text stringlengths 0 100k |
|---|
Well, that was quick. As per World Series of Fighting (WSOF) President Ray Sefo on Wednesday's (June 11, 2014) media conference call, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight Yushin Okami is set to to face the winner of David Branch vs. Jesse Taylor. The two middleweights battle for the inaugural 185-pound strap at WSOF 10: "Branch vs. Taylor," which takes place at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 21, 2014. The main card can be seen exclusively on NBC Sports Network, while the "Prelims" will be streamed on the promotion's official website. Sefo elaborates: "If we go by ranking, most likely the winner of this fight will fight Yushin Okami. This is probably the next match up. We got a big fight on their hands ... I believe David Branch and Jesse Taylor on June 21, they have something to prove." "Thunder" was released from UFC after his lopsided loss to Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza at UFC Fight Night 38 last September. He was victorious in his debut for the organization at WSOF 9 against Svetlozar Savov in an extremely dominant performance, where he secured his first submission victory since 2006. Okami was supposed to headline WSOF's debut event in Japan this summer in August, however, due to minor issues, the event has been postponed to a later date. WSOF 10 is now complete with three title fights, and to check out more information on the event, click here. |
About This Game 4 different unlockable player races Over 40 different ship hulls Over 120 spaceship modules Choice of skirmish vs AI, never-ending survival mode or play against other player’s fleets with the online challenge system Play with different rules as each battle has different spatial anomalies to deal with. Who needs backstory? Who needs resource-gathering? Diplomacy is so last year. Gratuitous Space Battles cuts right to the chase of sci-fi strategy games, and deals with large, completely unjustified space battles between huge opposing space fleets.Gratuitous Space Battles combines the visual appeal of an RTS, with the addictive unit-placement and design gameplay from tower defense games. In GSB, the player does not control individual ships at all during battle. The ships fight to a pre-determined set of orders and formations given to them by you before the battles.GSB casts you as supreme space admiral, tasked with the design of individual spaceships, and the composition of your fleet, as well as general orders of engagement. This is not a twitch-based real time arcade game like many an RTS, but a game of careful thought, planning and big-picture strategy. Huge space battles can be won or lost depending on just how cleverly you balanced the needs of defensive shielding and armor against the expensive punch of laser cannons and plasma torpedoes.GSB also features an innovative multiplayer challenge system. You can upload your ultimate fleet to serve as the enemy to other players, and keep track of how many other players have won and lost against your challenge. That way, you will never run out of cunningly designed enemies to battle against! |
Last weekend in Marseille, graffiti appeared on the shutters of Jewish shops. 20/11/17 A feeling of fear and disgust at the same time. On Friday and Saturday nights, a series of tags was discovered on the even-numbered side of the rue Roux-de-Brignoles, in the 6th arrondissement. Troubling tags in which just the word “Juif” [Jew] was written on walls and shop fronts. The businesses were not chosen at random according to representatives of the Jewish community of Marseilles, who are convinced of the antisemitic character of the inscriptions. “The shops and shop fronts chosen belong to members of the community,” warns David Assedou, an official at a synagogue in this sector of the town. Source The main Jewish ethno-activist group in France, the CRIF, quickly went into action. CRIF Marseille-Provence must express its indignation following the antisemitic inscriptions found in the streets of our city centre last week-end. … CRIf Marseille-Provence remains shocked by these acts. Writing the word “Juif” on a shop recalls the darkest hours of our History. We cannot tolerate such actions, either in substance or in form. CRIF even disseminated this weak attempt at a meme. Other Jews also rushed to exploit it. This weekend in Marseille we had Dieudonné* in front of 8000 fans in a state of delirium and the word “Juif” written on the shutters of several shops. And there are so few reactions from politicians that you wonder how much more repetition of history we need before we wake up *Dieudonné is a brown skinned comedian in France who has been accused of popularising antisemitism and has suffered legal penalties because of that. ( link But now… The person responsible for the “Juif” tags that have appeared in recent weeks on some Marseille streets and which provoked strong emotion in the Jewish community was himself a Jew and created the tags without any political intent, police sources said on Friday after he turned himself in.. According to initial indications available on Friday morning, the tagger confessed after having seen the massive media coverage of his tags in recent days. Europe 1 No doubt next year these “attacks” will appear in the annual chronicle of “the rising tide of antisemitism”. |
Rhode Island politician and founder of the Cool Moose Party, Robert Healey Jr., died Sunday at his home in Barrington. He was 58. Healey was a third-party candidate who over the years called for the elimination of a state office and ran repeatedly for Rhode Island's top job. "It's a tremendous loss. It really is," Bill Gilbert, chairman of the Moderate Party, said Monday. "Bob was one of the stalwarts that was always fighting from the outside trying to get in. He was a true champion for the people not the system." Gilbert was the one to convince Healey to run for governor in 2014 as the Moderate Party's replacement candidate. He learned from the media that Barrington police confirmed Healey was found dead in his bed by a friend Sunday. While his ideas reigned supreme, Healey's long tresses and full beard is how many people recognized him. The news of his death was a shock for many in the political sphere. "He was always, always encouraged us to think about things and encouraged lively and spirited debate," said Gov. Gina Raimondo. "And of course, I enjoyed getting to know him. It was just shocking and very sad." "He wasn't machine politics," said Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University and NBC 10 political analyst. "He wasn't aligned with anybody. He basically said, 'Government doesn't work. I'm going to put myself forward and try to fix it either by eliminating it or running the government in a totally different way.'" "Bob is a big actor in Rhode Island politics and someone who seems very vital and vibrant," said June Sager Speakman, a political science professor at Roger Williams University. "The idea that he is gone is very surprising for all of us in town." Whether you agreed with his views or not, Healey made an impact on Rhode Island politics. Speakman invited the founder of the Cool Moose Party to speak to her class. "The students were able to see the kind of challenges that he put to the status quo," she said. Healey ran for governor four times, most recently in 2014. He also ran for lieutenant governor several times with the goal of abolishing the office. While third parties usually don't win, many people thought Healey had a real chance in 2014. He earned 21 percent of the vote in a three-way race against Raimondo -- who won -- and Republican Allan Fung, despite entering late and spending a pittance. "What Bob did with $37 is just amazing," Gilbert said. "I think that's going to be his legacy going forward is trying to remove the money from politics." Despite his influence, Healey was not a full-time politician. Instead, he was an entrepreneur, lawyer, and teacher among other professions. He owned The Cheese Plate in Barrington and at one point a wine company in Uruguay. Healey was born May 3, 1957, in Providence. He grew up and spent his life in Warren. Healey graduated Rhode Island College, earning a bachelor's degree in English and secondary education. He also completed his master's degree in reading at Boston University, a degree in law from the New England School of Law, and a master's in law from Northeastern University. He almost completed his Ph.D. from Columbia University, but his dissertation supervisor died and a replacement could not be found. He also completed a children's book in 2010. |
Serbia today ruled out any cooperation with a Kosovan "puppet state" on its territory, ahead of an expected unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo. With its southern province set to make a formal break with Belgrade on Sunday, the Serbian prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, repeated the assertion that a declaration of independence would be illegal. Kostunica also made clear there would be no cooperation with the EU as it finalises plans to deploy 2,000 police, judges and civil administrators to take over from the UN mission that has been Kosovo since 1999. "There would be no greater humiliation for Serbia if it, in any way, signed or agreed in some indirect way to this puppet state," Kostunica told the daily Glas Javnosti. His divided government coalition closed ranks today in its refusal to accept Kosovo's secession. "All acts and activities of provisional authorities in Kosovo unilaterally declaring independence will be declared null and void for breaching the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, guaranteed ... by the UN charter," the coalition said. Earlier, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, launched a scathing attack on countries planning to recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. Recognition of Kosovo's independence would be "immoral and illegal", and European countries should be "ashamed" of their double standards, Putin said at a press conference in Moscow. Russia has strongly backed Serbia on Kosovo and backed Belgrade's call for an emergency meeting of the UN security council today. However, western diplomats said the debate would not postpone Kosovo's bid for independence. Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Thaci, said yesterday: "The Kosovo issue has already left the security council building." Kosovo's independence has been carefully choreographed. Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands are expected to be first to recognise Kosovo as Europe's newest state, with the US following soon afterwards. Other European countries will add their names in successive days, with only Cyprus likely to remain adamant in its refusal to acknowledge the new country, lining up with Serbia and Russia. At his press conference, Putin accused the west of hypocrisy in its haste to recognise Kosovo. "I don't want say anything that would offend anyone, but for 40 years northern Cyprus has practically had independence," Putin said. "Why aren't you recognising that? Aren't you ashamed, Europeans, for having these double standards?" Dismissing the western argument that Kosovo is a special case, Putin repeated Russia's warning that supporting the province's independence would set a dangerous precedent for other separatist regions. "We have Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Trans-Dniester, and they say Kosovo is a special case?" he said, referring to three breakaway, pro-Russian regions in the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova. Ahead of Kosovo's declaration of independence, the Nato-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, Kfor, has stepped up its patrols and state of alert in case of clashes between Serbs and Albanians. Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanians, but around 120,000 Serbs remain and there are fears that Serbs in northern Kosovo might make trouble. Undercover Serbian security forces who have moved into the area say they are ready to respond with force if Albanians move into the Serbian enclave in the north. Kosovo's imminent declaration of independence would come almost nine years after a Nato bombing campaign drove out Serb forces to halt a wave of killings in a two year-war against separatist rebels. |
FEMEN protest group bare breasts and shout 'no homophobe' and 'bye bye Benedict' in Notre Dame cathedral in Paris Eight women bared their breasts in Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral yesterday to celebrate the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. The women from feminist protest group FEMEN shouted ‘no more homophobe’, ‘Pope no more’ and ‘bye bye Benedict’ while ringing bells near the alter in the iconic cathedral, with slogans painted on their bodies. Some visitors to the cathedral expressed disapproval. ‘This is a sacred place, you can’t strip here,’ said a French woman, AFP reports. The protesters were manhandled outside by Notre Dame’s security where they shouted ‘in gay we trust’ and ‘get out homophobe’. FEMEN started in Ukraine in 2008. The French branch of the group was formed after Ukrainian Inna Shevchenko moved to Paris in August 2012. The group wore nuns’ habits and painted ‘in gay we trust’ on their naked breasts at an anti-gay marriage protest in Paris last November. Last month FEMEN took their topless protest to the Vatican. The Pope shocked the world on Monday by announcing that he would resign at the end of this month, making him the first Pope since 1415 to do so. ‘After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,’ he said. Watch a video of the FEMEN Notre Dame protest here (WARNING, this video contains flashing images. Some of the images may disturb some viewers. GSN has included it despite it showing naked breasts as it is not sexual in nature and is a public interest news story.): |
China’s Ministry of Commerce on June 4 sharply criticized as protectionist a U.S. decision to raise tariffs on imports of Chinese-made solar panels by 35.2 percent. In a statement on its website, the ministry said such practices by the U.S. Commerce Department, which had increased the tariff the day before, “would not solve the development problems of the U.S. solar industry.” In fact, an investigation by the U.S. government and its decision to raise the tariff was based on a complaint by a German-owned solar panel maker, SolarWorld, which owns a factory in Hillsboro, OR. SolarWorld had complained that Beijing was sidestepping existing tariffs by manufacturing the cells in other countries, then assembling them in China. In its announcement on June 3, the U.S. Commerce Department said the new tariffs will range from 18.56 percent to 35.21 percent, depending on the practices of each Chinese manufacturer. The decision is only preliminary, and a final decision is not expected until later this year, but the U.S. Customs Service can begin collecting the new duties immediately. Related Article: Investing In Solar Power’s “Picks, Pans And Shovels” Mukesh Dulani, the president of SolarWorld Industries America in Oregon, called the U.S. decision “a strong win for the U.S. solar industry. But U.S. reactions weren’t unanimously favorable. The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, which represents the users of imported panels, said it was “deeply disappointed” by the decision and called it “a major setback for the entire U.S. solar industry.” Such groups previously have warned that higher tariffs simply make solar energy more expensive in the United States, slowing its adoption at a time when Americans are searching for alternatives sources of energy. Even so, the cost of solar energy has dropped dramatically in the past few years, in part because of rapidly increased production in China. This is not the first time the United States has used tariffs to keep its indigenous solar technology competitive. In 2012, it imposed duties of up to 36 percent on panels made from Chinese solar cells. Washington argued that Beijing was giving unfair subsidies of Chinese manufacturers, who then dumped their products on the U.S. market at below the cost of making them. By Andy Tully of Oilprice.com |
28 December 2017 Newsscroll 'Deadly asbestos' imports fall to 310,000 tn in FY17: Minister New Delhi, Dec 28 Import of asbestos, considered as a health hazard, from countries like China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Brazil has declined in the last three financial years, Parliament was informed today. New Delhi, Dec 28 Import of asbestos, considered as a health hazard, from countries like China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Brazil has declined in the last three financial years, Parliament was informed today. White asbestos is used for various purposes like asbestos cement pipes, roofing, asbestos-based manufacturing of items like brake linings etc and India's requirement for the material is met through imports as mining of the same is banned in the country on health grounds, Union minister Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha. However, as per the information from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics and Indian Bureau of Mines for previous three fiscals and April-September of FY18, it can be seen there is continuous decline in import of asbestos from supplying countries, he added. Total asbestos import from Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, China and other countries dropped to 310,570 tonnes in 2016-17 from 396,470 tonne in 2014-15 and 355,660 tonnes in 2015-16. The minister said that during April-September of the ongoing fiscal, India imported just 162,740 tonnes of asbestos. To another query related to whether the government proposes to curb imports of the "deadly material of asbestos", Chaudhary said information in this regard is not held in the Mines Ministry since import/export of minerals is regulated through EXIM policy of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. However, steps have been taken for regulation and safe use of asbestos in India. Banning of grant of fresh mining leases and renewal of existing mining leases for asbestos on health grounds are among some of the measures taken by the government, he added. ADVERTISEMENT Disclaimer: This story has not been edited by Outlook Staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. |
Posted on July 7, 2011 Ezra Klein: Without Stimulus, Bailout We Would Have 17% Unemployment Washington Post columnist and MSNBC policy analyst Ezra Klein: "To put it in political perspective, I know the bailout is unpopular, I know the stimulus is unpopular. If we hadn't had the two of them, if we had just done nothing and not spent anymore money as Representative Bachmann is arguing, we would have had 16 or 17-percent unemployment in this country. I mean, we would have had a financial crisis, not a crisis but a meltdown." However, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic, the U-6 unemployment number was 15.8% in May 2011. The U-6 number is the "total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force." |
In his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, Karl Rove remembers something that was done to John McCain in Vietnam: Another McCain story, somewhat better known, is about the Vietnamese practice of torturing him by tying his head between his ankles with his arms behind him, and then leaving him for hours. The torture so badly busted up his shoulders that to this day Mr. McCain can't raise his arms over his head. One night, a Vietnamese guard loosened his bonds, returning at the end of his watch to tighten them again so no one would notice. This is what is called a "stress position." It was authorized, monitored and practised as a torture technique by this president, whose chief adviser at the time was Karl Rove. Rove even planned to run the 2006 Congressional campaign on the message of being tough enough on prisoners in American custody. In the same op-ed, Rove refers warmly to McCain's Bangladeshi adopted daughter - the same daughter his surrogates demonized in the 2000 campaign, by spreading rumors that McCain had a black illegitimate daughter. Every now and again, one is shocked by the Big Lies and chutzpah that come out of a man as utterly indifferent to the truth as Rove. And then one realizes: this is what these people do for a living. They say anything to retain and wield power. We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. |
Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT PREPORTER WE ALSO FOUND COURT PDOCUMENTS THAT SHOW CONRAD PTRUJILLO AND JANAY MARIN HAVE PBEEN ACCUSED OF SIMILAR CRIMES PBEFORE. P PAT ONLY 17-YEARS-OLD CONRAD PTRUJILLO ALREADY HAS QUITE A RAP PSHEET. PACCORDING TO COURT DOCUMENTS IN PJULY LAST YEAR, OFFICERS FOUND PTRUJILLO IN POSSESSION OF A GUN. PTHOSE DOCUMENTS OUT OF SANDOVAL PCOUNTY SHOW HE TRIED TO THRO PTHE WEAPON OVER A WALL AND RUN PFROM POLICE. PLESS THAN TWO WEEKS BEFORE THAT, PTRUJILLO HAD JUST BEEN ARRESTED PON DRUG CHARGES. PHE TOOK A PLEA DEAL AND WAS PSENTENCED TO PROBATION. PCOURT RECORDS SHOW HE WAS WANTED PFOR VIOLATING PROBATION. PNOW, HE'S CHARGED WITH HOLDING A PGUN TO ANOTHER TEEN'S HEAD AND PBEATING HIM IN AN ALLEGED PCARJACKING. PIN JUVENILE COURT YESTERDAY, PTRUJILLO'S MOTHER SAYS HER SON PSUFFERED A TRAUMATIC BRAIN PINJURY THIS SUMMER, AND SAYS HE PNEEDS MEDICATION. PINVESTIGATORS SAY JANAY MARIN PWAS THE DRIVER OF THE CAR POLICE PSAY THE TEENS CARJACKED. PACCORDING TO COURT DOCUMENTS, PMARIN WAS CHARGED WITH STEALING PA CAR LAST NOVEMBER. PSHE HAD JUST COMPLETED HER PPROBATION FOR THAT CHARGE LESS PTHAN TWO WEEKS BEFORE THIS CRASH PWITH AN APD PATROL CAR. PCOURT OFFICIALS SAY THE TEEN PADMITTED TO USING METH. PMARIN'S MOTHER TOLD A JUDGE PSHE'S AFRAID OF HER DAUGHTER, PBECAUSE THE TEEN HAS THREATENED PTO HIT HER BEFORE. PTHE TEEN'S PARENTS TOLD THE THEY PCAN'T CONTROL MARIN, AND SAY SHE PBELONGS IN CUSTODY. PHER MOM SAID I LOVE JANAY, OF PCOURSE, SHE'S MY DAUGHTER. PSHE NEEDS HELP. PRIGHT NOW, MARIN IS STILL BEING PHELD HERE AT THE JUVENILE PDETENTION CENTER ON A 20,0 PDOLLAR BOND. Advertisement New court records show violent criminal past for teens in alleged carjacking & chase Charges for the teens include weapons charges, drug charges & multiple probation violations Share Shares Copy Link Copy Court documents show an extensive criminal history for four teens charged in an alleged carjacking, high-speed chase and crash with an Albuquerque police car that injured several officers. According to the documents from the Juvenile Justice Center in Bernalillo County, the state will try to charge two of the teens, Conrad Trujillo, 17, and Janay Marin, 16, as adults. Investigators said Marin lured a teenage boy to a known gang house last Friday, where Trujillo allegedly pointed a gun at the teen’s head and demanded his cellphone and car keys. According to a criminal complaint, the teen handed over the items, and then was beaten by Trujillo, Mark Rios, 17, Samuel Mirabal, 13, and Xavier Montoya, 18. The complaint said the teens then drove away in the stolen vehicle, and later led Bernalillo County deputies on a chase reaching speeds of more than 110 miles per hour. Investigators said Marin was the driver. Marin eventually crashed into an Albuquerque police cruiser near Coors Boulevard and St. Joseph’s Drive. Investigators said the officer suffered a broken shoulder, a broken ankle and a cut on his forehead. Court documents from Sandoval County show Trujillo was arrested in July 2015 after officers found him in possession of a gun. The documents said Trujillo tried to throw the gun over a wall, and tried to run from police. Less than two weeks before that incident, additional court documents show Trujillo had been arrested on drug charges. Records show he took a plea deal and was sentenced to probation. In juvenile court Tuesday, Trujillo’s mother said her son suffered a traumatic brain injury several months ago and needs medication. Court documents show Marin was charged with stealing a car in November 2015. She had completed probation for that charge less than two weeks before the crash with the APD car. Court officials said the teen admitted to using methamphetamine. Marin’s mother told the juvenile court judge she is scared of her own daughter, because Marin has threatened to hit her before. The teen’s parents said they can’t control Marin, and said she belongs in custody. Marin’s mom said, “I love Janay, of course, she’s my daughter…she needs help.” The youngest suspect in this case is only 13 years old. According to court documents, Samuel Mirabel has been arrested six times in less than a year. Records show he was arrested last month for stealing his mom’s car. In July, records show officers found him carrying brass knuckles, which are considered a deadly weapon. Investigators said Samuel tried to run away from officers, and refused to tell them his real name. Court documents also show Samuel was arrested in December 2015 for shoplifting. He was placed on probation, but was arrested six months later for violating that probation. Court officials said he violated his probation again in August and September, and even ripped off his own ankle monitor. In juvenile court Tuesday, Samuel’s probation officer said the teen has an “I don’t care attitude,” and shows no remorse for his crimes. Mark Rios, 17, is no stranger to the law either. Court records show Rios was charged for firing a gun into a building last year. He also pleaded guilty to drug charges, and admitted to using methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Rios was still on probation when the crash happened. His probation officer told the judge Rios had been missing for months, and had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Rios’ father appeared in juvenile court Tuesday. He said the teen’s mother has custody, and although he pays child support, he said he has not been able to see his son. Rios’ probation officer stated that Rios’ mother has custody, but they have not been able to find her, or get in contact with her, for months. Rios’ father said just two years ago, Rios was playing football and doing well in school. The father asked the judge to release his son to his care. “I would like to take care of my son. I want to force him to do right,” Rios’ father said. The judge ruled that Rios would be held with no bond until the warrant out of Sandoval County is resolved. |
The former US secretary of state, John Kerry, says Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt urged Washington to “bomb Iran” before the conclusion of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world countries, with Tel Aviv pushing harder than the rest. Speaking at a forum in Washington on Tuesday, Kerry, one of the architects of the multinational nuclear pact, defended the international document and criticized the new US administration for seeking to undermine it, Israeli media reported. “Each of them said to me, you have to bomb Iran, it’s the only thing they are going to understand,” he said, referring to former Saudi monarch King Abdullah, ex-Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was “genuinely agitating toward action,” he added. But that was “a trap,” he said, noting that the same Arab countries would have publicly criticized the United States if it had chosen to go for military action against the Islamic Republic. Kerry said the proposals came to him when he was the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a post he filled from 2009 until early 2013. Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the agreement on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016. Senior diplomats of Iran and the P5+1 states pose for a group picture at the United Nations building in Vienna, Austria, July 14, 2015. Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran. However, US President Donald Trump, who took office a year after the deal took effect, has vociferously opposed the deal, calling it the worst contract Washington has ever entered into, and threatening to “tear up” the accord. He refused to certify Iran’s commitment to the deal last month and gave Congress 60 days to decide whether the country would re-impose sanctions against Tehran. “It was the best deal the US could get,” Kerry, however, said as quoted by Times of Israel. “Without exaggeration, the likelihood is very high that we would have been in a conflict,” without the agreement, he added. Kerry added that Trump had “polluted the water” of legitimate diplomacy by vocally criticizing the deal during his election campaign. “That was a blatant over-simplistic political appeal to the American Jewish community … because most of those people hadn’t read the agreement,” he said. Except for the US under Trump, the other parties to the accord have all vowed to stay committed to the deal and urged Washington not to withdraw. |
