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For some airline industry experts, Etihad's latest move is little more than a gimmick.
"Frankly I think the concierge service offered by Etihad is style over substance," says Ben Schlappig, a connoisseur of major airlines' first-class experiences and author of popular aviation blog One Mile at a Time.
"Ultimately I doubt this will be much more valuable than services offered by many top-end credit cards, and likely won't have the local expertise or clout of a top hotel concierge.
"Presumably people dropping $20,000 plus on a one-way ticket already have access to other concierge services," he adds.
But Baumgartner insists that as people travel further and more often, the time spent on the journey needs to be more enjoyable than ever.
"How we travel is changing. Today's tech-driven, fast-paced world means that we have to strive to be innovative, rethink what we've done historically, and offer more convenience and comfort to our guests," he says.
:ocations of Turkey (green) and Iran (orange). Source: Wikipedia Commons.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi went a step further: “There are limits. We hope such statements are not made again. If our Turkish friends continue with this attitude, we will not remain silent.” Iran summoned Turkey’s ambassador in Tehran for an explanation.
Turbulence in the two countries’ relations is not new, and this will not be the last time. Each time, a modus vivendi was ultimately found. It is worth remembering that the border between Turkey and Iran is one of the oldest international boundaries. It was delineated by the Qasr-i Shirin Treaty of 1639, and has not changed an inch in almost 380 years. This is an indication of the stability of their relations.
An unfortunate coincidence is that this friction is taking place at a time when the two countries could together make valuable contributions to solving several regional problems, the most salient being the Syrian and Iraqi crises.
In Iraq, the fight against Daesh continues unabated in Mosul. Turkey and Iran could help Iraq get rid of this scourge if the Iraqi authorities invite them to do so. The help to be extended by a neighboring country is a more sensitive issue, because the refraction point between assistance and interference is not always easy to determine.
In Syria, Turkey and Iran have several converging interests. One of them is the preservation of Syria’s territorial integrity. If the country disintegrates, it may take a long time for the region to stabilize again. Turkey and Iran could contribute a lot to the preservation of Syria’s territorial integrity if they unite their efforts.
Another area of convergent interests is the Kurdish aspiration to establish an autonomous region in northern Syria. This aspiration is supported by the superpowers Russia and the US, though they also support Syria’s territorial integrity.
Turkey will be more directly affected by it because it will be surrounded from the south by a Kurdish belt. Syrian Kurds emphatically declare they only seek autonomy, not independence. But if Syria disintegrates, they are almost ready to proclaim independence. Turkey is opposed to the establishment of a Kurdish state that will surround it from the south. Iran also opposes this, but they cannot cooperate to abort it if they do not stop mutual recriminations.
The establishment of such a zone in Syria will encourage Turkey’s Kurds to try to do the same. This would be detrimental to Iranian interests as well because after Iraqi, Syrian and Turkish Kurds, it will be Iranian Kurds’ turn to do the same.
Since Syria can be expected to favor the preservation of its own territorial integrity, Turkey, Iran and Syria will have converging interests. Ankara may not be prepared to cooperate with Damascus presently, but the convergence of interests will remain to be explored when the circumstances are suitable.
Turkey and Iran are important trade partners. They have not been able to mobilize the full potential for cooperation so far because of economic sanctions on Iran. Turkey receives around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from its neighbor. If the Pars II oil reserves are fully developed, Turkey may cooperate with Iran to construct a pipeline to export gas from these rich reserves to Europe.
The biggest danger in the Middle East is further sectarianization of the conflict. Turkey and Iran (together with Saudi Arabia) could play an important role to avoid that.
*Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party.
16 Nov 2018, 10:43 a.m.
Two major mobile phone contractors in the UK have been fined by Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, for overcharging customers trying to leave their contracts early.
Over 400,000 EE customers and 82,000 Virgin Media customers paid a total of £4.3m and £2.8m, respectively. Although companies can charge customers a fee for leaving before the minimum terms of their contract, these charges were not made clear and resulted in customers being less likely to switch to one of EE or Virgin's competitors - breaking Ofcom's rules as a result.
