Question:
Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints wild-card playoff preview: Another miracle on tap?

Show Caption Hide Caption Lorenzo's Locks: How to bet on Sunday's wild card games SportsPulse: The two best games of the weekend may come out of the NFC slate on Sunday. Lorenzo provides the best bets you can make on each. USA TODAY

A preview of the NFC wild-card matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints

When: Sunday, Jan. 5, 1:05 p.m. ET

Where: The Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans

Channel: FOX

Line: Saints by 7½

Injuries: Three of the Saints' four starting defensive backs missed the regular-season finale due to injury, including cornerback Eli Apple (ankle) and safeties Vonn Bell (knee) and Marcus Williams (groin). It's unclear whether any or all of them will be available Sunday. Fullback Zach Line's status is also unclear as he deals with a knee injury.

For Minnesota, the good news is that star running back Dalvin Cook told reporters this week that he plans to return Sunday after missing the past two weeks with a shoulder injury. "I got some rest, and I’m ready to go," he said. The player worth monitoring is starting linebacker Eric Kendricks, who missed last week's game with a quadriceps injury and will likely be questionable this week.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW

1. A miraculous rematch: These two teams will long be remembered for the iconic sequence that ended their playoff matchup two years ago, when Case Keenum threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs in the closing seconds of their divisional-round matchup in a moment that has been dubbed "The Minneapolis Miracle." The key difference this time around, of course, is that New Orleans will be playing at home. The Saints have won seven of their past eight playoff games at the Superdome dating back to 2000, and you can bet Sunday's crowd will be raucous.

2. Top turnover teams: The Saints and Vikings ranked second and fifth, respectively, in turnover differential during the regular season, and New Orleans took care of the ball at a historic level. The Saints set a new NFL record by committing just eight turnovers in 2019, eclipsing the previous record of 10 that was shared by the 2010 Patriots and 2011 49ers. So don't expect many turnovers in Sunday's game — but any that arise could prove to be especially impactful.

3. QBs trending in opposite directions: Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been on a tear in recent weeks, throwing 16 touchdowns and no interceptions over the past five games — including a 29-for-30 performance against the Colts on Dec. 16. Minnesota's Kirk Cousins, meanwhile, has thrown picks in three of his past four games and only surpassed 250 passing yards once in that span. If he's able to reverse those trends, the Vikings will have a shot in this one. If not, Brees and company will in all likelihood march on to the divisional round.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.

The New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings are very familiar with one another.

When the Saints host the Vikings in an NFL wild-card game Sunday afternoon, it will be the fifth time they have met in the postseason. Minnesota will break a tie with Philadelphia as New Orleans' most frequent playoff opponent.

"It feels like we've played a handful of games," Saints coach Sean Payton said Wednesday.

The Saints and Vikings met three times in a stretch of 25 games during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, which included the Vikings' "Minneapolis Miracle" victory in the divisional round after the 2017 season.

Minnesota won a home game in the 2017 regular season, and New Orleans won a road game in the 2018 season. The teams even met in their 2019 preseason opener back in August.

Of course the game that stands out most was that 2017 playoff meeting in Minneapolis, in which New Orleans rallied from a 17-0 halftime deficit to take a 24-23 lead with 25 seconds left.

The Saints seemingly were on their way to Philadelphia for the NFC Championship Game when Case Keenum completed a pass to Stefon Diggs, rookie safety Marcus Williams whiffed on an attempted tackle and Diggs sprinted to a 61-yard touchdown as time expired.

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Minnesota is 3-1 against New Orleans in the playoffs, starting with a 44-10 wild-card victory in the Superdome after the 1987 season in the Saints' first postseason appearance.

New Orleans' only victory was pretty memorable also, as it prevailed 31-28 in overtime in the NFC Championship Game in the Superdome, en route to the Saints' only Super Bowl after the 2009 season.

The Saints bounced back from the playoff loss at Minnesota two years ago to go 13-3 and claim the No. 1 seed in the NFC last season. They narrowly missed going to the Super Bowl in an overtime loss at home against the Rams in the NFC Championship Game.

They almost certainly would have won that game if the officials had called a penalty on a blatant case by pass interference by the Rams late in the fourth quarter. New Orleans put that loss behind it and went 13-3 again this year.

"I think it says a lot about our group to be able to take some of those unfortunate circumstances and be able to turn that into something positive and use that as fuel, use that as a way to bring us closer together and fight through that adversity to bring out the best in all of us," quarterback Drew Brees said.

The Saints (13-3) were the first NFL team to qualify for the playoffs this season when they captured a third consecutive NFC South title on Thanksgiving night. They were in position to claim a first-round bye and perhaps the top seed in the NFC.

But 10 days after clinching, they lost a 48-46 shootout to San Francisco, and both the 49ers and Green Bay won tiebreakers to claim the first-round byes. New Orleans wound up No. 3.

Minnesota controlled its fate in the NFC North until losing at home to Green Bay in Week 16, as the Packers wrapped up the division title and the Vikings were locked in at No. 6.

Coach Mike Zimmer rested several key players in the regular-season finale, and Minnesota lost to Chicago to finish 10-6.

"I don't think anybody believes that we can win this game, so we go in there and we slug it out," said Zimmer, who is 2-2 against New Orleans, including playoffs. "All I really care about is that 53 guys believe.

"It's important that when you get in games like this, number one, you have to be able to execute. Do what you've been doing all along."

The Vikings expect to be bolstered by the return of Pro Bowl running back Dalvin Cook, who missed the last two games because of a shoulder injury.

"I feel refreshed. I'm going to be ready to go," Cook said. "I'm going to be at full strength. Looking forward to a good football game."

Cook has rushed for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns and caught 53 passes for 519 yards.

Less certain for Minnesota is linebacker Eric Kendricks (quad), who missed Wednesday's practice after sitting out Week 17. Kendricks tied for the NFL lead among linebackers with 12 pass breakups during the regular season.

For the Saints, cornerback Eli Apple (ankle) and fullback Zach Line (knee) both missed Wednesday's practice.

--Field Level Media

REUTERS2

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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker granted more than 11,000 pardons for low-level marijuana convictions Tuesday — one day before a sweeping law makes cannabis legal in the state for people 21 and older.

The 11,017 pardons are a small part of the law Pritzker signed in June, making Illinois the 11th state in the nation to legalize weed use by adults. The law is also intended to help people held back from jobs, housing and financial aid for college because of drug convictions, according to state officials.

“We are ending the 50-year long war on cannabis,” the Democratic governor, who made the announcement at a church on Chicago’s South Side, said in a statement.

“We are restoring rights to many tens of thousands of Illinoisans. We are bringing regulation and safety to a previously unsafe and illegal market. And we are creating a new industry that puts equity at its very core.”

State officials said about 116,000 convictions for possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana — not associated with a violent crime — are eligible for pardons under the new law.

In all, the law could offer relief to the more than 700,000 residents with marijuana-related offenses on their criminal records, according to state officials and the Marijuana Policy Project.

The state’s new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, which takes effect Wednesday, allows people to automatically receive clemency for convictions up to 30 grams of cannabis. Those convicted with larger amounts, from 30 to 500 grams, can petition a court to have the charge lifted.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, in a statement Tuesday, applauded the governor for “acting to address the history of unnecessary and discriminatory enforcement of marijuana laws in Illinois.”

“The governor’s pardons of Illinoisans with convictions for marijuana possession makes the new year brighter for thousands,” said Ben Ruddell, criminal justice policy director for the ACLU of Illinois.

“We know that black Illinois residents are far more likely to be arrested and convicted for marijuana possession than whites. This is a good step forward as we begin the legal sales of recreational marijuana.”

The law defines “expunge” to mean to “physically destroy the records or return them to the petitioner and to obliterate the petitioner’s name from any official index or public record, or both.” But it doesn’t require the physical destruction of circuit court files.

“The 11,017 pardons that Gov. Pritzker is granting today are thousands of lives forever changed — and hundreds of thousands more will be changed in the coming months,” Toi Hutchinson, senior adviser to the governor for cannabis control, said in a statement.

“Those who were unfairly targeted by discriminatory drug laws can finally get ahead and build a new future for themselves and their families.”

So far 18 states have decriminalized marijuana, according to the Marijuana Policy Project. In all, 34 states allow patients with health complaints to use medical marijuana.

Illinois is the latest state to offer clemency for marijuana convictions. In May, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law that gave marijuana offenders the ability to have their sentences vacated in the state.

With 44 floats, 20 marching bands and 17 equestrian groups, the 2020 Rose Parade offered something for everyone to enjoy Wednesday.

The parade was filled with its usual pageantry and history on a sunny, warm New Year’s Day.

But some moments stood out more than others, gauged both by the reactions from spectators along the parade route and as expressed via social media.

Here are the top five moments from the 2020 Rose Parade:

Grand Marshal Rita Moreno

It’s safe to say that fans loved Grand Marshal Rita Moreno. Moreno shared the grand marshal title with Olympic gymnast Laurie Hernandez and actress Gina Torres, but Moreno — who has won all four of the major annual American entertainment awards with an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony — won fans’ hearts with her infectious energy.

Moreno stood and danced in her parade vehicle as it made its way down most if not all of the parade route. She also caught the attention of a nearby TV camera, got close to it and introduced her grandsons, who were riding alongside her.