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. A £2m appeal is being made to rehouse the UK's leading Braille printing press and protect its long-term future. The Royal Blind's Scottish Braille Press was built in the 1960s and needs to be rebuilt and fitted with state-of-the-art printing equipment. The press is a leading provider of the UK's Braille books, magazines and other printed materials. Best-selling author Ian Rankin, whose son goes to the Royal Blind School, is giving his backing to the campaign. This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, whose invention in 1821 of a writing system based on embossed dots has had a profound effect on the lives of millions of people worldwide ever since. To mark the anniversary, and the appeal, the Press is printing a Braille version of Rankin's Death is Not the End. Even today, 96% of books never become available in formats that people with sight problems can read John Godber, RNIB In geographical terms, Braille is the most widely used language in the world. Though it has been adapted to suit native tongues across the globe, its core system of embossed dotted characters remains the same everywhere enabling visually impaired people to read. Ian Rankin is calling for more creative works to be made available to the visually impaired. He said: "The gateway to education and inspiration that Braille represents can never be under-estimated. I support anything that can be done to improve access to reading in all formats from Braille to large print. "It is vital that we support organisations like the Braille Press and Royal Blind and the important role they fulfil for people all over the country." Braille was invented in 1821 John Godber, of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), said: "It's important that pioneering work continues to ensure Braille technology keeps up with the hi-tech age we live in, and is able to meet the demand for a wider range of Brailled items. "Even today, 96% of books never become available in formats that people with sight problems can read. The public's support is vital for this to change." Richard Hellewell, chief executive of Royal Blind - which runs the Edinburgh school, the press and a care home for older people - said: "The ability to read and write is an extremely important gateway to opportunity for the UK's blind or partially sighted people, enabling them to be more independent." He said National Braille Week (4-10 January 2009) was a great way to raise awareness and inspire support for Braille. You And Yours will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 1200 GMT on Monday, 5 January 2008. You can also listen to it for several days after that atBBC iPlayer. Bookmark with: Delicious Digg reddit Facebook StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version |
headline Billy Bragg exclusive: We're living in an era "far worse" than under Thatcher Adam Turner “Don’t worry; I can pour it myself, thanks.” Billy Bragg whispers politely to the waitress attempting to top up his glass. We are in a hotel in Newcastle about to talk about his new album Bridges Not Walls, politics, patriotism, socialism, Brexit, his stint in the army, and everything in between. On growing up in Barking Bragg was brought up by his parents in Barking, in the same house his dad grew up in. Together with his brother, he had what he describes as “a very average childhood with no great dramas”, and spent a lot of time visiting aunties and uncles (his mother came from a big East-End family who later moved to the Becontree Heath Estate in Dagenham). “They all had nicknames like, uncle Art, and auntie Lou, and uncle Burt, and most of them worked at Ford’s in some capacity”, he says, referring to the local car factory built in the early 30s. After failing his 11+, he decided against working at Ford’s, where a lot of his classmates ended up. Instead, he went off to live on a farm in rural Oundle to make music with his punk band Riff Raff – after learning to play the guitar thanks to next door neighbour and bandmate, Wiggy. On his experience in the army After torturing villages in Northamptonshire with punk music, a few stints on the rock’n’roll, and what he describes as an awful job as an insurance clerk, he wound up in the army. I query why a young punk rocker decided to join the military, at a time when his idols (Elvis Costello and The Clash) were advocating precisely the opposite? “Working-class lads don’t always have a lot of options”, he replies. There was another song, that came out around the same time, which was much more reflective of his experience: Army Dreamers by Kate Bush. Bragg recites the line from the song he is referring to: “He could have been a rock star, but he didn’t have a proper education”. At this point, Bragg was back living at his mum’s house, and he admits he “didn’t want to be the bloke down the pub who used to be in a punk band”. He was “looking for a way to press the eject button on his previous existence”. After a brief pause, he says: “Now, looking back, my old man died in 1976 when he was 52, and I was 18. I joined the army when I was 23. I think I was subliminally looking to measure myself against my father’s experience”. His reflective tone suggests it’s something he’s thought long and hard about. Although he passed basic training with flying colours, the Bard from Barking decided against a military career as a tank driver and bought himself out. However, he believes his experience in the army gave him the confidence to go solo. On what made him political What got Billy Bragg into politics in the first place? “My parents weren’t very political”, he says. The 59-year-old thinks his early political views developed from the music he listened to. He recalls being particularly stirred by Bob Dylan’s Times Are-A Changing album, which he swapped with a schoolmate for the Jackson 5 Greatest Hits. “It was so raw that record, so angry, so political. I must have been 13, and I was just really fired up…”, he says. Another one of his early inspirations was Motown Chartbusters, which he explains, became increasingly political – focusing on the civil rights movement – shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King. “I come from a time when music was supposed to say something, when it was the way young people communicated. There was no internet. It was all about music that spoke to you, but also spoke for you. I very much bought into that at a very early age”. The first political activity he was involved in was Rock against Racism carnival at Victoria Park, Hackney in 1978. It was the first time Bragg had ever seen an out gay man, and he began to realise that the festival was about much more than race, it was about discrimination. From then on, he developed a passion for humanitarian politics. “But I wouldn’t say I was political in the way I am now until the miner’s strike. That made me start to define myself as a socialist and use ideological language”. He explains. The Barking-born socialist describes how you can hear the evolution of his political views in his music. Life’s a Riot is more humanitarian, whereas Talking to the Taxman about Poetry becomes more ideological, which he identifies is because of the miner’s strike. On spreading a new political language The singer-songwriter has been a political activist and used his musical voice to spread socialist ideas for the past 35 years. At the moment, he is towards the end of his UK tour – using it as a way to talk about his new political ideas and encourage people to remain positive about the future. “I’m trying to get into a deeper level of consciousness. Especially with people my age who are becoming cynical. It’s like going grey; you can’t avoid it. And you know, it’s easier to say, ‘oh fuck it, I can’t be arsed anymore’. My job is to burst that balloon and say, ‘we should be fucking arsed’ because everything we’ve ever believed in is sliding away”. Bragg says he is trying to lay the foundations for a new political language that allows people to get to grips with the ideas of socialism without the baggage of history. He points out, although some understand there are different types of socialism, others don’t. He wants to spread a message that isn’t as prescriptive as traditional socialism, which some immediately link back to people like Stalin. On the evolution of socialism “I think ideological socialism, like the language of Marx, is dead. It doesn’t mean shit to anybody anymore. The way we talked about politics in the 80s – I mean I used to struggle with it then – that scientific way doesn’t work anymore. I think we need to be talking about much bigger things”. The committed Labour activist isn’t criticising socialism, quite the opposite. It seems to me as if he is talking about using socialist principles by stripping back ideological language and dropping any form of self-righteousness to engage with people on a more emotional, human level that is easily digestible. Bragg on accountability Accountability is a word he is eager to promote. It’s something I’ve seen him talking about a lot recently, and he mentions it frequently throughout our conversation. Bragg believes big businesses, media moguls and virtually anyone in a position of power should also be held to account – something he thinks ordinary people will get on board with. He uses Brexit as a way to exercise his accountability theory. “I think the main issue with leaving the EU is the Tories want to avoid being held to account by a higher power. They’ve set the country up for the last seven years, and they want to keep it this way”. Bragg still has fire in his belly but seems more philosophical, more measured and more concerned than angry, which comes across in his recent music – and perhaps reflects the stage of life he is at (he’s 60 next month). But his goal remains the same: to stand up for ordinary, working people, stop injustice, promote equality, banish cynicism and ultimately, get rid of the Tories. On living in an era worse than Thatcher Are we living at a time similar to how it was under Thatcher? Bragg responds: “I think it’s worse, much worse”. “We didn’t have foodbanks back then, the only people who relied on foodbanks were strikers. Now ordinary working people, people who are in WORK, are having to use foodbanks. This is worse. Trump. Brexit. This is much worse. If ever there was a time to sharpen your spear, looking back on my entire life, this is it!” He says vehemently. The veteran folk poet is concerned about the direction the country is going. He explains how Brexit was a mood change and gave oxygen to an anti-immigration, anti-foreigner rhetoric. Although, unlike some voices on the left, his new song Full English Brexit (a gentle piano ballad) sympathetically represents feelings held by a particular type of disenfranchised, traditionalist Brexiter. “It’s true that their kids are respectful, They gave me their seat on the bus. But it’s just that there’s so many of them, That I fear what will become of us. I’m not racist all I want is, To make things how they used to be. But change is strange, And nobody is listening to me’, are a few early verses from the song. On Brexit It’s an interesting perspective. Coming from a working-class, post-industrial town myself, where people feel increasingly detached from Westminster politics, the song feels relatable. Bragg discusses how people have been let down, ignored by governments of old and new. He says that the way we do democracy is bust because people aren’t presented with the choices they want. “It’s not a country at ease with itself”. Despite his sympathetic stance, Bragg is thoroughly anti-Brexit. He embraces immigration and welcomes positive change. One thing he doesn’t want to do is merely remain in the EU. He thinks Britain should take a central role in the EU by staying in and reforming it. Does that mean he thinks there should be another referendum on Brexit? “There should be a decision on the final deal – whether that’s a referendum or a vote in Parliament”. He adds: “But I think there’s a possibility the Tories may split [in parliament] and be able to get a majority for revoking article 50”. On Corbyn’s Brexit stance What does he think Corbyn’s stance on Brexit? “I know Corbyn gets a lot of stick for being ambiguous [on Brexit], but I think he’s doing the right thing… if he came out now, all gung-ho for remain, he’d unite the Tories and revive UKIP”, he explains. I suggest it’s hard for Corbyn to be seen as pro-EU in the press because of his alleged anti-euro views from times gone by. “I don’t buy that. It’s an internet meme. I really don’t buy it”. He snaps. Corbyn, he suspects, is in the remain and reform camp. Bragg thinks Corbyn is “keeping his powder dry” on Brexit because he knows it’s an undeliverable task. “I think that he understands that the path for him to No.10 somehow involves finding a way to solve Brexit”, he explains. But he doesn’t believe Brexit is Corbyn’s biggest worry. “It’s the right-wing press, the Tories and the little Englanders that are obsessed with Brexit”, Corbyn, he thinks, is more concerned with the challenges faced by ordinary working people like healthcare, jobs and housing. Where would he be now if he hadn’t made it? With our time drawing to a close, I ask Bragg where he would be if he hadn’t made it in music? Would he be a politician? Soldier? No, he’d be “that bloke down the pub playing Bruce Springsteen songs, or busking”. He has a lot of respect for musicians who are still doing their thing – and refers to them as his peers. Bragg, as he demonstrated with the waitress earlier, hasn’t lost touch with ordinary folk. He often catches up with his old bandmates from Riff Raff. He is forever positive about the future and remains true to his roots. To this day, he still ends performances with: “My name is Billy Bragg, I’m from Barking, Essex.” RELATED |
You know how sometimes you hear a really strange story and don’t quite know what to make of it? Well brace yourselves for this cracker. One man decided to stop living as a human for a few days, and become a goat. Thomas Thwaites, a conceptual designer, decided to spend three days in the Alps, to see how goats live, and study their behaviour – think method acting, but method research instead. He claimed: My goal was to take a holiday from the pain and worry of being a self-conscious being, able to regret the past and worry about the future. I was able to keep up for maybe a kilometre or so on this migration down the side of this kind of rocky mountain, and then they just left me in the dust. So I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up to them and eventually I found them again, and it was quite nice, in the actual soft grassy pasture bit. But actually heading down the mountain was petrifying. Because if I fell I didn’t have any hands to stop me from hitting a rock. Now while it’s probably a good job that he’s not decided to live as a goat full time, it’s still a pretty interesting if wacky idea. |
Star Trek Beyond‘s co-star and co-writer, Simon Pegg, dealt with intense pressure and time constraints when making the upcoming third film in the reboot series. However, the actor told ComingSoon.Net “it was fantastic fun,” and full of “emotional highs and lows” because the crew was working with a six-month time frame before they went into production. Pegg says writing a film the size of Star Trek Beyond normally takes double that time. “You write a film of that size, you usually get a year or so, but I think we started maybe six months before we went into production, if that,” he said. Pegg and the crew managed to finish on time, and even had fun during the turbulent process. “[We] just stood up to it and did it, and actually by the time we started shooting, it had become pretty fun,” Pegg continued. “It was tense the whole time, but it was a pretty amazing train set to get to play with.” Star Trek Beyond has a July 22, 2016 release date. Star Wars fans will be the first to see the debut trailer as it accompanies The Force Awakens. |
Chelsea and Dr Eva Carneiro have parted company, with the club braced for what could prove an expensive legal battle. The news has invited criticism from within the FA board room, with board member Heather Rabbatts expressing her ‘sadness and anger’ at Dr Carneiro’s departure. The now former Chelsea first-team doctor was ordered to return to work last Friday for what would have been her first appearance at the club’s Cobham training ground since a bust-up with manager Jose Mourinho during the Premier League match against Swansea City on August 8. Jose Mourinho and Eva Carneiro had a touchline row during Chelsea's draw with Swansea in August Carneiro was dropped from the Chelsea bench as a result and will now sue the club for constructive dismissal But Carneiro did not show, and according to club insiders on Tuesday she has still not been seen there. It is now clear that she has departed the club — as revealed by MailOnline on Tuesday. Defending the doctor’s actions against Swansea, Rabbatts said last night: ‘Any other response would have been a dereliction of her duty and a breach of General Medical Council guidelines. ‘In acting properly she was then subject to verbal abuse and public criticism and in effect demoted by her removal from the bench. ‘Eva was one of the few very senior women in the game, a highly respected doctor who has acted with professional integrity in difficult circumstances and whose skills have been highly praised by her colleagues, the club and governing bodies.’ Chelsea may argue that her failure to turn up for work could weaken her case for constructive dismissal, even though arriving at Cobham could have amounted to accepting new terms of employment after she was publicly stripped of first-team duties. Chelsea are aware that the Gibraltar-born medic is consulting top employment lawyers. Carneiro was stripped of key duties after Mourinho accused her of making a mistake in running onto the pitch Chelsea's doctor enters the field after Hazard ended up on the ground following a poor challenge at home The Chelsea boss leaps into a furious rage which brings him on to the pitch after the pair attend to Hazard Mourinho shouts across the pitch as Chelsea's Hazard lies injured following a foul at Stamford Bridge Carneiro was criticised by Mourinho for treating Eden Hazard which meant he had to come off the pitch Carneiro was banned from the bench and team hotel after Mourinho publicly accused her of making a mistake when she and team physiotherapist Jon Fearn rushed on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard, having twice been waved on by referee Michael Oliver. Mourinho’s explosive reaction at the time is the subject of an FA inquiry — as Sportsmail revealed last week — after a member of the public made a complaint, claiming that the Portuguese manager had shouted ‘filha da puta’; something that means ‘daughter of a whore’ and, if proven, could lead to Mourinho being banned for five matches. Carneiro was Chelsea's doctor for five years before the incident that saw her stripped of her responsibilities Carneiro made one of her first posts on Facebook, having previously been almost silent on social media Tuesday FA officials said the video evidence submitted as part of the complaint was still being reviewed. Mourinho’s accusation that his medical staff did not understand the game was met with widespread disapproval by Carneiro’s peers. FIFA’s chief medical officer was among those to remind Mourinho that the welfare of players is the responsibility of medical staff and not the manager. Indeed, a joint statement from the British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine and the 500-strong Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine has been sent to the League Managers’ Association. The FA’s position remains unclear. While it seems unlikely, Mourinho could yet be charged under the FA rule E3, which states that players and coaches can be punished for using ‘offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures’. With an aggravated breach, in this case possibly with reference to gender, a five-match ban is the minimum sanction. |
Oh, kids, you can’t make this shit up. Yes, it seems that Melania Trump wore a fuchsia “pussy bow” blouse by Gucci to the debate. The wife of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared in Gucci’s “pussy bow silk crepe de chine shirt,” according to Marissa Mitrovich, founder of the style blog Politiquette. The blouse retails for $1,100 online and you can bet it’s already selling out all over. Net-a-Porter says in their description, Pussy-bow shirts are one of Gucci’s signature silhouettes…. this fuchsia style is cut from silk crepe de chine for a languid drape. We think it’s a chic way to elevate office or weekend looks. And, in this instance, I guess a way to stand by your man, too. It’s pretty impossible to have missed the notorious clip, from a 2005 interview with Billy Bush who has since been suspended from The Today Show, Trump boasted of being able to kiss women because “when you’re a star they let you do it, you can do anything. Grab them by the pussy, you can do anything.” A campaign spokesperson told Sopan Deb of CBS News that the fashion choice was not intentional but her husband’s press conference with former president Bill Clinton‘s accusers before the debate started certainly was. Keepin’ it classy, Trumps. (T/Y Tad; via Huffington Post) |
Trying to get together a casual budget for-fun deck around triskaidekaphobia. Trying to set the opponent's life on 13 with 'cost X'-spells like Energy Bolt, Red Sun's Zenith and Death Grasp. Or burn it down later in the game by also activating Rosheen Meanderer. Second win condition is made by Daru Spiritualist + Shuko + Starlit Sanctum , another possibility with Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim Added Rhystic Tutor to find the card I need to pull off a combi. Added Order of the Stars to get some unkillable blockers because of protection, so I can survive the early game and pull off a winning combo. To make it even more budget i can switch out Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim with Disciple of Griselbrand which has one of the same possibilities but is way cheaper. Idea for sideboard: Felidar Sovereign as an extra win condition, Alabaster Potion for setting the opponent's health to 13 if it drops below it, just like Energy Bolt. Transmutation to make a huge creature and finish the opponent that way. Doomblade if I'm up against eldrazi or other big creatures. |
Admitting that you are an alcoholic is a huge step in the right direction, and acting on your addiction is next. Getting yourself out of denial and admitting you have a drinking problem is a wonderful achievement, so now you have to take massive action in order to get and stay sober. First, the alcoholic needs to want sobriety for them self and no one else. YOU need to want sobriety and not be forced into it by someone else, otherwise I feel it will not work long term. Once you have made up your mind to get clean and sober the rest will follow. Sure, I am not saying it will be easy, because it won't. I went through it and it was tough, but as the days and weeks passed by I looked back and said to myself, "Look Mark I have been sober for two weeks now." It is such a great feeling to say the word sober." Many people may call me and you an alcoholic, but your are the one that can really define if you are truly an alcoholic. You know best by your own actions and lifestyle you choose to live. If you define yourself as a alcoholic then do something about it and change your life around and get yourself clean and sober. You won't be sorry you have taken action on your life. We all have one life to live, so why live it in a daze and drunk most of time. If you think continuously about drinking alcohol and when your next drink will be than I do believe you might have a huge problem with your life and your drinking. Think about it long and hard, as I did, and you will see just how messed up your life is. If you think about it long enough it just might trigger something in your mind, as it did for me, and you will wake up to see just where you life is heading. By drinking alcohol and abusing it you will only go one way and that is to rock bottom. If you reach that stage in your life you will change, believe me. Sometimes it takes something drastic in your life to make that change in your life, so why wait till that happens. Do something about it before you get to that point in you life. Just try out sobriety for a month or two and I do believe if you have it in your heart to get and stay sober you will not go back to that horrible lifestyle you had before. These are all the different things that went through my mind and I try to pass my experiences of drinking alcohol and what made me see the light to get and stay sober. I try to express my feelings and tell my stories to help others realize there is a life after an addiction to alcohol. |
A few months back, we had revealed the possible specs of the upcoming Kirin 900 series processors. Now, our source has some information about the Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 815 chipset. According to our source, the Snapdragon 815 will come with four Cortex A72 cores and four Cortex A53 cores on the big.LITTLE architecture. Unsurprisingly, it will feature the next generation Qualcomm Adreno GPU and will be manufactured using the new FinFet process. So, it could most likely use the 16nm FinFet. Our source also said that Qualcomm may tweak the cores to boost performance. So, the upcoming Snapdragon 815 will be similar to the Snapdragon 620 which is already launched, but will be manufactured on a smaller node and will have all the features that you can expect from a top end Snapdragon 800 series chipset. He also says that Qualcomm is delaying the launch of Snapdragon 815 mainly because the company doesn’t want to hurt the sales of the 810 powered smartphones in the market such as the HTC One M9 and the LG G Flex 2. So what do you think about the new Snapdragon 815? |
Republican state Sen. Stacey Campfield of Knoxville speaks at a Senate subcommittee hearing in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday, May 16, 2013, about University of Tennessee fees being used to pay for speakers at a student-initiated Sex Week program. Campfield suggested that students should be able to opt out of having their student activity fees being used for pay for speakers they find objectionable. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) Tennessee state Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) mocked a local journalist after that reporter was laid off from her job this week. Cari Gervin and her colleagues at Knoxville's alt-weekly paper Metro Pulse were let go this week as part of a round of layoffs by the paper's owner, the Knoxville News Sentinel. After tweeting about the layoffs, Gervin posted a screenshot of a Facebook message she received from Campfield: This just happened. You have to be fucking kidding me. pic.twitter.com/UuWCUsOrkL — Cari Wade Gervin (@carigervin) October 16, 2014 Gervin told The Huffington Post that Campfield has sent her "a lot of really mean, harassing text messages" before. But she said his message about her layoff was "tacky and classless." "All of us lost our jobs, and some of them -- I've been there for four years, but one of my colleagues has been there for 19 years," Gervin said. "We are all just devastated at the loss of our paper and what that means for the community with one less reporting outlet in town. And for some politician to be a jerk about it is just, it's typical Stacey, but it doesn't make it any less ridiculous," Gervin said. Gervin said she has never contacted Campfield over Facebook, noting that he blocked her from seeing his page after she reported on a blog post in which he compared Obamacare sign-ups to Nazi death trains. Campfield, who declined to comment to HuffPost about Gervin, lost his re-election bid when he was defeated by cardiac surgeon Richard Briggs in the GOP primary race in August. Gervin, who is now looking for another journalism job, said she hasn't reported on Campfield since he was defeated. UPDATE: Oct. 17, 11:06 a.m. -- Though Campfield declined to give a comment to The Huffington Post about his message to Gervin, he did take to Facebook to comment on the incident, accusing Gervin of lying and saying, "If you can't take, don't dish." |