Gaucho Rasmussen, Ofcom’s Director of Investigations and Enforcement, said: “EE and Virgin Media broke our rules by overcharging people who ended their contracts early. Those people were left out of pocket, and the charges amounted to millions of pounds .
Over the past six years, 15m EE discount contracts for mobile, landline, and broadband packages had hidden, excessive, charges. Virgin, meanwhile, charged early exit fees that were significantly higher than customers had agreed to when signing up to its contracts. The majority of its customers were overcharged by £34, while 6,800 customers were charged more than £100 in penalties.
Ofcom fined EE £6.3m, with the company refunding £2.7m to the affected customers it can identify (although Ofcom says this means "up to £1.6m cannot be refunded.") Virgin Media was fined £7m, plus an additional £25,000 for failing to provide full information when questioned by Ofcom.
Virgin Media has refunded, or made charity donations, to account for 99.8% of the customers that have been affected. However, the company remains displeased, as the BBC reports that it "strongly disagrees" with the decision and would be appealing to the Competition Appeal Tribunal.
Chief Executive of Virgin Media Tom Mockridge said that, "This decision and fine is not justified, proportionate or reasonable. A small percentage of customers were charged an incorrect amount when they ended one or more of their services early and for that we are very sorry."
TOLUCA, Mexico (AP) Toluca beat the San Jose Earthquakes on penalties Wednesday to advance to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals for the second time.
With the score 1-1 after extra time in the second leg of their quarterfinal, San Jose’s Shea Salinas missed a vital penalty and the Mexican side won the shootout 5-4 to advance 3-2 on aggregate.
Ty Harden put the U.S. side ahead in the 56th off a cross from Salinas, before Isaac Brizuela scored the equalizer in the 69th to force extra time.
San Jose and Toluca also tied 1-1 in the first leg of their quarterfinal.
Toluca, a 10-time Mexican champion, will play next play the winner of the quarterfinal series between Panama’s Arabe Unido and Costa Rica’s Alajuelenese. Toluca also reached the Champions League semifinals in 2010, losing to Pachuca 2-1 on aggregate.
Firefighters went at 2 a.m. Saturday for a reported gas leak on the 100 block of Cedar Street. No leak was found.
Firefighters went at 5:30 a.m. Saturday to the 100 block of Hogbin Road for a carbon monoxide alarm. The house was ventilated to get rid of the gas.
Firefighters went at 9 a.m. Saturday to a fire at Moe's Southwest Grill in the Union Lake Shopping Center on North 2nd Street. A heating and air conditioning system on the roof caught fire.
Firefighters went at 2 p.m. Saturday to Jaycee Plaza at 11 East Main St. for an alarm. The alarm was accidental. Another accidental alarm was triggered at 2 p.m. Monday.
Firefighters went at 6:30 p.m. Saturday to the 300 block of North Sharp Street for an accident.
Firefighters went at 7 p.m. Saturday to Bridgeton to assist with a dwelling fire.
Firefighters went at 10:30 a.m. Sunday to the 300 block of North 5th Street for a gas leak.
Firefighters went at 11:30 a.m. Sunday to the 1400 block of East Main Street for a gas leak.
Firefighters went at 12:30 p.m. Sunday to 54 N. Sharp St. for an accident.
Firefighters went at 10:30 a.m. Monday to Paul Revere Court in the Liberty Village development on South 2nd Street for an alarm.
Arlo Guthrie didn't perform "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" Saturday night at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, but the song, in a way, was there in spirit.
Guthrie's signature tune from 1967 (better known simply as "Alice's Restaurant") works partly as music and partly as stand-up comedy; most of its 18-plus minutes consist of a rambling yarn about Guthrie's arrest for littering and how his criminal record saved him from going to Vietnam. The Barclay show, titled "Arlo Guthrie: Here Comes the Kid," followed a similar format: plenty of tunes and plenty of talking.
In fact, if the show had consisted of nothing but Guthrie perched on his footstool, tuning his guitar strings and tossing off stories, it would have been entertaining enough. In two or so hours, the Kid regaled the audience with accounts of his Kidhood and beyond — spying on his father, Woody Guthrie, as he wrote songs, hanging out with Lead Belly, reveling in the 1960s counterculture and more.
