zoom John Fredriksen’s oil tanker giant Frontline Ltd. revealed today that it has acquired two VLCC newbuildings under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries at a purchase price of USD 84 million each. The vessels are due for delivery in September and November 2016.The company has also secured options for two additional sister vessels with delivery in January and March 2017 at a purchase price of USD 85 million each.As World Maritime News reported last week, the 308,000 DWT four VLCC newbuilds were bought from Greek Metrostar Management Corporation.The ships in question, said to be bought on June 2nd, are Crude Hope, Crude Horn, Crude Med and Crude Progress.“We have been consistently looking for ways to increase Frontline’s exposure to the tanker market as current resale prices do not accurately reflect the earnings power of vessels on the water. This acquisition will be accretive in the near term given historically low pricing and the low cash breakeven rates on these vessels and across our fleet.  It is also a reflection of our long term market outlook and our focus on generating significant cash flow to provide long term value to our shareholders,” Robert Hvide Macleod, Chief Executive Officer of Frontline Management AS commented.Metrostar ordered the ships in 2015, paying USD 95 million for each ship. Euronav was interested in purchasing the quartet, however the resale deal was never realized. read more

VANCOUVER – A Vancouver man has pulled the plug on his electric skateboard after receiving a $598 ticket the first time he took it out on the street.Daniel Dahlberg said he was riding the longboard, marketed as a Boosted Board, on Friday down a hill in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood when he was pulled over by police.The board can be used as a normal skateboard but also has a battery attached to the bottom, giving the wheels enough torque to push a rider up a steep hill.Dahlberg said he hadn’t even engaged the battery yet, but his maiden voyage was also the first time he learned from a police officer that riders need insurance.“I asked him, I had no idea, how do I get insurance, and he told me that there isn’t any to purchase, it doesn’t exist,” Dahlberg said.“I kinda stared at him. I was trying to think of a way to respond to that because it doesn’t make any sense to me, and then he hands me a $598 ticket.“Not once was I warned about this or did I read about this.”Dahlberg has filed notice that he intends to dispute the ticket and said he had already received offers of support after posting about his predicament online.“I’ve had a lot of attention from that and a lot of people reaching out to me with advice, retired B.C. lawyers who are interested in offering me advice,” he said.The local boarding community was also rallying, Dahlberg said.Online checks show the boards sell in shops in Vancouver for more than $2,100 and Dahlberg said the store where his board was purchased has been selling them for at least two years.But Dahlberg said his board isn’t rolling anywhere, anymore.“Luckily the manufacturer of the board has a 30-day return policy. So I have already been in touch with them and I’ll be sending back my board for the time being because I don’t really see a reason to use it if I’ll get another fine like this,” he said.“And then I’ll contest the ticket in court.”The court process is just beginning and Dahlberg said he didn’t know when the matter might be heard. read more

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Education Minister Rob Fleming was in Fort St. John today to attend the grand opening of the new Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray Community School and groundbreaking ceremony for the Northeast Elementary School.Blueberry River First Nation Chief Marvin Yahey and drummers from the First Nation opened this afternoon’s ceremony to bless the new 365-seat elementary school on the city’s west side. Chief Yahey is the youngest grandson of Bella Yahey, for whom the Bella Yahey Gathering Centre near the new school’s entrance is named.  Fleming was also on hand for the official groundbreaking ceremony for the as-yet renamed Northeast Elementary School under construction across 112th Ave. from the Fort St. John Hospital. The Education Minister announced in late June that the Province was contributing $31.1 million to build the new school, on which construction has already begun. While construction on the new school was originally set to be complete by January of 2021, School District #60 has set a target date of having the school open by September 2020, a timeline of just two years.Assistant superintendent Boyd said today that site preparation is nearly complete, and crews have already built concrete forms in preparation to pour the school’s foundation. Margie Graham, the granddaughter of Alaska Highway News founder and school namesake Margaret ‘Ma’ Murray, also spoke this afternoon about the important role her grandmother played in the North Peace region. Murray founded the Alaska Highway News in Fort St. John in the 1940’s and received the Order of Canada for her contributions to Canadian journalism.Minister Fleming spoke about the importance of the new school in the Fort St. John area, pointing to the high birth rate and low average age of the North Peace region. “Students in the fast-growing Peace River North School District will have new, inspiring spaces in which to learn,” said Rob Fleming, Minister of Education. “With one school opening and another with shovels in the ground, parents can rest assured that their kids will be in comfortable, state-of-the-art learning environments.”The Ministry of Education provided $22.1 million towards building the new school, but Fleming also acknowledged the contributions of the City of Fort St. John, BC Hydro, and the Ministry of Children and Family Development towards construction.The City contributed $2.5 million to expand the school’s gym, while BC Hydro and the Ministry gave $1.8 million and $500,000 respectively to build and support the school’s daycare centre.“It is extremely gratifying to see the project go from an idea to a vision on an architect’s drawing, to the stunning building we see before us,” said Doug Boyd, Peace River North School District assistant superintendent. “Margaret (Ma) Murray Community school is another example of partnerships in action that will benefit the district and local communities well into the future.”  read more

