive territory by the end of year now looking likely," Julian Evans-Pritchard, of Capital Economics, said. "The upshot is that inflation is unlikely to become a major concern for policymakers this year, allowing them to focus on more pressing issues such as financial stability and structural reform." However, the consumer price index (CPI) -- a main gauge of inflation -- rose 2.0 percent on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics said, lower than April's 2.3 percent and the 2.2 percent median forecast in the Bloomberg survey. Month-on-month, the CPI dropped 0.5 percent, which NBS analyst Yu Qiumei attributed to falling prices of fresh vegetables. "Early in the year, a cold snap hit most parts of China, affecting the production and transport of fresh vegetables," he said, adding: "As this season's fresh vegetables come to market, gradually increasing market supply, the prices of fresh vegetables has returned to normal." Moderate inflation can be a boon to consumption as it pushes buyers to act before prices go up, while falling prices encourage shoppers to delay purchases and companies to put off investment, both of which can hurt growth. | 3 | 99,342 | finance |
Now in its sixth year, the Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria shows little sign of abating. The group has killed some 20,000 people and displaced more than 2 million since launching military operations in 2009. | 5 | 99,343 | news |
WASHINGTON (AP) The House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a rescue package for debt-stricken Puerto Rico, clearing a major hurdle in the ongoing effort to bring relief to the U.S. territory of 3.5 million Americans. The strong bipartisan vote was 297-127 for the legislation that would create a financial control board and allow restructuring of some of Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt. The measure now heads to the Senate, just three weeks before the territory must make a $2 billion payment. In a rare display of political unity, the bill had the support of President Barack Obama, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "The Puerto Rican people are our fellow Americans. They pay our taxes, they fight in our wars. We cannot allow this to happen," Ryan said in imploring lawmakers, especially reluctant conservatives in the GOP caucus, to back the bill during debate. The legislation would allow the seven-member control board to oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt. It does not provide any taxpayer funds to reduce that debt. It would also require the territory to create a fiscal plan. Among other requirements, the plan would have to provide "adequate" funds for public pensions, which the government has underfunded by more than $40 billion. The White House said just after the vote that the Senate should act quickly. "We urge leaders in both parties to build on today's bipartisan momentum and help Puerto Rico move toward lasting economic prosperity," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. The Senate has not yet acted, but senators said this week that they are watching the House vote. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, says that it's likely that the Senate will take up the House version of the bill if it passes the House. Puerto Rico has missed several payments to creditors and faces the $2 billion installment on July 1. A lengthy recession has forced businesses to close, driven up the unemployment rate and sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people to the U.S. mainland. Some schools on the island lack proper electricity and some hospitals have said they can't provide adequate drugs or care. The island's only active air ambulance company announced this week that it has suspended its services. "It is regrettable we have reached this point, but it is reality," said Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's representative in Congress. Despite leadership support, the measure faced opposition from some in the ranks of both parties, as some bondholders, unions and Puerto Rican officials have lobbied against it. Some conservatives said it would cheat bondholders, while some Democrats argued the control board has colonial overtones. Democrats and labor unions have also opposed a provision in the bill that would allow the Puerto Rican government to temporarily lower the minimum wage for some younger workers. A Democratic amendment that would have deleted that provision was rejected, 225-196. Still, Pelosi said the bill will provide the people of Puerto Rico with the tools they need to overcome the crisis and move forward. "Today, more than 3 million of our fellow American citizens in Puerto Rico are facing a fiscal and public debt emergency that threatens their economy, their communities and their families," Pelosi said. In a push to get the bill passed, Obama summoned House Democrats with ties to Puerto Rico to a meeting in the Oval Office on Wednesday, including supporters and opponents of the measure. Ahead of the vote, some bondholder groups tried to pick off conservatives with the argument that the bill is unfair to creditors and tantamount to a bailout for the territory. Some conservatives strongly opposed the bill, expressing concern that it could set a precedent for financially-strapped states. "If Congress is willing to undermine a territory's constitutionally guaranteed bonds today, there is every reason to believe it would be willing to undermine a state's guarantee tomorrow," said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. Others are supporting it. Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador, a Republican born in Puerto Rico who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, helped negotiate the legislation and has worked to sell it to colleagues. Rep. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, a Republican who sponsored the bill, fought back against the idea that the legislation is a bailout of any sort. "The bottom line is, this bill doesn't spend any taxpayer money bailing anybody out," Duffy said. | 5 | 99,344 | news |
NEWPORT, R.I. Engineman? Yeoman? Not so fast. Now that women will be allowed to serve in all combat jobs, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are dropping "man" from some of their job titles to make them inclusive and gender-neutral. Much like the term "fireman" has evolved to "firefighter" and "policeman" to "police officer," an engineman could be called an engine technician and a yeoman could be called an administrative specialist. "This is one more step in how our force has changed," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said in an interview Friday. "Our force has evolved, our force is different. And I believe it's stronger and better." Some Army and Air Force titles end in "man," too, but the services aren't considering changing them. The names are historically significant, and the focus now is on bringing women into the jobs rather than on what to call them, both services said. Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the military in December to open all military jobs to women, including the Marine Corps and special operations forces like Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets. During a visit to Newport, Rhode Island, in late May, Carter was asked by The Associated Press whether job titles that end in "man" should change throughout the military. Carter spoke about the benefits of opening jobs to women to make "full use of the wonderful talents of half of the population of the country." "Signifying that in all appropriate ways is, I think, exactly that, very appropriate and needed," he said. Carter said that he didn't offhand have a good alternative for titles that were stripped of "man," but that someone smart was going to figure it out. Mabus called in January for a review of Navy and Marine titles. There are nearly two dozen in the Navy that end in "man" and roughly a dozen in the Marines. Mabus said he wants titles that more accurately convey who is doing the job and what the job is. "In the overall scheme, it's a small thing, but I think it's important because it's what sailors and Marines call each other, and words do matter," he said. Mabus, who is reviewing the services' recommendations now, said the Navy and Marines will announce changes this summer. Some iconic titles will stay the same, and others will change to make the jobs easier to understand outside of the military, which will help when sailors and Marines are looking for civilian jobs, he added. For example, few civilians know what a hospital corpsman does, Mabus said. A corpsman could be called a medic or an emergency medical technician, much like "messman" was previously changed to culinary specialist, he added. A female yeoman told a senior Navy official that "administrative specialist" would be a better title than yeoman, Mabus said. Lory Manning, a retired Navy captain, said that there are fairly easy substitutes for many of the titles, and that they should be brought up to date. "It's time for us to let go of telling women, 'You're just included. We don't call you out by sex, but just know you're part of mankind,'" said Manning, a senior fellow at the Service Women's Action Network. "When you hear that 'man' at the end, the image is a male image." Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry Pionk said his service branch might consider such changes in the future if it helps accomplish missions. The bigger challenge is that the Army will start to train the first female soldiers to serve in the front-line combat branches later this summer, including the infantry, he added. Infantrymen have walked the battlefields and engaged the nation's enemies for centuries, and "there are a lot of emotions around that," Pionk said. National Infantry Museum Director Frank Hanner served as an infantryman. "No matter what they call us, we'll do the job," Hanner said. Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Brooke Brzozowske said a job title review is not currently underway or being considered in the Air Force. The Coast Guard, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, is monitoring efforts, spokesman Lt. Cmdr. David French said. | 5 | 99,345 | news |
MISSOULA, Mont. For the world, the photograph of a Syrian 3-year-old in a red T-shirt and black sneakers, his lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach, was a horrific symbol of the desperation of hundreds of thousands of refugees. For Mary Poole, a young mother haunted by "those little shoes ... the little face," it was an inspiration. She and members of her book club asked: Why not bring a small number of Syrian families to Missoula? She knows now that this was a "romantic" notion. "It wasn't even a grain of sand in my brain that people wouldn't want to help starving, drowning families," she says. "I didn't do this to be controversial. I didn't do this to stir the pot." But it did. And what started as a clash over a single issue welcoming dozens of refugees to this peaceful corner of western Montana soon erupted into a larger feud over Islam, big government and the idea that Americans should "take care of our own" before worrying about newcomers. Demonstrators took to the streets carrying signs with wildly divergent views: "Rise Above Fear, Refugees Welcome" versus "No Jobs, No Housing, No Free Anything." Neighboring counties and in some cases, neighbors locked horns. Some refugee opponents warned Islamic State terrorists could infiltrate their communities. Missoula Mayor John Engen traces this turmoil to broader fears that have gripped the country. "We have been programmed to be very afraid since 9/11 and to think of people who aren't white Anglo-Saxon Americans as 'other' and we should be afraid of people who are 'other," he says. But Ray Hawk, a commissioner in Ravalli County, just south of here, says the threats are real. "These are folks that have declared war on the United States," he says. The conflict reflects what's happening across the nation in an election year dominated by immigration rhetoric including calls by Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, to build a border wall, deport massive numbers of immigrants living in the country illegally and temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. More generally, Montanans are like other Americans who ask: How are we to live together, as one nation, when we are so estranged? At a time when Americans are polarized over matters ranging from gay marriage to guns, the rift over refugees is yet another "incarnation of the larger divide in the country," says the Rev. Joseph Carver, whose congregation at Missoula's St. Francis Xavier Parish overwhelmingly favors bringing refugees to town. Carver, like others here, believes the spark that ignited this conflict is fear. "Refugees," he declares, "are seen as a threat to our way of life." Missoula is an island of progressive blue surrounded by a sea of conservative red, so disagreements with neighbors aren't unusual. But for many, something feels different about this particular feud in this particular election year. Hostilities seem greater somehow directed not only at those seen as "other" but even some who've long called this place home. "This is the first time I actually look behind me as I walk. I've been here 42 years," says Samir Bitar, an Arabic studies professor at the University of Montana. "It's like every part of my identity is coming under attack, including my American identity." Montana is not a diverse state. Nearly nine of 10 residents are white and only 2 percent of the population is foreign-born, according to Census figures. Since 2012, the state has welcomed just 13 refugees from Cuba and Iraq, according to officials. But if there's one place primed to roll out a welcome mat, it's Missoula, a laid-back college town (it's home to the University of Montana) with coffee houses, bike trails and a peace center named after the first woman member of Congress, who happened to be a pacifist. The community also has a recent history of helping refugees: Hmong, Ukrainians and Belarusians have been resettled here in decades past. So when Poole and others formed a group called Soft Landing, they quickly expanded their plan to include not just Syrians but all refugees and turned to the International Rescue Committee to lead the resettlement. Their efforts were endorsed by Missoula's mayor, most council members and the three Democratic county commissioners, who sent letters to federal officials. Elsewhere, however, the objections were fierce. In Ravalli County, commissioners drafted a letter opposing refugees, after presiding over a packed hearing. And in testimony, letters and at rallies, some Montanans argued that Muslims or others from the Middle East some opposed all refugees could impose new financial pressures and threaten the American way of life. Many said their biggest fear was the U.S. government couldn't conduct adequate screening. "It doesn't make any difference if they're Muslims, Russians, whatever. You have to know who they are, what they've been doing in the past," says Jim Buterbaugh, a construction worker in Whitehall, Montana, who organized three opposition rallies. The other side weighed in with reminders of America's history of providing sanctuary to those who've fled war and oppression, pointed to a lengthy screening process, and noted that other refugees had resettled successfully in the state. Shawn Wathen, a bookstore owner in Ravalli County, was appalled his 18-year-old son was booed when he testified in support of the refugees. Wathen sees the rejection of refugees as a blend of misinformation, economic anxiety and fear of the unknown. "You name whatever religious or ethnic group they can always be seen as the 'other,'" he says. "It just surpasses any notion of reason ... that kind of idea that they are not us, and therefore they pose a threat." The International Rescue Committee has met with Missoula officials to prepare for the refugees about 100 will come over a year. The agency plans to reopen a resettlement office here this fall, after a 25-year absence. Those most likely to be relocated include Congolese, Afghans and Syrians. Mary Poole is looking forward to their arrival, expecting it will change the life of her 17-month-old son, Jack. There will come a day, she says with a smile, when "he will be able to sit in a school next to someone of a different color, of a different language, of a different culture and be able to learn that he lives in a global world. "I don't think we can be insulated anymore." ___ Sharon Cohen, a Chicago-based national writer, can be reached at scohen@ap.org. | 5 | 99,346 | news |
