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Teacher: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Teacher: Now, understand the problem? If you are still confused, see the following example:
A photo series on the popular Humans of New York Facebook page may have went viral and captured the nation’s attention last Tuesday, but for Daniel Kang, the post really hit home.
When Kang, a junior studying computer science at the University of Michigan, heard that the refugee pictured and his family were relocating to his hometown of Troy, Mich., he said he knew he had to help.
“I was really inspired by how intelligent he was and I knew a lot of people wanted to welcome him, so I thought, why not it be me?” he said.
On the Humans of New York Facebook page with over 16 million likes — including comments from President Obama — the seven-part picture series’ captions detail one Syrian scientist and his family’s tale of loss after a missile strike destroyed their home, forcing them to to flee to Turkey, now with plans of coming to the United States.
“Everything ended for us that day. That was our destiny. That was our share in life,” the scientist said. Battling stomach cancer, the loss of a home, career and seven family members, the man, whose name remains confidential to protect his identity as a refugee, expressed his hope for a new life in the United States.
“I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan,” he said. “I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don’t want the world to think I’m over. I’m still here.”
Knowing that refugees come to the United States with little more than they can carry, Kang quickly organized a crowdfunding campaign to help establish the man in his new home.
In four days, the GoFundMe page has raised over $16K in donations from over 700 people. On Saturday afternoon, actor Edward Norton also began a fundraiser for the scientist, raising even more for the refugee who says he “just wants to be a person again.”
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Kang. “A lot of people thanked me for doing a nice thing but I really feel like I was doing what anyone else would have done.”
Kang said he’s received many messages from people expressing their gratitude, those who want to reach out to the man personally, as well local companies interested in working with the scientist. This includes invitations to lecture at local colleges, research job opportunities and potential help from local medical facilities in treating the man’s stomach cancer.
“There’s definitely a lot of interest in helping him out,” he said.
The biggest concern, said Kang, are those skeptical of how the money will reach the man.
Kang, who has successfully crowdfunded in the past, is working closely with GoFundMe, the local refugee relocation agency Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, and is in communication with the Humans of New York staff to make sure all funding goes to the scientist.
In the end, Kang said he just hopes the scientist receives the welcome he deserves.
“If I could talk to him right now, I’d just tell him how sorry I am for everything he’s been through and that he’s coming to a great place. One of the things he said that resonated with me the most is that ‘I hope Troy is a place that appreciates science.’
I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist and we can’t wait to have him.”
Oona Goodin-Smith is a student at Oakland University and a member of the USA TODAY College contributor network. ||||| I saw this story on one of my favorite sites, Humans of New York, and it moved me to tears. This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world. If we don’t welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we’re not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let’s reject the 'anti-human’ voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let’s show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
Everything we raise here will go to help this family so that the father can get the medical treatment he needs to live and pursue his work, and his family can build a new stable life after their tragedy, and…as the Scientist beautifully expresses…to support his dream of contributing to the world.
Thanks to Humans of New York for sharing these stories. Thanks to the team at CrowdRise for putting this together and figuring out how to get even the credit card transaction fees covered so we can get the maximum to the family.
Thanks to everyone who rallies together to create the power of the crowd. If enough of us kick in the price of two frappucinos, we can probably transform the experience of this family and show them that life can deliver healing and kindness, not just heartbreak.
Thanks to Benevolent, all donations are tax-deductible. We will work with Benevolent to use all donated funds to help this family and will seek to use any excess or unused funds to help the other 11 profiled in the HONY ‘Syrian American’ series.
Edward Norton ||||| DETROIT, MI -- Moved to tears by a Humans of New York feature on a Syrian refugee fleeing to Metro Detroit, Hollywood actor Edward Norton launched an online fundraiser that had raised nearly $450,000 for the widower and his four children as of Thursday afternoon.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," the man told NBC News after hearing about the fundraiser's success. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me."
The man asked NBC to refer to him as "Abu Ammar," a fake named used to protect his relatives who remain in Syria. He's known to many on the Internet simply as "The Scientist," which is also his profession.
The refugee's family was scheduled to arrive in Troy, a Detroit suburb, Thursday. He and four surviving children spent the last two years in Instanbul, Turkey. They fled civil-war-torn Syria after the man's wife and one of his daughters were killed in a missile attack on April 6, 2013.
His is one of 12 families featured by Humans of New York and cleared to resettle in the U.S.
"I learned today that I'm going to Troy, Michigan," the man told Humans of New York. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it's safe and that it's a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don't want the world to think I'm over. I'm still here."
The story made rounds throughout the Internet and even garnered a response from President Barack Obama's official Facebook page:
As a husband and a father, I cannot even begin to imagine the loss you've endured. You and your family are an inspiration. I know that the great people of Michigan will embrace you with the compassion and support you deserve. Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here. Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great.
,Norton, known for his roles in movies like "Fight Club" and "Birdman," wrote in the description of his online fundraiser:
If we don't welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we're not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let's reject the 'anti-human' voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let's show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
(6/7) “I had no problems before the bombing. I think the cancer came from my sadness and my stress. It’s in my... Posted by Humans of New York on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 ||||| ISTANBUL — The grieving refugee who touched hearts as "The Scientist" on the Humans of New York blog only mustered a brief smile when told that a Hollywood star had helped raise $450,000 for him.
Hours before flying to Michigan to start a new life in the U.S. on Thursday, the cancer-stricken Syrian civil engineer glanced down.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," he said after NBC News revealed the crowdfunding appeal. Oscar-nominated actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading the refugee's biography on the photography site last week and launched the fundraiser.
"There are people outside who need that money much more than me," The Scientist said, displaying the sort of compassion and humility that helped his story go viral.
The Scientist, who asked NBC News to refer to him as "Abu Ammar" to protect family in Syria, said his life was shattered by a bomb that killed his wife and daughter just under three years ago.
He was later diagnosed with stomach cancer, and has had to care for five remaining children.
They include a teenage son, who is still reeling after watching his mother die, and a daughter who carries inside of her shrapnel from the attack on April 6, 2013.
"When a bomb drops you don't know where it comes from," he said. "There is no question our lives changed after that ... 180 degrees. I am mentally tired, in overwhelming sadness."
“ As long as there are good people in the world … then we can stop this bloodshed”
On Thursday, Abu Ammar and four of his children flew to Troy, Michigan, as part of a United Nations refugee resettlement program.
For about two years, the family had been living close to destitution in Turkey. But the drive to succeed still lingers, Abu Ammar said.
"I've had ambitions since I was a child, and right now I'm still that same child with the same ambitions," he said. "But I still have a message — sometimes when I'm talking to myself I say, 'No, I'm not supposed to die. I need to live long enough to realize my message to humanity.'"
Abu Ammar's story on Humans of New York, a popular blog started in 2010 that spawned a bestselling book, prompted an outpouring of compassion. Even President Barack Obama contributed, calling Abu Ammar and his family an "inspirations" on HONY's Facebook page.
"Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here." Obama wrote. "Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great."
Last night President @BarackObama wrote a very sweet welcome note to the scientist in Tuesday's story. pic.twitter.com/ZGrn3gOdR7 — Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) December 10, 2015
Norton, who starred in "Birdman," "Fight Club" and "American History X," set out to help pay The Scientist's medical expenses.
"This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world," Norton wrote.
The resettlement of Syrian and Muslim refugees in the United States is controversial, especially in the aftermath of attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and San Bernardino. Some politicians — notably GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump — have called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.
Abu Ammar told NBC News he didn't know anything about the debate over Muslims and immigration raging in the U.S. He also didn't have a solution to the war raging in his home country.
"I don't like to get into politics because I am a man of science, and I can separate science and politics completely," he said. "But as long as there are good people in the world, and everyone looks into his or her conscience, then we can stop this bloodshed."
Abu Ammar added: "No one benefits from people dying, and wars overall never benefit anybody — so let's hope God can help everyone and put out this fire." |||||
Solution: A Syrian refugee whose moving story went viral earlier this month starts his new life in Troy, Michigan, on Thursday, NBC News reports. The refugee—who wants to keep his real name out of the media to protect family members still in Syria—is known as "The Scientist" on the blog Humans of New York, where he was first profiled. "I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan," The Scientist told HONY. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science." According to MLive, The Scientist left Syria in 2013 after a bomb killed his wife and one of his daughters. Since then, he's been diagnosed with stomach cancer and was barely scraping by in Turkey. Despite being "in overwhelming sadness," he and his surviving children are hoping for a new start in the US, he tells NBC. Thanks to his story—which even got the attention of President Obama—The Scientist will have some help to get that new start. NBC reports actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading The Scientist's story and started a crowdfunding page that has raised nearly $450,000. "I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," The Scientist says. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me." A Michigan college student was also inspired to help after hearing The Scientist would be moving to his hometown, according to USA Today. His fundraising page has raised more than $16,000. "I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist, and we can’t wait to have him," Daniel Kang says.
Reason: This is a good example. The output correctly summarizes the articles.
Now, solve this instance: LONDON -- Pope Francis decried abortion Monday as a sign of a wasteful modern culture that treats goods and people, including unborn children, as easily discarded commodities.
In the annual papal “state of the world” speech delivered to diplomats, Francis said the denial of human dignity was a threat to world peace, and cited the problems of hunger among the have-nots and food waste among the haves.
“Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary.’ For example, it is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day,” the pope said, according to excerpts released by the Vatican.
He added the use of children as soldiers and human trafficking to the list of crimes committed against the world’s young.
The comment on abortion was one of the few instances that Francis has addressed the issue in his 10-month-old papacy. Last September, he told an interviewer that the Roman Catholic Church needed to stop hammering on social controversies such as abortion and same-sex marriage and focus more on spreading God’s love to all.
Alarm among Catholic conservatives that he was watering down the church’s message on those issues led the pope to quickly reaffirm his opposition to abortion. Using the same phrase he employed Monday, Francis described abortion as a symptom of a “throwaway culture” that places little value on human life, the environment and natural resources.
His brief remarks on the subject Monday came toward the end of an address in which the pontiff cited the need for peace and reconciliation in various hot spots around the globe, including the Korean peninsula, the Middle East and Africa. He said he was troubled by instability in Lebanon, the civil war in Syria and political and religious violence in the Central African Republic and South Sudan.
He expressed concern over the increasing hostility shown toward migrants and those trying to find better lives elsewhere. The pope’s first trip outside the Italian mainland last year was to the island of Lampedusa, which hundreds of people fleeing Africa have died trying to reach.
“Sadly, there is a general indifference in the face of these tragedies, which is a dramatic sign of the loss of that sense of responsibility for our brothers and sisters on which every civil society is based,” Francis said.
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Twitter: @HenryHChu
henry.chu@latimes.com ||||| Image copyright AP Image caption Pope Francis made his comments to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See
Pope Francis has issued his strongest condemnation yet of abortion, calling it a "horrific" symptom of a "throwaway culture" that placed too little value on human life.
He said it was was "frightful" to think about early pregnancy terminations.
Since his election in March, the pope has not spoken out against abortion as sternly as his predecessors.
He made the comments is his yearly "State of the World" address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican.
"It is horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day," he said in part of the speech that addressed the rights of children around the world.
"Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary."
The BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome says that there has been concern in some quarters of Roman Catholicism that the pope has not been putting the church's view on abortion forcefully enough.
Our correspondent says that the Pope's stance favouring mercy over condemnation has made more conservative Roman Catholics uneasy, but they will welcome his latest remarks.
Some months ago Pope Francis acknowledged that he had said little on issues like abortion and contraception.
But he explained that he felt it was not necessary to talk about these controversial questions "all the time". |||||
Student: | Abortion is a sign of a "throwaway culture" that doesn't place enough value on goods or human life, Pope Francis said yesterday in his strongest words on the subject in his 10-month papacy. "Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary," he said during his annual "State of the World" address at the Vatican, as per the Los Angeles Times. "It is horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day." The pope's remarks are certain to please conservative Catholics who worry that he hasn't been condemning abortion forcefully enough during a papacy that has focused on mercy over condemnation, the BBC notes. The pope also used the address to call for peace and reconciliation in conflict zones around the world and to express concern about international migrants, who often perish in their attempts to find better lives. "Sadly, there is a general indifference in the face of these tragedies, which is a dramatic sign of the loss of that sense of responsibility for our brothers and sisters on which every civil society is based," he said. | 2 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
[Q]: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm after violent protests erupted in New Delhi over the weekend. The WSJ's R. Jai Krishna has more from the scene of the demonstrations.
NEW DELHI—Indian police on Monday cordoned off large parts of central New Delhi and shut down public transport in an attempt to prevent further demonstrations after a weekend of protests over the aggravated rape of a woman in the city earlier this month.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a televised appearance Monday, appealed for calm. On Saturday and Sunday, police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters, many of them students. On Sunday, protesters set fire to barricades and overturned a government vehicle. There were about 85 injuries, including police and protesters, according to police officials. A number of protesters were detained and later released, police said.
"I feel deeply sad at the turn of events leading to clashes between protesters and police forces. Anger at this crime is justified but violence will serve no purpose," Mr. Singh said. "As a father of three daughters myself, I feel as strongly about this as each one of you."
Enlarge Image Close Tengku Bahar/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Demonstrators set fire to wooden barricades during a protest calling for better safety for women following the rape of a student last week, in front the India Gate monument in New Delhi, Sunday.
On Monday, authorities kept in place an emergency law banning groups of more than four people congregating in public areas that it had invoked on Sunday. But protesters gathered anyway at a commercial area just north of India Gate, the zone of government offices and the nation's Parliament that now is totally cordoned off to people.
View Slideshow Saurabh Das/Associated Press An injured man was dragged away from the North Block, near the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi, Dec. 22.
"Police laugh at women and girls who go to them to complain against rape, molestation and harassment and say 'What is new in this,'" said Kamna Kakkar, a second-year medical student, who joined the protests Monday. "This is an opportunity for us to force the government to make stronger laws. We will protest as long as possible."
The decision to shut down access to India Gate caused traffic snarls across the city as commuters were forced to find alternative routes. Police said protests would be allowed in specific protest areas, including the Ramlila Grounds, an area of grassland a few kilometers north of the political hub of New Delhi. So far Monday there had been no arrests, police official said.
The rape on Dec. 16 of the 23-year-old physiotherapy student, who has not been named, has sparked calls for stricter sentencing of rapists and better policing of Delhi's streets. The rape occurred on a moving chartered bus that was illegally picking up public passengers. Six men, including the bus driver, have been charged for rape and kidnapping but their trial is yet to begin.
The six men are accused of gang-raping the woman for nearly an hour, police said. They also allegedly beat her and a male companion with metal rods as the bus continued to circle the city's roads for hours, even crossing police checkpoints. The couple was later stripped of their clothing and thrown out of the bus near a highway on the periphery of Delhi, police said.
The rape was so savage that the woman had to have large amounts of her intestines removed, her doctors said. She is still on life-support systems at a Delhi hospital, her doctors said Sunday.
Activists say the current criminal law governing rape is outdated as it does not deal with homosexual rape or acts like oral sex and is unclear about maximum sentencing. Others have complained about the more than 900 rape cases pending decisions in Delhi's court system.
Many of those who have taken to Delhi's streets in recent days are students bearing signs calling for protection of women's rights. This year, some politicians have said a majority of rape cases actually involve consensual sex. Others have suggested reducing the legal age of marriage - currently 18 for women and 21 for men – as a way of dealing with the problem.
These comments have caused anger among activists who say they show a broader culture in which rape is not taken seriously. Many rape cases, they say, are not even reported due to pressure from families not to talk about them.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told television channels that students have a right to protest but "calmly, quietly and silently." Mr. Shinde declined a request from Sushma Swaraj, leader of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the lower house of Parliament, to convene a special session of lawmakers to discuss the matter. "As and when it is required, I will take the assistance of all political parties," he said.