A $250 million acquisition probably sounds like a lot to many employees of privately held companies. But for startups backed by big venture capitalist money, even a deal that big can be a financial bloodbath for employees. Case in point: Re/code spoke to a half dozen former employees of flash sale site Gilt Groupe in the two weeks since its $250 million acquisition by Hudson’s Bay Company was announced. And at least three of them lost more than $10,000 as a result of the deal. The outcome is a stark reminder that buying shares in a startup you work for is often a riskier financial bet than it may seem, even at a company as hot as Gilt once was. The story of Gilt, which was once valued by investors at more than $1 billion, also serves as a cautionary tale for the 100-plus startups with valuations of $1 billion or more today: That number on paper can vanish in, essentially, a flash. Gilt spokeswoman Jennifer Miller, who is leaving the company in March, declined to comment. By early last year, when Gilt raised a last-ditch $46 million investment, Gilt employees Re/code spoke to assumed the company’s eventual outcome would be financially disappointing, but not as bad as it actually turned out. Hudson’s Bay is paying $2.17 for each common share of Gilt, according to documents Gilt provided to shareholders. About $1.71 is going to be paid up front, while the remainder is paid out over time because it is held in an escrow account in case of unforeseen liabilities on the part of the seller. Since its founding in 2007, Gilt has regularly awarded employees stock options when they are hired and sometimes when they are promoted. Stock options give the holders the right to purchase stock in the company in the future at a pre-determined price per share — called a strike price. I spoke to employees who joined in 2009 and 2010, some only a little more than a year after Gilt was founded and when it still had fewer than 100 employees. While employees who joined prior to 2009 received a strike price that turned out to be below the $2.17-per-share sale price, all Gilt employees who joined in 2009 or later received a strike price that turned out to be more than the sale price. For example, people who started working at Gilt in the first half of 2009 received options with a strike price of $2.24, according to documents. That strike price later rose to at least as high as $25 a share at the height of Gilt’s growth and popularity. Why does this matter? When these former employees left Gilt after several years, they had three months to decide whether or not they wanted to exercise their right to buy the stock. Some didn’t, either because they didn’t have the money or didn’t trust the company was in a good spot. But several former employees told me that it was common for peers and some managers to talk about this decision as a no-brainer in 2012 and 2013, though the company’s senior leadership and HR group were careful never to express an opinion one way or the other. “On a good sales day, managers on the business side would say things like, ‘Your shares are going to get you a house someday,’” one former employee said. This environment had an impact on several employees, who were dealing with stock options for the first time, and who chose to buy their shares at a strike price of $2.24 a pop or higher. While that may not have been an exorbitant sum for those who only held a few hundred shares, it was for many when you factor in taxes that had to be paid at the time. Employees typically pay taxes when they exercise their options, based on the difference between their strike price and the value of the stock at the time of their decision to exercise. It’s also likely that there were some more experienced employees who sold their shares years ago on the secondary market for a profit. Still, that’s not any solace for the first-timers who didn’t know any better and held onto the stock hoping for a good sale. Since some Gilt employees Re/code spoke to left when the company was valued at as much as $25 a share, they recorded a profit on paper of more than $20 a share. This led to tax bills in the thousands, or tens of thousands for some employees, they said. Or as one put it, more than they spent on their house down payment. Some employees took out loans from friends to pay for their tax bill, others from banks. All of these former employees requested anonymity for one of two reasons: They are embarrassed by what they see as their naivete in believing such an outcome wasn’t possible, or they still work in the industry and fear retribution for speaking out on a topic that is currently a sore spot at Gilt. Gilt, for its part, has tried at times to do right by its employees. Starting in 2011, the company began giving out restricted stock units to manager-level employees. Employees don’t have to pay any per-share price to acquire these stock units, only stay employed at the company for a certain period of time to get them converted into actual shares. CEO Michelle Peluso also worked to lower the strike price of stock twice since 2013, in an effort to make the stock more attractive to employees. However, the strike price was still around $7 as recently as a few months ago, according to sources. Lastly, when the company raised $46 million in early 2015, its early investors had their shares converted from preferred shares to common shares, eliminating the protection they originally had that guaranteed they get their investment back in the event of a sale. Without this change, employees would have been left with considerably less money after Gilt’s sale. Multiple sources said Peluso lobbied hard for this change. For some, it still wasn’t enough. |
Israeli newspaper Haaretz this week published a cartoon comparing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the al-Qaeda hijackers who attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. Social media users expressed criticism of the image which portrays a beaming Netanyahu steering a plane toward the World Trade Center. The Israeli cartoonist, Amos Biderman, took to Twitter and spoke to The Times of Israel to explain the concept of the sketch. According to Biderman, the aim was to suggest that Netanyahu’s “arrogance” and political policies had sparked “a disaster in Israel-U.S. relations on the scale of 9/11.” “The message is that Bibi is arrogantly and wantonly destroying Israel’s ties with the U.S. and leading us to a disaster on the scale of 9/11,” Biderman tweeted in Hebrew, Haaretz reported. @heraldmonkey המסר הוא שביבי הורס את היחסים עם אמריקה בצורה שחצנית ומופרעת, ומוביל אותנו לאסון בסדר גודל של 9\11 — Amos Biderman (@AmosBiderman) October 30, 2014 “I was mocking Bibi,” Biderman told Haaretz on Thurday. “He’s been acting like a bull in a china shop with the United States, which is Israel’s most important strategic asset.” However, some Twitter users were less than impressed with the cartoon. “I don’t make a habit of criticizing the media but @haaretz what’s with the gutter press today?” Israeli diplomat Paul Hirschson wrote. I don't make a habit of criticizing the media but @haaretz what's with the gutter press today? pic.twitter.com/0eBKQhzF9f — Paul Hirschson (@paulhirschson) October 30, 2014 “Gutter press? Worse than that. Whoever approved that crap cartoon shld B fired along w/cartoonist,” read another scathing remark. The Anti-Defamation League, which looks to fight against anti-Semitism in the U.S., sought an apology for the controversial cartoon. “The cartoon in question is offensive on many levels,” National Director Abraham H. Foxman said in a statement. “Not only does it completely misrepresent any tensions which may current exist between the U.S. government and Mr. Netanyahu, it disrespects the memories of thousands of innocent Americans and others who tragically perished on 9/11, and the deep pain and trauma caused by the horrific attacks.” Last Update: Friday, 31 October 2014 KSA 09:28 - GMT 06:28 |
About this project Gozim was created with the ambition to give unlimited access to knowledge to as many people possible in any imaginable context. In short, Gozim gives you a copy of the full Wikipedia library accessible offline at all times on your computer. Think about accessing any wikipedia article you might need during a power outage, a remote expedition, a natural disaster, or during a visit to an internet-restricted country! Thanks to Gozim, any classroom in the world could potentially access and work on Wikipedia, free of any internet connexion. Give it a try! Click here to give it a try This instance runs a full Wikipedia copy, on a Scaleway C1 ARM computer graciously hosted by Scaleway, running gozimhttpd. How does it work ? Thanks to the Kiwix, a full dump of all Wikipedia entries in different languages is provided in a single file. Around 40GB for the entire English version of Wikipedia. Gozim is capable of reading that file and serve it via HTTP, even on very small servers (Raspberry Pi). With a 25$ 64GB USB key and a 35$ Raspberry Pi, you have enough power to serve multiple users at once. As it serves regular web pages, it works with any WIFI/HTTP capable clients: OLPC, cheap tablets, smartphones... Why not use the tools provided by Kiwix? Kiwix's goals are different. They provide a nice visual client to browse ZIM files locally. Yet for a file as big as 40GB, it does not target cost-friendly PCs / tablets Gozim is a server side tool providing web pages to cheap clients, install it somewhere and forget it. Technical details It's written in Go language and the indexer is using Bleve |
“If you want to understand the spatial patterns of a criminal you probably wouldn’t be far off if you look at the spatial patterns of a shopper.” We are — even the felonious among us — creatures of habit. Dr. Kim Rossmo of Texas State University, who studies the geography of crime, has found that criminals tend to behave according to reliable geographic patterns. Rossmo’s formula (and that’s not just a turn of phrase — there is something called “Rossmo’s formula”) is used to explain how serial thieves, rapists and other criminals commit their offenses at a close-but-not-too-close distance from their home. When this geospatial analysis is combined with more traditional evidence, it can help narrow down a list of suspects. Now, Rossmo thinks his methods have helped identify the long-hidden identity of the street artist Banksy. A yearlong investigation by the Daily Mail concluded that Banksy is a man named Robin Gunningham. We don’t know much about Gunningham. He’s, 42, he’s from Bristol, England, he went to a Catholic prep school. Rossmo’s analysis adds more credence to that theory. His model analyzes clusters of criminal activity (in this case, Banksy’s graffiti) and calculates the probability that the offender would be working from a given geographic source (e.g., their home). The modeling by Rossmo and his colleagues honed in on several locations in Bristol and London — all of which aligned with known addresses for Robin Gunningham. On this week’s podcast, Rossmo discusses his work, how he tracked Banksy, and the way his model can help explain all sorts of behavior. Turns out, sharks tend to hunt in the same way Banksy tends to draw. Stream or download the full episode above, or subscribe using your favorite podcast app. Here are some excerpts from the conversation. Criminal behavior is human behavior Dr. Kim Rossmo: Criminals are not fundamentally different than the rest of us. In fact, that’s one of the truisms — criminals, for 95 percent of their life, behave just the same as anyone else does. So if someone is going out to commit an offense, they want to operate in an area of familiarity, because they are engaged in risky behavior. But at the same time, they don’t want to commit a crime on their own doorstep, in most cases. And remember, we’re dealing with probabilities here, not certainties. So that means that nothing is 100 percent, but we can describe with a probability distribution. Jody Avirgan: But why would an artist behave in the same way as some other criminals? Wouldn’t an artist, who wants his work to be as visible as possible, and knows that people are on the lookout for him, break from that comfortable geographic pattern and be a little less predictable? Rossmo: Think about where you live. If I were to ask you, “What’s going on two miles from where you live?” You probably have no idea. You’d have a few select spots that you know of, but most people don’t have a great knowledge beyond a few blocks from their home. So [Banksy] could get a lot of anonymity very, very quickly. Plus, he’s got to choose sites. So if he’s already got a general knowledge of an area, he has a better idea of where to find locations. The bottom line is graffiti artists, burglars, car thieves … many of these individuals behave in the same fashion in terms of their search for targets and their hunt for crime opportunities. How wide is a criminal’s comfort zone Avirgan: You mentioned that patterns can be different kinds of crimes or criminals. But in the case of Banksy, or another example, are you saying that someone is comfortable when they go two blocks from their home, or two miles from their home? How big are these circles and patterns? Rossmo: The research in what’s called “journey-to-crime” finds that most offenders commit their crimes one to two miles from their home. It varies for a number of factors: the age of the offender, or the gender, the type of crime, but we would say that in most cases the crimes are close, and they are closer for violent crimes than for property crimes. Avirgan: Do those patterns differ across different cultures? Rossmo: To a certain extent, you’ll see things that are specific in certain places. For example, I worked on a serial murder case in Johannesburg, South Africa. They have these big mine dumps, hills that are in the middle of the city. And the offender was using those for observation points. If you go to the Netherlands, many rapists use bicycles, because that’s just how most people travel. So it’s less about the culture than about the actual environment of the city, and whether the offender is walking, taking the bus, driving. If you’re dealing with crimes in Los Angeles, almost everyone drives, so you have to factor in the freeway system. If you’re a fan of What’s The Point, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, and please leave a rating/review — that helps spread the word to other listeners. And be sure to check out our sports show Hot Takedown as well. Have something to say about this episode, or have an idea for a future show? Get in touch by email, on Twitter, or in the comments. What’s The Point’s music was composed by Hrishikesh Hirway, host of the “Song Exploder” podcast. Download our theme music. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A clip from the advert A South African fast food chain has withdrawn a TV advert which pokes fun at Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe as "the last dictator standing". Nando's South Africa said it decided to act after receiving threats to its staff in Zimbabwe from a youth group loyal to Mr Mugabe. The video shows a sad Mugabe look-a-like dining alone at a table set for Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Uganda's Idi Amin and other late autocratic rulers. The firm is known for its cheeky ads. Karaoke with Mao "We've noted with concern the political reaction emanating out of Zimbabwe, including perceived threats against Nando's Zimbabwe's management, staff and customers," Nando's South Africa said in a statement. "We feel strongly that this is the prudent step to take in a volatile climate and believe that no TV commercial is worth risking the safety of Nando's staff and customers." The video - which reportedly cost up to $370,000 (£236,000) to produce - was part of a Christmas festive season campaign running on South African TV. We're ready to defend the head of the state and government in whatever way we can Jimmy Kunaka, Chipangano group leader It was also broadcast across the continent - including Zimbabwe - through satellite channels, and recently went global, scoring hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube. In the commercial, an actor playing Mr Mugabe reminisces about happy times with other autocratic rulers to the soundtrack of Mary Hopkin's Those Were the Days. Mr Mugabe is shown playing a water-pistol fight with Col Gaddafi, making sand angels with Saddam Hussein, riding on a tank with Idi Amin in a scene parodying Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio from the Titanic film, and also singing karaoke with China's Mao Tse-Tung. 'Insensitive' ad Nando's South Africa decided to axe its commercial after Mugabe loyalists from the Chipangano group had called for a boycott and other unspecified punitive action against the company. "We condemn such adverts because it reduces our president to be someone without values," Chipangano leader Jimmy Kunaka told the BBC's Brian Hungwe earlier this week. Mr Kunaka said Nando's South Africa should "stop that nonsense to play with the head of our state and government". "We're ready to defend the head of the state and government in whatever way we can," he added, without elaborating further. Meanwhile, Musekiwa Kumbula, corporate affairs director of Nando's Zimbabwe franchise, told the BBC that the advert "has nothing to do with us", describing the commercial as "insensitive and distasteful". Under Zimbabwe's law, it is an offence to insult the president or undermine the authority of the office. |
A Stanford University study has documented what South Park told Americans a year ago – students can’t tell the difference between real and fake news. Granted, what is “real” and what is “fake” news is the subject of intense debate even among adults (and college professors), and advertisers and partisan hacks don’t make finding the truth obvious. But the study’s findings show that the vast majority of teens don’t possess (or utilize) the necessary skills to evaluate the accuracy and trustworthiness of what they’re reading. The Wall Street Journal reports that the study found: Some 82% of middle-schoolers couldn’t distinguish between an ad labeled “sponsored content” and a real news story on a website, according to a Stanford University study of 7,804 students from middle school through college. Many students judged the credibility of newsy tweets based on how much detail they contained or whether a large photo was attached, rather than on the source. More than two out of three middle-schoolers couldn’t see any valid reason to mistrust a post written by a bank executive arguing that young adults need more financial-planning help And nearly four in 10 high-school students believed, based on the headline, that a photo of deformed daisies on a photo-sharing site provided strong evidence of toxic conditions near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, even though no source or location was given for the photo. Supposedly these same middle-schoolers and high-school students are taking classes which require them to write research papers – and teach the differences between an opinion paper and a research paper. If so, it’s baffling that so many students can look at an internet news story and not think to look at the potential bias of the site or the writer, or the quantity and types of sources cited. But then again, we’re at a place in history where people have to post “Not The Onion” before sharing a ridiculous news post, and where even reputable outfits such as RedState are classified as “fake news” sites. |
Catholic World News Catholics in Mongolia look forward to ordination of first-ever native priest June 01, 2016 The little Catholic community of Mongolia-- about 1,000 strong-- awaits the ordination of the first native priest in August. Deacon Joseph Enkh will be ordained on August 28 by Bishop Wenceslao Padilla, the apostolic prefect of Ulan Bator. He received his training in South Korea, and was ordained to the diaconate there in December 2014. Returning then to Mongolia, he has been visiting country's six parishes-- which to date have been served exclusively by foreign missionary priests. For all current news, visit our News home page. Sound Off! CatholicCulture.org supporters weigh in. All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off! |
It’s all just one film to me. Just different chapters. The movie that got him noticed: MASH, 1970 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvijJ3RnRc8 Buy the movie HERE As filmmakers, we can show where a person’s mind goes, as opposed to theater, which is more to sit back and watch it. The movie that got him noticed: PI, 1998 Buy the movie HERE What I look for in a script is something that challenges me, something that breaks new ground, something that allows me to flex my director muscle. You have got to think fast in this business, you’ve got to keep reinventing yourself to stay on top. The movie that got him noticed: Bad Boys, 1995 Buy the movie HERE If there’s specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can’t change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies. The movie that got her noticed: Near Dark, 1987 Buy the movie HERE You see so many movies… the younger people who are coming from MTV or who are coming from commercials and there’s no sense of film grammar. There’s no real sense of how to tell a story visually. It’s just cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, you know, which is pretty easy. – Peter Bogdanovich The movie that got him noticed: The Last Picture Show, 1971 Buy the movie HERE Art is a sense of magic. The movie that got him noticed; Mothlight, 1963 My films are an extension of my poetry, using the white screen like the white page to be filled with images. The movie that got him noticed: The Pleasure Garden, 1953 Buy the movie HERE Jack Nicholson is a textbook actor who’s very intuitive. He is absolutely brilliant at going as far as you can go, always pushing to the edge, but still making it seem real. The movie that got him noticed: Beetlejuice, 1988 Buy the movie HERE Pick up a camera. Shoot something. No matter how small, no matter how cheesy, no matter whether your friends and your sister star in it. Put your name on it as director. Now you’re a director. Everything after that you’re just negotiating your budget and your fee. The movie that got him noticed: The Terminator, 1984 Buy the movie HERE A hunch is creativity trying to tell you something. The movie that got him noticed: It Happened One Night, 1934 Buy the movie HERE In England, I’m a horror movie director. In Germany, I’m a filmmaker. In the US, I’m a bum. The movie that got him noticed: Dark Star, 1974 Buy the movie HERE I use dancing to embellish, extend or enlarge upon an existing emotion. The movie that got him noticed: An Evening with Julie Andrews and Henry Belafonte, 1969 The funniest thing is that all the things every director goes through, I thought I could shortcut, but there was no getting around those issues. The movie that got him noticed: Good Night, And Good Luck, 2005 Buy the movie HERE We tend to do period stuff because it helps make it one step removed from boring everyday reality. – Ethan Coen The movie that got him noticed: Blood Simple, 1984 Buy the movie HERE I do think that’s so much a part of what being a director is – in working with actors – to really try and be sensitive to what each actor needs to get to where he wants to be. – Bill Condon The movie that got him noticed: Gods And Monsters, 1998 Buy the movie HERE I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians. The movie that got him noticed: The Godfather, 1972 Buy the movie HERE A lot of life is dealing with your curse, dealing with the cards you were given that aren’t so nice. Does it make you into a monster, or can you temper it in some way, or accept it and go in some other direction? The movie that got him noticed: The Nightmare On Elm Street, 1984 Buy the movie HERE In the future, everybody is going to be a director. Somebody’s got to live a real life so we have something to make a movie about. – Cameron Crowe The movie that got him noticed: Almost Famous, 2000 Buy the movie HERE And I don’t think I’m giving away any secrets here, but there are a lot of terrible scripts in this town. The movie that got him noticed: The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 Buy the movie HERE Acting is by far and away the toughest job, in terms of film-making and maybe even the arts. How they do it I don’t know, but they have to be allowed to get their satisfaction. The movie that got him noticed: The Silence Of The Lambs, 1991 Buy the movie HERE First cuts are a bitch for a director, because it’s been so many months and you put your trust in your editor and you’re going to see your film assembled for the first time. You look at it and go, This is terrible. I hate it. – Richard Donner The movie that got him noticed: Superman, 1978 Buy the movie HERE Our feeling is that the most important thing on a set is that actors have enough confidence to try different things. If there’s stress or tension, they won’t go out on a limb because they won’t want to embarrass themselves if they don’t feel completely comfortable. – Peter Farrelly The movie that got him noticed: Dumb And Dumber, 1994 Buy the movie HERE There are some movies I can watch over and over, never get sick of. I’ll put one of those on and be puttering around the house. Then a certain scene will come on and I’ll just have to go over and watch. The movie that got him noticed: Seven, 1995 Buy the movie HERE Casting is 65 percent of directing. The movie that got him noticed: Seven Days In May, 1964 Buy the movie HERE I tend to be attracted to characters who are up against a wall with very few alternatives. And the film then becomes an examination of how they cope with very few options. And that’s, I guess, what interests me in terms of human behavior. The movie that got him noticed: The Exorcist, 1973 Buy the movie HERE It takes two years on the stage for an actor or an actress to learn how to speak correctly and to manage his voice properly, and it takes about ten years to master the subtle art of being able to hold one’s audience. The movie that got him noticed: The Birth Of A Nation, 1915 Buy the movie HERE But a writer’s contribution is literary and a film is not literary. When you take that stuff off the page, and cast the people who are going to fit into those roles, that’s what being a director is. The movie that got him noticed: Ray, 2004 Buy the movie HERE A theme that has always interested me is the difference between how thing appear and how they are. Image versus reality, etc. The movie that got him noticed: L.A Confidential, 1997 Buy the movie HERE I’m a storyteller – that’s the chief function of a director. And they’re moving pictures, let’s make ’em move! The movie that got him noticed: Scarface, 1932 Buy the movie HERE People watch luck go by them, and they’re so blind they never reach out and grab it. The movie that got him noticed: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969 Buy the movie HERE One of the great things about being a director as a life choice is that it can never be mastered. Every story is its own kind of expedition, with its own set of challenges. The movie that got him noticed: Apollo 13, 1995 Buy the movie HERE Most of my characters are romantic rather than sexual. I think that’s an essential difference in my pictures. I think they are more accurate in portraying young people as romantic – as wanting a relationship, an understanding with a member of the opposite sex more than just physical sex. The movie that got him noticed: Sixteen Candles, 1984 Buy the movie HERE The directing of a picture involves coming out of your individual loneliness and taking a controlling part in putting together a small world. A picture is made. You put a frame around it and move on. And one day you die. That is all there is to it. The movie that got him noticed: The Maltese Falcon, 1941 Buy the movie HERE I’m like a navigator and I try to encourage our collaboration and find the best way that will produce fruit. I like fruit. I like cherries, I like bananas. The movie that got him noticed: Stranger Than paradise, 1984 Buy the movie HERE Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity. The movie that got him noticed: The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, 1965 Movies are art and the spirit of the movie depends on the creators. The movie that got him noticed: Troma’s War, 1988 Buy the movie HERE To me, thoughts are fun and art is fun. The strength of our society should not be idle entertainments but the joy of pursuing ideas. The movie that got him noticed: Goldstein, 1965 Buy the movie HERE A good director’s not sure when he gets on the set what he’s going to do. The movie that got him noticed: A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951 Buy the movie HERE A film is – or should be – more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what’s behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later. The movie that got him noticed: The Shining, 1980 Buy the movie HERE Everyone has a story. The movie that got him noticed: In The Company Of Men, 1997 Buy the movie HERE A lot of times you get credit for stuff in your movies you didn’t intend to be there. The movie that got him noticed: 4 Little Girls, 1997 Buy the movie HERE All I try to do is create an atmosphere that seems comfortable enough, that it removes tension and everyone feels free. If they feel free then behaviour happens, small moments happen and that’s what ultimately works the best for me. The movie that got him noticed: Rain Man, 1988 Buy the movie HERE I think maybe making films is something innate you can’t really teach to begin with. – Richard Linklater The movie that got him noticed: Before Sunset, 1995 Buy the movie HERE But having a really good understanding of history, literature, psychology, sciences – is very, very important to actually being able to make movies. The movie that got him noticed: Star Wars, 1977 Buy the movie HERE For any director with a little lucidity, masterpieces are films that come to you by accident. The movie that got him noticed: Murder On The Orient Express, 1974 Buy the movie HERE I let the actors work out their ideas before shooting, then tell them what attitudes I want. If a scene isn’t honest, it stands out like a sore thumb. The movie that got him noticed: The Elephant Man, 1980 Buy the movie HERE And take a look at “Directors on Directing Pt2” here: link About Raindance Raindance aims to promote and support independent filmmaking and filmmakers. From new and emerging to industry pros, Raindance connects, trains, supports, and promotes visual storytellers through every step of their career. The Raindance Film Festival runs each Autumn in London's Leicester Square. Raindance has been delivering film training since 1992. A wide range of Open Classes to a 2 year HND Level 5 BTEC in Moving Images to a Postgraduate Film Degree are delivered to students on five continents, both in person and online. |