COCONUT ISLAND, Hawaii Coral reefs have almost always been studied up close, by scientists in the water looking at small portions of larger reefs to gather data and knowledge about the larger ecosystems. But NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is taking a step back and getting a wider view, from about 23,000 feet above. NASA and top scientists from around the world are launching a three-year campaign Thursday to gather new data on coral reefs like never before. Using specially designed instruments mounted on high-flying aircraft, the scientists plan to map large swaths of coral around the world in hopes of better understanding how environmental changes are impacting these delicate and important ecosystems. The researchers hope to discover how environmental forces including global warming, acidification and pollution impact coral reefs in different locations by creating detailed images of entire reef ecosystems. "CORAL (Coral Reef Airborne Laboratory) is an airborne mission to survey reefs at select locations across the Pacific," Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences' Eric Hochberg, who is principal investigator for the project, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "The idea is to get a new perspective on coral reefs from above, to study them at a larger scale than we have been able to before, and then relate reef condition to the environment." Hochberg and the project's lead NASA scientist Michelle Gierach were in Oahu's Kaneohe Bay with The Associated Press on Tuesday to gather baseline data in the water. While the primary science will be conducted using instruments that map the sea floor from above, the team must also take baseline measurements in the ocean to validate the data they get from the air, Gierach said. Her main role in the project is to decipher the data gathered from the aircraft. "PRISM, the instrument that we're using ... is the state-of-the-art instrument for addressing coastal and in-water science questions," Gierarch said. "CORAL wouldn't be possible without an instrument like PRISM, it's really the heart and soul of the project." Coral reefs drive many tourist economies around the world, but they provide much more than pretty places to dive and snorkel, Gierach said. Reefs are critical habitat for the majority of the fish humans consume and also protect shorelines from dangerous storm surges and rising ocean levels. Recently scientists have developed pharmaceutical applications from coral reefs, including pain killers that aren't habit forming, Hochberg said. "Just realizing that though you may not see a coral, that you may not have your backyard be within this beautiful environment that we're in right now, corals are impacting you, they are globally important," Gierach said. "We have to understand how they're changing so we can make some managed decisions about their future." Reefs are among the first ecosystems to be dramatically and directly impacted by global warming, according to the researchers. The International Society for Reef Studies Consensus Statement, published in 2015, said that over the past few decades, up to 50 percent of coral reefs have been "largely or completely degraded by a combination of local factors and global climate change." Julia Baum, assistant professor of biology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, has done extensive research on coral reefs and told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the data gathered from this kind of project could prove highly valuable for international reef scientists and the conservation community. "I'm a huge proponent of open source data," Baum said. "To me, the application of this technology to coral reefs holds great promise, but to fulfill that promise the data has to be made openly available to the scientific community." The CORAL researchers said all data will be publicly available and will take about six months to process once captured. Baum acknowledged that a lot of coral reef science has been limited by the lack of broad data sets like this project plans to provide. "As scientific divers we're limited by the depth we can work at and the amount of bottom time that we have while we're diving, so much of underwater marine science, especially on coral reefs is a painstakingly slow process," Baum said. "This Coral Reef Airborne Laboratory can't replace scientists in the water, but it can provide a very high-level, complementary type of data." The CORAL team will study the reefs of Hawaii, Palau, the Mariana Islands, and Australia's Great Barrier Reef over the next three years. ___ Online: http://airbornescience.jpl.nasa.gov/campaign/coral www.coral.bios.edu ___ Follow Caleb Jones on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalebAP See more his work here: http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/caleb-jones | 5 | 99,347 | news |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- One moment, Mac Williamson hit the go-ahead homer for his first career long ball as tens of thousands cheered him. The next, he misjudged the wind in left field and lost a fly ball for a two-base error that could have cost San Francisco the game. BOX SCORE: GIANTS 2, RED SOX 1 Only when the bullpen pulled it out could Williamson exhale. He homered leading off the eighth inning and later got the ball back with a trade of a signed bat and ball, and the Giants held on to beat David Price and the Boston Red Sox 2-1 on Wednesday night to split the quick two-game series. ''The game's humbling, and it couldn't have happened any quicker than it did to me tonight,'' said Williamson, who was anticipating a cut fastball inside after Price had already struck him out twice with it. Brandon Belt also connected for the Giants, who finally got to Price (7-3). He struck out seven over eight innings, allowing three hits and two runs with two walks. The Giants snapped a three-game losing streak. ''To be able to help the team win, not just get my first home run, but have it be a meaningful home run and help the team win, especially at this point in the season, is really special,'' Williamson said. Price and Madison Bumgarner faced off in a rare matchup between two of baseball's top left-handers representing each league, to which Boston manager John Farrell said, ''It was as billed.'' Both pitchers surrendered only a home run before Williamson sent the first pitch deep into the bleachers in left field. ''He's facing one of the elite pitchers in the game,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. ''He got enough of it. He's strong.'' Cory Gearrin (2-0) struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth for the win. Santiago Casilla entered and Williamson immediately committed a two-base error when he dropped Hanley Ramirez's leadoff fly in the ninth, the ball glancing off the outside edge of his glove. One out later, Javier Lopez relieved to face pinch-hitter David Ortiz, who walked. Lopez struck out Travis Shaw then Hunter Strickland retired pinch-hitter Marco Hernandez on a groundout for his second career save and first since 2014. Belt splashed an 0-1 pitch into McCovey Cove for the 69th by a Giants player and first since he did so in September 2014. This was his fifth splash homer, while home run king Barry Bonds hit 35 of them. This marked the first career start at AT&T Park for Price, who received a $217 million, seven-year contract to join Boston during the offseason. ''It was one pitch. I'm not going to let it snowball,'' he said. ''... It's a loss. You have to take the good with the bad.'' Chris Young homered in the fourth for Boston and Dustin Pedroia extended his majors-best hitting streak to 15 games with a leadoff single in the sixth. After San Francisco's five-game home winning streak was snapped in a 5-3, 10-inning loss Tuesday night, the Giants earned just their fifth victory in the last 14 meetings with Boston and only the third in 11 at AT&T Park. The Giants have won each of the last nine starts by Bumgarner - who wasn't happy with his six-inning outing - and the 2014 World Series MVP's stretch of six straight winning decisions held since an April 20 loss to Arizona. Williamson became the first Giants player to put his team ahead on a first career home run in the eighth inning or later since John Patterson in the ninth inning on Sept. 1, 1993, at Atlanta. TRAINER'S ROOM Red Sox: Brock Holt, sidelined since May 20 with a concussion, will meet the team in Minnesota and the next steps will be determined. He spent Wednesday being examined by the University of Pittsburgh's renowned concussion experts. ''He continues to show improvement but is he ready for rehab? The symptoms are there but they're diminishing,'' Farrell said. Giants: RF Hunter Pence is set for surgery on his torn right hamstring Thursday in Dallas. ... C Buster Posey sat out a third straight game with an irritated nerve in his right thumb, and with Thursday's off day he have five full days of rest. Posey has caught Bumgarner every game since 2014, 45 straight. ... RHP Sergio Romo (elbow strain) threw up to 90 feet. ... RHP Matt Cain (strained right hamstring) threw a 72-pitch simulated game while OF Angel Pagan (left hamstring strain) ran the bases and might be ready to begin a rehab assignment as soon as this weekend. UP NEXT Red Sox: RHP Steven Wright (6-4, 2.29 ERA) has thrown a complete game in each of his last three starts heading into his outing Friday at Minnesota. Giants: RHP Johnny Cueto (9-1, 2.16) pitches Friday's series opener opposite Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw (8-1, 1.46). He is 2-0 this season vs. L.A. and 4-2 with a 2.43 ERA over his last six facing the Dodgers. | 1 | 99,348 | sports |
The Cardinals routed the Reds 12-7 on Wednesday. Brandon Moss hit two home runs and Jhonny Peralta added his first home run of the season. | 1 | 99,349 | sports |
CLEVELAND (AP) LeBron James scored 32 points, Kyrie Irving added 30 and the Cleveland Cavaliers, pushed for 48 minutes by a delirious, championship-starved crowd, hammered the Golden State Warriors 120-90 in Game 3 on Wednesday night to pull within 2-1 in the NBA Finals. On their home floor, where they have been dominant all postseason, the Cavs pulled their season from the brink of disaster following back-to-back blowout losses in the Bay Area. "Coaching staff gave us a great game plan and we executed it for 48 minutes," James said. They did it without starting forward Kevin Love, little help from their bench and by keeping Stephen Curry penned in. The league's MVP was mostly MIA, scoring 19 points two in the first half on 6-of-13 shooting. Harrison Barnes scored 18 and Klay Thompson 10 for Golden State, which had won seven straight over Cleveland the first two finals games by a combined 48 points and came back to the birthplace of rock and roll looking to party like they did after winning the title in Quicken Loans Arena last year. The Cavs, though, have made this a series after it appeared the Warriors were on the fast track to another crown. James had called it "do or die" for Cleveland. Well, done and living. "We've got to give the same effort on Friday," James said. "It started defensively and it trickled down to the offensive side." Irving bounced back from two rough games out West, J.R. Smith made five 3-pointers and Tristan Thompson did the dirty work inside, getting 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who improved to 8-0 at home and can even the series with a win in Game 4 on Friday night. The Cavs hardly missed Love, still suffering from a concussion sustained in Game 2. He wanted to play, but Love is still in the NBA's concussion protocol and has not yet been cleared to return by league and team doctors. Coach Tyronn Lue started veteran Richard Jefferson and moved James into Love's power forward spot, giving the Cavs a smaller lineup better equipped to run with the Warriors. The 35-year-old Jefferson gave the Cavs a huge boost in 33 minutes, scoring nine points with eight rebounds. Leading by eight at halftime, Cleveland took control in the third quarter when James and Irving combined on a play that symbolized the Cavs' resurrection. Crawling on his hands and knees after a loose ball near midcourt, James got to his feet and whipped a pass to Irving on the left side. Irving returned a lob to James, who leaped high and flushed it with his right hand, a basket that seemed to erase all that went wrong for the Cavs in California. Before taking the floor, James and the Cavs huddled in the hallway outside their locker room and prayed. James then gave his teammates some instructions. "Follow my lead from the beginning!" he screamed. "And do your job!" The Cavs listened, scoring the game's first nine points and opening a 20-point lead in the first quarter. With their season on the line, this was the response Cleveland had to have, but the Cavs fell back into bad habits in the second quarter, rushing shots and not moving the ball. The Warriors took advantage, outscoring the Cavs 27-18 to pull within 51-43 at halftime. Tip-ins Warriors : Thompson left briefly in the first quarter with a bruised left thigh after he ran into a screen by Cleveland's Timofey Mozgov. ...Coach Steve Kerr became emotional before the game when paying his respects to Sean Rooks, his former Arizona teammate who died Tuesday at the age of 46. "He was a gentle giant," Kerr said. "He always had a smile on his face." Rooks died shortly after he interviewed for an assistant coaching job with New York. ... Green has become Public Enemy No. 1 in Cleveland and elsewhere. He smiled while being booed during pregame warmups. Cavaliers : James has 82 career 30-point games in the playoffs, third most all-time. Only Michael Jordan (109) and Kobe Bryant (88) have more. ... Smith nailed a shot from halfcourt at the end of the second quarter, but the shot came after the horn and was waved off. ... Lue said he doesn't pay any attention to the all the outside second-guessing about his lineups. "I don't care," he said. "They (critics) should be coaches." ... Legendary Browns running back Jim Brown sat courtside and gave the crowd a thumbs-up when he was shown on the giant scoreboard. | 1 | 99,350 | sports |
Highlights of this day in history: Sen. Joseph McCarthy confronted over his anti-communist tactics; Author Charles Dickens dies; Comedian Richard Pryor suffers burns; Secretariat wins Triple Crown; Electric guitar pioneer Les Paul born. (June 9) | 8 | 99,351 | video |
BELIEVELAND Guess these NBA Finals could turn into a classic series after all. Facing ridicule, embarrassment and, well, near extinction, LeBron James and Co. saved face in Game 3 on Wednesday night by demonstrating that there is still reason for their championship-starved Cleveland fans to keep dreaming for a miracle. Hey, it's still such a tall task to dethrone the champs. But for one night, at least, the Cleveland Cavaliers served a pretty good reminder that sometimes strange things happen in the world of sports. BOX SCORE: CAVALIERS 120, WARRIORS 90 I mean, who were these guys? Kyrie Irving was on fire, pouring in 30 points. J.R. Smith found his shot, hitting half of his three-point shots. Tristian Thompson was a beast on the boards. Richard Jefferson flourished in a pinch as a starter. And King James had a game-high 32 points … but didn't have to put it all on his back. This added up to a 120-90 thrashing of the Golden State Warriors. But more than merely reducing the series to a 2-1 margin, the Cavs got their confidence back and a definitive statement. Talk about role reversal. The Cavs lost the first two games of the series by a combined 48 points the largest margin through two games in Finals history. Then they get off the mat with a 30-point blowout. Go figure. It seemed like the Cavs unleashed all of the frustrating fury that was collected in losing seven consecutive games to the Warriors, dating to last year's Finals. No Kevin Love? No problem. With the high-scoring forward not medically cleared to return from the concussion suffered in Game 2, the Cavs rolled with some serious addition by subtraction as Jefferson responded (and played better defense, too) while the raucous crowd provided a sixth-man effect that seemingly more than made up for the manpower lost with Love's setback. There's no place like home, indeed. So they had a party no, actually a revival, given the life-support scenario in play that rewarded the masses who still believe. Nobody does hype quite like the Cavs. The show includes two mascots, a dance team, piped-in noise, thunderous party-music tracks, a hype man who talks on a microphone during the action and constant pleas on the Jumbotron for more noise. Then again, you'd have to expect this at an arena where a 1980s disco ball spins from the rafters. This feel-good scene was too much for the Splash Brothers and their cousins, too. Never mind the debate about whether the Warriors can beat Magic Johnson's Showtime Lakers. They'd better worry about the here and now, because beating the Cavs with Cleveland legend Jim Brown in the house is suddenly too hard for comfort. | 1 | 99,352 | sports |