The rape victim's father, whose identity was not given, also appealed for calm. "My daughter is strong, she will survive. She is conscious now," he told local television news channels, his face blurred.
In a separate statement Monday, the government said it has decided to form a panel of three legal experts, headed by former chief justice of India, J.S. Verma, to look into possible amendments to criminal laws to allow for quicker trials of alleged rapists and more severe punishments. The committee will submit its report within 30 days, it added.
—Vibhuti Agarwal, Romit Guha and Saptarishi Dutta contributed to this article. ||||| NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian authorities throttled movement in the heart of the capital on Monday, shutting roads and railway stations in a bid to restore law and order after police fought pitched battles with protesters enraged by the gang rape of a young woman.
In an unusual televised address, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for calm following the weekend clashes in New Delhi and vowed to punish the rapists for their "monstrous" crime.
Singh's government, often accused by critics of being out of touch with the aspirations of many Indians, has been caught off-guard by the depth of the popular outrage as protests have snowballed and spread to other cities. India is seen as one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman.
Instead of channeling the outrage, the government has found itself on the defensive over the use of force against the protesters and complaints that it has done little in its eight years in power to create a safer environment for women.
The protests have been the biggest in the capital since 2011 demonstrations against corruption that rocked the government.
"People are not reacting to just one rape case. They are reacting to the general malaise, the frustration with the leadership. There is a feeling that the leadership is completely disconnected," said political analyst Neerja Chowdhury.
Police barricaded roads leading to India Gate, an imposing Arc de Triomphe-style war memorial in the center of the city, that has become a hub of the protests by mostly college students. Many metro rail stations in fog-shrouded Delhi were also closed, crippling movement around the city of 16 million.
The protests overshadowed an official visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin and disrupted his schedule.
The 23-year-old victim of the December 16 attack, who was beaten, raped for almost an hour and thrown out of a moving bus in New Delhi, was still in a critical condition on respiratory support, doctors said.
In the weekend spasm of violent protests, police use batons, teargas and water cannon against demonstrators around the capital. Protests and candle-light vigils have also taken place in other Indian cities but they have been more peaceful.
"I appeal to all concerned citizens to maintain peace and calm. I assure you we will make all possible efforts to ensure security and safety of women in this country," Singh said in his televised address to the nation.
Singh has been under fire for remaining largely silent since the rape. He issued a statement for the first time on Sunday, a week after the crime. Sonia Gandhi, chief of the ruling Congress Party, has met some of the protesters to hear their demands.
Comments by political commentators, sociologists and protesters suggest the rape has tapped into a deep well of frustration that many Indians have over what they see as weak governance and poor leadership on social and economic issues.
"There is a huge amount of anger. People are deeply upset that despite so many incidents there has not been much response from the state and the government," said social activist Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research in Delhi.
SOCIAL MEDIA SITES DRIVE PROTESTS
New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures. A global poll by Thomson Reuters Foundation in June found that India was the worst place in the world to be a woman because of high rates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery.
Since last week's rape, the authorities have promised better police patrolling to ensure safety for women returning from work and entertainment districts, more buses at night, and fast-track courts for swift verdicts on cases of rape and sexual assaults.
But protesters view those measures as inadequate and are looking for the government to take a firmer stand on sexual assaults countrywide, most of which go unreported.
Reported rape cases in India have increased by 9.2 percent to 24,206 cases in 2011 from 22,172 the previous year, according to the latest figures from the National Crime Record Bureau,
"This is not about that one rape," said aspiring fashion designer Shruti Sharma, 24, at a protest in Delhi on Monday.
"This is about how crime is rampant in our cities. We are angry at the government for not ensuring the safety of its citizens. The judiciary is slow. Cases take too long."
Opposition political parties, normally quick to exploit the government's vulnerabilities, have largely been sidelined in the protests, which have mostly been organized through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.
The protesters come from all walks of life but many are young and middle class. Political commentators see their involvement as evidence of growing frustration with the government's focus on poor and rural voters and a failure to pass on the benefits of a decade of rapid economic growth.
So far, however, the protesters' focus has been on the rape case rather than on other grievances.
(Additional reporting By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Satarupa Bhattacharjya in New Delhi, Sujoy Dhar in Kolkata, Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow, Ashok Pahalwan in Jammu and , writing by Ross Colvin,; Editing by John Chalmers and Robert Birsel) |||||
[A]: The situation continues to be a tense one in New Delhi, where police today closed off roads leading to the India Gate and ceased public transportation in an effort to stamp out the protests that have rocked the city following the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman. India's Prime Minister also joined the plea for calm, making what Reuters calls an "unusual" televised appearance today. "Anger at this crime is justified but violence will serve no purpose," he said. "As a father of three daughters myself, I feel as strongly about this as each one of you." The Wall Street Journal reports that an emergency law announced yesterday continues today, and outlaws groups of more than four people from gathering in public. Still, it notes that protestors assembled anyway, just north of the India Gate, the city-center area that's home to government offices and has been made inaccessible to citizens. "Police laugh at women and girls who go to them to complain against rape, molestation, and harassment and say 'What is new in this,'" said one protestor today. "We will protest as long as possible." The victim remains on life support.
[Q]: A New Jersey man who won a $338 million Powerball jackpot, among the largest lottery winnings, is embroiled in a court fight with his former girlfriend over the money.
Pedro Quezada of Passaic was the sole winner of the Powerball drawing last spring, worth about $152 million after taxes.
His lawyer argues that Inez Sanchez has no claim to the money because the couple were never married.
But attorneys for Sanchez say Quezada purchased the ticket based on the couple's shared earnings. Sanchez and Quezada lived together for 10 years, have a child together, and shared ownership of a grocery store in Passaic, attorneys say.
Superior Court Chancery Judge Margaret Mary McVeigh refused to dismiss the lawsuit and she denied a request from Sanchez to freeze Quezada's lottery winnings, pending the outcome of a trial to determine if she is entitled to a share of the money, The Record ( http://bit.ly/17U3qcX) reported Saturday.
The judge said Friday that while the couple's relationship was long-term and Sanchez contributed to the household, the court has no legal framework for restraining Quezada's assets.
Sanchez has moved out of the recently purchased Clifton home the couple shared and has filed a domestic violence claim against Quezada, The Record reported. Quezada's attorney declined to comment on that claim.
Sanchez's attorney says that a large chunk of the lottery winnings is already gone, claiming $57 million has been sent to Quezada's native Dominican Republic, $5 million was given away, $300,000 was spent on the home in Clifton, and $20 million can't be located, the newspaper reported.
___
Information from: The Record (Woodland Park, N.J.), http://www.northjersey.com ||||| Judge declines to freeze Clifton lottery winner’s assets in pending claim by former live-in girlfriend
STAFF WRITER
The Record
If you expect part of a lottery winner’s fortune because you’ve already shared a long personal and business relationship, always remember: Get it in writing.
ELIZABETH LARA/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Clifton resident, Pedro Quezada, who won millions in the Powerball lottery, appears in Superior Court in Paterson.
MONSY ALVARADO/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Powerball winner Pedro Quezada, with now former girlfriend, Ines Sanchez.
That was the reluctant decision of a state judge Friday, who cited state law in refusing to freeze the assets of Pedro Quezada, the Clifton man who won the $338-million Powerball jackpot last spring, pending the outcome of a trial to determine if his former live-in girlfriend is entitled to a share of the winnings.
Ines Sanchez and Quezada lived together for 10 years and shared ownership of a grocery store in Passaic, according to attorneys. Sanchez is the mother of one of Quezada’s children, while each also has children from other relationships
Related: Passaic Powerball winner owes $29,000 in child support, sheriff says
Related: Passaic Powerball winner owes $29,000 in child support, sheriff says - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/clifton/Former_girlfriend_of_ Clifton _Powerball_jackpot_winner_asks_judge_to_freeze_assets.html#sthash.2I5PP9Pl.dpuf
Related: Passaic Powerball winner owes $29,000 in child support, sheriff says - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/clifton/Former_girlfriend_of_ Clifton _Powerball_jackpot_winner_asks_judge_to_freeze_assets.html#sthash.2I5PP9Pl.dpuf
She moved out of the recently purchased Clifton home where they were living together last month, attorneys said, noting she has a domestic violence claim pending against Quezada. Quezada’s lawyers declined to comment on that or any aspect of the case.
Quezada chose a lump sum payout of $211 million and received a check for $152 million after taxes, according to state lottery officials.
A large chunk of the money already is gone — $57 million has been sent to the Dominican Republic, $5 million was given away, $300,000 was spent on the home in Clifton and $20 million can’t be located, according to attorney Michael De Marco of North Haledon, who is representing Sanchez.
“I think we’re kidding ourselves to say we’ll ever see any of that money again,” De Marco told state Superior Court Chancery Judge Margaret Mary McVeigh in arguing that the court should temporarily freeze the assets.
The attorney argued that irreparable harm will be done if the judge didn’t freeze all assets until the overall case is decided. “If he is permitted to continue this course of conduct, there will be nothing left to talk about,” he said of the money.
“This was a man and a woman in a relationship akin to marriage for 10 years, who have a child in common and lived with other children from other relationships,” De Marco said.
Related: Lottery winner buys Clifton home; sued by contractor
Faced more and more over the years with the unspoken contracts of unconventional partnerships, state court rulings often recognized the investment made by domestic unmarried couples and ways to compensate for it once the relationship ended. But in 2010, the New Jersey Legislature passed a measure weakening palimony case law and providing little legal recourse for domestic partners seeking financial compensation without having some sort of contract.
De Marco argued, however, that Sanchez and Quesada were not so much domestic partners as they were a “joint venture.”
“We’re not seeking ‘palimony.’ The parties had a relationship where they pooled their resources and paid their expenses,” he said, noting they co-owned and ran the Passaic grocery store that provided their joint income that paid their bills.
“One of the things this couple did was play the lottery,” he said. “They devoted themselves to a joint venture … So now we have an exception because one of the expenses has a return of $152 million?”
Attorney Jonathan W. Wolfe of Livingston, representing Quezada, argued that the couple was never married and therefore she has no claim. “Mr. Quezada individually went and purchased that ticket. They had never agreed to share the proceeds,” he said.
He noted that Sanchez went with Quezada to the lottery commission and watched him, alone, sign the claim to collect his winnings without any protestations. “If she believed she had no claim then, she can’t come here saying this now,” he said.
Now she’s saying that Quezada essentially bought the lottery ticket with one of her dollars, Wolfe said, and that is not a substantial enough investment to qualify as a joint venture.
The judge questioned if that was really quite what Sanchez was asserting.
“If I accept that was a ‘joint venture,’ there is a division of responsibility, a sense of reliance, a fiduciary obligation that is not always articulated …I look at this as the ticket that he was able to buy because she contributed by working at the store, which then gives him the freedom to go buy the ticket,” McVeigh said.
But in the end, the judge said, she had no choice but to deny the request to freeze Quezada’s assets pending full trial.
“As empathetic and compelling as your argument is — and as much as I consider 10 years a long-term relationship — I don’t have that in writing to hang an opinion on that these assets need to be restrained,” she said.
She added: “This is a unique situation. It’s something that most people dream about — stepping into the bottom of the rainbow, into that pot of gold. Or did you think I was going to say something else?” McVeigh joked.
But the joke was bitter-sweet. “That’s what money does to people: It changes positive relationships into bad ones. It doesn’t always enhance a relationship, or bring out people’s better qualities. Her [Sanchez’s] life has been up-ended by this winning ticket…But I am a judge. I don’t create the law. I have to follow it,” she said.
“Our Legislature has spoken. It specifically said, ‘For these types of arrangements, relationships, to be upheld there needs to be a writing. You cannot go forward with these types of relationships without something in writing.”
The judge refused to dismiss the overall lawsuit itself claiming Sanchez should get a fair share of the winnings. She did, however, refuse to stay her decision pending an expedited seven-day appeal.
Email: petrick@northjersey.com |||||
[A]: The drama continues for Pedro Quezada, the New Jersey bodega owner who won a $338 million Powerball jackpot earlier this year. He already had to use some of his winnings to pay back child support, and now he's now battling his ex-girlfriend in court over the rest of the money, the AP reports. Quezada's lawyers say that, since he was never married to Inez Sanchez, she shouldn't get any of the winnings, and that he bought the ticket on his own. But her lawyers say the couple lived together for a decade, had a child together, shared ownership of the bodega, that they played the lottery together, and that Quezada bought the ticket based on their shared income. On Friday, a judge refused Sanchez's request to freeze Quezada's assets, the Record reports. But she also refused to dismiss the lawsuit, and a trial will decide the outcome. Sanchez moved out of the New Jersey home Quezada purchased with $300,000 of his winnings, and has filed a domestic violence claim against him. Her attorneys say Quezada has spent much of the $152 million lump sum payment, and that $20 million of it can't be located. Readers with good memories may recall the odd way Quezada informed then-girlfriend Sanchez that he had won.
[Q]: SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea says it has suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests and plans to close its nuclear test site.
The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the suspension of nuclear and ICBM tests went into effect Saturday.
The country says it's making the move to shift its national focus and improve its economy.
The announcements came days before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a border truce village for a rare summit aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.
The North's decisions were made in a meeting of the ruling party's full Central Committee which had convened to discuss a "new stage" of policies. ||||| North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World - big progress! Look forward to our Summit. |||||
[A]: | North Korea says it has suspended nuclear and long-range missile tests and plans to close its nuclear test site. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said the suspension of nuclear and ICBM tests went into effect Saturday local time, per the AP.The country says it's making the move to shift its national focus and improve its economy. The announcements come days before North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in in a border village for a rare summit. The North's decisions were made in a meeting of the ruling party's full Central Committee, which had convened to discuss a "new stage" of policies. The decision also comes ahead of a summit between Kim and President Trump, and the US president took note of Friday's development. "North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site," he tweeted. "This is very good news for North Korea and the World - big progress! Look forward to our Summit."
| 5 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
Part 1. Definition
In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Part 2. Example
A photo series on the popular Humans of New York Facebook page may have went viral and captured the nation’s attention last Tuesday, but for Daniel Kang, the post really hit home.
When Kang, a junior studying computer science at the University of Michigan, heard that the refugee pictured and his family were relocating to his hometown of Troy, Mich., he said he knew he had to help.
“I was really inspired by how intelligent he was and I knew a lot of people wanted to welcome him, so I thought, why not it be me?” he said.
On the Humans of New York Facebook page with over 16 million likes — including comments from President Obama — the seven-part picture series’ captions detail one Syrian scientist and his family’s tale of loss after a missile strike destroyed their home, forcing them to to flee to Turkey, now with plans of coming to the United States.
“Everything ended for us that day. That was our destiny. That was our share in life,” the scientist said. Battling stomach cancer, the loss of a home, career and seven family members, the man, whose name remains confidential to protect his identity as a refugee, expressed his hope for a new life in the United States.
“I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan,” he said. “I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don’t want the world to think I’m over. I’m still here.”
Knowing that refugees come to the United States with little more than they can carry, Kang quickly organized a crowdfunding campaign to help establish the man in his new home.
In four days, the GoFundMe page has raised over $16K in donations from over 700 people. On Saturday afternoon, actor Edward Norton also began a fundraiser for the scientist, raising even more for the refugee who says he “just wants to be a person again.”
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Kang. “A lot of people thanked me for doing a nice thing but I really feel like I was doing what anyone else would have done.”
Kang said he’s received many messages from people expressing their gratitude, those who want to reach out to the man personally, as well local companies interested in working with the scientist. This includes invitations to lecture at local colleges, research job opportunities and potential help from local medical facilities in treating the man’s stomach cancer.
“There’s definitely a lot of interest in helping him out,” he said.
The biggest concern, said Kang, are those skeptical of how the money will reach the man.
Kang, who has successfully crowdfunded in the past, is working closely with GoFundMe, the local refugee relocation agency Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, and is in communication with the Humans of New York staff to make sure all funding goes to the scientist.
