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Translate the following sentence to French:
Each year, we ask CSIS to provide statistics about CSIS warrant applications (the information CSIS provides the Court in seeking a warrant) and about warrants granted by the Federal Court.
| Elle n’a rejeté aucune demande, mais le SCRS a signalé sept cas où le juge présidant de la Cour fédérale avait demandé des modifications avant de décerner le mandat. | 5 | Flan2021 | wmt14_translate/fr-en:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
who will be given top positions of rule over them?
How would the previous sentence be correctly capitalized? | Who will be given top positions of rule over them? | 2 | Flan2021 | true_case | zs_opt |
"In the 1980's, on which TV game show did Leslie Crowther proclaim, ""Come on Down""?"
What is the answer? | price is right | 9 | Flan2021 | trivia_qa/rc:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Test sentence: "The package weighed ten pounds."
Is this test sentence a correct grammatical English sentence?
Available options: (a). unacceptable (b). acceptable | (b). | 2 | Flan2021 | glue/cola:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
Trivia question: Which name is shared by the former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party and MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark and the Channel 5 TV cricket analyst and former Middlesex and Durham player?
And the answer is? | simon hughes | 8 | Flan2021 | trivia_qa/rc:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Write a sentence in English. | In occasions, no fee will be payable to the author for making use of the work. | 8 | Flan2021 | para_crawl_enes | zs_opt |
algerian police have killed a leader of the extremist armed islamic group while a member of the country 's former ruling fln has been found dead with his throat cut , official sources said sunday .
Write a brief summary in a sentence or less. | police kill islamic extremist fln man found dead | 4 | Flan2021 | gigaword:1.2.0 | zs_opt |
How would the universe look without gravity? It would have no planets and no stars. Thats how it looked when it was young. When the universe was young, there was only gas and dust. From this gas and dust, everything we now see was made. How were stars and planets created from just gas and dust? The answer is gravity. The same gravity that holds you down on Earth. The same force that causes your pencil to roll off your desk. The same force that causes it to fall to the floor. The invisible force of gravity caused dust and gas particles to be pulled together. This force is what formed all the objects in our solar system. This force formed the smallest moons. It also formed our Sun. This force caused more than just our solar system to form. It caused all the other solar systems to form. It caused the formation of all the galaxies of the universe.
What question would one ask from this paragraph? | What did role did gravity play in the creation of the universe? | 9 | Flan2021 | super_glue/multirc:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
It uses Cuban doctors for the operations and Venezuelan planes to transport people to and from their countries.
Translate to Russian
Russian: | Кубинские врачи производят операции, а венесуэльские самолеты перевозят людей из различных стран. | 0 | Flan2021 | wmt16_translate/ru-en:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
1. During the Bengal Sultanate , medieval Bengali authors were influenced by Arabic and Persian works .
2. During the Bengali sultanate , Arab and Persian Bengal writers were influenced by medieval works .
Select your answer from the options. Are these two sentences paraphrases of each other?
Pick from: (1). no (2). yes...I think the answer is | (1). | 2 | Flan2021 | paws_wiki:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
What are the most important words in the following sentence:
ceiling decorated with balloons on a new years eve party | balloon, ceiling, decorate | 7 | Flan2021 | gem/common_gen:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Read the text and answer the questions.
CHAPTER XX
Credit me, friend, it hath been ever thus, Since the ark rested on Mount Ararat. False man hath sworn, and woman hath believed-- Repented and reproach'd, and then believed once more. _The New World._
By the time that Margaret returned with Monna Paula, the Lady Hermione was rising from the table at which she had been engaged in writing something on a small slip of paper, which she gave to her attendant.
"Monna Paula," she said, "carry this paper to Roberts the cash-keeper; let them give you the money mentioned in the note, and bring it hither presently."
Monna Paula left the room, and her mistress proceeded.
"I do not know," she said, "Margaret, if I have done, and am doing, well in this affair. My life has been one of strange seclusion, and I am totally unacquainted with the practical ways of this world--an ignorance which I know cannot be remedied by mere reading.--I fear I am doing wrong to you, and perhaps to the laws of the country which affords me refuge, by thus indulging you; and yet there is something in my heart which cannot resist your entreaties."
"O, listen to it--listen to it, dear, generous lady!" said Margaret, throwing herself on her knees and grasping those of her benefactress and looking in that attitude like a beautiful mortal in the act of supplicating her tutelary angel; "the laws of men are but the injunctions of mortality, but what the heart prompts is the echo of the voice from heaven within us."
1. Who had been writing?
2. What did she write on>
3. What is the attendant's name?
4. Who left the room?
5. What did the note mention?
6. Who feels she is wronging Margaret?
7. Is she a woman with much practical knowledge?
8. True or False: Lady Hermione also fears that she might be breaking the law.
9. What part of the Lady does Margaret grab?
10. What is the Lady's role to Margaret?
11. Who is Roberts?
Numbered answers: | 1. the Lady Hermione
2. a small slip of paper
3. Monna Paula
4. Monna Paula
5. money
6. Lady Hermoine
7. No
8. Yes
9. her knees
10. unknown
11. the cash-keeper | 1 | Flan2021 | coqa:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
An upgrade to Windows 8 known as Windows 8.1 was officially announced by Microsoft on May 14, 2013. Following a presentation devoted to the upgrade at Build 2013, a public beta version of the upgrade was released on June 26, 2013. Windows 8.1 was released to OEM hardware partners on August 27, 2013, and released publicly as a free download through Windows Store on October 17, 2013. Volume license customers and subscribers to MSDN Plus and TechNet Plus were initially unable to obtain the RTM version upon its release; a spokesperson said the policy was changed to allow Microsoft to work with OEMs "to ensure a quality experience at general availability." However, after criticism, Microsoft reversed its decision and released the RTM build on MSDN and TechNet on September 9, 2013.
If it is possible to answer this question, answer it for me (else, reply "unanswerable"): When was Windows 8.1 introduced? | May 14, 2013 | 5 | Flan2021 | squad/v2.0:3.0.0 | zs_opt |
Data: Elliot See, almaMater, University of Texas at Austin; University of Texas at Austin, affiliation, University of Texas System; Elliot See, nationality, United States; Elliot See, birthDate, "1927-07-23"; Elliot See, birthPlace, Dallas; Elliot See, deathPlace, St. Louis; Elliot See, deathDate, "1966-02-28"
Sentence about the following data: | American Elliot See was born in Dallas on the 23rd of July 1927. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin, which is affiliated to the University of Texas system. He died on the 28th of February 1966 in St. Louis. | 1 | Flan2021 | gem/web_nlg_en:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Multi-choice question: Same meaning?
Two of these hostels are located in Delhi , each in Pune and Pimpri , near Mumbai .
Two of these four hostels are located in Mumbai , each in Delhi and Pimpri , near Pune .
Choose from: +no; +yes; | no | 6 | Flan2021 | paws_wiki:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
1. Oranges and Sunshine is a powerful exploration and its subjects should be proud.
2. Jim Loach's feature debut presents the horrific injustice of forced child migration in a calm, measured manner.
3. 'Sunshine' a burning indictment of child abuse.
4. The sincerity of feeling is unmistakable. So's the flat-footedness of the writing.
5. A chilling tale? Not when made into a maudlin, completely predictable, mainstream narrative movie by filmmaker Jim Loach.
6. Earnest, heart-tugging, social problem drama.
7. Yet another reality-based tale of a lone crusader who takes on past injustice, but a fairly good example of this overused genre.
8. Emily Watson, who always brings a special grace to the screen, gives a multilayered performance to the role of Margaret Humphreys, who not only puts her own family dynamic at risk but finds herself physically threatened.
9. The story is a stunner, and the format, propelled by Watson's deepening investigation, gives the movie energy.
10. The result is a problem drama with more problem than drama.
Write a one sentence summary of the reviews above. | Grounded in a heartwrenching fact-based story, steered by Loach's sensitive direction, and led by a powerful performance from Watson, Oranges and Sunshine sidesteps its pacing problems and occasionally clichéd screenplay. | 0 | Flan2021 | opinion_abstracts_rotten_tomatoes | zs_opt |
Tim was too tall for all of his pants. He could not find a good outfit to wear for his trip to the park! Everything made his legs look too long, and silly. Then he decided to cut his jeans into shorts.
What is the next sentence?
A). Tim decided to stay home and watch TV.
B). Tim wore the jean-shorts to the park. | B). | 1 | Flan2021 | story_cloze/2016:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
What are the keywords in the following sentence:
portrait of elegant senior woman standing under black umbrella dancing in the rain . | dance, portrait, rain, stand, umbrella | 6 | Flan2021 | gem/common_gen:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Generate a descriptive sentence about a restaurant using the following words:
name = Browns Cambridge, food = French, customer rating = 3 out of 5
Sentence: | Browns Cambridge has a customer rating of 3 out of 5 and serves French food in the £20 - £25 price range. | 9 | Flan2021 | gem/e2e_nlg:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
The Bluebirds dropped to 21st in the Championship and have won once in their opening seven matches.
It is Cardiff's worst start to a season in 12 years after what Trollope agreed was the team's poorest display so far.
"Apologies to the supporters, they have travelled a long way and seen a performance that was unacceptable," he said.
"I'm not going to stand here and give any excuses.
"We can stand here and talk about systems and ways of playing but there are some basic requirements in football to do well and win games and those were lacking.
"We were probably worthy of a goal in that second period but I'm not kidding myself, the game was done."
Trollope was appointed at the end of last season, taking over from Russell Slade who guided the team to eighth in the table.
But they have not won since the 2-1 victory over Blackburn on 17 August, with their only other points coming from draws at Birmingham and Fulham.
Cardiff face Leeds at home on Saturday following their 2-1 win over Blackburn on Tuesday.
"We've got a lot of work to do before Saturday," admitted Trollope.
"We're of course concerned. We didn't deserve to be going home with anything tonight.
"There's pressure on every manager every game and on every coach.
"The pressure is always there and everyone knows the situation and I believe in how I work and I believe in the group of players."
What is a summary of this text? | Cardiff City head coach Paul Trollope apologised to travelling supporters after his team's 3-0 defeat at Preston. | 3 | Flan2021 | huggingface:xsum | zs_opt |
Misses little Winter....15+ years coming to an end tonight.
Describe the sentiment embodied by this tweet.
Available options: 1. negative. 2. positive.
I think the answer is | 1. | 2 | Flan2021 | sentiment140:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Select the correct answer: Which is an appropriate title for this article?
Conan O'Brien will succeed Jay Leno as host of the "Tonight" show at the end of Mr. Leno's current five-year contract.
Choose your answer from:
[a]. World
[b]. Sports
[c]. Business
[d]. Science/Tech | [c]. | 6 | Flan2021 | ag_news_subset:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Continue writing the following text.
Robert was very physically attractive but Matthew was rather homely.
Choices: A). Robert found it very difficult to get dates.. B). Matthew found it very difficult to get dates.. | B). | 9 | Flan2021 | winogrande:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Choose the next sentence for this paragraph.
