text:
package org.jetbrains.io;

import com.intellij.openapi.util.AtomicNotNullLazyValue;
import org.jboss.netty.buffer.ChannelBuffer;
import org.jboss.netty.channel.*;
import org.jboss.netty.channel.group.ChannelGroup;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.compression.ZlibDecoder;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.compression.ZlibEncoder;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.compression.ZlibWrapper;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpChunkAggregator;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpContentCompressor;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpRequestDecoder;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpResponseEncoder;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler;
import org.jboss.netty.handler.stream.ChunkedWriteHandler;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;

import javax.net.ssl.KeyManagerFactory;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLContext;
import javax.net.ssl.SSLEngine;
import java.net.SocketAddress;
import java.security.KeyStore;
import java.security.Security;

@ChannelHandler.Sharable
final class PortUnificationServerHandler extends Decoder {
  private static final AtomicNotNullLazyValue<SSLContext> SSL_SERVER_CONTEXT = new AtomicNotNullLazyValue<SSLContext>() {
    @NotNull
    @Override
    protected SSLContext compute() {
      String algorithm = Security.getProperty("ssl.KeyManagerFactory.algorithm");
      if (algorithm == null) {
        algorithm = "SunX509";
      }

      try {
        KeyStore ks = KeyStore.getInstance("JKS");
        char[] password = "jetbrains".toCharArray();
        //noinspection IOResourceOpenedButNotSafelyClosed
        ks.load(getClass().getResourceAsStream("cert.jks"), password);
        KeyManagerFactory kmf = KeyManagerFactory.getInstance(algorithm);
        kmf.init(ks, password);
        SSLContext serverContext = SSLContext.getInstance("TLS");
        serverContext.init(kmf.getKeyManagers(), null, null);
        return serverContext;
      }
      catch (Exception e) {
        throw new RuntimeException(e);
      }
    }
  };

  private final boolean detectSsl;
  private final boolean detectGzip;

  private final ChannelGroup openChannels;
  private final DelegatingHttpRequestHandler delegatingHttpRequestHandler;

  public PortUnificationServerHandler(ChannelGroup openChannels) {
    this(new DelegatingHttpRequestHandler(), openChannels, true, true);
  }

  private PortUnificationServerHandler(DelegatingHttpRequestHandler delegatingHttpRequestHandler, @Nullable ChannelGroup openChannels, boolean detectSsl, boolean detectGzip) {
    this.delegatingHttpRequestHandler = delegatingHttpRequestHandler;
    this.openChannels = openChannels;
    this.detectSsl = detectSsl;
    this.detectGzip = detectGzip;
  }

  @Override
  public void channelOpen(ChannelHandlerContext context, ChannelStateEvent e) {
    if (openChannels != null) {
      openChannels.add(e.getChannel());
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void messageReceived(ChannelHandlerContext context, MessageEvent e) throws Exception {
    Object m = e.getMessage();
    if (!(m instanceof ChannelBuffer)) {
      context.sendUpstream(e);
      return;
    }

    ChannelBuffer buffer = getBufferIfSufficient((ChannelBuffer)m, 5, context);
    if (buffer != null) {
      decode(context, buffer, e.getRemoteAddress());
    }
  }

  private void decode(ChannelHandlerContext context, ChannelBuffer buffer, SocketAddress remoteAddress) throws Exception {
    ChannelPipeline pipeline = context.getPipeline();
    if (detectSsl && SslHandler.isEncrypted(buffer)) {
      SSLEngine engine = SSL_SERVER_CONTEXT.getValue().createSSLEngine();
      engine.setUseClientMode(false);
      pipeline.addLast("ssl", new SslHandler(engine));
      pipeline.addLast("streamer", new ChunkedWriteHandler());
      pipeline.addLast("unificationWOSsl", new PortUnificationServerHandler(delegatingHttpRequestHandler, null, false, detectGzip));
    }
    else {
      int magic1 = buffer.getUnsignedByte(buffer.readerIndex());
      int magic2 = buffer.getUnsignedByte(buffer.readerIndex() + 1);
      if (detectGzip && magic1 == 31 && magic2 == 139) {
        pipeline.addLast("gzipDeflater", new ZlibEncoder(ZlibWrapper.GZIP));
        pipeline.addLast("gzipInflater", new ZlibDecoder(ZlibWrapper.GZIP));
        pipeline.addLast("unificationWOGzip", new PortUnificationServerHandler(delegatingHttpRequestHandler, null, detectSsl, false));
      }
      else {
        pipeline.addLast("decoder", new HttpRequestDecoder());
        pipeline.addLast("aggregator", new HttpChunkAggregator(1048576));
        pipeline.addLast("encoder", new HttpResponseEncoder());
        pipeline.addLast("deflater", new HttpContentCompressor());
        pipeline.addLast("handler", delegatingHttpRequestHandler);
      }
    }
    // must be after new channels handlers addition (netty bug?)
    pipeline.remove(this);
    Channels.fireMessageReceived(context, buffer, remoteAddress);
  }

  @Override
  public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext context, ExceptionEvent event) throws Exception {
    NettyUtil.log(event.getCause(), BuiltInServer.LOG);
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Break out your jackets — August is going to be chilly for much of the U.S.
Bad news, summer lovers
Updated: 12:04 PM CDT Aug 4, 2017
By Carly Breit
If the news that the East coast, South, and Midwest will all experience hotter than average temperatures this fall made you long for cooler temperatures, here's some good news: Your wish is coming true this month. From the Plains to the Eastern seaboard, the beginning of August is going to feel cooler than average, according to The Weather Channel. The unusual weather pattern is due to a southward dip in the jet stream that's bringing temperatures more than 25 degrees lower than average to areas east of the Rockies. Good news if you're ready to take your sweaters down from the attic, but if you're looking for a respite from the summer heat and you live in certain other parts of the country, you're out of luck.Areas in Texas and south Florida won't be affected by this wacky August weather pattern. Folks in those spots will still see highs in the 90s this weekend, and the Northwest might even get record high temperatures. For people in Wisconsin or Minnesota, though, temps will peak in the 50s early this month. We can expect this cooler-than-average trend to continue until at least mid-August, and the southern and eastern parts of the U.S. may bounce back up to normal before then, but they'll dip right back down again as a cold front moves through. So that just leaves one question: If it's already feeling like fall in some regions, does this mean you can start eating pumpkin spice goodies?
If the news that the East coast, South, and Midwest will all experience hotter than average temperatures this fall made you long for cooler temperatures, here's some good news: Your wish is coming true this month.
From the Plains to the Eastern seaboard, the beginning of August is going to feel cooler than average, according to The Weather Channel. The unusual weather pattern is due to a southward dip in the jet stream that's bringing temperatures more than 25 degrees lower than average to areas east of the Rockies. Good news if you're ready to take your sweaters down from the attic, but if you're looking for a respite from the summer heat and you live in certain other parts of the country, you're out of luck.
13 tips to keep your home cool during the sweltering summer
How to prepare your car for a hurricane or severe weather
Check out weather photos on ulocal
Not a fan of hot temperatures? Then this forecast to start August is for you: https://t.co/ozyQkjbGgV pic.twitter.com/jrdnri9ws1
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) August 2, 2017
Areas in Texas and south Florida won't be affected by this wacky August weather pattern. Folks in those spots will still see highs in the 90s this weekend, and the Northwest might even get record high temperatures. For people in Wisconsin or Minnesota, though, temps will peak in the 50s early this month.
High temperatures in the Pacific Northwest will approach all-time record highs in some cities today and tomorrow: https://t.co/wZpHuDjj9w pic.twitter.com/cr500NYCfe
We can expect this cooler-than-average trend to continue until at least mid-August, and the southern and eastern parts of the U.S. may bounce back up to normal before then, but they'll dip right back down again as a cold front moves through.
So that just leaves one question: If it's already feeling like fall in some regions, does this mean you can start eating pumpkin spice goodies?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The bench is the heart of the woodworker's workshop and should meet all the criteria on an individual basis - height, width, length etc, but above all, it needs to be compact and functional. Ideally, and space permitting, the bench should be about 2.4m long by 630mm wide. I like bench height to be half my height. It is better to be slightly higher than this, rather than lower.
My bench is made from joinery quality softwood with an MDF top, and incorporates a Ryobi EMS1426L 250mm mitre saw, and an ART03 router table fitted into the top. Underneath are two sliding drawers where my power and hand tools are laid out for easy access. A cutting list is detailed below.
The legs and rails are mortised together with the underside of the bottom rail being 100mm from the floor. This allows your feet to go under the bench when standing close to it, and also leaves enough room to retrieve items which have fallen under the bench. The mortise width is approximately half the width of the rail - in this case 20mm and 45mm deep - and is best cut out with a mortiser or a Ryobi EDP5530L pillar drill set to a depth 5mm deeper than required.
A perfectly flat surface for the benchtop is much preferred by professionals, as tools left at the back of a bench in a tool well always attract unwanted dents in the workpiece when the full width of the bench surface is required, so I always advocate the benchtop is made from a sheet of 18mm MDF.
Once the router table support frame has been fitted, the router table can then be lifted off, leaving a frame ready to support the base board for the mitre saw. Inner shelf support strips are fitted to the sides of the frame to enable the mitre saw to sit lower in the bench and level with the benchtop. A lift-on lift-off extension frame is made to complement the mitre saw fence, extending it to the length of the bench - essential when cutting long pieces of stock accurately. And now your bench is finished and ready for use. Enjoy!