In the end, Kang said he just hopes the scientist receives the welcome he deserves.
“If I could talk to him right now, I’d just tell him how sorry I am for everything he’s been through and that he’s coming to a great place. One of the things he said that resonated with me the most is that ‘I hope Troy is a place that appreciates science.’
I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist and we can’t wait to have him.”
Oona Goodin-Smith is a student at Oakland University and a member of the USA TODAY College contributor network. ||||| I saw this story on one of my favorite sites, Humans of New York, and it moved me to tears. This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world. If we don’t welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we’re not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let’s reject the 'anti-human’ voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let’s show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
Everything we raise here will go to help this family so that the father can get the medical treatment he needs to live and pursue his work, and his family can build a new stable life after their tragedy, and…as the Scientist beautifully expresses…to support his dream of contributing to the world.
Thanks to Humans of New York for sharing these stories. Thanks to the team at CrowdRise for putting this together and figuring out how to get even the credit card transaction fees covered so we can get the maximum to the family.
Thanks to everyone who rallies together to create the power of the crowd. If enough of us kick in the price of two frappucinos, we can probably transform the experience of this family and show them that life can deliver healing and kindness, not just heartbreak.
Thanks to Benevolent, all donations are tax-deductible. We will work with Benevolent to use all donated funds to help this family and will seek to use any excess or unused funds to help the other 11 profiled in the HONY ‘Syrian American’ series.
Edward Norton ||||| DETROIT, MI -- Moved to tears by a Humans of New York feature on a Syrian refugee fleeing to Metro Detroit, Hollywood actor Edward Norton launched an online fundraiser that had raised nearly $450,000 for the widower and his four children as of Thursday afternoon.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," the man told NBC News after hearing about the fundraiser's success. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me."
The man asked NBC to refer to him as "Abu Ammar," a fake named used to protect his relatives who remain in Syria. He's known to many on the Internet simply as "The Scientist," which is also his profession.
The refugee's family was scheduled to arrive in Troy, a Detroit suburb, Thursday. He and four surviving children spent the last two years in Instanbul, Turkey. They fled civil-war-torn Syria after the man's wife and one of his daughters were killed in a missile attack on April 6, 2013.
His is one of 12 families featured by Humans of New York and cleared to resettle in the U.S.
"I learned today that I'm going to Troy, Michigan," the man told Humans of New York. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it's safe and that it's a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don't want the world to think I'm over. I'm still here."
The story made rounds throughout the Internet and even garnered a response from President Barack Obama's official Facebook page:
As a husband and a father, I cannot even begin to imagine the loss you've endured. You and your family are an inspiration. I know that the great people of Michigan will embrace you with the compassion and support you deserve. Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here. Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great.
,Norton, known for his roles in movies like "Fight Club" and "Birdman," wrote in the description of his online fundraiser:
If we don't welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we're not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let's reject the 'anti-human' voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let's show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
(6/7) “I had no problems before the bombing. I think the cancer came from my sadness and my stress. It’s in my... Posted by Humans of New York on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 ||||| ISTANBUL — The grieving refugee who touched hearts as "The Scientist" on the Humans of New York blog only mustered a brief smile when told that a Hollywood star had helped raise $450,000 for him.
Hours before flying to Michigan to start a new life in the U.S. on Thursday, the cancer-stricken Syrian civil engineer glanced down.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," he said after NBC News revealed the crowdfunding appeal. Oscar-nominated actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading the refugee's biography on the photography site last week and launched the fundraiser.
"There are people outside who need that money much more than me," The Scientist said, displaying the sort of compassion and humility that helped his story go viral.
The Scientist, who asked NBC News to refer to him as "Abu Ammar" to protect family in Syria, said his life was shattered by a bomb that killed his wife and daughter just under three years ago.
He was later diagnosed with stomach cancer, and has had to care for five remaining children.
They include a teenage son, who is still reeling after watching his mother die, and a daughter who carries inside of her shrapnel from the attack on April 6, 2013.
"When a bomb drops you don't know where it comes from," he said. "There is no question our lives changed after that ... 180 degrees. I am mentally tired, in overwhelming sadness."
“ As long as there are good people in the world … then we can stop this bloodshed”
On Thursday, Abu Ammar and four of his children flew to Troy, Michigan, as part of a United Nations refugee resettlement program.
For about two years, the family had been living close to destitution in Turkey. But the drive to succeed still lingers, Abu Ammar said.
"I've had ambitions since I was a child, and right now I'm still that same child with the same ambitions," he said. "But I still have a message — sometimes when I'm talking to myself I say, 'No, I'm not supposed to die. I need to live long enough to realize my message to humanity.'"
Abu Ammar's story on Humans of New York, a popular blog started in 2010 that spawned a bestselling book, prompted an outpouring of compassion. Even President Barack Obama contributed, calling Abu Ammar and his family an "inspirations" on HONY's Facebook page.
"Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here." Obama wrote. "Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great."
Last night President @BarackObama wrote a very sweet welcome note to the scientist in Tuesday's story. pic.twitter.com/ZGrn3gOdR7 — Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) December 10, 2015
Norton, who starred in "Birdman," "Fight Club" and "American History X," set out to help pay The Scientist's medical expenses.
"This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world," Norton wrote.
The resettlement of Syrian and Muslim refugees in the United States is controversial, especially in the aftermath of attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and San Bernardino. Some politicians — notably GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump — have called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.
Abu Ammar told NBC News he didn't know anything about the debate over Muslims and immigration raging in the U.S. He also didn't have a solution to the war raging in his home country.
"I don't like to get into politics because I am a man of science, and I can separate science and politics completely," he said. "But as long as there are good people in the world, and everyone looks into his or her conscience, then we can stop this bloodshed."
Abu Ammar added: "No one benefits from people dying, and wars overall never benefit anybody — so let's hope God can help everyone and put out this fire." |||||
Answer: A Syrian refugee whose moving story went viral earlier this month starts his new life in Troy, Michigan, on Thursday, NBC News reports. The refugee—who wants to keep his real name out of the media to protect family members still in Syria—is known as "The Scientist" on the blog Humans of New York, where he was first profiled. "I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan," The Scientist told HONY. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science." According to MLive, The Scientist left Syria in 2013 after a bomb killed his wife and one of his daughters. Since then, he's been diagnosed with stomach cancer and was barely scraping by in Turkey. Despite being "in overwhelming sadness," he and his surviving children are hoping for a new start in the US, he tells NBC. Thanks to his story—which even got the attention of President Obama—The Scientist will have some help to get that new start. NBC reports actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading The Scientist's story and started a crowdfunding page that has raised nearly $450,000. "I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," The Scientist says. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me." A Michigan college student was also inspired to help after hearing The Scientist would be moving to his hometown, according to USA Today. His fundraising page has raised more than $16,000. "I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist, and we can’t wait to have him," Daniel Kang says.
Explanation: This is a good example. The output correctly summarizes the articles.
Part 3. Exercise
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WASHINGTON — The introduction of sweeping immigration legislation on Tuesday is likely to ignite a months-long battle between those who want citizenship for the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants and opponents who view such an approach as amnesty.
A bipartisan group of eight senators plans to unveil legislation, drafted largely in secret, that would provide a 13-year path to American citizenship for illegal immigrants who arrived in the country before Dec. 31, 2011, but would demand that tougher border controls be in place first. The legislation is certain to unleash a torrent of attacks from Republican opponents on the immigration overhaul, similar to the kind of criticism that killed an effort supported by President George W. Bush in 2007.
The group plans to file the legislation on Tuesday, but canceled its scheduled news conference because of the Boston Marathon bombing.
“We all met in the middle, knowing we would not please our entire constituencies, but the imperative of doing this is so important to the country that we had to get it done,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and a member of the bipartisan group. “Americans will be common-sense and fair to legal immigration and the 11 million who are here as long as they’re convinced there won’t be future waves of illegal immigration.”
The biggest test will come for those Republicans who support the bill and will have to convince their skeptical Senate colleagues, constituents and grass-roots conservative base — not to mention Republicans in the House — that the legislation is not a reward for people who broke the law by entering the country illegally.
The bill requires that illegal immigrants wait a minimum of 10 years until they apply for legal permanent residence and an additional three years until full naturalization. It also mandates a series of rigorous enforcement measures, including at least $3 billion for the Department of Homeland Security to fortify border surveillance and apprehensions.
The department will have six months to present a plan to begin securing the border and identify where more border fencing might be required. No immigrants would be allowed to apply for “registered provisional immigrant” legal status — which would allow them to live and work here legally, as well as travel outside the country — until both plans are complete.
In order to apply for permanent resident visas, known as green cards, after 10 years, illegal immigrants would have to pay an approximate $2,000 penalty fee, including $500 up front. They must also demonstrate knowledge of English and civics, and have worked regularly and maintained a continuous physical presence in the country.
In addition, agricultural workers and children brought to the country illegally by their parents — know as “Dreamers” — would receive an expedited path to legal status. (Both groups would be able to receive green cards in five years. The Dreamers would be eligible for citizenship immediately after they got their green cards.)
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The bill also creates a W-Visa program for lower-skilled workers, the outgrowth of a parallel negotiation between the country’s largest business and labor groups. A Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research, which is to be created by the bill, would be responsible for overseeing the number of workers who could come in annually.
The legislation also aims to eliminate the backlog of 4.7 million immigrants who have applied to come here legally and have been languishing waiting for green cards. It creates a merit-based program for foreigners to become legal permanent residents, which focuses on both high and low work skills.
Tuesday’s legislation comes after months of delicate and fraught negotiations within the bipartisan group as well as a carefully managed public relations campaign that the senators hope will blunt any criticism before the expected attacks. Opponents of an immigration overhaul have been preparing to jump on what they see as objectionable sections of the legislation.
“We had to make compromises,” said Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, a member of the bipartisan group. “What really matters is most Americans agree with us that we need to address this issue in a comprehensive fashion. That was not true in 2007. I think that’s a very big difference.”
In 2007, talk radio hosts and anti-immigration groups mobilized a campaign of angry phone calls to members of Congress that ultimately shut down the Congressional switchboard. If Republican lawmakers hope to pass their bill in the Senate and get it through the Republican-controlled House, they will likely have to do more of the grunt work than their Democratic counterparts to bring voters and legislators on board.
Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, another member of the group, has perhaps the most at risk. A Tea Party darling elected in 2010, his political aspirations are tied to the success of the legislation as well as to how his conservative base responds to his involvement in the bill.
This year, Mr. Rubio got a jump-start on an immigration tour when he appeared on conservative television and radio shows and reached out in phone calls and meetings to talk about the impending legislation. On Sunday, he pressed his case on five major network television programs as well as two Spanish-language networks.
The bill would allow an individual who qualifies for the new path to citizenship — but has been deported for noncriminal reasons — to re-enter the country as a “registered provisional immigrant,” as long as the individual has a spouse or child who is a citizen or lawful permanent resident. Anyone in the country under the registered provisional immigrant status, however, would not be eligible for food stamps or other federal aid programs.
Under the new, merit-based visas, the legislation would gradually shift the emphasis from granting them based on family ties, toward visa approvals based on points awarded for an immigrant’s work skills, current employment, education and length of time in the United States.
In another border security measure, and a concession to the Republican members of the group, employers would be required to use an enhanced electronic verification system to make sure they are not employing anyone in the country illegally. Noncitizens would need to show a “biometric work authorization card” or “biometric green card.”
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, has scheduled two hearings on the bill — a response, in part, to Mr. Rubio, who has repeatedly called for public hearings. ||||| WASHINGTON — After months of negotiations, a bipartisan group of eight senators is poised to offer a sweeping bill to rewrite the nation's immigration laws this week, taking advantage of a changed political alignment that, for the first time in nearly a generation, appears to have opened the way for comprehensive legislation.
The bill would chart a 13-year path to citizenship for most of the 11 million people in this country without proper legal status, spend billions of dollars more on border security, create new legal guest worker programs for low-income jobs and farm labor, require new verification measures for most companies hiring new workers and significantly expand overall immigration to the U.S. for the next decade, according to an outline obtained by The Times' Washington bureau.
The legalization program would amount to the largest such effort any nation has attempted, affecting more than three times as many people as the Reagan-era immigration reform law. But it is only one part of the legislation, and perhaps not the portion with the greatest impact.
The agricultural workforce — where half the workers currently have no legal status — would be transformed by a new guest worker program that is designed to bring more than 300,000 immigrant farmworkers to the nation's fields over the next decade and provide field workers an expedited pathway to citizenship. A new visa program for housecleaners, landscapers and other low-skill occupations would be created, while high-tech industries would be allowed to double the number of foreign workers they use.
All told, the country's current inflow of about 1 million legal immigrants a year could grow by half over the next decade.
The bill also would probably spur a spending spree on the Southwest border as the government rolls out more surveillance technology, including unmanned drones and military-grade radar, to detect people crossing into the United States.
Although Congress has deadlocked repeatedly on immigration policy, leading figures in both parties expect that the legislation, expected to run hundreds of pages, stands an excellent chance of approval in the Senate, which plans to begin debate on it next month, and that some version of it could become law by year's end.
That would make the effort the first comprehensive immigration overhaul since the 1986 amnesty law signed by then-President Reagan.
"I think we are on the cusp of history here. This is a really big deal," said Marshall Fitz, an immigration expert at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank in Washington. "We are operating in a Washington environment that is so dysfunctional, so political, so partisan and yet on this issue.... eight members came together on this from a full ideological spectrum — that is historic."
Opponents warn that American workers will see their wages erode in the face of greater competition from migrants. Supporters counter that the bill would benefit the U.S. economy by bringing the current unauthorized population out of legal limbo and by providing a steady flow of legal workers for industries with labor shortages.
The legislative work in Washington reflects the changed dynamic in the country, as polls show a majority of Americans back some type of legal status for those living here without proper authorization.
Rather than viewing immigrants as a threat or burden to society, increasing numbers of Americans hold positive views of the contributions immigrants make, polls show.
That shift, along with the growing power of Latino voters, many of whom have made immigration reform a priority, appears to have broken a deadlock on the issue. After the overwhelming Latino vote for President Obama in 2012, many Republican strategists decided their party had little choice but to embrace reform. They tapped Sen. Marco Rubio, the rising tea party Republican from Florida, as their front man in talks with Democratic leaders and the handful of Republicans who had previously supported a legalization plan.
"What we have seen is, I think, a remarkable — in Washington — level of consensus between and support for bipartisan and comprehensive immigration reform," said White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday.
For months, the eight senators — four Democrats and four Republicans — have been meeting privately, often in the office of Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) steps from the Senate floor, as the contours of the bill took shape.
Securing the nation's borders against illegal crossings has long been a cornerstone of reform efforts. The new plan requires a secure border with Mexico before the other provisions of the bill, including the citizenship proposals, could take hold. It provides $3 billion to increase surveillance, including the use of unmanned aerial drones. The Southwest border would be considered secure if, within five years, 90% of those attempting to cross illegally are turned back in areas that have had more than 30,000 apprehensions a year.
An additional $1.5 billion would go toward a double-layer fence constructed with help from the National Guard. Money would also go to local authorities to prevent border crossings, to triple prosecutions in some areas, and to dispatch 3,500 more customs agents.
After five years, if the border security goals remain unmet, a commission of border state governors and attorneys general will be given money and authority to implement further measures. "We're confident it's achievable," Rubio said over the weekend in a Fox News interview.
Gaining citizenship would be a decadelong and costly process that would be tied to the border security provisions.