(CNN) -- Among the most enduring urban legends about high-level policy-making in the U.S. government is the proverbial memo with three options: 1. do nothing; 2. do everything; 3. find a middle ground and muddle through. And yet in truth, Barack Obama really does have only three options in Syria. It appears that the president, rightly the avoider-in-chief when it comes to Syria, has chosen option three, the least bad alternative. And here's why. Do nothing This isn't really an option. Forget the fact that the president a year ago drew his own red line against Bashar al-Assad's use of chemical weapons. Disregard the reality that this is reportedly the largest single deployment of chemical weapons since Saddam Hussein used them against the Kurds in 1988; dismiss the fact that 100,000 Syrians have died in this civil conflict; and the president is accused of fiddling, Nero-like, while Syria burns.
The option the U.S. is likely to undertake -- focused more narrowly on trying to deter the Syrians from using chemical weapons again and degrading
OPTIONS:
- Aaron Miller's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Barack Obama's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Bashar al-Assad's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- CNN's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Kurds's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Miller's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Nero's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Obama's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Saddam Hussein's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Syria's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- Syrians's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
- U.S.'s military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal.
| Bashar al-Assad's military capacity in the process -- is far from ideal. | 7 | Flan2021 | super_glue/record:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
Please ask me a question. | When was the Battle of Hastings ? | 9 | Flan2021 | trec:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Choose your answer.Options are:
1). no
2). yes.
Frank felt vindicated when his longtime rival Bill revealed that *he* was the winner of the competition.
Do "he" and "Bill" mean the same thing? | 1). | 3 | Flan2021 | super_glue/wsc.fixed:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
Does "Since Jade always wears a red turban, Alice spotted her quickly." appear to be an accurate statement based on "Alice looked for her friend Jade in the crowd. Since she always wears a red turban, Alice spotted her quickly."?
Available choices: (A). no; (B). yes; | (B). | 5 | Flan2021 | glue/wnli:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
Does "Joe's uncle is 30 years older." appear to be an accurate statement based on "Joe's uncle can still beat him at tennis, even though he is 30 years older."?
Choose from: [+] no; [+] yes; | yes | 5 | Flan2021 | glue/wnli:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
AP - Orlando Magic center Andrew DeClercq will likely miss 3-to-4 weeks while he recovers from his second knee surgery of the year.
Choose your answer. What is this text about?
Pick your answer from: *World. *Sports. *Business. *Science/Tech.
Answer: | Sports | 3 | Flan2021 | ag_news_subset:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Question 1: How easy would it be for Trump to overturn gay marriage?
Question 2: Will gay marriage be overturned with Donald Trump as President?
Pick from:
(a). no.
(b). yes.
Would the answer to these two questions be the same? | (b). | 7 | Flan2021 | glue/qqp:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
American Masters : Arthur Miller , Elia Kazan and the Blacklist : None Without Sin ( Wed .
Note the subheading of this terrible parable in the " American Masters " series , " Arthur Miller , Elia Kazan and the Blacklist : None Without Sin . "
Please tell me if the sentences above mean the same.
Select from: i. no. ii. yes. | i. | 3 | Flan2021 | glue/mrpc:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
Can we draw the following hypothesis from the context (see options)?
Context:
According to an Israeli official, the murders of Galan, a high-ranking police officer, and a judge last week were probably carried out by an Israeli mercenary paid by the Medellin cartel - the world's most powerful drug-trafficking mafia - which has set up paramilitary squads accused of hundreds of individual murders and massacres against political and labor leaders, as well as peasants and patriotic union leftist militants in different parts of the country.
Hypothesis: Medellin cartel is not a mafia.
OPT: A). Yes; B). It's impossible to say; C). No; | C). | 7 | Flan2021 | anli/r3:0.1.0 | zs_opt |
Christian
According to Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United State by Harriet Zuckerman, a review of American Nobel prizes awarded between 1901 and 1972, 72% of American Nobel Prize laureates identified a Protestant background. Overall, Protestants have won a total of 84.2% of all the Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, 60% in Medicine, and 58.6% in Physics awarded to Americans between 1901 and 1972.
Q: What denomination of Christianity had the highest percentage of Nobel Prize winners between 1901 and 1972 in America? | Protestant | 7 | Flan2021 | squad/v1.1:3.0.0 | zs_opt |
Professors do a lot for students, but they are rarely thankful.
Who is "they"?
Choose your answer from:
1). Professors
2). students | 2). | 9 | Flan2021 | definite_pronoun_resolution:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
"employ their quirky and fearless ability to look american angst in the eye and end up laughing "
How would the sentiment of this sentence be perceived --
Choices:
--negative
--positive
Answer: | positive | 3 | Flan2021 | glue/sst2:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
What is a shorter version of this:
federal investigators have questioned a number of people in their investigation of salt lake city 's olympic bribery scandal , from private consultants to higher-ups in the city 's bid committee .
Summary: | investigators cast wide net of questions | 3 | Flan2021 | gigaword:1.2.0 | zs_opt |
Here is a news article: By their very nature, the Oscars are an orgy of self-referential splendor, but Sunday things got more than a little out of hand.
From the moment Morgan Freeman (a.k.a. the voice o' God) stepped out on stage to remind us of the importance of film, the telecast of the 84th Academy Awards hawked the magic of movies with the indefatigable and square-shouldered sprightliness of an ingenue down to her last decent audition dress.
"Let's go to the movies" was the evening's theme, and although it was expressed in ways that were funny (a Christopher Guest skit), amazing (a Cirque du Soleil performance) and even sweet (stars relating their first film experiences), the collective air was surprisingly elegiac, as if the industry truly felt the need to remind itself, and the world, that movies matter.
PHOTOS: Red carpet | Quotes | Show | Winners
"Puppets, acrobats, we're a pony away from a bar mitzvah," cracked Billy Crystal about an hour into the show.
He, of course, being the most obvious attempt to evoke the glory days, to create something of an "Oscars Classic" brand. After last year's disastrous attempt to court a younger audience by casting James Franco and Anne Hathaway as hosts, Crystal rode the ever-swinging pendulum hard to the other side of the demographic spectrum.
"We've cornered the 70- to 85-year-old market," he said, "and, boy, do they spend."
PHOTOS: Oscar's best and worst
With nary a word about how he came to host for a ninth time — he replaced Eddie Murphy, who withdrew after producer Brett Ratner, having made a homophobic remark at a screening, stepped down — Crystal pulled an "As You Like It," simply resurrecting the template that made him a hosting legend. First the film clip, in which he agonized over whether to host by "appearing" in the nominated films (kissed by George Clooney, dissed by Jonah Hill).
Then, looking slim and spiffy in white tie and tails, he cracked a few in-jokes — "Welcome to the Chapter 11 theater," known as the Kodak before the company's recent bankruptcy — and launched into a song about the nine nominated films. It wound up seeming much more bittersweet and, yes, boring, than retro-cool.
Some of the problem was one of content. Once again the host and producers were faced with applauding a list of nominated films that most Americans have not seen. And this year, the two most awarded films were celebrations of Hollywood, and old Hollywood at that.
"The Artist," which eventually won best director, actor and picture, and "Hugo" are bittersweet themselves, nostalgic love letters to those artists left behind when the technology of filmmaking changed, something that seemed very much on everyone's mind during the show.
"I prefer the big screen," cracked Crystal, "which is my iPad."
Even the winners seemed to hark to another age. Early on, "Hugo" had won so many below-the-line awards that the show seemed like a Martin Scorsese tribute. And though Christopher Plummer's win was a sentimental favorite (at 82, he is the oldest actor to win an Oscar), Meryl Streep beating out Viola Davis seemed very much a victory of Hollywood royalty over the new and exciting.
Intentionally or not, an indigo haze of "ah, the good ol' days" sentiment hung over the show, from Crystal's ironic jokes and the "cigarette girls" handing out popcorn to the gilt and red-velvet color scheme of the set. And while there is nothing wrong with playing things in a minor key — certainly reverence is a safer bet than, say, James Franco in drag — during a three-hour show it can drag things down just a bit.
This isn't to say there weren't a few shining moments, including and especially Streep's funny and amazingly humble acceptance speech ("When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Oh, no! Oh, come on, why her? Again! But whatever.") The Cirque du Soleil performance was fabulous, having musicians in the balcony was cool, and Robert Downey Jr. wins the Best Presenter Ever award for coming out to present best documentary with film crew in tow for his documentary "The Presenter."
"I have to have this up live on Netflix by midnight!" he admonished co-presenter Gwyneth Paltrow.
Guest's skit satirizing a focus group for "The Wizard of Oz" was brilliant (offering more proof that Fred Willard should be in pretty much everything), and Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis wearing white tuxes and clanging cymbals before presenting best song, well, you don't see that every day.
Chris Rock's riff about how easy it is to voice animation also cleared the smoke of the holy incense for a few minutes, raising the question of how different the show would have been if Ratner had kept his lip zipped and Murphy had remained host.
But if Crystal and his bar mitzvah humor seemed a bit dated and occasionally weirdly racist — yes, that was him in black face as Sammy Davis Jr. during the opening number, and yes, he did make a joke about there being no black women in Beverly Hills — his hand was steady on the tiller, even if the waters were bathwater calm and very, very familiar.
mary.mcnamara@latimes.com ||||| Because it’s important to get this out of the way, both presenting and hosting the Oscars are hard work. Thankless, even. For proof, let me put together a montage from the 84th Annual Academy Awards.
Perhaps this is just another thing to blame Brett Ratner for, since his mouth cost him the gig and Eddie Murphy went with him, forcing the Academy to make the safe choice of calling on Billy Crystal to host for the ninth time.
PHOTOS: Oscars 2012: Red Carpet Arrivals
And somewhere, against all odds, James Franco is buying drinks for everybody. The colossal hosting disaster from last year is now forgotten by the safe, unfunny, retro-disaster that was Crystal making jokes that he laughed at repeatedly and overseeing an Oscars telecast that was as poorly paced as any in recent memory.
While it’s true that the Oscar host gets too much blame when it goes wrong, there was nary a comedic bit from Crystal that didn’t seem like it came from the prior decade or was as obvious as a crying baby in church. If the Academy wanted safe, it got safe, but it also got what seemed like a lounge act that was entirely too chummy and self-satisfied.
But Crystal is just the rod with nowhere to run in a lightning storm. More blame should be placed on the direction of the show, which started deathly slow (after the predictable and no longer fresh or creative video spoof from Crystal) and then got shockingly more slow as it went along.
In years past, the formula that always undid any awards show was simple (and yet few ever fixed it): Start strong, have a bloated and boring middle that then made a mess and a rush of the ending, which is always the most anticipated part of the show. How many times through the years has an awards telecast ran long or too close to the end time and left people we actually tuned in for – best actors, directors and best film winners – to race through their acceptance speeches and thus let all the air out of the room?
PHOTOS: Oscars 2012: The Winners
Well, inexplicably, this year’s Oscars managed to make that formula look brilliant. It started slow, got slower, bloated the entire affair with montages, glazed the eyes of viewers (“What, was that really the best director award?”) and then ladled on even more montages until it culminated in the predictable – if warranted – crowning of The Artist. About the only thing to raise a pulse was Meryl Streep winning again (in what most people will consider an upset), and that’s only going to piss off viewers even more.