[WARNING: This post discusses characters and events from The Walking Dead comic that may also appear in the TV version in season 6.] If you’re trying to match the timeline of The Walking Dead TV show to the comic on which it is based, Rick’s shooting of Pete that closed last season occurred in issue 77 of the original (the series is now up to issue 144). So what—and whom?—might we expect to see from the comic in season 6? Producers have already confirmed there will be a ridiculous amount of zombies, which could mean the herd that breaks through the walls of Alexandria in the comic is on the way. That particular attack results in several deaths (including people currently on the show) and a gruesome injury to one main character in particular. But fans are more geeked out about the possibility of two pivotal living characters making the leap from page-to-screen in season 6. And we don’t mean Alexandrians Denise and Heath (who will be played by Merrit Wever and Corey Hawkins, respectively), but rather two other prominent figures that may or may not make an appearance. Charlie Adlard/Skybound/Image Comics The first is Paul Monroe (a.k.a. Jesus). A master of hand-to-hand combat, Jesus arrives in issue 91 and connects the Alexandrians to other communities like the Hilltop that trade services and goods for the betterment of all. But this connection also draws Alexandria into conflict with the most infamous villain in Walking Dead history—Negan. A psychopath whose biggest love in life is a barbed-wire-covered baseball bat named Lucille, Negan leads a group called the Saviors who are anything but. He’s kind of like the Governor, but on steroids. Might Negan make his presence felt by the end of the season? “It’s absolutely a possibility,” says showrunner Scott M. Gimple. “And when I say it’s a possibility, we have a plan in place, but there’s a couple variables for that plan that we’re deciding about. It really depends on a few factors as we move into setting up the last bit of the season story-wise.” So there you have it: Negan may actually show up in season 6 depending on how those variables go, And if Negan may show up, then it’s a pretty strong bet that Jesus (who appears earlier in the comic) will be introduced before the season is through. Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman had this to say to EW about the possibility of the dynamic duo coming to TV. “When it comes to characters like The Governor, Michonne, Abraham, and others like Jesus and Negan who are fan-favorite characters in the comics, it’s always a challenge to get it right because it’s those characters—much like Rick Grimes in the beginning—that fans already have a sense of and expectations for. So we’re always careful, and I feel like we’ve done a really good job servicing those fan expectations. Hopefully that trend will continue…if the characters you mention are to appear soon.” Place your bets now. To continue reading the cover story on The Walking Dead, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on newsstands now. And for more Walking Dead intel, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss. Related Stories •This Week’s Cover: First look at season 6 of The Walking Dead •The Walking Dead Season 6: 12 EW exclusive photos •Walking Dead stars Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln get cheeky •Exclusive first photos and intel on new Walking Dead characters |
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa had prevented the Axis from advancing further into Egypt. In August 1942, General Claude Auchinleck had been sacked as Commander-in-Chief Middle East Command and his successor, Lieutenant-General William Gott was killed on his way to replace him as commander of the Eighth Army. Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was appointed and led the Eighth Army offensive. The Allied victory was the beginning of the end of the Western Desert Campaign, eliminating the Axis threat to Egypt, the Suez Canal and the Middle Eastern and Persian oil fields. The battle revived the morale of the Allies, being the first big success against the Axis since Operation Crusader in late 1941. The battle coincided with the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch on 8 November, the Battle of Stalingrad and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Background [ edit ] The Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel), composed of German and Italian tank and infantry units, had advanced into Egypt after its success at the Battle of Gazala (26 May – 21 June 1942). The Axis advance menaced British control of the Suez Canal, the Middle East and its oil resources. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within 80 km (50 mi) of Alexandria where the Qattara Depression was 64 km (40 mi) south of El Alamein on the coast. The depression was impassable and meant that any attack had to be frontal. Axis attacks in the First Battle of El Alamein (1–27 July) were defeated. Eighth Army counter-attacks in July also failed, as the Axis forces dug in and regrouped. Auchinleck called off the attacks at the end of July to rebuild the Eighth Army. In early August, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill and General Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), visited Cairo and replaced Auchinleck as Commander-in-chief Middle East Command with General Harold Alexander. Lieutenant-General William Gott was made commander of the Eighth Army but was killed when his transport aircraft was shot down by Luftwaffe fighters; Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery was flown from Britain to replace him. Lacking reinforcements and depending on small, underdeveloped ports for supplies, aware of a huge Allied reinforcement operation for the Eighth Army, Rommel decided to attack first. The two armoured divisions of the Afrika Korps and the reconnaissance units of Panzerarmee Afrika led the attack but were repulsed at the Alam el Halfa ridge and Point 102 on 30 August 1942 at the Battle of Alam el Halfa and the Axis forces retired to their defences. The short front line and secure flanks favoured the Axis defence and Rommel had time to develop the Axis defences, sowing extensive minefields with c. 500,000 mines and miles of barbed wire. Alexander and Montgomery intended to establish a superiority of forcs sufficient to achieve a breakthrough and exploit it to destroy Panzerarmee Afrika. In previous campaigns of the Western Desert Campaign, neither side had been able to exploit victory sufficiently to defeat its opponent before it had withdrawn and transferred the problem of over-extended supply lines to the victor. The British had an intelligence advantage because Ultra and local sources exposed the Axis order of battle, its supply position, force disposition and intentions. A reorganisation of military intelligence in Africa in July had also improved the integration of information received from all sources and the speed of its dissemination. With rare exceptions, intelligence identified the supply ships destined for North Africa, their location or routing and in most cases their cargoes, allowing them to be attacked. By 25 October, Panzerarmee Afrika was down to three days' fuel supply, of which only two days' worth were east of Tobruk. Harry Hinsley, the official historian of British intelligence wrote in 1981 that "The Panzer Army... did not possess the operational freedom of movement that was absolutely essential in consideration of the fact that the British offensive can be expected to start any day". Submarine and air transport somewhat eased the shortage of ammunition and by late October, the front line had 16 days' supply. After six more weeks, the Eighth Army was ready; 195,000 men and 1,029 tanks began the offensive against the 116,000 men and 547 tanks of Panzer Army Africa. Prelude [ edit ] Allied plan [ edit ] Montgomery's plan was for a main attack to the north of the line and a secondary attack to the south, involving XXX Corps (Lieutenant-General Oliver Leese) and XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks), while X Corps (Lieutenant-General Herbert Lumsden) was to exploit the success. With Operation Lightfoot, Montgomery intended to cut two corridors through the Axis minefields in the north. One corridor was to run south-west through the 2nd New Zealand Division sector towards the centre of Miteirya Ridge, while the second was to run west, passing 2 mi (3.2 km) north of the west end of the Miteirya Ridge across the 9th Australian and 51st (Highland) Division sectors. Tanks would then pass through and defeat the German armour. Diversions at Ruweisat Ridge in the centre and also the south of the line would keep the rest of the Axis forces from moving northwards. Montgomery expected a 12-day battle in three stages: the break-in, the dogfight and the final breaking of the enemy. For the first night of the offensive, Montgomery planned for four infantry divisions of XXX Corps to advance on a 16 mi (26 km) front to the Oxalic Line, over-running the forward Axis defences. Engineers would clear and mark the two lanes through the minefields, through which the armoured divisions from X Corps would pass to gain the Pierson Line. They would rally and consolidate their position just west of the infantry positions, blocking an Axis tank counter-attack. The British tanks would then advance to Skinflint, astride the north–south Rahman Track deep in the Axis defensive system, to challenge the Axis armour. The infantry battle would continue as the Eighth Army infantry "crumbled" the deep Axis defensive fortifications (three successive lines of fortification had been constructed) and destroy any tanks that attacked them.[j] Operation Bertram [ edit ] The Commonwealth forces practised a number of deceptions in the months before the battle to confuse the Axis command as to the whereabouts of the forthcoming battle and when the battle was likely to occur. This operation was codenamed Operation Bertram. In September, they dumped waste materials (discarded packing cases, etc.) under camouflage nets in the northern sector, making them appear to be ammunition or ration dumps. The Axis naturally noticed these but, as no offensive action immediately followed and the "dumps" did not change in appearance, they were subsequently ignored. This allowed Eighth Army to build up supplies in the forward area unnoticed by the Axis, by replacing the rubbish with ammunition, petrol or rations at night. Meanwhile, a dummy pipeline was built, hopefully leading the Axis to believe the attack would occur much later than it, in fact, did and much further south. To further the illusion, dummy tanks consisting of plywood frames placed over jeeps were constructed and deployed in the south. In a reverse feint, the tanks destined for battle in the north were disguised as supply trucks by placing removable plywood superstructures over them. Operation Braganza [ edit ] As a preliminary, the 131st (Queen's) Infantry Brigade of the 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division, supported by tanks from the 4th Armoured Brigade, launched Operation Braganza attacking the 185th Airborne Division Folgore on the night of 29/30 September in an attempt to capture the Deir el Munassib area. The Italian paratroopers repelled the attack, killing or capturing over 300 of the attackers. It was wrongly assumed that Fallschirmjäger (German paratroopers) had manned the defences and been responsible for the British reverse. The Afrika Korps war diary notes that the Italian paratroops "bore the brunt of the attack. It fought well and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy."[25] Axis plan [ edit ] Deployment of forces on the eve of battle. With the failure of the offensive at Alam el Halfa, the Axis forces went onto the defensive but losses had not been excessive. The Axis supply line from Tripoli was extremely long and captured Allied supplies and equipment had been exhausted, but Rommel decided to advance into Egypt. The Eighth Army was being supplied with men and materials from the United Kingdom, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as with trucks and the new Sherman tanks from the United States. Rommel continued to request equipment, supplies and fuel but the priority of the German war effort was the Eastern Front and very limited supplies reached North Africa. Rommel was ill and in early September, arrangements were made for him to return to Germany on sick leave and for General der Panzertruppe Georg Stumme to transfer from the Russian front to take his place. Before he left for Germany on 23 September, Rommel organised the defence and wrote a long appreciation of the situation to Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW armed forces high command]], once again setting out the essential needs of the Panzer Army. Rommel knew that the British Commonwealth forces would soon be strong enough to attack. His only hope now relied on the German forces fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad quickly to defeat the Red Army, then move south through the Trans-Caucasus and threaten Iran (Persia) and the Middle East. If successful, large numbers of British and Commonwealth forces would have to be sent from the Egyptian front to reinforce the Ninth Army in Iran, leading to the postponement of any offensive against his army. Rommel hoped to convince OKW to reinforce his forces for the eventual link-up between Panzerarmee Afrika and the German armies fighting in southern Russia, enabling them finally to defeat the British and Commonwealth armies in North Africa and the Middle East. In the meantime, the Panzerarmee dug in and waited for the attack by the Eighth Army or the defeat of the Red Army at Stalingrad. Rommel added depth to his defences by creating at least two belts of mines about 3.1 mi (5 km) apart, connected at intervals to create boxes (Devil's gardens) which would restrict enemy penetration and deprive British armour of room for manoeuvre. The front face of each box was lightly held by battle outposts and the rest of the box was unoccupied but sowed with mines and explosive traps and covered by enfilading fire. The main defensive positions were built to a depth of at least 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) behind the second mine belt. The Axis laid around half a million mines, mostly Teller anti-tank mines with some smaller anti-personnel types (such as the S-mine). (Many of these mines were British, and had been captured at Tobruk). To lure enemy vehicles into the minefields, the Italians dragged an axle and tyres through the fields using a long rope to create what appeared to be well-used tracks. Rommel did not want the British armour to break out into the open because he had neither the strength of numbers nor fuel to match them in a battle of manoeuvre. The battle had to be fought in the fortified zones; a breakthrough had to be defeated quickly. Rommel stiffened his forward lines by alternating German and Italian infantry formations. Because the Allied deception confused the Axis as to the point of attack, Rommel departed from his usual practice of holding his armoured strength in a concentrated reserve and split it into a northern group (15th Panzer and Littorio Division) and a southern group (21st Panzer and Ariete Division), each organised into battle groups to be able to make a quick armoured intervention wherever the blow fell and prevent narrow breakthroughs from being enlarged. A significant proportion of his armoured reserve was dispersed and held unusually far forward. The 15th Panzer Division had 125 operational tanks (16 Pz.IIs, 43 Pz.III Ausf H, 43 Pz.III Ausf J, 6 Pz.IV Ausf D, 15 Pz.IV Ausf F) while the 21st Panzer Division had 121 operational combat vehicles (12 Pz.IIs, 38 Pz.III Ausf H, 43 Pz.III Ausf J, 2 Pz.IV Ausf D, 15 Pz.IV Ausf F). Rommel held the 90th Light Division further back and kept the Trieste Motorised Division in reserve near the coast. Rommel hoped to move his troops faster than the Allies, to concentrate his defences at the most important point (Schwerpunkt) but lack of fuel meant that once the Panzerarmee had concentrated, it would not be able to move again because of lack of fuel. The British were well aware that Rommel would be unable to mount a defence based on his usual manoeuvre tactics but no clear picture emerged of how he would fight the battle and British plans seriously underestimated the Axis defences and the fighting power of the Panzerarmee. Battle [ edit ] Phase one: the break-in [ edit ] British night artillery barrage which opened the second Battle of El Alamein Prior to the main barrage, there was a diversion by the 24th Australian Brigade, which involved the 15th Panzer Division being subjected to heavy fire for a few minutes. Then at 21:40 (Egyptian Summer Time) on 23 October on a calm, clear evening under the bright sky of a full moon, Operation Lightfoot began with a 1,000-gun barrage. The fire plan had been arranged so that the first rounds from the 882 guns from the field and medium batteries would land along the 40 mi (64 km) front at the same time. After 20 minutes of general bombardment, the guns switched to precision targets in support of the advancing infantry. The shelling plan continued for five and a half hours, by the end of which each gun had fired about 600 rounds, about 529,000 shells. Operation Lightfoot alluded to the infantry attacking first. Anti-tank mines would not be tripped by soldiers stepping on them since they were too light. As the infantry advanced, engineers had to clear a path for the tanks coming behind. Each gap was to be 24 ft (7.3 m) wide, which was just enough to get tanks through in single file. The engineers had to clear a 5 mi (8.0 km) route through the Devil's Gardens. It was a difficult task that was not achieved because of the depth of the Axis minefields. Kittyhawk Mark III, of No. 250 Squadron RAF taxiing at LG 91, Egypt, during Operation Lightfoot At 22:00, the four infantry divisions of XXX Corps began to move. The objective was to establish a bridgehead before dawn at the imaginary line in the desert where the strongest enemy defences were situated, on the far side of the second mine belt. Once the infantry reached the first minefields, the mine sweepers, including Reconnaissance Corps troops and sappers, moved in to create a passage for the armoured divisions of X Corps. Progress was slower than planned but at 02:00, the first of the 500 tanks crawled forward. By 04:00, the lead tanks were in the minefields, where they stirred up so much dust that there was no visibility at all, traffic jams developed and tanks bogged down. Only about half of the infantry attained their objectives and none of the tanks broke through. Original military uniform of an Italian paratrooper of the division Folgore in 1942 The 7th Armoured Division (with one Free French Brigade under command) from XIII Corps (Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks) made a secondary attack to the south. The main attack aimed to achieve a breakthrough, engage and pin down the 21st Panzer Division and the Ariete Armoured Division around Jebel Kalakh, while the Free French on the far left were to secure Qaret el Himeimat and the el Taqa plateau. The right flank of the attack was to be protected by 44th Infantry Division with the 131st Infantry Brigade. The attack met determined resistance, mainly from the 185 Airborne Division Folgore, part of the Ramcke Parachute Brigade and the Keil Group. The minefields were deeper than anticipated and clearing paths through them was impeded by Axis defensive fire. By dawn on 24 October, paths still had not been cleared through the second minefield to release 22nd and 4th Light Armoured Brigades into the open to make their planned turn north into the rear of enemy positions 5 mi (8.0 km) west of Deir el Munassib. Further north along the XIII Corps front, the 50th Infantry Division achieved a limited and costly success against determined resistance from the Pavia Division, Brescia Division and elements of the 185th Airborne Division Folgore. The 4th Indian Infantry Division, on the far left of the XXX Corps front at Ruweisat Ridge, made a mock attack and two small raids intended to deflect attention to the centre of the front. Phase two: the crumbling [ edit ] A mine explodes close to a British artillery tractor as it advances through enemy minefields and wire to the new front line Dawn aerial reconnaissance showed little change in Axis disposition, so Montgomery gave his orders for the day: the clearance of the northern corridor should be completed and the New Zealand Division supported by 10th Armoured should push south from Miteirya Ridge. 9th Australian Division, in the north, should plan a crumbling operation for that night, while in the southern sector, 7th Armoured should continue to try to break through the minefields with support, if necessary, from 44th Division. Panzer units counter-attacked the 51st Highland Division just after sunrise, only to be stopped in their tracks. British tanks advance to engage German armour after infantry had opened gaps in the Axis minefield at El Alamein, 24 October 1942 The morning of Saturday 24 October brought disaster for the German headquarters. The reports that Stumme had received that morning showed the attacks had been on a broad front but that such penetration as had occurred should be containable by local units. He went forward himself to observe the state of affairs and, finding himself under fire, suffered a heart attack and died. Temporary command was given to Major-General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma. Hitler had already decided that Rommel should leave his sanatorium and return to North Africa. Rommel flew to Rome early on 25 October to press the Comando Supremo for more fuel and ammunition and then on to North Africa to resume command that night of the Panzer Army Africa, which that day was renamed the German-Italian Panzer Army (Deutsch-Italienische Panzerarmee). There was little activity during the day pending more complete clearance of paths through the minefields. The armour was held at Oxalic. Artillery and the Allied Desert Air Force, making over 1,000 sorties, attacked Axis positions all day to aid the 'crumbling' of the Axis forces. By 16:00 there was little progress. At dusk, with the sun at their backs, Axis tanks from the 15th Panzer Division and Italian Littorio Division swung out from the Kidney feature (also known to the Germans and Italians as Hill 28), often wrongly called a ridge as it was actually a depression, to engage the 1st Armoured Division and the first major tank battle of El Alamein began. Over 100 tanks were involved and half were destroyed by dark. Neither position was altered.[citation needed] At around 10:00, Axis aircraft had destroyed a convoy of 25 Allied vehicles carrying petrol and ammunition, setting off a night-long blaze; Lumsden wanted to call off the attack, but Montgomery made it clear that his plans were to be carried out. The thrust that night by 10th Armoured Division from Miteirya Ridge failed. The lifting of mines on the Miteirya Ridge and beyond took far longer than planned and the leading unit, 8th Armoured Brigade, was caught on their start line at 22:00—zero hour—by an air attack and were scattered. By the time they had reorganised they were well behind schedule and out of touch with the creeping artillery barrage. By daylight the brigade was out in the open taking considerable fire from well sited tanks and anti-tank guns. Meanwhile 24th Armoured Brigade had pushed forward and reported at dawn they were on the Pierson line, although it turned out that, in the dust and confusion, they had mistaken their position and were well short. The attack in the XIII Corps sector to the south fared no better. 44th Division's 131st Infantry Brigade cleared a path through the mines, but when 22nd Armoured Brigade passed through, they came under heavy fire and were repulsed, with 31 tanks disabled. Allied air activity that night focused on Rommel's northern armoured group, where 135 short tons (122 t) of bombs were dropped. To prevent a recurrence of 8th Armoured Brigade's experience from the air, attacks on Axis landing fields were also stepped up. D + 2: 25 October [ edit ] The initial thrust had ended by Sunday. The Allies had advanced through the minefields in the west to make a 6 mi (9.7 km) wide and 5 mi (8.0 km) deep inroad. They now sat atop Miteirya Ridge in the south-east. Axis forces were firmly entrenched in most of their original battle positions and the battle was at a standstill. Montgomery decided that the planned advance southward from Miteirya Ridge by the New Zealanders would be too costly and instead decided that XXX Corps—while keeping firm hold of Miteirya—should strike northward toward the coast with 9th Australian Division. Meanwhile, 1st Armoured Division—on the Australians' left—should continue to attack west and north-west, and activity to the south on both Corps fronts would be confined to patrolling. The battle would be concentrated at the Kidney feature and Tel el Eisa until a breakthrough occurred. RAF Baltimore of No. 223 Squadron bombing El Daba airfield in support of the Alamein offensive By early morning, the Axis forces launched a series of attacks using 15th Panzer and Littorio divisions. The Panzer Army was probing for a weakness, but without success. When the sun set the Allied infantry went on the attack. Around midnight, 51st Division launched three attacks, but no one knew exactly where they were. Pandemonium and carnage ensued, resulting in the loss of over 500 Allied troops, and leaving only one officer among the attacking forces.