Six months after the bill becomes law, most of the 11 million people in the country without authorization — those who have been in the country before Dec. 31, 2011, and have no serious criminal record — would be eligible to apply for a new probationary legal status. That would allow them to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation. They would be required to pay a $500 initial penalty as well as an application fee and back taxes. The probationary status would be good for six years and could then be renewed after payment of another $500 penalty. |||||
Answer: | The biggest overhaul of American immigration laws in decades will be filed today, though the bipartisan group of eight senators who crafted it have canceled a scheduled press conference because of the Boston Marathon bombing. The bill provides a 13-year path to US citizenship for 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, but only after steps have been taken to boost border security, reports the New York Times, which notes that the legislation is certain to spark months of intense debate. The pathway to citizenship lies at the heart of the bill, but it also includes guest worker programs for low-income jobs and farm labor, new verification measures for companies hiring new workers, and measures to clear the huge backlog of people who have applied to come to the US legally, the Los Angeles Times reports. Two members of the Gang of Eight, Sens. Chuck Schumer and John McCain, will meet with President Obama today about the plan, titled the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013," sources tell Politico. | 7 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Example input: A photo series on the popular Humans of New York Facebook page may have went viral and captured the nation’s attention last Tuesday, but for Daniel Kang, the post really hit home.
When Kang, a junior studying computer science at the University of Michigan, heard that the refugee pictured and his family were relocating to his hometown of Troy, Mich., he said he knew he had to help.
“I was really inspired by how intelligent he was and I knew a lot of people wanted to welcome him, so I thought, why not it be me?” he said.
On the Humans of New York Facebook page with over 16 million likes — including comments from President Obama — the seven-part picture series’ captions detail one Syrian scientist and his family’s tale of loss after a missile strike destroyed their home, forcing them to to flee to Turkey, now with plans of coming to the United States.
“Everything ended for us that day. That was our destiny. That was our share in life,” the scientist said. Battling stomach cancer, the loss of a home, career and seven family members, the man, whose name remains confidential to protect his identity as a refugee, expressed his hope for a new life in the United States.
“I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan,” he said. “I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don’t want the world to think I’m over. I’m still here.”
Knowing that refugees come to the United States with little more than they can carry, Kang quickly organized a crowdfunding campaign to help establish the man in his new home.
In four days, the GoFundMe page has raised over $16K in donations from over 700 people. On Saturday afternoon, actor Edward Norton also began a fundraiser for the scientist, raising even more for the refugee who says he “just wants to be a person again.”
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Kang. “A lot of people thanked me for doing a nice thing but I really feel like I was doing what anyone else would have done.”
Kang said he’s received many messages from people expressing their gratitude, those who want to reach out to the man personally, as well local companies interested in working with the scientist. This includes invitations to lecture at local colleges, research job opportunities and potential help from local medical facilities in treating the man’s stomach cancer.
“There’s definitely a lot of interest in helping him out,” he said.
The biggest concern, said Kang, are those skeptical of how the money will reach the man.
Kang, who has successfully crowdfunded in the past, is working closely with GoFundMe, the local refugee relocation agency Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, and is in communication with the Humans of New York staff to make sure all funding goes to the scientist.
In the end, Kang said he just hopes the scientist receives the welcome he deserves.
“If I could talk to him right now, I’d just tell him how sorry I am for everything he’s been through and that he’s coming to a great place. One of the things he said that resonated with me the most is that ‘I hope Troy is a place that appreciates science.’
I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist and we can’t wait to have him.”
Oona Goodin-Smith is a student at Oakland University and a member of the USA TODAY College contributor network. ||||| I saw this story on one of my favorite sites, Humans of New York, and it moved me to tears. This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world. If we don’t welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we’re not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let’s reject the 'anti-human’ voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let’s show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
Everything we raise here will go to help this family so that the father can get the medical treatment he needs to live and pursue his work, and his family can build a new stable life after their tragedy, and…as the Scientist beautifully expresses…to support his dream of contributing to the world.
Thanks to Humans of New York for sharing these stories. Thanks to the team at CrowdRise for putting this together and figuring out how to get even the credit card transaction fees covered so we can get the maximum to the family.
Thanks to everyone who rallies together to create the power of the crowd. If enough of us kick in the price of two frappucinos, we can probably transform the experience of this family and show them that life can deliver healing and kindness, not just heartbreak.
Thanks to Benevolent, all donations are tax-deductible. We will work with Benevolent to use all donated funds to help this family and will seek to use any excess or unused funds to help the other 11 profiled in the HONY ‘Syrian American’ series.
Edward Norton ||||| DETROIT, MI -- Moved to tears by a Humans of New York feature on a Syrian refugee fleeing to Metro Detroit, Hollywood actor Edward Norton launched an online fundraiser that had raised nearly $450,000 for the widower and his four children as of Thursday afternoon.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," the man told NBC News after hearing about the fundraiser's success. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me."
The man asked NBC to refer to him as "Abu Ammar," a fake named used to protect his relatives who remain in Syria. He's known to many on the Internet simply as "The Scientist," which is also his profession.
The refugee's family was scheduled to arrive in Troy, a Detroit suburb, Thursday. He and four surviving children spent the last two years in Instanbul, Turkey. They fled civil-war-torn Syria after the man's wife and one of his daughters were killed in a missile attack on April 6, 2013.
His is one of 12 families featured by Humans of New York and cleared to resettle in the U.S.
"I learned today that I'm going to Troy, Michigan," the man told Humans of New York. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it's safe and that it's a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don't want the world to think I'm over. I'm still here."
The story made rounds throughout the Internet and even garnered a response from President Barack Obama's official Facebook page:
As a husband and a father, I cannot even begin to imagine the loss you've endured. You and your family are an inspiration. I know that the great people of Michigan will embrace you with the compassion and support you deserve. Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here. Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great.
,Norton, known for his roles in movies like "Fight Club" and "Birdman," wrote in the description of his online fundraiser:
If we don't welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we're not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let's reject the 'anti-human' voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let's show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
(6/7) “I had no problems before the bombing. I think the cancer came from my sadness and my stress. It’s in my... Posted by Humans of New York on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 ||||| ISTANBUL — The grieving refugee who touched hearts as "The Scientist" on the Humans of New York blog only mustered a brief smile when told that a Hollywood star had helped raise $450,000 for him.
Hours before flying to Michigan to start a new life in the U.S. on Thursday, the cancer-stricken Syrian civil engineer glanced down.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," he said after NBC News revealed the crowdfunding appeal. Oscar-nominated actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading the refugee's biography on the photography site last week and launched the fundraiser.
"There are people outside who need that money much more than me," The Scientist said, displaying the sort of compassion and humility that helped his story go viral.
The Scientist, who asked NBC News to refer to him as "Abu Ammar" to protect family in Syria, said his life was shattered by a bomb that killed his wife and daughter just under three years ago.
He was later diagnosed with stomach cancer, and has had to care for five remaining children.
They include a teenage son, who is still reeling after watching his mother die, and a daughter who carries inside of her shrapnel from the attack on April 6, 2013.
"When a bomb drops you don't know where it comes from," he said. "There is no question our lives changed after that ... 180 degrees. I am mentally tired, in overwhelming sadness."
“ As long as there are good people in the world … then we can stop this bloodshed”
On Thursday, Abu Ammar and four of his children flew to Troy, Michigan, as part of a United Nations refugee resettlement program.
For about two years, the family had been living close to destitution in Turkey. But the drive to succeed still lingers, Abu Ammar said.
"I've had ambitions since I was a child, and right now I'm still that same child with the same ambitions," he said. "But I still have a message — sometimes when I'm talking to myself I say, 'No, I'm not supposed to die. I need to live long enough to realize my message to humanity.'"
Abu Ammar's story on Humans of New York, a popular blog started in 2010 that spawned a bestselling book, prompted an outpouring of compassion. Even President Barack Obama contributed, calling Abu Ammar and his family an "inspirations" on HONY's Facebook page.
"Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here." Obama wrote. "Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great."
Last night President @BarackObama wrote a very sweet welcome note to the scientist in Tuesday's story. pic.twitter.com/ZGrn3gOdR7 — Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) December 10, 2015
Norton, who starred in "Birdman," "Fight Club" and "American History X," set out to help pay The Scientist's medical expenses.
"This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world," Norton wrote.
The resettlement of Syrian and Muslim refugees in the United States is controversial, especially in the aftermath of attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and San Bernardino. Some politicians — notably GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump — have called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.
Abu Ammar told NBC News he didn't know anything about the debate over Muslims and immigration raging in the U.S. He also didn't have a solution to the war raging in his home country.
"I don't like to get into politics because I am a man of science, and I can separate science and politics completely," he said. "But as long as there are good people in the world, and everyone looks into his or her conscience, then we can stop this bloodshed."
Abu Ammar added: "No one benefits from people dying, and wars overall never benefit anybody — so let's hope God can help everyone and put out this fire." |||||
Example output: A Syrian refugee whose moving story went viral earlier this month starts his new life in Troy, Michigan, on Thursday, NBC News reports. The refugee—who wants to keep his real name out of the media to protect family members still in Syria—is known as "The Scientist" on the blog Humans of New York, where he was first profiled. "I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan," The Scientist told HONY. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science." According to MLive, The Scientist left Syria in 2013 after a bomb killed his wife and one of his daughters. Since then, he's been diagnosed with stomach cancer and was barely scraping by in Turkey. Despite being "in overwhelming sadness," he and his surviving children are hoping for a new start in the US, he tells NBC. Thanks to his story—which even got the attention of President Obama—The Scientist will have some help to get that new start. NBC reports actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading The Scientist's story and started a crowdfunding page that has raised nearly $450,000. "I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," The Scientist says. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me." A Michigan college student was also inspired to help after hearing The Scientist would be moving to his hometown, according to USA Today. His fundraising page has raised more than $16,000. "I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist, and we can’t wait to have him," Daniel Kang says.
Example explanation: This is a good example. The output correctly summarizes the articles.
Q: On Wednesday, President Obama spoke at a news conference in Martha's Vineyard about American journalist James Foley, who Islamic State militants beheaded in a video. The president said groups like IS have "no place in the 21st century." (AP)
On Wednesday, President Obama spoke at a news conference in Martha's Vineyard about American journalist James Foley, who Islamic State militants beheaded in a video. The president said groups like IS have "no place in the 21st century." (AP)
U.S. Special Operations forces staged an unsuccessful operation this summer to rescue photojournalist James Foley and other Americans being held in Syria by Islamic State militants, according to senior Obama administration officials.
The attempt, involving several dozen U.S. commandos, one of whom was injured in a fierce firefight with the militants, was the first known U.S. ground operation in Syria since the country’s descent into civil war. It came after at least six European hostages freed by the militants this spring had been debriefed by U.S. intelligence.
“The president authorized earlier this summer an operation to attempt the rescue of American citizens held by ISIL,” said one of two senior officials who provided information on the mission, using one of the acronyms that refer to the Islamic State.
“We had a combination of . . . intelligence that was sufficient to enable us to act on it,” the official said, and the military moved “very aggressively, very quickly to try and recover our citizens.”
The official said the effort “was not ultimately successful because the hostages were not present . . . at the site of the operation.” Other officials said the captives were believed to have been there but had been moved before the raid, possibly several weeks earlier.
This September 2012 photo posted on the Web site FreeJamesFoley.org shows journalist James Foley in Aleppo, Syria. (Manu Brabo/AP)
In an announcement after the initial publication Wednesday of details about the operation, the White House and Pentagon issued statements confirming that President Obama had authorized the mission following assessments that “these hostages were in danger with each passing day.”
The Islamic State on Tuesday released a video of Foley’s execution, which it said was in response to U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. Obama called the beheading “appalling” and “a brutal murder.”
The two officials, who were authorized by the White House to speak anonymously to a small group of reporters, would not specify the number or identity of Americans being held alongside Foley. They are believed to number at least four, one of whom, freelance journalist Steven Joel Sotloff, also appeared in the Foley video, as the executioner warned that “the life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision.”
The failed operation “was conducted by a joint force with virtually every service represented,” one of the senior officials said, including “special operators and aircraft both rotary and fixed-wing,” with surveillance aircraft overhead.
That official said that there were a “good number” of militant casualties at the site but that one U.S. service member received a “minor injury when one aircraft did take some fire.”
The two senior officials declined to specify the location of the raid, whether the hostages had ever been there, the specific U.S. units that had taken part in the operation or how long they were on the ground. “It wasn’t an extraordinarily long period,” one said.
In a statement Wednesday night, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said: “We never intended to disclose this operation. An overriding concern for the safety of the hostages and for operational security made it imperative that we preserve as much secrecy as possible. We only went public today when it was clear a number of media outlets were preparing to report on the operation and that we would have no choice but to acknowledge it.”
The Washington Post, which participated in the briefing, first inquired about the operation Wednesday morning.
Other current and former U.S. officials, who were not part of the briefing, said that Foley and others were held at an eastern Syria site near Raqaa, a city that is held by Islamic State fighters.
The officials said that U.S. forces landed modified, heavily armed Black Hawk helicopters flown by the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which works with both the Army’s Delta Force and Navy SEAL commandos. The regiment is known as the “Night Stalkers.”
The current and former officials also said that unspecified materials belonging to the militants had been seized at the site of the raid.
Obama said Wednesday that the United States “will be vigilant and we will be relentless” against the Islamic State group and will “do what’s necessary to see that justice is done” to Foley’s killers.
Obama, who spoke to Foley’s parents Wednesday morning, offered no new policy measures to confront the militants. Referring to neighboring countries and U.S. allies, he said “there has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so that it does not spread.”
In Denver, FBI Director James Comey called Foley’s killers “savages,” saying they had turned the search for the journalist into a homicide investigation.Asked whether the United States might consider suspending its airstrikes, one U.S. official said the “only question is if we do more.” Officials said that attacks against the Islamic State would continue in Iraq under an authorization Obama signed early this month.
The U.S. Central Command said it had carried out 14 airstrikes in northern Iraq near the Mosul Dam on Wednesday, after Foley’s execution, bringing the total to 84 since the air campaign began Aug. 8. Obama authorized the airstrikes to aid Iraqi and Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State, to help rescue besieged civilians, and to protect U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.
Since early June, Obama has sent about 800 U.S. troops to Iraq to assist in those missions. On Wednesday, the State Department requested an additional 300 to help protect the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and a consulate in Irbil, the capital of the northern Kurdish region. A White House spokesman said no decision had been made on the request.
Foley, 40, was kidnapped in November 2012 while covering Syria’s civil war. According to his employer, the Boston-based Web site GlobalPost, he was held in eastern Syria with at least a dozen other captives, including other Western journalists, by British members of the Islamic State, which last week sent his family and employer an e-mail threatening to kill him.
“We knew exactly where he was from the released hostages,” GlobalPost president and chief executive Philip Balboni said. “We knew that his immediate jailers were British jihadists.”
“There was talk of paying a ransom,” Balboni said. “I think the fact that others were released for money certainly gave us hope that a similar outcome could be effectuated for Jim.”
U.S. policy has long been opposed to paying ransom for hostages, although a number of European governments and companies are believed to have paid for releases.
Six European journalists — two Spanish and four French — believed to have been held by the Islamic State were released in the spring, although the circumstances of their freedom is not known.
Foley’s parents said they had heard from him indirectly during his captivity via released hostages, one of whom memorized a letter from their son and recited it to them in a telephone call.
Diane and John Foley, who spoke to reporters outside their home in Rochester, N.H., did not identify the transmitter of the letter.
For the first year of his captivity, GlobalPost and Foley’s family were sure he was being held by the Syrian government, according to articles on the Web site at the time. But last fall, they announced that they no longer believed that to be the case and said they would make no further comments on his situation.
In Britain on Wednesday, Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a family vacation and returned to London to chair emergency meetings on Iraq and Syria, amid indications that a British citizen was involved in Foley’s killing. In the video, his masked executioner speaks in English with what sounds like a British accent.
Of the 84 U.S. airstrikes carried out in Iraq this month, about 30 were launched by fighter jets based on the U.S.S. George H.W. Bush, an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, and other ships in its strike group, Navy commanders on the ship said Wednesday. The remainder of the airstrikes have been conducted by drones and regular fighter aircraft based in countries in the region that the Pentagon has declined to identify.