Cleveland came away with a dominant Game 3 win over the Warriors with Kevin Love. Bill Reiter joins Ryan Bass to discuss whether the Cavs are better off without Love. | 1 | 99,353 | sports |
Relive Wednesday's top MLB highlights, including Wilmer Flores' heroics for the Mets. | 1 | 99,354 | sports |
The Mariners shut out the Indians 5-0 on Wednesday. Taijuan Walker struck out 11 over eight innings and Chris Iannetta hit two home runs in the win. | 1 | 99,355 | sports |
The Rockies shut out the Dodgers 1-0 on Wednesday. Kenta Maeda struck out nine and gave up the lone run over 6.2 innings of work in the loss. | 1 | 99,356 | sports |
If you've been to a vet lately, you know how expensive they can be. But if you can't afford it, there are ways to take a bite out of those bills. | 3 | 99,357 | finance |
Ecuador frustrated Peru's hopes of sealing their Copa America Centenario quarter-final berth, fighting back from two goals down to snatch a 2-2 draw. A superb strike from West Ham's Enner Valencia and a second half effort from Brazil-based midfielder Miller Bolanos on Wednesday completed a gutsy fightback for Ecuador who had earlier gone 2-0 down inside the first 13 minutes. Peru, who had beaten Haiti in their opening Group B game on Saturday, appeared to be cruising into the last eight after the early efforts from Christian Cueva and Edison Flores. But Ecuador's fightback leaves Group B evenly poised heading into the final round of games. Peru are level with Brazil on four points at the top of the standings but trail with a vastly inferior goal difference after the Brazilians' 7-1 mauling of Haiti earlier Wednesday. Peru meet Brazil in their final group game on Sunday. Ecuador meanwhile are third with two points from two games, and will look to rack up a big win against Haiti on Sunday in the hopes of forcing their way into the last eight. | 1 | 99,358 | sports |
Leave or stay? Two British members of the European Parliament share their political and personal views on the upcoming Brexit referendum. Roger Helmer is a representative of UKIP for the East Midlands, and hopes Britain will leave the European Union. | 8 | 99,359 | video |
Tradeshift, a start-up that helps businesses send and pay invoices using software, has raised $75 million from a number of big name investors including HSBC (HSBA-GB) . The latest funding round values the company at around $600 million, according to a source close to the situation. Businesses trade with each other and need to pay for those services. Traditionally invoices would be sent via fax or other offline methods all done on paper. This is an expensive and inefficient method. Tradeshift automates that process in a kind of "social network" that connects suppliers and companies, according to chief executive Christian Lanng. The latest round was led by Data Collective and included HSBC, American Express Ventures, Notion Capital, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, and Pavilion Capital, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings. Lanng said that being backed by large financial institutions gives Tradeshift access to a larger customer base as well as making its software the "de facto" invoicing software globally. Banks like HSBC are able to get access to data such as invoice payments by companies that could help them assess the risk profile of a potential borrower before lending them money. "This is data they don't usually have," Lanng told CNBC in an interview. Tradeshift now has a total user base of over 800,000 while it saw 250 percent growth in transacted value year-over-year in 2015. Lanng could not disclose the exact figure but said the company is approaching $5 billion worth of transactions this month alone. But the hotspot for the company has been Asia, where Tradeshift is "growing like mad" in China and Japan, according to Lanng. The co-founder said that it acquired 10 customers in the first quarter in China alone. Tradeshift's software allows western businesses to connect and transact with suppliers in China, which as seen as one of the world's biggest manufacturing hubs. But Tradeshift is playing in a highly competitive space. Rival Taulia, which offers a similar software to Tradeshift, raised $46 million earlier this year, while new companies like Fluent are experimenting with blockchain technology to solve the global supply chain issue. In addition, large firms are also competing with Tradeshift. In April, Western Union launched its own business-to-business platform to help companies connect with and pay each other. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba also does this. With the availability of capital, many start-ups have opted to stay private for longer, but Lanng said that an initial public offering (IPO) is on the cards in the next couple of years. "I think it has recently become very fashionable in Silicon Valley to say you don't want to IPO, I believe there are lots of really good merits in IPO-ing. I won't put a timeline on it. But we definitely moving to be IPO-ready in the next couple of years and I think it's healthy for a company to do," Lanng told CNBC. "We have a very long-term vision for Tradeshift and as part of that an IPO is certainly in the future." | 3 | 99,360 | finance |
Is your kitchen's hallmark feature its chaotic cabinets, overcrowded counters, or limited space for meal prep? Get cooking on one or more of these 21 organizational solutions to minimize the clutter while maximizing surface and storage space! Is your kitchen s hallmark feature its chaotic cabinets, overcrowded counters, or limited space for meal prep? Get cooking on one or more of these 21 organizational solutions to minimize the clutter while maximizing surface and storage space! Living on the Ledge Create a portrait of perfection and tidiness in the kitchen with this slim line recipe rail. Mount a repurposed picture frame ledge or a strip of painted scrap wood to an empty wall or pantry door and line it with recipe cards and lightweight cooking books to instantly cure cabinet and countertop clutter . Dine 'Til You Drop Think you don t have the kitchen space to both wine and dine your guests? This drop-leaf table for your kitchen or dining room proves otherwise! The space-saver (and party-saver) effortlessly folds up at meal time, and down when guests depart. Island Fever If you re relying exclusively on kitchen counters and cupboards for surface and storage space, you re missing out on a precious hidden workspace. A kitchen island with built-in shelves can pick up clutter where countertops leave off creating a focal point that is equal parts fabulous and functional. Spiced-Up Storage Does preparing dinner feel more like performing a juggling act of pots, pans, and spices? This over-the-stove storage unit, comprising a spare wood plank with built-in hooks, creates ample space above and below for securing spices and cookware as you create a culinary masterpiece. Hamper Clutter When counters and cabinet shelves grow full, take clutter-clearing to the next level. Here, bargain baskets are hoisted atop cabinets to lend sky-high storage potential without requiring you to install or extend new or existing shelves. Hooked to Perfection If you have an extra leaning ladder in the garage , upcycle it into this quick-and-easy vertical storage solution. Simply lean the ladder against a spare section of the kitchen wall. Then, hang large S-hooks on the rungs from which you can stash pots, pans, and homegrown planters. If you don't have a spare ladder on hand, learn how to make your own decorative version here . Hot Rod Good for more than hanging a shower curtain in the bathroom , tension rods can also help you get a handle on kitchen cupboard clutter. Fitted snugly into a window pane and hung with S-hooks, the rods instantly transform into a space-saving floating cupboard for your favorite mugs. Double Down In a pint-sized kitchen, forego clunky chairs for stylish seating options with hidden storage . This ground level drawer topped with butcher block serves as a handsome place to set groceries or essentials. But that s not all! When covered with a throw and pillow, it instantly transforms into a chic and cozy seat for weary guests. Round of Applause Plastic storage containers of assorted shapes and sizes are tricky to organize in a corner cabinet shelf. The solution? Add a wooden round, adorned with patterned contact paper and door handles. Then, top the round with loose knickknacks to put the lazy Susan to work! On the Bright Side Turn a do-nothing space on the side of a kitchen cabinet or island into a practical storage nook for essentials. Here, minimalist spice racks are mounted against the side of a cabinet and filled with toys and electronics to create an awe-inspiring activity and charging station for the whole family. Related: The 6 Best Reasons to Renovate Your Kitchen Keep an Open Mind Attract attention to your color-coordinated cooking essentials and crockware with a cleverly organized open shelving unit. By grouping together similar items into units, you can create a storage solution that is both accessible and artful. Reduce, Reuse, Reinvent A bare wall may seem like an unlikely place for a recycling station. But when adorned with bargain cotton totes for stashing paper, plastic, and glass, the humble hallway transforms into an eco-friendly solution for reducing kitchen waste. Hit a Wall Do you value clear countertops but lack cabinet space to keep clutter off your workspace? Look no further than this off-the-wall storage idea. Mount a scrap wooden plank above the window atop L-brackets to create a space-smart unit for stashing seldom-used dishes and decor. Color Coordination A harmonious color scheme for corner shelving units draws the eye away from clutter and helps your storage blend seamlessly into the space. The key is to choose colors and accents that match surrounding cabinetry and walls. Across the Board Pegboard may be known for its skill in the garage at holding tools, but it also acts as a capable organizer in the kitchen. Mount the pegboard to the wall and fill it with S-hooks to put measuring spoons and salt shakers at your fingertips for easy meal prep. High and Dry Stop wasting space with a countertop dish drying rack, and hang it up instead! With the rack s all-steel assembly and accompanying hooks that hang from a bargain rod mounted above the sink, drip-drying dishes needn't encroach on your personal space. On a Roll Put your reliance in this two-in-one prep station and serving cart for your next barbecue bash . Construction is simple: Attach caster wheels to the feet of a stationary serving table, and voila you have a portable surface to prep the appetizers and then serve them to your guests! Get Hooked By simply installing adhesive hooks, you can transform the quagmire of clutter under the sink into an organizational oasis. Here, hooks mounted to the sides of the cabinet carry lightweight gloves and scrubbing brushes, while accompanying shelves shelter household cleaners and wipes. The Chef Has Arrived From whisks to saucepan lids, non-standard-shaped kitchen tools call for non-traditional storage solutions. This resourceful vertical storage unit, fashioned from towel racks, offers an ideal home for pots, pans, loose lids and strainers without eating up too much space. In the Bag Some of the best things in a DIYer's life are free and these paper bag kitchen organizers prove it. Folded into mix-and-match storage containers, humble paper bags transform into space-smart organizers that can fit and instantly clear cabinet and drawer clutter . | 4 | 99,361 | lifestyle |
CLEVELAND This was the exclamation point, the moment at which the Cavaliers tucked away Game 3 of the NBA Finals, sucking the wind out of the Warriors' already fluttering sails: LeBron James made a steal on a pass from Stephen Curry, stumbled just beyond halfcourt, recovered the ball, fed to Kyrie Irving on the left wing and when Irving returned the favor with an ambitious, floating alley-oop pass, James leapt, his right arm fully cocked, and slammed the pass through. BOX SCORE: CAVALIERS 120, WARRIORS 90 That restored Cleveland's 20-point lead with 2:49 to play in the third quarter and, at the same time, restored the vim and vigor that had been wrung from the Cavaliers in their first two blowout losses of the Finals in Oakland. The Cavs went on to win, 120-90, and dragged themselves back into the series. MORE: Ranking every Finals rematch, from 1953 to LeBron In the wake of last week's Game 2 debacle, there was well-deserved hand-wringing about what could be done for the Cavs once the series turned to Cleveland. The team would be without Kevin Love, recovering from a concussion, and had all but been without Kyrie Irving in the first two games, in which Irving scored a combined 36 points but shot 33.3 percent from the field and had just five assists against six turnovers. But Irving redeemed himself once back at home, finishing with 30 points on 12-for-25 shooting, and adding eight assists. This came after Smith explained that rather than pulling back and taking a less active role in the team's offense despite his struggles, he would instead amp up the aggression. "I'm not really good when I'm not being aggressive off the ball and not being able to get weak-side action and being ready to play on that weak side," Irving said. "So, you know, there is a polar opposite between Game 1 and Game 2 in terms of trying to play in-between, and I can't do that. I have to just have the mindset of continuing to be aggressive, and when I'm getting downhill, that's when it will open opportunities for me to see passing lanes and opportunities." MORE: Will anyone have patience for Kyrie's growth process? It was a great overall performance from the Cavs' starting five, as James finished with 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Wayward shooter J.R. Smith rediscovered his stroke, after making just three shots in the first two games, finishing with 20 points. Center Tristan Thompson was more active and energetic, and his 13 rebounds (seven on the offensive end) were critical to the Cavs' 51-32 dominance of the boards. NBA Finals - Game 3: Warriors at Cavaliers Complete Game Stats | PointAfter Despite some second-quarter resistance from the Warriors, the Cavs won the game in the first, which belonged entirely them. It was as though Cleveland was venting 96 minutes worth of frustration that had festered since last week's Oakland misadventures. Two minutes into the game, when Irving made a layup, the Cavs led, 6-0, matching the biggest lead they've had all series. When Irving drove the basket with 2:14 to play in the first quarter of Game 3 here at Quicken Loans Arena, he put the Cavaliers up by a surprising early margin, 25-10, and at the same time, gave Cleveland its highest scoring first quarter of this series. By the end of the first, the Cavaliers led, 33-16, and had the defending champs on their heels. The Cavs shot a near-impossible 71.4 percent in the opening quarter, while nothing went right for Golden State, which shot 35.0 percent from the field and a mere 1-for-10 from the 3-point line. Making matters worse was the nasty charley horse suffered by Klay Thompson on a moving screen by Timofey Mozgov, which sent Thompson to the locker room for much of the quarter. MORE: Ranking the most important players in this NBA Finals And of some concern for the Warriors going forward, Thompson and Curry were again not quite themselves. Curry entered Game 3 averaging 14.5 points in the series, and Thompson 13.0, but those weak showings were overshadowed by the play of Shaun Livingston in Game 1 and Draymond Green in Game 2. In Game 3, when Golden State needed its Splash Brother stars, they did not answer the call Thompson had 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting, and Curry was 6-for-13 for 19 points. That was a noticeable question mark for the Warriors. Meanwhile, for the Cavs, it was all exclamation points. Watch the top 5 plays from Game 3 | 1 | 99,362 | sports |