[citation needed] While the 51st Highland Division was operating around Kidney, the Australians were attacking Point 29,[k] a 20 ft (6.1 m) high Axis artillery observation post south-west of Tel el Eisa, in an attempt to surround the Axis coastal salient containing the German 164th Light Division and large numbers of Italian infantry. This was the new northern thrust Montgomery had devised earlier in the day, and was to be the scene of heated battle for some days. The Australian 26th Brigade attacked at midnight, supported by artillery and 30 tanks of 40th Royal Tank Regiment. They took the position and 240 prisoners. Fighting continued in this area for the next week, as the Axis tried to recover the small hill that was so important to their defence. Meanwhile, the air force night bombers dropped 115 short tons (104 t)[clarification needed] of bombs on targets in the battlefield and 14 short tons (13 t) on the Stuka base at Sidi Haneish, while night fighters flew patrols over the battle area and the Axis forward landing grounds. In the south, the 4th Armoured Brigade and 69th Infantry Brigade attacked the Folgore (187th regiment) at Deir Munassib, but lost about 20 tanks gaining only the forward positions. Phase three: the counter [ edit ] D + 3: 26 October [ edit ] A British soldier gives a V gesture to German prisoners captured at El Alamein, 26 October 1942 Rommel, on his return to North Africa on the evening of 25 October, assessed the battle. Casualties, particularly in the north, as a result of incessant artillery and air attack, had been severe. The Italian Trento Division had lost 50 per cent of its infantry and most of its artillery, the 164th Light Division had lost two battalions. The 15th Panzer and Littorio divisions had prevented the Allied tanks from breaking through but this had been a costly defensive success, the 15th Panzer Division being reduced to 31 tanks remaining. Most other units were under strength, the men were on half rations, a large number were sick and Panzerarmee Afrika had only enough fuel for three days. Rommel was convinced by this time that the main assault would come in the north and determined to retake Point 29. He ordered a counter-attack against it by the 15th Panzer Division and the 164th Light Division, with part of the Italian XX Corps to begin at 15:00 but under constant artillery and air attack this came to nothing. According to Rommel this attack did meet some success, with the Italians recapturing part of Hill 28, Attacks were now launched on Hill 28 by elements of the 15th Panzer Division, the Littorio and a Bersaglieri Battalion, supported by the concentrated fire of all the local artillery and AA. In the evening part of the Bersaglieri Battalion succeeded in occupying the eastern and western edges of the hill. The bulk of the Australian 2/17th Battalion, which had defended the position, was forced to retreat. Rommel reversed his policy of distributing his armour across the front, ordering the 90th Light Division forward from Ed Daba and 21st Panzer Division north along with one third of the Ariete Division and half the artillery from the southern sector to join the 15th Panzer Division and the Littorio Division. The move could not be reversed because of the fuel shortage. The Trieste Division was ordered from Fuka to replace the 90th Light Division at Ed Daba but the 21st Panzer Division and the Ariete Division made slow progress during the night under constant attack from DAF bombers. At the Kidney feature, the British failed to take advantage of the missing tanks. Each time they tried to move forward they were stopped by anti-tank guns. The Allied offensive was stalled. Churchill railed, "Is it really impossible to find a general who can win a battle?" Three Vickers Wellington torpedo bombers of 38 Squadron destroyed the oil tanker Tergestea at Tobruk during the night.[62] Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers of 42 Squadron, attached to No. 47 Squadron, sank the tanker Proserpina at Tobruk, removing the last hope for refuelling the Panzerarmee By 26 October, XXX Corps had completed the capture of the bridgehead west of the second mine belt, the tanks of X Corps, established just beyond the infantry, had failed to break through the Axis anti-tank defences. Montgomery decided that over the next two days, while continuing the process of attrition, he would thin out his front line to create a reserve for another attack. The reserve was to include the 2nd New Zealand Division (with the 9th Armoured Brigade under command), the 10th Armoured Division and the 7th Armoured Division. The attacks in the south, which lasted three days and caused considerable losses without achieving a breakthrough, were suspended. D + 4: 27 October [ edit ] Tanks of 8th Armoured Brigade waiting just behind the forward positions near El Alamein before being called to join the battle, 27 October 1942 By this time, the main battle was concentrated around Tel el Aqqaqir and the Kidney feature at the end of 1st Armoured Division's path through the minefield. A mile north-west of the feature was Outpost Woodcock and roughly the same distance south-west lay Outpost Snipe. An attack was planned on these areas using two battalions from 7th Motor Brigade. At 23:00 on 26 October 2 Battalion, The Rifle Brigade would attack Snipe and 2nd Battalion King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) would attack Woodcock. The plan was for 2nd Armoured Brigade to pass round the north of Woodcock the following dawn and 24th Armoured Brigade round the south of Snipe. The attack was to be supported by all the available artillery of both X and XXX Corps. Both battalions had difficulty finding their way in the dark and dust. At dawn, the KRRC had not reached its objective and had to find cover and dig in some distance from Woodcock. 2nd Rifle Brigade had had better fortune and after following the shell bursts of the supporting artillery dug in when they concluded they had reached their objective having encountered little opposition. At 06:00, the 2nd Armoured Brigade commenced its advance and ran into such stiff opposition that, by noon, it had still not linked with the KRRC. The 24th Armoured Brigade started a little later and was soon in contact with the Rifle Brigade (having shelled them in error for a while). Some hours of confused fighting ensued involving tanks from the Littorio and troops and anti-tank guns from 15th Panzer which managed to keep the British armour at bay in spite of the support of the Rifle Brigade battlegroup's anti-tank guns. Rommel had decided to make two counter-attacks using his fresh troops. 90th Light Division was to make a fresh attempt to capture Point 29 and 21st Panzer were targeted at Snipe (the Ariete detachment had returned south). At Snipe, mortar and shellfire was constant all day long. At 16:00, Rommel launched his major attack. German and Italian tanks moved forward. Against them the Rifle Brigade had 13 6-pounder anti-tank guns along with six more from the supporting 239th Anti-Tank Battery, RA. Although on the point of being overrun more than once they held their ground, destroying 22 German and 10 Italian tanks. The Germans gave up but in error the British battle group was withdrawn without being replaced that evening. Its CO, Lieutenant-Colonel Victor Buller Turner was awarded the Victoria Cross. Only one anti-tank gun—from 239 Battery—was brought back. When it was discovered that neither Woodcock nor Snipe was in Eighth Army hands, 133rd Lorried Infantry Brigade was sent to capture them. By 01:30 on 28 October, the 4th battalion Royal Sussex Regiment judged they were on Woodcock and dug in. At dawn, 2nd Armoured Brigade moved up in support but before contact could be made 4th Royal Sussex were counter-attacked and overrun with many losses. Meanwhile, the Lorried Brigade's two other battalions had moved on Snipe and dug in, only to find out the next day that they were in fact well short of their objective. Further north, the 90th Light Division's attack on Point 29 during the afternoon of 27 October failed under heavy artillery and bombing which broke up the attack before it had closed with the Australians. The action at Snipe was an episode of the Battle of El Alamein described by the regiment's historian as the most famous day of the regiment's war. Lucas-Phillips, in his Alamein records that: The desert was quivering with heat. The gun detachments and the platoons squatted in their pits and trenches, the sweat running in rivers down their dust-caked faces. There was a terrible stench. The flies swarmed in black clouds upon the dead bodies and excreta and tormented the wounded. The place was strewn with burning tanks and carriers, wrecked guns and vehicles, and over all drifted the smoke and the dust from bursting high explosives and from the blasts of guns. — Lucas-Phillips, sfn, Lucas-Phillips D + 5–6: 28–29 October [ edit ] On 28 October, 15th and 21st Panzer made a determined attack on the X Corps front but were halted by sustained artillery, tank and anti-tank gun fire. In the afternoon, they paused to regroup to attack again but they were bombed for two and a half hours and were prevented from even forming up. This proved to be Rommel's last attempt to take the initiative and as such his defeat here represented a turning point in the battle. At this point, Montgomery ordered the X Corps formations in the Woodcock-Snipe area to go over to defence while he focused his army's attack further to the north. Late on 27 October, the British 133rd Brigade was sent forward to recover lost positions but the next day, a good part of this force was overrun by German and Italian tanks from the Littorio and supporting 12th Bersaglieri Regiment and several hundred British soldiers were captured. On the night of 28/29 October, the 9th Australian Division was ordered to make a second set-piece attack. The 20th Australian Infantry Brigade with 40th R.T.R. in support would push north-west from Point 29 to form a base for 26th Australian Infantry Brigade with 46th R.T.R. in support, to attack north-east to an Axis location south of the railway known as Thompson's Post and then over the railway to the coast road, where they would advance south-east to close on the rear of the Axis troops in the coastal salient. An attack by the third brigade would then be launched on the salient from the south-east. The 20th Brigade took its objectives with little trouble but 26th Brigade had more trouble. Because of the distances involved, the troops were riding on 46th R.T.R. Valentine tanks as well as carriers, which mines and anti-tank guns soon brought to grief, forcing the infantry to dismount. The infantry and tanks lost touch with each other in fighting with the 125th Panzergrenadier Regiment and a battalion of 7th Bersaglieri Regiment sent to reinforce the sector and the advance came to a halt. The Australians suffered 200 casualties in that attack and suffered 27 killed and 290 wounded.[75] The German and Italian forces that had participated in the counter-attack formed an outpost and held on until the arrival of German reinforcements on 1 November. British Grant tank moving up to the front, 29 October 1942 It became clear that there were no longer enough hours of darkness left to reform, continue the attack and see it to its conclusion, so the operation was called off. By the end of these engagements in late October, the British had 800 tanks still in operation, while the Panzerarmee day report for 28 October (intercepted and read by Eighth Army the following evening) recorded 81 serviceable German tanks and 197 Italian. With the help of signals intelligence information the Proserpina (carrying 4,500 tonnes of fuel) and Tergestea (carrying 1,000 tonnes of fuel and 1,000 tonnes of ammunition) had been destroyed on 26 October and the tanker Luisiano (carrying 2,500 tonnes of fuel) had been sunk off the west coast of Greece by a torpedo from a Wellington bomber on 28 October. Rommel told his commanders, "It will be quite impossible for us to disengage from the enemy. There is no gasoline for such a manoeuvre. We have only one choice and that is to fight to the end at Alamein." These actions by the Australians and British had alerted Montgomery that Rommel had committed his reserve in the form of 90th Light Division to the front and that its presence in the coastal sector suggested that Rommel was expecting the next major Eighth Army offensive in this sector. Montgomery determined therefore that it would take place further south on a 4,000 yd (2.3 mi; 3.7 km) front south of Point 29. The attack was to take place on the night of 31 October/1 November, as soon as he had completed the reorganisation of his front line to create the reserves needed for the offensive (although in the event it was postponed by 24 hours). To keep Rommel's attention on the coastal sector, Montgomery ordered the renewal of the 9th Australian Division operation on the night of 30/31 October. D + 7–9: 30 October – 1 November [ edit ] The night of 30 October saw a continuation of previous Australian plans, their third attempt to reach the paved road. Although not all the objectives were achieved, by the end of the night they were astride the road and the railway, making the position of the Axis troops in the salient precarious. Rommel brought up a battlegroup from 21. Panzer-Division and on 31 October, launched four successive attacks against "Thompson's Post". The fighting was intense and often hand-to-hand, but no ground was gained by the Axis forces. One of the Australians killed was Sergeant William Kibby (2/48th Infantry Battalion) who, for his heroic actions from the 23rd until his death on the 31st – including a lone attack on a machine-gun position at his own initiative – was awarded the Victoria Cross. Again, on Sunday, 1 November Rommel tried to dislodge the Australians, but the brutal, desperate fighting resulted in nothing but lost men and equipment. He did however regain contact with Panzergrenadier-Regiment 125 in the nose of the salient, and the supporting 10° battaglione Bersaglieri – that fought well according to German and Allied sources; the Bersaglieri had resisted several Australian attacks even though they were (in the words of military historian Niall Barr) "surrounded on all sides, short of ammunition, food and water, [and] unable to evacuate their many wounded". By now, it had become obvious to Rommel that the battle was lost. His fuel state continued to be critical: on 1 November, two more supply ships—the Tripolino and the Ostia—had been torpedoed and sunk from the air north-west of Tobruk. The shortage forced him to rely increasingly on fuel flown in from Crete on the orders of Albert Kesselring, Luftwaffe Oberbefehlshaber Süd (OB Süd, Supreme Commander South), despite the restrictions imposed by heavy bombing of the airfields in Crete and the Desert Air Force's efforts to intercept the transport aircraft. Rommel began to plan a retreat anticipating retiring to Fuka, some 50 mi (80 km) west, as he had only 90 tanks remaining in stark contrast with the Allies' 800. Large amounts of fuel arrived at Benghazi after the German forces had started to retreat, but little of it reached the front, a fact Kesselring tried to change by delivering it more closely to the fighting forces. Phase four: Operation Supercharge [ edit ] D + 10: 2 November [ edit ] This phase of the battle began at 01:00 on 2 November, with the objective of destroying enemy armour, forcing the enemy to fight in the open, reducing the Axis stock of petrol, attacking and occupying enemy supply routes, and causing the disintegration of the enemy army. The intensity and the destruction in Supercharge were greater than anything witnessed so far during this battle. The objective of this operation was Tel el Aqqaqir, the base of the Axis defence roughly 3 mi (4.8 km) north-west of the Kidney feature and situated on the Rahman lateral track. The initial thrust of Supercharge was to be carried out by 2nd New Zealand Division. The division's commander — Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg — had tried to free them of this task, as they had lost 1,405 men in just three days, at El Ruweisat Ridge in July. However, in addition to its own 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade and 28th (Maori) Infantry Battalion, the division was to have had placed under its command 151st (Durham) Brigade from 50th Division, 152nd (Seaforth and Camerons) Brigade from 51st Division and the 133rd Royal Sussex Lorried Infantry Brigade. In addition, the division was to have British 9th Armoured Brigade under command. As in Operation Lightfoot, it was planned that two infantry brigades (the 151st on the right and 152nd on the left) each this time supported by a regiment of tanks—the 8th and 50th Royal Tank Regiments—would advance and clear a path through the mines. Once they reached their objectives, 4,000 yd (3,700 m) distant, 9th Armoured Brigade would pass through supported by a heavy artillery barrage and break open a gap in the Axis defences on and around the Rahman track, some 2,000 yd (1,800 m) further forward, which the 1st Armoured Division, following behind, would pass through into the open to take on Rommel's armoured reserves. Rommel had ordered 21st Panzer Division from the front line on 31 October to form a mobile counterattacking force. The division had left behind a panzergrenadier regiment which would bolster the Trieste Division which had been ordered forward to replace it. Rommel had also interspersed formations from the Trieste and 15th Panzer Divisions to "corset" his weaker forces in the front line. On 1 November the two German armoured divisions had 102 effective tanks to face Supercharge and the Littorio and Trieste Divisions had 65 tanks between them. Supercharge started with a seven-hour aerial bombardment focused on Tel el Aqqaqir and Sidi Abd el Rahman, followed by a four and a half hour barrage of 360 guns firing 15,000 shells.[citation needed] The two assault brigades started their attack at 01:05 on 2 November and gained most of their objectives to schedule and with moderate losses. On the right of the main attack 28th (Maori) battalion captured positions to protect the right flank of the newly formed salient and 133rd Lorried Infantry did the same on the left. New Zealand engineers cleared five lines through the mines allowing the Royal Dragoons armoured car regiment to slip out into the open and spend the day raiding the Axis communications. The 9th Armoured Brigade had started its approach march at 20:00 on 1 November from El Alamein railway station with around 130 tanks and arrived at its start line with only 94 runners (operational tanks). The brigade was to have started its attack towards Tel el Aqqaqir at 05:45 behind a barrage; the attack was postponed for 30 minutes while the brigade regrouped on Currie's orders. At 06:15, 30 minutes before dawn, the three regiments of the brigade advanced towards the gun line. We all realise that for armour to attack a wall of guns sounds like another Balaclava, it is properly an infantry job. But there are no more infantry available. So our armour must do it. — Lieutenant General Sir Bernard Freyberg Brigadier Currie had tried to get the brigade out of doing this job, stating that he believed the brigade would be attacking on too wide a front with no reserves and that they would most likely have 50 percent losses. The reply came from Freyberg that Montgomery ... was aware of the risk and has accepted the possibility of losing 100% casualties in 9th Armoured Brigade to make the break, but in view of the promise of immediate following through of the 1st Armoured Division, the risk was not considered as great as all that. — Freyberg The German and Italian anti-tank guns (mostly Pak38 and Italian 47 mm guns, along with 24 of the formidable 88 mm flak guns) opened fire upon the charging tanks silhouetted by the rising sun. German tanks, which had penetrated between the Warwickshire Yeomanry and Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry, also caused many casualties. British tanks attacking the Folgore sector were fought off with petrol bombs and mortar fire as well as with the obsolete Italian 47 mm cannons. The Axis gun screen started to inflict a steady amount of damage upon the advancing tanks but was unable to stop them; over the course of the next 30 minutes, around 35 guns were destroyed and several hundred prisoners taken. The 9th Armoured Brigade had started the attack with 94 tanks and was reduced to only 14 operational tanks and of the 400 tank crew involved in the attack, 230 were killed, wounded or captured. "If the British armour owed any debt to the infantry of the Eighth Army, the debt was paid on November 2 by 9th Armoured in heroism and blood." Bernard Montgomery, referring to the British Armour's mistakes during the First Battle of El Alamein[citation needed] After the Brigade's action, Brigadier Gentry of 6th New Zealand Brigade went ahead to survey the scene. On seeing Brigadier Currie asleep on a stretcher, he approached him saying, "Sorry to wake you John, but I'd like to know where your tanks are?" Currie waved his hand at a group of tanks around him and replied "There they are". Gentry said "I don't mean your headquarters tanks, I mean your armoured regiments. Where are they?" Currie waved his arm and again replied, "There are my armoured regiments, Bill". The brigade had sacrificed itself upon the gun line and caused great damage but had failed to create the gap for the 1st Armoured Division to pass through; however, soon after dawn 1st Armoured Division started to deploy and the remains of 9th Armoured Brigade came under its command. 2nd Armoured Brigade came up behind the 9th, and by mid-morning 8th Armoured Brigade had come up on its left, ordered to advance to the south-west. In heavy fighting during the day the British armour made little further progress. At 11:00 on 2 November, the remains of 15th Panzer, 21st Panzer and Littorio Armoured Divisions counter-attacked 1st Armoured Division and the remains of 9th Armoured Brigade, which by that time had dug in with a screen of anti-tank guns and artillery together with intensive air support. The counter-attack failed under a blanket of shells and bombs, resulting in a loss of some 100 tanks. German prisoners brought in from the battle Although X Corps had failed in its attempt to break out, it had succeeded in its objective of finding and destroying enemy tanks. Although tank losses were approximately equal, this represented only a portion of the total British armour, but most of Rommel's tanks; the Afrika Korps strength of tanks fit for battle fell by 70 while in addition to the losses of the 9th Armoured Brigade, the 2nd and 8th Armoured Brigades lost 14 tanks in the fighting, with another 40 damaged or broken down. The fighting was later termed the "Hammering of the Panzers". In the late afternoon and early evening, the 133rd Lorried and 151st Infantry Brigades—by this time back under command of 51st Infantry Division—attacked respectively the Snipe and Skinflint (about a mile west of Snipe) positions in order to form a base for future operations. The heavy artillery concentration which accompanied their advance suppressed the opposition from the Trieste Division and the operation succeeded with few casualties. On the night of 2 November, Montgomery once again reshuffled his infantry in order to bring four brigades (5th Indian, 151st, 5th New Zealand and 154th) into reserve under XXX Corps to prepare for the next thrust. He also reinforced X Corps by moving 7th Armoured Division from army reserve and sending 4th Light Armoured Brigade from XIII Corps in the south. General von Thoma's report to Rommel that night said he would have at most 35 tanks available to fight the next day and his artillery and anti-tank weapons had been reduced to ⅓ of their strength at the start of the battle. Rommel concluded that to forestall a breakthrough and the resulting destruction of his whole army he must start withdrawing to the planned position at Fuka. He called up Ariete from the south to join the mobile Italian XX Corps around Tel el Aqqaqir. His mobile forces (XX Corps, Afrika Korps, 90th Light Division and 19th Flak Division) were ordered to make a fighting withdrawal while his other formations were to withdraw as best they could with the limited transport available. D + 11: 3 November [ edit ] At 20:30 on 2 November, Lumsden decided that one more effort by his X Corps would see the gun screen on the Rahman track defeated and ordered 7th Motor Brigade to seize the track along a 2 mi (3.2 km) front north of Tell el Aqqaqir. The 2nd and 8th Armoured Brigades would then pass through the infantry to a distance of about 3.5 mi (5.6 km). On the morning of 3 November 7 Armoured Division would pass through and swing north heading for the railway at Ghazal station. 7th Motor Brigade set off at 01:15 on 3 November, but having received its orders late, had not had the chance to reconnoitre the battle area in daylight. This combined with stiff resistance led to the failure of their attack. As a consequence, the orders for the armour were changed and 2nd Armoured Brigade was tasked to support the forward battalion of 133rd Lorried Brigade (2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps) and 8th Armoured Brigade was to push south-west. Fighting continued throughout 3 November, but 2nd Armoured was held off by elements of the Afrika Korps and tanks of the Littorio Division. Further south, 8th Armoured Brigade was held off by anti-tank units helped later by tanks of the arriving Ariete Division. Phase five: the break-out [ edit ] Sherman tanks of the Eighth Army move across the desert On 2 November, Rommel let Hitler know that: "The army's strength was so exhausted after its ten days of battle that it was not now capable of offering any effective opposition to the enemy's next break-through attempt ... With our great shortage of vehicles an orderly withdrawal of the non-motorised forces appeared impossible ... In these circumstances we had to reckon, at the least, with the gradual destruction of the army." At 13.30 on 3 November Rommel received a reply, To Field Marshal Rommel. It is with trusting confidence in your leadership and the courage of the German-Italian troops under your command that the German people and I are following the heroic struggle in Egypt. In the situation which you find yourself there can be no other thought but to stand fast, yield not a yard of ground and throw every gun and every man into the battle. Considerable air force reinforcements are being sent to C.