13 January 2008As the death toll from deadly wave of post-election violence in Kenya continues to climb, the United Nations is continuing its relief efforts ahead of three days of nationwide rallies next week called for by the opposition. The Kenya Red Cross Society announced that it has revised the death toll up from the official number of 486 to 575, and said that this figure is expected to rise further as more bodies are discovered.Violence erupted in the Eastern African nation late last month after President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the election, and opposition leader Raila Odinga has disputed the results.The country’s Government has identified urgent needs — including security, food, water, sanitation facilities and medicine — for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the capital Nairobi, the western region of the country and elsewhere.An assessment team from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has just wrapped up a visit to IDP sites in the towns and regions of Eldoret, Nakuru, Molo and Rongai.In Eldoret, it found that Family Kits, Dignity Kits with sanitary materials for women, and tents were needed, and said that psychosocial assistance and protection against gender-based violence is necessary.The agency said that in Nakuru, the displaced living in religious sites are in need of medical assistance, food, blankets, mattresses, clothing and other basic necessities. It also voiced concern that the registration form identifies only children under five years of age and excludes some vulnerable groups such as the elderly, sick and disabled. UNHCR recommends that food and clothes be distributed with sensitivity towards people with special needs, such as some of the elderly who wait in line for hours to receive these items.Meanwhile in Molo, some 2,000 IDPs lack shelter, water and sanitation. In Rongai, many those who have fled their homes are sleeping outside without blankets and shelter, and UNHCR warns that sanitation conditions are poor and require immediate attention as the nearby river is the area’s only water source.UNHCR has also found that there is an inadequate supply of Family Kits, tarpaulins, kitchen sets and blankets in Nairobi. The agency will continue to provide cooking utensils as part of a feeding programme led by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in the capital, and its delivery of these supplies to feeding schemes in Nairobi schools will resume on 14 January when schools re-open after a one-week delay caused by the post-election violence.For its part, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has identified the heath issues pertaining to the Kenyan crisis, such as emergency care for the wounded, essential health care for displaced populations, the need for health workers and medical supplies, surveillance of epidemic diseases, reproductive health, and water quality control.WHO also said that at a regional level, it foresees the possibility of fuel shortages for humanitarian operations. read more

19 March 2008Albania has asked for a United Nations disaster assessment and coordination (UNDAC) team to be dispatched to help its authorities determine how to deal with the aftermath of Saturday’s series of deadly explosions at a military ammunition depot. Albania has asked for a United Nations disaster assessment and coordination (UNDAC) team to be dispatched to help its authorities determine how to deal with the aftermath of Saturday’s series of deadly explosions at a military ammunition depot. At least 18 people were killed and over 390 others were injured, including 40 seriously, because of the blast, which began about 12:30 in the afternoon during an ongoing programme at the Gerdec depot to destroy old military ordnance. More than 300 homes were destroyed and over 2000 other buildings were damaged as the explosions continued through the night.Some 4,000 people have since been evacuated from the area around the village of Vore, which is close to the depot, and offered emergency shelter, according to the latest update from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).The situation is complicated by the thousands of artillery shells, mortar shells, grenades and small arms ammunition that now litter the area for up to five kilometres around the depot. As much as 130,000 tons of ageing ammunition in need of destruction also exists at other dumps and depots around Albania.Gülden Türköz-Cosslett, the UN Resident Coordinator in Albania and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, has pledged the world body’s assistance to the Government where feasible. read more

Wigneswaran said that 16 Provincial Ministers had signed the letter demanding that some Ministers be removed and new ones be included.The Chief Minister had said at the time that he needs to study the issue very carefully before taking a final decision. (Colombo Gazette) Northern Province Chief Minister C.V Wigneswaran took over some key portfolios in the Northern Provincial Council.The Ministries were earlier under provincial ministers in the Northern Provincial Council. He took oaths before Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray at the Governor’s Secretariat in Jaffna. Wigneswaran took oaths as the provincial Ministry of Finance and Planning, Law and Order, Lands, Social Services, Rehabilitation, Woman Affairs, Electricity, Housing and Construction, Industries and Enterprise Promotion, Tourism, Local Government and Provincial Administration. Some of the Ministries were under provincial Minister Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam.Last month a group of Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Ministers had sent a letter to Wigneswaran demanding a reshuffle in the provincial administration. read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has taken a step closer to relaxing federal regulations governing the amount of time truck drivers can spend behind the wheel.The proposed rule affects breaks that truckers are required to take, and their time on and off duty.A group representing independent truck drivers calls the proposal a “common-sense approach” that recognizes the need for flexibility in the “hours of service” rules.Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, says existing regulations are overly restrictive and out of step with the realties confronting most drivers.Raymond Martinez, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, says the agency listened to drivers and their call for safer and more flexible rules.The proposal will be open for public comment before being finalized.Richard Lardner, The Associated Press read more