Suppose your smartphone is clever enough to grasp your physical surroundings the room's size, the location of doors and windows and the presence of other people. What could it do with that info? We're about to get our first look. On Thursday, Lenovo will give consumers their first chance to buy a phone featuring Google's 3-year-old Project Tango, an attempt to imbue machines with a better understanding about what's around them. Location tracking through GPS and cell towers tells apps where you are, but not much more. Tango uses software and sensors to track motions and size up the contours of rooms, empowering Lenovo's new phone to map building interiors. That's a crucial building block of a promising new frontier in "augmented reality," or the digital projection of lifelike images and data into a real-life environment. If Tango fulfills its promise, furniture shoppers will be able to download digital models of couches, chairs and coffee tables to see how they would look in their actual living rooms. Kids studying the Mesozoic Era would be able to place a virtual Tyrannosaurus or Velociraptor in their home or classroom and even take selfies with one. The technology would even know when to display information about an artist or a scene depicted in a painting as you stroll through a museum. Tango will be able to create internal maps of homes and offices on the fly. Google won't need to build a mapping database ahead of time, as it does with existing services like Google Maps and Street View. Nonetheless, Tango could raise fresh concerns about privacy if controls aren't stringent enough to prevent the on-the-fly maps from being shared with unauthorized apps or heisted by hackers. Lenovo announced its plans for the Tango phone in January, but Thursday will mark the first time that the company is showing the device publicly. At the Lenovo Tech World conference in San Francisco, the Chinese company is expected to announce the phone's price and release date. The efforts come as phone sales are slowing. People have been holding off on upgrades, partly because they haven't gotten excited about the types of technological advances hitting the market during the past few years. Phones offering intriguing new technology could help spur more sales. But Tango's room-mapping technology is probably still too abstract to gain mass appeal right away, says Ramon Llamas, an analyst at the IDC research group. "For most folks, this is still a couple steps ahead of what they can wrap their brains around, so I think there's going to be a long gestation period," Llamas says. Other smartphones promising quantum leaps have flopped. Remember Amazon's Fire phone released with great fanfare two years ago? That souped-up phone featured four front-facing cameras and a gyroscope so some images could be seen in three dimensions. The device also offered a tool called Firefly that could be used to identify objects and sounds. But the Fire fizzled, and Amazon no longer even sells the phone. The key to the Tango phone's success is likely to hinge on the breadth of compelling apps that people find useful in their everyday lives. If history is any guide, the early apps may be more demonstrative than practical. Google already has released experimental Tango devices designed for computer programmers, spurring them to build about 100 apps that will work with Lenovo's new phone. At a conference for developers last month, Google demonstrated an app for picturing furniture in actual living rooms and for taking selfies with digital dinosaurs. Both large and small tech companies are betting that augmented realty, or AR, will take off sooner than later. Microsoft has been selling a $3,000 prototype of its HoloLens AR headset. Others, such as Facebook's Oculus and Samsung, are out with virtual-reality devices. Google has one coming as well through its Daydream project. While AR tries to blend the artificial with your actual surroundings, virtual reality immerses its users in a setting that's entirely fabricated. With both, the devices out so far invariably require users to wear a headset or glasses. In many cases, they also must be tethered to more powerful personal computers, restricting the ability to move around. None of that is necessary with Lenovo's Tango phone. Instead, you get an augmented look at your surroundings through the phone's screen. "This has a chance to become pervasive because it's integrated into a device that you already have with you all the time," says Jeff Meredith, a Lenovo vice president who oversaw development of the Tango device. "You aren't going to have to walk around a mall wearing a headset." Google plans to bring Tango to other phones, but is focusing on the Lenovo partnership this year, according to Johnny Lee, a Google executive who oversaw the team that developed the technology. Tango drew upon previous research in robotics and the U.S. space program. Lee believes three-dimensional imagery and data whether through the new Tango phone or another technology will help reshape the way people interact with e-commerce, education and gaming. | 5 | 99,363 | news |
CLEVELAND All season J.R. Smith's teammates have vouched for his defense. BOX SCORE: CAVALIERS 120, WARRIORS 90 Cleveland Cavaliers coach Ty Lue has called him the team best's perimeter defender, and LeBron James endorsed his defense after Wednesday's Game 3 rout where Smith held Klay Thompson to 10 points, the second lowest total of the postseason. But Smith has another vocal supporter, one who's even closer to him than his coach or his megastar teammate. It's Chris Smith, J.R.'s brother. The two briefly played for the New York Knicks together during the 2013-2014 season. Regardless of perception, Chris said that his older brother has always been about defense. "Always," he told USA TODAY Sports after the Cavaliers dominated the Golden State Warriors in Game 3. "You wouldn't know that unless you know him. A lot of people don't. They misunderstood." James certainly knows what he has in Smith. Even after Smith broke out of a two-game shooting slump by pouring in 20 points, including 5-of-10 three-pointers, James was more vocal of his efforts in stopping Thompson. "He's a two-way player," James said. "Defensively, all year long, that's what he's been doing. Offense comes very free to him, very easy. But the defensive side is what's making him so great. The contribution we got from him for the scoring is all predicated on what he did defensively. … I think it all started on the defensive end. He was much better than he was offensively." Smith had scored eight total points coming into Game 3. His shot was off and he looked frustrated by the Warriors' penchant for switching. But Wednesday he found his rhythm, increasing his tally to 56 three-pointers this postseason, which broke his own Cavs franchise record from last season. He would've had another had a halfcourt heave not come a split-second too late. "Since we landed (in Cleveland) the other day, it was pretty much a clean slate," Smith said. "Get back in the gym, get back to my routines, drive the same route I go to the gym every day." And lock in on defense. Smith contributed to a defensive effort that held the Warriors to 42% shooting, including 27% on three-pointers. Thompson and Steph Curry were 4-of-16 combined from deep on Wednesday night, not markedly different from what they'd shot in the Game 1, but hardly the havoc they'd caused in knocking down 8-of-16 in Game 2. But the fact that the Cavs had been blown out in both overshadowed any particular shortcoming. "I know how I want to dictate the game, and that's on the defensive end," Smith said. "Try to stop Klay as much as I can, try not to let him catch the ball … and let that dictate my offense." Chris, clad in a "Believeland" shirt outside of the Cavs' locker room, said he's adopted Cleveland as his team. "I love this team. If you've got LeBron playing well, and then you got J.R. playing well, and Kyrie gives you 30, I like my chances of winning." Even if big brother's shot isn't falling? "I don't think he ever struggles. If he's playing good defense, it is what it is." Follow Michael Singer on Twitter @msinger . Gallery: Best of the NBA Finals | 1 | 99,364 | sports |
Thailand celebrates King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 70th year on the throne amid anxiety about his health during a critical political juncture. Natasha Howitt reports. | 8 | 99,365 | video |
WASHINGTON On the verge of endorsing Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama will pay tribute to Bernie Sanders' historic candidacy for presidency with an Oval Office meeting aimed at unifying the Democratic Party for a general election brawl with Donald Trump. Sanders, the runner-up for the Democratic nomination, was heading Thursday to the White House under intense pressure to drop out and clear the way for Clinton. Though he showed signs he understood the end was near he was laying off about half his team he vowed to keep fighting for his movement, which Democratic leaders hope will evolve into a new base of support for Clinton. Obama, who was expected to formally endorse Clinton following his midday meeting with Sanders, has sought to give the Vermont senator the courtesy of exiting the race on his own terms. On "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" on Wednesday night, he praised the Sanders campaign. "It was a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to have a contested primary. I thought that Bernie Sanders brought enormous energy and new ideas," Obama said during a taped appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". "And he pushed the party and challenged them. I thought it made Hillary a better candidate." Obama planned to use the meeting, requested by Sanders, to discuss how to build on the enthusiasm Sanders brought to the primary and advance issues like income inequality and campaign finance reform that Sanders championed, the White House said. That's a diplomatic way of saying it's time for Sanders to pass the baton to Clinton, who declared victory over Sanders on Tuesday. Now head to head in the presidential race, Clinton and Trump have one thing in common: Both are working to woo Sanders supporters once his campaign fully sputters. Trump has said he welcomes Sanders' voters "with open arms" while Clinton vowed to reach out proactively to voters who backed her opponent in the Democratic primary. "He has said that he's certainly going to do everything he can to defeat Trump," Clinton said of Sanders in an Associated Press interview. "I'm very much looking forward to working with him to do that." Trump, despite a string of victories this week that reaffirmed his place as the GOP nominee, was still working to convince wary Republicans that he's presidential material. Looking ahead to an upcoming speech attacking Clinton and her husband, Trump tried to turn the page following a dust-up over his comments about a Hispanic judge's ethnicity That controversy and others before it have led prominent Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, to open chastise their party's nominee. Yet Trump's dominance in the GOP race was hard to overstate: He now has 1,542 delegates, including 1,447 required by party rules to vote for him at the convention. It takes just 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination. For Sanders, any rationale for staying in the race grew murkier as even some of his staunchest supporters started looking to Clinton. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon, the one Senate Democrat to endorse Sanders, said Clinton was the nominee and offered his congratulations. And Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Sanders backer from Arizona, suggested the time to rally behind Clinton would come next week when the primary season concludes with the final contest in the District of Columbia. "Bernie's going to do the right thing," Grijalva said Wednesday on the sidelines of discussions about the official Democratic Party platform. Sanders, who also planned to meet Thursday with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, promised to continue his campaign through Tuesday's contest. But about half his campaign staff was being laid off, two people familiar with the plans said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the layoffs. The task of persuading Sanders' supporters to fall in line falls largely to Obama, still one of the Democratic Party's most popular figures. Obama's aides have said he's itching to get off the sidelines and take on Trump, but the key question was whether voters who helped elected him twice would follow his lead now that he's not on the ballot. There was little reason for overconfidence among Democrats, who've never seen that powerful coalition of minorities, young people and women reliably show up for candidates not named Obama. "It's going to be hard to get African-American turnout as high as Obama got it, and to get youth turnout as high as Obama got it," said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster. "We have to work really hard." ___ Associated Press writers Erica Werner, Laurie Kellman and Lisa Lerer contributed to this report. ___ Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Kathleen Hennessey at https://twitter.com/khennessey | 5 | 99,366 | news |
The Giants defeated the Red Sox 2-1 on Wednesday. Brandon Belt and Mac Williamson hit home runs for San Francisco in the victory. | 1 | 99,367 | sports |
Ultimately, Major League Baseball's draft - which begins Thursday night - will be judged by the success of its vaunted crop of high school pitchers. For scouts, the storyline over the past calendar year has centered on just how high the exciting young arms could go. The good news is that the college crop has done its part, with several prospects enhancing their stock in recent months, and as usual the balance between potential high school and college first-rounders appears to be about even. While the draft remains difficult to project, we'll once again see a crop of players more polished than draft classes from, say, a decade ago. An abundance of top-15 picks could make the major leagues by the end of the 2017 season. A look at several themes to watch through the three days and 50 rounds: *** Prep Arms Have Ace Potential Riley Pint and Jason Groome have dominated the prep arms discussion. Groome is a 6-foot-6 lefty prototype with a 92-95 mph fastball and a breaking ball reminiscent of a young Clayton Kershaw. Pint is a tall, lean righty with a fastball that touches triple digits to go with a wipeout slider. They are prospects of the highest order, but only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the quality of this high school pitching crop. More arms have joined Groome and Pint as potential top 10 overall selections, and that group begins with extra polished Braxton Garrett out of Alabama. Garrett pitches at 91-93 mph, has a knockout curveball and locates as well as any pitcher in the class, high school or college. Supremely athletic 6-foot-6 righty Matt Manning has also dazzled scouts in Northern California this spring on the strength of a 92-96 mph fastball and plus curveball. Upstate New York native Ian Anderson boasts a projectable 6-foot-3 frame, a 92-95 mph fastball and an advanced three-pitch mix. In terms of sleepers, look no further than Florida prep lefty Jesus Luzardo, sidelined for now by Tommy John surgery but now a potential steal if someone is willing to be patient with his recovery. *** College Bats Valued Early If you're a team looking for a quality college hitter, you better take him early. Teams in the early part of the first round have heavily scouted players like Mercer slugger Kyle Lewis, Louisville speedster Corey Ray and Tennessee's athletic line drive machine, Nick Senzel. All three of these hitters could be off the board within the first eight to 10 picks. Lewis may be the most intriguing among the trio because his ultimate upside may still yet be unknown. A late blooming 6-foot-4 physical specimen, Lewis erupted last spring at Mercer, tapping into his all fields power and still showing above average speed and elite athleticism. Still making improvements at the plate, this type of still untapped potential is somewhat rare for such an accomplished college offensive star. The college bats are a diverse bunch from a skills perspective. Vanderbilt star Bryan Reynolds is a highly-disciplined switch hitter with standout defensive skills and blossoming power. Wake Forest's Will Craig has posted massive numbers over the last two years and is viewed as potentially one of the fastest moving. Then there are more toolsy options like