-in-C South. The Duce and the Comando Supremo are also making the utmost efforts to send you the means to continue the fight. Your enemy, despite his superiority, must also be at the end of his strength. It would not be the first time in history that a strong will has triumphed over the bigger battalions. As to your troops, you can show them no other road than that to victory or death. Adolf Hitler. Rommel thought the order (similar to one that had been given at the same time by Benito Mussolini through the Comando Supremo), demanded the impossible. ... We were completely stunned, and for the first time in the African campaign I did not know what to do. A kind of apathy took hold of us as we issued orders for all existing positions to be held on instructions from the highest authority. Rommel ordered X and XXI Italian Corps and 90th Light Division to hold while the Afrika Korps withdrew approximately 6 mi (9.7 km) west during the night of 3 November with XX Italian Corps and the Ariete Division conforming to their position. He then replied to Hitler confirming his determination to hold the battlefield. The Desert Air Force continued to apply huge pressure; in its biggest day of the battle, it flew 1,208 sorties and dropped 396 short tons (359 t) of bombs. On the night of 3/4 November, Montgomery ordered three of the infantry brigades he had gathered into reserve to advance on the Rahman track as a prelude to an armoured break out. At 17:45, the 152nd Infantry Brigade and the 8th RTR in support, attacked about 2 mi (3.2 km) south of Tel el Aqqaqir. The 5th Indian Infantry Brigade was to attack the track 4 mi (6.4 km) south during the early hours of 4 November; at 06:15, the 154th Infantry Brigade was to attack Tel el Aqqaqir. The first attack, having been mistakenly told the Axis had withdrawn from their objectives, met determined resistance. Communication failures made things worse and the forward infantry elements ended up digging in well short of their objective. By the time the 5th Indian Brigade set off, the defenders had started to withdraw and their objective was taken virtually unopposed. By the time the 154th Brigade moved forward, although they met some shelling, the Axis had left. D + 12, 4 November [ edit ] A captured 88 mm Flak 36 near El Aqqaqir, November 1942 On 4 November, the Eighth Army plan for pursuit began at dawn; no fresh units were available and the 1st and 7th Armoured divisions were to turn northwards to roll up the Axis units still in the forward lines. The 2nd New Zealand Division with two lorry borne infantry brigades and the 9th Armoured and 4th Light Armoured brigades under command, was to head west along desert tracks to the escarpment above Fuka, about 60 mi (97 km) away. The New Zealanders got off to a slow start because its units were dispersed after the recent fighting and took time to concentrate. Paths through the minefields were congested and had deteriorated, which caused more delays. By dark, Freyberg had leaguered his force only 15 mi (24 km) west of the Rahman track, although the 9th Armoured Brigade was still at the track and 6th New Zealand Brigade even further back. The plan to trap the 90th Light Division with 1st and 7th Armoured divisions misfired. The 1st Armoured Division came into contact with the remnants of 21st Panzer Division and had to spend most of the day pushing them back 8 mi (13 km). The 7th Armoured Division was held up by the Ariete Armoured Division, which was destroyed conducting a determined resistance. In his diary, Rommel wrote Enormous dust-clouds could be seen south and south-east of headquarters [of the DAK], where the desperate struggle of the small and inefficient Italian tanks of XX Corps was being played out against the hundred or so British heavy tanks which had come round their open right flank. I was later told by Major von Luck, whose battalion I had sent to close the gap between the Italians and the Afrika Korps, that the Italians, who at that time represented our strongest motorised force, fought with exemplary courage. Tank after tank split asunder or burned out, while all the time a tremendous British barrage lay over the Italian infantry and artillery positions. The last signal came from the Ariete at about 15.30 hours "Enemy tanks penetrated south of Ariete. Ariete now encircled. Location 5 km north-west Bir el Abd. Ariete tanks still in action". [...] In the Ariete we lost our oldest Italian comrades, from whom we had probably always demanded more than they, with their poor armament, had been capable of performing.[l] The Littorio Armoured Division and the Trieste Motorised Division were also destroyed. Berlin radio claimed that in this sector the "British were made to pay for their penetration with enormous losses in men and material. The Italians fought to the last man."[108] The British took many prisoners, since the remnants of Italian infantry divisions were not motorised and could not escape from encirclement. Private Sid Martindale, 1st Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, wrote about the "Bologna" Division, which had taken the full weight of the British armoured attack:[m] The more we advanced the more we realized that the Italians did not have much fight in them after putting up a strong resistance to our overwhelming advance and they started surrendering to our lead troops in droves. There was not much action to see but we came across lots of burnt out Italian tanks that had been destroyed by our tanks. I had never seen a battlefield before and the site [sic] of so many dead was sickening.[110] The Bologna and the remainder of the Trento Division tried to fight their way out and marched into the desert without water, food or transport before surrendering exhausted and dying from dehydration. It was reported that Colonel Arrigo Dall'Olio, commanding the 40th Infantry Regiment of the Bologna, surrendered saying, "We have ceased firing not because we haven't the desire but because we have spent every round". In a symbolic act of defiance, no one in 40th Bologna Infantry Regiment raised their hands. Harry Zinder of Time magazine noted that the Italians fought better than had been expected and commented that for the Italians It was a terrific letdown by their German allies. They had fought a good fight. In the south, the famed Folgore parachute division fought to the last round of ammunition. Two armoured divisions and a motorised division, which had been interspersed among the German formations, thought they would be allowed to retire gracefully with Rommel's 21st, 15th and 19th [sic][n] light. But even that was denied them. When it became obvious to Rommel that there would be little chance to hold anything between El Daba and the frontier, his Panzers dissolved, disintegrated and turned tail, leaving the Italians to fight a rear-guard action.[113] By late morning on 4 November, Rommel realised his situation was desperate, The picture in the early afternoon of the 4th was as follows: powerful enemy armoured forces ... had burst a 19-kilometre hole in our front, through which strong bodies of tanks were moving to the west. As a result of this, our forces in the north were threatened with encirclement by enemy formations 20 times their number in tanks ... There were no reserves, as every available man and gun had been put into the line. So now it had come, the thing we had done everything in our power to avoid – our front broken and the fully motorised enemy streaming into our rear. Superior orders could no longer count. We had to save what there was to be saved. Rommel telegraphed Hitler for permission to fall back on Fuka. As further Allied blows fell, Thoma was captured and reports came in from the Ariete and Trento divisions that they were encircled. At 17:30, unable to wait any longer for a reply from Hitler, Rommel gave orders to retreat. Due to lack transport, most of the Italian infantry formations were abandoned. Any chance of getting them away with an earlier move had been spoiled by Hitler's insistence that Rommel hold his ground, obliging him to keep the un-motorised Italian units well forward until it was too late. To deepen the armoured thrusts, the 1st Armoured Division was directed at El Daba, 15 mi (24 km) down the coast and the 7th Armoured Division towards Galal, a further 24 km (15 mi) west along the railway. The New Zealand Division group had hoped to reach their objective by mid-morning on 5 November but was held up by shell fire when picking their way through what turned out to be a dummy minefield and the 15th Panzer Division got there first. D + 13, 5 November [ edit ] Churchill tanks of 'Kingforce' of the 1st Armoured Division during the battle, 5 November 1942 Montgomery realised that to finish off the Axis he would need to make even deeper armoured thrusts. The 7th Armoured Division was ordered across country to cut the coast road at Sidi Haneish, 65 mi (105 km) west of the Rahman track, while the 1st Armoured Division, west of El Dada, was ordered to take a wide detour through the desert to Bir Khalda, 80 mi (130 km) west of the Rahman track, preparatory to turning north to cut the road at Mersa Matruh. Both moves failed, the 7th Armoured Division finished the day 20 mi (32 km) short of its objective. The 1st Armoured Division tried to make up time with a night march but in the darkness the armour became separated from their support vehicles and ran out of fuel at dawn on 6 November, 16 mi (26 km) short of Bir Khalda. The DAF continued to fly in support but because of the dispersion of X Corps, it was difficult to establish "bomb lines", beyond which, aircraft were free to attack. D + 14, 6 November [ edit ] By 11:00 on 6 November, the "B" Echelon vehicles began to reach the 1st Armoured Division but with only enough fuel to replenish two of the armoured regiments, which set off again hoping to be in time to cut off the Axis. The regiments ran out of fuel again, 30 mi (48 km) south-west of Mersa Matruh. A fuel convoy had set out from Alamein on the evening of 5 November but progress was slow as the tracks had become very cut up. By midday on 6 November, it began to rain and the convoy bogged 40 mi (64 km) from the rendezvous with the 1st Armoured Division "B" echelon support vehicles. The 2nd New Zealand Division advanced toward Sidi Haneish while the 8th Armoured Brigade, 10th Armoured Division, had moved west from Galal to occupy the landing fields at Fuka and the escarpment. Roughly 15 mi (24 km) south-west of Sidi Haneish, the 7th Armoured Division encountered the 21st Panzer Division and the Voss Reconnaissance Group that morning. In a running fight, the 21st Panzer Division lost 16 tanks and numerous guns, narrowly escaping encirclement and reached Mersa Matruh that evening. It was again difficult to define bomb lines but US heavy bombers attacked Tobruk, sinking Etiopia [2,153 long tons (2,188 t)] and later attacked Benghazi, sinking the Mars and setting the tanker Portofino (6,572 GRT), alight. D + 15, 7 November [ edit ] A German 88mm gun abandoned near the coast road, west of El Alamein, 7 November 1942 On 7 November, waterlogged ground and lack of fuel stranded the 1st and 7th Armoured divisions. The 10th Armoured Division on the coast road and with ample fuel, advanced to Mersa Matruh while its infantry mopped up on the road west of Galal. Rommel intended to fight a delaying action at Sidi Barrani, 80 mi (130 km) west of Matruh, to gain time for Axis troops to get through the bottlenecks at Halfaya and Sollum. The last rearguards left Matruh on the night of 7/8 November but were only able to hold Sidi Barrani until the evening of 9 November. By the evening of 10 November, the 2nd New Zealand Division, heading for Sollum, had the 4th Light Armoured Brigade at the foot of the Halfaya Pass while 7th Armoured Division was conducting another detour to the south, to take Fort Capuzzo and Sidi Azeiz. On the morning of 11 November, the 5th New Zealand Infantry Brigade captured the pass, taking 600 Italian prisoners. By nightfall on 11 November, the Egyptian wall was clear but Montgomery was forced to order that the pursuit should temporarily be continued by armoured cars and artillery only, because of the difficulty in supplying larger formations west of Bardia. Aftermath [ edit ] Analysis [ edit ] Diagrammatic narrative of the battle Allied Forces attack: 10:00 p.m. 23 October Axis Armoured Divisions counter-attack: 6:00 p.m. 24 October Allies attempt to break through: night of 25 October Axis counter-attack and attack by 9th Australian Division: afternoon, 25 October Folgore Parachutist Division attacked from three directions: 10:30 p.m. 25 October to 3:00 a.m. 26 October Allies advance: 51st Highland Division takes Kidney Ridge, Littorio Armoured Division counter-attacks: 5:00 p.m. 26 October Both sides redeploy: night of 26 to 27 October Axis fails to retake Kidney Ridge: 8:00 a.m. 27 October Allies attempt to push back Trento Division: 28 October Rommel redeploys forces: 29 October Operation Supercharge begins, 9th Australian fails to break through: 11:00 p.m. 31 October 1942 Tank Battle of Tell el Aqqaqir: 9:00 a.m. 2 November; Axis forces begin retreat: 10:00 p.m. 2 November Axis forces prepare to fall back: 3 November Axis forces halt their retreat: 3 November Allied forces break through: 7:00 a.m. 4 November; Trento, Bologna and Ariete Divisions destroyed, Axis forces flee El Alamein was an Allied victory, although Rommel did not lose hope until the end of the Tunisia Campaign. Churchill said, It may almost be said, "Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat". — Winston Churchill. The Allies frequently had numerical superiority in the Western Desert but never had it been so complete in quantity and quality. With the arrival of Sherman tanks, 6-pounder anti-tank guns and Spitfires in the Western Desert, the Allies gained a comprehensive superiority. Montgomery envisioned the battle as an attrition operation, similar to those fought in the First World War and accurately predicted the length of the battle and the number of Allied casualties. Allied artillery was superbly handled and Allied air support was excellent, in contrast to the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica, which offered little or no support to ground forces, preferring to engage in air-to-air combat. Air supremacy had a huge effect on the battle. Montgomery wrote, The moral effect of air action [on the enemy] is very great and out of all proportion to the material damage inflicted. In the reverse direction, the sight and sound of our own air forces operating against the enemy have an equally satisfactory effect on our own troops. A combination of the two has a profound influence on the most important single factor in war—morale. — Montgomery Historians debate the reasons Rommel decided to advance into Egypt. In 1997, Martin van Creveld wrote that Rommel had been advised by the German and Italian staffs that his army could not properly be supplied so far from the ports of Tripoli and Benghazi. Rommel pressed ahead with his advance to Alamein and as predicted, supply difficulties limited the attacking potential of the axis forces. According to Maurice Remy (2002), Hitler and Mussolini put pressure on Rommel to advance. Rommel had been very pessimistic, especially after the First Battle of El Alamein and knew that as US supplies were en route to Africa and Axis ships were being sunk in the Mediterranean, the Axis was losing a race against time. On 27 August, Kesselring promised Rommel that supplies would arrive in time but Westphal pointed out that such an expectation would be unrealistic and the offensive should not begin until they had arrived. After a conversation with Kesselring on 30 August, Rommel decided to attack, "the hardest [decision] in my life". Casualties [ edit ] In 2005, Neill Barr wrote that the 36,939 Panzerarmee casualties, was an estimate because of the chaos of the Axis retreat. British figures, based on Ultra intercepts, gave German casualties as 1,149 killed, 3,886 wounded and 8,050 men captured. Italian losses were 971 dead, 933 wounded and 15,552 men captured. By 11 November, the number of Axis prisoners had risen to 30,000 men. In a note to The Rommel Papers, Fritz Bayerlein (quoting figures obtained from Offizieller Bericht des Oberkommandos Afrika) instead estimated German losses in the battle as 1,100 killed, 3,900 wounded and 7,900 prisoners and Italian losses as 1,200 killed, 1,600 wounded and 20,000 prisoners.[128] According to the Italian official history, Axis losses during the battle were 4,000 to 5,000 killed or missing, 7,000 to 8,000 wounded and 17,000 prisoners; during the retreat the losses rose to 9,000 killed or missing, 15,000 wounded and 35,000 prisoners. According to General Giuseppe Rizzo, total Axis casualties included 25,000 men killed or wounded (including 5,920 Italians killed) and 30,000 prisoners (20,000 Italians and 10,724 Germans), 510 tanks and 2,000 field guns, anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns.[130] Axis tank losses were c. 500; on 4 November, only 36 German tanks were left out of the 249 at the beginning of the battle. About half of the 278 Italian tanks had been lost and most of the remainder were knocked out on the next day by the 7th Armoured Division. About 254 Axis guns were lost, along with 64 German and 20 Italian aircraft. The Eighth Army had 13,560 casualties, of whom 2,350 men had been killed, 8,950 wounded and 2,260 were missing; 58 percent of the casualties were British, 22 percent Australian, 10 percent New Zealanders, 6 percent South African, 1 percent Indian and 3 percent Allied forces. The Eighth Army lost from 332 to 500 tanks, although by the end of the battle, 300 had been repaired. The artillery lost 111 guns and the DAF lost 77 British and 20 American aircraft. Subsequent operations [ edit ] The Eighth Army was surprised by the Axis withdrawal and confusion caused by redeployments between the three corps meant they were slow in pursuit, failing to cut off Rommel at Fuka and Mersa Matruh. The Desert Air Force failed to make a maximum effort to bomb a disorganised and retreating opponent, which on 5 November was within range and confined to the coast road. Supply shortages and a belief that the Luftwaffe were about to get strong reinforcements, led the DAF to be cautious, reduce the number of offensive sorties on 5 November and protect the Eighth Army. Battle of El Agheila [ edit ] The Axis made a fighting withdrawal to El Agheila but the Axis troops were exhausted and had received few replacements, while Montgomery had planned to transport material over great distances, to provide the Eighth Army with 2,400 t (2,646 short tons) of supplies per day. Huge quantities of engineer stores had been collected to repair the coast road; the railway line from El Alamein to Fort Capuzzo, despite having been blown up in over 200 places, was quickly repaired. In the month after Eighth Army reached Capuzzo, the railway carried 133,000 short tons (120,656 t) of supplies. Benghazi handled 3,000 short tons (2,722 t) a day by the end of December, rather than the expected 800 short tons (726 t). Montgomery paused for three weeks to concentrate his forces and prepare an assault on El Agheila to deny the Axis the possibility of a counter-attack . On 11 December, Montgomery launched the 51st (Highland) Division along the line of the coast road with the 7th Armoured Division on the inland flank. On 12 December the 2nd New Zealand Division started a deeper flanking manoeuvre to cut the Axis line of retreat on the coast road in the rear of the Mersa Brega position. The Highland Division made a slow and costly advance and 7th Armoured Division met stiff resistance from the Ariete Combat Group (the remains of the Ariete Armoured Division). The Panzerarmee had lost roughly 75,000 men, 1,000 guns and 500 tanks since the Second Battle of Alamein and withdrew. By 15 December, the New Zealanders had reached the coast road but the firm terrain allowed Rommel to break his forces into smaller units and withdraw cross-country through the gaps between the New Zealand positions. Rommel conducted a text-book retreat, destroying all equipment and infrastructure left behind and peppering the land behind him with mines and booby traps. The Eighth Army reached Sirte on 25 December but west of the port, were forced to pause to consolidate their strung out formations and to prepare an attack at Wadi Zemzem, near Buerat 230 mi (370 km) east of Tripoli. Rommel had, with the agreement of Field Marshal Bastico, sent a request to the Italian Comando Supremo in Rome to withdraw to Tunisia where the terrain would better suit a defensive action and where he could link with the Axis army forming there, in response to the Operation Torch landings. Mussolini replied on 19 December that the Panzerarmee must resist to the last man at Buerat. Tripoli [ edit ] On 15 January 1943, the 51st (Highland) Division made a frontal attack while the 2nd New Zealand Division and the 7th Armoured Division drove around the inland flank of the Axis line. Weakened by the withdrawal of 21st Panzer Division to Tunisia to strengthen the Fifth Panzer Army (Hans-Jürgen von Arnim), Rommel conducted a fighting retreat. The port of Tripoli, 150 mi (240 km) further west, was taken on 23 January as Rommel continued to withdraw to the Mareth Line, the French southern defensive position in Tunisia. Tunisia [ edit ] Rommel was by this time in contact with the Fifth Panzer Army, which had been fighting against the multi-national First Army in northern Tunisia, since shortly after Operation Torch. Hitler was determined to retain Tunisia and Rommel finally started to receive replacement men and materials. The Axis faced a war on two fronts, with the Eighth Army approaching from the east and the British, French and Americans from the west. The German-Italian Panzer Army was renamed the Italian First Army (General Giovanni Messe) and Rommel assumed command of the new Army Group Africa, responsible for both fronts.[citation needed] The two Allied armies were commanded by the 18th Army Group (General Harold Alexander). The failure of the First Army in the run for Tunis in December 1942 led to a longer North African campaign which ended when the Italian-German forces in North Africa capitulated in May 1943. See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ] Bright, John, ed. (1951). The Ninth Queen's Royal Lancers 1936–1945: The Story of an Armoured Regiment in Battle . Aldershot: Gale & Polden. OCLC 3732838. Carell, Paul (1962). The Foxes of the Desert . New York: Bantam Books. OCLC 721200796. Carver, Field Marshal Lord (2000) [1962]. El Alamein (pbk. ed.). Ware: Wordsworth Editions. ISBN 978-1-84022-220-3. Maughan, Barton (1966). "14 Launching the Battle and 15 The Dog Fight". Tobruk and El Alamein . Official History of Australia in the Second World War Series 1 (Army). III (online ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial. pp. 639–754. OCLC 954993 . Stumpf, R. (2001). "Part V: The War in the Mediterranean Area 1942–1943: Operations in North Africa and the Central Mediterranean". The Global War: Widening of the Conflict into a World War and the Shift of the Initiative 1941–1943. Germany and the Second World War. VI. Translated by Brownjohn, J. (Eng. trans. Clarendon Press, Oxford ed.). Potsdam: Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History). pp. 631–821. ISBN 0-19-822888-0. External image The Second Battle of El Alamein Battle of El Alamein: map of initial dispositions Coordinates: |
By Kim Haddow Voters spoke very clearly on November 8 when they elected to raise the minimum wage in Arizona and Maine, along with Colorado and Washington State. But those wins, the democratic process, and the express will of the people are being defied and denied in Arizona and Maine, where corporate lobbyists and their legislative allies are working to block, delay, even rewrite the laws approved on Election Day. These efforts to flout voter-approved laws are part of ongoing conservative and corporate-backed strategies to keep wages low. In Arizona, where 58 percent of voters approved Proposition 206, a measure that would raise the minimum wage to $12 and hour by 2020 and allow workers to earn paid sick days, the state and several local Chambers of Commerce have gone to court to block the first phase of the law's implementation scheduled for January 1. That phase would raise the wages for more than 700,000 workers from $8.05 to $10.00 an hour. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry's request for a temporary injunction to stop implementation was denied on December 21. Tomas Robles, chairman of the coalition that ran the campaign for Proposition 206, commented on the ruling, saying: "I'm glad that the judge chose to be on the right side of history, and really protecting democracy more than anything. The Chamber themselves are looking to completely disregard the will of the people, the will of the voters, because they want to keep their pockets fat." But the Chamber has announced they will appeal the injunction decision to the Arizona Supreme Court. The Chamber's underlying case is continuing through the courts. In Maine, Question 4 raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020 won the approval of 55 percent of voters on November 8. The law, scheduled to take effect January 7, would raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour and raise the state minimum wage for tipped workers, such as waitresses, from $3.75 an hour to $5 an hour. But Governor Paul LePage, who has long opposed raising the minimum wage along with the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Maine Restaurant Association, has ordered officials not to enforce parts of the raise until the state legislature has had a chance to pass a new law that would eliminate the minimum wage hike for tipped workers. "Governor LePage has now gone beyond ignoring the will of Maine voters and is flat-out encouraging employers to commit wage theft," said Mainers for Fair Wages campaign manager Amy Halsted. The Governor's action's are part of a power struggle going on all over America, pitting corporate lobbyists, their legislative allies, and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), against popular efforts to raise the minimum wage. The state of Ohio just joined 20 other states that have preempted local control over wages making it illegal for cities and counties to raise their standards above the state's level. The law signed this week by Ohio Governor John Kasich blocks a planned referendum in Cleveland that proposed raising the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour. Several states, including Iowa and Minnesota are expected to consider bills to preempt local minimum wage, paid sick time, and fair scheduling initiatives in their coming legislative sessions. In addition to passing state preemption laws to limit the power of local lawmakers to advance wage hikes and other progressive policies, Republican-led groups such as the Center for Conservative Initiatives (CCI) are working make it harder for citizens to use the ballot to move initiatives forward. On November 8 in Colorado, for example, voters approved Amendment 71, a constitutional amendment that would make it harder and more expensive for citizens to amend the state constitution. The "Raise the Bar" campaign that worked to pass Amendment 71 was largely funded by the oil and gas industry, which was eager to make it harder for citizen-backed anti-fracking amendments to qualify for the ballot. Environmental advocates were looking to ballot measures to circumvent state preemption and end fracking. "Make no mistake: 71 is a de facto repeal of the people's constitutional right to participate in the legislative process," said Phil Doe, Environmental Director for Be the Change. "It's what democracy looks like when corporate interests and their political stooges conspire to take away our fundamental rights using a flood of outside money." |
Choose Your Path With The Force Awakens: Galactic Graffiti! By The Senate on 2016-09-09 22:30:00 WARNING: Make your Light Side OR Dark Side Choice carefully! The Path you choose will be the path you walk for the entirety of this set! (Note: There are bundles that will allow you to Change Your Destiny...) Cover the galaxy in paint! Characters from Star Wars: The Force Awakens are swept up in a storm of color in our newest set: Galactic Graffiti! For this set you will have 2 options: The Light Side pack: Patient & Thoughtful Path The Force Awakens: Graffiti Splatter at 1:125 Odds 2 Open Edition inserts at 1:20 Odds Also includes Base Series 3 Expansion cards White, Blue and Red The Dark Side pack: Quick & Easy Path Includes: The Force Awakens: Graffiti Splatter at 1:8 Odds 5 GUARANTEED Open Edition Inserts ALSO... There is a 1:4 chance to score 9 ADDITIONAL Open Edition cards! Also includes Base Series 3 Expansion cards Red, Green and Orange Make your choice carefully... You will ONLY have access to the path you choose for the duration of the set... Set details: 5 Card Set, 1 Award Card The cards for this set will be limited to AT LEAST 300 cards, and the card count will be revealed once the card has sold out. Head to the Cantina now! |