Navy Capt. D.L. Cheever, air-wing commander for the carrier strike group, told reporters in a conference call that aircraft from nine squadrons have conducted about 1,000 sorties since early June, when the Bush shifted operations from assisting with the war in Afghanistan to the new mission over Iraq. The vast majority of the flights have been to conduct reconnaissance over Iraq.
Cheever declined to say whether U.S. pilots had taken fire from enemy forces on the ground but added: “We can handle whatever they have and complete the mission.” Other U.S. military officials said that the Islamic State does not appear to have the ability to shoot down warplanes.
Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller contributed to this report. ||||| U.S. special operations forces early this summer launched a secret, major rescue operation in Syria to save James Foley and a number of Americans held by the extremist group ISIS, but the mission failed because the hostages weren’t there, senior administration officials told ABC News today.
President Obama authorized the “substantial and complex” rescue operation after the officials said a “broad collection of intelligence” led the U.S. to believe the hostages were being held in a specific location in the embattled Middle Eastern nation.
When “several dozen” U.S. special operation members landed in Syria, however, they were met with gunfire and “while on site, it became apparent the hostages were not there,” one of the officials said. The special operators engaged in a firefight in which ISIS suffered “a good number” casualties, the official said, while the American forces suffered only a single minor injury.
The American forces were able to get back on helicopters and escape.
“Intelligence is not a perfect science,” the senior official said. As to how the intelligence failed and why the hostages were not there, the official said, “The truth is, we don’t know. And that’s the truth. When we got there, they weren’t there. We don’t know why that is.”
Video Appears to Show Beheading of Journalist James Foley, Who Went Missing in Syria
‘Apparent’ That James Foley Executioner Is British, Intel Agencies Race to ID Killer
World 'Appalled' by James Foley Beheading, Obama Says
Much about the daring mission itself remains a secret -- officials said they did not want to reveal too much about the rescue attempt for fear of spoiling future efforts.
“It was conducted, but was not ultimately successful,” a senior U.S. official told ABC News.
The operation was what senior government officials described as a major undertaking -- involving special operations forces from multiple branches of the military, helicopters, fixed-wing airplanes, and surveillance aircraft.
"The U.S. government had what we believed was sufficient intelligence, and when the opportunity presented itself, the President authorized the Department of Defense to move aggressively to recover our citizens," Lisa Monaco, the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, wrote in a statement. "Unfortunately that mission was ultimately not successful because the hostages were not present. Given the need to protect our military’s operational capabilities, we will not be able to reveal the details of this operation. But the President could not be prouder of the U.S. forces who carried out this mission and the dedicated intelligence and diplomatic professionals who supported their efforts.
"Their effort should serve as another signal to those who would do us harm that the United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to hold their captors accountable," Monaco said.
ABC News' Rhonda Schwartz, Lee Ferran and Matthew Mosk contributed to this report.
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A: | It was nearly a happy ending for James Foley. US special forces mounted a secret rescue mission in Syria this summer to free Foley and other Americans, but the hostages were nowhere to be found, reports the Washington Post. Several dozen US troops landed at the unspecified location and engaged in a firefight with militants from the Islamic State, but “while on site, it became apparent the hostages were not there,” a US official tells ABC News. One US service member was injured before the troops evacuated. “Intelligence is not a perfect science,” says a senior official. "When we got there, they weren’t there. We don’t know why that is.” The mission took place after US authorities debriefed six Western hostages who had been freed by the militants. President Obama, who promised today to "see that justice is done," authorized the mission once intelligence agencies believed they had pinpointed the site, reports AP. It's not clear how many Americans are being held, but the militants have threatened to kill freelance journalist Steven Joel Sotloff next. | 3 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Example Input:
iStock photo
Maybe this scene sounds familiar: It's Thanksgiving, you're sitting and watching the football game, and you want a beer. So what do you do? If you're like many Americans, you won't go over to the kitchen fridge, which is now crammed with leftovers. Rather, you'll trek down to the basement or out to the garage to the second refrigerator (aka, the "beer fridge").
Sure, it's convenient. But the growing trend of having second refrigerators is a major national energy blight -- not only wasting a lot of energy, but also potentially costing you hundreds of dollars.
From an energy standpoint, second refrigerators are bad news. The simple reason? They tend to be ancient. In fact, nearly 15 percent of U.S. homes have a second refrigerator that is at least 20 years old, which means it is virtually certain to be an energy hog when compared with today's models.
Refrigerators are an appliance category that has seen very dramatic strides in energy efficiency in recent years, thanks to an ever tougher set of state and national energy standards, most recently tightened by the Department of Energy in September. "A fridge that just meets the new standards will use $215 to $270 less per year in electricity than a comparable unit that met the first state standards set in 1978," writes Marianne DiMascio of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP).
Here's a chart, from the ASAP, showing just how dramatic progress has been. As you see in the blue line, our fridges are bigger today. Yet as you seen in the red and green lines, both the cost and the amount of energy they consume have declined dramatically.
This can only be called an incredible success story -- one that has been enabled both by regulators but also by technical innovation. Strides in refrigerator efficiency have been driven by many important improvements, including better insulation, more efficient compressors and motors, and better temperature controls.
But, for precisely that reason, by taking an old fridge and putting it strictly on beer duty, you're sacrificing a dramatic amount of progress.
"The typical second refrigerator might be 15 years old when moved to the basement or garage, and might last 5 to 10 more years there," says Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. "Most second refrigerators are plugged in all year, but many are really only used for a few big parties, as well as to keep some extra drinks cold."
Nadel adds that these older refrigerators, aged 15 to 25 years, will use some 750 to 1000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy each year. "At the national average electric rate of about 13 cents per kWh, this works out to about $97-130 per year," he notes.
And there's another problem. Because most second refrigerators tend to have started out life as a first refrigerator, they've probably ceded a prized space in the kitchen and instead wound up in the basement, the garage, or even outdoors. That means the refrigerator may have to battle the elements in order to do its job -- which, in turn, means using more energy, especially in summer.
Most significant of all, though, is that by keeping an old refrigerator as a second refrigerator, you nullify any energy advance that was gained when you went out and bought a newer, much more efficient fridge.
According to the EPA, replacing an old refrigerator with a new Energy Star unit can save $ 50 per year and 400 kilowatt-hours in energy use. But for each household that buys a new Energy Star fridge, but then shifts its old refrigerator to the basement, that's one more household whose energy footprint just increased, rather than decreasing.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy mentioned "the war on coal scenario" at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Monday, asserting that "the energy world is in a transition" partly due to natural gas. (The Christian Science Monitor via YouTube)
"One large refrigerator is cheaper to run than two smaller ones," adds the state of California's Consumer Energy Center. The Center also notes that a refrigerator that is full of food is better at retaining a cold temperature than a refrigerator that is relatively empty -- another fact that makes the occasionally stocked "beer fridge" problematic.
Nonetheless, second refrigerators seem to be quite prevalent, and may even be growing more so.
Based on data from the Department of Energy's 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (which is the most recent installment), it seems to be only relatively recently that U.S. households have seen an upswing in second refrigerators. From 1978 to 1997, their prevalence in households only increased by 1 percent, from 14 to 15 percent. But from 1997 to 2009, they further increased to 23 percent, as shown in this chart of changing American appliance use (second refrigerators are the purple line):
And the number of second refrigerators may have continued to grow since 2009. Another Department of Energy study put the prevalence of second refrigerators in homes even higher -- at 26 percent -- and suggested their penetration in households is growing at 1 percent per year.
Second refrigerators seem to be most popular in the Midwest, where they were in nearly 30 percent of homes as of 2009 -- but from 1997 to 2009 they grew in popularity in all areas. The states where they're the most popular are Kansas, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.
Who keeps a second fridge? According to EPA, owners of older, less efficient refrigerators (second refrigerators or otherwise) are actually often younger, well to do couples. "The size of the home appears to be the biggest indicator of having multiple refrigerators, while the age of the home seems to have little influence," adds another study. "The length of time in the same residence is also a large influence, possibly indicating that people simply keep their old unit when a new one is installed."
So what's the alternative? Refrigerator recycling, which is supported not only by the Energy Star program but also by many utilities across the country, some of which offer cash or a bill credit in exchange for turning in an old fridge. According to Energy Star, recycling an older or second refrigerator properly can lead to savings of $ 300 to $700 over a five year period, and avoid up to 20,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
So for the sake of the planet and your own energy bills, please reconsider whether you really need a second fridge (especially an older one). And for the sake of your gut, buy your beer one six-pack at a time. ||||| I love our second fridge. It sits unassumingly in the utility area of our basement, next to the washing machine and dryer. It isn't quite as big as our kitchen fridge and it isn't the flashy stainless steel. But inside, it contains wonders.
There's plenty of milk and OJ, of course, for a family with three growing kids. There's extra bread, bagels, yogurt, strawberries and baby carrots. But there's also beer and white wine chilling, and in the freezer there's a bountiful stash of frozen pizzas, waffles, meatballs, ice cream sandwiches and popsicles.
Today, our extra fridge has a special responsibility: it's holding a fat 20-pound turkey, enough to feed the 18 extended family members we're hosting at our house for a Thanksgiving feast.
And so, this Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for our humble second fridge, for it is a symbol of the bounty of our great land. My family is fortunate — we do not worry about where the next meal is coming from. Indeed, our cup runneth over.
In the Midwest — proud home to the "beer and deer fridge" — almost 30 percent of the households have more than one refrigerator, according to a 2009 survey by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That's more than the 23 percent of households nationwide. Most of the people in our neighborhood have second fridges, and there's a good chance that you, dear Tribune reader, do too.
With our surplus foodstuffs, it may be easy to overlook the sobering reality that hunger is real, even here in our country. According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an estimated 14.3 percent of households were "food insecure" at some point in 2013. That means that 17.5 million Americans lacked access to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. An estimated 6.8 million American homes had "very low food security," which, according to the USDA, means that limited resources reduced their food intake and disrupted their normal eating patterns.
Closer to home, one of six Cook County residents have tapped into the Greater Chicago Food Depository's network of pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to help get enough to eat, according to a 2014 survey from Feeding America, the country's largest provider of charitable food assistance.
The numbers are even more staggering worldwide. Roughly 1 in 8 people — some 842 million total — around the globe suffered from chronic hunger from 2011 to 2013, according to the United Nations. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases account for 6.5 million deaths of children under 5 in developing countries each year.
I don't mean to be a downer. But part of being thankful is being aware of the graces bestowed upon us — and perhaps, in whatever way we can, reaching out to help those who have been less fortunate.
Believe me, I am looking forward to getting together with family and overindulging in turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing doused in an unholy helping of gravy. There will be cranberry sauce and green beans. Belt buckles will be loosened. And, just when we think we can't possibly eat anything more, we'll find a little room for a slice of pumpkin pie.
And when it's all over, there will be the leftovers, oh those wonderful Thanksgiving leftovers, downstairs in our beloved second fridge.
Dr. John Biemer, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, is a resident in pathology at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. |||||
Example Output: Oh, the second fridge. Almost one in three households in the Midwest has one; locals know it affectionately as the "beer and deer" fridge, reports the Chicago Tribune. Across the rest of the US, the average is closer to one in four households. Some 15% of those second fridges are at least 20 years old, reports the Washington Post in an article titled "Why it's not okay to have a second refrigerator." Older refrigerators are considerably less energy efficient, and even more so if they're not packed with food, or if they sit in a utility area where they have to work harder to stay cool in the summers. Indeed, buying a new, energy-efficient refrigerator doesn't do much for the environment if you're moving your old appliance to another part of the house: Those who do so are adding to their carbon footprint, not reducing it. What's more, the old machine can cost $130 a year just to keep plugged in, says an expert. (Check out the mess this beer fridge caused in Australia last year.)
Example Input: Nigeria will be represented at the Winter Olympics for the first time ever, after their women's team qualified for the bobsled event at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang.
Driver Seun Adigun and brakemen Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga completed the fifth of their required five qualifying races on Wednesday, becoming the first African team, men or women, to qualify in the Bobsled category.
In women's bobsled, teams are required to complete five races to qualify. The Nigeria team, led by driver Adigun - a former African 100m hurdles champion and 2012 summer Olympian - completed races in Utah, one in Whistler, and their final two races in Calgary on Tuesday and Wednesday.
"This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria," driver Adigun told KweséESPN. "Nothing makes me prouder than to know that I can play a small role in creating opportunities for winter sports to take place in Nigeria.
"Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics have ever witnessed."
A post shared by 🇳🇬 BOBSLED & SKELETON (@bsfnigeria) on Nov 14, 2017 at 9:59am PST
Solomon Ogba, President of the Bobsled and Skeleton Federation of Nigeria, was understandably thrilled at the achievement, saying via a media statement: "I commend the personal dedication and commitment of these women.
"Their hard work was inspiring and I hope Nigerians can appreciate what it took for them to achieve this - the work, the discipline, and the personal sacrifices. They were amazing throughout this journey.
"They are all very successful people in their own right - in sports and out of it, and somehow they are still motivated and still push for more success.
"I have watched them train and work hard to represent Nigeria at the Winter Olympics in a very technical and high risk sport and they have achieved that. They should be very proud, and I am very proud of them."
Nigeria could yet secure another spot at the Games, with driver Simidele Adeagbo just three races away from qualifying for the Skeleton competition. ||||| It might just be the greatest bobsleigh story to come out of a tropical nation since Cool Runnings .
The Nigerian women's two-person bobsleigh team took a big step to making history on Wednesday as the first African team to compete in bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics. Their story echoes the 1993 movie starring the late Canadian comedian John Candy about the Jamaican men's bobsleigh team that competed at the Calgary Olympics in 1988.
It is a dream come true for former sprinters Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere, and Akuoma Omeoga, whose ticket to Pyeongchang will make them the first Winter Olympians to represent the West African nation.
Driver Adigun, who represented Nigeria in the 100 metres at the 2012 Olympics, and brakemen Onwumere and Omeoga, completed the fifth of their required five qualifying races in Calgary on Wednesday.
Although the Nigerians have achieved the qualifying standard, there is still work to be done. Countries hoping to race in Pyeongchang must be in the top 40 of the global rankings on Jan. 14 after seven World Cup races.
"It is not possible for any team to qualify for the Olympic Games this early," Nicola Minichiello, the North American Cup co-ordinator for International Bobsleigh Skeleton Federation (IBSF), told Reuters in an email. "If we base their results on last year's rankings the team [is] likely to qualify, however this will not be confirmed until much closer to the time."
Regardless, the team was flooded with praise on social media.
Congrats to former <a href="https://twitter.com/UHCougarTF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@UHCougarTF</a> star Seun Adigun and her Nigerian Bobsed teammates...first bobsled team from Africa, male or female, to qualify for the Winter Olympics. Fantastic! <a href="https://t.co/AWgxoyQdvM">pic.twitter.com/AWgxoyQdvM</a> —@DTGoteraKHOU
Meet the first Nigeria Women's Bobsled Team:<br><br>Seun Adigun (Driver) rep'd Nigeria in 100mH at London 2012, began training for bobsled in 2014<br>Ngozi Onwumere (Breakmen) won a Silver & Gold medal at the 2015 AAG <br>Akuoma Omeoga (Breakmen) will be representing Nigeria for first time <a href="https://t.co/QFqeFRZ5So">pic.twitter.com/QFqeFRZ5So</a> —@Jololade
In a recent interview with NBC posted to Onwumere's Instagram account, the team said most people are surprised to learn that they do the bulk of their training in warm weather.
Their unprecedented feat appears to have inspired and perplexed many, and of course, references to Cool Runnings were inevitable.