"Well, you're still here," Guthrie said upon returning to the stage after intermission. Given the amount of history alone onstage, its doubtful many would have skipped out early.
But on musical terms, too, the show was a treat, as Guthrie, backed only by his own guitar or piano, breathed life into a century's worth of American popular music. The "Here Comes the Kid" tour, which started last year, celebrates the 100th anniversary of Woody Guthrie's birth, and the first half of the Barclay set offered a plethora of Woody tunes, with the jaunty "Do Re Mi" and the mournful "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)" among the highlights.
The latter song, about a crash that claimed the lives of dozens of immigrant laborers, inspired a particularly moving footnote from Guthrie: The victims of the accident, who, to Woody's chagrin, were labeled simply as "deportees" in the mainstream media in 1948, will soon be memorialized with a plaque bearing their names.
Hearing that story, as well as the one that introduced "1913 Massacre" (an account of a slaying of copper miners and their families in Michigan, where, Guthrie said, he's met descendants of the victims), served as a reminder of the true value of folk music. Often, traditional songs pay tribute to nameless people; just as often, their authors are anonymous as well. Through performers like the Guthries, their ideas pass on through the decades.
The second half of the show concentrated more on the younger Guthrie's catalog, which included not just the classics ("Coming into Los Angeles," which he famously sang at Woodstock, and the Steve Goodman-penned hit "City of New Orleans") but also a couple of off-the-wall delights: the darkly comic "Me and My Goose," which would fit snugly on a "Weird Al" Yankovic album, and the children's poem "Mooses Come Walking."
Sporting long, curly gray hair and clad in dark colors, Guthrie looked every bit the seasoned troubadour he is, and his nasal tenor has held up remarkably with time. Such was the eclectic nature of "Here Comes the Kid" that Guthrie dipped into folk history even further back than his father's work: the night's covers included the 1930s ballad "Old Shep" and the standard "St. James Infirmary Blues," which Guthrie noted that he learned from his father's longtime musical partner, Cisco Houston.
Barely a song went by Saturday without a long foreword or afterword, and only on a couple of occasions did the talking overpower the music. Guthrie prefaced "The Motorcycle Song" with a hilarious shaggy-dog story about a man whose quest to ride his cycle in the house resulted in multiple calls to the paramedics — but unfortunately, the introduction was much funnier than the slight song, which lacked the bounce of the rendition from his 1967 debut album.
The most disappointing performance of the night was Woody Guthrie's signature tune, "This Land Is Your Land," which came second to last. While its author's son can be forgiven for toying with a song that's been played countless times over the years, the version at the Barclay, which featured severely truncated lyrics and an overlong spoken section in the middle, fell short of being the rouser it could have been.
When Guthrie bowed after that number, it felt like a tepid note to close the evening — but when he returned a moment later, jokingly declaring that "the show is officially over," he ended gracefully with "My Peace," a song whose melody he wrote to lyrics found after his father's death. For the first time in the show, Guthrie called on the audience to sing along, and the tune's simple optimism ("My peace, my peace is all I've got / that I can give to you") resounded with so many voices, both famous and nameless, to power it through.
Activist investors are gobbling up shares of Houston-based BMC Software in an attempt to get the company to put itself up for sale.
Convex Management LP said in a regulatory filing today that it took a 1 percent stake in the company, or more than 1.5 million shares. The activist hedge fund, founded by an associate of billionaire Carl Icahn, didn’t state its intentions. Today’s filing showed Convex bought its shares as of March 31.
Convex’s ownership came to light a day after BMC said that another investor, Elliott Associates, notified the company that it had purchased 5 percent of BMC’s common stock. Earlier today, Elliott nominated five directors in its effort to force BMC to consider a sale.
Jesse Cohn, a portfolio manager at Elliott, had a “friendly meeting” with BMC management last week, according to a letter the fund filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. BMC’s response, however, has been less cordial. Yesterday, the company adopted a poison pill anti-takeover plan.