text:
Start-up takes aim at bias in expert witness testimony
By Kate Madden Yee, AuntMinnie.com staff writer
August 29, 2013 -- Radiologists often serve as expert witnesses in medical malpractice trials, passing judgment on the image interpretation skills of their colleagues in a sort of legal second opinion. But who offers second opinions on the second opinions? A new start-up called Clear Review aims to do just that, hoping to take the bias out of expert witness testimony.
Clear Review has developed a PACS-based system that enables expert radiologists hired by attorneys to assess blinded groups of exams, including the case that's the subject of litigation. The results can be illuminating for both the plaintiffs and defense in a malpractice case, according to company president Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, who founded the firm in 2012.
"We offer a neutral tool that doesn't favor defendants or plaintiffs," Robinson said. "Using Clear Review can speed up the litigation process in a way that's fair."
The importance of expert witnesses
Radiologists who are the subject of malpractice litigation hate it when their colleagues testify for plaintiffs, but expert witnesses offer an essential service. Indeed, radiologists have an obligation to serve in this capacity in the appropriate circumstances, according to a 2012 guidance from the American College of Radiology (ACR).
Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, president of Clear Review.
Not only does the expert witness deliver an opinion about the conduct of the parties involved in the suit, he or she may also weigh in on physicians' training and experience, the relevant standard of care, the relevance of particular imaging findings or treatments, and the adequacy of the technical equipment used.
"Although the nature of legal proceedings is adversarial, the expert witness must be as impartial and objective as possible," ACR wrote in its guidance.
The issue of retrospective bias -- that experts might interpret a case differently if they already know its findings -- has dogged the expert witness process for years, with both sides accusing the other of being biased and therefore untrustworthy. That's why a service like the one Clear Review provides is so important, according to Robinson; it creates an objective standard that moves beyond he-said, she-said testimony.
"A typical defense view is that the plaintiff's counsel is more interested in winning the case than the truth -- and wouldn't tend to use a service like Clear Review," Robinson told AuntMinnie.com. "And plaintiffs tend to claim that the expert witness for the defense is just protecting his peers, so the defense attorney in a malpractice suit could really have a competitive advantage by being able to demonstrate his expert's objectivity. It's not just one doctor's word against another's."
Clear Review creates a review set of images that have been scrubbed of all identifying information. The set includes between six and 12 real exams and reports, as well as the original case that's the subject of the litigation. The expert witness radiologist then receives a URL to the set, logs in to the Clear Review PACS, and rates how well the original report matches what his or her own interpretation of the case would be, according to a simple and familiar grading system: A, B, C, D, or F.
"We ask them to score how well the image and the report match," Robinson said. "It's intuitive: Everyone knows what an 'A' report is and what an 'F' report is."
The middle ground
Some of the suits filed against radiologists are obvious, representing either grievous mistakes made by radiologists or frivolous claims made by patients (and their attorneys). It's the lawsuits in the middle ground that are harder to resolve, according to Robinson.
"Some litigation is a slam dunk -- the radiologist just blew it, and the parties need to settle and move on," he said. "Others are ridiculous and shouldn't have been filed in first place. But most cases are in the middle. Everything didn't go quite right, things weren't documented like they should have been, and now there's an argument, a duel to the death. At Clear Review, we're taking on those middle cases and helping to sort them out more quickly, fairly, and inexpensively."
Clear View is marketing its services to both plaintiff and defense attorneys. To build a set of exams for a law firm and to send the set to the expert witness costs $2,500; if an attorney wants to have the same set of exams reviewed by more than one radiologist, each extra report is $150, Robinson said. This adds extra fees to the litigation process, in which attorneys pay expert witnesses an hourly rate for consultation, but it may make the whole process more efficient and thus more cost-effective.
"Lawyers want cases to end quickly because then they get paid," Robinson said. "They don't have any need to stretch cases out -- there's no lack of lawsuits. So our services can benefit both the plaintiff and the defense."
"If a plaintiff expert doesn't even identify the exam that's in dispute, or gives it a higher 'grade,' the attorney might think twice about pursuing the suit at all, which saves everyone a lot of money," he continued. "And if the reviewer for the defense picks the exam out of the lineup and identifies it as a problem, the defense counsel might see the wisdom in settling more quickly."


text:
Tuesday Night Book Events: Obscenity, Kevin Starr and Noir
Steven Mikulan September 15, 2009
Last night at the Skirball Cultural Center, Norman Podhoretz asked the question (or at least, quoted the title of his book), "Why Are Jews Liberals?" Tonight, if he's still in town, he'll get an answer from Paul Krassner, the iconic iconoclast whose latest book is called Who's to Say What's Obscene? Politics, Culture, and Comedy in America Today. Krassner's long career includes a close friendship with stand-up provocateur Lenny Bruce, creation of the satirical monthly The Realist and recurring appearances at the 1968 Democratic Convention, with Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and in the FBI's undercover archives. He'll be reading and discussing his anthology's essays at Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; 7-9 p.m. (323) 660-1175.
For a somewhat more scholastic approach to how politics and economics have shaped
culture and vise versa, at least with regard to California, Kevin Starr
discuss and sign copies of Golden Dreams, the final volume in his
vaunted Americans and the California Dream series. This last installment,
subtitled, California in an Age of Abundance,
focuses on the state's postwar period from 1950-1963 — when things
truly became golden. The event is sponsored by Vroman's Books but is held
at All Saints Church,
132 N. Euclid Ave.,
Pasadena; 7 p.m. According to the store's Web site:
"The tickets are free, but there is a limit of 2 (two) per customer,
while supplies last" at the main store, 667 E. Colorado Blvd.,
Pasadena, (626) 744-1834; or at its Hastings Ranch store, 3729 E.
Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. (626) 351-0828.
Speaking of the main store, Vroman's will also host an event with John Buntin, whose L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City,
really gets to the dirt (and blood) under the City of Angels'
fingernails, by tracing the parallel career tracks of LAPD Chief
William Parker and Boyle Heights-raised gangster Mickey Cohen. 7 p.m.


text:
Born-again Palestinian pastor holds hope for Israel, Palestine
As a Palestinian born-again pastor in Los Angeles, Sameer Dabit sees himself as a bridge-maker.
"My dad grew up with a lot of wounds, so I grew up with the mindset of hating Jews and hating Muslims," Sameer says. "When I got saved at age 16 and started reading scriptures for myself and learning more about God and history, I started to realize, 'Hey wait a minute. I shouldn't hate anybody.'"
Slowly, he began to form his own convictions about what he believes.
Sameer's Arab father was born in Palestine in 1948 and was forced to move when the Jews took over the newly formed nation of Israel. So he resented the Jews.
But as an orthodox Christian, he also resented the Muslim Palestinians who subjected him to cruel jeering and constant antagonism in school, Sameer says.
When he came of age, dad decided to leave behind the nightmare of the Middle East, move to the United States, study and make his life in L.A. He worked hard at the front desk of a hotel, saved his money and bought properties.
Sameer got to know the simmering anger in his father for the injustices suffered, but he identified himself first and foremost as an American. He changed his name to Sam so that it was easier for classmates and elicited fewer questions about his origins. He loved football.
"I assimilated to America," he says. "I identified myself more as American than Palestinian."
Then he did something that went beyond his newfound cultural identification. He accepted Jesus into his heart.
At a basketball clinic run by a church, he liked the dynamic music, heard about the forgiveness of sins and wound up wondering why this environment was drastically different from the reverence and mysticism of his family's religious practice.
Joining the born-again Christians in America created conflict with his dad, who wondered why his son left their church, got re-baptized and hung out with evangelicals who supported Zionism.
"It started to bring an interesting conflict between my dad and me," says Sameer, now 31. "I was trying to help him understand that I understood where he was coming from. Whatever someone had done to him or his family, I don't agree with. He was abused. But at the same time, I believe everyone has a right to a place to live, and at the time, the Jewish people were distributed around the world and suffered the Holocaust. That wasn't right as well. They did need a place to live. Israel needed to be established again, and obviously that was Biblical.
"It was an interesting balance that I had to help him understand," he says. "That's why my perspective is interesting because I love the Palestinian people. I love the Jewish people. I love the Muslim people. I love the Christian people. I love that place.
"I desire to see Jesus restore it all. I know ultimately He will when He returns, but I believe He's preparing His bride to receive Him in Israel as well as everywhere around the world." Read the rest about Palestinian pastor thinks peace in Middle East possible through Jesus.
Posted in America, bible, Christ, Christian, Christian leadership, Christian love, Christian news, Christian testimony, Christianity, fellowship, God, God's work, Israel, Jesus, Los Angeles, multicultural churches, muslim, palestine, palestinian christians, polarization in america, San Fernando Valley
Tagged kingdom reality church LA, saneer dabit


Resonates with the High Heart Chakra: The high heart chakra is located between the throat chakra and the heart chakra, sitting at the thymus. It represents universal love, compassion, and acceptance. This chakra when open and balanced will create a love and aspiration for the Divine, a love for the world that you live in, and those around you, and will open you up to higher spiritual levels. It also has the ability to connect our dreams and desires into the waking reality. The big significance here lies in the fact that the thymus was where Marcel Vogel recommended we enter the body energetically for healing. This area is thought to be the bridge between our soul body, and our physical body.
Resonates with the Seventh Ray: There are seven spiritual rays that represent a unique frequency and quality of the Divine. Ruby Lavender Quartz™ vibrates with the Violet Flame, or the 7th Ray. This ray works through the heart and therapeutically offers up the qualities of love, forgiveness, compassion, mercy, freedom, and transmutation. The Ascended Master Saint Germain is the lord of the 7th ray. He said, quoted in The Voice of I AM in January of 1941, "The use of the violet consuming flame is more valuable to you and to all mankind than all the wealth, all the gold and all the jewels of this planet."
Brings in the Divine Feminine: The yin energy is not reserved for just women. It represents the more passive, receptive, intuitive part of our being. This quality brings forth an energy of inspiration, a catalyst for change, and creating a deeper and more passion-induced desire for your dreams to come to fruition. The divine feminine also carries with her the archetype of the 'healer,' resonating with transpersonal and harmonious love for everyone and all beings. She is the domain of spirituality, mystical experience, and the sixth sense.
Trinity of Color: Ruby Lavender Quartz™ carries within it three different rays of color: Red - representing taking action, manifesting in the physical world, passion, change, and courage. This ray awakens and stimulates the energy body. Pink - representing unconditional love, the purity of the heart, deep understanding, and empathy. This ray gently guides toxicity (that our energy body can sometimes be addicted to) out with undaunted encouragement. Violet - representing compassion, union with the source, and transformation. This ray invokes magical abilities, and balances power and love.
To provide information to the user with respect to the context of love; specifically to assist one in understanding universal-love, spiritual-love, unconditional-love, and emotional-love. It has also been helpful in emotional/love relationships to actualize unconditional-love.
To assist in the willingness to experience "the new" in ones world, and be open to new adventures, new experiences, and new actions without preconceived notion or judgmental-ness.
To assist in the expansion of the intellect such that the user is more prone to be in the "learning-mode" (which is sometimes difficult for those who are distracted by other worldly affairs)."


text:
Q: System of equations - what are the values of the coefficients of a quadratic parabola? In the process of relearning the mathematical basics I'm stumbling over this problem:

A quadratic parabola $y = ax^2 + bx + c $ goes through the points A(1/2), B(3/7) and C(-1/1). What are the values of the coefficients $a$, $b$ and $c$?