#RoseParade grand marshal @TheRitaMoreno gives one of my favorite quotes as she boards her #roseparade2020 car: “We’re off like a herd of turtles.” (i am now a fan for life) pic.twitter.com/pfWBFnTtd7 — Ryan Carter (@ryinie) January 1, 2020

Los Lobos performing “La Bamba”

While the crowd on Orange Grove Boulevard just before the turn onto Colorado Boulevard was excited to see Los Lobos as they prepared to perform the closing musical number for the 2020 Rose Parade, its excitement increased significantly when the band performed its version of “La Bamba,” which stayed atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in 1987. The song was recorded for the film of the same name about musician Richie Valens, played by Lou Diamond Phillips. The song also topped the U.K. Singles chart, and its music video won the 1988 MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film.

Fans got up and danced at their seats and sang along during the performance.

The Cowboy Channel’s live bull rider

The Cowboy Channel’s “Walk. Ride. Rodeo.” float caught the audience’s attention for several reasons — it launched fireworks, and it played the song “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, which got the crowd singing along — but the main reason was because a person was riding a mechanical bull atop the float for the duration of the parade. The bull bucked slowly, likely as to not throw its rider down to the pavement, but the crowd remained enthralled by the performance.

Also riding the float was Amberley Snyder, a nationally ranked rodeo barrel racer who survived a devastating car crash that left her paralyzed below the waist in 2010. Snyder defied the odds to return to the sport she loves and now is a motivational speaker.

Donate Life’s “Light in the Darkness” float

Every year, Donate Life highlights organ, eye and tissue donors and recipients with its float. Those remembrances regularly evoke emotion, especially on social media.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine highlighted he and wife Fran DeWine’s participating in last year’s Donate Life float by honoring the 421 Ohioans who were donors then.

Today, is the Rose Parade in Pasadena! @FranDeWine and I were honored to sign one of the rose vials that’s on the Donate Life float. Last year, 421 Ohioans shared the gift of life through organ donation, and our rose honors those individuals and their tremendous gift. #DonateLife pic.twitter.com/UYy6mxSMyg — Mike DeWine (@MikeDeWine) January 1, 2020

Writer Rachel Brougham tweeted that a rose portrait on this year’s float was dedicated to her late husband, Colin Brougham.

Awhile ago, I received a letter from Donate Life, telling me there was a rose on their float in the Rose Parade in honor of Colin. I forgot about it until I turned on the TV at the exact moment that float was on. I’ll take that as a sign. We miss you, Colin. You should be here. — Rachel Brougham (@RachelBrougham) January 1, 2020

A couple from Georgia tweeted out that one of them was a donor tissue recipient and is a registered donor.

This float was GORGEOUS….and HUMBLING…I’m a donor tissue recipient and registered donor…wonderful work for all who put this together…heart goes out to the HEROS who donated so that others can live❤ #DonateLife #DonateLifeFloat #BeADonor #RoseParade2020 — Dave & Laurie 🏁🇺🇸 (@DavelaurieC) January 1, 2020

Marching bands from near and far

Marching bands are a staple of the Rose Parade, but this year’s entrants seemed to delight crowds more than in years past. Many locals from across Southern California were on hand to cheer on the Alhambra Unified School District Marching Band, the Los Angeles Unified School District High School Honor Band, the Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band and the Rancho Verde High School Crimson Regiment.

Other high school bands from around the country impressed, and the many international bands in attendance — from Costa Rica, Denmark, El Salvador, Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico — each brought their own unique styles that delighted audiences.

However, the standout band was Southern University’s “Human Jukebox” marching band, which wowed those in attendance with its power and precision in playing local favorite tune “I Love LA” by Randy Newman.

By

Government education in California is a failure. After several years of Common Core, the results are in: “Their first action was to discover how proficient Stanislaus County children were in reading. They reviewed the California standardized test scores for third graders, an age where students transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” They found that only 32% were proficient, a number Tiwater called “abysmal” and far below the state average of 48%. Stanislaus County is 50% lower in reading scores than the rest of the State. But, the whole State of California is at 48%–a total, absolute failure. Who thinks it is not a crisis when less than 50% of our government students are not reading at grade level? Yet, the Democrats run legislature are making it worse by ending charter schools—and that is what they are doing, killing them with regulations and unions. California has so many crisis’ that it is hard to say which is more important. Yet the education of our children is being destroyed by politicians and unions—where is the public outcry? Why are the people in Stanislaus demanding an end to the failed policies? Parents need to speak up.

Only 32% of Stanislaus County third-graders read at grade level. How Stanreads! helps

By ChrisAnna Mink, Modesto Bee, 12/31/19

Like many great love stories, it started with coins in a fountain.

Only this time, the love is for reading, and the fountain is in the foyer at Stanislaus County Office of Education in downtown Modesto.

“It all started with Dee Dee Baker taking the coins from the fountain to donate to the library,” said Lisa Tiwater, SCOE’s assistant superintendent of instruction, while talking about StanReads!, a program to propel county children to read at grade level by third grade.

Baker has since retired, but about five years ago, she was the director of literacy and the SCOE liaison to the Stanislaus County Library.

When Baker took the coins to the library, she learned about the national campaign for grade level reading and was excited to have SCOE join the effort. SCOE joined forces with the Stanislaus Community Foundation.

From there, Stanislaus Reads emerged, which evolved into StanReads!, which is part of the five action teams that make up Stanislaus Cradle-to-Career Partnership.

Their first action was to discover how proficient Stanislaus County children were in reading. They reviewed the California standardized test scores for third graders, an age where students transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.”

They found that only 32% were proficient, a number Tiwater called “abysmal” and far below the state average of 48%.

StanReads! takes action

Research has shown that reading proficiency at the end of third grade is one of the strongest predictors of high school graduation, as well as success entering the workforce.

Megan Lowery, director of Cradle-to-Career at SCOE, said that though third grade reading is a classroom-based indicator, the group quickly realized that everything that happens in a child’s life, especially early on, impacts what happens in the classroom.

Poverty, lack of access to books and limited parental literacy are among many factors that contribute to low literacy among children, according to the Literacy Foundation.

StanReads! identified schools from eight county districts, including Capistrano Elementary School in Empire, to participate in a pilot program to assess reading obstacles among local kids and to test solutions.

Early actions included trying to curb school absenteeism, maximizing summer learning, understanding kindergarten readiness and getting more books into children’s hands.

Research shows that chronically absent kids in kindergarten and first grade are less likely to be capable readers in third grade and to graduate from high school.

“If they’re not there, we can’t teach them,” Tiwater said.

Chronic absenteeism — missing more than four weeks of the school year — affects about 10% of county pupils across all grades. StanReads! instituted community awareness campaigns about the importance of school attendance and reading to young children.

Meanwhile, over the summer, students lose at least one month of reading ability, called the summer slide. This can be mitigated if kids participate in enrichment activities, so StanReads! took inventory of the county summer programs.

School readiness means that children show up to kindergarten ready to learn, which led to formal assessments of kindergarteners and the start of the StanReady! action team.

“You can’t be an action team without some actions,” said Tiwater. “We have to balance talking and research with doing.”

Applying programs to pilot schools

She said StanReads! took multiple actions at the pilot schools, including the attendance campaign, the Imagination Library, afternoon reading clubs and providing schools with “high interest” books focused on topics more aligned to students’ interests.

One of their first steps was offering families enrollment into Imagination Library, a national nonprofit that promotes literacy. Once a month, children ages zero to 5 are mailed books at no cost to families. Participation is funded by the Stanislaus Community Foundation and other philanthropic groups, including the Modesto Rotary Club.

“The mailman brings them to us, so every day we check the mail to see if there’s more books,” said Forest Arnold, a second grader at Capistrano in Empire.

Forest and his rambunctious 5-year-old brother, Eric Von Hudson, were eager to talk about their favorite books, including “Violet the Pilot,” about a little girl who draws instructions to build and fly a plane.

Eric said his mom reads to him every day, and Forest proudly said, “I read myself.”

Capistrano Elementary became one of the pilot schools in 2016-17, the second year of StanReads!.

“They immediately offered me more books,” said Principal James Jensen. He harvests any resources that he can to get books for his students.

Nearly all Capistrano students qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch, about two-thirds are Latino/Hispanic, and 1 in 5 are English learners.

About 40% of their students read at grade level, which is above the Stanislaus County average, but still below the state average. The county’s 32% is in line with Merced and Madera counties, but behind Alameda, Fresno and Sacramento.

Stanislaus County Library’s role

“Reading and literacy is what we do,” said Annie Snell, supervising librarian of youth services outreach and a facilitator for the StanReads! team.

She said parent engagement is one of the library’s concerted efforts with StanReads!, because some parents don’t know the importance of reading to their children. They also help families sign up for library cards.

The library opened “pop-up” libraries at locations where parents and kids visited, such as the county’s Women Infant and Children (WIC) office at Hackett Road.

They also helped place and stock Little Free Libraries filled with gently used books on each pilot schools’ campus, as well as other neighborhood locations. At the birdhouse-shaped structures, anyone can take a free book, and if they can, leave a book.

Lowery said that over the past four years, they’ve seen an increase of 12% of third graders reading at grade level, though they aren’t sure which actions were most effective.

StanReads! and Cradle-to-Career are trying to discover which actions are most valuable, and affordable, to scale up across the county.

Something seems to be working.

That was evident recently at the Capistrano school library, which was full of children enthralled with the story being read by the librarian.

“If the community can get behind anything related to StanReads!, it’s a plus,” said Principal Jensen. “Bring in books. Donate to schools. Volunteer to read to kids in school. We need to do everything we can to get books in the kids’ hands.”

Even if it’s simply tossing coins into a fountain.

Cradle-to-Career is hosting a Community Summit on March 13, 2020, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Modesto Centre Plaza.