So, yeah, not the Oscars' finest moment. And when it comes nowhere near the ratings of the Grammys, the cherry will drop on top.
For much of the night, there was an annoying feedback coming from the main stage microphone that people complained about with ferocity online. Did no one monitor the sound? There also was no palpable sense of excitement or entertainment. And here’s where it gets a little tricky for the Hollywood community. Yes, so many people in so many varied categories have done great work, and they need to be feted for that, but in the real world when people are watching the Oscars, they don’t really care as much about sound, editing, makeup, etc.
The trick is to include those awards but to keep up the excitement level as a broadcast for people who really only want to know about the acting categories, the director and best film. Sure, film fans have plenty of other categories they love – foreign film, documentary, etc. But the average viewer wants to be entertained while they wait for the big categories.
PHOTOS: The Making of 'The Artist'
What they got instead was a ceaseless parade of montages that hammered home the same theme: Movies are magic. They make the world a better place. They make life worth living. Everybody gets swept away at the movies. Isn’t it magical?
First off, stop dropping the anvil on us. Secondly, at some point the level of self-congratulation about how your work makes the life of The Little People more magical begins to feel condescending, arrogant and annoying. So how about three of those montages instead of, what, 33?
The pacing was sloppy and slow until -- hey, here we go -- best actors. People could be forgiven for having nodded off by then or perhaps, lulled into a stupor, missing the whole thing because they walked to the fridge or went to the sink to splash cold water on their faces.
Worse for Crystal, the Ellen DeGeneres commercials were like some kind of counterattack. She was funny in them. Like The Artist, people became mesmerized and leaned into their sets, wishing Ellen would jump out and host. Chris Rock – yes, please host. Tina Fey – please write and host! It was one of those nights.
And not a good night.
Here were a few worries I had: That Sacha Baron Cohen would steal the thunder (a bad precedent – look for one of the Transformers next year or some superhero in a costume or Murphy as Norbit or some Disney balloon). I worried that the great Christopher Guest & Players bit would be the highlight (outside of some really sweet acceptance speeches, it probably was). I worried that people were switching over to The Walking Dead or Luck.
On the other hand, I was happy for people who helped save the show – Emma Stone, Christopher Plummer, even Angelina Jolie sticking her leg out with authority helped distract from the feeling that the clock was melting. There was even a macaroni-and-cheese commercial that provided a ray of light.
Just a guess here – but since this makes two fairly horrendous Oscars in a row, the Academy will have to really rethink the process next year. And not to guess about others' feelings, but you can bet that other critics will revile this effort as well.
For all of this talk about how the movies are magic (montage, montage, montage), maybe someone in the business could have sprinkled some of that magic on this telecast. It certainly didn’t transport us to another world – unless that world was a show on another channel.
Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com
Twitter: @BastardMachine ||||| It was a jolly good show, probably as good a show as any that lasts more than three hours and is obliged to run commercials for GCB and which bestowed its biggest awards upon a movie only a tiny percentage of the TV audience has seen. This year’s Oscar telecast was a comforting affair, starting with host Billy Crystal. By now, Crystal has achieved that status of being as reassuring as he is funny — you feel relaxed watching him, knowing he’s in charge and alert to the mood of the house. (The house, in fact, the former Kodak Theatre, became a Crystal running gag, renamed things like “Chapter 11 Theatre” and “the Your-Name-Here Theatre.”) Crystal’s opening filmed segment, inserting himself into some of the front-runners, was both funny by itself and funny just because he’s done it before and we like seeing him do it again. (My favorite line here: Billy, in place of Brad Pitt in Moneyball, telling the coaching table, “Clams you’re giving me, clams!”)
For once, even the big production number worked well: the Cirque du Soleil’s movie-salute performance was impressively startling in its nonstop athletic grace, and didn’t overstay its welcome. As for unexpected pleasures, certainly the taped bit about the focus group for The Wizard of Oz, featuring a Christopher Guest mini-reunion that included Guest, Bob Balaban, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O’Hara, and Jennifer Coolidge, was the most clever, concise, witty, and laugh-out-loud funny.
With Hugo taking many of the early technical awards and The Artist most of the high-profile later ones, it can’t be said there were too many surprises among the winners. Certainly even Meryl Streep seemed startled to take the best actress Oscar over the performer widely speculated as the favorite, Viola Davis.
No, it remained for the presenters to provide a few surprises, as well as a few head-scratching moments. Sandra Bullock pulled a fine poker-face speaking German after announcing she’d be speaking Mandarin Chinese. Emma Stone went charmingly over-the-top with Ben Stiller (“Perky gets old fast with this crowd”). In those taped segments in which various stars talked about what they loved about the movies, Morgan Freeman made me want to see The Outlaw Josie Wales again.
But why was Angelina Jolie thrusting out a leg so aggressively that co-winner Jim Rash (Dean Pelton on Community) felt inspired to mimic the gesture when he arrived on stage to co-collect the Best Adapted Screenplay Award? And was anyone else at home feeling a ringing in your ears from the tinny feedback of the microphones, a flaw I figured the show would repair during a commercial break, but took a long time doing so?
Natalie Portman and Colin Firth had to continue the unfortunate tradition of speaking directly to each Best Actor nominee while reciting stilted, scripted praise: It’s awkward for presenters, the nominees, and for us watching, and ought to be abandoned. At the other extreme, the calculated spontaneity of presenters Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis — in white tuxes, clanging cymbals — was a pretty funny joke that ended up being more broad than anything Crystal did.
Circling back to the host: I like the way Crystal embraced the old-fashioned, kill-‘em-with-volume approach to hosting; it wasn’t just in keeping with his own previous Oscar appearances, but also very much in the tradition of the Bob Hope Oscar years. Gone was any trace of the Oscars chasing after a younger audience; Crystal’s line about “slamming the 78-84 [year-old demo]” was notable for both its light candor and for Billy Crystal using the term “slam” in this context.
I have to add that the biggest thrill I got watching the Oscars this year was seeing the great children’s book author William Joyce win for his gorgeous animated short, “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.” Joyce has given the world such great art (George Shrinks; Dinosaur Bob) that his reward was exhilarating.
Overall: You couldn’t really say that anyone was robbed of an award he or she should have won (though I sure as hell wish more people had seen Nick Nolte in Warrior), and any Bill Crystal song parody that includes the phrases “Hanks is a memory” and “What’s it all about, Malick” has to be counted as a good night.
Agree? Disagree?
Twitter: @kentucker |||||
A summary of this is? | – Last night's Oscars, like its Best Picture, was a throwback to a different time in film history. And though the show may have topped last year's Anne Hathaway-James Franco fiasco, it was boring and tired throughout: "The whole night looked like an AARP pep rally," writes Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times. "For a town that prides itself on tinsel and titillation, the night was pretty tame." "It all looked very familiar," but that "is perhaps necessary when so few of the nominated films are." "The colossal hosting disaster from last year is now forgotten by the safe, unfunny, retro-disaster that was (Billy) Crystal making jokes that he laughed at repeatedly and overseeing an Oscars telecast that was as poorly paced as any in recent memory," notes Tim Goodman in the Hollywood Reporter. But in the Los Angeles Times, Mary McNamara applauds Crystal's dependability. "His hand was steady on the tiller, even if the waters were bathwater calm and very, very familiar." Indeed, he's become a kind of comfort food, writes Ken Tucker in Entertainment Weekly. He's "as reassuring as he is funny—you feel relaxed watching him, knowing he’s in charge and alert to the mood of the house." | 4 | Flan2021 | multi_news:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
What type of thing is the question "What soft drink is most heavily caffeinated ?" asking about?
Available options:
--description;
--entity;
--abbreviation;
--human;
--numeric;
--location;
Answer: | entity | 0 | Flan2021 | trec:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Write the next sentence in this paragraph:
The person makes sure that all the sides of the sink are cleaned, including the drain. Then she starts the tap to wash off the powder and bleach. she
a). then uses a paper towel to wipe off the water and clean off any residual powder from the sink.;
b). sets the fry pan on top of the sink and sets it away to the side, watching.;
c). takes the clothes and puts them in the laundry basket.;
d). pours some olive oil on her hands and uses one finger to paint the sink and then by wiping her finger on a towel.; | a). | 4 | Flan2021 | hellaswag:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Select from options: Continue writing the next sentence.
She is not really playing. The other player is a more serious player as she serves. the game of bad - mitten
Pick your answer from:
a). continues as the first player missed again and again..
b). continues and another player has a very hard time making the serves he is trying hard to not make..
c). is played by two different players who are both serious about the game..
d). is separate from the other team..
Answer: | a). | 2 | Flan2021 | hellaswag:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Do these sentences have the same meaning?
The company also became synonymous with ethical business practices .
Levi became known for ethical business practices .
Pick from:
+ no;
+ yes; | yes | 9 | Flan2021 | glue/mrpc:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
Summarize this article in one sentence.
The agreement was signed by Afghanistan's newly appointed national security adviser, Hanif Atmar.
Previous President Hamid Karzai had refused to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the US, straining ties and raising security fears.
Most Nato forces are to withdraw this year, leaving 9,800 US troops behind.
The total number of troops in a new Nato-led mission - including US soldiers - to train and assist Afghanistan's security forces will be about 12,000 next year.
There will also be a separate US-led force dealing with the remnants of al-Qaeda.
US ambassador to Kabul Jim Cunningham signed the long-delayed agreement on behalf of the government in Washington.
Ashraf Ghani, newly elected Afghan President, welcomed the deal. He said: "Today Afghanistan has regained its sovereignty as a power."
Meanwhile US President Barack Obama said the BSA marked a "historic day" in US-Afghan relations.
"We look forward to working with this new government to cement an enduring partnership that strengthens Afghan sovereignty, stability, unity, and prosperity," he added.
The BSA allows for some foreign special forces to stay in the country to conduct "counter-terror operations" and others to support and train Afghan forces.
Under a separate Nato agreement also signed on Tuesday, several nations, led by Germany, Turkey and Italy, will contribute to a further force of about 3,000 troops.
Analysis: David Loyn, BBC News, Kabul
The Bilateral Security Agreement between Afghanistan and the US allows American troops to remain in Afghanistan after the end of 2014. But the force will be quite small, at 9,800 troops, and will be cut in half by the end of 2015, before a full pullout at the end of 2016.
Under a separate Nato agreement, a further force of about 3,000 troops will be contributed by several Nato nations, led by Germany, Turkey and Italy. Britain's only contribution will be at the officers' training academy, which is modelled on Sandhurst, at Qargha close to Kabul.
By agreeing to the deal so quickly, President Ghani is resetting a relationship soured by his predecessor Hamid Karzai, who refused to sign the agreements, and to the end criticised the US and its forces. The US ambassador to Kabul, Jim Cunningham, said that Tuesday's signing sent a broader signal to the region about the continuing US commitment to Afghanistan.
The US deployment will be halved by the end of 2015 and withdrawn almost completely by the end of 2016. The Associated Press news agency reports that the US plans to leave about 1,000 troops in a "security office" after this deadline.