“I was disappointed to read that the Board’s response appears aimed at entrenchment rather than at exploring opportunities,” Cohn wrote.
BMC’s shares have risen 10 percent in the past two days as the takeover speculation intensified. But even at today’s close of $44.51 the stock is trading well below its 52-week high of $56.50 from last July.
BMC has struggled with its transition from a maker of mainframe software to a information technology services company.
“The transition has become more challenging in recent years, as BMC has suffered from sluggish growth, substantial execution challenges and underperformance on its business plan, and new competitive pressures,” Cohn wrote.
As a result, the market values BMC as a growth-impaired company, and Elliott believes the company’s value will continue to erode if it remains independent. BMC, however, remains attractive to “multiple strategic acquirers,” that include other tech companies looking to capitalize on its customer base and technology or to private equity funds that would generate a premium for the company’s shareholders, Cohn wrote.
“While the company is always open to alternatives that fully reflect the value and prospects of the company, the board of directors has determined that forming a special committee and pursuing a sale at this time is not in the best interest of stockholders,” the company responded in a statement.
Tampa Fla--Florida's merit-pay program--heralded as the nation's first statewide, performance-based bonus system for teachers--will apparently bypass many teachers recognized in the state's teacher-of-the-year program.
Interviews with Teachers of the Year from 47 of the 48 Florida counties that named a top teacher in 1983 indicate many of those identified as the state's best may go unrewarded when the bonuses of up to $3,000 go out next winter. Only 36 percent of the teachers of the year are eligible to apply for merit pay.
Sam Rosales, a teachers' union leader in Tampa, responded to the information by saying, "Surely they [Florida lawmakers] could have figured a way to exclude all of the best teachers."
The obstacle for most teachers of the year is the 1983 legislature's decision that only teachers with certain master's degrees--those specifically pertaining to the subject they teach--would be eligible for merit pay.
Twenty-one teachers of the year have no master's degrees. Seven have a master's degree that does not meet merit-pay guidelines. Two do not know where they stand because some of those guidelines need further interpretation.
The master's degree requirement has created other ironies beyond barring a majority of teachers of the year from winning merit pay.
Anna Wollard was chosen the best of the 1,000 teachers in Clay County. She also was named a "competency reviewer" by the state to evaluate teachers considered below par to see if they could be helped.
"Here your county says you are one of the best teachers and the state says you are an expert, but you can't get merit pay," Ms. Wollard said. "It's deflating."
Bernice McSpadden, Bay County teacher of the year, is also a trainer of the evaluators who will help determine which teachers deserve merit pay.
But because she has no master's degree, she herself is out of the running before the evaluation process even begins.
"It's rather ironic, isn't it, that you have to have a master's degree to get merit pay and you have to have a master's degree to evaluate teachers who want merit pay, but I'm allowed to train the evaluators," Ms. McSpadden said.
Robert Bossong, Dade County's teacher of the year, is noted for his success with disruptive youths that other schools have given up on, but he cannot earn a master's degree in the vocational area he teaches because such a degree does not exist.
If he is denied merit pay because of that technicality--he has a master's degree in curriculum--Mr. Bossong said he will sue the state.
State officials devoted to the concept of merit pay are undeterred by such criticism.
They say the teacher-of-the-year selection process--although sponsored by the state--is more of a popularity contest than a professional evaluation. And they argue that some flaws are to be expected in any new program.
"This is a ground-breaking of sorts," explained Kern Alexander, Gov. Robert Graham's education consultant. "We never said there won't be some room for improve-ment. But we think we've got a solid foundation."
Whether the repairs to the merit-pay program will be made this year is a hotly debated topic as the 1984 legislature prepares to go into session in two weeks.
Top staff members in both houses say leading lawmakers may block any attempt to tamper with the merit-pay law this year for fear opponents might succeed in killing the entire program.
"The last word from the speaker's office is that we will keep the law intact this session and wait until next year to make any changes," a ranking staff member said.
Michael Farrell, staff director of the Senate Education Committee, added, "I don't think we're going to initiate any changes over here."