For more information or to volunteer with the partnership, visit: https://www.stancoe.org/division/administrative-services/cradle-career

This story was produced with financial support from The Stanislaus County Office of Education and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative.

Instruction: Retrieve semantically similar text.


Question:
New Delhi: A building collapsed after a blast in a factory that caught fire Delhi’s Peera Garhi this morning, an official said.

The fire department said they received a call around 4.23 am about a fire in the factory at Udoh Nagar area after which seven fire tenders were rushed to the spot, the official said.

Later on, due to a blast, the building collapsed and people are trapped inside, including fire personnel, a senior fire official said. Total 35 fire tenders are working and the rescue operations are underway, he said.

New Delhi, Jan 2 (IANS) Several people including few fire fighters are reported to be trapped inside a factory at Udoh Nagar area of Peeragarhi, the Delhi Fire Services (DFS) said here on Thursday.

According to the DFS chief Atul Garg, “A call for fire in a factory was received at 4.23 a.m. on Thursday, accordingly, 7 fire tenders were sent to the spot. However the fire was followed by a sudden blast, due to which the building collapsed.”

Garg added that when the building collapsed there were people inside it along with the fire fighters who are rescuing them.

However, the number of people trapped inside the structure is not known yet. In total 35 fire tenders are currently on the spot as the rescue operation continues.

–IANS

rag/skp/

Star Wars: Major Skywalker parentage canon fact confirmed

We’re taking another look at a point of interest in the history of the official canon Star Wars universe today – specifically at Anakin Skywalker. It’s the perfect time to make clear a significant point on Anakin’s history since the last(?) of 9 movies is out in the Skywalker Saga right this minute. The following article does NOT contain major spoiler beyond the point that the trailers for The Rise of Skywalker made abundantly clear: That Emperor Palpatine isn’t necessarily as “dead” as we previously assumed.

In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, we see Shmi Skywalker suggest to Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn that her son, Anakin Skywalker, had no father. Not just no father because the father wasn’t in the picture – no – absolutely no father whatsoever. “There was no father,” she said.

Qui-Gon Jinn hypothesized that Anakin was conceived by midi-chlorians. Midi-chlorians are microscopic life forms that “reside within all living cells” according to Qui-Gon. These life forms are a conduit through which beings like Anakin and Qui-Gon are able to interact with and sense The Force.

Sidenote: The planet with no name, aka “Wellspring of Life” appears in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, in the episode “Destiny” and “Sacrifice”. This planet is the home planet of and birthplace of Midi-chlorians.

The exact nature of Anakin’s manifestation is still unknown – beyond what we’ve seen in The Phantom Menace. HOWEVER, a pair of panels in a comic by the name of Darth Vader (number 25, 2018) shows what might’ve appeared to be a major clue. In the comic, Anakin had a dream.

In the dream, as you’ll see above, you could very easily conclude that The Emperor (Palpatine) had something to do with the creation of Anakin in the womb of Shmi Skywalker. Palpatine stands behind Shmi, smiling, as Shmi’s pregnancy is shown as a swirl of red and black.

To confirm the reality of the situation – the most important part of the conclusions that could be made from these panels, Lucasfilm Story Group Creative Executive Matt Martin spoke up on Twitter. As part of the official Lucasfilm Story Group, Martin is, as he says, “someone with an official say on what is and isn’t canon in the Star Wars galaxy.”

Above, the first panel in question is referenced in a question from a Star Wars fan to Martin. Per Martin, “I’ve gone into this at length a few times. No, that is not what the comic is implying. Just no. There’s more to that comic than those two panels. It should be read in context.”

Replying to Martin, another Star Wars fan says “What? It may just be Anakin’s fear or something like that but it was definitely the implication. ESPECIALLY when you read it in context. Like a page later there’s a shot of Palpatine with the text ‘I am your father’, people weren’t making this connection out of thin air.” That panel is shown below – in the same Darth Vader comic.

“But this is all in Anakin’s head,” said Martin. “Wouldn’t that idea, a concept that Palps hinted at to Anakin himself, be something likely to freak Anakin out? Something that would linger in his mind? “Oh crap, what if he made me!” Doesn’t make it true. It’s all through Anakin’s lens.”

A few more comments appear on Twitter, including a reply from a fan who says “I think the best way to about it is to leave it up to interpretation, that’s what vision sequences are all about.”

Then the final word from Martin: “But I can tell you definitively, as someone who worked on the comic, that is 100% not the intended implication. I’m not saying there isn’t a logical misinterpretation that they’re coming to. I’m just telling you definitively that it’s not correct.”

Star Wars Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker, was in theaters at press time for this article, on January 1, 2020. The streaming service Disney+ gave access to all other Star Wars: Skywalker Saga films at that time, episodes 1 through 8. If you’d like to see the rest of the Darth Vader, you’ll need to head to your local comic shop. The comic referenced above can be found digitally via Marvel’s online shop right this minute.

Hank Aaron, Cal Ripken Jr, Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr, Derek Jeter. The biggest legends in American baseball history all set records and achieved international fame playing with Louisville Slugger bats, the players’ names immortalized in the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory Hall of Fame in Kentucky.

But what about the men and women who worked in the factories, the artisans and engravers who produced their iconic bats for America’s favorite pastime? What were their names, and what were their stories?

Those are the questions being answered right now in Louisville, Kentucky. As part of the city’s biennial celebration, the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory dug out a trove of old photos, many black and white, from decades and decades of the company’s history. The pictures were a snapshot into not only the company’s past but of post-war American life. But many of the proud faces’ identities were unknown.

Ruby Judd worked at Louisville Slugger for 50 years filling ordered filling orders and doing quality inspection. She was identified by her niece, Laura Quiggins, who said: ‘She was very proud of her job, very proud of the product that they put out'

An unidentified man whittles down a baseball bat. In celebration of Louisville, Kentucky's biennial, the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory is hosting an exhibit that showcases vintage photos of employees that worked in the Hillerich and Bradsby factory over the years. A local campaign asked family, friends and former colleagues to help identify the nameless faces

The Hillerich and Bradsby is a woodworking company that began in 1856 and manufactured various items such as golf clubs butter churns before it made its first bat in 1884. Maril Addams (pictured) is seen operating a lathe on golf club heads

A local campaign advertised the museum exhibit and showcased the photos in regional media. That’s when friends and colleagues of former workers began collaborating with the effort, and now many of those earnest, nameless faces have been identified.

‘Back in those days, people took such pride in their work,’ says Laura Quiggins, who identified her aunt, Ruby Judd, who was an inspector and order filler more than 50 years ago for Hillerich and Bradsby, the company which began manufacturing Louisville Slugger bats. ‘Nowadays, it’s like people just go to work to get the paycheck – “What’s in it for me?”

‘She was very proud of her job, very proud of the product that they put out,’ Quiggins tells DailyMail.com. ‘It’s so simple, but a little piece of wood made people famous, and those people made the bat famous.’

The effort came about when the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory was asked to participate in the Louisville Biennial, and curator Bailey Mazik thought of the photos she’d seen in archives and desks, folders of workers in the factories, men and women working for a company that began in 1856 and manufactured everything from butter churns to golf clubs to the famous bats – production of which began in 1884. The company receives information about former players on a daily basis, she says – but this was something new and special.

An unidentified man carefully works on a persimmon golf club head at a table saw at the Hillerich and Bradsby company

Employee Bill Lesch inspecting rough-turned timber. 17-year-old,John "Bud" Hillerich began making baseball bats in the 1880s after watching Louisville's major league team star player, Pete "Louisville Slugger" Browning break his bat during a game

Employee Ray Sizemore weighing a roughout in 1975

Quinton Jackson is pictured dipping bats in an undated photo

An unidentified employee is seen branding bats. Rena Jenkins, a longtime current employee who began at the company in 1977 instantly recognized a former employee by the name of Georgia Hines. She told DailyMail.com: '...she was a little bitty lady. She probably weighed maybe 110 pounds fully clothed...but she could engrave a bat. Back then, that was her job. She was the only one that did that back then'

‘One of our former vice presidents was kind of an amateur historian himself, so he collected a lot of these and organized these and wrote down a lot of employees’ names,’ Bailey Mazik says of Jack McGrath, who retired in the 80s.

Polly Basham (left) stands with two Hillerich and Bradsby employees in front of a wall of baseball bats

She adds: ‘It has been important for us to know who these people are and to celebrate their hard work.’

One of those people was Quiggins’ Aunt Ruby.

‘She was an inspector and an order-filler,’ Quiggins tells DailyMail.com. ‘She inspected the bats and, when someone placed an order for them, she did the quality assurance … She had worked in several departments, because she was there for years.’

Aunt Ruby, who married and had two children, ‘loved her job,’ Quiggins says.

‘My grandfather worked with wood a lot and made things with wood, and he was a whittler. So she said going into work was like going into Dad’s house. She had built a big long 18-by-12 cedar closet in their house, so their house smelled like cedar – and she said that’s the only smell I don’t smell at work, is cedar. She smelled oak and all the other woods. She said it was a family-oriented place … Everybody knew everybody. She loved working there.

‘That was the place to work, back in the day. It was General Electric, Ford and Hillerich and Bradsby.’

Employee Arthur Peyton branding a bat in an undated photo. Today, Louisville Sluggar churns out 1.8 million bats per year

Unnamed employee is pictured dipping bats. Recalling post-war America, Laura Quiggins told DailyMail.com: ‘That was the place to work, back in the day. It was General Electric, Ford and Hillerich and Bradsby'

Employee inspecting bats before they’re shipped out. January 15, 1958

Willie Leonard is pictured in an undated photo working on metal golf club heads

The company has always been based in the Louisville region, and the Kentucky city has become almost synonymous with baseball bats. Tributes to players and their bats are included on a mile-long Walk of Fame through the city, and the Museum is easily identifiable by the world’s largest bat standing proudly outside of it.