Nato countries have been steadily reducing the number of troops they have committed to the Afghan mission, handing over control to local security forces.
Earlier this year, there were estimated to be just over 50,000 Nato troops serving in Afghanistan from 49 contributing nations. Of these the bulk - about 34,000 - were US troops.
Mr Ghani was sworn in as Afghanistan's new president on Monday, replacing Mr Karzai in the country's first democratic transfer of power.
The Kabul ceremony followed six months of deadlock amid a bitter dispute over electoral fraud and a recount of votes.
Under a US-brokered unity deal, Mr Ghani shares power with presidential poll runner-up Abdullah Abdullah, who becomes chief executive.
Their first joint official act was to oversee the signing of the new BSA deal, and the Nato deal that followed it, in the presidential palace.
Mr Karzai had refused to sign the deal, in part because the US sought immunity from prosecution for its forces.
He also asked for further assurances from the US that its forces would not raid Afghan homes and that Washington would help start stalled peace talks with the Taliban.
Mr Karzai's refusal to sign aggravated relations with the US, and prompted fears that Taliban insurgents would exploit a gap in security.
Summary: | The new Afghan government has signed a security deal with American officials that will allow US troops to remain in the country beyond this year. | 2 | Flan2021 | huggingface:xsum | zs_opt |
Answer the following question. Which country is South East Asia has a red rectangular flag surmounted by a gold star? | vietnam | 5 | Flan2021 | trivia_qa/rc:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
What debate topic are the following sentences about?
1. It is therefore clear that making more information about food available , especially in the form of readily available food labels , helps people make choices that will help the fight against obesity .
2. Elseth , M. , Obesity numbers rise in 28 states , published 6/29/2010 , , accessed 9/15/2011 Arsenault , J. E. , Can Nutrition Labeling Affect Obesity ?
3. , published in 2010 , , accessed 9/15/2011 diabetesincontrol.com , Nutritional Labeling and Point-of-Purchase Signs Work to Make Better Choices , published 8/10/2010 , , accessed 9/15/2011
4. Given that there is a global trend of increasing numbers of overweight and obese people , food that is fattening and therefore contributes to this problem needs to be clearly labeled so people can avoid them .
5. Research shows that having this nutritional information helps people make better choices .
6. Up to 30 % of consumers reconsider buying a food item after reading the food label and finding out whats inside .
7. Another study points out that there were significant differences in mean nutrient intake of total calories , total fat , saturated fat , cholesterol , sodium , dietary fiber , and sugars when people could go ahead and use the information about the food they were considering buying . | This House would introduce labels on food to encourage people to eat better | 6 | Flan2021 | opinion_abstracts_idebate | zs_opt |
Select from options: How similar are the following two sentences?
Comcast Class A shares were up 8 cents at $30.50 in morning trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
The stock rose 48 cents to $30 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
Give the answer on a scale from 0 - 5, where 0 is "not similar at all" and 5 is "means the same thing".
a). 0;
b). 1;
c). 2;
d). 3;
e). 4;
f). 5; | c). | 3 | Flan2021 | glue/stsb:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
Here is some data: The Plough eatType pub; The Plough food Fast food; The Plough familyFriendly no; The Plough near Café Rouge.
Write a sentence that describes this data: | The Plough is a pub near Café Rouge that provides Fast food with a price range of less than £20. It is not family-friendly. | 3 | Flan2021 | gem/dart:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Multi-choice problem: Is the next sentence syntactically and semantically acceptable?
It was Anne Elliott who loved Captain Wentworth but who rejected his first proposal.
Available choices:
[A]. unacceptable;
[B]. acceptable; | [B]. | 6 | Flan2021 | glue/cola:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
Answer the question
The features below are all present on Earth. Which feature could also be found on the Moon?
Choose from: a). crater. b). clouds. c). electrical storms. d). nitrogen based atmosphere. | a). | 5 | Flan2021 | ai2_arc/ARC-Easy:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Write a question you would see in a school textbook. | The respiratory system cannot deliver oxygen to the cells of the body, nor can it remove carbon dioxide, without which two body systems? | 7 | Flan2021 | ai2_arc/ARC-Challenge:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Read this and answer the question. If the question is unanswerable, say "unanswerable".
The rule of law has been considered as one of the key dimensions that determine the quality and good governance of a country. Research, like the Worldwide Governance Indicators, defines the rule of law as: "the extent to which agents have confidence and abide by the rules of society, and in particular the quality of contract enforcement, the police and the courts, as well as the likelihood of crime or violence." Based on this definition the Worldwide Governance Indicators project has developed aggregate measurements for the rule of law in more than 200 countries, as seen in the map below. A government based on the rule of law can be called a "nomocracy", from the Greek nomos (law) and kratos (power or rule).
What is the term that described a government based on the rule of law? | nomocracy | 1 | Flan2021 | squad/v2.0:3.0.0 | zs_opt |
Din păcate, cauza principală a acestui fenomen este reprezentată de exploatările forestiere ilegale.
Translate to English
English: | Unfortunately, the main cause of this phenomenon is illegal logging. | 1 | Flan2021 | wmt16_translate/ro-en:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Produce a brief English sentence that would be considered grammatically as category: 2.
All categories: Possible answers: 1. unacceptable; 2. acceptable; | A serious accident happened yesterday. | 9 | Flan2021 | glue/cola:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
Dialogue:
Steven: so what are your holiday plans this year?
Graham: we will probably go to Croatia again
Steven: by plane or car?
Graham: first time this year by plane I think, the tickets are so cheap already it might not be worth taking a car at all
Steven: are they?
Graham: yeah, if you book in advance you can get them for like 50-60 euro per person
Steven: that's actually really cheap
Graham: yeah, too bad Croatia itself is not so cheap anymore :/
Steven: I know, you mentioned it when you went last year
Graham: it's surely not what it was 4 or more years ago, it might be our last trip there
Steven: soon it will be cheaper to go Thailand or something lol
Graham: or maybe it is the case already ;)
What was going on in that conversation? | Graham plans to go on holiday to Croatia by plane this year as the tickets booked in advance are cheap. He claims however that the holiday in Croatia is getting more expensive each year. Steven claims that it's going to be cheaper to go to Thailand soon. | 6 | Flan2021 | samsum:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Summarize this article in one sentence.
The lock, which belonged to the estate of the Emperor's valet, Eugen Ketterl, had been valued at about 450 euros.
Franz Joseph ruled from 1848 to 1916 and was one of Europe's longest reigning monarchs.
In 2011, a lock of Justin Bieber's hair sold for £25,024 on Ebay.
The teeny-bopper had given the piece of hair in a signed box to US chat-show host Ellen Degeneres, and the money raised was given to an animal charity.
But while Franz Joseph's follicles may have been less in demand than the Canadian crooner's quiff, the Austrian emperor's lock fared better than one of Napoleon Bonaparte's: In 2010, a lock of the French emperor's hair sold for £8,600 at auction in New Zealand.
The lock of imperial white curled hair was kept in a blue velvet-lined box and had been given to Mr Ketterl along with other of the monarch's discarded personal effects, as a way of topping up his salary.
Also under the hammer at Thursday's sale in Vienna's Dorotheum Auction House were Franz Joseph's cigar case and a handkerchief, as well as a sketchbook belonging to his son, Crown Prince Rudolf, who was found dead with his lover in 1889.
Summary: | A lock of hair belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph has been auctioned in Vienna for 13,720 euros (£11,500) - more than 20 times its estimated value. | 2 | Flan2021 | huggingface:xsum | zs_opt |
Pingali Nagendrarao (Telugu: పింగళి నాగేంద్రరావు) (29 December 1901 – 6 May 1971) was a Telugu movie script writer, playwright and lyricist. Famous for his witty and romantic lyrics, he also wrote dialogues for many movies. "Patala Bhairavi", "Mayabazar" and "Missamma" are some of his best known works.
Can we draw the following conclusion?
Pingali Nagendrarao never won an award.
Pick from:
[a]. Yes.
[b]. It's impossible to say.
[c]. No. | [b]. | 2 | Flan2021 | anli/r2:0.1.0 | zs_opt |
From the following options, what is the question "What TV comedian worked with White Fang , Black Tooth and Pookie the Lion ?" asking about?
Pick from:
(i) description.
(ii) entity.
(iii) abbreviation.
(iv) human.
(v) numeric.
(vi) location. | (iv) | 5 | Flan2021 | trec:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
A rare blue lobster caught by local lobsterman, Greg Ward, is on display at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, N.H., on Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster... (Associated Press)
A rare blue lobster caught by local lobsterman, Greg Ward, is on display at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, N.H., on Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster... (Associated Press)
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire lobsterman has joined an elite club after catching a rare blue lobster.
The Portsmouth Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2uBKn8X ) Greg Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster when he examined his catch off the coast Monday where New Hampshire borders Maine. The Rye lobsterman quickly realized his hard-shell lobster was a unique blue and cream color.
The oft-cited odds of catching a blue lobster are 1 in 2 million. But no one knows for sure.
Ward says the lobster is unlike anything he's ever seen.
He gave the rare crustacean to the Seacoast Science Center in Rye to study and put on display.
Center aquarist Rob Royer says Ward's blue lobster will go on display in the "exotic" lobster tank once it acclimates to the water.
___
Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com ||||| PORTSMOUTH — Lobstermen catch thousands of the crustaceans every year, but every now and again a gem is found among the masses.
On Monday, Rye lobsterman Greg Ward caught a hard-shelled blue and cream colored lobster around 1 p.m. near the New Hampshire-Maine border. He originally thought he caught a rare albino lobster, but said he had rarely caught blue lobsters in his 32 years of commercial lobster fishing.
“This one was not all the way white and not all the way blue," Ward said. "I’ve never seen anything like it. Usually, the stronger lobsters are usually the reddish brown color but this one still had a hard shell.”
Ward gave the lobster to Seacoast Science Center in Rye to examine and put on display. According to aquarist Rob Royer, the likelihood of a catching a blue lobster is somewhere between 1 and 3 million. He said the odds of catching an albino lobster are roughly one in a hundred million.
“Blue lobsters are still pretty uncommon," Royer said. "We’ll get about five or six calls every summer. Every time we get a call about an albino lobster, I get a little skeptical just because they are so rare.”
Royer said Ward’s lobster will eventually go on display in Seacoast Science Center’s “exotic” lobster tank as soon as it gets adjusted to the center’s tanks and water. He said it currently has another blue lobster on display, a bright orange lobster and a calico covered lobster.
Ward’s first mate Jango Troy said it was great to see a different kind of lobster.
“You see so many lobsters that are alike, day in and day out on the boat,” said Troy, a Portsmouth resident. “When you happen to see one that’s different, it really sticks out.” |||||
Write a summary. | – A New Hampshire lobsterman has joined an elite club after catching a rare blue lobster, the AP reports. The Portsmouth Herald reports Greg Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster when he examined his catch off the coast Monday where New Hampshire borders Maine. The Rye lobsterman quickly realized his hard-shell lobster was a unique blue and cream color. The oft-cited odds of catching a blue lobster are 1 in 2 million. But no one knows for sure. Ward says the lobster is unlike anything he's ever seen. He gave the rare crustacean to the Seacoast Science Center in Rye to study and put on display. Center aquarist Rob Royer says Ward's blue lobster will go on display in the "exotic" lobster tank once it acclimates to the water. | 6 | Flan2021 | multi_news:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
I walked down a couple of blocks , filled with interesting shops , but there was n't a temple in sight . I finally stopped for a moment , took out my map and tried to orient myself . After consulting one of the shop owners , we determined that I needed to backtrack a bit and go over a couple of streets .
