Split (1)

train · 2.6M rows

text stringlengths 13 81.7k
Home favourite Christophe Lemaitre, who won the world bronze two years ago, finished third in 20.07 with Jamaican Warren Weir second in 19.92.
Home Ministry and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have signed a MoU for setting up of a state-of-the-art Integrated Control Room for Emergency Response (ICR-ER) in Home Ministry. In a release, the Ministry said yesterday, ISRO will render its technical expertise for setting up of proposed ICR-ER whereas the p...
The proposed Control Room is expected to be established in next one-and-a-half year. The ICR-ER will cater to the requirement of Disaster Management as well as Internal Security. It will address the requirement of receipt of information on near real-time basis, strategic level monitoring, situation awareness, command a...
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says he intends to run for a seat in the Australian Senate in next year’s federal election and will announce the formation of a WikiLeaks party. He made the announcement from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Assange has been living in the embassy for the past six months, in an effort to avoid extradition to Sweden and possibly the US.
The whistleblower told Fairfax Media that plans to register the political party were “significantly advanced” and added that “a number of very worthy people admired by the Australian public” have expressed their availability to run for election on the party ticket.
However, there remains one small problem – Assange is still holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, with no signs of leaving anytime soon.
But Assange says that’s only a minor obstacle, because it is “inevitable” that the US will eventually drop its investigation into WikiLeaks.
“The building of political opposition to the persecution of a media organization” will lead the US Department of justice to drop its espionage investigation, he said.
Assange says he is able to register as an overseas elector in New South Wales and Victoria. He added that a “strategic decision” will determine which state he chooses to represent.
If he were elected but unable to return to Australia to take up his position, a nominee would occupy his seat.
Meanwhile, Assange’s own father is backing his son’s plans back home in Australia, by coordinating preparations for the party’s formation.
A draft of the party’s constitution has also been submitted for legal review.
Party registration with the Australian Electoral Commission would require confirmation of at least 500 members who are listed on the electoral roll.
The goal of the party would be to further advance WikiLeaks’ founding principles of promoting openness in government and politics. He says the party will combat growing intrusions on individual privacy.
Assange has been living at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the past six months. Quito granted him full asylum in August, but the UK refuses to grant him safe passage out of the country.
British police are waiting outside to arrest him so he can be extradited to Sweden to face questioning on sexual assault allegations.
“They’re squatting on the front door demanding the identity of everyone who comes in. It’s an outrageous violation of diplomatic practice,” he said.
The whistleblower remains convinced that extradition to Sweden would lead to his eventual extradition to the US, where he would face charges of espionage following the publication of thousands of classified documents, including secret cables of the US State Department.
But even six months after moving into the embassy, Assange says things could be worse.
“One gets used to things. Other people are in much harsher conditions than I am…[the embassy] is certainly preferable to solitary confinement in Sweden or the United States,” he said.
Edward Villella’s Miami City Ballet comes to Manhattan.
Maybe it was good for Villella and his staff to be far away, and in a non-ballet town.
When the curtain came down on the opening number of Miami City Ballet’s season at City Center late last month, the applause fairly rocked the hall. The dancers, taking their bows, were visibly surprised. I thought some of them were going to cry. This reception was not just for the company, or even for the thundering pi...
Nor was there anything snooty about his background. He was an Italian-American working-class kid from Queens. The only reason he got into a dance class was that his mother took his sister to the local ballet school, with Eddie tagging along, and the teacher said, How about the little boy, too? Villella’s father, who dr...
Still, he was a superlative dancer, and adored by the press, not only for his skill or even his artistry but also for his blue-collar origins and for his extreme, natural virility. The man seemed to be heterosexual, and, in mid-century American ballet, that was news. Balanchine, too, liked Villella’s “street” manner, a...
Because of his physical problems, Villella stopped dancing early. Soon, he was invited to set up a ballet company in Miami. This was a tough assignment. Miami was not a ballet town, and donors were scarce. Still, he got a company going, in 1986, and within a few years—precisely at the time when Balanchine’s ballets sta...
Most people don’t expect Balanchine’s work to look, today, exactly as it did under his supervision. But they want two things: first, that all the steps be there, executed carefully; and, second, that the performance suggest an idea behind the ballet. Other companies, including even the heavily criticized New York City ...
Such cluelessness is what you do not see in Miami City Ballet. Maybe it was good for Villella and his staff to be away from New York, and in a non-ballet town. Maybe this forced them to ask themselves, Why do we like these ballets? Who cares? And perhaps it was by answering such questions afresh that they came up with ...
That was the easy part. America still knows about war. But we don’t any longer know much about the sort of dark luxe that is the subject of Balanchine’s 1951 “La Valse.” This haunted-ballroom ballet is a sacred item, partly because it seemed to prophesy, and then commemorate, the fate of its original star, Tanaquil Le ...