This is a problem presented in the section about "Systems of Equalities", but I don't have the slightest idea, how to use the coordinates to calculate the values of the coefficients.
How can I solve this problem with a system of equalities?

A: Assuming Mark Dominus' interpretation of what you wrote, the fact that the parabola passes through the point $(1,2)$ tells you that if you plug in $x = 1$ and $y = 2$ into the general form of the parabola, the equation on the coefficients must be satisfied for your particular parabola.  In this case, you get $2 = a(1)^2 + b(1) + c$ or $a + b + c = 2$.  Similar reasoning with the other two points will produce for you two more equations involving $a, b, c$.  Thus, you will obtain a system of three equations in three unknowns.  Have you learned the techniques for solving such systems?

A: First use the fact that the curve passes through the point $(1,2)$. That says that when $x=1$, we have $y=2$. So substitute $x=1$ in the equation $y=ax^2+bx+c$. We get
$$2=a+b+c.$$
Similarly, because $(3,7)$ is on the curve, we have
$$7=9a+3b+c.$$
And finally, the third point tells us that
$$1=a-b+c.$$
We now have $3$ linear equations in the $3$ unknowns $a$, $b$ and $c$.
From the two equations $9a+3b+c=7$ and $a+b+c=2$, we obtain, by subtraction, that
$8a+2b=5$.
From the two equations $9a+3b+c=7$ and $a-b+c=1$, we obtain, by subtraction, that $8a+4b=6$. (I deliberately did not subtract the third from the first, that would have made things too easy!)
We have "eliminated" $c$, and we have two equations in the variable $a$ and $b$. Now we will "eliminate" $b$, which again is not the clever thing to do.
So recall we have $8a+2b=5$ and $8a+4b=6$. Multiply both sides of the first equation by $2$. We get $16a+4b=10$. By subtraction, using $8a+4b=6$, we get $8a=4$, and therefore $a=1/2$. Then from $8a+2b=5$ we get $4+2b=5$ and therefore $b=1/2$. Finally, from $a+b+c=2$ we get that $c=1$.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Iron Man Bust Bank. Let one of the Marvel Universe's mightiest heroes guard your spare change! This Iron Man Bust Bank is the simplest savings account around, and it also doubles as a great collectible. Display it on your shelf, fill it with change, and watch your net worth grow! Order yours today! Measures 7 1/2-inches tall and is made of plastic. Ages 4 and up.


text:
Q: Change image height, using only its URL Say we have the following HTML:

And I need to change the image height in CSS, without adding classes or id.
How do I write this in CSS, something like IMAGE-URL height: 100px ?

A: You can use an attribute selector:
img[src="IMAGE-URL"] {
  height: 100px;
}

A: It's only possible if you attach style to the img itself in html like:

Or in CSS to the img globally like:
img {
height 100%;
}


text:
New location of 2024 Super Bowl revealed, sources say
by: Duncan Phenix, Nexstar Media Wire
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Four years after the Raiders moved to Las Vegas and began playing in Allegiant Stadium, Super Bowl LVIII (58) will be coming to town.
Sources at the NFL have confirmed the decision with Nexstar's KLAS.
As of Monday, Super Bowl LVIII is still officially set to be played in New Orleans on Feb. 11, 2024. However, there is a conflict with Mardi Gras that weekend.
When the NFL went to a 17-game schedule, it pushed the game back a week, creating the conflict with New Orleans. Las Vegas has been mentioned often as a possible replacement for New Orleans in 2024.
South Dakota hockey team apologizes after teachers scoop cash in 'humiliating' promotion
According to KLAS sources, the decision could be made official on Tuesday during the weekly owner's meeting.
In exchange, New Orleans would host the Super Bowl in 2025, a year when Mardi Gras begins in March.
The NFL is holding its Pro Bowl in Las Vegas this coming February. It's also hosting the NFL Draft in Vegas in April.
How your Christmas lights impact your electric bill
'Help me,' woman whispers to police just before shooting
3 killed in Black River Falls rollover crash
Local News / 1 month ago


text:
Dream of owning ice cream shop comes true for Tampa family
By Kelly Ring
What's Right with Tampa Bay
Family opens ice cream shop
Kelly Ring reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - On the busy streets of Ybor City, Max Chillura has fulfilled his dream of owning an ice cream shop.
"It's always had been a passion of mine," the 25-year-old shared. "Something at a young age that I wanted to do."
Chillura's passion for ice cream started when he was 12 years old. He and his family use to sit out on their front porch and layout plans for an ice cream shop in their South Tampa neighborhood.
"It was my goal to make the best ice cream really in the world," Chillura explained.
Max and his family opened up Chill Bros Scoop Shop two years ago in Ybor City.
"My brother, he handles the business end," Chillura said. "My little sister is our local graphic artist. My little brother went back to school but he helped us by making ice cream."
Chillura went to Italy to learn the tricks of the trade.
"We ended up landing on an all-natural product made the traditional way," he shared.
Just a few simple ingredients: "Our ice cream starts with milk, cream, sugar, a little bit of salt and egg yolks that's it. We don't put anything unnatural in it," said Chillura.
The frozen dessert is so popular that they open up a second location in South Tampa last year, right in the middle of the pandemic.
"Ice cream is comfort food. So, people enjoy it."
It's a labor of love that is proving a sweet treat for all to enjoy.
The shop even makes its own waffle cones and cookies.
MORE GOOD NEWS: Download the free FOX 13 News app for more #WeLiveHere stories like this
Betty White is celebrating her 99th birthday in quarantine


text:
Rehmann names Kim Lindsay principal in Grand Rapids
Business News |Jan 1, 2018|2 min read
TROY, Mich., January 1, 2018 – Rehmann announced today that Kim Lindsay, CPA, CGMA was named principal in its Grand Rapids, MI office. Lindsay is the primary business advisor for a multitude of governmental clients, leading financial statement audit, single audit and outsourced CFO engagements.
Prior to joining Rehmann, Lindsay was a principal with a regional Michigan accounting firm where he spent most of his time auditing and consulting with closely-held businesses and governmental units. He was also in charge of the firm's quality control process and procedures.
As a thought leader in the industry, Lindsay is a frequent speaker for the MICPA, MSBO and the Genesee County School Business Officials organizations.
Lindsay received a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan – Flint. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants, Michigan Department of Education's Audit Manual and Audit Referent Group, Michigan School Business Officials Association, Government Finance Officers Association and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.


text:
Q: Insertion Sort with binary search When implementing Insertion Sort, a binary search could be used to locate the position within the first i - 1 elements of the array into which element i should be inserted.
How would this affect the number of comparisons required?  How would using such a binary search affect the asymptotic running time for Insertion Sort?
I'm pretty sure this would decrease the number of comparisons, but I'm not exactly sure why.

A: Binary Insertion Sort - Take this array => {4, 5 , 3 , 2, 1}
Now inside the main loop , imagine we are at the 3rd element. Now using Binary Search we will know where to insert 3 i.e. before 4.
Binary Search uses O(Logn) comparison which is an improvement but we still need to insert 3 in the right place. For that we need to swap 3 with 5 and then with 4.
Due to insertion taking the same amount of time as it would without binary search the worst case Complexity Still remains O(n^2).
I hope this helps.

A: Straight from Wikipedia:

If the cost of comparisons exceeds the cost of swaps, as is the case
  for example with string keys stored by reference or with human
  interaction (such as choosing one of a pair displayed side-by-side),
  then using binary insertion sort may yield better performance. Binary
  insertion sort employs a binary search to determine the correct
  location to insert new elements, and therefore performs ⌈log2(n)⌉
  comparisons in the worst case, which is O(n log n). The algorithm as a
  whole still has a running time of O(n2) on average because of the
  series of swaps required for each insertion.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insertion_sort#Variants
Here is an example:
http://jeffreystedfast.blogspot.com/2007/02/binary-insertion-sort.html

I'm pretty sure this would decrease the number of comparisons, but I'm
  not exactly sure why.

Well, if you know insertion sort and binary search already, then its pretty straight forward.  When you insert a piece in insertion sort, you must compare to all previous pieces.  Say you want to move this [2] to the correct place, you would have to compare to 7 pieces before you find the right place.
[1][3][3][3][4][4][5] ->[2]<- [11][0][50][47]
However, if you start the comparison at the half way point (like a binary search), then you'll only compare to 4 pieces!  You can do this because you know the left pieces are already in order (you can only do binary search if pieces are in order!).
Now imagine if you had thousands of pieces (or even millions), this would save you a lot of time.  I hope this helps.  |=^)

A: Assuming the array is sorted (for binary search to perform), it will not reduce any comparisons since inner loop ends immediately after 1 compare (as previous element is smaller). In general the number of compares in insertion sort is at max the number of inversions plus the array size - 1.
Since number of inversions in sorted array is 0, maximum number of compares in already sorted array is N - 1.

A: If you have a good data structure for efficient binary searching, it is unlikely to have O(log n) insertion time. Conversely, a good data structure for fast insert at an arbitrary position is unlikely to support binary search.
To achieve the O(n log n) performance of the best comparison searches with insertion sort would require both O(log n) binary search and O(log n) arbitrary insert.

A: For comparisons we have log n time, and swaps will be order of n.
For n elements in worst case : n*(log n + n) is order of n^2.