A Nigerian bobsled team? Have they ever seen snow in Nigeria? —@DelDiablo007
Nigeria has a bobsled team.... this country continues to amaze me! 🇳🇬🇳🇬🇳🇬 —@GeekySneaks
🎵 nuff people say they know they cant believe,<br>nigeria we have a bobsled team 🎵 <a href="https://t.co/MGY2AQrkPd">https://t.co/MGY2AQrkPd</a> —@aWickNotSnuffed
"Cool Runnings 2 Nigeria." <a href="https://t.co/Q8CSvc2ItE">https://t.co/Q8CSvc2ItE</a> —@mjtfreeze |||||
Example Output: An amazing achievement by the Nigerian women's bobsled team had more than one person speculating about Cool Runnings 2 this week. The team—driver Seun Adigun and brakemen Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga—qualified for the 2018 Winter Olympics after completing their final qualifying races in Calgary, ESPN reports. They are now the first Nigerian team to qualify for the Winter Olympics, and the first African bobsled team, women or men, to qualify. "This is a huge milestone for sports in Nigeria," Adigun says. "Our objective now is to be the best representation of Africa that the Winter Olympics have ever witnessed." Adigun, who represented Nigeria in the 100 meters in the 2012 London Olympics, started training for the bobsled in 2014, the CBC reports. She told interviewers this week that many people are surprised to find out the team does most of its training in warm weather. The 2018 Games will take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, from Feb. 9 to Feb. 25. Previous Winter Olympics bobsled teams from tropical countries include the 1988 Jamaican team, subject of 1993's Cool Runnings. ESPN notes that Nigeria could end up having two teams in the Winter Olympics if Simidele Adeagbo manages to qualify for the women's skeleton event.
Example Input: Remember former Republican legislator Charlie Fuqua, running again for legislature with financial support from the Arkansas Republican Party and U.S. Reps. Tim Griffin and Steve Womack, among others? We've mentioned some excerpts from his book, "God's Law: The Only Political Solution."
I have more for you today. To save space, I've omitted the Biblical citation for Fuqua's endorsement of the death penalty for rebellious children. Fuqua doesn't think execution would have to be used often on children who defied their parents, but suggests the deterrent effect of its legality would be beneficial. Verbatim, from the writing of Charlie Fuqua, a former lawyer for the Arkansas Department of Human Services:
The maintenance of civil order in society rests on the foundation of family discipline. Therefore, a child who disrespects his parents must be permanently removed from society in a way that gives an example to all other children of the importance of respect for parents. The death penalty for rebellioius children is not something to be taken lightly. The guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children are given in Deut 21:18-21: … This passage does not give parents blanket authority to kill their children. They must follow the proper procedure in order to have the death penalty executed against their children. I cannot think of one instance in the Scripture where parents had their child put to death. Why is this so? Other than the love Christ has for us, there is no greater love then [sic] that of a parent for their child. The last people who would want to see a child put to death would be the parents of the child. Even so, the Scrpture provides a safe guard to protect children from parents who would wrongly exercise the death penalty against them. Parents are required to bring their children to the gate of the city. The gate of the city was the place where the elders of the city met and made judicial pronouncements. In other words, the parents were required to take their children to a court of law and lay out their case before the proper judicial authority, and let the judicial authority determine if the child should be put to death. I know of many cases of rebellious children, however, I cannot think of one case where I believe that a parent had given up on their child to the point that they would have taken their child to a court of law and asked the court to rule that the child be put to death. Even though this procedure would rarely be used, if it were the law of land, it would give parents authority. Children would know that their parents had authority and it would be a tremendous incentive for children to give proper respect to their parents.
To date, Congressman Griffin and Republican Party Chair Doyle Webb have criticized some of the things Fuqua has said. Womack has said nothing. But no party official has demanded money back or urged Fuqua to withdraw from the race. Majority control of the legislature is far too important for Republicans to abandon a candidate, no matter how extreme. Which tells you a little something about Republican majority governance.
Still waiting for Republican leadership, too, on the question of endorsement of sitting Republican Rep. Loy Mauch of Bismarck, who we've quoted repeatedly in defense of slavery and harshly critical of GOP patron saint Abraham Lincoln. Mauch scorns Lincoln as a Nazi and Marxist. The Republican representative is a follower of the neo-Confederate League of the South.
Republican officials also haven't pulled endorsements and financial support for slavery apologist Republican Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro.
UPDATE: Columnist John Brummett asked U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin if he'd like to add Loy Mauch to his list of regretted campaign contributions (to be distinguished from withdrawal of party endorsement). He got this response ( pay wall ; apparently it isn't pay feature):
The congressman wrote back, “I read a sample of Rep. Mauch’s statements, and they range from outrageous to historically inaccurate and anachronistic to downright odd. As we all know, both parties have folks that say ridiculous things, but I would not have financially supported Mauch had I known about these statements. And yes I am requesting that he give the money to charity.”
Note the weasel words "financially supported." Griffin presumably would vote for Mauch over Jesus, were Jesus to run in the party to which his philosophy is most naturally inclined these days, the Democrats. Of course, as Mauch tells us, Jesus condoned slavery, too.
UPDATE II: U.S. Rep. Steve Womack's staff, which normally ignores requests for information from the Arkansas Times, hastened to volunteer that they HAD made a statement about Hubbard and Fuqua, but not Mauch:
I am disheartened by Jon Hubbard and Charlie Fuqua's recent statements and do not support or agree with their views. Offering donations to their campaigns—and to all other Republican candidates seeking office in the Arkansas Legislature this fall—should not suggest otherwise.
In light of their new agreeability I've asked two followups: 1) what about Loy Mauch? and 2) does the congressman urge votes for these candidates despite their pronouncements? A campaign spokesman responded to Question 1, but not Question 2 (which is an answer in itself):
The congressman does not support the comments made by Mr. Mauch in the least.
UPDATE III: Congressmen Griffin and Womack, this is the more appropriate statement, Twittered this morning by Republican Sen. Davy Carter:
I am proud to endorse Rep. James McLean for State Rep. Dist. #63. It has been an honor to work with James the past four years, and I look...
McLean is Fuqua's Democratic opponent. Carter would earn Hall of Fame status if he endorsed Harold Copenhaver, who's opposing Hubbard, or David Kizzia, who's opposing Mauch. Neither of them are legislative colleagues, but a stump would be better in either case.
UPDATE IV: When I did my rundown early Saturday morning of Republican Party contributions to extremist candidates, Fuqua had not filed his latest campaign report. It came on-line yesterday. Add as financial supporters:
* House Republican Leadership PAC — $2,000.
* Independence County Republican Party — $500
* Michelle and former Republican legislator Jim Bob Duggar — $250. (Fine thing for the reality TV family show stars).
Does Republican Rep. Terry Rice really want to be House speaker bad enough that he'll send $2,000, the maximum, to a total nut rather than let a proven, conservative Democrat hold the seat? ||||| Arkansas Republicans tried to distance themselves Saturday from a Republican state representative's assertion that slavery was a "blessing in disguise" and a Republican state House candidate who advocates deporting all Muslims.
In this Feb. 23, 2012 photo provided by the Arkansas Secretary of State's Office shows Charlie Fuqua. Arkansas Republicans are speaking out against "offensive" statements by a GOP state representative... (Associated Press)
In this Feb. 23, 2012 photo provided by the Arkansas Secretary of State's office shows Jon Hubbard. Arkansas Republicans are speaking out against "offensive" statements by a GOP state representative who... (Associated Press)
The claims were made in books written, respectively, by Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro and House candidate Charlie Fuqua of Batesville. Those books received attention on Internet news sites Friday.
On Saturday, state GOP Chairman Doyle Webb called the books "highly offensive." And U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, a Republican who represents northeast Arkansas, called the writings "divisive and racially inflammatory."
Hubbard wrote in his 2009 self-published book, "Letters To The Editor: Confessions Of A Frustrated Conservative," that "the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise." He also wrote that African-Americans were better off than they would have been had they not been captured and shipped to the United States.
Fuqua, who served in the Arkansas House from 1996 to 1998, wrote there is "no solution to the Muslim problem short of expelling all followers of the religion from the United States," in his 2012 book, titled "God's Law."
Fuqua said Saturday that he hadn't realized he'd become a target within his own party, which he said surprised him.
"I think my views are fairly well-accepted by most people," Fuqua said before hanging up, saying he was busy knocking on voters' doors. The attorney is running against incumbent Democratic Rep. James McLean in House District 63.
Hubbard, a marketing representative, didn't return voicemail messages seeking comment Saturday. He is running against Democrat Harold Copenhaver in House District 58.
The November elections could be a crucial turning point in Arkansas politics. Democrats hold narrow majorities in both chambers, but the GOP has been working hard to swing the Legislature its way for the first time since the end of the Civil War, buoyed by picking up three congressional seats in 2010. Their efforts have also been backed by an influx of money from national conservative groups.
Rep. Crawford said Saturday he was "disappointed and disturbed."
"The statements that have been reported portray attitudes and beliefs that would return our state and country to a harmful and regrettable past," Crawford said.
U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin, R-Ark., kicked off the GOP's response Saturday by issuing a release, saying the "statements of Hubbard and Fuqua are ridiculous, outrageous and have no place in the civil discourse of either party."
"Had I known of these statements, I would not have contributed to their campaigns. I am requesting that they give my contributions to charity," said Griffin, who donated $100 to each candidate.
The Arkansas Republican House Caucus followed, saying the views of Hubbard and Fuqua "are in no way reflective of, or endorsed by, the Republican caucus. The constituencies they are seeking to represent will ultimately judge these statements at the ballot box."
Then Webb, who has spearheaded the party's attempt to control the Legislature, said the writings "were highly offensive to many Americans and do not reflect the viewpoints of the Republican Party of Arkansas. While we respect their right to freedom of expression and thought, we strongly disagree with those ideas."
Webb, though, accused state Democrats of using the issue as a distraction.
Democrats themselves have been largely silent, aside from the state party's tweet and Facebook post calling attention to the writings. A Democratic Party spokesman didn't immediately return a call for comment Saturday.
The two candidates share other political and religious views on their campaign websites.
Hubbard, who sponsored a failed bill in 2011 that would have severely restricted immigration, wrote on his website that the issue is still among his priorities, as is doing "whatever I can to defend, protect and preserve our Christian heritage."
Fuqua blogs on his website. One post is titled, "Christianity in Retreat," and says "there is a strange alliance between the liberal left and the Muslim religion."
"Both are antichrist in that they both deny that Jesus is God in the flesh of man, and the savior of mankind. They both also hold that their cause should take over the entire world through violent, bloody, revolution," the post says.
In a separate passage, Fuqua wrote "we now have a president that has a well documented history with both the Muslim religion and Communism." |||||
Example Output: | A Republican candidate for Arkansas state legislature says it's time to crack down on rebellious kids—by threatening them with the death penalty. Instituting the punishment "would be a tremendous incentive for children to give proper respect to their parents," writes Charlie Fuqua, a former lawmaker, in his book, God's Law: The Only Political Solution. But he's certainly not going overboard: The penalty "would rarely be used." In his argument, he cites Bible passages describing "the guidelines for administering the death penalty to rebellious children." The Arkansas GOP and two US representatives, Tim Griffin and Steve Womack, have offered their financial support to Fuqua, though Griffin and the party's chair have criticized some of his statements, notes the Arkansas Times. In the book, Fuqua also supports deporting all Muslims. A book by Republican state Rep. Jon Hubbard, meanwhile, labels slavery "a blessing in disguise." State GOP chair Doyle Webb says the books are "highly offensive." But Fuqua's not so sure: "I think my views are fairly well-accepted by most people," he tells the AP.
| 3 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
PROBLEM: One of Brazil's best-known footballers was last night behind bars in a high-security Rio jail after allegations that he masterminded the abduction and execution of his former lover.
Police in Belo Horizonte, Brazil's third largest city, claimed that Bruno Fernandes, until recently captain and goalkeeper of Brazil's most popular club, Flamengo, plotted the killing of 25-year-old Eliza Samudio, who disappeared in June.
Edson Moreira, the homicide investigator in charge of the case, told reporters that while fans saw Fernandes as an "idol", the footballer was "a monster for what he did to this young lady".
"Bruno was there and he saw how the woman was completely broken," he said. "According to witnesses he accompanied Eliza to her sacrifice and to her death."
Samudio, a former model and actor, reportedly met Fernandes last year at a party and became pregnant during their first encounter. Police believe the 25-year-old player was infuriated by her decision to keep the child, who is now four months old, and claim that Samudio was lured from Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte, around six hours away by car, where she was killed by a former policeman named as Marcos Aparecido dos Santos.
Before her disappearance on 4 June Samudio had approached police to report receiving threats from the goalkeeper, who was recently linked with a multi-million dollar transfer to AC Milan. "You don't know me and you don't know what I am capable of – I'm from the favela," he allegedly told her, according to a statement given to authorities in Rio and reproduced in the Brazilian press.
While police have yet to find Samudio's body, investigators say they are certain she is dead, having been beaten, bound and then strangled in the former policeman's home. Police claim parts of her body were fed to a rottweiler.
According to Moreira, Fernandes was present when Santos strangled the former model. Santos's lawyer last night said his client denied taking part in the killing.
"Shortly before dying, she said: 'I can't take being beaten any more'," Moreira claimed, adding that her alleged killer had replied: "You're not going to be beaten any more, you are going to die."
As the scandal grew yesterday and TV news channels gave the case virtually uninterrupted coverage, candidates in the upcoming presidential election spoke out. "This is a barbaric crime," Dilma Rousseff, current president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's favoured successor, told the Record news channel. "The whole of Brazil is disgusted by such a barbaric and perverse crime."
Marina Silva, the rainforest defender who is also running for president in the October elections, told reporters the killing was part of a worrying trend of violence against women. "We have repeatedly seen this kind of episode against the lives of women," she said.
Recent months have seen increasing concern about the off-field actions of Brazil's high-earning footballers.
In May the Rio-born striker Adriano, who recently signed for Italian club AS Roma, was summoned for questioning after the Brazilian press uncovered photographs of him and a friend brandishing what appeared to be automatic rifles and making the sign for the Red Command drug faction with their hands.
Adriano denied the reports, claiming that one of the rifles was a Philippe Starck lampshade in the shape of a gold plated AK-47. But his exclusion from Brazil's World Cup squad was largely attributed to his troubled personal life and other reports about Adriano have claimed he has links to one of Rio's most notorious gangsters.
Earlier this year former CSKA Moscow striker Vagner Love found himself in hot water after police obtained a video showing the player at a dance party in Rio's largest slum, surrounded by men with assault rifles and a bazooka.
Speaking to the Guardian before the latest scandal involving Fernandes, the head of Rio's civil police, Allan Turnowski, said footballers who had grown up surrounded by drug traffickers needed to take greater care in their choice of friends.
"We know of their roots [in the favelas], the friendships they have there… But it is hard to explain to our kids – who see [these players] as idols – that [their idols] are hanging around with armed people, bad people, people who kill, rob and traffic drugs. [People] who do everything that we try and advise our children not to do," he said.
"The bad example they set for our children is what upsets us." ||||| The missing former lover of a top Brazilian football star was strangled and then fed to dogs, police say.
Eliza Samudio, 25, was a former girlfriend of Bruno Fernandes, goalkeeper for Flamengo, Brazil's most popular club.
He handed himself into police after a warrant was issued for his arrest over her disappearance nearly a month ago.
Mr Fernandes, 25, has denied any wrongdoing, and said he has a "clear conscience".
But police say a teenage cousin of Mr Fernandes has given evidence that the goalkeeper was involved in her kidnap and suspected murder.
Ms Samudio had said that the married footballer was the father of her baby.
Search for remains
Police say Ms Samudio was taken by force from a hotel in Rio de Janeiro on the day of her disappearance and was strangled in the city of Belo Horizonte.
They say her body was cut up and parts were fed to dogs, while the rest was buried under concrete.
Police are still searching for her remains, but say her death is "materially proven".
Police have also arrested Mr Fernandes's wife, Dayane Souza, and several of his friends.
They say interrogation of the other suspects has backed up the account given by Mr Fernandes's teenage cousin.