Paula Dyer, another woman who identified her aunt and uncle – both Hillerich and Bradsby employees – echoed the sentiments of Ms Quiggins.

Hillerich and Bradsby was the ‘name I grew up with,’ she says. Her Aunt Polly and Uncle John ‘Buck’ Basham started in the 40s and retired in the 70s.

Buck was a WWII Army veteran, and Dyer’s mother and father had worked for Hillerich and Bradsby before leaving, helping her own parents get their jobs.

‘They would get up in the morning ... they were dedicated employees,’ Dyer says of Polly and Buck. They would get up at four in the morning; they would never be a minute late. They never missed a day.’

She adds: They were proud to work there, yes. It was hard work; they never complained too much about it. I remember, Uncle Buck, his hands would be stained.’

Employee rubbing bat with steel wool prior to final finishing operations in 1953

Employee operating sanding machine

Unidentified employee applying polish to bats. Every baseball bar cores measure 37 inches long by 2.75 inches in diameter, these raw wood posts are called 'billets.' Despite their uniform size, the wood can vary in weight which is what distinguishes different models

Employee weighing roughouts to determine for which model they’re best suited. Date unknown

The Bashams were so proud, in fact, that they incorporated their company’s product into the cabin they built saving wages, she says.

‘It was a two-story cabin, beautiful cabin, and the stairs – instead of plain old rails on each step, it was a Hillerich and Bradsby baseball bat, she tells DailyMail.com. ‘And you know, none of us have pictures of it and it’s so sad.’

Uncle Buck died in 1976 at the age of 60 – only two years retired – and Aunt Polly passed away in 1999.

‘To be able to recognize them for their hard work and dedication ... I just love it,’ she says.

Paula Dyer, identified her aunt Polly and uncle John 'Buck' Basham (pictured polishing a golf club head) in the trove of pictures on display at the Louisville Sluggar Museum & Factory. She told DailyMail.com 'They would never be a minute late. They never missed a day. They were proud to work there, yes. It was hard work; they never complained too much about it'

The Bashams were proud of the work they did for Hillerich and Bradsby, so much so that they incorporated their company’s product into the cabin they built saving wages. ‘It was a two-story cabin, beautiful cabin, and the stairs – instead of plain old rails on each step, it was a Hillerich and Bradsby baseball bat,' said Paula Dyer to DailyMail.com

Employee (William White) packing mini-bats. March 2007

Rena Jenkins, a longtime current employee who began at the company in 1977 as an 18-year-old on the switchboard, helped identify former workers from the binders of folders such as Georgia Heins.

The effort to name and picture so many people excited her and made her happy to help, she tells DailyMail.com.

‘It is a legacy,’ she says. ‘It goes back so many generations ... I think they realize the history.’

She adds that she still believes the company makes ‘the greatest bat in the world’ and ‘it’s as American as apple pie.’

She’s worked everywhere within the company from accounts payable to shipping and purchasing and in the warehouses and factories, helping her get to know so many employees over the years who were equally proud of their work. One of them was Georgia Heins, who she recognized amongst the pictures.

‘She was real nice; she was a little bitty lady,’ she says. ‘She probably weighed maybe 110 pounds fully clothed and maybe with her pockets lined. She was 5’2, 5’1; she was a small woman, real skinny, but she could engrave a bat. Back then, that was her job. She was the only one that did that back then.'

An unidentified female employee is seen placing a gunstock cutout on a table saw. Hillerich and Bradsby produced wooden rifle stocks and billy clubs for the U.S. Army during WWII

An unidentified employee works on a metal bat at the Los Angeles, California factory

An undated photo of an employee weighing roughouts before they are cut down to the shape of a specific baseball bat model. Baseball bat cores used to be made of Ash wood but have since been changed to Maple wood after Barry Bonds broke the single-season home run record using Maple bats in 2001

She tells DailyMail.com that the company has always been ‘like a family.’

‘There was a lot of us that started young, so we were young and inexperienced. We learned off of some of the older ones, and we all started having babies and raising our families, and everybody was always here for everybody else.’

Many of the positions, she admits, ‘were tedious jobs – but they just had a little assembly line, and then you had a lot of husband and wives worked here. And then you had several that met their wives here and married.’

‘Years ago, whenever you had a baby, they used to send us a full-sized personalized bat with a letter from the president [of the company] saying: “Welcome to the Hillerich and Bradsby family.” And they would send us a personalized bat with the day they were born, their height, weight and all of that. So each of my kids have that.’

Bill Kaiser giving a golf lesson to the 'Louisville Power-Bilt girls' in an undated photo

Two employees pictured in 1974 prepare golf clubs for shipping

An unnamed employee is pictured meticulously wrapping a golf club

Archivist Mazik says that emphasis on connectivity and support has ‘been important and implemented in our company for as long as I can tell.

‘We all really make a point to know each other, all different departments, all different kinds of jobs. It has been really special to me to see how employees keep in touch with each other and how they take care of each other.’

The exhibit will run through the end of January, but Mazik hopes it can lead to even further historical research and memorialization of the people responsible for the building blocks of America’s favorite pastime.

‘I want to sit down with some of these folks, do formal oral histories that we can archive,’ she says.

Laura Quiggins (left) stands in front of the worlds largest baseball bat outside the Louisville Sluggar Museum & Factory in Kentucky. Quiggins (right) poses next to a photo of her aunt Ruby Judd who was a long-term employee of Hillerich and Bradsby. Quiggins explained to DailyMail.com, '...it was a family-oriented place … Everybody knew everybody. She loved working there'

Washington: Researchers have found that combining neurologic and blood pressure drugs may reduce breast tumour development. According to the study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, adding a medication used to treat epilepsy, bipolar disorder and migraines to a blood pressure medicine reversed some aspects of breast cancer in the offspring of mice at high risk of the disease because of the high fat diet fed to their mothers during pregnancy.

"We believe that our research is the first to show that we can reverse some aspects of increased breast cancer risk found in offspring of mouse mothers fed a high fat diet during pregnancy," said study researcher Leena A Hilakivi-Clarke from the Georgetown University in the US.

"This finding may have important implications in people because exposures in the womb to certain chemicals, or a mother's high fat diet, or being obese, can subsequently increase a daughter's breast cancer risk," Hilakivi-Clarke.

According to the researchers, the key drug in the study regimen was valproic acid which, among several targets, inhibits histone deacetylase (HDAC), an important epigenetic silencer of genes.

In contrast to mutations that permanently disrupt the normal functions of genes, epigenetic modifications are reversible.

Valproic acid was combined with the blood pressure medication hydralazine that inhibits another critical epigenetic regulator, DNA methyltransferase (DNMT).

Early treatment studies in people have shown that these two drugs can work in tandem to disrupt tumour growth.

These research findings demonstrate how impactful an epigenetic methyl group addition or subtraction from DNA can be.

Compounds that reduce methylation of tumour suppressor genes that are excessively methylated (hypermethylated) can be beneficial.

However, these drugs can have the opposite effect if tumour suppressor genes are not hypermethylated; they may remove methyl groups from cancer-causing genes, making these genes more active and potentially leading to more aggressive cancers.

The other key aspect of this finding involves the potential impact of diet on cancer risk. Many fruits and vegetables have compounds (such as flavones) that chemically react in the same ways as the HDAC- and DNMT-inhibiting drugs in this study.

Some compounds in these foods, especially folic acid, have opposite effects.

This research suggests that exposure to a high fat diet or endocrine disrupting chemicals in the womb might be reversed by the consumption of foods high in DNMT and HDAC inhibitors, while those who have not had such exposures might also gain a cancer protective benefit from consuming foods high in folic acid.

- IANS

A fire in a south-end Halifax apartment building on Wednesday afternoon is being labelled as arson.

In a news release, Halifax Regional Police said fire crews and police were called to an apartment building on the 5500 block of Victoria Road at 4:23 p.m. after multiple callers said they saw smoke in the building. Fire crews quickly put out the fire.

Tenants were temporarily evacuated from the building, but have since returned.

No injuries have been reported.

Police are asking anyone with information about the fire to call police at 902-490-5016 or contact Crime Stoppers online or by phone at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

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OXON HILL, Md. — A police officer in Maryland has been placed on leave after he shot a dog during an investigation.

Prince George’s County Police said in a statement Monday that the incident occurred in the Washington suburb of Oxon Hill.

Police had responded to a home shortly after 3 a.m. in response to a report of a dispute. As the officers to spoke to one of the residents outside, a large dog “suddenly ran out of the home and toward the officers,” police said.

“Fearing for his safety, one of the patrol officers discharged his firearm and struck the dog,” police said.

The dog received emergency care and was listed in stable condition.

Police said the officer was placed on leave as part of the department’s standard operating procedure. The department’s Special Investigation Response Team is investigating.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Ghosn says he has escaped injustice and political persecution—to the shock of his defence team in Japan.