Although the deadline was set for February 29th, the entire retro gaming community has pulled through and managed to meet the target for the Resident Evil Game Boy Color prototype fundraiser much earlier. This unexpected arrival has in turn brought around the ROM of the unreleased Resident Evil GBC port to be leaked online today for all to enjoy.
Having been missing in action for over 13 years, Capcom's bold attempt to compact the 1999 survival horror title can now be enjoyed in its unfinished glory. Both the original cartridge owned by an unidentified source and RetroCollect member N64rick's generous donation of a second prototype have now been made available to download online.
Our first impressions of the game are very much what we expected. Something technically impressive by Game Boy Color standards, yet a game sporting obvious reasons as to why it remained unreleased. And despite being much simpler than its PlayStation 1 counterpart, this release still holds plenty of horror within.
With living proof that a community fundraiser can be more than successful, here's to hoping the unfinished Resident Evil 2 prototype (Resident Evil 1.5) will soon follow from another unidentified source.
OH YES!! Man, I can't wait!! I really wanted to buy this game!!


nohup sh -c "ifdown eth0 && ifup eth0 "
/etc/init.d The directory containing System V init scripts.
/etc/init The directory containing upstart jobs.
/etc/init.d scripts are the old way of doing things. They come from the System V standard. However, those scripts are fired only in a particular sequence, no real dependencies can be established.
Therefore, upstart has been developed with the intent to substitute all the /etc/init.d scripts with upstart scripts (in /etc/init).
service allows the smooth transition from /etc/init.d scripts to upstart scripts. When in the future more on more scripts are transferred to upstart, service will still work, because it finds both possibilties.
/etc/init.d contains scripts used by the System V init tools (SysVinit). This is the traditional service management package for Linux, containing the init program (the first process that is run when the kernel has finished initializing¹) as well as some infrastructure to start and stop services and configure them. Specifically, files in /etc/init.d are shell scripts that respond to start, stop, restart, and (when supported) reload commands to manage a particular service. These scripts can be invoked directly or (most commonly) via some other trigger (typically the presence of a symbolic link in /etc/rc?.d/).
/etc/init contains configuration files used by Upstart. Upstart is a young service management package championed by Ubuntu. Files in /etc/init are configuration files telling Upstart how and when to start, stop, reload the configuration, or query the status of a service. As of lucid, Ubuntu is transitioning from SysVinit to Upstart, which explains why many services come with SysVinit scripts even though Upstart configuration files are preferred. In fact, the SysVinit scripts are processed by a compatibility layer in Upstart.
.d in directory names typically indicates a directory containing many configuration files or scripts for a particular situation (e.g. /etc/apt/sources.list.d contains files that are concatenated to make a virtual sources.list; /etc/network/if-up.d contains scripts that are executed when a network interface is activated). This structure is usually used when each entry in the directory is provided by a different source, so that each package can deposit its own plug-in without having to parse a single configuration file to reference itself. In this case, it just happens that "init" is a logical name for the directory, SysVinit came first and used init.d, and Upstart used plain init for a directory with a similar purpose (it would have been more "mainstream", and perhaps less arrogant, if they'd used /etc/upstart.d instead).
service --status-all runs all init scripts, in alphabetical order, with the status command. This option only calls status for sysvinit jobs, upstart jobs can be queried in a similar manner with initctl list'.


text:
Trump official doesn't know who has authority to declare war — Ted Lieu informs him
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June 19, 2019 November 2, 2019
Kellyanne Conway takes selfie with man in 'Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong' T-shirt
They're just throwing it in our faces now. I understand that "celebrities" get asked to take photos with a lot of different people, but if...
Bernie Sanders Pushes Back Against "Corporate Wing of the Democratic Party"
Original diary title was click-bait, needlessly inflammatory and did not accurately reflect the contents of the diary. Title edited by Admin. As someone who supported...
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Living In The Past With Joe Biden.
I really want to know from those who support Joe Biden how the latest examples of him living in the past are part of some...
Merlin1963
Participant in Charlottesville counter-protests calls for Joe Biden to end his presidential bid
Emily Gorcenski, a data scientist who was assaulted by white supremacists while participating in the counter-protests against the infamous Unite the Right fascist rally in...
Pelosi's statement on Trump's deportation threat: 'Utter malice and bigotry'
She's not mincing words, folks. Nor should she. The statement: "The President's new threat of a mass deportation dragnet is an act of utter malice...
HP Pavilion 15 Laptop, 11...
2021 Apple MacBook Pro (1...


text:
Transactions of the New Zealand Institute
(Text)
Also known as: Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand; Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute; Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute.
A Book in the Hand: Essays on the History of the Book in New Zealand
One: Māori oral tradition meets the book
Book & Print in New Zealand : A Guide to Print Culture in Aotearoa
Botanical Discovery in New Zealand: The Resident Botanists
Leonard Cockayne (1855–1934)
Early New Zealand Botanical Art
[section]
New Zealanders and Science
5 — Hector
6 — Hutton
11 — Cockayne
2 The Pioneers
5 Scientific Periodicals
The Collected Parliamentary Reports of Robin Hyde
The Dominion, Saturday, July 4, 1925. p. 8. — Peeps at Parliament: Concerning Certain Returns — Scientific and Otherwise
The Discovery of New Zealand
1. The Polynesians
3. Cook
The Farmer in New Zealand
1. The Maori Farmer
The Maori As He Was : A Brief Account of Maori Life as it was in Pre-European Days
Chapter I. Physical and Mental Characteristics of the Maori
The Moa
For several reasons, including lack of resource and inherent ambiguity, not all names in the NZETC are marked-up. This means that finding all references to a topic often involves searching. Search for Transactions of the New Zealand Institute as: "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute", "Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand"; "Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute"; "Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute". Additional references are often found by searching for just the main name of the topic (the surname in the case of people).
The following collections may have holdings relevant to "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute":


Canada's trade surplus slipped this past May to $3.99 billion. An increase in the consumption of crude oil in the east and heavy construction equipment in the west bolstered imports, while exports slipped by 0.5%.
I find this interesting: Alberta and Saskatchewan are importing heavy equipment to cope with their runaway oil boom, but the oil they're generating is not heading towards refineries in the East. Why would that be? We have a strong manufacturing industry here in Ontario, you would think that we could supply Alberta with their construction equipment, even as we buy some Alberta oil for our refineries.
I think this shows that the market is becoming more and more continental as the days go by.
As negotiations towards ending the NHL lockout continue with a successful completion possibly just days away, the Star reports that the best NHL prospect since Gretzky might end up playing in Europe. The NHL might be able to get its salary cap on, only to find European leagues poaching its players with more lucrative offers.
I have to admit that I hadn't thought of this. Professional hockey appears to be in the ascendency in Europe, with bigger leagues and bigger salaries, and the presence of increased European talent freed up from the NHL lockout hasn't hurt matters. It's easy to forget that it's a global market out there, and nothing prevents those upstart European leagues from competing with the NHL (which, frankly, is on shaky ground with its unwise expansion to the American south). Europe has the money. How much are they paying soccer player David Beckham, after all?
Too many people, I find, cast the blame for the lockout solely on the "overpaid, underworked" players, while letting the overpaid, fiscally inept owners off the hook. To me, this is just a bit of union bashing. But if the European leagues turn the NHL's salary cap into a talent-draining liability, they will have no basis in blaming the players. This is the free market in action. Learn to love it, baby.
After months of silence, we have news at last on the William Poole front, courtesy of Zero Intelligence. As you will recall, William Poole had been charged by police for uttering terrorist threats, using as evidence writings that may or may not have been works of fiction. This case garnered international attention when it was reported that the writings were tales about zombies, and Poole's credibility took a big hit when it was revealed that there were no zombies in Poole's work.
Zombies or no, Poole's case disturbed me because it wasn't clear that the evidence against Poole wasn't in the form of a work of fiction. There was a lot to indiciate to me that the police were overreacting to a teenager's violent (but otherwise harmless) journal.
The prosecution tried to have Poole charged with terroristic threatening, a second degree felony, but the grand jury disagreed. Instead, they charged him with "attempt to commit terroristic threatening", a charge that seems silly in its flimsyness — how do you attempt to threaten something? — but one which is a class A misdemeanour, which is a lesser charge.
Thus Poole's future is a lot brighter, even though he's not wholly out of the woods, yet.
Courtesy of James Koole comes word that the United States has altered its application of Daylight Savings Time, so that it starts a month earlier (in early March) and ends a month later (in late November). So, we have to decide whether we adjust our times accordingly — resulting in 8 a.m. sunrises in March and November — or keep things as they are, putting us an hour behind adjacent states for two months out of the year.
I personally lean towards keeping time with the United States. The time zone system is complicated enough as it is; it won't help to see New York State as an hour different from us every March and November.
But not only am I disappointed that we'll just have to follow suit with the United States, I'm disappointed that American lawmakers didn't decide to do something really bold, like abolish standard time altogether, eliminating this spring-forward fall-back madness once and for all.
Allow me to stand back a moment and appreciate how well Toronto Star columnist Antonia Zerbisias has taken to blogging. The "ascerbic" Zerb, as I'm sure she likes to be called, was likely lured online by the number of right wing bloggers fisking her columns. She won a lot of their respect when she showed up out of the blue at one of their offline get togethers, and then she started posting her wit online, for free. Even Jay Currie respects how well she's taken to the new medium, though he disagrees with just about everything she writes.
But one thing that has held her back, in some people's opinions, was the fact that she didn't allow comments on her blog. Many big name/mainstream media bloggers like Warren Kinsella, Andrew Coyne and Paul Wells don't allow comments on their sites, citing the legal liabilities involved, and the work involved in policing what was said. All of these are understandible issues, but they do serve to create a divide between these professionals, and the talented amateurs that are the rest of us.
Recently, however, Antonia has opened her site to comments and trackbacks, a considerable risk, I think, given how charged up people can get about her writing (only yesterday, she posted about her appearance on the Bill O'Reilly show). I am impressed by her courage, and I would like to welcome this self-described cyberclutz as officially becoming one of us.