Flamengo have suspended Mr Fernandes's contract and say the club lawyer will no longer be acting in his defence.
He had been goalkeeper of the Rio de Janeiro club since 2006, and captained them to the Brazilian championship last year.
Mr Fernandes has expressed regret that the allegations could damage his chances of playing for Brazil in the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals. |||||
SOLUTION: The former lover of a popular Brazilian goalkeeper was "fed to dogs," according to police. The body of Eliza Samudio, 25, hasn't been found, but traces of her blood were discovered in soccer star Bruno Fernandes de Souza's car, say authorities. Samudio was kidnapped from a hotel, beaten, strangled and cut into pieces, with some parts fed to a rottweiler and others buried in concrete, say police who base the account on other suspects' revelations. When Samudio told Fernandes she couldn't take any more beating, he responded, "You're not going to be beaten any more, you are going to die," said the lead investigator, who called the goalkeeper a "monster.' Fernandes was reportedly angry that Samudio decided to have the baby she conceived with the goalkeeper and that she was insisting he acknowledge his 4-month-old son. Fernandes has surrendered to police, but maintains he has a "clear conscience" and will "laugh at all this" in the future. He's worried, however, that the incident might keep him from playing in the next World Cup. His club, Flamengo, has suspended Fernandes' contract and will not defend him against the charges. His wife and friends have also been arrested, notes the BBC. Click here for more on the grisly case.
PROBLEM: HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities say an intoxicated Dallas woman on a first date with a prominent Houston trial lawyer caused at least $300,000 in damage to his art collection, including two Andy Warhol paintings.
Lindy Lou Layman was arrested Saturday on criminal mischief charges after her date with Anthony Buzbee. She was released on $30,000 bond. Online court records don't list an attorney for her.
Prosecutors say Buzbee told investigators that the 29-year-old Layman got too intoxicated on their date, so he called her an Uber after they returned to his home. She allegedly refused to leave and hid inside the home, and that when Buzbee found her and called a second Uber, she got aggressive.
Authorities say she tore down several paintings and poured red wine on some, and she threw two $20,000 sculptures.
The damaged Warhol paintings were each valued at $500,000. ||||| 2 Andy Warhol art pieces destroyed by allegedly drunken first date at attorney Tony Buzbee's home Two Andy Warhol originals among the casualties following apparent 1st date
A Dallas woman is facing felony charges after police say she destroyed at least $300,000 worth of sculptures and original paintings - including two original Andy Warhol works - at the River Oaks home of well-known Houston trial lawyer Anthony Buzbee.
Lindy Lou Layman, 29, was charged Saturday with felony criminal mischief in the incident, Houston police said in court documents. Police allege that Layman threw two abstract sculptures and destroyed three original paintings at Buzbee's mansion. She was released on $30,000 bond.
In court, prosecutors said Layman was on a first date with Buzbee, according to KHOU-TV.
Buzbee told police he called Layman an Uber after she became intoxicated, the news station reported, after which she refused to leave and hid inside the home.
The suspect allegedly tore down two original Andy Warhol paintings each worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the news station reported. Police said she also poured some sort of liquid on some of the paintings.
Layman's LinkedIn profile says she has worked as a freelance court reporter.
Buzbee is a high-profile attorney who successfully defended former Texas Gov. Rick Perry in an abuse-of-power case.
Now Playing:
He hosted a fundraiser at his multimillion-dollar home in June 2016 for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, though he later said he was "completely" done with Trump's candidacy after a 2005 video of Trump bragging about groping woman surfaced that fall. Buzbee said in October 2016 that he planned to write in veteran Dan Moran on his ballot.
Buzbee later donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration committee, Law.com reported in April.
He also raised more than $100,000 for Houston mayoral candidate Adrian Garcia during a fundraiser at the home in 2014.
Buzbee's landmark victory came in 2009, when he won $100 million for Texas City residents affected by toxic discharge from the local BP plant. It was heralded as the largest verdict ever against the oil giant, winning Buzbee much acclaim. A federal judge cut the award by $99 million months later.
His home, which was listed for $14 million before he bought it, "includes five wood-burning fireplaces, a 17th Century French mantle, limestone floors, mahogany ceiling beams and a slate roof that was cut in Spain."
It set a record for a single-family home sale when Buzbee purchased it in 2013. Buzbee said he paid cash for the house but was reluctant to disclose the final sales price.
"I'm all about setting records, but I'm not sure this is one I should be proud of or not," he told the Houston Chronicle at the time. "All I'll say is the owner wasn't budging that much."
Last year, outgoing Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson personally dismissed a drunken-driving case against Buzbee, who was arrested in March 2016 for misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.
Robert Downen is a metro crime reporter at the Houston Chronicle. Send him news tips at robert.downen@chron.com or follow him on Twitter. |||||
SOLUTION: Authorities say an intoxicated Dallas woman on a first date with a prominent Houston trial lawyer caused at least $300,000 in damage to his art collection, including two Andy Warhol paintings. Lindy Lou Layman was arrested Saturday on criminal mischief charges after her date with Anthony Buzbee, the AP and Houston Chronicle report. Prosecutors say Buzbee told investigators that the 29-year-old Layman got too intoxicated on their date, so he called her an Uber after they returned to his home. She allegedly refused to leave and hid inside the home, and Buzbee says when he found her and called a second Uber, she got aggressive. Authorities say she tore down several paintings and poured red wine on some, as well as threw two $20,000 sculptures. The damaged Warhol paintings were each valued at $500,000. Per the Eagle, if criminal mischief results in damage of more than $300,000, it's considered a first-degree felony, which is punishable by up to life in prison. "It's not the first time I've had guests at a party of mine over-imbibe," Buzbee told the Texas Lawyer, via the Eagle. "Most leave when you ask them. She didn't." He says Layman also ripped down a Monet and Renoir, but those pieces weren't damaged. Layman, who has worked as a freelance court reporter, per her LinkedIn profile, was released on $30,000 bond.
PROBLEM: Stephen Colbert has technically colluded with Russia.
The host of The Late Show went abroad to Saint Petersburg, where he met his Russian late-night TV host equivalent, Ivan Urgant, and appeared on his show, Evening Urgant. The pair threw back vodka shots, joked about Russian interference with the U.S. election, and mocked President Donald Trump.
“I am so honored to be here right now because you are the No. 1 show here, and this is the state TV, so you’re officially an employee of the state and we agreed that I would appear here on the show,” Colbert told Urgant in front of his television audience. “We, uh, what’s the word for it? We colluded that I would be here on the show, and so I look forward to going back to America and testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee about colluding with Russians.”
During an off-air chat with Colbert, Urgant described his show as more Jimmy Fallon than John Oliver. To that end, they played one of his games called Russian Russian Roulette. It wasn’t complicated: they each took turns spinning a turntable full of shot glasses until the arrow landed on one. They were all filled with vodka, so it proved to be the ultimate drinking game that guaranteed a buzz.
Since this Russian government-approved television show would probably not be available in the U.S. — other than in Trump Tower, Urgant joked — Colbert took this opportunity to announce his bid for the 2020 presidential election. “I thought it would be great to cut out the middle man and tell the Russians myself: If anyone would like to work on my campaign in an unofficial capacity, please,” he joked.
Watch Colbert’s trip to Russia’s Evening Urgant in the Late Show clip above. ||||| 'The Late Show': Stephen Colbert Kicks Off "Russia Week" With New Footage From His Russian TV Debut
The 'Late Show' host's recent trip to the country will be broadcast in five new episodes starting July 17.
Stephen Colbert kicked off day one of "Russia Week" on The Late Show with more jabs at Donald Trump Jr.'s Russian ties and new footage of Colbert's recent trip to the country.
"I just want to get out ahead of the story here — I recently met with a lot of Russians. I can't remember why — maybe because I was in Russia. Some of them work for the government," Colbert teased in his opening monologue. "I didn't think you'd find out; the whole week was supposed to be a secret. But someone leaked it to CBS' marketing department," he said, then mouthed, "I did."
Before diving into his Russia visit, Colbert took a moment to discuss what's been pervading the news cycle in the U.S.: Russia.
The host once again tackled the topic of Trump Jr.'s private meeting last year with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and lobbyist Rinat Akhmetshin, who "is reportedly a former Soviet counterintelligence officer."
"Of course, when it comes to Don Jr. there's not much intelligence to counter," Colbert added. "Here's the deal: Akhmetshin denies any current ties to Russian spy agencies, so you know it must be true. Remember the first rule of spy club: tell everyone you're in spy club."
Colbert also took aim at the White House's declaration of "Made in America" week, noting that the announcement was possibly made to distract from the fact that Trump's "campaign was made in Russia."
Monday's episode of The Late Show broadcast the first few clips from Colbert's trip to Russia, during which he made a guest appearance on Russian talk show Evening Urgant and took to the streets of St. Petersburg to mingle with passersby.
Colbert aired footage of his backstage chat with fellow talk show host Ivan Urgant about "restrictions" on what can and cannot be said on late-night TV in Russia.
"Do you talk about Trump on your show? We talk about him all the time," Colbert said to Urgant, who replied, "That's why you guys are No. 1 now in the States." In terms of how much politics are covered on his show, Urgant noted, "We're more close to [Jimmy] Fallon than to John Oliver."
During Colbert's live taping at Evening Urgant, video of which was posted online last month, the host jokingly announced he was considering a 2020 presidential run, telling the audience, "I thought it would be better to cut out the middleman and just tell the Russians myself. If anyone would like to work on my campaign, in an unofficial capacity, please just let me know."
He also made it clear that in arranging his guest appearance on the show, he and Urgant had been working in collusion. "We agreed that I would be on the show — we colluded that I would be on the show," he joked, adding that he couldn't wait to testify before the Senate committee about colluding with Russia.
"Russia Week" will continue Tuesday with clips from Colbert's stay in the Ritz-Carlton's Presidential Suite ("Yes, that one") and conversation with Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov set to air in the next few days. ||||| Published on Jul 18, 2017
Stephen kicks off 'Russia Week' with a deep dive into the prized jewel of Russia: the Trump administration.
Subscribe To "The Late Show" Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/ColbertYouTube
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---
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is the premier late night talk show on CBS, airing at 11:35pm EST, streaming online via CBS All Access, and delivered to the International Space Station on a USB drive taped to a weather balloon. Every night, viewers can expect: Comedy, humor, funny moments, witty interviews, celebrities, famous people, movie stars, bits, humorous celebrities doing bits, funny celebs, big group photos of every star from Hollywood, even the reclusive ones, plus also jokes. |||||
SOLUTION: | President Trump will want to avoid Stephen Colbert's show more than ever this week. The CBS host launched "Russia Week" on Monday night following his visit to the country, per the Hollywood Reporter. Colbert will be airing pieces from his trip all week, and his first was on his visit to a Colbert-like figure in Russia, TV host Ivan Urgant. Colbert appeared on Urgant's Russian show, where he mocked Trump, drank vodka, and announced his own supposed bid for the White House in 2020. "I thought it would just be better to cut out the middle man and just tell the Russians myself: If anyone would like to work on my campaign in an unofficial capacity, please, just let me know," he said, per Entertainment Weekly. (See the video here.) His monologue, meanwhile, focused on the travails of Donald Trump Jr. At one point, he made reference to reports of how the number of people in attendance at last year's now-famous meeting continues to grow. "This is the first time a Trump has lied about having a smaller crowd size," he said. (See that here.)
| 8 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
You will be given a definition of a task first, then an example. Follow the example to solve a new instance of the task.
In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
A photo series on the popular Humans of New York Facebook page may have went viral and captured the nation’s attention last Tuesday, but for Daniel Kang, the post really hit home.
When Kang, a junior studying computer science at the University of Michigan, heard that the refugee pictured and his family were relocating to his hometown of Troy, Mich., he said he knew he had to help.
“I was really inspired by how intelligent he was and I knew a lot of people wanted to welcome him, so I thought, why not it be me?” he said.
On the Humans of New York Facebook page with over 16 million likes — including comments from President Obama — the seven-part picture series’ captions detail one Syrian scientist and his family’s tale of loss after a missile strike destroyed their home, forcing them to to flee to Turkey, now with plans of coming to the United States.
“Everything ended for us that day. That was our destiny. That was our share in life,” the scientist said. Battling stomach cancer, the loss of a home, career and seven family members, the man, whose name remains confidential to protect his identity as a refugee, expressed his hope for a new life in the United States.
“I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan,” he said. “I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don’t want the world to think I’m over. I’m still here.”
Knowing that refugees come to the United States with little more than they can carry, Kang quickly organized a crowdfunding campaign to help establish the man in his new home.
In four days, the GoFundMe page has raised over $16K in donations from over 700 people. On Saturday afternoon, actor Edward Norton also began a fundraiser for the scientist, raising even more for the refugee who says he “just wants to be a person again.”
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Kang. “A lot of people thanked me for doing a nice thing but I really feel like I was doing what anyone else would have done.”
Kang said he’s received many messages from people expressing their gratitude, those who want to reach out to the man personally, as well local companies interested in working with the scientist. This includes invitations to lecture at local colleges, research job opportunities and potential help from local medical facilities in treating the man’s stomach cancer.
“There’s definitely a lot of interest in helping him out,” he said.
The biggest concern, said Kang, are those skeptical of how the money will reach the man.
Kang, who has successfully crowdfunded in the past, is working closely with GoFundMe, the local refugee relocation agency Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, and is in communication with the Humans of New York staff to make sure all funding goes to the scientist.
In the end, Kang said he just hopes the scientist receives the welcome he deserves.
“If I could talk to him right now, I’d just tell him how sorry I am for everything he’s been through and that he’s coming to a great place. One of the things he said that resonated with me the most is that ‘I hope Troy is a place that appreciates science.’
I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist and we can’t wait to have him.”
Oona Goodin-Smith is a student at Oakland University and a member of the USA TODAY College contributor network. ||||| I saw this story on one of my favorite sites, Humans of New York, and it moved me to tears. This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world. If we don’t welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we’re not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let’s reject the 'anti-human’ voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let’s show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
Everything we raise here will go to help this family so that the father can get the medical treatment he needs to live and pursue his work, and his family can build a new stable life after their tragedy, and…as the Scientist beautifully expresses…to support his dream of contributing to the world.
Thanks to Humans of New York for sharing these stories. Thanks to the team at CrowdRise for putting this together and figuring out how to get even the credit card transaction fees covered so we can get the maximum to the family.
Thanks to everyone who rallies together to create the power of the crowd. If enough of us kick in the price of two frappucinos, we can probably transform the experience of this family and show them that life can deliver healing and kindness, not just heartbreak.
Thanks to Benevolent, all donations are tax-deductible. We will work with Benevolent to use all donated funds to help this family and will seek to use any excess or unused funds to help the other 11 profiled in the HONY ‘Syrian American’ series.
Edward Norton ||||| DETROIT, MI -- Moved to tears by a Humans of New York feature on a Syrian refugee fleeing to Metro Detroit, Hollywood actor Edward Norton launched an online fundraiser that had raised nearly $450,000 for the widower and his four children as of Thursday afternoon.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," the man told NBC News after hearing about the fundraiser's success. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me."
The man asked NBC to refer to him as "Abu Ammar," a fake named used to protect his relatives who remain in Syria. He's known to many on the Internet simply as "The Scientist," which is also his profession.
The refugee's family was scheduled to arrive in Troy, a Detroit suburb, Thursday. He and four surviving children spent the last two years in Instanbul, Turkey. They fled civil-war-torn Syria after the man's wife and one of his daughters were killed in a missile attack on April 6, 2013.
His is one of 12 families featured by Humans of New York and cleared to resettle in the U.S.
"I learned today that I'm going to Troy, Michigan," the man told Humans of New York. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it's safe and that it's a place where they respect science. I just want to get back to work. I want to be a person again. I don't want the world to think I'm over. I'm still here."