You won’t find Steve Wozniak in line to get the new iPhone X. The Apple co-founder told CNBC on Monday that he won’t get the latest edition—something he had done for previous iterations. “I’d rather wait and watch that one,” Wozniak told CNBC at the Money 20/20 conference in Las Vegas. “I’m happy with my iPhone 8—which is the same as the iPhone 7, which is the same as the iPhone 6, to me.” “For some reason, the iPhone X is going to be the first iPhone I didn’t—on day one—upgrade to,” he continued. “But my wife will, so I’ll be close enough to see it.” Announced in a highly anticipated Apple event last month, the iPhone X will be available through pre-orders on Oct. 27 and in stores on Nov. 3. The latest iteration of the iPhone has a larger screen, powerful processor and facial recognition software—a feature “Woz” told CNBC he was unsure would work properly. Aside form technical differences between the iPhone X and the iPhone 8, which debuted at the same event, the iPhone X boasts a higher price tag. It will cost $999 for the 64GB, and $1,149 for the 256GB. Wozniak, who founded Apple (aapl) with Steve Jobs in the 1970s, seems to reflect a larger attitude about the new iPhone. In a survey from brokerage Bernstein detailed by Reuters, about a quarter of respondents said they planned to buy the iPhone X despite 48% saying they were “excited” for it. And with the release of the iPhone X coming just weeks after the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, analysts have said sales for the latter may suffer as a result. At T-Mobile, fewer customers upgraded their phones during the third quarter this year while the iPhone 8 was available. “Device sales and upgrade rates were impacted by the split and shift in iPhone launch timing,” T-Mobile said in a statement. “We believe these will likely increase once customers have a full choice of devices.” |
I’m joining Microsoft – and I couldn’t be more excited! A while back I shared that I was leaving Oracle. Around this time I was casting my net out to friends at four companies I wanted to work at, with one of those companies being Microsoft (the others shall remain nameless, but needless to say I enjoyed chatting to all of them!). After JavaOne I was even more interested in Microsoft as I heard a lot about their push to supporting Java on Azure. Around this time I spoke to Tim Heuer on the phone, and less than a week later I was in Seattle interviewing with Microsoft. A day after that (literally whilst I was standing in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport) a job offer was confirmed, and now (after the usual protracted background check process to ensure I’m not a criminal, am educated, and have actually worked where I say I’ve worked), I’m joining Microsoft on December 11. This was an incredible pace, and actually, it left some of the other companies I was talking to in the dust. After only a short amount of soul-searching, I dropped all other discussions and jumped all in with Microsoft. The other upside is that I will be joining Microsoft but working remotely from my home in New Zealand – a setup I’m extremely familiar with 🙂 The ten year old inside of me dreamt of one day working for Microsoft (I was a pretty huge Bill Gates fanboy). To fulfil that dream is very pleasing (and surprising, considering my career as a Java developer). Additionally, it appears as if in recent years the culture at Microsoft has improved significantly under Satya Nadella, so it feels like really exciting times to be joining Microsoft. I am joining the rapidly growing Cloud Developer Advocate team, where I will be focusing on growing the use of Java on Azure. This is exciting to me as I see that the Cloud Developer Advocate team is staffed full of passionate open source community members, and our goal is to not evangelise for Microsoft but to listen to the community, and ensure that developers get what they need and want out of Azure. Most critically, this team falls under engineering at Microsoft. It means our function is to work with the engineers building Azure and to act as an interface between them and the wider community. We are not marketing, and we can play an active role in advocating for community requests, and showcasing the work of the engineers building Azure. From my point of view, it feels like there is a huge amount of potential here to grow the use of Java on Azure, and I look forward to that challenge. In my research so far into Azure/Java, I already have formed a lot of my own opinions on ways to improve the developer experience, and I will be working incredibly hard with the skilled engineers at Microsoft. I look forward to bringing my skills and experiences in API design and Java development to Microsoft, and I look forward to attending conferences around the world and continuing to exist in the excellent Java community that I have called home for a very long time. This role will be a change of pace for me too – I’m moving from being a full-time engineer to being a developer advocate. Time will tell how this works out, but I’m interested to experience different career paths and the opportunities they present over my career. I know this role will be less ‘deep’ coding, but I suspect there will be significant amounts of code in my future in this role. More interestingly for me, it is a big step away from my client-side work into a whole new world of the cloud, including its entirely different lexicon, which I will be getting familiar with 🙂 As always, feel free to ping me at [email protected] if you have any questions. I’m on Twitter too. |
The Chicago Blackhawks will no longer play "The Stripper" during their “Shoot the Puck” promotions after complaints about the song being sexist and insensitive. Organist Frank Pellico played the song while women participated in the event during the second intermission of home games. An online movement to ban the instrumental song, with a #BanTheStripper hashtag and petition, picked up steam after Chicago resident Marissa Miller began collecting online signatures asking the team to treat their female fans better. More: Top Line: NHL uniform changes for 2014-15; more must-reads "We have to listen," Blackhawks president and CEO John McDonough told the Chicago Sun-Times. "We have to be aware. We have to react when appropriate -- not overreact, but react. We take all of this very seriously. I think you’ve heard the last of Frank Pellico playing ‘The Stripper.' McDonough did not say if the "Shoot the Puck" process would be changed and admitted that he rarely watched the event. - Scooby Axson |
From the Sentinelese to the Korowai, these virtually uncontacted tribes know almost nothing of the world we take for granted. By most estimates, there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes of indigenous peoples around the world. While relatively small, they are whole communities that know little to nothing of the invention of the automobile or the radio — let alone the internet. They roam largely inside the vast Amazon rainforest, nude (or close to it), hunting and gathering in order to survive. They raise families and honor their respective tribe’s traditions, from ritual body modification to the barbaric extreme of cannibalism, no matter how unorthodox any of it may seem to the rest of us. We may find it difficult to believe that anyone in this modern era can not only live completely “off the grid” but be completely unaware of its existence. Nevertheless, these four uncontacted tribes, from the Sentinelese to the Korowai, have only very rare — if any — contact with the rest of the world. Uncontacted Tribes: The Sentinelese On the tiny North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean, you’ll find the Sentinelese. We call them that because we have no idea what they call themselves. This tribe has no developed agriculture and still relies on hunting and gathering as most humans did some 10,000 years ago. And the Sentinelese seem to want absolutely nothing to do with any of us. They’ve expressed as much by barraging anyone and anything that ever got close to them with spears and arrows. Marco Polo wrote in one of his journals: “They are a most violent and cruel generation who seem to eat everybody they catch.” Now, the tribe’s purported cannibalism has not been proven — but the reason why we can’t prove it is also pretty disturbing. In 2006, Indian fishermen Sunder Raj and Pandit Tiwari found their boat in Sentinelese territory. Unfortunately, they didn’t live to tell about it. But others in the boat who witnessed the two fishermen’s murders said the tribal warriors who attacked were nearly naked and wielded axes. Helicopters sent to investigate hovered over the island, and the whirring blades moved the sand enough to uncover the fishermen’s machete-marred (but intact) bodies in shallow graves. The Sentinelese saw the helicopter and immediately began attacking it, too. Message received, loud and clear. |
Source: BitPay BitPay has worked hard to build and leverage partnerships with existing payment processing networks. These networks are a key to driving widespread bitcoin adoption because we are able to reach large groups of businesses through each partnership. We are announcing today the establishment of a new referral partnership with Heartland Payments Systems. Heartland is one of the largest payment processors in the United States. They also offer point of sale, mobile commerce, e-Commerce, marketing, and payroll solutions to their network of over 300,000 businesses and educational locations. Now Heartland is referring their customers to BitPay’s payment platform. We are helping Heartland bring bitcoin payment technology to businesses and organizations that are interested in new payment methods. Heartland is working with their industry-leading sales professionals to identify the businesses and organizations that would benefit the most from accepting bitcoin payments. Those businesses will be the first referred to BitPay’s platform. We currently have more than 50,000 merchants accepting bitcoin payments on our platform. Through this referral partnership we hope to reach a number of merchants that are largely new to bitcoin, bridging the gap between the traditional and modern payments industry. |
Toei Animation’s official English-language website reports that Dragon Ball will be included as an example in a new exhibit on display at London’s Barbican Art Gallery: An extract of the original 1986 animated series will showcase the inventive world of Dragon Ball and the famous Capsule houses created by Akira Toriyama, and draw parallels with the actual work of visionary Japanese architects from the 1970’s. Starting from March 23, Dragon Ball will be featured at the prestigious Barbican Art Gallery in London. It is part of The Japanese House Architecture and Life after 1945 , an exhibition held until June 25, and co-organized by the Japan Foundation and the Barbican. The gallery’s official website describes “The Japanese House Architecture and Life after 1945”: The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945 is the first major UK exhibition to focus on Japanese domestic architecture from the end of the Second World War to now, a field which has consistently produced some of the most influential and extraordinary examples of modern and contemporary design. Featuring over 40 architects, ranging from renowned 20th century masters and internationally celebrated contemporary architects to exciting figures little known outside of Japan, the exhibition celebrates some of the most ground-breaking architectural projects of the last 70 years. At the heart of the exhibition is an ambitious and unprecedented full-size recreation of the Moriyama House (2005) by Pritzker-prize winning architect Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA). Visitors can weave in and out of the fully furnished units and garden, experiencing the remarkable house of Mr Moriyama in an immediate and physical way. Filling the other half of the Barbican’s lower galleries will be an eccentric and lovingly crafted Japanese tea house, commissioned for the exhibition from acclaimed architect, and highly respected historian of Japanese architecture, Terunobu Fujimori. Considering developments in residential architecture in the light of important shifts in the Japanese economy, urban landscape, and family structure, the exhibition features over 200 works including rarely seen architectural models and drawings, photography and films, in order to cast a new light on the role of the house in Japanese culture. At certain times during the exhibition run, tea ceremonies are performed for exhibition ticket holders in the Art Gallery within the garden of the tea house designed by Fujimori. The ceremony is demonstrated by the Urasenke Foundation Tea Ceremony Masters, a 400 year old Japanese Tea Ceremony School. The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945 is curated by Florence Ostende (Barbican Centre, London), in collaboration with Pippo Ciorra (MAXXI, National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome). The Chief Advisor is Yoshiharu Tsukamoto (Atelier Bow-Wow/Tokyo Institute of Technology). The Academic Advisor is Hiroyasu Fujioka (Professor Emeritus, Tokyo Institute of Technology). The exhibition designer is Lucy Styles. The Fujimori tea-house is designed by Terunobu Fujimori in collaboration with architect Takeshi Hayatsu and built by students from Kingston University. The exhibition is co-organised by the Japan Foundation and the Barbican Centre and co-produced by the Japan Foundation, the Barbican Centre, MAXXI National Museum of the 21st Century Arts, Rome and the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. The project was initially conceived in Tokyo by Kenjiro Hosaka (MOMAT) and Yoshiharu Tsukamoto. |
More than half of all police officers in Greece voted for pro-Nazi party Golden Dawn in the elections of May 6. This is the disconcerting result of an analysis carried out by authoritative newspaper To Vima in several constituencies in Athens, where 5,000 police officers in service in the Greek capital also cast their ballot. At some polling stations, Golden Dawn obtained 19 to 24% of votes. Others, like Agios Panteleimonas and Kypseli, traditional strongholds of the party, reached 15 to 18%. According to the newspaper, at the 11 polling stations (from 806 to 816) located near the police station (Ellas), Golden Dawn received most votes, reaching 18.64% at station 813 and 23.67% at number 816. Other polling stations situated at a short distance from the ones mentioned before, where police officers do not vote, recorded 12-14% of votes for the Golden Dawn party. The four polling stations located near the riot police station (MAT), used by the police, recorded percentages between 13 and 19 for Golden Dawn. These figures, To Vima underlines, are impressive, considering the fact that other polling stations close to the riot police station reached 7-10% of votes for the pro-Nazi party. Based on the electoral lists, 550 to 700 people have voted at each of these voting stations, of which 20 to 30% police officers. The newspaper worked out that 45 to 59% of police officers voted for Golden Dawn. [HT - ANSA] Crowdsourcing Startups - PickyDomains.com How I Increased Sales 350% With Press-Releases From Police Work To Sauerkraut - Tim Forrest Story Bootstrapping 101: Tips to Build Your business with Limited Cash and Free Outside Help From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping Niche Startups - LookMazing.com Bitrix24.com Review Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the world’s most closely watched energy forecasters on Tuesday slashed predictions for output from oil fields outside the OPEC cartel in 2008 — more bad news for a global economy struggling with record high oil prices and tight supply. A resident fuels-up his car at a gas station in Miami Beach, June 9, 2008. REUTERS/Carlos Barria The dimming outlook for world production will keep the market on edge even as high prices hit consumers and cut into the pace of global demand growth. The International Energy Agency, adviser to 27 industrial economies, cut its expectations for supply growth from countries outside OPEC to 460,000 barrels per day above 2007 levels, down from 680,000 bpd a month ago. The U.S Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department, cut its forecast for non-OPEC output growth nearly in half to 310,000 bpd from 600,000 bpd. Both groups have consistently over-shot on non-OPEC supply growth in recent years, as soaring field costs and geopolitical constraints have wreaked havoc on official timelines. Partly due to the dearth of supplies outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the EIA raised its projections for 2008 oil prices by nearly 12 percent. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil prices will average $122.15 a barrel, up from its previous forecast of $109.53 a barrel, the EIA predicted. Oil prices hit a record near $140 a barrel last week, a seven-fold increase since 2002 that has been driven by surging demand from China and other developing countries. The EIA said it was still accounting for a planned non-OPEC supply increase of 820,000 bpd later this year as big fields in Brazil and Azerbaijan come online. But, given recent delays, the EIA hedged its bets on the probability of such supplies materializing as planned. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD “Given recent history, EIA believes that the pace and timing of non-OPEC supply growth will continue to be subject to possible delays in key projects and accelerating production declines in some older fields,” the agency said. The EIA has sifted through new data that paints a less rosy picture for supplies from three key producers — Russia, Mexico and Brazil — said Matt Cline, an economist at the agency. In Russia, the world’s No. 2 oil exporter behind Saudi Arabia, a venture with LUKOIL (LKOH.MM) and U.S.-based ConocoPhillips (COP.N) to produce 160,000 bpd in Russia’s north has been repeatedly delayed. In Mexico, production from the huge Cantarell offshore field plummeted by more than 30 percent in the first four months of 2008, versus a year ago, Cline said. “Like everyone else, we had been expecting Cantarell to decline this year,” Cline said. “But no one had been expecting it to decline by that much.” In Brazil, the EIA has dramatically increased its baseline for decline rates in some larger, more mature fields, especially in its offshore areas. Cline said, “based on some new data and some new analysis, we reevaluated what we saw as the underlying decline rate and we increased it” to about 13 percent for some fields, versus about 10 percent previously. EIA head Guy Caruso said the downward revisions would put more pressure on OPEC suppliers like Saudi Arabia to fill the gap, and will lead to tighter global spare capacity. “Tight spare capacity means upward pressure on oil prices,” Caruso told Reuters. IT’S TRICKY The slower growth in supply from non-OPEC countries will keep supplies tight, despite weakening growth in demand, as high prices hit consumers, the EIA said. And analysts must balance predictions for supply decreases with similar predictions for falling oil demand, both in the United States and globally. Related Coverage Gasoline to peak at $4.15/gallon in August “It’s a tricky situation, because supply is falling as fast as demand is,” said Francisco Blanch of Merrill Lynch. The IEA said global oil demand will rise by 800,000 bpd this year, 230,000 bpd less than its previous forecast, in part because developing Asian economies are moving to roll back fuel subsidies that sheltered consumers. The EIA, meanwhile, cut its forecasts for U.S. demand by 100,000 bpd and global oil demand by 210,000 bpd in 2008. |
Throughout the campaign Pauline Hanson has frequently said, "I'm not the party leader in Queensland" but that hasn't been enough to clear it up. Throughout the campaign Pauline Hanson has frequently said, "I'm not the party leader in Queensland" but that hasn't been enough to clear it up. A VOTER was outraged after going down to the polling booth on Saturday only to find Pauline Hanson's name wasn't on the ballot paper. The Riverview resident contacted the QT to voice his concerns, leaving a voicemail message saying "this needs to be aired". "I've just been up to the polls to vote for One Nation and it appears they've left Pauline Hanson off the list," the voter said. "So, residents in the Bundamba electorate cannot vote for Pauline Hanson. "It is just unfortunate the person you want to vote for has been left off the list." One Nation did not field a candidate in the Bundamba electorate which is why One Nation did not have a candidate on the ballot paper. Labor's incumbent, longstanding MP Jo-Ann Miller is expected to win in a landslide. The outraged voter said it was atrocious he could not vote for One Nation and appeared suspicious the lack of inclusion was intentional, on behalf of a stakeholder other than One Nation. "This is atrocious the way they have left the candidate out of this electorate off the list," he said. "I think this needs to aired. "I am a really concerned ratepayer and resident." In Brassall, at the Ipswich State High School, workers handing out how-to-vote cards said numerous voters declared "I'm voting for Pauline" as they headed into the booth. In the lead up to the election voter confusion around the One Nation party and the role Pauline Hanson played has been obvious. Throughout the campaign Ms Hanson has frequently said, "I'm not the party leader in Queensland", but that hasn't been enough to clear it up. Political expert Dr Paul Williams has also heard the phrase "I'm voting for Pauline" from some voters who seemed unaware Pauline Hanson she wasn't a candidate in this election, and that a vote for One Nation wouldn't see the fiery red-head replace Annastacia Palaszczuk as Queensland's Premier. The voter who rang the QT did refer to "the candidate" indicating he didn't expect to be voting directly for Pauline Hanson, but a party representative. |
DHAKA (Reuters) - Pope Francis celebrated a huge outdoor Mass on Friday to ordain new priests from Bangladesh on his first full day in the country where he is due to meet Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar later in the day. Pope Francis greets believers as he arrives for a mass in Dhaka, Bangladesh December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Max Rossi More than 100,000 people attended the Mass in Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan Park, site of a memorial and museum of Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971, where Francis arrived in an open popemobile. Catholics make up less than one percent of the population of 169 million people in majority-Muslim Bangladesh. “I know that many of you came from afar, for a trip for more than two days,” the pope told the crowd in his homily. “Thank you for your generosity. This indicates the love you have for the Church.” At an inter-religious gathering later on Friday, the pope was due to meet 18 Rohingya refugees who have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar where authorities have been accused of ethnic cleansing by the United States and United Nations. The government denies wrongdoing. In calls for peace in Myanmar, he did not use the word Rohingya to describe the refugees, which is contested by the Yangon government and military. The refugees were brought to the Bangladeshi capital from Cox’s Bazar, to where 625,000 Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine state have fled. The exodus followed a Myanmar military crackdown in response to Rohingya militant attacks on an army base and police posts on Aug. 25. Scores of Rohingya villages were burnt to the ground, and refugees arriving in Bangladesh told of killings and rapes. On Thursday night, the pope called for decisive measures to resolve the political reasons that caused the refugee crisis and urged countries to help the Dhaka government deal with it. |
Over the last ten days the country has been rocked by the revelations of sexual harassment at Westminster. Let me be clear that the Liberal Democrats believe harassment and abuse of power are unacceptable in any situation, and especially at Westminster. Whether the allegations are about groping, inappropriate remarks or texts through to possible criminal offences of sexual assault and rape, any complaint needs to be listened to, taken seriously and investigated. Since these incidents are often about abuses of power, it is crucial people have an independent, confidential route to report incidents when they happen. This week the Chief Whips in the Commons and the Lords have met with staff twice to hear their views and to ensure everyone is aware of how to make a complaint, and assured they will be taken seriously. We are also reviewing our procedures in Parliament with a view to broadening the involvement in investigations to include some of those most likely to have a lived experience of this type of behaviour. There have also been meetings with both groups of MPs and peers to review their responsibilities to staff and volunteers. Vince Cable will be meeting with the other party leaders on Monday to discuss how Parliament and the political parties can work better together to rid Parliament of the scourge of harassment. In doing so, he will draw on the lessons our own party has learned. In 2013 the Liberal Democrats commissioned Helena Morrissey to conduct a Review which changed fundamentally the party’s process and attitude towards sexual harassment, bullying and abuse of power. The Federal Executive (now the Federal Board) accepted all her recommendations, and also asked Helena Morrissey to review progress against her recommendations, which the FE also reviewed at the end of 2014. We re-wrote our Code of Conduct for members and made it clear what the rights and responsibilities are of members. There’s a page that has links to specific responsibilities for people with different roles here. We encourage people to report incidents – without a complaint it is very hard to investigate – and put in place arrangements to ensure that complainants feel supported. Some people have been expelled from the party since strengthening our rules. We have a professional Pastoral Care Officer, Jeanne Tarrant, who is not a party member. She is trained to handle complaints fairly and independently, whether they come from inside or outside the party. Complaints come to her via the website or by emailing her at [email protected]. She will contact the complainant to get more information if necessary and guide them through the process. Where she believes that a crime has been committed, she will also encourage the complainant to go to the police. Where there is an issue of safeguarding for those under 18 or who are vulnerable, she will also make sure that they are supported and protected appropriately. We strengthened and continue to constantly review our disciplinary processes. This year the Federal Board has commissioned Lord Ken MacDonald (a former Director of Public Prosecution) to review them again and his report will be published in the next few months. We will publish any proposed changes for consultation and implementation in 2018. All our candidates for Westminster and other parliamentary office now have to sign a code of conduct that recognises that those in public life must have a high standard of behaviour and probity. As a party, we accept and must live by the 7 Nolan Principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. As a party we know there is always room to do better. We have made serious strides in the past three years, but we also recognise that because of problems in the past for some people making a complaint may be very hard. We are determined to learn and to constantly think about how we can improve these processes. As Liberals we aspire to create a political system in which everyone is represented, and to do that we must have a politics in which everyone feels able to be involved free from abuse or harassment. On behalf of all our members, I will work to ensure we are doing our part to make that happen. * Baroness Sal Brinton is President of the Liberal Democrats. She is a working Lib Dem peer, and was the candidate for Watford at the 2010 and 2005 General Elections. |