OPT:
[-] The narrator is drunk .
[-] The narrator is lacking orientation due to being inebriated .
[-] None of the above choices .
[-] The narrator is disoriented .
Answer the following question: Why is the narrator appearing to be lost ?
| None of the above choices . | 2 | Flan2021 | cosmos_qa:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Find the right ending to this passage.
(CNN) -- There are several reasons why Yann Martel's Man Booker prize-winning novel "Life of Pi" was considered unfilmable when it was published in 2001. That most of the story takes place on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean surely didn't help. That the shipwrecked hero, a young Indian boy named Piscine Molitor Patel -- "Pi" for short -- didn't have another human soul to talk to for 200 days presented another significant challenge. But the most glaring problem facing any aspiring filmmaker would have to be Richard Parker, the full-grown 450-pound Bengal tiger who shares the lifeboat with Pi.
Interesting to note that the movie revises and pretty much demolishes the tiger-taming tips
OPTIONS:
- Ang Lee came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- CNN came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Indian came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Life of Pi came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Man Booker prize came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Pacific Ocean came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Pi came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Piscine Molitor Patel came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Richard Parker came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
- Yann Martel came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time.
| Yann Martel came up with -- worth bearing in mind should you ever find yourself in close proximity to a man-eater for a prolonged period of time. | 2 | Flan2021 | super_glue/record:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
What is the most logical completion of this news story?.
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea has proposed high-level talks with the United States to "ease tensions in the Korean Peninsula," its state news agency reported early Sunday. The topics that "can be sincerely discussed" include easing military tensions, changing a truce treaty to a peace treaty, and nuclear matters, according to a statement from the North's National Defense Commission, as reported by the state-run Korean Central News Agency. It left some details -- like where and when the talks might be held -- up to Washington, and insisted U.S. officials should not lay out any preconditions for talks.
Last Tuesday, North Korea called off what were supposed to be the first high-level talks between
OPTIONS:
- CNN and South Korean officials in years.
- Korean Central News Agency and South Korean officials in years.
- Korean Peninsula and South Korean officials in years.
- National Defense Commission and South Korean officials in years.
- North and South Korean officials in years.
- North Korea and South Korean officials in years.
- Seoul and South Korean officials in years.
- South Korea and South Korean officials in years.
- U.S. and South Korean officials in years.
- United States and South Korean officials in years.
- Washington and South Korean officials in years.
| North and South Korean officials in years. | 8 | Flan2021 | super_glue/record:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
Generate a short summary this sentence:
the fish are killed when navy divers practice locating and detonating underwater mines .
Summary: | group wants probe of navy fish kills | 2 | Flan2021 | gigaword:1.2.0 | zs_opt |
Please write a short summary for the following article:
Woman Wants Lifetime of KitKats After Buying Waferless Pack
A student studying law in England is threatening to sue Nestle after buying a multi-pack of KitKats missing their signature wafers.
Saima Ahmad, 20, is seeking a lifetime supply of the chocolate snack, ITV News reports, claiming “monetary and emotional” loss.
The Kings College London student wrote a letter to Nestle explaining her issues. “The specific duty you owe in consistency in your manufacturing process. The failure to take due care in the manufacturing process resulted in a product being defective,” she said. “As a result I feel as though I have been misled to part with my money and purchase a product that is clearly different from what has been marketed by Nestle.”
Ahmad purchased the defective KitKat multi-pack for £2 ($2.88)
Summary: | It didn't have a wafer in it | 1 | Flan2021 | newsroom:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
What is the solution to this math problem?
Solve -31654*t - 16376 = -31476*t for t. | -92 | 5 | Flan2021 | math_dataset/algebra__linear_1d:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
A private island is a disconnected body of land wholly owned by a single private citizen or corporation. Although this exclusivity gives the owner substantial control over the property, private islands remain under the jurisdiction of national and sometimes local governments.
See options at the end. Can we conclude that if you own an island are there laws?
Choices:
a). no;
b). yes; | b). | 0 | Flan2021 | bool_q:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Write a dialog with this premise "Ken wants his mother to give him some money for books. She decides to get them on the way home hersefl.". | Ken: Mom I need cash
Kelly: What for?
Kelly: I gave you money yesterday
Ken: I need books for school
Kelly: what books I'll get them on the way home
Ken: | 9 | Flan2021 | samsum:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Paragraph: "The impact of her interest and work on the provision of legal services in the state of California is immeasurable," said Patricia Philips, senior of-counsel for Los Angeles' Morrison & Foerster. "Its value is felt every day by someone who would otherwise be floundering around in the legal system yet dealing with very serious problems." Zelon's public-interest work has not gone unnoticed. Several organizations that share her commitment to public service - including the National Legal Aid & Defender Association and the State Bar of California - have honored her. Two years ago, Zelon received the Laurie D. Zelon Pro Bono Award, which had been named for her one year earlier by the Law Firm Pro Bono Project, which she'd helped found. "I didn't find out until I was standing in the great hall of the Supreme Court, surrounded by 300 people who were there, that the award had been named for me and was thereafter going to be given in my name. It's very hard to believe, for anyone who knows me well, but I was actually speechless for a period," Zelon said. Zelon faced one of the greatest challenges of her legal career, she said, when her appointment to the bench forced her to switch gears from civil litigation to criminal law. "It was a steep learning curve for me," she said. "It's a whole different set of processes. The rules are different. The case law is a whole body unto itself." Attorneys praise Zelon for her thorough understanding of the law. "She's extremely well-versed in the law," Leon said. "She's very thorough in her research," Wong said. Of course, not all attorneys concur with every decision Zelon makes in court. Some city attorneys disagree with her interpretation of evidentiary statutes when Zelon puts limits on their use of hearsay testimony. But lawyers who have appeared before her say that they appreciate her intelligent interpretation of the law.
Question: "Why were the city attorneys not supportive of Zelon's testimony?"
Answer: "They felt she only did well with civil litigation"
Based on the paragraph, choose if the answer is correct:
Choices: a). no. b). yes. | a). | 3 | Flan2021 | super_glue/multirc:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
Available choices:
(1). description;
(2). entity;
(3). abbreviation;
(4). human;
(5). numeric;
(6). location;Would the answer to the question "What does God create in the first sentence of the Bible ?" be an entity, an abbreviation, a description, a human, a location, or a numeric value?
| (2). | 2 | Flan2021 | trec:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
What is the debate topic for the following sentences?
1. Therefore a maximum working week prevents business from externalising costs to others .
2. That the businesses themselves manage to push those costs onto wider society or the state doesnt make those costs go anywhere from the point of view of an economy as a whole .
3. It goes without saying that all this avoidable stress and medical trouble needs paying for .
4. The WHO estimates that work related stress costs $ 300bn p.a. in the US , to take one example .
5. Even in less extreme examples , we can see health issues affecting productivity and causing medical problems which require paying to treat .
6. In extremis , as we can see in the karoshi phenomenon in Japan , people can work themselves to an early grave .
7. Working for too many hours per week can affect health , wellbeing and productivity over the medium to longer term .
8. In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in article 23 Everyone has the right to work to just and favourable conditions of work and article 24 Everyone has the right to rest and leisure , including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay both relate to a fundamental freedom from being forced to work too hard . | This House believes that there should be a legally mandated ceiling on weekly working hours. | 7 | Flan2021 | opinion_abstracts_idebate | zs_opt |
Knowledgeable observers are defined to meet the parameters of each specific consultation undertaken.
Translate to French. | Les observateurs compétents sont définis en fonction des paramètres pertinents à chaque consultation. | 0 | Flan2021 | wmt14_translate/fr-en:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
This is the content of an email: A new Kudlow's Take has been published on Kudlow.com. As a subscriber, you may click the hyperlink below, login, and view the latest Kudlow's Take. AOL Users please note, you may need to copy and paste the hyperlink into your web browser. Thank You,
What was the subject line for this email? | New Kudlow's Take | 5 | Flan2021 | aeslc:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Continue the following story.
John cannot get the body of the toy through the hole of the tube. The
+ hole is small.. + body is small.. | hole is small. | 7 | Flan2021 | winogrande:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
A těžko nevěřit ve vyšší moc, když tě zrovna nepustili do hostince a chystáš se rodit ve žlabu.
Could you please translate this to English? | (groaning loudly) Okay. Yeah, and it's hard not to believe in a higher power when you've just been turned away from the inn, and you're about to give birth in a manger. | 2 | Flan2021 | wmt16_translate/cs-en:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
The PPSN was known as the Revenue and Social Insurance Number (RSI No) until 1998. RSI Numbers were first issued in April 1979 as a replacement for the separate PAYE Number and Social Welfare Insurance Number which had been used for income tax and social welfare purposes respectively until then. The PAYE Number was issued by the Revenue Commissioners and these numbers were transferred to the RSI No system as a basis for the unified system.
Choose your answer: Is the following statement correct based on the text
is rsi number the same as pps number
-- no; -- yes; | no | 7 | Flan2021 | bool_q:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Question: If a new moon occurred on June 2, when will the next new moon occur?
What is the correct answer to the question from the following choices?
Choose your answer from: A). June 30 B). June 28 C). June 23 D). June 15 | A). | 2 | Flan2021 | ai2_arc/ARC-Challenge:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Biotic forces can cause changes to the surface of Earth. Which is the best example of living organisms causing weathering?
Pick the answer from these options
Available options:
(I) Beavers building a dam across a stream.
(II) Cattle walking and grazing in a grassland.
(III) Salmon making nests for their eggs in a stream.
(IV) Tree seedlings growing and forming cracks in rocks. | (IV) | 6 | Flan2021 | ai2_arc/ARC-Easy:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Punjab Control of Organised Crime Act, (PCOCA) is law to be enacted by Punjab state in India to combat organised crime. It is in process of approval as the Punjab Cabinet has yet not given its approval on account of few reservations about various clauses of the Act.The Act is designed on the pattern of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act enacted in 1999.
Can we draw the following conclusion?
PCOCA is the first organized crime law since 1999.
Options: [I] Yes; [II] It's impossible to say; [III] No; | [II] | 2 | Flan2021 | anli/r2:0.1.0 | zs_opt |
La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ
Translate to Finnish
Finnish: | La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ | 0 | Flan2021 | wmt16_translate/fi-en:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Innovators @putterill @calumbrannan @dsbilling @SerendipityJane - they've actually done a video call ona 3G phone.. I bow at your feet
Describe the sentiment embodied by this tweet.
pick from the following.
*negative.
*positive.