Dylan Thomas's poetry was first published in the 1930s, when he was still a teenager. His deep, sonorous voice and beautiful language made him a celebrity on the wireless; his most famous work – Under Milk Wood – was written for radio.
The Edge of Love focuses on the relationships between Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys), his wife Caitlin MacNamara (Sienna Miller), Thomas's childhood friend Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley) and her soldier husband William Killick (Cillian Murphy). The film claims these two couples were entwined in a messy love quadrilateral.
In real life, Thomas served as best man to the Killicks, and Vera was close to Caitlin, but there is scant evidence for any affairs. There are hardly any mentions of either Vera or William in Thomas's collected letters, though he does occasionally call William "Captain Waistcoat" (owing to his dandyish dress sense), and at one point unkindly compares Phillips with "a pudding-faced blond sloth".
With William away fighting in Greece, the Thomases and Vera move to a cliff-top in Cardiganshire to wait out the war. After much persuasion, Dylan finally seduces Vera.
The movie has made the presumably commercial decision to turn Vera – in real life an eccentric bohemian sculptor trained by Henry Moore – into a glamour-puss nightclub singer who seems to have no wits about her at all. The real Thomas's description of Vera at the time implies a far more interesting character than the one in the movie: "Vera lives on cocoa, and reads books about the technique of third-century brass work, and gets up only once a day to boil the cat an egg, which it detests." No reluctant cats were fed boiled eggs during the making of this motion picture. Unfortunately.
William returns from Greece shell-shocked. One night in the pub, he gets into a brawl with Dylan's fancy London friends. The film has politely omitted the claim made by Caitlin and others that William started the fight by making antisemitic remarks. Later that night, William approaches the Thomases' bungalow with his Sten gun and a grenade. He fires shots into the living room, just missing the Thomases, their baby and their friends, then bursts in and waves his weapons around until he can be calmed down.
In real life, it did indeed happen more or less like this. "Drunken Waistcoat was also nursing a grudge," wrote Caitlin. "He was convinced that his wife had been living with us in a ménage à trois (which was a ridiculous thought) while he had been away, and that we had been drinking too much of his money (there may have been some truth in that)."
During the trial, Vera privately begs Dylan not to testify against William. "I can't live without him," she says. "I'm begging you to help him." Instead, Thomas condemns him on the stand.
This is not even slightly true. What's particularly odd, though, is that the film wants its audience to sympathise not with Thomas, whose house has been machine- gunned by a maniac while he, his family and his friends were inside, but with the maniac. It's too much to ask. Anyone can sympathise with a soldier traumatised by war, but opening fire on your neighbours is not a reasonable way to deal with the trauma. As the judge in the film says, "in my opinion, it is not an innocent hand that wields a gun against a civilian household".
In real life, the judge advised the jury to acquit William. In the movie, the jury acquits him in defiance of the judge. The film invites us to feel relieved at this verdict, which in fact leaves us feeling alarmed.
Perhaps The Edge of Love's extraordinary sympathy for William and Vera Killick has something to do with the fact that its producer, Rebekah Gilbertson, is their granddaughter.
The Edge of Love is too soft on William Killick, too hard on Dylan Thomas, and fluffs poor old Vera Phillips and her third-century brasswork altogether.
The group held Chester's first Amnestea on 7th July 2012 at the Siebers'. The sun shone and the event was very well-attended, raising over £150. Visitors enjoyed tea, cake and live music in the garden. Inside, there was opportunity to learn more about Amnesty and about the local group, and many visitors also took action for Amnesty, signing cards and petitions.
JUSTICE has been done for a dad-of-two killed in a vicious street attack after two men had their “unduly lenient” jail sentences increased by the country’s top judge.
Poet and author Jonathan Bennett, 40, of Rhyl, died after sustaining massive brain damage in the assault outside the town’s Grapevine Bar in February.
Former boxer Thomas Bryan, who delivered the killer punches, was jailed for just three years in July. Pal Peter Jason Roberts, who cleared the way for the attack and then helped Bryan flee, was given 18 months and released last month.

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