I am not sure how many books by Seth Godin I do own, I guess that it is somewhere around 6 or 7, that I have managed to buy as a paperback editions previously and digital Ibooks editions as of lately.
I decided to do myself a treat for this vacations and 1 day before going out with my family I have bought this amazing book called Linchpin, Are you Indispensable. As of today, not even a week later, I am already finishing this book and it was worth every penny.
For a number of years I have heard a lot of opinions about it, and I was quite interested to read it, but I try to control myself & my time in order to make the best of it and so the earliest moment I have managed to lay my eyes on it is now in August of 2014.
This book is about motivation for the reader to go an extra mile in everything he/she does. Everything means really everything, like even those mundane tasks that we simply do not care about.
This book is targeting to bring the best of you, to help yourself becoming a better/happier version of yourself.
It is about defeating the fear produced by the Lizard brain, preventing you from innovating and turning you into one more cog.
But what is a Linchpin ? According to current version of Wikipedia, it is a fastener used to prevent a wheel or other part from sliding off the axle upon which it is riding.
For me – Linchpin is simply something that holds important pieces together and allows you to advance, to go further above & beyond.
Becoming something more is a repeating topic of dreams of every human being, doing something extraordinary is something that we have inside each one of us.
Seth Godin goes into a great length into trying to define what art is and what it does. For those who knows me for a good number of years, such as Paulo Borges, they have heard me speaking me on this topic on a great length – there are people who are obliged to do whatever society or current situation are requiring, and there are artists.
Artists are free to do whatever they want and like, because they can.
Fear – watch this amazing presentation by Brené Brown, that as of the moment of this article writing is still in the TOP 20 most viewed presentations from TED.
Go against the fear, you will still feel it but you will be feeling so much better of conquering it.
There are some amazing people in Data Platform Industry that I do not-so-secretly admire, they have founded a company called Linchpin People. From a friend of mine who is not part of that company, I have heard that the co-founders spent almost a year thinking and defining what they are trying to achieve and what is the right way to do so.
There are also some cases when some companies I admired greatly for years are changing their way from doing something special into becoming more … well … trivialised & expanded in the market.
In his world-famous Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell mentioned the "magic number" of 150 when anything.
Romans have had a great understanding of this number and hence they have capped any unit size below in order for people not to become a massive uncontrollable crowd which does nothing productive or logical, and in my personal experience I do agree with this principle.
As for myself, I do agree with Seth and the history which shown that only those who are indispensable are able to innovate, take a look at the Innovator's Dilemma and the corporate values.
I am proud to be working with people who are sharing my inner core beliefs into trying your best and doing amazing work – OH22. Nope, this is not an advertisement, this is simply a recognition of the thoughts and efforts of my colleagues – Oliver & Tillmann.


text:
Laughing Target, The
seen: 1 of 1
type: OAV
grade: watchable
Review created: Too long ago, revision desperately needed.
This older title is strongly derived from the Rumiko Takahashi source. Of course since the source is one of the scariest RT stories that is not a bad thing in itself. The plot concerns a young and capable student who admits to his girlfriend that his childhood fiance, the inheritor of the clan titles, is coming to visit. His belief that the arrangements will be forgotten proves to be far from the case while his fiance proves to have grown beautiful but also totally devoted and slightly, unusual. This is a nice tight story (the source is a single short story) with good atmosphere and some violence and horror. Sadly the animation is fairly basic even given the age of the anime and there are few suprises for those familiar with the source, and the few changes are generally not for the better (especially the ending). The original source manga is available from Viz in the collection Rumic World Volume 1.
The Anime Critic rates it below average noting a poor dub (I saw the sub), that it is weak horror and story weaknesses in this review. There's a spoiler (well, it may be fairly obvious but that's no excuse) review at THEM who judge the story as predictable (which is fair) and also mention the unsuitability for children.


All The Belt For Drive fans More Fan! Introducing XEX Vspec. !!
Introducing XEX Belt Drive Version Chassis Kit "XEX Vspec.".
Although It Has Not Been Long Since XEX Came Out, We Have Already Received Many Requests For This Kit From The Belt Drive fans More Fan.
We Have Left The Rear Gear Drive Unit As Is For Unlimited Drive Ratio Adjustability, And Applied The Belt Drive To The Front Unit.
Comparing To The Sharpness Of The Shaft Drive, The Belt Drive Provides Smoothness And Efficiency, Which Enhances XEX'S Performance ability.
As the standard equipment, we have chosen the same ball differential (39T pully) as Vacula for the front, and 16T aluminum pully for the center, which is also same as Vacula, to make 1.22 front and rear drive ratio to minimize the effect on the impacts from the road and other conditions and to keep the machine stable.


text:
Viewing diary
Frame from La Roue (Gance, 1923)
Since the Christmas vacation I've found myself so stretched with teaching and admin duties that I've been unable to write very much, but have nevertheless continued watching films at every opportunity. This is a crucial aspect of the mundane discipline of film scholarship, and I usually keep a notebook to jot down details and thoughts about films I've seen, but even this has been more than I've been able to manage. However, I've kept a list of what I've watched over the last two and a half months and, laid out like this, I'm surprised to see how much I've actually managed to view. Some of these I've watched before of course, and this is not fully comprehensive since it also doesn't include all of the films I've re-watched with students for modules I lecture on. It's perhaps not a fantastically diverse range of titles and there's a great deal of American cinema there, but there are some fascinating, beautiful, and very funny films among them.
Any Old Port! (James Horne, 1932) USA
Bastards (Deborah Perkin, 2014) UK
Below Zero (James Parrott, 1930) USA
Bicycle (Michael B. Clifford, 2014) UK
Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, 2014) USA
Bitter Lake (Adam Curtis, 2015) UK
Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014) USA
Broken Blossoms (D.W. Griffith, 1919) USA
Bumping into Broadway (Hal Roach, 1919) USA
Chef (Jon Favreau, 2014) USA
Chickens Come Home (James Horne, 1931) USA
City Girl (F.W. Murnau, 1930) USA
Clueless (Amy Heckeling, 1995) USA
Dom Hemingway (Richard Shepard, 2013) UK
Filth (Jon Baird, 2013) UK
The Fixer Uppers (Charley Rogers, 1935) USA
Four Weddings and a Funeral (Mike Newell, 1994) UK
The Freshman (Fred C Newmeyer, 1925) USA
Gamer (Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, 2009) USA
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) USA
Hanna (Joe Wright, 2011) USA/UK/Germany
Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog, 2011) USA/UK/Germany
Into the Woods (Rob Marshall, 2014) USA/UK/Canada
Jingle all the Way (Brian Levant, 1996) USA
John Wick (Chad Stahelski, 2014) USA/Canada/China
Joy Division (Grant Gee, 2007) UK/USA
The Lady and the Beard (Yasujiro Ozu, 1931) Japan
The Live Ghost (Charley Rogers, 1934) USA
The Man who Fell to Earth (Nicolas Roeg, 1976) UK
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (Shawn Levy, 2014) USA/UK
Paddington (Paul King, 2014) UK/France
Parade (Jacques Tati, 1974) France
The Pixar Story (Leslie Iwerks, 2007) USA
The Playhouse (Eddie Cline, Buster Keaton, 1921) USA
Pusher III (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2005) Denmark
La Roue (Abel Gance, 1923) France
Scrooge (Brian Desmond Hurst, 1951) UK
Shaun the Sheep Movie (Mark Burton, Richard Starzak, 2015) UK/France
Sherlock Jr (Buster Keaton, 1924) USA
Singin' in the Rain (Stanley Donen, 1952) USA
They Live (John Carpenter, 1988) USA
Trance (Danny Boyle, 2013) UK/USA/France
22 Jump Street (Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, 2014) USA
Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013) UK/USA/Switzerland
Upside Down: The Creation Records Story (Danny O'Connor, 2012) UK
Warm Bodies (Jonathan Levine, 2013) USA/Canada
We are the Best! (Lukas Moodysson) Sweden
What we do in the Shadows (Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, 2015) NZ