I think the answer is | positive | 2 | Flan2021 | sentiment140:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Generate an approximately fifteen-word sentence that describes all this data: 107 Camilla, discoverer, C. Woods; 107 Camilla, periapsis, 479343000.0 (kilometres); 107 Camilla, epoch, 2006-12-31.
Sentence: | C Woods discovered 107 Camilla, which has a periapsis of 479343000.0 kilometres, and the epoch 31 December 2006. | 7 | Flan2021 | gem/web_nlg_en:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Read the following paragraph and determine if the hypothesis is true:
Snapper's Kittens<br>Snapper found a litter of kittens. One by one they began to disappear. They thought she was killing them. Turned out she was moving them to another little down the road. She thought the kitten were simply lost.
Pick your answer from: a). Yes; b). It's impossible to say; c). No;
Hypothesis: Snapper's kittens are dead.
| c). | 5 | Flan2021 | anli/r3:0.1.0 | zs_opt |
Which characteristic of a bird most likely aids in obtaining food found in small places?
Pick the answer from these options
OPT:
(i) webbed feet
(ii) large body
(iii) soft feathers
(iv) skinny beak | (iv) | 6 | Flan2021 | ai2_arc/ARC-Challenge:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
This is an email
Gerald - Please review the attached letter requesting LRCI's approval of surveyors we desire to use for the post closing survey. LRCI has previously approved Miller Engineers & Associates. This letter requests the additional approval of Hydro Consultants, Inc. Hydro Consultants was the firm hired by Enron Storage Company to perform their survey in April, 2000. Please have the letter signed and returned to me at the address below.
What is the subject of this email? | Post Closing Survey for Napoleonville Property | 6 | Flan2021 | aeslc:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
1. Who's to say what is appropriate since the only POV the filmmakers have is the one where dead presidents are staring back at them.
2. You could argue that The Real Cancun isn't worth shelling out seven bucks for when you can get the same thing on TV, and you would be right. But it sure beats Fear Factor: The Movie.
3. Reality Land is a village built on lowest common denominators -- the cheapest, the dumbest, the wildest -- that Bunim and Murray well know often leads to the most fun.
4. This is a youth comedy without humor, a porn Web site without porn and reality without a trace of the real.
5. Surprisingly dull, a tired rehash of those cheesy spring-break movies from the 1980s.
6. The simple fact of the matter is that there is nothing new here.
7. Strip away the glittery facade and turn down the music, and what's left is very little substance.
8. There's a case to be made for The Real Cancun as a document of the mating dance as well as an unintentionally poignant film about the brevity of youth.
9. I don't want to say that The Real Cancun, is boring, but I fell asleep on my arm during the last 45 minutes and chewed it off rather than wake myself up.
10. For some of us there is a certain anthropological appeal to the mating rituals (not to mention the actual mating) on display here.
Based on these individual reviews, what is the critic consensus? | The footage is predictable and rather tame, and most of the people are uninteresting. | 2 | Flan2021 | opinion_abstracts_rotten_tomatoes | zs_opt |
Write a brief sentence. | A bird is flying outside. | 9 | Flan2021 | snli:1.1.0 | zs_opt |
Read the text and determine if the sentence is true:
The article also mentions the greater prevalence of obesity among two minority populations, African-Americans and Hispanic/Latino, but does not consider in its analysis of the increase in obesity the increase of these these populations as a proportion of the United States population. African-Americans and Hispanic/Latinos have a higher rates of obesity than White Americans, while Asian-Americans have a relatively low rate of obesity. Despite only representing one third of the U.S. population, African-Americans and Hispanic/Latinos represent about one half of the population growth.
Sentence: African-Americans are a minority in the U.S.
Options are:
[A]. yes;
[B]. no;
A: | [A]. | 6 | Flan2021 | super_glue/rte:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
Choose your answer?
A teacher puts a cup of coffee into the cup holder of a car. When the car stops suddenly some of the coffee spills out of the cup. Which statement best explains why the coffee spills?
Choose from:
(a). The coffee stays in motion because the stopping force acts only on the car.
(b). The coffee stays in motion because a force from the cup holder pulls on the coffee.
(c). The stopping force on the car causes an equal and opposite reaction from the coffee.
(d). The stopping force causes the motion of the car to slow down and the motion of the coffee to speed up. | (a). | 4 | Flan2021 | ai2_arc/ARC-Challenge:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Alesha Dixon has quit the judging panel of Strictly Come Dancing. The pop star, who controversially replaced choreographer Arlene Phillips in 2009, is leaving after three series on the BBC show. Her departure comes just hours before ITV is set to unveil its new panel for Britain's Got Talent, prompting speculation she may have been lured by a big money deal to swap sides. I'm off! Alesha Dixon has quit BBC talent show Strictly Come Dancing after three series. In a statement, Miss Dixon said:. 'After three incredible years on the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel I. have decided that it is time to move on. 'Strictly Come Dancing will always. hold a special place in my heart as it has been such an amazing. experience, both as a winning competitor and as a judge. 'I would like to say a big thank you. to everyone involved in the show, the production team, my fellow. judges, and a very special thank you to the fans for their support. 'Music is my great passion and the. reason for the other incredible opportunities that have come my way and I. am looking forward to getting back into the studio and focusing on. making a new record in 2012.' Who will replace her? Who will sit with Craig Revel Horwood, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli? A BBC spokesperson said: 'We wish her all the best. 'She has done three very successful series with us and we look forward to announcing our new line-up in due course.' Dixon, 33, famously won the fifth series of Strictly in 2007 with her professional partner Matthew Cutler. It. was a career resurgence for the Hertfordshire singer, who had been dropped from. her record company and split from ex-husband, rapper Michael Harvey, after discovering. his affair with singer Javine Hylton. Her appointment on the Strictly panel caused controversy, with the BBC being accused of 'ageism' after sacking Phillips, who is 36 years older than Dixon. During. her time on Strictly, Dixon was rumoured to be the highest paid judge. on the panel, earning more than Craig Revel-Horwood, Len Goodman and. Bruno Tonioli. Glamour girl: The singer at the Military Awards at the Imperial War Museum last month. Despite being the least experienced in terms of dancing, her celebrity status and interest from rival talent shows landed her a reported £100,000 salary. In a recent interview, Dixon admitted she hoped to build her TV career and dreamed of being the 'British Oprah'. She told the Mail On Sunday's You magazine: 'I haven't got an exact time scale for it. I can't say I want to do it in five years, or ten, but that's the ultimate goal. Triumph: Dixon and Matthew Cutler in the final of Strictly Come Dancing in 2007. 'I would love to have my own chat. show. I'd love to be able to address serious issues, and keep a foot in. the entertainment world. I just want to do it all, and I think you can. Oprah has.' Following her Strictly triumph, Dixon signed to a new record label and her second album The Alesha Show was certified platinum. However,. her follow-up disc The Entertainer failed to captivate the British. music buying public and peaked at No.84 on the album charts. In June, Dixon announced she and Asylum Records had parted ways, citing 'creative differences'.
What are highlight points for this article? | Will she be on the new Britain's Got Talent panel when it's unveiled tonight? | 3 | Flan2021 | cnn_dailymail:3.4.0 | zs_opt |
Answer the question...who is the speaker of the lok sabha?? | Sumitra Mahajan | 5 | Flan2021 | natural_questions_open:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Billy had a pet turtle that he took good care of, everyday. His turtle's name was Tumble. Tumble liked to walk around outside in the garden and dig small holes to sleep in. Billy loved Tumble and would visit him outside when he got home from school. Tumble's favorite food was oatmeal. So, every day after school, Billy would make Tumble a big bowl of oatmeal and take it outside for Tumble to enjoy. Tumble would see Billy and walk up to him as fast as a turtle can go. Billy would put the bowl down and wait for Tumble to come up to the bowl to eat from it. When Tumble reached the bowl, he put his nose on it. But, the oatmeal was too hot to eat. Billy reached down and blew on the hot oatmeal, to cool it down for Tumble to eat. Once the oatmeal was cool enough, Tumble could dig in and eat his big bowl of oatmeal. Billy loved to watch as Tumble ate his bowl of oatmeal, because Billy took good care of Tumble, everyday.
Question: "What was Tumble walking towards so quickly?"
Response: "Billy"
pick from the following. 1). no 2). yes
Does the response correctly answer the question?
| 2). | 0 | Flan2021 | super_glue/multirc:1.0.2 | zs_opt |
This House would ban the promotion of diets
What argument could one make about this debate topic? | Inventing the idea of fat | 2 | Flan2021 | opinion_abstracts_idebate | zs_opt |
What is formed when a neutral atom gains an electron?
Options: I. A mixture II. An iron III. A molecule IV. A metal
| II. | 8 | Flan2021 | unified_qa_science_inst | zs_opt |
Do you want to know something about children in Africa? What to they do for fun every day? Find out here: Education School is expensive for many African children. Lots of families can't afford school uniforms or exercise books even though they don't have to pay for school. For those lucky enough to go to school , they have a lot to learn. Some take two language classes: English or French, and their first language. There is also math, science, history, social studies and geography. _ take up much of children's time after school. They have to get water and firewood for the family every day. Also there's cleaning , washing and helping Mum with the meal. Daily fun It's not all work and no play. Sports are very popular. Children can make goals with twigs ( )and their own footballs with plastic and bits of string ( ). They play in the country and the streets of old towns. There're many football teams for teenagers in Africa. Internet It's really expensive to get on the Internet. To surf the net for 20 hours costs over 600yuan. This is more than the average monthly pay per person. Egypt and South Africa are the top two users of the Internet in Africa. All of the capital cities there can get on the Internet. Some schools offer computer lessons but few students can enjoy computer fun at home.
1. What is expensive for many African children?
2. What is this in spite of?
3. How many subjects do they attend?
4. Do they have time to study after class?
5. How many chores are there?
6. Which parent do the pupils help with the chores?
7. What sport is there much of?
8. What is another example of a service that is very expensive?
9. Do all educational institutions have technology sections?
10. Is it cheap to websurf?
11. Does it cost 700 yuan?
12. What does it cost?
13. Is that more than the weekly salary?
14. What sort of things can the kids construct to amuse themselves with as sport?
15. What did they construct these from?
16. What are the typical languages these youth study outside their own?
Numbered answers: | 1. Education School
2. they don't have to pay for school
3. There are eight possible subjects
4. yes
5. Five
6. their mother
7. football
8. the internet
9. no
10. no
11. no
12. twenty hours for 600 yuan
13. Yes
14. footballs and football goals
15. twigs, plastic and pieces of string.
16. English and French, | 6 | Flan2021 | coqa:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Answer this question: A 10 g sample of aluminum and a 10 g sample of iron were each heated by 100 joules of energy. The temperature of the aluminum sample rose 11°C, while the temperature of the iron sample increased 23°C. Which statement best accounts for these results?
Available options:
(I) Iron is twice as dense as aluminum..
(II) Atoms of aluminum are smaller than atoms of iron..
(III) Using equal masses results in similar heat capacities..