The holiday season didn’t bring good tidings for Japanese authorities investigating former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn for financial misconduct. On Monday, they found Ghosn gone, having fled his Tokyo home, giving the slip to heavy manned and video surveillance. Once the toast of the automotive industry and held in high regard in Japan, Ghosn fell from grace when news of alleged financial misconduct broke in 2017; he was arrested in November 2018 upon his return to Japan from Lebanon, where he has now surfaced. While there is no watertight account of how Ghosn managed to pull off one of the sensational escape, Lebanese media reports are pinning it to a large musical case of the Gregorian band that performed at his house in Tokyo and flights from Japan to Istanbul and onwards to Beirut, and the French media is speculating on forged passports and complicity of Japanese officials. Whatever be the modus operandi, many media outlets concur that it was likely orchestrated by Ghosn’s wife, Carole, who had earlier complained that Japanese authorities had denied her any access to, or communication with her husband.

Ghosn says he has escaped injustice and political persecution—to the shock of his defence team in Japan. While Japanese law heavily favours the prosecution, the fact that Ghosn, despite the outrage that followed the news of his alleged financial misconduct breaking, had made bail twice shows he may not be able to successfully argue his case for fleeing justice. More so, since he had professed faith in the due process, saying it would eventually prove his innocence. What l’affaire Ghosn—and les affaires Andersen, Mallya, and others—shows is that, sometimes, money can outsmart justice.

Fugitive former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn met Lebanon’s president after his escape from Japan, where he was smuggled out of house arrest by a private security company, two sources close to Ghosn said on Wednesday.

One of the sources said Ghosn was greeted warmly by President Michel Aoun on Monday after flying to Beirut via Istanbul and was now in a buoyant and combative mood and felt secure.

In his meeting at the presidency, Ghosn thanked Aoun for the support he had given him and his wife, Carole, while he was in detention, the sources said. He now needs the protection and security of his government after fleeing Japan, they added.

A media advisor to the president’s office denied the two men had met.

Lebanese officials have said there would be no need to take legal measures against Ghosn because he entered the country legally on a French passport, although Ghosn’s French, Lebanese and Brazilian passports are with lawyers in Japan.

The French and Lebanese foreign ministries have said they were unaware of the circumstances of his journey.

Lebanon has no extradition agreement with Japan, where Ghosn faced trial on charges of financial misconduct, which he denied.

Under the terms of his bail, he had been confined to his house in Tokyo and had to have cameras installed at the entrance. He was prevented from communicating with his wife and had his use of the internet and other communications curtailed.

The sources said the Lebanese ambassador to Japan had visited him daily while he was in detention.

While some Lebanese media have floated a Houdini-like account of Ghosn being packed in a wooden container for musical instruments after a private concert in his home, his wife called the account pure fiction when contacted by Reuters.

She declined to provide details of the exit of one of the most recognized titans of industry. The accounts of the two sources suggest a carefully planned escape few were aware of.

They said a private security firm oversaw the plan, which was three months in the making and involved shuttling Ghosn out via a private jet to Istanbul before pushing onward to Beirut, with even the pilot unaware of Ghosn’s presence on board.

“It was a very professional operation from start to finish,” said one of the sources. The other source said Ghosn was in good health.

In a written statement, Ghosn said after his arrival that he had “escaped injustice and political persecution” and would begin communicating with media next week. Sources close to him said he was unwilling to share details of his escape so as not to jeopardize those who aided him in Japan.

He is staying at the home of a relative of his wife, but plans to return soon to a gated villa in the upscale Beirut neighborhood of Achrafieh, one of the sources said.

He was first arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 and faces four charges — which he denies — including hiding income and enriching himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East.

Nissan sacked him as chairman, saying internal investigations revealed misconduct, including understating his salary while he was its chief executive, and transferring $5 million of Nissan funds to an account in which he had an interest.

Ghosn has enjoyed an outpouring of support from Lebanese since his 2018 arrest, with billboards proclaiming “We are all Carlos Ghosn” erected in solidarity with his case.

Locally he is considered a poster boy for success in a country where rampant unemployment pushes young Lebanese abroad to find work and the economy relies heavily on remittances amid a deep financial crisis that has sparked a wave of protests.

Ghosn was born in Brazil but of Lebanese descent and lived in Lebanon as a child. He oversaw a turnaround at French carmaker Renault that won him the nickname “Le Cost Killer” and used similar methods to revive Nissan.

‘Little Women’: Tween Tale 11 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply The umpteenth remake of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott’s witty 1868 girls’ novel about growing up in Concord, Massachusetts, during the Civil War, is directed by Greta Gerwig and stars her alter ego, the lovely Irish lass Saoirse Ronan, as Jo March.(Snip)This reflected the remarkable upbringing of Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888). Back before Mark Twain, American literature was kind of a who-you-know business, and the Alcotts knew everybody who was anybody in the author industry. Ralph Waldo Emerson lent her family the money to buy their house in Concord, Henry David Thoreau told them it was haunted, and they eventually sold it to Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The Decade’s Top 10 Most Spectacular

Falls From Grace 12 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Anthony Weiner/Carlos Danger (2011, 2013, 2016) Of all the politicians to find themselves in a sexting scandal, it had to be the one whose last name is Weiner. In 2011, Anthony Weiner, the married representative from New York, resigned after being caught sending explicit photos of his genitalia to several young women, some underage. (Snip)Lois Lerner and the IRS Targeting Scandal (2013) The IRS decisions of which organizations gain tax-exempt status and which receive extensive scrutiny should have nothing to do with political orientation. However, in 2013, Lois Lerner, President Obama’s director of Exempt Organization Unit in the IRS, disagreed, and disproportionately targeted conservative groups applying for 501(c) status exemptions.

Census Test Proves Asking About

Citizenship Doesn’t Scare Hispanics 7 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply This week, the Census Bureau released the results of its formal test of the once-proposed, and now prevented, census citizenship question. The results are a striking rebuke to a recent leftist orthodoxy: Adding a citizenship question to a test-run of the census had no statistically significant effect on overall response rates. Even in the communities most sensitive to the question, such as neighborhoods with many Hispanics, response rates dropped only slightly. To understand why this report is significant, step back to March 2018, when Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the 2020 census would include a question about citizenship status. Leftists were immediately outraged, seeing the addition as a racist

Trump's offer Mexico could not refuse 4 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Amid all the stories about President Donald John Trump's triumphs in 2019 -- exoneration from Mueller, 3.5% unemployment, killing al-Baghdadi, and a 33% rise in my 401-k -- having Mexico protect our border is way down on the list. Let me raise its profile because President Trump did the nearly impossible by getting Mexico to patrol our border. And he topped that by getting Mexico to keep people seeking asylum there until their cases are adjudicated. On May 30, as he prepared to leave for a state visit to England, President Trump told Mexico to either start patrolling our border and taking those asylum seekers by the time I get back, or

It Was A Very Good Year 6 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Magicians always divert attention, which frees them to do their sleight of hand. President Donald John Trump has perfected the craft to the point where he has become the diversion. His tweets are red laser dots that the cats in the media chase. Real cats eventually catch on, but they continue to chase the dot. Benjamin Wofford of the Washingtonian noticed the dot in his column, "While You Were Paying Attention to Ukraine, Here’s What Trump’s Appointees Achieved." He wrote, "There were dozens of stories that flew under the radar—policy changes and personnel sagas, norms eroded and scores settled—that captured the essence of what happened in the marrow of Trump’s government.

Two Highly Recommended Impeachment

Reads 2 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Christopher Roach, an attorney, has published two articles on impeachment during the past two weeks. They're both excellent, clear expositions of the principles behind what's going on. While it's impossible for Roach to offer an entirely dispositive opinion on how Trump and the Senate should proceed--simply because political considerations will inevitably intrude--his discussion is conceptually useful. By presenting a clear conceptual framework and understanding of impeachment under our Constitution, we get a better idea how whatever path is chosen should be framed in order to stand with the principles of our constitutional order.

Militia supporters chanting ‘Death to

America’ break into U.S. Embassy compound

in Baghdad 5 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Supporters of an Iranian-backed militia besieged the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday in retaliation for U.S. airstrikes, breaking through the first layer of security at the embassy compound and damaging a reception area before being expelled by Iraqi security forces. Here’s what we know: ●The U.S. Defense Department is sending two Apache helicopters and a “small contingent” of Marines to reinforce security at the embassy. ●President Trump accused Iran of “orchestrating an attack” on the embassy, where protesters ransacked a reception area and set fires. ●Iraqi security forces later intervened and set up a barricade, but protesters threw gasoline bombs into the compound.

US Embassy compound in Baghdad

targeted by mob protesting airstrikes;

sit-in planned 9 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Crowds of angry Iraqis protesting America’s recent airstrikes against an Iran-backed militia laid siege to the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad Tuesday, chanting “Down, Down USA!” as they stormed through a main gate, prompting U.S. guards to fire back tear gas in response. As of Tuesday night, protesters set up tents outside the embassy in the Iraqi capital where they said they intended to stage a sit-in “until American troops leave Iraq and the embassy is closed.” About 100 Marines are being sent to the embassy to bolster security and an Army Apache helicopter flew over the premises and dropped flares in a "show of force", hoping to disburse

Why Americans Fear Trial By Jury 12 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Everyone on both left and right these days is demanding rights—but not the earliest and most important one, the historic right to trial by a jury of one’s peers. Today, over 90 percent of American defendants waive that right in favor of a prosecutor’s proposed plea bargain, because, as Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz notes in his new book Guilt by Association, they are warned that the penalty at the trial stage will be excessively higher. Dershowitz offers frightening examples. Two men picked up their uncle after committing a robbery, making him a passenger in a police car chase where a trooper was shot and killed. The actual murdering robbers copped a

Greta Thunberg's father told her to launch

climate protests alone as he revealed

activism helped her depression 15 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply Greta Thunberg's father told her to launch her climate protests alone, as he said he and is wife made green changes to their lives to "save" their daughter from her depression. Svante Thunberg said he and his wife were “not climate activists” but had stopped flying and turned vegan as they saw the impact it had on their daughter.(Snip)He said the teenager became acutely depressed after being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome when she was 12, and stopped talking, eating or going to school for a year. “She stopped eating for three months,” added Mr Thunberg. “Which is the ultimate nightmare for any parent.”