text:
Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 11-04-02
Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>
Saturday, 2 April 2011 Issue No: 3757
[01] PM: 'Recovery of the economy the great wager'
[02] Minister responds to ND question on NSRF absorption delays
[03] Clash in Parliament between PM, leftist leader
[04] PM: sub scandal will be investigated
[05] Deputy foreign minister interviewed by '21st Century Business Herald' on Libya crisis
[06] Minister opens 'social dialogue' on public hospital mergers
[07] Education ministry mulling changes to student transfer rules
[08] Gov't preparing new national plan for waste management, minister says
[09] SYRIZA leader addresses rally at Sporting stadium
[10] Greek Atomic Energy Committee on radioactivity checks
[11] Minister cites possibility of doubling Chinese shipbuilding fund
[12] Deputy FM Kouvelis stresses need to expand Greece-Serbia economic cooperation
[13] Negotiations underway for Maliakos-Kleidi highway road tolls, Parliament told
[14] Event in Vienna promotes Greek tourism
[15] Greek PMI recovered in March
[16] Business briefs...
[17] ASE suspends trading on Minoan Lines shares
[18] Stocks end week 5.89% down
[19] Greek bond market closing report
[20] ADEX closing report
[21] Foreign Exchange rates - Saturday/Monday
[22] Strong quake rocks Crete
[23] Greeks' life expectancy slightly above European average
[24] PM Papandreou receives writer Evgenios Trivizas
[25] Police find proclamation from FAI in Korydallos parcel bomb
[26] Suspected members of extortion gang arrested
[27] Eight defendants in urban terrorism case to be tried in court
[28] Arrests for large quantity of drugs concealed in cars
[29] Truck driver arrested for transport contraband cigarettes
[30] Rainy on Saturday
[31] The Athens newspaper headlines at a glance
[32] President: Erdogan's remarks part of Turkey's communication policy
[33] Cyprus celebrates uprising against colonial rule Politics
The recovery of the economy was the year's "great wager", Prime Minister George Papandreou stressed in Parliament on Friday. He asserted that there were now visible signs of this recovery, in comparison with the situation handed over by the previous New Democracy government.
The prime minister was replying to a question tabled by main opposition ND leader Antonis Samaras.
Papandreou said that the very high consumer price index was due to the taxation imposed to combat the debt, pointing out that the index had dropped significantly in 2500 mass consumption products in February.
He also sparked controversy with Samaras when he suggested that the main opposition leader was "stuck in the past" and the defence of former ND premier Costas Karamanlis.
Samaras, in reply, accused Papandreou of having lost touch with reality and blaming everything on the previous government. "You spoke of the previous prime minister: in you I already see the 'previous' prime minister," he added.
ND's leader accused the present administration of having been mistaken in all its forecasts and invited him to take a walk in any shopping area in Greece.
"Closed businesses, unemployment, glum faces everywhere. A sad picture of you economic policy. Change it, finally!" he said.
In the question that he tabled, Samaras called the government to task over "unjustifiable" high prices on the market, which were accompanied by 5 percent inflation and a deep recession. He noted that 56,000 businesses had closed while PASOK was in power, with another 150,000 closures forecast to come, leading to the loss of 300,000 jobs.
"In Greece we have 20 percent of the counterfeit goods trade of all of Europe and legal commerce loses 25 billion euros in turnover each year in this way - and the state six billion euro," he pointed out.
Businesses were being called to pay VAT that had they had not yet been paid and the recent tax bill, with its half-measures, had had a negligible result," ND's leader said. He also noted that the public investments programme was currently 70 percent below its annual target, loans to businesses were 13 times fewer and with sums 20 times lower. Absorption of the National Strategic Reference Framework had fallen, with 16 billion euros sitting around and making Europeans wonder," Samaras asserted.
The main opposition leader proposed a further cut in taxation rates and pointed to the example of Belgium, which greatly slashed VAT while demanding that businesses cut prices and hire new staff.
Replying, Papandreou said that ND had had five years in which to give business people a 'breather' and that PASOK was now here to relieve businesses of the "weight of the past".
"Of course we want to reduce taxes and I have asked the social partners to provide guarantees that they will pay the taxes and reduce contribution evasion and tax evasion - and I will give orders to reduce taxation by half. That is what I am waiting for because they also confess that this is the main problem," Papandreou replied.
He again blamed the country's present dismal economic situation on the poor management of the previous ND government, saying that this had absorbed miniscule amounts of the NSRF and allowed the country to slip in competitiveness by 36 positions in world rankings.
The prime minister countered by pointing to a present increase in exports and a slight improvement in the rate of GDP change, while also predicting a 'marginally positive' change in employment rates in 2013-2014.
He also asserted that business start-ups, at 62,000 had surpassed the businesses that closed in 2010 and that "the recovery of the economy is now in our hands".
Regional Development & Competitiveness Minister Mihalis Chryssohoidis stated in Parliament on Friday that the absorption rate of National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) funds will be doubled -- 4.3 billion euros were absorbed over the last 15 months.
Responding to a tabled question by several main opposition New Democracy (ND) party MPs, who accused the government of delays in the absorption of NSRF funds and of being unable to give boost economic growth, Chryssohoidis announced that procedures will be simplified to reinforce the absorption rate of community funds.
Chrysohoidis blamed the preceding ND government for the situation and stressed that "we are in need of a new developmental model that will promote the momentum of the economy through social justice, prosperity and cohesion."
He stated that Greece comes fourth as regards the absorption of community funds and accused ND of inadequacy when it was in office, stressing that 725 million euros were absorbed in three years whereas the present government policy led to the absorption of 4.3 billion euros in 15 months.
Prime Minister George Papandreou underlined in Parliament on Friday that "the government is not afraid to be close to the Greek people but, on the contrary, has an obligation to do that".
Moreover, the premier called on Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) parliamentary group leader Alexis Tsipras to assume his responsibilities and participate in the discussion on a medium-term programme for the country's economy.
He accused Tsipras of adopting an irresponsible stance and underlined that the government's efforts are aimed at ensuring a future for the country, protect and utilize the state-owned property and "leave salaries and pensions unaffected".
Earlier, Tsipras had maintained that the government is "harsh, neo-liberal, and does not have the support of the people", adding that its "political time has expired and is afraid to face the Greek people".
Tsipras called on the prime minister "to stop telling beautiful lies to the people and instead tell them the truth about the new tough austerity measures that are being prepared".
The prime minister accused Tsipras of making the same criticism with the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party without taking under consideration the problems the ruling party of PASOK has inherited as a result of the dead end policy followed by the preceding ND government.
Papandreou stressed that his government is trying to change the country's course and referred to the creation of the European Support Mechanism that averted the collapse of Greece and other countries.
The scandal involving the submarines contract and any other case that comes to Parliament will be investigated, Prime Minister George Papandreou stressed on Friday in reply to a question tabled in Parliament by Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party leader George Karatzaferis.
"This government will not stop shedding light on everything," he said when Karatzaferis pointed out that the document sent by the public prosecutor "seeks the indictment of half your government and the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence (KYSEA) of that time, of which you were also a member".
LAOS's leader also voiced serious misgivings about a late-night visit by the current Supreme Court Prosecutor to the home of a government minister, while also referring to strong rumours that a former minister had 178 million euro in a bank and stressing that Parliament should have been informed of the case.
"We personally began the investigation and are not responsible if all the things that happened in the past five years are statute-barred, it is the previous government. There will be light shed on the submarines and everything else sent to us by justice," Papandreou replied.
In reply to a Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Parliamentary group leader Alexis Tsipras, meanwhile, the prime minister underlined that the government was not afraid to be close to the Greek people but, on the contrary, had an obligation to do that.
He was replying to Tsipras' claim that Papandreou was leading "a harsh, neoliberal government with no popular legitimacy, who political time had expired and which was frightened to face the Greek people".
The time has come to activate the second part of the United Nations Security Council decision on Libya and begin a dialogue that might lead to political reforms in Libya, Greece's Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Dollis asserted in an interview recently published by a Chinese newspaper '21st Century Business Herald'.
He said this dialogue should aim to find a viable solution to the crisis and that Greece supports a multilateral international dialogue on Libya, calling on the international community to promote the appropriate diplomatic initiatives.
Dollis said that Greece was in favour of full respect for Libya's independence, national sovereignty and territorial integrity and wanted Libyan citizens to decide independently on their future and meet a response to their demands for an open, free and prosperous society.
On the economic impact of the upheaval in the region, he warned that this could have long-term repercussions on the area's stability and stressed the need to intensify international diplomatic efforts to avert any deterioration of the situation.
According to Dollis, this concerned the contribution of the United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union, along with the support of neighbouring states and organisations and organisations such as the EU.
Concerning Greece's role as one of Libya's immediate neighbours, Dollis agreed that the stakes for Greece were high during the crisis and in the opportunity to play a major role in tackling this.
The minister said that Greece had emerged historically as a sincere and reliable country with which the entire region was able to converse. He noted Athens' support for allied operations to end the bloodshed in Libya while at the same time stressing the humanitarian aspects of the crisis and promoting measures to end the armed conflicts and lift the impasse.
Concerning China's role in the military operation in Libya, Dollis noted that China had an important leading role and a great responsibility as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. He said China's stance reflecting a desire for respect of the UN charter and that many countries shared the concerns and questions it had raised, which had to be answered with an eye to the contents and limits of UNSCR 1973.
A three-month social dialogue period that will lead to decisions on the mergers of greater Athens area public hospitals and a number of small regional hospitals was launched on Friday by Health Minister Andreas Loverdos.
Loverdos said social dialogue on the decisions reached will be initiated on July 1, before the parliament gives the go-ahead for the mergers, adding that the goal of the endeavour is to ensure that the people will get their money's worth in healthcare.
The public hospital reform will be based on five types of mergers featuring a single governor and management, as well as, hospital clinic mergers, hospital collaborations and upgrading of small hospitals to specialized clinics to offer either primary healthcare or treat chronic patients.
Loverdos underlined that the people are not satisfied with the health services they receive despite the large number of doctors and hospital beds available. Based on studies conducted, doctors are distributed unevenly in hospitals nationwide, while there is a lack of hospital staff and ineffective distribution of paramedic staff in hospitals.
The dialogue was launched without the presence of Federation of Public Hospital Staff (POEDHN) representatives, who abstained, characterising the social dialogue as a pretence alleging that the decisions have already been made.
Education Minister Anna Diamantopoulou on Friday announced that the ministry is mulling changes to the system for student transfers to other universities from the academic year 2011-2012, so as to restrict the number of transfers that had tended to leave some university departments virtually empty of students while doubling those in others.
Restrictions on the number of transfers had also been requested by university rectors and the changes envisaged by the minister will call for a specific number of transfer positions for students in special categories, such as large or three-child families, that will also take into account the student's score in the university entrance exams.
At present, children from families with three or more children have the right to transfer to an equivalent course near their home without restriction, provided such a course is available.
The minister stressed that such students would not lose the right to transfer to universities near their place of residence but would have to enrol in departments with lower entry scores.
Interior, Decentralisation and E-governance Minister Yiannis Ragoussis on Friday told Parliament that the government was moving toward a new national plan for solid waste management, with a greater emphasis on recycling and sorting organic waste at source.
Replying to a question tabled in Parliament by Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) Parliamentary group leader Alexis Tsipras, Ragoussis said the aim was to significantly change the public's behaviour as consumers, as well as current patterns in waste management.
The minister reported that of some two million tonnes of refuse generated in Attica each year, only 10 percent was current processed before ending up in the Ano Liosia landfill site in west Athens and roughly the same percentage was recycled, while 80 percent went straight to the landfill for burial and downgraded the environment of millions of west Attica residents.
Concerning controversial plans to create a new landfill site in Keratea, which has local residents up in arms and triggered clashes between locals and riot police, Ragoussis said that this would not be a classic landfill but also waste-processing centre that would include a composting unit for pre-selected organic wastes, a centre for sorting recyclable materials, a waste processing unit and a landfill site for any remaining waste.
He noted that a similar facility was planned for Grammatiko in northeast Attica, while a composting unit would be built at Fyli, west Attica.
The minister also announced an immediate tender for integrated waste management units in Attica that will deal with 65 percent of the waste generated, so that by 2014 the quantity of waste destined for burial would not be greater than a quarter of the total. He said this would be achieved through an extension of programmes for the recycling and sorting of organic waste at source, so that the sorted quantities tripled in the next five years.
Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) Parliamentary Group president Alexis Tsipras, addressing a rally of supporters in the indoor Sporting stadium in Athens on Friday evening, spoke of a government that has invented "a new ghost hovering over the country, the ghost of SYRIZA."
Tsipras focused his address on criticism of the government, accompanied by criticism on vested interests and the serving of economic interests and on an appeal to the forces of the left, mainly the leftist social forces for unity.
Tsipras predicted that '"the worse is to come and for the people to be intimidated, the government alone does not have the crucial role with the shaping of a climate of intimidation and collective guilt but a large part of the country's mass media as well."
Extremely small concentrations of traces of radioactivity have been detected in Greek territory which, however, are far below acceptable limits and consequently they are absolutely harmless and do not have the slightest repercussion on health or the environment, according to an announcement, Friday, by the Greek Atomc Energy Committee (EEAE).
EEAE mentions categorically that no protection measure absolutely is required and no change in the population's feeding or other habits.
BEIJING (ANA-MPA)
An interview by Maritime Affairs, Islands & Fisheries Minister Yiannis Diamantidis was rebroadcast by the China Business News (CBN) network, where the Greek minister is quoted as saying that a five-million-dollar credit line extended by Chinese banks towards Greek shipowners for shipbuilding may be increased to US$10 billion.
Diamantidis, who officially visited China in late February, met with government officials, bank executives and the leadership of Chinese multinational Cosco, a major concessionaire at the Port of Piraeus.