Florida's Buddy Reed and Auburn's Anfernee Grier, two players with enticing power and speed combinations. Miami catcher Zack Collins could be this draft's Kyle Schwarber in terms of quickly ascending power hitting impact potential. *** Looking For College Arms Scouts entered this spring hoping to find clarity on the college pitching front, but that has proven elusive. It doesn't help that arguably the most talented and polished pitcher in the draft class, Stanford righty Cal Quantrill, spent the spring recovering from Tommy John surgery. He still will likely find a taker in the first round, but would have been a slam dunk top five overall selection. Mississippi State righty Dakota Hudson has taken the biggest step forward, emerging as a a dominant ace in the Southeastern Conference and boasting an explosive 93-97 mph fastball and 87-90 mph slider combination. Florida lefty A.J. Puk may very well be the No. 1 pick thanks to his 94-97 mph fastball and towering 6-foot-7 frame, but he's had his bouts with inconsistency this spring. It's possible that he and Hudson are the only college arms taken in the first 10 picks. In the next tier, you'll see names like Pittsburgh righty T.J. Zeuch and Virginia righty Connor Jones come off the board as potential fast-moving, middle-of-the-rotation starters in the big leagues. Vanderbilt righty Jordan Sheffield and his 93-97 mph fastball will also present an interesting option in the back of the first round. Boston College righty Justin Dunn is an intriguing wild card thanks to his rapid ascent this spring. Formerly a reliever, Dunn took to starting brilliantly, pitching at 93-96 mph with a plus curveball. The 6-foot-2 righty now could now be one of the first three or four college pitchers selected. *** Athleticism Among Prep Bats This is among the most athletic and toolsy crop of position players to come out of the high school ranks in recent memory. Puerto Rico has a proud draft history and the next star to come out of the island will be shortstop Delvin Perez. A ighlight reel defender with plus speed, Perez is an exciting athlete that has added more strength to his 6-foot-3 frame in recent months, although he has reportedly failed a pre-draft drug test. Outstanding defensive outfielder Mickey Moniak has rocketed up draft boards this spring as well, as the California native has dazzled scouts with his rounded combination of advanced hit tool and athleticism. Blake Rutherford is another California prep outfielder that has a chance to be selected in the first half of the first round, on the strength of advanced hitting skills and athleticism. These high school players are arriving far more advanced than they have in years past and this crop comes with a surprisingly impressive degree of polish. | 1 | 99,368 | sports |
Bernie Sanders meets with President Obama Thursday at the White House, as Democrats are telling the presidential candidate it's time to get in line and unite the Democratic Party. Clinton made history this week, becoming the first female presumptive presidential nominee of a major U.S. political party. Gerald Seib, Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau chief, joins "CBS This Morning" to discuss how Sanders' actions could impact Clinton's campaign. | 5 | 99,369 | news |
When it comes to productivity, it pays to be tall. Researchers find taller people increased their hourly earnings more than their shorter peers. Keleigh Nealon (@keleighnealon) has the story. | 8 | 99,370 | video |
Families can explore Grand Teton National Park's wonders by foot, horseback or boat. Video shot by Brian Kaufman, Detroit Free Press. | 8 | 99,371 | video |
The Swiss town of Gruyères is famous primarily for its eponymous cheese, but this week it set its sights on another culinary achievement and went after the world record for the world's longest meringue. These food records are a popular way for a town to get a few headlines, but according to Sputnik News , people rarely make an attempt at the meringue record. The previous record was set in 1986 by the Swiss town of Meiringen, which boasts of being the place where meringues were invented way back at the beginning of the 17th century. 8 Shocking World Beer Records (Slideshow) Nobody has made an attempt on the meringue record since 1985, even though that meringue was only about eight feet long. The Gruyères meringue will be tougher to beat, because it measured in at about 100 meters, or 328 feet, long. The Gruyères meringue took nine chefs and 1,000 egg whites to prepare, and it was served topped with Swiss double cream on Sunday at the Gruyères Double Cream festival. Now Watch How to Create a Simple Cheese Platter: | 0 | 99,372 | foodanddrink |
America's best impressions of the presidential candidates. America's best impressions of the presidential candidates. The images of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are seen painted on decorative pumpkins created by artist John Kettman in LaSalle, Illinois, June 8, 2016. Supporter Forrest Surber dressed as Donald Trump pumps his fist before a campaign event in Radford, Virginia February 29, 2016. Five-year-old Ashlyn Baugher, dressed in her Halloween costume as Hillary Clinton, poses for photographs at a campaign "Meet and Greet" in Nashua, New Hampshire October 16, 2015. The image of Donald Trump is seen painted on a match stick created by artist John Kettman in LaSalle, Illinois, June 8, 2016. Donald Trump signs a supporter's tattooed arm after a rally in San Diego, California, May 27, 2016. The image of Hillary Clinton is seen painted on a lollipop created by artist John Kettman in LaSalle, Illinois, June 8, 2016. Supporters of Hillary Clinton, who came to her rally in costume as Donald Trump and Clinton, clown around as they attend her Super Tuesday night party in Miami, Florida, March 1, 2016. Supporters of Hillary Clinton cheer during a campaign event in San Jose, California, May 26, 2016. Supporters cheer as Bernie Sanders addresses supporters following the closing of the polls in the California presidential primary in Santa Monica, California, June 7, 2016. A supporter shows his tattoo before Donald Trump's campaign rally at Winner Aviation in Youngstown, Ohio March 14, 2016. A man holds a souvenir Hillary Clinton nutcracker as he waits during a John Kasich campaign stop at the Puritan Backroom Restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire, February 6, 2016. A t-shirt of a supporter of Bernie Sanders is adorned with pins at a campaign rally in San Francisco, California, June 6, 2016. A man holds a sign while advertising a temporary store selling artwork referencing Donald Trump made by the artist Hanksy in New York, June 4, 2016. A Bernie Sanders action figure prototype is seen in a photo illustration taken in Brooklyn, New York February 25, 2016. A pinata of Donald Trump hangs outside offices for Bernie Sanders in Taos, New Mexico, June 2, 2016. A young girl holds a Hillary action figure as she waits in the crowd for Hillary Clinton to make a campaign stop in Westminster, California, June 3, 2016. Bernie Sanders artwork by Amanda Burkman is displayed during the candidate's campaign rally at Colton Hall in Monterey, California, May 31, 2016. An impersonator of Donald Trump is seen next to a poster depicting Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada February 22, 2016. A supporter of Donald Trump takes a photo with a hat vendor dressed as Trump outside a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 13, 2016. A young supporter of Bernie Sanders wears a temporary tattoo depicting Sanders as Robin Hood, outside of the venue before the start of the Univision News and Washington Post Democratic presidential candidates debate in Kendall, Florida, March 9, 2016. | 5 | 99,373 | news |
Malaysian police said Thursday more than 10 people have been arrested after an investigation found immigration department staff had colluded with criminal groups to manipulate information on who entered or left the country, local media said. The subterfuge was centred at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and had begun in 2010, the department's director-general, Sakib Kusmi, earlier said. "We are still investigating. So far we have made more than 10 arrests and have seized documents from them as well," national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted as saying by English-language newspaper The Star. Five of those arrested were reportedly immigration department officers, while the roles of the others were not immediately clear. No further details were given. Authorities sacked 15 immigration officers and suspended 14 others last week over security breaches which allowed criminal syndicates to manipulate systems that track entry and exit. Around two dozen other department staff have faced administrative action or were under observation and 63 have been transferred, the immigration department said last week. Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi said last month that about 100 people, including immigration officers and criminal syndicate members, were under investigation over the breaches. No mention was made of any terrorist or extremist involvement in the affair. Muslim-majority Malaysia has said that scores of its citizens have gone to join the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, and authorities have been on heightened alert against extremists returning to carry out attacks at home. | 5 | 99,374 | news |
One of baseball's most notorious bachelors Derek Jeter will officially be off the market in a matter of weeks. According to the New York Post , Jeter, 41, and swimsuit model fiancée Hannah Davis, 26, will tie the knot July 2 at the five-star resort Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley. But don't expect a big show of it as only close family and friends will be in attendance. MORE: Baseball players' wives and girlfriends "It is going to be an intimate ceremony, rather than a big affair with all the Yankees and every big name in sports," au unidentified New York Post source said. However, former Yankee Jorge Posada is expected to be on hand as Jeter was his best man in 2000. The Post also reported that the couple, who became engaged in October, will try to have kids as soon as they return from a three-week honeymoon in Europe. | 1 | 99,375 | sports |
W. Kamau Bell breaks down the economics of social security. "United Shades of America" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. | 8 | 99,376 | video |
SOMERSET WEST, South Africa (AP) -- South Africa's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by former Grand Slam tennis champion Bob Hewitt on Thursday and ruled he must serve a six-year jail sentence for the rapes and sexual assaults of young girls he coached decades ago. A panel of three judges at the Supreme Court of Appeal said in a written judgment that the prison sentence given to Hewitt at the end of his trial was appropriate and fits "the criminal and the crime." Hewitt, now 76, was convicted and sentenced last year. The Supreme Court judges said he "showed no remorse for his vile deeds." He was found guilty of raping two girls and sexually assaulting a third in the 1980s and 1990s. The victims were minors at the time of the assaults. They are now grown women who had to wait more than two decades for justice. Hewitt "exploited the complainants' innocence and youth and forced them to submit to his wicked desires. He abused his position of authority and responsibility towards them," the Supreme Court judges wrote. His standing as a "tennis icon" had no bearing on the case, the appeal court said, and his "celebrated status does not therefore earn him a special sentence." The Australia-born Hewitt won 15 Grand Slam titles in doubles and mixed doubles, and played occasionally with greats Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. He also won the Davis Cup with South Africa in 1974 after moving to the country and taking on citizenship. He has been held under a form of house arrest at his farm in southern South Africa since his conviction. Hewitt has 48 hours to report to jail, said a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, Luvuyo Mfaku. "His appeal has not succeeded and Bob Hewitt will be in jail for six years," Eyewitness News quoted Miranda Friedman of Women and Men against Child Abuse as saying. "It is a massive victory for children all over the world who were abused and raped, who have now come forward as adults." Citing his age and poor health, Hewitt's lawyers argued that a form of house arrest would be an appropriate sentence. Hewitt also argued that the rapes were not "brutal" and he stopped assaulting one victim when she complained. The United States-based International Tennis Hall of Fame this year expelled Hewitt as a member. At least one other woman in the U.S. has accused him of raping her when he was her coach years ago. | 1 | 99,377 | sports |
CLEVELAND, OH - JUNE 8: Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors looks on during the game during the 2016 NBA Finals Game Three on June 8, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) Nathaniel S. Butler AP The Cleveland Cavaliers had a sterling Game 3 performance in a 120-90 win over the Warriors Wednesday night. It was the kind of blowout win that gets people excited, gets people saying "we have a series" -- the kind of blowout that leads to laudatory articles about critical adjustments and genius gameplans and paradigm shifts. But here's the thing: the Cavs didn't do anything to mess up the Warriors Wednesday night. The Cavs played a tremendous game -- by far their best game of the series -- but there wasn't some dramatic gameplan change that helped them win what was a must-win game. It's a make-or-miss league. Wednesday night, the Warriors missed, while the Cavs, for the first time in the series, made. Jun 8, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) reacts while walking to the bench during the second quarter in game three of the NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports Ken Blaze The shots the Warriors missed Wednesday night weren't increasingly contested or out of the norm. The Warriors ran their sets, and while the Cavs were more engaged on defense in Game 3, Golden State's shooters still saw looks they liked -- open looks. The Warriors had 37 uncontested shots in Game 3 -- only three fewer than their average between Games 1 and 2 -- but Golden State shooters only made 15 of those open looks Wednesday. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, two of the greatest shooters in NBA history, combined to shoot 33 percent on their uncontested shots in Game 3. The duo made only four of their 16 3-point attempts Wednesday, giving the Splash Brothers one fewer make than Cavs swingman JR Smith, who was 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. The Cavs didn't increase the number of 3-pointers they attempted in Game 3 -- they're continuing to be outshot by the Warriors from distance -- but they still made two more 3s than the Warriors, who shot 27 percent from beyond the arc Wednesday. Sometimes you make, sometimes you miss. The real question is if you really think those shooting numbers will hold true in three of the next four games. You shouldn't. The Warriors don't stay cold for long, and the Cavs weren't doing anything schematically different in Game 3. CLEVELAND, OH - JUNE 08: Kyrie Irving #2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts with Channing Frye #9 during the first half against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena on June 8, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) Jason Miller Getty Images North America Kyrie Irving showed up to the Finals in Game 3, but he was playing the same game he played in Games 1 and 2. He just made shots Wednesday. They weren't necessary great shots either -- two-thirds of Irving's Game 3 field goals were unassisted. LeBron James made mid-range jump shots in Game 3 -- he didn't score from midrange in the first two games of the series -- and that opened up a bit for the Cavs' offense, but the mid-range game wasn't prolific enough to think those six points were the difference in the contest. The Warriors' poor shooting doesn't add up to a 30-point blowout loss either, but allowing the Cavs to have 35 extra possessions certainly explains a lot. The Cavs' 17 offensive rebounds resulted in 23 second-chance points -- the Warriors' 18 turnovers turned into 34 points the other way. Those are energy points -- the Cavs pounced on the Warriors' lack of fight early in the contest and never relented. Even the coaches admitted that effort was the main (if not sole) difference in the contest. "The only change is just playing hard," Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said after the game. "We weren't ready to play," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "We were extremely soft to start the game, and then they set the tone with their intensity ... It's going to take more than an effort like that to win a Finals game against a great team, obviously." It's almost -- almost -- excusable for the Warriors to have shown a lack of effort in Game 3 -- after all, Games 1 and 2 looked so easy. And of course the Cavs came out ready and rearing for Game 3 -- they're an excellent basketball team that was in a do-or-die mode. Or, as Draymond Green summed it up: "They came out and played like a team with a sense of desperation, like their season was on the line, and we came out and played like everything was peaches and cream." But the challenge has been established for the Warriors ahead of Game 4, and while the contest is critical, the feelings of desperation can't possibly be as strong for the Cavs in Friday's contest. CLEVELAND, OH - JUNE 8: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers goes up for a dunk against the Golden State Warriors against the Golden State Warriors in Game Three of the 2016 NBA Finals on June 8, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) Jesse D. Garrabrant The Cavs played a tremendous offensive game Wednesday -- one that they should aim to repeat in Game 4 and beyond -- but they didn't do anything to give the impression that they have figured out how to beat the 87-win Warriors on either end of the court. They merely found themselves on the other end of poor shooting and lackadaisical efforts. Credit to them for capitalizing on the opportunity. And if Lue is being honest in his assessment that the only change between the Cavs' Game 1 and 2 losses and Game 3 win was effort, then the Warriors' gameplan to win Game 4 is simple, easily implemented, and replicable. "We're still up 2-1, and law of averages, it will all even out. Just got to keep the confidence high," Thompson said. The Cavs haven't figured out anything -- they just showed up in a big way on a day the Warriors took off. | 1 | 99,378 | sports |