Balanchine, his dancers say, never told them what his ballets were about, never gave them “motivations.” He probably thought that he didn’t need to. In his time, everyone knew what French stylishness was, not to speak of the Second World War. That is not the case with teen-agers in Miami in 2009, and Villella, as he sa...
The season had obvious flaws, most of them probably due to underfunding. First, the music was taped. (Villella had planned to bring an orchestra. That was before the financial crisis.) Then, the men are not at all on the same level as the women. People claim that ballet companies outside New York get “second-best” bodi...
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma City police are on the scene of a shooting at a local gentlemen’s club.
Around 2 a.m. on Friday morning, authorities were called to Night Trips, located near Reno and Meridian, on a reported shooting.
Right now, we know one victim was found in the parking lot with a gunshot wound.
The victim was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.
Police do not have a suspect in custody, but witnesses say they saw a red Suburban leaving the scene shortly after the shooting.
If the occasional appearance of sanity is all we ask of Trump, then his reign of insanity will be our fault.
Some people who attain high public office grow in their position of trust. Some, however, just bloat.
Bloat has been on spectacular display in the first months of Donald Trump’s presidential tenure. He had a disastrous start, choosing a cabinet and staff mostly made up of ideological quacks, incompetents, and Wall Street grifters.
Yet, buoyed by his explosive ego, Trump pronounced his start historic: “I don’t think there’s ever been a president elected who in this short period of time has done what we’ve done,” he boasted at a recent news conference.
For example, they made a reckless, unconstitutional attempt to ban millions of Muslim immigrants from our land. They had to ax the kooky guy Trump chose to be his national security adviser. And they’ve apparently been caught colluding with Russian meddlers in our politics.
And now Trump has embraced a GOP replacement of Obamacare, hailing the “Trumpcare” substitute that will jack-up our health care costs, cut benefits, and eliminate coverage entirely for millions of working-class and poor people — while also sneaking in yet another underhanded tax cut for the rich.
We have a president who’s detached from reality, careening from one mess to another. But who will say: “The emperor has no clothes”?
Huh? The speech was a nasty wad of lies and right-wing nonsense. If the occasional appearance of sanity is all we ask of Trump, then his reign of insanity will be our fault.
Does the GOP hate women?
Even after complete ban on plastic bags, local shops & vegetable vendors are openly flouting the rules. Usage of plastic bag is rampant in Noida Sector 15 local shops and weekly vegetable market.
Where is Swachh Bharat Abhiyan?
2 Where is Swachh Bharat Abhiyan?
Smartphones could one day double as mobile air pollution monitors.
Sure, you think your phone is smart because it's an all-in-one device -- GPS, web browser, phone, camera, etc. But researchers are showing how smartphones can be used for more than just posting your Instagram photos to Facebook.
Computer scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed small portable air pollution sensors. Known as CitiSense, the sensor system measures air quality levels in real time and delivers data to your smartphone or computer. It can detect ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and common air poll...
The researchers say the portable sensors could be used by people with conditions, like chronic asthma, that make it especially important to avoid air pollution. It could also be used by commuters who bike or walk to work to find the least polluted route.
For now the sensors seem a bit clunky to carry around (here's an example) but the researchers say that one day sensors could actually be built into smartphones. And that could give cities a clearer look at when and where air pollution is the worst, far more than what's currently available from the United States' Enviro...
Who did actor Paul Usher play in Brookside as he makes his EastEnders debut?
A familiar face comes to Albert Square tonight as actor Paul Usher makes his debut in EastEnders.
Usher originally found fame in late lamented Channel 4 soap Brookside – but arrives in Walford as an associate of Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden)’s called Danny Hardcastle.
The character is linked to Phil’s recent trips to Spain, and he owes him money – which he reminds him about in no uncertain terms on Monday night – suggesting that more trouble lies ahead for the character.
If you watched Brookside you’ll already be familiar with Usher – but just who did he play in that soap?
Who did Paul Usher play in Brookside?
The actor appeared in Brookside as one of its original characters, Barry Grant.
Barry – who was the only character to appear in both the first ever episode in November 1982 and the final ever episode in November 2003, was the eldest child of Bobby and Sheila Grant, and the older brother of Damon and Karen.
He was one of the soap’s most notorious villains, being expelled from school aged 15 for attacking a group of bullies who had been picking on his best friend Terry Sullivan.
The character went on to become involved with gangsters and dodgy business dealings as well as killing Terry’s wife, Sue, and her young child Danny (although he claimed it was an accident) and letting someone else take the blame.
Later on in the soap he became involved with step-cousin Lindsay Corkhill (Claire Sweeney), although that led to him becoming involved with even more heavies – and the pair had an on-off relationship, both marrying other people, before it was revealed in the final ever episode that they planned to marry.