In other statements, Diamantidis was quoted as saying that Cosco plans to turn Piraeus into the biggest transit hub in the Mediterranean, while emphasising that China's overall investment interest has significantly aided in Greece's road to economic recovery.
BELGRADE (ANA-MPA/N. Pelpas)
Deputy Foreign Minister Spyros Kouvelis, speaking on Thursday evening at a Greek-Serb business forum in Belgrade, during his two-day visit to the Serb capital, stressed the need for the widening of economic cooperation between Greece and Serbia.
The deputy Foreign minister said that the Greek businessmen are interested in investing in Serbia in the sectors of energy, and in renewable sources in particular, infrastructures, production and tourism.
"We desire to strengthen economic cooperation, we are encouraging the investments of Greek businessmen in Serbia, but the investments must also move in the opposite direction, so that both sides will equally benefit," Kouvelis said.
Deputy Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Minister Yiannis Magriotis on Friday informed Parliament that the government was currently negotiating with the concessionaire constructing the Maliakos-Kleidi section of the Patras-Athens-Thessaloniki-Evzonoi national highway for a decrease in the tolls charged on sections of the road still under construction.
Magriotis noted in a letter sent to Parliament that issues concerning the imposition and collection of tolls were outlined in the contract signed with the contractor in 2007 and ratified by law in Parliament. In spite of this, the ministry was negotiating for their reduction and also for a discount policy for frequent users and local travel and faster introduction of electronic collection of tolls so that tolls could be charged based on distance travelled by road users.
Concerning access roads alongside the highway, Magriotis noted that these existed for a greater part of its length, that studies on completing the network had been carried out that included construction of bridges at Ziliana and Topoliani. He said that the contract signed with the concessionaire did not include construction of an access road network and that this would necessitate holding a tender for a new contract.
A request for a renegotiation of the terms of the concession contracts to lower road tolls had been made by PASOK MP Thanassis Papageorgiou.
VIENNA (ANA-MPA / D. Dimitrakoudis)
An event held here on Thursday and Friday aims at briefing tourist agents of Austria about Greece as a tourist destination, with the active participation of the Greek National Tourism bureau here; the "Filoxenia" tourism expo and the electronic platform "Respond on Demand", which promotes, free of charge, hotels from throughout Greece to tourist agents around the world.
Greece's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) recovered in March to 45.4 points from 42.8 points in February and January 2011, to its highest level since January 2010. The index, compiled by Markit, however showed a steady worsening of business conditions in the Greek manufacturing sector.
Weak demand for Greek manufactured products led to lower new orders during March, with new orders falling both in the domestic and external markets.
Unemployment in the sector showed signs of slowing down in March, recording the lowest rate of decline in the last 14 months.
Import prices continued growing in the month to the highest levels since 2008, reflecting higher oil and oil product prices. However, Greek manufacturers cut their prices to meet increasing competition in the market.
Inventories fell steeply in March.
The purchasing managers' index is measuring business activity in the manufacturing sector. Readings above 50 indicate a growing economy, while readings below 50 a shrinking economy.
-- The Central Union of Greek Chambers on Friday expressed its opposition to the introduction, as of April 1, of a government measure to impose a ceiling of 3,000 euros - including VAT - in all cash transactions in the country, as part of an effort to combat tax evasion.
-- A first round of talks, between banks and bank employees' union (OTOE) over a new collective labour agreement ended in a deadlock on Friday, with OTOE rejecting a bankers' proposal to cut 5.0 pct in wages.
-- Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling on Friday announced it planned to return capital to shareholders up to 0.50 euros per share. Final decision was expected in a regular general shareholders' meeting scheduled for May 6 which will also discuss a board plan to change the company's statute over its equity capital structure.
-- The general government deficit totaled 3.061 billion euros in January, the finance ministry said on Friday. In a report, the ministry said the central government's deficit totaled 3,286 billion euros, while legal entities reported a surplus of 174 million euros, municipal authorities a surplus of 77 million euros and pension funds a deficit of 26 million euros in the first month of 2011.
-- Athens will host the 11th International Venture Capital & Private Equity Forum, on April 5-6. The forum is co-organised by Invest in Greece, the Association of Greek Venture Capital Enterprises and Praxis Network, coordinator of Enterprise Europe Network-Hellas.
The Athens Stock Exchange on Friday announced it was temporarily suspending trading of Minoan Shipping Lines shares for a maximum period of 10 days. An ASE announcement said the decision was taken because the company's annual balance sheet for the 2010 period failed to meet international accounting standards.
Stocks ended lower during the last trading session of a very negative week in the Athens Stock Exchange. The composite index of the market eased 0.56 pct to end at 1,526.60 points, for a net loss of 5.89 pct in the week. Turnover was disappointing low 101.791 million euros.
The Big Cap index fell 0.76 pct, the Mid Cap index ended 0.47 pct down and the Small Cap index fell 0.93 pct. OPAP (3.24 pct), Ellaktor (3.23 pct), Viohalco (1.95 pct) and Coca Cola 3E (0.26 pct) were top gainers among blue chip stocks, while Cyprus Bank (3.52 pct), OTE (2.16 pct), PPC (2.53 pct) and National Bank (1.75 pct) were top losers.
The Travel (3.12 pct) and Chemicals (2.83 pct) sectors scored gains, while Health (3.21 pct), Insurance (3.17 pct) and Banks (1.67 pct) sectors suffered the heaviest percentage losses of the day. Broadly, decliners led advancers by 95 to 57 with another 51 issues unchanged.
Vivere (14.81 pct), Imperio (11.54 pct) and Sarantopoulos (9.65 pct) were top gainers, while Pairis (19.61 pct), HOL (19.44 pct) and Alpha Grissin (17.91 pct) were top losers.
Sector indices ended as follows:
Insurance: -3.17%
Industrials: +0.50%
Commercial: -2.62%
Construction: +0.33%
Media: -0.64%
Oil & Gas: -0.28%
Personal & Household: -0.98%
Raw Materials: -0.05%
Travel & Leisure: +3.12%
Technology: -0.74%
Telecoms: -2.16%
Banks: -1.67%
Food & Beverages: +0.14%
Health: -3.21%
Utilities: -1.84%
Chemicals: +2.83%
Financial Services: -0.02%
The stocks with the highest turnover were National Bank, OPAP, Motor Oil and Alpha Bank.
Selected shares from the FTSE/ASE-20 index closed in euros as follows:
Alpha Bank: 4.47
ATEbank: 0.70
Public Power Corp (PPC): 11.95
HBC Coca Cola: 19.00
Hellenic Petroleum: 7.37
National Bank of Greece: 6.16
EFG Eurobank Ergasias: 4.35
OPAP: 15.60
OTE: 7.71
Bank of Piraeus: 1.39
Titan: 17.50
The yield spread between the 10-year Greek and German benchmark bonds shrank to 936 basis points in the Greek electronic secondary bond market on Friday, from 957 bps on Thursday, with the Greek bond yielding 12.73 pct and the German Bund 3.37 pct.
Turnover in the market was a low 25 million euros, of which 16 million were buy orders and the remaining 9.0 million were sell orders. The five-year benchmark bond was the most heavily traded security with a turnover of 11 million euros.
In interbank markets, interest rates were largely unchanged. The 12-month rate was 2.01 pct, the six-month rate 1.55 pct, the three-month 1.24 pct and the one-month rate 0.98 pct.
The March contract on the FTSE 20 index was trading at a discount of 0.85 pct in the Athens Derivatives Exchange on Friday, with turnover a low 30.490 million euros. Volume on the Big Cap index totaled 7,190 contracts wortrh 24.976 million euros, with 25,336 short positions in the market.
Volume in futures contracts on equities totaled 11,251 contracts worth 5.514 million euros, with investment interest focusing on National Bank's contracts (3,279), followed by Eurobank (896), MIG (728), OTE (1,246), Piraeus Bank (881), Alpha Bank (871) and ATEbank (806).
Reference buying rates per euro released by the European Central Bank:
U.S. dollar 1.425
Pound sterling 0.888
Danish kroner 7.516
Swedish kroner 9.009
Japanese yen 119.51
Swiss franc 1.316
Norwegian kroner 7.867
Canadian dollar 1.379
Australian dollar 1.375
A powerful earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter Scale was recorded just after 4:30 p.m. (14:30 GMT) near the large southern island of Crete, with the epicentre located in a sea region between Crete and the island of Karpathos.
The quake was felt throughout Crete and many of the other islands, reports state.
"The major earthquake in Japan is likely to have accelerated today's earthquake in the south Aegean," according to Geodynamic Institute director and seismology Prof. Konstantinos Makropoulos.
He added that it has been three years since an earthquake like today's was recorded, adding that its epicentre was 50 km below the earth's surface, the reason it was felt at such a distance.
BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/M. Aroni)
The life expectancy of the Greeks, according to demographic data for 2009 publicised by Eurostat on Friday, is slightly above the European average.
According to the same data, the Greek women's fertility rate, despite increasing over the past six years (1.52 children on average) remains below the corresponding European rate (1.60 children).
As regards life expectancy in Greece, women live on average 82.7 years, while men 77.8 years, according to Eurostat's data. The corresponding figures for the EU of the 27 is 82.4 years for women and 77.8 years for men.
Lastly, according to Eurostat's data, in 2010 foreigners in Greece represented 8.4 percent of the country's total population (about 954,800). Seven percent of foreigners come from EU member-states and 1.4 percent from third countries.
Prime Minister George Papandreou received writer Evgenios Trivizas in his office in Parliament on Friday, on the occasion of Saturday's International Child's Book Day.
Trivizas, one of the most prominent writers of children's books, briefed the prime minister on his recent trip to Turkey where he visited schools and met with pupils while they discussed the value of the book and the impact that it must have on young people again.
Police on Friday announced that a proclamation was included in the letter bomb sent to Korydallos prison and neutralised by bomb disposal experts on Thursday.
They announced that the manila envelope containing the bomb also contained a small roll of paper wrapped in insulating tape, which proved to be a proclamation claiming responsibility for the attack signed by the Italian organisation "Informal Anarchist Federation - International Network".
The proclamation was written in Italian and said the letter bomb was sent to show solidarity with the jailed members of the Greek terror group "Conspiracy of Cells of Fire" and imprisoned 'comrades' in Chile, Switzerland and Germany.
Two fugitives arrested shortly before midnight on Thursday are believed to be high-ranking members of four gangs involved in the protection racket, police said on Friday. The two were arrested in a raid carried out by the Attica Security extortion squad on an apartment in Kamatero.
The men arrested were taken by surprise and did not have time to use either the gun or a hand-grenade police found in the apartment.
Police sources said the two suspects are considered the 'seconds-in-command' of a gang leader now in prison and had undertaken to set bombs on his behalf at various night clubs in Athens or to collect protection money from venue owners.
They were taken before an examining magistrate on Friday.
Eight of eleven defendants charged in the "Revolutionary Struggle" terrorist case should be tried in court, appellate level prosecutor Apostolos Makropoulos recommended to the Court of Appeals Council on Friday.
The prosecutor recommended that defendants Nikos Maziotis, his companion Panagiota Roupa, Costas Gournas, Christoforos Kortessis, Evangelos Stathopoulos and Sarantos Nikitopoulos, all in custody, as well as another two defendants, who were released on bail, be tried in court. He also recommended that all charges against other three suspects be dropped.
The defendants face several felony charges for participation in a terrorist group, possession of explosives, bomb explosions and attempted homicides.
The ultra-leftist, self-styled anarchist gang "Revolutionary Struggle" has assumed responsibility for the Jan. 12, 2007 rocket attack against the US embassy in Athens; the Jan. 5, 2009 assault rifle attack targeting police officers -- seriously injuring one -- and the Dec. 23, 2008 assault rifle attack on a police cruiser in eastern Athens.
A 37-year-old Bulgarian national arrested at the Promahonas border station had concealed 1,700 grams of heroin in the engine of the car he was driving.
At the same time, police arrested on a regional road outside Strymonohori another Bulgarian national when a search of the car he was driving revealed about 1,500 grams of heroin. Both of them who are charged with importing, transporting and possessing drug substances where brought before a prosecutor in the city of Serres who ordered their remanding in custody.
Coast guard authorities in the port of Igoumenitsa on Friday announced the arrest of a 45-year-old truck driver who was caught transporting 59,286 packets of contraband cigarettes in a specially designed crypt in the floor and roof of his truck. The unpaid taxes on the cigarettes are estimated amounted to an estimated 189,099.08 euro.
Rainy weather and northerly winds are forecast in most parts of the country on Saturday, with wind velocity reaching 3-8 beaufort. Temperatures will range between 4C and 21C. Cloudy with local showers in Athens, with northerly 5-8 beaufort winds and temperatures ranging from 10C to 15C. Cloudy in Thessaloniki, with temperatures ranging from 5C to 15C.
The countries economic woes, tax raids and a perceived collapse of the political system, especially of the government, mostly dominated the headlines in Athens' dailies on Friday.
ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "[Prime Minister George] Papandreou: 'I'm tired, I want to go".
AVGI: "Economy, political system in coronary arrest".
AVRIANI: "Country falling apart, parties sinking".
CITY PRESS: "Recession remains, unemployment rising".
DEMOKRATIA: "The 'child' of Soros is selling Greece!".
ELEFTHERI ORA: "The villains were spraying us with psychotropic drugs! - Sunday 27 March".
ELEFTHEROS TYPOS: "Collapse for PASOK-Papandreou".
ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "Tax raid and confiscation of money".
ESTIA: "We are being led into an impasse".
ETHNOS: "The dialogues that 'burned' the extortionists".
IMERISSIA: "Who is being targeted by the tax office - Checks on 12 categories of tax payers".
KATHIMERINI: "[Health Minister Andreas] Loverdos to take a 'scalpel' to hospital governors".
LOGOS: "Greeks living in fear of unemployment".
NAFTEMPORIKI: "A new action plan against tax evasion".
???: "The black lists of tax evaders".
NIKI OF DEMOCRACY: "Casus belli from banks".
PARASKEVI+13: "He's seeking a way out through constitutional revision".
RIZOSPASTIS: " Joint training of Army-Police aims to intensify repression of people".
VRADYNI: "Great Depression at IKA".
Cyprus Affairs
NICOSIA (CNA/ANA-MPA)
The statements made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Cyprus problem, is part of Turkey's communication policy, Cyprus President Demetris Christofias said on Friday.
Departing for Britain where he would meet his British counterpart, Erdogan asserted that the negotiations in Cyprus had come to a deadlock due to the Cypriot side's efforts to ''run out the clock'' and reiterated his country position for a high-level meeting on Cyprus with the participation of Turkish and Greek sides and guarantor countries (Greece and Turkey).
''This is the well-known position and the communication policy of Turkey which unfortunately appeals to some circles which otherwise should criticize Turkey'', Christofias said, wondering why the Turkish position is not appealing to French President Nicola Sarkozy and to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu are currently engaged in UN-led direct negotiations, with an aim to reunify the island, under a federal roof.
[33] Cyprus celebrates uprising against colonial rule
Cyprus marked on Friday the 56th anniversary of the start of the uprising against the British colonial rule on April 1, 1955.
The armed anti-colonial struggle lasted for four years and led to the establishment of the Cyprus Republic in 1960, having three guarantor powers, Britain Greece and Turkey.
Celebrations throughout the free areas of the Republic culminated Friday with church and memorial services and various events to mark the launch of the uprising campaign against the British colonial rule.
President of the Republic of Cyprus Demetris Christofias attended the church service at St John's Cathedral in Nicosia.
Speaking to the press, Christofias said that ''the message of today's anniversary is a message of reflection and of drawing lessons.''
He described the lack of unity at home as ''tragic,'' adding that Cyprus will not go forward without unity, irrespective of political and ideological considerations.
''This is the message and this is the lesson, if unity prevails we will be able to face Turkish intransigence,'' he concluded.
Later on, President Christofias attended the memorial service at the Imprisoned Graves for those who lost their lives for the sake of Cyprus' freedom.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
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ana2html v2.01 run on Monday, 4 April 2011 - 20:39:33 UTC