Releasing genetically-modified mosquitoes into the wild to fight malaria, Zika or other insect-borne diseases is premature and could have unintended consequences, researchers said in a new report. "Our committee urges caution -- a lot more research is needed to understand the scientific, ethical, regulatory and social consequences of releasing such organisms," said Arizona State University professor James Collins, who was co-chair of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine committee. The committee was studying gene drives -- systems of "biased inheritance" that make it more likely for a genetic trait to pass from parent to offspring. With new gene-editing techniques, modifications can quickly spread through a population via a gene drive, greatly increasing chances that the altered gene will become widespread. "Preliminary research suggested that gene drives developed in the laboratory could spread a targeted gene through nearly 100 percent of a population of yeast, fruit flies or mosquitoes," the academies said in a news release announcing the committee's report Wednesday. The technology could potentially be used to target wild mosquitoes, modifying them so they are not able to carry or spread infectious diseases such as dengue, malaria and Zika. In agriculture, gene drive might be used to control pests that damage crops. However, such technology could have devastating unintended consequences "such as the unintentional disruption of a non-target species or the establishment of a second, more resilient invasive species," the researchers said. "Because the goal of using a gene drive is to spread genetic information throughout a population rapidly, it is difficult to anticipate its impact and important to minimize the potential for unintended consequences," the report said, calling for more research, phased testing and better collaboration among scientists. The committee found that existing regulations are insufficient for assessing risks of field experiments or planned releases of organisms modified through gene drives. "As of May 2016, no ecological risk assessment has been conducted for a gene-drive modified organism," the report noted. | 5 | 99,379 | news |
Netflix takes a closer look at what their customers are watching and finds when it comes to binging viewers plow through thrillers and Sci-fi the most. Angeli Kakade (@angelikakade) has the story. | 8 | 99,380 | video |
And we're off! EURO 2016 kicks off on Friday evening. Hosts France take on Romania in the opener at 21.00 CET. FC Bayern boast nine stars involved in the tournament, and Mats Hummels and Renato Sanches, who will join the Bavarians for the coming season, are not even included in the number. fcbayern.de has taken a closer look at the squads featuring FCB pros. Which sides face off? Where are the team bases? Who is tipped to make it to the final at Stade de France on 10 July? Germany: Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, Mario Götze, Jérôme Boateng, Joshua Kimmich Opponents in Group C: Poland, Northern Ireland, Ukraine Team base in Evian-Les-Bains (Lake Geneva) Venues: Lille, Saint-Denis, Paris The world champions and three-time European champions are among the favourites for the title. Recent injury problems Marco Reus and Antonio Rüdiger were forced to withdraw from the squad, captain Bastian Schweinsteiger and defensive pillar Mats Hummels are unlikely to be 100 percent fit in time for the first match have not dampened the expectations. "If you're world champions your next goal can only be to win the European championship. But it's not going to be easy, there are very strong teams in this tournament. A lot of things have to work out," said Boateng. Poland: Robert Lewandowski Opponents in Group C: Germany, Northern Ireland, Ukraine Team base in La Baule (Atlantic seaboard) Venues: Nice, Saint-Denis, Marseille Euphoria has gripped Poland after they made a great impression over the course of their qualifying campaign. The Poles finished only one point short of group winners Germany. Skipper Lewandowski in particular hit the headlines, equalling the qualifiers goalscoring record on 13 goals. Poland have never made it through the group stage, but Lewandowski & Co aim to change that. "We can beat anyone even if we aren't favourites in every match," commented the FCB striker: "We haven't come here just to take part, we want to win something." Austria: David Alaba Opponents in Group F: Hungary, Portugal, Iceland Team base in Mallemort (Provence) Venues: Bordeaux, Paris, Saint-Denis Their status as hosts booked Austria a berth in the EURO 2008, but the 2016 finals are the first tournament they compete in because they have sealed a spot over the course of their qualifying campaign. The expectations are high after impressive displays. "We certainly aren't top favourites for most people, but I'm pretty confident we'll go far," said Alaba. France: Kingsley Coman Opponents in Group A: Albania, Romania, Switzerland Team base in Clairefontaine (to the south-west of Paris) Venues: Saint-Denis, Marseille, Lille The hosts are among the favourites after strong displays in the friendlies. "We're well-prepared and focused. We have plenty of quality. We're playing at home. But first and foremost we have to keep our cool. Our goal is to go as far as possible, to the final. We'll give it everything," said Coman. Spain: Thiago Opponents in Group D: Croatia, Czech Republic, Turkey Team base in Saint-Martin-de-Ré (between Bordeaux and Nantes on the Atlantic seaboard) Venues: Toulouse, Nice, Bordeaux Holders Spain are three-time European champions. A triumph would mean Furia Roja win the European championship for the third time on the bounce. "All players contest the finals with one goal: to win the title," said Thiago. | 1 | 99,381 | sports |
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to sustained strength in the labor market despite a sharp slowdown in hiring last month. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits declined 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 264,000 for the week ended June 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast initial claims rising to 270,000 in the latest week. Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a strong job market, for 66 straight weeks, the longest streak since 1973. The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 7,500 to 269,500 last week. A Labor Department analyst said there were no special factors influencing last week's claims data. Only claims for Maryland were estimated. The report was the latest indication that the labor market remains strong even though the economy added only 38,000 jobs in May, the smallest gain since September 2010. A report on Wednesday showed job openings hitting a nine-month high in April and layoffs falling to their lowest level since September 2014. The health of the labor market will likely determine the timing of the next Federal Reserve interest rate increase. Fed Chair Janet Yellen this week reiterated the U.S. central bank's desire to raise rates, but gave no hints on when that might happen. Before May's dismal jobs report, Yellen had signaled interest rates would rise "in coming months" if economic data continued to suggest that growth was picking up in the second quarter. The Fed lifted its benchmark overnight interest rate in December for the first time in nearly a decade. Thursday's claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid dropped 77,000 to 2.10 million in the week ended May 28, the lowest level since October 2000. The four-week average of the so-called continuing claims fell 17,500 to 2.15 million. The insured unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to a record low of 1.5 percent. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao) | 3 | 99,382 | finance |
(Bloomberg) -- Canadian bank losses on consumer loans can remain manageable through Alberta's crude oil crash barring a wider jump in unemployment or interest rates, according to ratings firm DBRS Ltd. Income before provisions and taxes at the six largest banks "provides ample protection against rising loan losses in stressed environments," according to a report released Thursday by the Toronto-based company. Canada's largest banks are also shielded by mortgage loan portfolios that are spread across the nation's 10 provinces including faster growing and larger economies in Quebec and Ontario, DBRS said. The findings mesh with the view of the country's central bank, which will provide a semi-annual update on financial market risks later Thursday in Ottawa. Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Larry Schembri said in February the risk of a widespread real estate crash remains low and said the financial system is strong enough to deal with a housing shock. Alberta consumers are struggling to make mortgage, credit card and auto loan payments, DBRS said. The share of mortgage balances that were at least 90 days delinquent in Canada's main oil-producing province was 0.41 percent in the 12 months through March, higher than Ontario's 0.13 percent. For auto loans the Alberta delinquency rate was 0.86 percent and for credit cards it was 1.11 percent, up 47 percent over the last year. The DBRS study was based on data from Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and National Bank of Canada. To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net, Chris Fournier, Stephen Wicary ©2016 Bloomberg L.P. | 3 | 99,383 | finance |
VIENNA (AP) -- Two more sponsors reinforced their support of Maria Sharapova on Thursday, one day after the five-time Grand Slam champion was banned for two years for doping. Racket supplier Head and bottled water company Evian followed sports gear giant Nike by saying they continue to back the 29-year old Russian, who is set to appeal her suspension. However, Avon announced it would not extend a partnership that was set to expire. But the manufacturer of beauty and personal care products said its decision had nothing to do with Sharapova's doping ban. Head CEO Johan Eliasch called the suspension imposed by an International Tennis Federation anti-doping tribunal "a flawed decision," repeating his comment that the substance Sharapova tested positive for, meldonium, shouldn't have been added to WADA's banned list on Jan. 1. According to the Austrian-based racket company, there was a lack of scientific evidence for the supposed performance-enhancing effect of meldonium, and there were also no studies indicating its usage could affect the health of an athlete. "It appears that the ITF have made their decision based upon a flawed process undertaken by WADA," Eliasch said. "That clearly highlights how WADA have broken their own rules in determining whether or not meldonium should be banned." He claimed the World Anti-Doping Agency made its decision "based upon the amount of athletes using meldonium rather than any scientific evidence." More than 170 athletes, mainly from Eastern Europe, failed doping tests in the first three months after meldonium became a banned substance. Meldonium is a blood-flow drug that historically was used to improve Soviet soldiers' endurance. >" style="position:static;vertical-align:top;margin:0 auto;display:block;width:600px !important;max-width:100%;min-height:560px !important;max-height:none !important;border:none;overflow:hidden;" width="600"> " style="font:14px/16px arial;color:#3d3d3d;" target="_blank">Highest Paid Female Athletes of 2015 | Graphiq In April, WADA said athletes could avoid sanctions if their sample showed only minor traces of meldonium, indicating they stopped taking it before it was banned. That, however, didn't apply to Sharapova. Head backed Sharapova three months ago when she was initially suspended and revealed she failed a doping test at the Australian Open in January. Head even announced a new racket deal with her. She has been using the equipment since 2011. His company "will continue to stand by Miss Sharapova," Eliasch said. Evian said it was still supporting her because her infringement of the doping rules was "not intentional." Other brands, including TAG Heuer and Porsche, suspended their support of the world's highest-earning female athlete in March. Sharapova has announced she will appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport. "While the tribunal concluded correctly that I did not intentionally violate the anti-doping rules, I cannot accept an unfairly harsh two-year suspension," she said on her Facebook page. Sharapova claimed she had been taking the drug for 10 years for various health issues, and that she failed to check the new list of banned substances last year. PHOTOS: Maria Sharapova through the years | 1 | 99,384 | sports |
WETUMPKA, Ala. Police in an Alabama town arrested a man who films videos and posts them online, saying his video in Wetumpka led to so many angry calls to the police department that its phone system jammed, hindering dispatchers from answering 911 calls. Wetumpka city officials say in a news release that Lynwood Keith Golden of Coosada films police and government buildings for his "Bama Camera" YouTube channel, then encourages viewers to "begin mass communication" to agencies featured in the videos. City officials say the phone calls were "obscene, threatening and racially motivated." Golden posted a video Sunday of himself being questioned by police officers as he filmed them in Wetumpka. Police say they questioned him briefly at the time, but let him go. Golden faces a charge of interference with public safety communications. | 5 | 99,385 | news |
AKRON, Ohio (AP) Former Ohio State star and NFL player Christopher ''Beanie'' Wells has testified against a man suspected of trying to extort at least $65,000 from him over a botched drug deal. Cleveland.com reports the 27-year-old Wells testified Wednesday at Franklin Conley's federal trial, denying Conley's allegations that Wells was tied up in drug dealing. Prosecutors say the 28-year-old Akron man threatened violence toward Wells and his family if the former Arizona Cardinals running back didn't pay between $65,000 and $175,000. Conley's attorney says Wells and his brother helped arrange a bad drug deal for Conley and another man and took their money. Wells adamantly denied that. He isn't charged with a crime. Wells was released by the Cardinals in 2013, later tore his Achilles tendon and hasn't played since then. --- Information from: cleveland.com, http://www.cleveland.com | 1 | 99,386 | sports |