The story made rounds throughout the Internet and even garnered a response from President Barack Obama's official Facebook page:
As a husband and a father, I cannot even begin to imagine the loss you've endured. You and your family are an inspiration. I know that the great people of Michigan will embrace you with the compassion and support you deserve. Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here. Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great.
,Norton, known for his roles in movies like "Fight Club" and "Birdman," wrote in the description of his online fundraiser:
If we don't welcome people like this into our communities and empower his dream of making an impact with his life, then we're not the country we tell ourselves we are. Let's reject the 'anti-human' voices that tell us to fear refugees and show this man and his family what Americans are really made of. Let's show that a country built by the energy and dreams of immigrants still believes in brave people who come here with hope for better life.
(6/7) “I had no problems before the bombing. I think the cancer came from my sadness and my stress. It’s in my... Posted by Humans of New York on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 ||||| ISTANBUL — The grieving refugee who touched hearts as "The Scientist" on the Humans of New York blog only mustered a brief smile when told that a Hollywood star had helped raise $450,000 for him.
Hours before flying to Michigan to start a new life in the U.S. on Thursday, the cancer-stricken Syrian civil engineer glanced down.
"I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," he said after NBC News revealed the crowdfunding appeal. Oscar-nominated actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading the refugee's biography on the photography site last week and launched the fundraiser.
"There are people outside who need that money much more than me," The Scientist said, displaying the sort of compassion and humility that helped his story go viral.
The Scientist, who asked NBC News to refer to him as "Abu Ammar" to protect family in Syria, said his life was shattered by a bomb that killed his wife and daughter just under three years ago.
He was later diagnosed with stomach cancer, and has had to care for five remaining children.
They include a teenage son, who is still reeling after watching his mother die, and a daughter who carries inside of her shrapnel from the attack on April 6, 2013.
"When a bomb drops you don't know where it comes from," he said. "There is no question our lives changed after that ... 180 degrees. I am mentally tired, in overwhelming sadness."
“ As long as there are good people in the world … then we can stop this bloodshed”
On Thursday, Abu Ammar and four of his children flew to Troy, Michigan, as part of a United Nations refugee resettlement program.
For about two years, the family had been living close to destitution in Turkey. But the drive to succeed still lingers, Abu Ammar said.
"I've had ambitions since I was a child, and right now I'm still that same child with the same ambitions," he said. "But I still have a message — sometimes when I'm talking to myself I say, 'No, I'm not supposed to die. I need to live long enough to realize my message to humanity.'"
Abu Ammar's story on Humans of New York, a popular blog started in 2010 that spawned a bestselling book, prompted an outpouring of compassion. Even President Barack Obama contributed, calling Abu Ammar and his family an "inspirations" on HONY's Facebook page.
"Yes, you can still make a difference in the world, and we're proud that you'll pursue your dreams here." Obama wrote. "Welcome to your new home. You're part of what makes America great."
Last night President @BarackObama wrote a very sweet welcome note to the scientist in Tuesday's story. pic.twitter.com/ZGrn3gOdR7 — Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) December 10, 2015
Norton, who starred in "Birdman," "Fight Club" and "American History X," set out to help pay The Scientist's medical expenses.
"This man has suffered profound loss that would crush the spirit of many people and yet he still passionately wants a chance to contribute positively to the world," Norton wrote.
The resettlement of Syrian and Muslim refugees in the United States is controversial, especially in the aftermath of attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris and San Bernardino. Some politicians — notably GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump — have called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.
Abu Ammar told NBC News he didn't know anything about the debate over Muslims and immigration raging in the U.S. He also didn't have a solution to the war raging in his home country.
"I don't like to get into politics because I am a man of science, and I can separate science and politics completely," he said. "But as long as there are good people in the world, and everyone looks into his or her conscience, then we can stop this bloodshed."
Abu Ammar added: "No one benefits from people dying, and wars overall never benefit anybody — so let's hope God can help everyone and put out this fire." |||||
Solution: A Syrian refugee whose moving story went viral earlier this month starts his new life in Troy, Michigan, on Thursday, NBC News reports. The refugee—who wants to keep his real name out of the media to protect family members still in Syria—is known as "The Scientist" on the blog Humans of New York, where he was first profiled. "I learned today that I’m going to Troy, Michigan," The Scientist told HONY. "I know nothing about it. I just hope that it’s safe and that it’s a place where they respect science." According to MLive, The Scientist left Syria in 2013 after a bomb killed his wife and one of his daughters. Since then, he's been diagnosed with stomach cancer and was barely scraping by in Turkey. Despite being "in overwhelming sadness," he and his surviving children are hoping for a new start in the US, he tells NBC. Thanks to his story—which even got the attention of President Obama—The Scientist will have some help to get that new start. NBC reports actor Edward Norton was moved to tears after reading The Scientist's story and started a crowdfunding page that has raised nearly $450,000. "I didn't hear about it, but I want to thank him very much from the humanity perspective," The Scientist says. "There are people outside who need that money much more than me." A Michigan college student was also inspired to help after hearing The Scientist would be moving to his hometown, according to USA Today. His fundraising page has raised more than $16,000. "I’d say out of all the cities in Michigan, Troy is the best place to raise a family, be a scientist, and we can’t wait to have him," Daniel Kang says.
Why? This is a good example. The output correctly summarizes the articles.
New input: As results showed Donald Trump leading in at least six states on Super Tuesday, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) argued that nominating him would be bad for the Republican party. Here are key moments from their speeches following the March 1 races. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
As results showed Donald Trump leading in at least six states on Super Tuesday, Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) argued that nominating him would be bad for the Republican party. Here are key moments from their speeches following the March 1 races. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Donald Trump won GOP primaries in seven states and Sen. Ted Cruz took three in a Super Tuesday rebound, sparking renewed calls from some Republicans to unify around a single Trump rival as the billionaire tightened his hold on front-runner status.
The contests in 11 states showcased Trump’s dominance over a crowded GOP field. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) was the winner in one state: Minnesota, his first victory of the 2016 primary season.
[Live updates and results from across the U.S.]
Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia, according to Edison Media Research. In several states, his lead was in double digits, and his share of the GOP vote neared 50 percent. With those wins, Trump has more than doubled his victory total in this GOP primary season.
But even as Trump basked in his Super Tuesday romp, a well-funded super PAC was ramping up its effort to discredit the New York businessman with a new television advertisement that portrays him as a predatory huckster who scammed working- and middle-class Americans.
The 60-second ad, which will begin airing Wednesday on stations across the country at a cost of more than $1 million, centers on Trump University, the billionaire mogul’s for-profit enterprise that promised to teach students the tricks of the real estate trade and is now defunct and the subject of a fraud suit.
The attack echoes themes that Rubio, who is trying to unite the GOP’s anti-Trump forces under his own banner, has advanced as he has addressed swelling crowds in suburban areas.
Cruz won Alaska, Oklahoma and his home state of Texas just after 9 p.m. These are the second, third and fourth states Cruz has won in this race; he also won the Iowa caucuses, the first contest of all. The win in Texas, in particular, was vital: It saved Cruz from a humiliating home-state defeat and gave him part of the largest slate of delegates that was up for grabs Tuesday.
[Live updates and results from across the U.S.]
But this was not the Super Tuesday that Cruz had hoped for months ago. He had campaigned hard in Southern states, hoping to dominate among evangelicals and very conservative voters. Instead, in state after state, he saw those voters flock to Trump.
For Rubio, the Minnesota win was a boost he sorely needed. Earlier in the night, Trump had mocked him for not winning any states so far. But overall, Tuesday was a disappointment for Rubio. He had attacked Trump sharply in the past few days and shifted some late-deciding voters into his camp. But outside of Minnesota, it wasn’t enough.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich came in a close second to Trump in Vermont.
The worry among the party establishment — which has put its last hopes on Rubio — was strong and growing after Trump’s Tuesday victories.
Even Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), an outspoken critic of Cruz, said to CBS’s Charlie Rose on Tuesday night, “Well, I think we’re about ready to lose to the most dishonest politician in America, Hillary Clinton, and how could you do that?”
“I made a joke about Ted, but we may be in a position to have to rally around Ted Cruz as the only way to stop Donald Trump, and I’m not so sure that would work,” he said, adding that when it came to that prospect,“I can’t believe I would say yes, but yes.”
[ Explore the full Super Tuesday results ]
Cruz addressed his supporters at a venue called the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, Tex. He sought not so subtly to convince Rubio to drop out of the race, saying that a divided field was allowing Trump to succeed.
“So long as the field remains divided, Donald Trump’s path to the nomination remains more likely. And that would be a disaster . . . for conservatives, and for the nation. And after tonight, we have seen that our campaign is the only campaign that has beaten, that can beat, and that will beat Donald Trump,” Cruz said. He spoke to primary voters in future states: “We must come together.”
Rubio, the establishment candidate who had sharply attacked Trump in the past few days, ran close to Trump in Virginia, boosted by support among college-educated voters and Republicans in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. But he fell short, with Trump piling up large margins in the state’s rural South and West.
[No Republican nominee has ever won all the states Trump has]
Still, exit polls showed some good news for Rubio: In several states, he did well among voters who decided late, according to media reports. That could be taken as proof that Rubio’s late attacks on Trump worked — and it could encourage Rubio to continue them, hoping to win more primaries in the coming weeks.
“Just five days ago, we began to unmask the true nature of the front-runner so far in this race. Five days ago, we began to explain to the American people that Donald Trump is a con artist. And in just five days, we have seen the impact it is having all across the country,” Rubio told supporters in Miami. “We are seeing, in state after state, his numbers coming down. Our numbers going up.”
He looked ahead to the Republican primary in Florida on March 15, a “winner-take-all” contest that could vault Rubio back into contention — or, if he loses, doom him.
Rubio’s campaign has sought to position him as the top alternative to Trump: the one who’d be waiting and ready when voters — or delegates, at a fractious GOP convention — finally turned on the front-runner. But Tuesday’s results showed that isn’t exactly true. In six of the nine states where polls have closed, in fact, Rubio was running third.
Trump spoke to supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., in an ornate ballroom. In his speech, he mocked Rubio, calling him “the little senator” and reminding his crowd that “[Rubio] didn’t win anything. He hasn’t won anything, period.”
[Overshadowed by Trump and Rubio, Cruz sees Texas as his last stand ]
Trump also called his campaign “a movement,” and sought to look ahead to a general election contest against Clinton, the former secretary of state.
“I am a unifier. When we get all of this finished, I’m going to go after one person, Hillary Clinton,” Trump said. He rejected suggestions that his comments — about Mexican immigrants, mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and a ban on Muslim foreigners entering the country — had divided his party.
“We are going to be a much finer party. We’re going to be a unified party,” Trump said. “I mean, to be honest with you. And we are going to be a much bigger party. Our party is expanding.”
Later, Trump responded to a question by saying he’d been watching all the big cable-TV news networks, and liked them all. “See, I’m becoming diplomatic,” he said.
In a wide-ranging news conference that followed Trump’s speech, he issued a kind of threat to House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who – before Trump came on the scene – had a claim to being the most popular figure in the GOP.
“Paul Ryan, I don’t know him well,” Trump said. “I’m sure I’ll get along with him. And if I don’t? He’ll have to pay a big price.”
It seemed possible, given Tuesday’s results, that Rubio, Cruz and Kasich could find a reason to remain in the race. So even where Trump lost Tuesday night, he may have won — reaping the benefits of a crowded field of candidates and splitting the anti-Trump vote into pieces.
[Winners and losers from Super Tuesday]
Former pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who has failed to win a single primary or caucus so far, told supporters he was dismayed with the state of the nation’s political system and not prepared to quit the race yet.
“It is rotten; it is rotten to the core,” Carson told a crowd of supporters in Baltimore. “I’m not ready to quit untangling it quite yet.”
Carson has called on the five remaining candidates to meet privately in Detroit in advance of Thursday’s upcoming GOP Fox News Channel debate. He has asked them to take “a pledge to talk about the many serious problems facing our country, instead of personally attacking each other.”
In the Democratic race, with nearly all the votes counted,Clinton won the Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia Democratic primaries as she looks to dramatically widen her lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sanders chalked up four victories: his home state of Vermont, as well as in Oklahoma, Minnesota and Colorado.
At a polling place in Houston where Cruz cast his vote Tuesday, Francisco Valle, 74, held a sign depicting Trump with a Hitler-style mustache and his right hand raised; it read, “absolutely no Mexicans.” Valle also hung a sign with the letter T and word “Trump” in the shape of a swastika with “STOP” written beneath.
“I am here because I want to make awareness of a movement that is very dangerous to all the minorities, because Hitler started the same way,” said Valle, who is Mexican American. “He blamed the Jews for all the problems, and now Trump is blaming the Mexicans for the problems.”
Trump has suggested he is expanding the GOP’s base of support by appealing to Democrats and independents, even though some say he is alienating some traditional Republican backers.
“We have tremendous numbers of people coming in, and the Republican Party is growing larger,” he said. If it fails to do that, he added, “it’s not going to win.”
Wagner reported from Burlington, Vt.; Eilperin from Washington. Katie Zezima in Houston; Patricia Sullivan in Arlington, Va.; Laura Vozzella in Richmond, Va.; Abby Phillip in Minneapolis, Minn.; Scott Clement, Anne Gearan and Paul Kane in Washington; Robert Costa in Atlanta; Jose A. DelReal in Nashville; Fenit Nirappil in Norfolk, Va.; Ed O’Keefe in Alcoa, Tenn.; and David Weigel in Castleton, Vt., contributed to this report. ||||| About 6 percent of voters in Virginia's Republican primary were Democrats, according to a CNN exit poll.
That jibes with anecdotal evidence of Democrats voting in the opposite party's primary strategically — though whether "strategically" translated into "for Donald Trump" (because they thought Trump would be easy to beat) or "against Donald Trump" (because they were horrified by the prospect of a Trump presidency) isn't yet clear.
But this number should be taken with two big grains of salt. First, it's a small sample size from an early exit poll in a state that's still too close to call.
Second, Democrats crossing the aisle in Virginia is a time-honored tradition. In 2012, 5 percent of Virginia's Republican primary voters were Democrats, according to CNN. In 2008, 3 percent were — during a bitterly fought Democratic primary when Democrats had good reason to weigh in on their own party.
Go deeper: |||||
Solution: | Donald Trump had his expected strong night on Super Tuesday, but he didn't post a clean sweep. He won seven states—Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia, Arkansas, and Vermont—but Ted Cruz defeated him in the senator's own home state of Texas, in neighboring Oklahoma and in Alaska, reports CNN. The Oklahoma win was a surprise and gives Cruz at least as strong a claim to be the "Trump alternative" as Marco Rubio, writes Nicholas Confessore at the New York Times. "This has been an amazing evening," Trump told supporters, describing himself as a "unifier." "Once we get all of this finished, I am going to go after one person: Hillary Clinton," he vowed. Rubio, meanwhile, scored his first victory with a win in Minnesota and finished a strong second in Virginia, perhaps buoyed by Democrats voting for him in the open primary, notes Vox. But overall, he fared poorly in the South, where evangelicals and conservative voters chose Trump, reports the Washington Post. The brightest spot for John Kasich was Vermont, where he came a close second. He also came a distant second in Massachusetts, while Ben Carson failed to crack the top three in any state. Click here for Democratic results. | 0 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
"In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token \"|||||\". Your(...TRUNCATED) | "It was nearly a happy ending for James Foley. US special forces mounted a secret rescue mission in (...TRUNCATED) | 4 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
"In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token \"|||||\". Your(...TRUNCATED) | "The NRA made a surprise announcement Thursday that it supported government restrictions on \"bump s(...TRUNCATED) | 6 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
"Given the task definition, example input & output, solve the new input case.\nIn this task, you are(...TRUNCATED) | "A New York man charged with treating up to 100 patients while pretending to be a clinical psycholog(...TRUNCATED) | 1 | NIv2 | task1291_multi_news_summarization | fs_opt |
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