Will War Derail Trump’s Reelection? 9 replies Posted by earlybird — Post Reply “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future,” Yogi Berra reminded us.(Snip)Looking to 2020, this writer predicted that Donald Trump’s great domestic challenge would be to keep the economy firing on all cylinders. His great foreign policy challenge? Avoiding war. When one looks at the numbers — unemployment at or below 4% for two years, an expansion in its 11th year, the stock market regularly hitting all-time highs — Trump enters his reelection year with a fistful of aces. One has to go back half a century to find numbers like these. (Snip)If there are IEDs on Trump’s road to reelection, they may be found in the Middle and

Sunil Grover, who has of late taken the responsibility of breaking the contestants' monotony through his power-packed entertainment, is back into the house. The housemates welcome their favorite Gutthi as she surprises them with the good news about her marriage and also introduces her twin sister Putki. Just when the contestants were wondering who Putki is, Sunny Leone enters the house bringing smiles to everyone’s face. Sunny and Gutthi then introduce the Chappal awards. They call the contestants one by one to give them their special Chappal award with amusing categories like Tera bhi khana khaungi award and many more.

Displaying her romantic personality, Gutthi shares a lovey-dovey moment with Sidharth and pulls his leg for lying around under the quilt all the time. After spending some fun time with the special guests, the contestants retire for the day.

The next morning begins some motivation and serious game planning. Vishal and Asim boost Rashami to strengthen her game by making an unpredictable move by using her and Sidharth's equation.Later in the afternoon, Bigg Boss introduces the Bigg Boss calendar task to the contestants. Shehnaz is assigned the job to click five photos that involve all the housemates in different poses. They have to recreate moments and narrate a story through the pictures.Shehnaz begins by clicking Aarti and Shefali Bagga individually to show their independent personality. Shefali Jariwala and Asim strike a muscular pose showcasing their fit bodies. Paras and Shehnaz disagree on one pose which upsets Shehnaz and she ends up crying blaming Paras for being jealous.After the calendar shoot task, Bigg Boss gives them another interesting task. Its 31st eve and the new year is just a few hours away. Much to everyone’s surprise, they are asked to put on their best party dress on and get ready for a New Year bash. The contestants are divided into two groups- Team Shehnaz- Shehnaz, Sidharth, Paras, Mahira, Shefali Jariwala and Aarti while Team Rashami has Rashami, Vishal, Asim, Shefali Bagga, and Madhurima. The garden area is divided into two parts. Each team has to make their party the most happening one which will be attended by guests coming in from the Colors Family. The teams have to make sure that the guests are part of their team’s party and not attend their opponent's party. Each team tries their best to keep the guests entertained.The first one to enter is Raghbir and Pragati (Pearl V Puri and Ishita Dutta) who ask the contestants to get together and name the contestant who they dislike. The contestant with the maximum number of negative points has to entertain them by dancing. The cast of other shows of Colors’ like Meher and Sarabjit (Nimrat Kaur and Avinesh Rekhi) from Choti Sarrdaarni, Vidya and Vivek (Meera Deosthale and Namish Taneja) from Vidya, Raja and Rani (Mahima Makhwana and Akshit Sukhija) from Shubharambh and Nayantara and Dev (Jasmin Bhasin and Vijayendra Kumeria) from Naagin also join the party. As and when the guests enter the house, Sidharth and the team manage to grab everyone’s attention and get them on their side. As the clock strikes 12, they all ring in the new year together and party their hearts out.Follow @News18Movies for more

Chris Szagola/Associated Press

New Washington Redskins head coach Ron Rivera reportedly hired Jack Del Rio as his defensive coordinator Wednesday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

It is unclear who else will be part of Rivera's staff, but JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington reported Bill Callahan, who served as interim head coach following the firing of Jay Gruden, and most of the defensive staff will not return.

Finlay added that offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell is among the holdover offensive assistants who will interview with Rivera but noted that none of them "definitively" have a job.

While Del Rio is known for his defensive prowess, he has plenty of experience as a head coach as well. He served in the position with the Jacksonville Jaguars for nine seasons from 2003 through 2011, when he was fired after Week 12. He was also the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2015 through 2017.

The 56-year-old finished with a 93-94 record and never advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs as a head coach, but he did as a defensive assistant.

He was the linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 through 2001, the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in 2002 and the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos from 2012 through 2014.

Baltimore won a Super Bowl during his tenure with Ray Lewis leading his linebackers unit, and Denver reached a Super Bowl but lost. In four seasons as a defensive coordinator, Del Rio directed groups that finished in the top three in the league in yards allowed three times.

What's more, the 2000 Ravens defense he was involved with allowed three, 10, three and seven points (on a kickoff return and the point after) in four playoff games before lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

The Redskins now have a coach with championship pedigree and a track record of success who brings name recognition to that side of the ball.

Del Rio will take the reins of a unit that ranked 27th in total defense and 27th in points allowed under Greg Manusky in 2019.

While there is work to be done, Del Rio will have plenty of talent, including safety Landon Collins and a strong line that features Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis and Montez Sweat.

The Redskins also own the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft, which they could use to select Ohio State defensive end Chase Young.

Offensively, Washington ranked 31st in yards and 32nd in scoring under O'Connell, but he is viewed as a brilliant young offensive mind and helped rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. and wide receiver Terry McLaurin improve over the course of the season, which could help him appeal to Rivera.

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To ring in the new year, California’s own Tom Meyer whipped up a cartoon about the state’s new data privacy law, which took effect Wednesday.

Before you commit to resolutions and reinvent yourself for the new decade, look back on the biggest news stories that Meyer satirized last year, ranging from a record number of horse deaths at racing tracks to the first photograph ever taken of a black hole and Pacific Gas & Electric’s bankruptcy declaration.

Front and center, though, is Meyer’s latest, which focuses on how Bay Area tech companies will reckon with the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, passed in 2018 amid data scandals involving Equifax, Facebook and company. The Associated Press is calling the new bill the “biggest U.S. effort yet to confront ‘surveillance capitalism.’”

Related Articles Political cartoons: So long, 2019 — and welcome, 2020

Political cartoons: House to vote Wednesday on impeaching Trump

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Cartoons: How President Trump the Grinch cut food stamps, incensed North Korean leader

Cartoons: Trump’s exaggeration about low-flow toilets Meanwhile, our editorial board is cautiously optimistic on the imperfect law. But how does that affect you? According to our editorial board and the bill’s author, the law also known as AB 375 would:

• Give internet users control over their personal information by requiring providers to obtain “opt-in” consent before they can use, disclose, sell or allow others access to customer’s personal information.

• Require that broadband providers maintain reasonable security protection so information can’t be collected by a third party.

• Give users the right to compel companies to delete private data that they collected on individuals.

• Prohibit companies from selling data about children under the age of 13 without a parent’s consent.

For more political cartoons, CLICK HERE

PNN/ Bethlehem/

Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said that no charges have been filed against any Israeli or Palestinian, and the investigation has not been opened.

In an interview with the Hebrew-language Maariv, Bensouda said: “The International Criminal Court is acting according to the principle of personal responsibility for crimes. It does not deal with conflicts between countries and it does not sue countries.”

“If and when it is opened, the General Prosecutor’s office will manage an independent investigation with no inquiries, and which will be based only on proofs. In the court’s process, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, every suspect enjoys the required legal guarantees, including the presumption of innocence from crime until his guilt is proven, and the right to a lawyer of his choosing.”

Last week, the ICC said it will launch a full investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian territories, a move welcomed by the Palestinian government.

Bensouda said the preliminary examination into war crimes, opened in 2015, had rendered enough information to meet all criteria for opening an investigation.

Over 30 lawyers in the Palestinian occupied territories helped draft the fresh dossier.

Gaza, with a population of more than 1.8 million, has been under siege by the Israeli regime since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

A UN fact-finding mission said in March that Israeli forces committed rights violations during their crackdown against Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip last year that may amount to “war crimes,” urging the regime’s military to prevent its snipers from using lethal force against the demonstrators.

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A £30,000 goal has been reached on a charity page, dubbed the "BA Angels Fund", after three cabin crew members were killed in a New Year's Eve crash near Heathrow Airport.

The two men, aged 25 and 23, and a 20-year-old woman who died at the scene - along with a 25 year-old woman in a serious condition in hospital - are all believed to have been friends.

Their names have yet to be released.

The Go Fund Me page, which said it aimed to help the bereaved and injured, was signed off with the message "Rest In Peace Guys, Go Fly The Skies Eternal".

The page had reached its goal of £30,000 within 24 hours off being set up.

A BA spokesperson said: "We're deeply saddened to learn of the death of our colleagues involved in a road traffic collision last night.

"Our thoughts are with their family and friends, who we are supporting at this distressing time."

The off-duty BA cabin crew were in a white Toyota Yaris when it was involved in a crash with a white Mercedes HGV at the junction of Bedfont Road and Long Lane in Stanwell, Surrey, at 11.39pm.

The lorry, which was part of a fleet which is operated by air services provider dnata, left the road and ended up in nearby Longford River.

The lorry driver was taken to hospital as a precaution.