The character took breaks from the soap over the years but the last ever episode of the show saw Lindsay’s dad Jimmy Corkhill going to live with Barry and Lindsay in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, where the character was now living in a mansion off the proceeds of years of crime.
What else has Paul Usher been in?
Since Brookside ended he played DS Des Taviner in The Bill for three years, and has also appeared in the likes of Robin Hood and Moving On, as well as Celebrity Eggheads and Pointless Celebrities.
How long will Paul be in EastEnders?
At the moment the actor is only set to appear in a few episodes, as part of Phil’s storyline with returning son Ben (Max Bowden).
TEHRAN, Iran - TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian authorities have arrested several people accused of destroying photos of the Islamic Republic's revered founder and the current supreme leader at student demonstrations, state media reported Monday.
Tehran's prosecutor promised to show "no mercy" to those responsible, but the news reports carrying his remarks gave no details on who was arrested.
In demonstrations on university campuses last week, supporters of Iran's pro-reform opposition movement burned and trampled on pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They oppose him for backing hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed June re-election, which the opposition says was rigged.
But the protesters have denied government claims they also tore up a photo of the leader of Iran's 1979 revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who remains a widely respected figure in Iran.
They accuse the government of staging video of someone destroying Khomeini's picture to discredit their protest movement and justify a continued crackdown.
Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said authorities were preparing indictments against those arrested, according to the official IRNA news agency. Under the law, insults to the late or current supreme leader can lead to two years in prison.
"There will be no mercy toward those who insulted the Imam (Khomeini) and top officials of the system," IRNA quoted him as saying.
Dowlatabadi did not identify those arrested.
In last week's demonstrations, tens of thousands of students protested for two days on campuses in the capital, Tehran, and other parts of the country. There were also a number of demonstrations outside of campuses. They were the largest anti-government rallies in months, sparking violence as hard-line students and par...
Reformists, including opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, maintain their supporters had nothing to do with the burning of Khomeini's picture, which they say is being used by the regime to discredit the opposition.
Opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi said he has asked the Interior Ministry to grant permission for his followers to stage a rally condemning the burning of Khomeini's photo.
"Otherwise we cannot take responsibility for the actions of any self-determined person (on the streets)," he said in a statement on his Web site.
Angry government supporters, including hard-line clerics, have held rallies since Friday to denounce those who destroyed photos of Khamenei and Khomeini.
Khomeini is revered by both the opposition and the ruling system. But Khamenei is a much more divisive figure, seen by the opposition as a dictator who rules with an iron fist.
The opposition dislikes Khamenei for appointing in key positions loyal hard-liners who seek to block democratic reforms and fight reformists.
During the Dec. 7 rallies, student protesters shouted, "Death to the oppressor, whether it's the shah or the leader!" — making a daring comparison between Khamenei and the pro-U.S. shah, despised in Iran since his 1979 overthrow.
A defiant Mousavi vowed Monday to continue protests against the ruling system, saying the use of force has not and won't resolve the crisis.
"After the election, people asked, 'Where is my vote?' ... If people's questions had been addressed and violence had not been used, we would have not seen taboo-shattering moves," Mousavi was quoted as saying by the pro-reform Web site Rahesabz.net.
Mousavi accused authorities of sending hard-liners armed with sticks and disguised as students to Tehran University to crush the protests there.
"They send non-students with batons and sticks to the university and call them students. Then, they say students threw tear gas at each other. This is nothing but deception. ... At least be sincere and say (authorities) sent forces to confront protests," he said.
Khamenei warned Mousavi and other opposition leaders on Sunday to stay away from protesters.
"From now on, too, protests and demands have to be pursued peacefully," Mousavi was quoted as saying.
State police Monday recaptured one of seven convicts at a closed horse racing track 5 miles west of the prison where an armed former death row inmate engineered the mass escape Saturday.
Hector Herman Torres, 33, of Las Vegas, N.M., was recaptured by officials at Santa Fe Downs, about 15 miles south of Santa Fe, authorities said. He offered no resistance.
Torres had been serving time for burglary, armed robbery, kidnapping and charges stemming from an unsuccessful escape attempt in 1985.
About 5 a.m. Monday, police found clothing belonging to inmate Michael Romero, 29, outside a construction trailer at the Villa Linda Mall in south Santa Fe.
Police also found another unidentified inmate's clothing at about midnight at a motel south of the mall.
The seven inmates, including four-time killer and former death row inmate William Wayne Gilbert, escaped Saturday night after Gilbert, 38, pulled a gun on an officer, gained access to a living unit control center and electronically freed six others.
An officer shot in the shoulder by Gilbert in the incident was in satisfactory condition Monday.
Warden George Sullivan said about 150 law enforcement and prison personnel were patrolling roads and watching fields within a 10-mile radius of the prison 6 miles from the city of Santa Fe.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.