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Sir Francis Crossley, 1st Baronet, of Halifax (Halifax, 26 October 1817 – 5 January 1872), known to his contemporaries as Frank Crossley, was a British carpet manufacturer, philanthropist and Liberal Party politician. He was founder of the company Crossley Carpets.

Background
His parents were Martha (d. 1854) and John Crossley (d. 1837), who was a carpet manufacturer at Dean Clough Mills, Halifax. He was one of eight children. His older brother, John, was also an MP for Halifax, from 1874 to 1877.

Trade
The fifth and youngest son, Francis, was sent to school at Halifax; while still a schoolboy his pocket money was made dependent on his own work. A loom was set up for him in his father's mill, on which he spent the time not spent at school.

The carpet manufactory at Dean Clough was commenced by John Crossley in a small way, but it became, under the management of John Crossley, jun., Joseph Crossley, and Francis Crossley, who constituted the firm of J. Crossley & Sons, the largest concern of its kind in the world. Its buildings covered an area of , and the firm gave employment to between five and six thousand. Its rapid growth was by application of steam power and machinery to the production of carpets. The Crossley firm acquired patents and then devised and patented improvements which placed them in advance of the rest of the trade. One loom, the patent of which became their property, was found capable of weaving about six times as much as could be produced by the old hand loom. Manufacturers of tapestry and Brussels carpets applied to Messrs. Crossley for licences to work their patents, and large sums accrued to them from royalties alone.

In 1864 the concern was changed into a limited liability company, and a portion of the shares in the new company were offered to workers under favourable conditions.

Politics
Crossley was elected in the liberal interest as MP for Halifax, 8 July 1852; he sat for the borough until 1859, when he became the member for the West Riding of Yorkshire. On the division of the riding in 1868 he was returned for the northern division, which he continued to represent to the time of his death.

Philanthropy
His first major gift to Halifax consisted in the erection of twenty-one almshouses in 1855, with an endowment which gave six shillings a week to each person.

On his return from America in 1855 he announced his intention to present the people of Halifax with a park, and on 15 August 1857 this park was opened. It consists of more than  of ground, laid out from designs by Sir Joseph Paxton and Edward Milner. With a sum of money invested for its maintenance in 1867, it cost the donor £41,300.

About 1860, with his brothers John and Joseph, Crossley began the erection of an orphan home and school on Skircoat Moor. This was completed at their sole united cost, and endowed by them with a sum of £3,000 a year; it was designed for the maintenance of children who had lost one or both parents, and had accommodation for four hundred. (It was one of the predecessors of Crossley Heath Grammar School, established 1985.) In 1870 he founded a loan fund of £10,000 for the benefit of deserving tradesmen of Halifax, and in the same year presented to the London Missionary Society the sum of £20,000, the largest donation the society had ever received. About the same period he gave £10,000 to the Congregational Pastors' Retiring Fund, and the same sum towards the formation of a fund for the relief of widows of congregational ministers.

Personal life
He married, on 11 December 1845, Martha Eliza, daughter of Henry Brinton of Kidderminster, by whom he had an only son, Savile Crossley, second baronet, MP successively for Lowestoft and for Halifax. He was the author of Canada and the United States, a lecture, 1856. Savile was to become a prominent Liberal Unionist politician and was created Baron Somerleyton in 1916.

Crossley was mayor of Halifax in 1849 and 1850, and purchased Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk in 1862 from Morton Peto.

He was created a baronet on 23 January 1863. After a long illness he died at Bellevue, Halifax, 5 January 1872, and was buried in the general cemetery on 12 January. His will was proved 27 May 1872, when the personalty was sworn under £800,000.

Sources

References

External links

1817 births
1872 deaths
People from Halifax, West Yorkshire
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1852–1857
UK MPs 1857–1859
UK MPs 1859–1865
UK MPs 1865–1868
UK MPs 1868–1874
Mayors of Halifax, West Yorkshire
British rugs and carpets

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