June 25, 2015 Any day now, perhaps even as early as tomorrow, June 26, the Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on gay marriage. Everywhere, mainstream gays and lesbians are claiming to be waiting with bated breath. On both Twitter and Facebook feeds, everyone writes about their anxiety. All this simulated anxiety reminds me of the stereotypical Victorian woman, pretending to be surprised by the attentions of a suitor: “Why, I never! Gay Marriage in my lifetime? Heavens, I am quite taken aback!” Surely, given the tremendous shifts in both cultural and legal attitudes to gay marriage both here and abroad, we might finally drop this pretense of surprise. Still, gays and lesbians everywhere are pretending. And part of this cultural exercise involves a rewriting of history to make it seem like marriage is not only the natural but the only desired outcome of decades, really, centuries of queer existence. Take, for instance, Frank Bruni's recent op-ed in the New York Times where he begins with the words, “Remember the AIDS crisis?” He goes on to write about the many who were denied the right to visit their loved ones in the hospital as they died of AIDS. "This," writes Bruni, "was a recurring story, an infuriating leitmotif, and many gays and our allies remarked and railed that it wouldn’t be happening if committed same-sex relationships got the legal recognition that heterosexual ones did." Actually, the facts are much more grim. AIDS killed millions because of a toxic combination of homophobia and non-existent universal healthcare. There was neither research nor medications available to treat them, and hospital policies combined with public health ineptness. People with AIDS were overwhelmingly, at the time, gay men, and were literally turned away from hospitals and left to die. Were those who made it to hospital beds kept away from their loved ones? Yes. But the loved ones weren’t just romantic partners but friends, ex-lovers, and many more who had spent several decades prior to the time of AIDS carefully forging complicated and caring networks of friendship that exceeded the limitations of biological family or commonly understood relationships. The devastation to those models of care and kinship is perhaps one of the many lasting legacies of AIDS with which we have yet to come to terms. So, no, the fact that romantic partners, all husbands in waiting as Bruni’s myopic history would have us believe, were turned away from the bedsides of dying men was not the central problem with AIDS in the 80s. The far bigger problem was that men were dying of AIDS, period, and in often brutal and dehumanising conditions. But if you were to believe Bruni, the lesson of AIDS was that gay marriage would solve all the problems of the epidemic. It gets worse. Bruni goes on about the the Mattachine Society, “one of the earliest gay rights groups, [which] appeared in 1950, in Los Angeles” and “[t]he Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian political organization, [which] appeared in 1955, in San Francisco.” And concludes: “From those seeds, the legalization of same-sex marriage flowered, and no shortage of harsh winters intervened.” Rubbish. For the most part, marriage was not on the collective minds of these organisations which, instead, struggled in dark anonymity and between the brown paper envelopes in which their newsletters were posted, simply to record the existence of gays and lesbians, to provide support and, whenever needed, to help with legal resources when gay men and women were outed against their will in an era when that meant the loss of livelihoods and even life itself. As relatively conservative groups, both Mattachine and DOB have been criticised for the assimilationist politics, but there is no denying that they were often the only resources for many gays and lesbians. The secret history of gay marriage is that it was never a topic of huge concern in the LGBTQ community until the rise of the mainstream gay organisations in the mid-1990s. Here's what really happened: Following a depletion of political energy post-AIDS, we saw the growth of groups like Human Rights Campaign and the older National Lesbian and Gay Task Force (now The National LGBTQ Task Force), led by mostly white gay men and women or the occasional token people of colour who fervently believed that normative politics was the only way to go. When the secret history of gay marriage is finally written, it will reveal that gay marriage was foisted upon a community with few resources, held hostage by a wealthy few. The mid-90s onwards saw the rise of out gay men and women, mostly men and mostly white, who were powerful and wealthy and wanted a way to ensure that their aspirations to be seen as just like everyone else would be fulfilled and that their wealth would stay in their families and continue to enrich the financial interests they had so carefully nurtured. The secret history of gay marriage is that it has never been about "equality" in any real sense, but about ensuring that a small section of gay men and women are able to hold on to their wealth. The best example of this is the case of Edith Windsor, painted by Bruni and others as some kind of brave heroine. HRC and others quietly gave created a mythology around her, that she was a little old lady sitting in an empty garrett somewhere in a cold, drafty apartment in New York, striking match after match just to keep herself warm while the wolves howled at her door. In fact, Windsor is more than well off — my informal and rough estimates place her value at around ten million. She is a pauper only in comparison to New York's wealthy, for whom the amount is pocket change, but she is far more comfortably off than many of the delusional gays and lesbians living on much, much less who fondly imagine that they actually have estates that would be affected by the DOMA ruling in any way. The central point is what we have to pay attention to: that Windsor was not refusing to pay taxes because she couldn't afford to, but because she refused to. The secret history of gay marriage is that both the left and mainstream press happily colluded in maintaining this myth around Edith Windsor, thus ensuring that she remained the helpless victim. Take, for instance, the New York Times’s coverage of Windsor, in this article. The Times, in general, makes a point of revealing people's net worth. The Times is, after all, primarily designed to be read by the wealthy, who like to know about their fellow wealthy people. More importantly, this was a story that centered around taxes and a lawsuit focused on the same, so it was in fact imperative that the Times ask about and reveal how much Windsor was worth. And yet, the Times had absolutely nothing to say on the matter. After all, if the People of America, to whom this was case was meant to appeal, found out that Edith Windsor was not financially strained at all by taxes, there would have been much less sympathy towards her and the case, battled in the court of public opinion — look what’s being done to this poor little old lady — could likely have been lost. So the Times chose to drop any pretense at journalistic integrity and simply covered over the crucial fact. It had to disclose the amount of taxes she was being compelled to pay, already a matter of public record, but it dutifully abstained from mentioning anything so vulgar as her actual net worth. The secret history of gay marriage is that such efforts to disguise the real purpose of the campaign have meant that several other issues facing queers have been neglected. A common claim made even by those who claim to be critical of gay marriage is that it has simply not been the right priority, but that it will eventually allow for other matters to finally receive the attention they need because, as some are fond of putting it, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” This is bullshit. There is no rising tide, and gay marriage has proven to be more like the iceberg that wrecked the Titanic. As Ryan Conrad points out in his article on the Maine marriage battle, several organisations working on matters like AIDS/HIV and youth issues struggled; several have since shut down. In short, the secret history of gay marriage is that its real history, as a rapacious, greedy, and entirely selfish campaign carried out by rapacious, greedy and entirely selfish gay men and women has been systematically erased by gay men like Frank Bruni and their unctuous straight allies like Frank Rich and Linda Hirshman. The secret history of gay marriage is not that it might prevent our sex lives from being more interesting, but that its victory enables the cementing of a neoliberal society where only private relationships can ensure access to economic security and healthcare. The preferred narrative is that gay marriage will be a dream come true. The reality is that gay marriage is nothing but a nightmare and neoliberalism’s handiest little tool. Next: Your Sex Is Not Radical Previous: The Difference between Black and White Guilt This is a free piece intended to raise questions, not provide all the answers. If you're interested in learning more about the real history of various gay campaigns, like that of gay marriage, take a look at the Against Equality archives |
In the wake of a site-crashing interview with the founder and editor of The American Prospect—in which he talked about administration in-fighting, tensions with North Korea, looming economic war with China, and his high hopes for Democrat's focus on identity politics—top Trump advisor Steve Bannon, according to responses gathered by Axios, is possibly in pretty deep(er) shit just about now with his White House colleagues. One person, described by Axios' Jonathan Swan as "not an enemy of [Bannon's]," indicated the consquences of the interview could be severe. "Since Steve apparently enjoys casually undermining U.S. national security," the White House staff member reportedly said, "I'll put this in terms he'll understand: This is DEFCON 1-level bad." Steve Bannon's colleagues can't believe what they're reading tonight — and here's the twist: neither can Bannon. https://t.co/SRyxJDv5Bc — Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) August 17, 2017 To begin with, it seemed a strange choice for Bannon to call the Prospect's Robert Kuttner, who confessed he was a "little stunned" to receive a message from Bannon's assistant that the former head of the right-wing Breitbart news outlet—now one of Trump's most contentious and controversial top aides—would be calling him to bounce around ideas. While some suggested Bannon might be acting the master strategist and somehow making a "play" with his call to Kuttner, Swan argued emphatically his belief this was not the case. "You might read some takes tomorrow saying Bannon is playing 5D chess & this was part of a devious strategy," he tweeted. "Those takes will be wrong." Kuttner appeared on CNN Wednesday evening and said that his talk with Bannon revealed to him the man's "hubris" and "arrogance": According to Kuttner, who also writes in the article that Bannon never once brought up the idea that the conversation would be "off the record," the motivation for the call was Kuttner's recent column on the subject of U.S. and North Korean tensions and the political and economic implications with China they entail. The argument of the article, entitled U.S. vs. North Korea: The Winner? China, had impressed Bannon. "You absolutely nailed it," Bannon said. "We're at economic war with China," Bannon continued. "It's in all their literature. They're not shy about saying what they're doing. One of us is going to be a hegemon in 25 or 30 years and it’s gonna be them if we go down this path. On Korea, they’re just tapping us along. It's just a sideshow." SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts Kuttner goes on to relate Bannon's description of "his battle inside the administration to take a harder line on China trade, and not to fall into a trap of wishful thinking in which complaints against China’s trade practices now had to take a backseat to the hope that China, as honest broker, would help restrain [North Korea's Kim Jong-un]." "To me," Bannon confessed, "the economic war with China is everything. And we have to be maniacally focused on that." Kuttner explained how Bannon's vision of the necessary Trump strategy will be to file "a complaint under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act against Chinese coercion of technology transfers from American corporations" and that official objections to steel and aluminum dumping would follow. "We're going to run the tables on these guys," Bannon explained. "We've come to the conclusion that they're in an economic war and they're crushing us." Remarking on internal tensions, Bannon said his rivals in the White House and elsewhere in government "were wetting themselves" over North Korean tensions, but he assured Kuttner that opponents of his plan to target China economically were actively being marginalized. Bannon told Kuttner that Trump wants to proceed, calling it his "default position," but that "trade doves" inside the White House were stalling the effort. In fact, the reaching out to Kuttner becomes central to the story at this point, as Bannon apparently perceives potential allies in left-wing critics of the trade policies preferred by corporate elites—the same kind of people who Bannon derisively terms "globalists." Kuttner dismissed that idea as naive, calling it a "puzzling" leap to think "possible convergence of views on China trade might somehow paper over the political and moral chasm" of the white nationalism Bannon represents and has championed. Of the white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend, Bannon dismissed any responsibility he had for cultivating or making space for such movements and dismissed the participants as "losers," "a fringe element," and "a collection of clowns." On the other hand, and according to separate reporting by Swan Wednesday night, Bannon is among those in the White House standing in approval of Trump's performance at Tuesday press conference, seeing it "not as the lowest point in his presidency, but as a 'defining moment,' where Trump decided to fully abandon the 'globalists' and side with 'his people.'" But Bannon in his remarks to Kuttner also seemingly played his hand on the Democratic Party's response to the rise of Trump's brand of politics built around xenophobia, discrimination, and attacks on political correctness. "The longer [the Democrats] talk about identity politics, I got 'em," Bannon said. "I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats." The next step for Bannon and Kuttner's relationship? Kuttner said he received an invitation to come to the White House after Labor Day to discuss these issues further. If, of course, as Kuttner quipped, Bannon's "still there." |
Barcelona sensation and Manchester United target Neymar is growing increasingly frustrated at playing second fiddle to Lionel Messi and is weighing up his Barcelona future. That’s according to Spanish football expert Guillem Balague, who told talkSPORT that Neymar’s links with United aren’t just attempts to leverage an improved deal at the European champions – unlike the Sergio Ramos transfer saga with the Red Devils over the summer. While Messi is allegedly ‘preparing for the possibility’ of a Premier League move, the chances of him leaving are slim which has subsequently increased the prospect of the Brazilian departing instead. United reportedly tabled a mammoth £139m bid for the 23-year-old in August which was immediately knocked back. But Balague insists Neymar’s ambition to become the world’s best is hindered by his continued presence in Messi’s shadow at Barcelona. He told the Sports Bar: “Neymar feels if he stays there [Barcelona] he won’t be the number one in the world. “He has placed himself in the equation [a move to Manchester United] for the last few months. “Neymar is actually thinking ‘what can I do next?’ because Messi is 28 and he’ll be there for a few more years so Neymar will not be allowed to grow.” Balague is also adamant that the Catalans will be unable to keep hold of both Messi and Neymar if both are offered improved contracts, simply due to the astronomical size of the new deals. |
If you are reading this, then there is a good chance that you are a fresher. Have you been successful in your job search? Probably not. One of the most common reasons for not making it to the shortlisted candidates is that your resume is stale and is not fresh enough for a fresher. You may be using cliché statements, stereotypical formats that are outdated, or your resume might just be boring. Recruiters have an enormous task of reviewing and sorting hundreds of applications. The least you could do to relieve them of their stress is to give them a resume that is pleasing, clear to read and has freshness in its design. This will not only increase your chances of getting the interview call. After all, you need to compete with thousands of freshers to get that dream job which you have been aspiring for. Follow these resume tips to make sure that your resume is fresh, clean and absolutely impressive. Focus on Your Skills Since the majority of freshers would have no work experience as such, it is better to focus on your skills. If you have achievements or tangible evidence of your skill levels, then you should mention that on your resume. This will help you to get noticed. Before applying for the job, make sure that you go through the job description and find out which skills are preferred by the recruiters. Fresh Doesn’t Mean Fancy A fresh appeal in the resume doesn’t equate to getting all fancy with the design or getting overly creative with it. Stick to a professional design and add fresh elements in terms of formatting, presentation and proper usage of available space. Stay Minimalistic It’s all about staying minimalistic these days. The art of conveying a lot in less words needs to be learnt by all job aspirants. Be it the career summary or the different sections in the resume, everything has to be crisp and concise. This is what makes a resume fresh and impactful. Stay Focused It is easy to deviate from the focus area while preparing the resume. Make sure that you maintain the focus on all the sections and ensure that you stick to the facts rather than exaggerating for better prospects. Show How You Can Contribute or Resolve Crucial Challenges Everyone needs a problem solver even if the applicant is a fresher. Show your worth by convincing the recruiters of your contribution to the company and / or the ways in which you can provide a viable solution to key challenges being faced by the organization. Do this only if you are confident about it and not because you desperately need a job. Stay Abreast With the Trends Check out the current trends in resume writing and identify the industry preferences to ensure that your resume is fine tuned to the recruiter’s expectations. This will give you a much needed leverage and also ensure that your resume is “fresher” than the competition. Seek Professional Help If you are still struggling with creating a fresh resume, then get professional help. Professional resume writers are known for crafting brilliant career resources with their words and improving your chances of getting the interview call. It is best to let experts handle the task if you are not able to do it yourself. After all, the first job is the stepping stone of your career path. Don’t make any compromises with it. |
(CNN) Chinese President Xi Jinping will have a lot to smile about when he meets his counterpart Donald Trump in Beijing this week. By any reasonable measure, it's been a good year for China. From the South China Sea to climate change to jockeying over global leadership, the dominoes have fallen in Beijing's favor again and again. Even the death of a Nobel Peace Prize winning activist while in Chinese police custody -- an event that under normal circumstances would have provoked lasting international condemnation -- failed to tarnish the country's leadership in any tangible way. "China has managed, partly through its own actions and partly through the influence of Trump, to essentially put itself in a position where it has a lot more choices and a lot more opportunities," Professor Rana Mitter, the director of the University China Centre at Oxford University told CNN. While the United States has seen its political system lurch from crisis to crisis throughout 2017, Chinese President Xi seamlessly tightened his hold on power during the Communist Party Congress in October. The only cloud in a blue Chinese sky has been the lengthy standoff between North Korea and the United States, which has left a frustrated China stuck between its former ally and its current rival. While Mitter said some of the credit belongs to the Communist Party leadership, other experts said the arrival of Trump has been the primary catalyst. The more Trump "made himself a laughing stock," the better China appeared by comparison, said Xu Guoqi, a University of Hong Kong professor and author of "Chinese and Americans: A Shared History" told CNN. "Ironically, he seems to have clearly helped make China great internationally," he said. US President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping shake hands during dinner at the Mar-a-Lago estate on April 6. The forgotten people In any other country, the death of a Nobel Prize Winner would be a time of national mourning amid a general celebration of their achievements. China's only Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo died under police guard in a northeastern Chinese hospital in July. A pro-democracy advocate who took part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, Liu had been in jail since 2009 for calling for political reform and human rights in China. But despite the grim circumstances surrounding the end of his life and China's refusal to let him seek medical help overseas, Liu's death passed without comment in his home country and a muted reaction worldwide -- most notably from within the White House. JUST WATCHED Nobel chief: 'Liu Xiaobo was no criminal' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Nobel chief: 'Liu Xiaobo was no criminal' 06:44 Jeffrey Wasserstrom, professor of history at University of California, Irvine, said the chaos inside the Trump administration had accidentally drawn the world's attention from Liu's death. "(He was) the first Nobel Peace Prize winner since Nazi times to die in prison," Wasserstrom told CNN. "That would have been, and should have been, a much bigger story than it was." In June a visit by President Xi to Hong Kong, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the city's return to Chinese rule, went off without a hitch. Human rights were long viewed as a blight on China's international reputation, said University of Hong Kong's Xu. But now, thanks to "Trump undermining America's soft power, China's credibility and image seems to have gained." The global champion When Xi stepped up to the podium at Davos in January and delivered a robust defense of free trade to the globe's financial elite, the Western world was stunned. The defender of the global economy, the United States, was handing over power to a fierce protectionist in Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a supposedly communist leader was appearing to be its strongest supporter. "Any objective observer would know the US has far more open markets than China, but it was a way Xi (could) balance himself against the unexpected rhetoric of Trump and take advantage," Mitter said. JUST WATCHED Xi Jinping praises free trade in speech Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Xi Jinping praises free trade in speech 02:36 In June, China again stepped into a vacuum left by Trump. Days after the US leader announced he was pulling out of the Paris agreement on global warming, Xi joined the European Union to declare China was all in. "There's been a series of US own goals," Wasserstrom said. "(Leaving the Paris agreement) made Xi Jinping look very good in comparison." Closer to home, the launch of their massive One Belt One Road global infrastructure program in Beijing was considered a success, attended by a who's who of regional leaders keen to share in China's generosity. But this doesn't mean it has been all smooth sailing diplomatically in 2017. Earlier in the year, Beijing began an unofficial boycott of South Korean companies and performers in diplomatic protest over the deployment of the US missile defense system THAAD. The two sides appeared to resolve their differences in October, with little gained. "It's been extremely heavy handed and the obvious point to make has been China can't be having a successful Korean Peninsula policy when it has poor relations with both North and South," Euan Graham, director of the International Security Program at Sydney's Lowy Institute, told CNN. The unsolvable crisis Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have repeatedly exchanged fiery words during 2017 amid a series of antagonistic missile launches and a nuclear test ordered by Pyongyang. Caught between the two of them is the Chinese government, seemingly frustrated by its Korean neighbor's aggressive posturing and consistently pressed by Trump to do more to constrain Pyongyang. "(Chinese policy makers) are increasingly annoyed and angered by North Korea's behavior," Mitter said. JUST WATCHED Trump threatens to cut off trade with China Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump threatens to cut off trade with China 01:48 China, which is estimated to account for more than 80% of North Korea's foreign trade, has taken steps to implement beefed-up UN sanctions targeting coal and other goods. Still, in the face of Beijing's disapproval and global condemnation, Kim has continued his aggressive actions, timing missile launches to high-profile Chinese events. North Korea has said it isn't interested in diplomacy until it has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon that could hit the US mainland. While the North Korean crisis has been frustrating for Beijing, Wasserstrom said it hasn't all been bad news for Chinese leaders. "With North Korea being more aggressive and testing nuclear weapons, the world has less time to pay attention to the South China Sea," he said. The South China Sea has been a regional flashpoint for years, with islands in the disputed waters claimed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam and several other nations. To enforce its claims, China has reclaimed land and turned reefs into military bases despite international condemnation. But the issue has fallen from the headlines in 2017, partly due to a China-friendly government in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte and the United States' focus on North Korea. "The strategic advantage seems to lie very much with the Chinese ... there are still a lot of disputes that need to be played out (but) the Chinese have basically been creating a scenario in the South China Sea which makes it much harder for anyone to push back against them," Mitter said. 'Power in the region will change' Xu said it was clear Trump was clearly working toward a closer, friendlier relationship with China despite his harsh, populist anti-China rhetoric during the campaign. "(But) with Xi's further strengthened power and Trump's uncertain political fortune at home and abroad, China's international rise seems to be certain," he said. Trump's Asia trip is his big chance to win back nervous US diplomatic partners and allies in the Asia region, Mitter says. Particularly important will be his speech to regional leaders in Da Nang, Vietnam during the APEC summit on November 10. "If Trump essentially gives those states to understand that US presence in the region can no longer be guaranteed ... other countries will start to hedge now, for an alternative future in which the Chinese will be more powerful," he said. There's already indications some members of Trump's administration are growing tired of China throwing its weight around. In mid-October, just weeks before Trump's trip, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson delivered a brutal denouncement of the Chinese government, accusing it of "undermining the international rules-based order." But even if the next US President pivots back to Asia, or holds Beijing to account on human rights, or reasserts US military presence in the region, the gains China has made in 2017 will be hard to roll back. "Whatever happens in two years, four years, eight years, the region will not stay still. Decisions will be made and the nature of power in the region will change, within months not years," he said. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.