Fancy sleeping with the fishes? Then Airbnb's latest listing, a studio apartment floating on the Great Barrier Reef, might be for you. The travel site is launching a competition that will see the lucky winner (and three lucky guests) spend the night in one of the world's greatest natural wonders, for one night only. The studio features a master double bedroom and two bunk beds, as well as an open-air living space. Of course, the real attraction is the vast expanse of water below, containing 1,625 different types of fish, 133 varieties of sharks and rays and more than 30 species of whales and dolphins. The package includes a diving session with the studio's host, as well as home-cooked food from celebrated Australian chef Neil Perry. The contest, timed to coincide with the release of the new Disney Pixar film "Finding Dory," will accept submissions from June 9 at 5 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time until June 30 at 11:59 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. For more information, see www.airbnb.com | 2 | 99,387 | travel |
Here are some highlights from Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail. | 5 | 99,388 | news |
President Obama says Democrats are only too happy to run against Donald Trump, but he is personally "worried" about the fate of the Republican Party. "This country works when you have two parties that are serious and trying to solve problems," Obama told Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon. "And they've got philosophical differences and they have fierce debates and they argue and they contest elections." Indicating that Trump is not a serious candidate, Obama said that what has happened in the Republican Party "is not actually good for the country as a whole. It's not something Democrats should wish for." Saying the nation needs a "healthy two-party system," Obama said that he hopes that "there's some corrective action" after this year's election. Obama's lament began after Fallon asked if the president thinks that Republicans are happy with their choice of nominee. Obama's response: "We are ... I don't know how they're feeling." | 5 | 99,389 | news |
Bonds might not seem attractive to investors given the environment of low interest rates . But depending where investors are in their lives, these traditionally safer investments may be just right. There are a couple of ways to make money on bonds, also known as fixed-income investments. First, investors get paid an interest rate of a certain percentage of the bond's face value. Also, bond prices move up and down, just like stocks. Interest rates and the risk premium, the amount paid to investors for taking on the risk of the debt, are main price drivers for bonds, says Wayne Schmidt, chief investment officer at Gradient Investments in Arden Hills, Minnesota. [See: The 10 Best REIT ETFs on the Market .] To seek value, investors want to buy bonds when interest rates are dropping, as bond prices move inversely with rates, Schmidt says. That lets bonds move up in value. For corporate bonds, which generally offer higher yields than Treasury bonds because they are riskier, investors will want to buy them when the difference between their yield and the yield on Treasuries is narrowing, Schmidt says. That also means the bonds are appreciating. The yield on bonds will increase if the company that issued the debt has trouble and its credit risk increases widening the bonds' difference with Treasury yields, he says. "Bonds play a pretty strategic role in the portfolio," says Meb Faber, a co-founder and chief investment officer of Cambria Investment Management in El Segundo, California. There are differences. Not all bonds are created equal, Faber says. He cites differences in Treasury bonds, corporate bonds and emerging market bonds. In the early 2000s, investors could own a bond portfolio that would yield 6 percent, Schmidt says. But these days, low interest rates mean bond yields are also low, so investors should be aware of what they're getting into, he says. The 10-year Treasury note is yielding 1.7 percent. To get that 6 percent yield now, investors would have to buy corporate bonds from companies with higher credit risks, he says. Now is not a good time for investors looking for value appreciation to get into bonds because of low interest rates from the Federal Reserve , Schmidt says. And he doesn't think bonds will get cheaper anytime soon, as he sees low interest rates continuing for three to five years. "There's not a lot of upside, and there's not a lot of income in today's market," Schmidt says. However, bonds offer more stability than stocks, and bonds can be the way to go for investors who are looking to protect their portfolio and control volatility, he says. But that has to come with lower expectations about earnings, he says. Others may want to own bonds that mature in certain years so they can target income around life events, Schmidt says, such as retirement income or paying for a child's college tuition. Faber recommends most investors don't try to time the market when they buy or sell bonds, but keep have them as part of a strategic portfolio allocation. "Investors are horrific at timing," he says. Aside from owning individual Treasurys because of their low credit risk and liquid market, picking individual bonds should be left to institutional buyers, Schmidt says. For retail investors, he recommends sticking with bond mutual funds or exchange-traded funds , which offer diversification and liquidity. He prefers ETFs because they are generally cheaper than mutual funds. Assume risk for more earnings. For people willing to take on more risk, Schmidt recommends high-yield bonds in a portfolio because their income advantage offers value compared to the lower-earning Treasurys and investment-grade corporate bonds. "You're trading off credit risk for income," Schmidt says. One high-yield ETF that Schmidt likes is the VanEck Vectors Fallen Angel High Yield Bond ETF (ticker: ANGL), a portfolio bonds that had been investment grade. These bonds tend to perform better and have fewer defaults, he says. He also likes Guggenheim Investments' BulletShares series, praising the combination of high-yield bonds with diversification and targeted maturity dates. Faber, who co-manages the Cambria Sovereign Bond ETF (SOVB), recommends holding foreign bonds, saying investors can get a 6 to 7 percent yield with high-yield sovereign bond funds. In addition to sovereign debt being a good allocation right now, Faber says high-yield and high-quality corporate bonds are also trading at an acceptable spread over Treasury yields. Those are more equity like, but investors shouldn't expect these more-risky investments to have the same safe-haven qualities as Treasurys, he says. | 3 | 99,390 | finance |
Besides being a swell singing cowboy, Gene Autry was also a pretty smart investor. He bought KTLA-TV for $12 million and sold it for 20 times as much. He also paid $2.45 million for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels when they were an expansion team. That was in 1961. In 1998, he sold the Angels to the Walt Disney Co . (ticker: DIS) for about $150 million. It was a year before his death. Talk about cashing out. And while there's no proof Autry's purchase of a 110-acre ranch had any link to his hit "Don't Fence Me In," it's easy to picture him gleefully rolling in dough as he sang, "Give me land, lots of land under starry skies above." Land investing has always been big business and today, it's starry skies and high hopes for those who tackle it in new ways made possible by better information and business innovation. Those elements certainly haven't removed all risk, but they help investors reap what they sew in ways not possible a generation ago. [See: The 9 Best Investors of All Time .] One new wrinkle comes via investment crowdfunding through the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which went into effect last month. For the very first time, it allows non-accredited investors to back private companies. Before that, accredited investors those with a net worth of at least $1 million were the only ones allowed to do so. In the planning stages for the better part of four years ever since President Obama signed the JOBS Act in 2012 real estate crowdfunding awaited the green light from government regulators. Now that it's a go, the investment channel provides an accessible mode for individuals interested in putting real estate in their portfolio and, boosters say, reaping returns that can surpass 10 percent annually. "At a time when the stock market has been particularly volatile and where yield is hard to find because of low interest rates, the real estate is a sector where you can find relative stability and strong performance," says Charles Clinton, CEO of EquityMultiple, an online real estate investment platform based in New York City. Of course, as far as the JOBS Act and real estate go, "The industry frankly isn't old enough to have much statistical evidence in one direction or another," Clinton says. And in real estate a market famous for euphemisms such as "cozy" (cramped) and "must see the inside" (ignore the outside) it only stands to reason that a very exciting new term beckons like a siren amidst the untested waters: "mini-IPO." Without a doubt, IPO (or initial public offering) unleashes all the adrenaline of a high-tech company landing on the NASDAQ, or a wildly successful private venture hitting the jackpot. But in real estate, the term applies differently insofar as its "mini" moniker. "The mini-IPO terminology gets thrown around a lot because IPOs are something that most investors are familiar with," Clinton says. "In a broad sense, any equity offering for an individual deal is analogous to a mini-IPO." At the very least, it didn't pop out of thin air as a deceptive stunt. The new Regulation A+ of the JOBS Act functions similarly to an IPO. "The company that owns the property must go through a registration process with the Securities and Exchange Commission," Clinton says. "It's less involved than a full IPO, so the SEC caps how much companies can raise this way at $50 million." Even if the new crowdfunding environment proves turbulent, real estate may serve as a port in that storm. "Historically, real estate has generally been a very stable investment," says Allen Shayanfekr, CEO and co-founder of Sharestates, a real estate crowdfunding platform in Great Neck, New York. "Like all investments, real estate is cyclical in nature, but generally less volatile when compared to other investment classes." It need not be much of a gamble, either. If a hot property in an urban metropolis starts in the six digits, investors can get started on Sharestates for $1,000 (less than a well-appointed doghouse in the Hamptons). The Sharestates website looks much like a variation of a personal finance portal, as investors can look at color-coded, horizontal-line graphics that report the risk rating of each featured property, from A-plus to D-minus. This could well appeal to land investors looking for alternative ways into the market due to factors that predate the JOBS Act. "Prior to the financial crisis of 2008, levels of bank lending were high and developers had plenty of access to capital to fund their projects," says Slim Feriani, executive vice president of ROI Land Investments, an international firm headquartered in Montreal. "This has changed since then where today, it has become extremely difficult for developers to obtain loans from traditional banks and lenders." Anyone can invest in ROI, though the company is still finding its way. Since its over-the-counter listing went live in late 2012, the stock is down 81 percent to 19 cents a share. But flash back to August, and the stock had nearly tripled from its initial asking price of $1.01 per share to $2.95. That could represent the kind of seesaw action some real estate companies face as major projects come and go or, in a general sense, the challenge of solidifying company leadership and market share. ROI's business model is based on a developer-centric approach: That is, the company locates land free of zoning restrictions, secures permits and outsources construction. It then sells subdivided units to large regional developers with a technological twist. ROI leverages a database of potential buyers in the market for specific types of land. It's not the kind of make-or-break real estate flip that typified the mid-2000s. Just landing the municipal permits can take as long as two years. The search for opportunities also funnels down to a micro level that isn't so obvious as beachfront property, gentrifying a Silicon Valley enclave or, on the snake-oil side, selling the proverbial Brooklyn Bridge. Ever heard of Kitimat or Terrace? These sleepy towns in Northern British Columbia might even evade your GPS. But ROI has locked in on strong housing demand there fueled, if you will, by construction of one of Canada's largest natural gas pipelines. Should opportunities like that mature, ROII could easily rebound in value. Meanwhile, land investing still boils down to timeless basics, no matter how sophisticated the strategies, tactics and technologies get. "The most important thing investors should do is to conduct their own due diligence, regardless of who they're working with," Feriani says. "Research the background of whoever you're investing with and check out the property site, whether it's in person or via Google maps." And if the housing market crash knocked you down and broke your spirit, it's time to take heart and take stock. And while you're at it, cue up some Gene Autry, starting with this: "I'm back in the saddle again." | 3 | 99,391 | finance |
Bosses say workers waste too much time on their personal phones. Employees tell a very different story, a recent poll has found. While only 10 percent of employees with smartphones said the devices decrease their productivity during work hours, employers pointed to mobile phones as the number one reason for interruptions, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder. In fact, the results showed that nearly 20 percent of bosses believe workers put in less than five hours a day of actual work. That's a lot of squandered time, said CareerBuilder spokesperson Jennifer Grasz. "Lost minutes can add up to lost hours very quickly," she said. "That said, workers need breaks to recharge. Distractions are only a problem when they impact the quality and quantity of work performed." So are employers overstating the impact of distractions on productivity, or are their fears founded? On one hand, it's reasonable to suspect that smartphones have an effect on workers: About 80 percent own these mobile devices and 70 percent keep them "within eye contact" at work, the survey found. On the other hand, bosses seem to overestimate how much time employees spend on activities like gossip. Most workers surveyed said they take breaks on their phones for more mundane activities, like checking weather, news, and personal messages. Then again, a perhaps surprising number of respondents about 100 people total admitted they actually view adult or pornographic websites at work. Respondents were surveyed between February and March 2016 and included more than 3,000 private workers and more than 2,000 managers. No matter how, exactly, workers waste time at the office, even small disruption can have an outsized impact on output, said workplace productivity coach Marsha Egan. "It takes the average person about four minutes to recover from any interruption," she said. "It's hard for people to pick up exactly where they were." Given how distracting modern workplaces are on their own, with constant email pings and office instant messaging, workers can't really afford to spare the attention stolen by personal smartphones, Egan said. Indeed, about half of employers complained that distractions were responsible for lower quality of work, and more than a quarter said they led directly to revenue loss, according to the survey. The most popular solution among bosses to prevent wasted time is to block certain websites, the survey found. About a quarter of those who said they've taken at least one step toward improving productivity said they have banned personal phone calls, and about the same proportion said they have instituted scheduled breaks. While policing workers without managing their expectations can make an office feel oppressive, like Big Brother is watching, said Grasz, official break times can be a healthier way to nudge employees to stay focused during work hours. Compartmentalizing time this way is good for workers' mental health, too, said Egan. It's more manageable to see yourself as a "switch tasker" rather than a "multi-tasker, she said. "With the expectation that they be connected 24/7, people feel crushed under the weight of it all," Egan said. "It's better to give one task full focus for a few hours, then go out for a walk." If the allure of your buzzing phone is too tempting to ignore, there's one easy step you can take, said productivity expert Peggy Duncan: Keep your phone in a drawer, or in your pocket. Or, if all else fails, she said, just turn it off. | 3 | 99,392 | finance |