(IV) The specific heat of iron is less than that of aluminum... Answer: | (IV) | 9 | Flan2021 | unified_qa_science_inst | zs_opt |
Answer this question:
what laws directed the flow of goods between england and the colonies?? | The Navigation Acts | 3 | Flan2021 | natural_questions_open:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
I just took a test in school today. What question was I asked? | There is a thunderstorm close to your house. The windows rattle at the same time that you hear the thunder. What causes the windows to rattle? | 9 | Flan2021 | ai2_arc/ARC-Easy:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Background: Zazi was born in a village in Paktia Province, Afghanistan. He has two sisters and two brothers. At the age of 7 in 1992, he and his family moved to the city of Peshawar in Pakistan where they settled as Afghan refugees. In 1999, he and the family left Pakistan and immigrated to New York City.
Context: On September 10, as he crossed the George Washington Bridge headed for New York City, Zazi was pulled over by Port Authority Police, acting at the FBI's request, for what he was told was a routine random drug search, and his car was searched. They did not find anything of note, and he was allowed to go. Afzali's lawyer later wrote the court: "Even though [Zazi] is not the brightest bulb in the terrorist chandelier, the thinly-transparent ruse of a 'random' checkpoint stop did not fool him." On September 11, Afzali called Zazi's father. Zazi's father then spoke with Zazi, told him that "they" had shown Afzali his photos and photos of others, said Afzali would call him and he should speak with him as soon as possible, and added "So, before anything else, speak with [Afzali]. See if you need to go to [Afzali] or to make ... yourself aware, hire an attorney." Afzali called Zazi, and told him that the authorities had asked him about "you guys." He also asked Zazi for the telephone number of one of the other men whose photos he had been shown, and set up a meeting with him. Later that day, Zazi's rental car was towed due to a parking violation, and was searched. Agents found a laptop with a JPEG image of nine handwritten pages on how to make initiating explosives, main explosive charges, detonators, and fuses. The FBI asserted the nine pages of handwritten notes were in Zazi's handwriting. Zazi called Afzali, said his car had been stolen and he feared he was being "watched", and that the people watching him took his car. Afzali asked if there was any "evidence" in the car, and Zazi said no. When Zazi realized they were under investigation, the group threw away their bomb-making materials.
Question: Was Zazi in any kind of trouble?. Whats the answer? | was pulled over by Port Authority Police, acting at the FBI's request, for what he was told was a routine | 5 | Flan2021 | quac:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Article:
Britain will send a team of experienced military officers to Libya to help support and advise the country's opposition council, the UK foreign minister has said.
William Hague said on Tuesday that military advisers would join a group of British diplomats already co-operating with the Libyan National Transitional Council, based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
"They will advise the National Transitional Council on how to improve their military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance," he said.
However, the foreign office said the team would not train or arm rebel forces fighting troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader. He insisted that the deployment would be "fully within the terms" of the United Nations Security Council resolution on Libya, that authorised the set up of a no-fly zone over the country. Keep up with all the latest developments here "Consistent with our obligations under that resolution, our officers will not be involved in training or arming the opposition's fighting forces," Hague said. He did not specify when the military advisers would be sent but a statement from the foreign office said they would be deployed "quickly".
Britain had previously agreed to supply the rebels with telecommunications equipment and body armour to help them protect civilians.
The UN resolution does not provide for ground troops or any foreign occupation. Earlier Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, told Al Jazeera the bloc was looking at ways of sending troops to Libya on a humanitarian mission, if requested to do so by the UN.
"I've asked the European Union staff to work up a plan that would only rightly happen if, and it's a big if, the United Nations felt this was necessary."
She said these would not be combat troops "but people with expertise and experience who can go in and support the aid". The NATO-led international operation to enforce the no-fly zone and protect civilians has been criticised by rebels in recent weeks for failing to do enough to protect them from attack by pro-Gaddafi forces. On Tuesday, a member of Misrata's governing council, Nuri Abdullah Abdullati, called for British and French troops to be deployed to protect the besieged city, according to the AFP news agency. "Previously, Abdullati told reporters, "we did not accept any foreign soldiers in our country, but now, as we face these crimes of Kadhafi, we are asking on the basis of humanitarian and Islamic principles for someone to come and stop the killing. "Before we were asking for no foreign interference, but that was before Kadhafi used Grad rockets and planes. Now it's a life or death situation." The military struggle for control of Libya has ground to a stalemate, with rebels backed by airstrikes apparently capable of holding their ground in the east of the country, while Gaddafi continues to control Tripoli and the west, apart from Misurata. But Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, told state television on Tuesday that he was confident the rebellion would fail.
"I am very optimistic and we will win," Saif said on Allibya television. "The situation changes every day in our favour. Support for rebel council
Earlier on Tuesday, the leader of the Libyan Transitional National Council met Franco Frattini, Italy's foreign minister, to discuss the future of the country.
Mustafa Abdel Jalil said he would favour international ties "above all" with France, Italy and Qatar - the three countries that have recognised Libya's opposition, and that foreign policy would remain the same if it came to power.
But he said the way foreign revenue is distributed would change.
"There will be friendship and cooperation above all with Italy, France and Qatar," he said after talks with Frattini. "Our economic future will involve those who have supported us."
Frattini said Western and Middle Eastern states would meet in Rome next month to seek ways of realising oil revenue for the Libyan opposition. UN sanctions, designed to constrain Gaddafi, have prevented rebels from selling oil to raise funds themselves. So far, the rebels have only been able to export small quantities of oil with the help of Qatar.
Frattini said Rome remained opposed to sending ground troops to Libya.
Death toll 'reaches 10,000' Meanwhile Libya's opposition leaders said that at least 10,000 people had died since the start of the conflict in February. Mike Hanna, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Benghazi, said: "Given the intensity of the conflict, it doesn't come as a surprise. "We have focused on areas like Misurata, where the humanitarian crisis is well documented; however it is happening throughout Libya, the full extent of the crisis is not known and there is no real idea of [casualty] figures." The United Nations says it has been guaranteed humanitarian access to Misurata, while Britain says it will fund efforts to evacuate thousands of stranded migrant workers by boat from the besieged port city.
A Libyan official told Valerie Amos, the UN humanitarian chief, that Gaddafi's government was willing to set up "safe passage" out of the city, which remains partially in opposition hands after weeks of attacks by loyalist forces.
Amos secured the deal through talks in Tripoli, apparently pledging to up the UN presence in the capital in return for humanitarian access in other Libyan cities.
But she said that while she had received assurances the UN would be able to access the city, she received "no guarantees" of a cessation of hostilities "to enable people to move" or for supplies to be delivered. Witnesses said government forces continued to pound the area with rockets and artillery. ||||| The British government has come under intense pressure over its response to the crisis in Libya as ministers prepared to dispatch a team of military officers to advise rebels fighting Muammar Gaddafi's forces and the RAF stepped up air strikes.
Nato commanders said the alliance was extending Nato's targets in Libya to include small satellite communications systems and telephone exchanges in strikes described by defence officials as marking a clear "shift" in targeting policy. MPs expressed deep concern about mission creep.
The UN appealed for a ceasefire in Misrata, saying at least 20 children had been killed in attacks by government forces on rebel-held parts of the city, but senior Nato officers admitted air strikes could do little on their own to prevent a worsening crisis there.
Officials from countries engaged in the bombing campaign made it clear the situation is becoming increasingly difficult. Military action is not securing their goal, the end of the Gaddafi regime, while more direct intervention would be unpopular at home and might breach UN security council resolutions on Libya.
"It is a step to prolong the confrontation, there is no doubt about that," foreign minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi said. "Sending military personnel will encourage the other side to be more defiant." Libya's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kayim, said the Anglo-French decision was a "clear violation" of the UN security council remit and will prolong the crisis engulfing the country.
William Hague, the foreign secretary, said a number of "experienced military officers" would be sent to Benghazi to advise the rebels on intelligence-gathering, logistics and communications. About 10 British and 10 French officers will make up a combined team run by a joint headquarters.
The advisers "will enable the UK to build on the work already being undertaken to support and advise the NTC [National Transitional Council] on how to better protect civilians", Hague said. "In particular they will advise the NTC on how to improve their military organisational structures, communications and logistics, including how best to distribute humanitarian aid and deliver medical assistance."
British defence officials stressed the team would consist of advisers, rather than trainers. The officers will be equipped with small arms for their own protection but would not arm the rebels. There are no plans for the team to go to Misrata, the officials added.
General Lord Dannatt, a former head of the British army, said the decision to send military advisers to Benghazi was "an entirely logical further step to achieve legitimate aims".
Referring to last week's joint statement by David Cameron, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy that it would be an "unconscionable betrayal" if Gaddafi were allowed to remain in power, Dannatt added: "Some will always say 'mission creep', but [Britain should] interpret the UN mandate broadly to avoid mission collapse."
But the decision provoked a political row at home. David Davis, a former Conservative home secretary, said: "A lot of people will see this as mission creep, some of us as an inevitable outcome."
The ex-Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "Sending advisers for a limited purpose is probably within the terms of Resolution 1973, but it must not be seen as a first instalment of further military deployment. Vietnam began with a US president sending military advisers. We must proceed with caution."
The Labour MP David Winnick said: "However much one despises the brutality of the Gaddafi clan which rules Libya, the fact remains that there is a danger of mission creep. There is a civil war in Libya and this is a big escalation of Britain's involvement."
The six European countries in the bombing campaign – led by the French and the British, and including the Danes, Norwegians and Belgians – along with the Canadians, appear to have closed the gap in the bombing capacity caused by the withdrawal of the US more than a fortnight ago.
Officials said France had taken on the lead role, moving the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier closer to the Libyan coast and placing the aircraft on board under Nato command.
Officials pointed specifically to an attack near Tripoli that destroyed the communications facilities of Gaddafi's crack 32nd brigade, regarded as the most formidable unit in the regime's military. The aim was to cut the regime's supply lines and disrupt Gaddafi's ability to direct his forces.
Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said he remained "absolutely opposed" to troop deployment on the ground. But he acknowleged: "What we have perhaps underestimated is Muammar Gaddafi's capacity to adapt."
The British submarine HMS Triumph, is understood to have fired cruise missiles at Libyan targets over the past two days.
It emerged that last Friday's meeting of Nato foreign ministers supplied the go-ahead for more intensive bombing and securing more aircraft and weaponry.
"Gaddafi is not able to use his forces as he wants. He's not able to fight the way he wants," said Brigadier General Mark van Uhm, Nato's chief of allied operations. But "nothing indicates that Gaddafi has any intention of disengaging. His forces continue to use heavy weapons".
Nato officers admitted they could have little impact on the urban warfare in Misrata. "There's a limit to what can be achieved by air power to stop fighting in a city," said Van Uhm.
Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, the Canadian commander of the air campaign, told German radio: "It's a knife fight in a phone booth and it's very difficult to get in the middle of that."
Aid groups say food, medicines and other basic items are in short supply in the city, and tens of thousands of casualties and foreign workers are waiting at the port to be evacuated.
• This article was amended on 20 April 2011. The original referred to the six European countries in the bombing campaign – led by the French and the British and also including the Canadians, Danes, Norwegians, and Belgians. This has been corrected. ||||| Correction: An earlier version of this article said that two journalists working in Libya, Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, had been reportedly killed in an artillery attack. It remains unclear how the journalists were killed, although they are believed to have come under attack by mortars or rocket-propelled grenades.