It is believed that all four cabin crew were friends and two of them had finished work at about 6pm, while the other two were on a day off and not scheduled to be on duty.

Sergeant Chris Schultze, of Surrey and Sussex Roads Policing Unit, said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved in this collision at what is an extremely difficult time.

"We are continuing to appeal for witnesses to what happened and would urge anyone who may have any video footage, CCTV or dash cam or any other kind, to get in touch with us."

A spokesman for dnata - which provides ground handling, cargo, travel, and flight catering services to airlines - said: "We can confirm that one of our trucks was involved in a road traffic accident on the evening of December 31.

"We are fully assisting relevant authorities with their investigations. Our thoughts and condolences are with the families of those affected by this very sad incident."

A local driver, who did not want to be named, said the crash scene looked "bad".

He described it as "a bad road" that needs widening, adding: "You would be amazed how many accidents have happened down that road."

The road was closed on Wednesday morning while the lorry was recovered.

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Heartbroken friends of three British Airways staff who died in a New Year's Eve crash near Heathrow Airport have paid emotional tributes.

Joe Finnis and Dominic Fell were killed in the tragedy, pals revealed online, while a third unnamed colleague also died from her injuries.

The airline has paid tribute to the trio.

The tragedy happened when a Mercedes HGV smashed into their Toyota Yaris car shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve.

A 25-year-old woman, who was also travelling in the Yaris, remains in a serious condition in hospital.

A fundraising appeal called the "BA Angels Fund" to support the families of the victims raised more than £36,000 in just six hours.

Friend Bailey Faulkner, who knew the two male victims, wrote on Facebook : "It’s a sad time when you get a message being told that two close mates from the skies have both passed away minutes before 2020!

"Joe Finnis and (Dominic Fell) I couldn’t thank you both for the endless trips together all across the world which each time was full of boozing and laughters, not forgetting the days spent sat in the pub!

"Gutted you’ve gone but you’ll never be forgotten! Keep flying high."

Claire Emery wrote on the fundraising page: "Joe was my apprenticeship coach when I started BA in June. Joe was extremely kind, supportive and empathetic. My deepest condolences to Joe's family."

This was echoed by Malgorzata Kubik, who wrote: "Joe was my coach and he always made sure we were ok.

"I hope he is in a better place now and I would like to send big hugs to his friends and family I am with you in this painful and difficult time especially of that time a year."

Another pal, Daniel Seymour, wrote: "Joe has been my good friend for a while. I even was in the gym with him on the day he passed. I'm so sad and wish him to have the best send off possible. As well as the others involved in the accident. They will all be missed."

Laura Stewart wrote: "Dom and Joe were truly special men and I hope that their families take some comfort in knowing that they were so loved by everyone they have flown with! I’ll miss you."

Hannah Morris posted: "A truly heartbreaking loss to our flying family, an absolute pleasure to have flown with and will be deeply missed by all."

British Airways cabin crew worker Amber Keeling posted: "Love you Dom Rest in peace to you all xxxxx"

And Michelle Leshone wrote: "My heart aches for the young lives lost , and also that of their friends and families , fly high Dom we will love you forever."

Paying tribute to the female crash victim, Emily Diss wrote: "Such a beautiful girl inside and out heartbroken to hear this sad news xxx"

Friend Emily Fabiani wrote on Facebook: "So so so sad. Rest in perfect peace Rachel. Such a lovely soul taken way too soon."

(Image: UKNIP)

The crash happened at 11.39pm in Stanwell, Surrey, and police said the white Mercedes HGV left the road and ended up in Longford River.

The driver of the lorry was taken to hospital as a precaution.

The victims' next of kin have been informed and no arrests have been made.

British Airways said in a statement: "We’re deeply saddened to learn of the death of our colleagues involved in a road traffic collision last night.

"Our thoughts are with their family and friends, who we are supporting at this distressing time."

Welcome first babies of 2020! This is baby Aidan, who was born at exactly midnight, to Mama Jennet Zobnina!! 💕💕💕💕. @NYCHealthSystem #ConeyIsland pic.twitter.com/VMkNmiZpgB — MichelleCharlesworth (@mcharlesworth7) January 1, 2020

NEW YORK CITY -- We have a tie! Two baby boys--one in Brooklyn, one in Staten Island -- ushered in the new decade as the city's first babies of the New Year.Both were born at exactly 12:00 a.m. Wednesday.Aidan Zobnin was born at NYC Health and Hospitals in Coney Island and weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces, and measured 20 inches long.He was born to parents Jennet and Artyom Zobnin and is their second child.Aidan's big sister, Ariana, was born in the same hospital room about two years ago.The other baby born right at the start of the new year was Anthony Saraceno. He was born at Richmond University Medical Center to Michelle and Anthony Saraceno.The little boy weighed in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces."We weren't sure when he was going to come, and before we knew it, it was getting closer and closer to 12, and Dr. Riley said, 'get ready, you guys are going to bring in the new year with a new baby,' and everything just worked out," his father said.An honorable mention also goes to little Bernard Casey Hall Nichols who came into the world at 12:03 a.m. at Mount Sinai South Nassau on Long IslandCongratulations and Happy New Year to all the families!----------

Jakraphanth Thomma on Saturday killed his commanding officer before stealing weapons from a military camp.

The suspect continued his attack in a shopping centre in Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat,

He posted material to social media, but his motives for his actions remain unclear.

Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul posted on his Facebook page on Sunday morning, congratulating the security forces for their actions in the northeastern Thai town.

"Thank you police and army for ending the situation. Shooter shot dead!!!"

Officials said that the death toll stood at 20, with 42 wounded, revising an earlier total of 21 dead. However, it is still possible that the number of fatalities could rise.

Chris Szagola/Associated Press

New Washington Redskins head coach Ron Rivera reportedly hired Jack Del Rio as his defensive coordinator Wednesday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

It is unclear who else will be part of Rivera's staff, but JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington reported Bill Callahan, who served as interim head coach following the firing of Jay Gruden, and most of the defensive staff will not return.

Finlay added that offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell is among the holdover offensive assistants who will interview with Rivera but noted that none of them "definitively" have a job.

While Del Rio is known for his defensive prowess, he has plenty of experience as a head coach as well. He served in the position with the Jacksonville Jaguars for nine seasons from 2003 through 2011, when he was fired after Week 12. He was also the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2015 through 2017.

The 56-year-old finished with a 93-94 record and never advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs as a head coach, but he did as a defensive assistant.

He was the linebackers coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 through 2001, the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in 2002 and the defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos from 2012 through 2014.

Baltimore won a Super Bowl during his tenure with Ray Lewis leading his linebackers unit, and Denver reached a Super Bowl but lost. In four seasons as a defensive coordinator, Del Rio directed groups that finished in the top three in the league in yards allowed three times.

What's more, the 2000 Ravens defense he was involved with allowed three, 10, three and seven points (on a kickoff return and the point after) in four playoff games before lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

The Redskins now have a coach with championship pedigree and a track record of success who brings name recognition to that side of the ball.

Del Rio will take the reins of a unit that ranked 27th in total defense and 27th in points allowed under Greg Manusky in 2019.

While there is work to be done, Del Rio will have plenty of talent, including safety Landon Collins and a strong line that features Jonathan Allen, Matt Ioannidis and Montez Sweat.

The Redskins also own the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft, which they could use to select Ohio State defensive end Chase Young.

Offensively, Washington ranked 31st in yards and 32nd in scoring under O'Connell, but he is viewed as a brilliant young offensive mind and helped rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. and wide receiver Terry McLaurin improve over the course of the season, which could help him appeal to Rivera.

A US Navy aircraft carrier dramatically collided with a huge wave that sent crew members running to the front of the carrier.

The footage, which was captured on camera, shows the carrier in the middle of the sea battling against the large waves.

At first, the vessel appears to be managing the increasing waves and the crew on board can be heard shouting ‘whoa’ as they take in the view.

However, moments later, a rogue wave crashes into the ship, flooding the deck leaving the crew to run for safety as the footage goes blank.

Hardik Pandya engaged to Natasa Stankovic

MUMBAI: Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya got engaged to girlfriend actress Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer, who is recovering from a back injury, announced the great news on Instagram.

Sharing adorable photos and video of their engagement, Hardik captioned it, “Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged.”

Natasa could also be seen in one of the photos flaunting her white diamond engagement ring.

She also shared a video in which Hardik is proposing to her with a ring. The actress captioned it, “Forever yes.”

Earlier, on the eve of New Year 2020, the Indian cricketer also shared a photo with Natasa with a caption, “Starting the year with my firework.”

Before their engagement today, rumours were abuzz that Natasa and Pandya had been dating for a long time.

Congratulatory messages started pouring in from the fans and teammates soon after Hardik shared the news.

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The New Year began on a chilly note for North India as several places, from the plains to the hills, recorded temperatures below 1 degree Celsius with Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar, which nearly touched the 50-degree mark last summer, shivering at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Delhi also witnessed cold wave conditions as the minimum temperature settled at 2.4 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal. Twenty-nine trains were delayed by two to nine hours as fog reduced visibility, officials said.

Bone-chilling cold wave swept Punjab and Haryana with Ludhiana being the coldest place in both the states recording 0.3 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal.

Pathankot, Adampur, Halwara, Bathinda, Faridkot and Gurdaspur recorded their minimums at 0.8, 0.4, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2 and 3.1 degrees Celsius respectively. Among other places, Amritsar and Patiala braved chill at a low of 2.4 and 1.6 degrees Celsius respectively, up to five degrees below normal.

In Haryana, Ambala, Hisar and Karnal braved chill at 2.4, 1, 0.6 degrees Celsius respectively, up to six notches below normal.