California is raising the smoking age to 21, the second state to do so. The thought is that every state did this the number of smokers would decrease dramatically. Patrick Jones (@Patrick_E_Jones) explains. | 5 | 99,393 | news |
Twitter is denying a report that credentials from millions of users were stolen or leaked through a data breach at the social media company. The website LeakedSource says it received a cache of Twitter data that contains 32 million records, including passwords. But, the website said the explanation for the breach is likely malware that infected some browsers. Twitter says that its systems haven't been breached. "In fact, we've been working to help keep accounts protected by checking our data against what's been shared from recent other password leaks," Twitter said in a statement. Over a week ago, LeakedSource reported that more than 360 million records from MySpace were obtained from a hacking incident in 2013. The website has also reported that data from 167 million LinkedIn accounts were also affected from a prior hacking incident. | 3 | 99,394 | finance |
TRIPOLI, June 9 (Reuters) - Forces aligned with Libya's unity government battled Islamic State (IS) on Thursday in the militant group's stronghold of Sirte, but faced resistance from snipers as they edged towards the city center. Brigades mainly composed of fighters from the western city of Misrata have advanced rapidly, driving the militants back along the coastal road west of Sirte before seizing strategic points on the edge of the city. A separate militia that controls terminals in Libya's oil crescent, the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG), said it had advanced further from the east to reach the town of Harawa, about 70 km (44 miles) east of Sirte. If the advances are sustained, they could dislodge IS from its most important base outside the Middle East and provide a boost to the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). Mohamed al-Gasri, a military spokesman based in Misrata, said fighting was underway on Thursday near the Ouagadougou conference hall, where IS holds religious instruction sessions. "We think that Sirte will be liberated within days, not weeks," Gasri said. "The Daesh (Islamic State) snipers are a concern to us because they shoot from long distances and that has hindered us in the battle inside the city." The brigades had already claimed control over a number of strategic sites on Sirte's outskirts including an air base, several military camps and a roundabout where IS had previously hung the bodies of executed enemies. Dozens of brigade members have been killed and hundreds wounded in the past month of fighting. On Wednesday alone, 15 men were killed and 95 injured, a Misrata hospital spokesman said. The main hospital in Misrata is overflowing and some fighters have been flown to Turkey or Italy for treatment. On Thursday the GNA appealed in a statement for further international medical aid "for our heroes at the front lines." SETBACKS IS established a presence in several Libyan cities from late 2014, taking full control of Sirte, hometown of veteran ruler Muammar Gaddafi, the following year. It also seized about 250 km (155 miles) of Mediterranean coastline either side of Sirte. But the group has struggled to win support or retain territory elsewhere in Libya, suffering recent setbacks in both the east and west of the country. The GNA is designed to replace two rival governments that have competed for power from Tripoli and from the east since 2014, backed by complex alliances of armed groups. Both the PFG and key armed groups from Misrata have pledged to support it. Western powers see the new government as the best chance of ending the turmoil plaguing Libya since Gaddafi was forced from power in an uprising five years ago. Since arriving in Tripoli in March the GNA has sought to meld some of Libya's key armed factions into a unified security force, even as it continues to face resistance from political and military hardliners in the east. These include eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, who has been conducting a campaign against Islamists and other opponents in Benghazi for the past two years. The GNA appointed another eastern commander, Mahdi al-Barghathi, as minister of defense. He has been trying to peel away support from Haftar, and last week two military units in Benghazi announced their support for the GNA. For now the common cause of defeating Islamic State and diminishing Haftar's influence has driven Misrata, Barghati and the PFG to cooperate, said Mattia Toaldo, an analyst at the European Council for Foreign Relations. "For Libyan standards it's quite a remarkable degree of coordination, and it's coordination between people who have been fighting each other until a year ago." Any recent gains for the GNA are fragile, however, with Haftar bound to attempt a comeback and current allegiances at risk of dissolving if Sirte is taken, Toaldo said. (Additional reporting by Aidan Lewis and Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Gareth Jones) | 5 | 99,395 | news |
We're looking at you, Taylor Swift. Celebrities and food go hand-in-hand; from opening restaurants to sharing their bizarre eating habits and even to chronicling up exactly what they eat in a day , stars love food just as much as we do. Add that to the fact that some people will do anything to be just like their favorite celebrity, and it's easy to see how this study could be true. According to a report done by researchers at NYU, almost every food or drink product endorsed by a celebrity is really, really bad for you. Like, really bad. Causing-an-increase-in-childhood-obesity-and-diabetes bad. The study used Billboard Magazine's "Hot 100" song charts, the Teen Choice Awards, and the number of views each celebrity endorsement video racked up on YouTube to determine the most influential celebrities. Beyoncé, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, and Blake Shelton were all featured on the final list, to name a few. In total, there were around 313 million views on YouTube videos featuring foods and drinks endorsed by celebrities. Not surprisingly, the foods and drinks supported by everyone's favorite celebrities were almost always products that aren't so good for you. We're talking soda, other sugary drinks, fast food, and sweets. The study looked at a total of 26 different food and beverage products and, of those 26, a whopping 81% were deemed "nutrient poor." Womp, womp. The one and only product on the list that received a healthy nutrition score was Wonderful Pistachio, endorsed by Psy (who, let's face it, has been irrelevant since 2013). Studies in the past have already shown that children and teens being surrounding by food ads can lead to short-term overeating, but this study is the first to bring to light just how many celebrities are endorsing unhealthy food products-and just how much these celebrities are benefitting from it. This is a really important development, says Marie Bragg, study author, "because some of these contracts are worth millions of dollars, suggesting that food companies really get a lot of value out of them." Just how much value? Queen Bey reportedly received $50 million for her partnership with Pepsi and Justin Timberlake signed about $6 million for his jingle with McDonald's. So maybe the next time you see your favorite celebrity endorsing a new food or drink product and you find yourself running out to get it, try to fight the urge. They might be gaining a lot of money supporting these products, but the only thing you'll be gaining is a couple pounds. Follow Delish on Instagram . | 7 | 99,396 | health |
Mexicans don't need to fly to Rome to marvel at the Sistine Chapel's famous frescoes. With the Vatican's blessing, a life-size replica was installed in Mexico City. It is the first time that the 15th century church, with its ceiling painted by Michelangelo, takes a trip abroad, albeit a virtual one. While the original was built over eight years, it only took one month for Mexico's capital to get its own Sistine Chapel, which was inaugurated on Tuesday at the Republic Square, facing the Monument to the Revolution. But a painter was not hired for the modern version of Michelangelo's masterpiece. A closer look shows that the frescoes, including of God and Adam, are actually images printed on canvas. For the reproduction, photographers worked inside the Sistine Chapel for 170 nights. "In total, 2.6 million images were used to create the replica," said Antonio Berumen, the project's director, who is from Mexico. Berumen said the idea of making a replica came to him two years ago, when he saw an elderly Mexican woman weep inside the real Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. After that, he made it his "mission" to bring the chapel to Mexico, the world's second biggest Roman Catholic country after Brazil. The project cost more than $2 million, mostly paid by private partners. "I felt as if I was in the Sistine Chapel when I went through the door," said Father Manuel Corral, a priest visiting the replica. The 27-meter (88-foot) tall structure chapel will remain at the square until June 30, with free access to the public through reservations. The structure will then be taken apart and taken on a nationwide tour over the next three years. | 2 | 99,397 | travel |
Two young girls stand inches from charred bricks and ash, staring at the spot where a "kind and gentle" teenager who taught them the Koran was savagely burned by her mother for marrying the man of her choice. Maham and Muskan were pictured Wednesday with their eyes riveted to the place where, just hours before, 16-year-old Zeenat Bibi was doused in kerosene and set alight. That night, Maham's mother told AFP, she had to reassure her tearful and confused daughter that she loved her. "She cried a lot and wept a lot, she did not eat anything," Rani Bibi, who shared the common last name with Zeenat's family, said Thursday. "She slept with me. Before sleeping she asked many questions: 'Why was my teacher killed? Why did her mum kill her?' "I said, 'Don't worry. You are my beloved daughter.'" Maham, pictured in pink and black and frowning as she looked at the burn marks, told AFP she had seen her teacher's feet beneath the shroud covering her body. "When I saw that I started weeping because my teacher was dead," the 10-year-old said. "I was so afraid." Muskan, also 10, lived opposite Zeenat in Pakistan's teeming cultural capital of Lahore, and had been taught the Koran by her too, the child's grandmother Nasreen Bibi told AFP. "Her face was very pale when she returned from the house," she said of her granddaughter. "She was looking very afraid." Zeenat, both the women added, was "so kind and gentle". Police have said the teenager was killed Wednesday by her mother after marrying Hasan Khan, her long-term boyfriend. Burns covered 90 percent of her body. A post-mortem to determine whether she was still alive when she was set on fire was being conducted. None of her relatives sought to claim her body, police said Thursday, leaving her new husband's family to bury her charred remains before dawn in a graveyard near the city. - #NoMoreKillingGirls - The vicious murder has sparked fresh calls for action against so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan. Hundreds of women are killed by their relatives each year after allegedly bringing shame on their families in the deeply conservative Muslim country. "I never (saw) such a mother in my whole life," Zeenat's mother-in-law Shahida Bibi told AFP. "Zeenat was so cute, so simple, so innocent and so kind... I loved her very much." Her own child is demented with grief, she said. "Our boy has gone mad." "The family, which is supposed to be the basic unit of society, turning against their own child shows that there is something flawed in law and society," rights activist Hina Gilani told AFP. The hashtag #NoMoreKillingGirls was being used by Pakistanis on Twitter Thursday and was officially trending in Karachi, the sprawling port megacity of 20 million. "They are killing minds and souls," wrote one user in Karachi. Tweeting the image of Maham and Muskan staring at the ash, @Veengasj added: "What r girls thinking & getting msg? Girls hv no value?" Fear and depression has taken over the neighbourhood a day after the murder, residents said. "Parents should protect their children," said Muhammad Asghar, a neighbour who has two daughters and one son. His daughters, Amina and Fatima, were also students of Zeenat, he said. They were visiting their grandparents when the teenager was killed, and learned of her death on television. "They phoned me... they were weeping, wanted to come home." It is the first time such an attack has taken place in that neighbourhood, he said, but it frightened him so much he is now considering moving. "We will start preaching to parents in this street to take care of their kids," said another neighbour, 60-year-old Firdaus Bibi. The message will fall into a void at Zeenat's home, where the doors Thursday were locked closed. "They have left," Ashgar said. "Why they have gone, when everybody is coming to share their grief?" | 5 | 99,398 | news |
It rained in Kerala on Wednesday as 112mm was recorded in Thiruvananthapuram in the south and 90mm in Kannur in the north. In the two preceding days, the 14 designated rainfall stations in Kerala were wet; the wind over the southern Arabian Sea was a westerly from the sea surface up to 5,000m; the wind at 600m above land blew at about 30km per hour (kph); and the sunshine received on land was below 200 watts per square metre in other words, it was cloudy. These same criteria must be met every year before the arrival of the monsoon rains can be announced. This consistency allows a long climatological record to be kept and useful comparisons can be made for all of India. This year, the Indian Meteorological Department declared on Wednesday that the southwest monsoon had arrived in Kerala. The monsoon, which marks the beginning of the rainy season in the country, is crucial for India's farmers, especially with several states grappling with drought-like conditions. Every year, the forecast strength, and onset date, of the monsoon rains is a matter of national importance and international interest. This is because 58 per cent of India's population is currently sustained through near subsistence agriculture. More than 70 per cent of rural households depend on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood. Agriculture, along with fisheries and forestry, accounts for one-third of the nation's GDP and is its single largest contributor. Pre-monsoon There is rain ahead of the monsoon season and in March, April and May, most states recorded at least their average rainfall. However, Orissa and the western states were deficient, with Konkan and Goa at only 14 per cent of normal. These months are, however, a relatively dry period and characterised this year, as last, by at least one heatwave. Many states suffered extreme pre-monsoon heat, notably Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. It is now back to normal in these states. West Rajasthan, on the other hand, is still under heatwave conditions: Bikaner measured 48C on Tuesday and 47C on Wednesday. The Indian Met Dept has maintained a heatwave warning for West Rajasthan until Friday and a watch level beyond that. Sunita Devisaid, Indian Met Department's Pune director, told the Indian Express that "the southwest monsoon seems to be at a normal pace and even as there was a slight delay of one week, it should cover the country well within the period announced as of July 15". The forecast rainfall amounts for this monsoon season remain above average across all of India, but not by much: it stands at between 102 and 110 percent of long-term average. | 5 | 99,399 | news |
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