The United States and its allies have entered a new stage of involvement in Libya, sending assistance and advisers directly to opposition military forces, which have been unable to break Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s stranglehold over much of the country despite help from NATO airstrikes.
France and Italy said Wednesday that they would join Britain in dispatching military advisers to assist the inexperienced and disorganized rebel army, primarily in tactics and logistics. President Obama authorized sending $25 million worth of nonlethal equipment, including body armor, tents, uniforms and vehicles.
The assistance appeared to stretch the definition of the “civilian protection” mandate contained in last month’s U.N. resolution authorizing foreign intervention in Libya. The allies said their efforts were indirectly achieving that objective, because the rebel force was best-positioned on the ground to protect Libyans from attacks — or the threat of attacks — by Gaddafi loyalists.
The rebel-held western Libyan city of Misurata continued to be the focus of the fighting. Among those killed in the violence were photographers Tim Hetherington, a British American, and American Chris Hondros, reportedly from an attack by Gaddafi forces, and two other Western journalists were wounded. NATO said its warplanes struck government targets on the outskirts of the besieged city, as well as around Tripoli, the capital.
The arrival of European military advisers and U.S. uniforms is unlikely to rapidly change the trajectory of the conflict, however, and NATO and its Arab partners in the Libya operation continue to count on their economic and diplomatic war of attrition against Gaddafi paying off in the end.
“We are dealing with a set of imperfect options,” a senior administration official said, noting that the measure of success is not “where things stand” but “where they would have stood had we done nothing.” The NATO airstrikes and a no-fly zone enforced by NATO and Arab countries “have essentially frozen the battle space in terms of the advance of Gaddafi’s forces,” he said, and “if you work all the other levers, you can make time work against Gaddafi.”
The official emphasized that Obama has no intention of sending U.S. ground forces — including noncombat military advisers — to Libya. But the administration’s attempts to firmly limit its involvement have also contributed to an image of disarray within NATO.
A senior European official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing the Americans, said that Obama’s eagerness to turn over command of the Libyan air operation to NATO late last month, and the withdrawal of U.S. fighter planes from ground-strike missions, had undermined the strength of their united front against Gaddafi.
Although U.S. military officials have said that American strike aircraft remain “available” to NATO commanders should they request it, the senior administration official indicated that agreement would not be automatic.
“We would assess any requests,” the official said.
In a feisty response to any suggestion that the U.S. move to the back seat had undermined the NATO campaign, Vice President Biden said the alliance was perfectly capable of handling the air attack mission itself.
“It is bizarre to suggest that NATO and the rest of the world lacks the capacity to deal with Libya — it does not,” Biden said in an interview with the Financial Times.
“Occasionally other countries lack the will,” he said, “but this is not about capacity.”
Biden said U.S. resources were better spent trying to guide Egypt’s transition toward democracy. He denied that U.S. public reluctance to become deeply involved in another conflict in the Muslim world had anything to do with Obama’s decisions.
“This is about our strategic interest and it is not based upon a situation of what can the traffic bear politically at home,” Biden said. “The traffic can bear politically more in Libya,” he said, because “everybody knows [Gaddafi] is a bad guy.”
But as the situation in Libya has continued without resolution, popular disapproval of the president’s handling of the situation has shot up 15 percentage points, from 34 to 49, since mid-March, shining a light on the political risks Obama faces on the issue amid a host of domestic problems, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Among political independents, disapproval jumped to 51 percent.
Fifty-six percent of those polled said they agreed the United States should participate in the NATO-led international coalition; most of those said they wanted the level of U.S. participation to remain “about the same.” Most of those who supported participation appeared to agree with Biden’s assessment of Gaddafi, with 58 percent saying the goal of the operation ought to be getting rid of him.
France and Italy have recognized the opposition Transition National Council (TNC) as Libya’s legitimate government, and Britain, France and Italy have had civilian and military personnel on the ground at rebel headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi for some time. But the new teams being sent were described as professionals capable of training rebel officers and organizing a more efficient command network for the ground war. Each country is expected to field at least 10 advisers.
France has also agreed to escalate the airstrikes being carried out by NATO. French President Nicolas Sarkozy met Libyan opposition leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil in Paris on Wednesday.
Although NATO is in command of the U.N.-authorized operation in Libya, different countries have agreed to different missions. Only six NATO members — France, Britain, Canada, Belgium, Denmark and Norway — are participating in the airstrikes against Libyan government forces on the ground. Others — along with non-NATO nations, including some Arab countries — are contributing aircraft to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya but have declined to participate in strikes. A third group is enforcing an arms embargo with air and sea patrols outside Libyan territory.
Those sending advisers or other assistance to the rebel forces are doing so as individual nations, in coordination with but outside the NATO command structure.
The three sending trainers have publicly ruled out sending ground forces. “The rebels themselves are afraid of being accused by other Arab countries of having allowed ‘crusaders’ on their land,” said an Italian official who was not authorized to discuss the issue on the record.
Qatar, one of several Arab countries whose planes are participating in the no-fly-zone enforcement, is also reportedly providing military equipment directly to the rebels, including weapons. “They’re sort of freelancing . . . throwing in money in a lot of different and odd ways,” including helping to finance a satellite television station to counter Gaddafi’s control of domestic media, said a senior congressional aide briefed on the operations.
Obama administration officials said their comfort level with the rebel council had grown in recent weeks, after high-level meetings with its leaders and direct contact by a U.S. diplomatic mission sent to Benghazi.
“Whether there are people in Libya who may have more extremist or nefarious agendas, that is something we watch very carefully,” the senior administration official said in reference to suggestions of possible al-Qaeda involvement. “We don’t believe that the organized opposition, represented by the TNC, reflects that agenda.”
Staff writer Mary Beth Sheridan contributed to this report. |||||Summary: |
– With anti-Ghadafi rebels still bickering over who's actually their leader, Britain plans to dispatch a team of miitary advisers to Benghazi to help them get their act together. London insists the advisers won't arm or train rebels or go beyond the UN mandate, reports al-Jazeera. Their biggest order of business may simply be figuring out which of two rival commanding officers to deal with, notes the New York Times. The British decision immediately drew criticism at home, reports the Guardian. "However much one despises the brutality of the Gaddafi clan which rules Libya, the fact remains that there is a danger of mission creep," said a Labour MP. "There is a civil war in Libya and this is a big escalation of Britain's involvement." On that note, the Libyan government denounced the move as well as a proposal to send in EU troops to guard aid deliveries, reports the Washington Post. It vowed to fight any foreign troops on its soil. | 7 | Flan2021 | multi_news:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Question 1: How do 800 people a year die from being tangled in bedsheets?
Question 2: How can you die from being hit by a car?
Available choices: -no -yes
Would the answer to these two questions be the same? | no | 7 | Flan2021 | glue/qqp:2.0.0 | zs_opt |
AP - A scientific dig has uncovered four pomegranates believed to be 2,500 years old preserved inside a woven basket nestled in a bronze vessel, a Greek archaeologist said Friday.
What is a good title for this? | 2,500-Year-Old Pomegranate Found in Greece (AP) | 9 | Flan2021 | ag_news_subset:1.0.0 | zs_opt |
Write some highlights for the following article:
Leo Stott has always dreamed of playing football without a walking frame – now that wish may be about to come true. Hundreds of people donated money to pay for him to have a life-changing operation. Football boss Ken Bates pledged £10,000. Leo, two, has cerebral palsy and cannot walk unaided – but he loves football and, his coach says, plays just as well as other boys his age. He was desperate to do without his frame, so his family set out to raise £45,000 for a selective dorsal rhizotomy, a surgery not generally available on the NHS. Determined: Leo Stott, two, who suffers from cerebral palsy, playing football with his walking frame. Just 48 hours after his story appeared in last Saturday’s Mail, his mother Cara Oldham had raised more than enough to book Leo’s operation at Leeds Hospital. She thanked all those who gave via www.justgiving.com/leosdreamtowalk, where the family are now taking donations to pay for ongoing care. She said: ‘I am astonished, amazed and humbled that strangers can be so kind.’ Former Chelsea FC and Leeds FC chairman Mr Bates, 82, was born with a club foot but went on to play for Arsenal juniors. He phoned Miss Oldham to say he wanted to help. The dental nurse said: ‘I just couldn’t believe it and kept asking him, ‘Are you sure?’ ‘It was so emotional. After I put the phone down I cried, then my mum cried and everyone in the room started crying. It was so moving. It has restored my faith. All I can say is wow. ‘When his father and I sat Leo down and told him we had enough money now he said that was very good because he didn’t want his legs to hurt anymore.’ Leo with his mum, Cara: She wept after putting the phone down to Ken Bates when he pledged the cash. Monaco-based Mr Bates, who is known in the football world for his abrasive style and nicknamed ‘cuddly Ken’, told the Mail it is ‘ridiculous’ the type of surgery Leo needs is not automatically funded on the NHS, especially when breast enlargement and reduction operations are. 'Cuddly': Ken Bates, the former chairman of Chelsea FC and Leeds FC, who played football after being born with a club foot, donated £10,000 to Leo's op. ‘This little kid deserves all the help he can get,’ he said. ‘Leo has been raised to believe he can do anything and I believe he absolutely can.’ Leo, from Oldham, has been accepted for pioneering surgery at Leeds Hospital. The operation - a selective dorsal rhizotomy (sdr) - was not funded by the NHS when the family began fund-raising earlier this year. The procedure would release tension in his legs, allowing him to undergo more intensive physiotherapy to let him walk unaided. Just weeks ago the NHS announced SDR would be available to a limited number of children in a trial. But with just five hospitals signed up to the pilot scheme to treat 120 children a year, Miss Oldham was warned Leo would face a lengthy wait to learn if he was eligible or not. Miss Oldham, who can now book the operation, thanked ‘every single person’ who donated ‘because they have helped to change my son’s life’. ‘We’ve worked so hard to raise money and had such brilliant support from family and friends, but to see it start to climb so quickly after sharing our story was incredible,’ she said. ‘I am astonished, amazed and humbled that complete strangers can be so kind. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel. The relief I feel knowing my son can now have the operation is the best feeling in the world.’ Leo was diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy at 18 months old. But despite being unable to stand or walk unaided he loved watching football with his father Sam Stott, 23, a contract manager. Leo stood for the first time shortly before turning two thanks to a walking frame and was soon dribbling his ball. He attends weekly toddler training sessions at his local club. Miss Oldham said: ‘Nobody could believe how well he could tackle, pass and shoot with his frame. His face lit up with a ball at his feet. But all he really wanted was to be able to play like all his friends without his frame.’ She has now raised their fundraising target to £55,000 to help pay for further care after the operation.
Highlights: | Football-mad Leo Stott has cerebral palsy and cannot walk unaided. His family needed £45,000 for a surgery to help him walk without it. Donations poured in after the Mail covered his story last week. Ken Bates donated £10,000, saying 'this kid deserves all the help he can get' | 1 | Flan2021 | cnn_dailymail:3.4.0 | zs_opt |
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