Narnaul, Rohtak, Sirsa and Bhiwani experienced cold wave conditions at 1, 1.6, 2.4 and 3.8 degrees Celsius respectively. Union Territory Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded its minimum of 3.5 degree Celsius, two degrees below normal.

Himachal Pradesh experienced dry and cold weather on Wednesday with a number of places of tourist attraction in the state shivering at sub-zero temperatures.

Keylong recorded the lowest temperature in the state at minus 10 degrees Celsius. Kalpa in Kinnaur district registered a low of minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, while Manali, Kufri and Solan shivered at minus 2.6 degrees Celsius, minus 2.3 degrees Celsius and minus 1 degree Celsius respectively.

The minimum temperature at Dalhousie and Shimla was 0.1 degrees Celsius and 1.4 degrees Celsius respectively. The highest maximum temperature in the state was recorded in Bilaspur at 16.5 degrees Celsius.

In Rajasthan, Sri Ganganagar was the coldest place with mercury settling at 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The maximum temperature touched 49.6 degrees Celsius on May 31, 2019 in Sri Ganganagar, breaking a 75-year record for the month of May.

Elsewhere in the state, Jaisalmer, Pilani, Bikaner, Sikar and Barmer recorded minimum temperatures of 2.7, 2.9, 3.4, 4 and 5.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

A day after some respite, minimum temperatures across the Kashmir Valley dropped again with the MeT department predicting a spell of moderate to heavy snowfall in Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh from Wednesday onwards.

Srinagar city recorded the low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius on Tuesday night - down from minus 3.2 degrees Celsius the previous night, the official said.

Officials said the ski-resort of Gulmarg in north Kashmir was the coldest place in the valley with a low of minus 11.0 degrees Celsius Wednesday night - nearly four notches down from the previous night's minus 7.2 degrees Celsius.

The mercury in the Drass town settled at a low of minus 17.0 degrees Celsius - over five degrees up from minus 22.6 degrees Celsius on Tuesday.

In Uttar Pradesh, Etawah and Meerut were the coldest places in the state with both recording a low of 2.8 degrees Celsius. Lucknow recorded a minimum temperature of 4 degrees Celsius. Varanasi recorded a minimum of 6.5 degrees Celsius, while in Allahabad, it was 7.2 degrees Celsius.

In the east, cold wave conditions were witnessed in Odisha with five places in the state recording minimum temperature below 10 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, a MeT department official said.

Minimum temperature rose two to three notches, while maximum fell by three to four notches. While the highest maximum temperature of 30 degree Celsius was recorded at Malkangiri, the lowest minimum temperature of 6.8 degree was at Keonjhar in the plains of Odisha.

The minimum temperature of Angul was recorded at 7.6 degrees Celsius, followed by Talcher (8.9), Phulbani (9 ), Sonepur (9.6), Sundergarh (10) and Balasore (10.1).

The state capital, Bhubaneswar, recorded 12.6 degree Celsius while neighbouring Cuttack also shivered at 10.8 degree Celsius.

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Chandigarh: There was no let up in bone-chilling cold wave sweeping Punjab and Haryana with Ludhiana being the coldest place in both the states.

Minimum temperatures fell several notches below normal in the region with Ludhiana, an industrial hub of Punjab, recording 0.3 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal, an official of the Meteorological Department said on Wednesday.

Among other places, Amritsar and Patiala braved chill at a low of 2.4 and 1.6 degrees Celsius respectively, up to five degrees below normal.

Pathankot, Adampur, Halwara, Bathinda, Faridkot and Gurdaspur recorded their minimums at 0.8, 0.4, 0.6, 0.9, 1.2 and 3.1 degrees Celsius respectively.

In Haryana, Ambala, Hisar and Karnal braved chill at 2.4, 1, 0.6 degrees Celsius respectively, up to six degrees below normal.

Narnaul, Rohtak, Sirsa and Bhiwani experienced cold wave conditions at 1, 1.6, 2.4 and 3.8 degrees Celsius respectively.

Union Territory Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, recorded its minimum of 3.5 degree Celsius, two degrees below normal.

A thick blanket of fog enveloped several places including Amritsar, Bathinda, Halwara, Gurdaspur, Faridkot, Bhiwani, Sirsa and Hisar, causing reduced visibility.

The MeT department has predicted light to moderate rain at a few places in Punjab and Haryana on January 2 and 3.

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Ads in software are a great source of revenue for companies, but it’s usually something that users don’t appreciate. This week, Realme announced that it would be bringing ads to ColorOS following a year of massive growth in the Android market.

Nomad case for Pixel 3

Realme, for those unaware, is a popular Android smartphone maker, especially in India. We haven’t covered Realme much, but in 2019, the company managed 400% year over year growth which saw it take the #4 spot in India behind Xiaomi, Samsung, and Vivo. Part of that growth is thanks to Realme’s value on its smartphones which are usually priced lower than the comparable competition.

Going into 2020, Realme wants to “continue offering more surprises” by bringing “content recommendations” to its ColorOS skin over Android. Essentially, Realme is bringing ads to its software in order to help maintain a “healthy and sustainable business model” going forward.

This change will affect devices running ColorOS 6 and the ads on Realme devices will appear in two different places. The first is in the Phone Manager app while the second is on the Security Check page. The ads are enabled by default, but Realme users can disable them by going to Settings > Additional Settings > Content Recommendation and toggling the “feature” off.

Ironically, Realme made fun of Xiaomi earlier this year (via Android Authority) over ads that Xiaomi placed within MIUI, even showing it as a selling point of the Realme 3.

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Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 1 (IANS) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday played down the privilege motion filed against him by Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha member G.V.L. Narasimha Rao in the upper house of the Parliament.

Rao filed the motion against Vijayan after hearing that the Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution moved by him against the Citizenship Amendment Act in its specially-called session on Tuesday.

Feigning ignorance of the motion, Vijayan told the media here after the weekly cabinet meeting, the Assembly has its own rights and privileges and these could not be violated.

"The Rajya Sabha functions as per rules. Similarly, the Assembly has special protection and it cannot be violated. Still, nothing could be ruled out since strange things are unfolding in the country," he said.

On Tuesday, the assembly saw both the state's traditional political rivals - the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front passing the resolution against the CAA with the lone BJP legislator O.Rajagopal voting against it.

To another query in the manner in which Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has reacted to the protests against CAA, Vijayan pointed out that such remarks need be deemed only his personal observations.

"Even the Central government is making an all-out bid to explain its stance on CAA," he added.

sg/vd

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PASO ROBLES, Calif. - People on the Central Coast already know Paso Robles for its great wines, and now it's getting some recognition for being one of the best places in the world to travel.

Paso Robles was ranked one of the top 30 places to travel in 2020.

The list was released Tuesday and put together by the travel blog, Travel Lemming. The website says different government and tourism boards from around the world nominated their locations as the best trending destinations in their region. Then a panel of travel bloggers voted on the top spots.

Paso Robles ranked 24 on the list. Travel Lemming gave Paso Robles props for its hundreds of wineries, as well as the Field of Light at Sensorio art installation. The article complimented Paso Robles for its mostly family-owned wineries and said there were fewer crowds compared to other famous wine regions like the Napa Valley. "Paso Robles is the perfect place for a relaxing weekend break in 2020," the article said.

The travel website said the best time to visit was from March to June and September to December.

The Visit California organization nominated Paso Robles for this year's list.

"With its historic charm, mineral-rich hot springs and expansive vineyards, Paso Robles is an emerging gem of California's famed Central Coast region," said Visit California President and CEO, Caroline Beteta. "In the past decade, the community has started to enjoy global attention for world-class winemaking and cultural attractions, while holding onto its agricultural heritage, offering a distinctive and authentic California experience for visitors to discover."

Travel Lemming was founded to highlight under-appreciated destinations as a way to fight over-tourism.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — During the Outback Bowl Wednesday, the Auburn Tigers will be paying tribute to one of their own.

In a message shared on Twitter Tuesday night, Auburn unveiled a special helmet with the “7” printed on the side to honor Pat Sullivan, a Heisman Trophy winner and former Auburn quarterback who died Dec. 1.

Sullivan was born in Birmingham and played football at John Carroll Catholic High School before going on to play for Auburn. Between 1969 and 1971, Sullivan led the team to a 26-7 record. In 1971, he received the Heisman Trophy.

After several years in the NFL, where he played for the Atlanta Falcons and the Washington Redskins, Sullivan went into coaching, first as a quarterback coach at Auburn from 1986 to 1991 and, after stints at Texas Christian University and UAB, was the head coach at Samford from 2007 to 2014.

Sullivan died on Dec. 1 after battling cancer for years.

Auburn will face Minnesota at noon Wednesday in Tampa. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

While kids are out of school Burger King restaurants in the United States are offering two free kids meals for one adult meal in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

>>Which Dayton area restaurants are offering carryout, delivery and curbside service?

The offer, reported by Bloomberg earlier this week, is available online or through Burger King’s mobile-phone app.

Burger King is offering orders for carryout and delivery.

we’re thinking about you. we believe restaurants will have an increasingly essential role in feeding our country. so whether you’re ordering at BK or elsewhere, use minimum contact methods like drive-thrus, pick-up or delivery. take care, https://t.co/tWSdfUbbGu

cc: @whitehouse — Burger King (@BurgerKing) March 17, 2020

Jose Cil, CEO of Burger King's parent company, Restaurant Brands International Inc., discussed the new offer on Tuesday after participating in a conference call with President Trump, according to Bloomberg.

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