Peru’s Minister of Energy and Mines, Gonzalo Tamayo Flores, leads the Peruvian delegation of more than 200 representatives from public and private sectors to the PDAC. During this event, the head of the sector will introduce a new direction for the mining promotion policy promoted by the current government of Peru, which intends to reactivate foreign investment in the development of exploration projects. The geological potential and competitive advantages of Peru in comparison with other countries will also be displayed.“The new government’s challenge is to increase competitiveness of mining investment in Peru through a new approach that will allow simplification of administrative procedures, reduction of social conflict and implementation of development projects in the areas of influence of the mining sites”, highlighted Flores.Peru is the world’s second producer of copper, zinc and silver. In Latin America, Peru is the first producer of gold, zinc, lead and molybdenum. It also has the world’s largest silver reserves and leads the Latin American ranking of gold, silver, zinc and molybdenum reserves.“These figures reflect the wealth of our resources, the Peruvian mining production capacity and the stability of our economic policies”, emphasized the Minister of Energy and Mines.Among Peru’s competitive advantages of investing in the Peruvian mining sector that the delegation aims to highlight are the low exploration and operating costs, macroeconomic stability, the innovation level of local suppliers and the efforts made by the Peruvian government in promoting a convergence among the production sectors, the communities and the mining industry.Another important factor is the Peruvian economic model, which offers a regulatory framework that establishes equal treatment to investors regardless of their origin, as well as opportunities in every productive and service activity, within a free market policy.As part of the PDAC Convention 2017, the ‘Peru Day’ will take place on Monday 6 MArch. It will be an entire day dedicated to introduce diverse aspects of the Peruvian mining industry and its investment opportunities as well as to meet national entrepreneurs.On Tuesday 7, the ‘CEO & Investors Luncheon’ will take place, which is an opportunity to join more than 130 top executives from mining companies and investment firms interested in investing in the Peruvian mining industry. The Peruvian Head of the Ministers’ Office, Fernando Zavala Lombardi, will attend this event.During the four-day event, Peru will have an official pavilion offering official updated and useful information for investors, which will be distributed by the Ministry of Energy and Mines. The inauguration of this pavilion will take place on Sunday 5th with the presence of the Minister of Energy and Mines.Picture courtesy of Panoro Minerals Ltd. read more

To gain more insight into the differences between cohabiting and married couples, we need to focus on conflict as well, since it is difficult to imagine an intimate relationship that does not involve occasional conflict.It was also discovered that cohabiting couples are more likely to argue about domestic chores than married couples but less likely to argue about paid work.Conducted by Demographic Research, the survey looked at both cohabiting and married couples. It focused on heterosexual couples between the ages of 18 and 45 and surveyed 9,657 people across the 22 countries.READ: Irish newly-weds pull off wedding entrance to beat all othersREAD: Living with your boyfriend/girlfriend? Here’s how they could get maintenance after you break up Source: Quartz via Demographic ResearchThe cohabiting and married Johns and Marys of Ireland were also found to be less likely to disagree about paid work, with only 33% of couples saying it was an issue. Iceland came top of the paid work squabbling stakes with 69% marking it down as a problem.According to the authors of the study: IRISH COUPLES ARE amongst the least likely to fight over household chores, a new study has found.The study revealed that out of the 22 European nations surveyed, Ireland was fourth from bottom with only 47% of couples saying they fought over chores. Topping the bickering league was Finland, with 90% of those asked saying they fought over chores. read more

https://jrnl.ie/3873559 Share65 Tweet Email1 By Cianan Brennan Michel Barnier and Simon Coveney, pictured earlier todayMeanwhile, Tánaiste Simon Coveney this afternoon met with chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels, a meeting that saw Coveney declare that, ahead of the publication of the draft text, “the Irish government and the task force are of one mind”.He said that the text “will be faithful and true to the political agreement that was made in December”, but added that the document itself will “be negotiated over time”.“Our preference will be to try and solve a lot of the Irish border issues and Irish issues through option A which  hopefully we will hear an awful lot more about on Friday from the British prime minister,” he said.Coveney added that “we are not looking to try and put pressure on anybody”.“We are simply looking to translate into a clear legal language a text that has already been agreed to politically before Christmas,” he said. Short URL Source: PA ImagesBRITISH PRIME MINISTER Theresa May this evening spoke to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar by phone ahead of the pending publication of the draft Brexit legal text.The call, which was requested by an increasingly under-pressure May, saw both leaders agree that the various Brexit options agreed upon last December should be ‘examined in detail’.However, Varadkar also reiterated the necessity that Option C of las December’s joint report, the option known as the ‘backstop’ facility which would see a commitment to no hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland should the other two options fail, be ‘spelled out’ in the forthcoming draft legal text.That text is set to be published on Wednesday.The backstop is proving to be a major political headache for May. Should it come into force she risks enraging the DUP, on whom her fragile government wholly depends, as it would see, to all intents and purposes, Northern Ireland stay within the customs union and the EU single market post Brexit, which contradicts May’s commitment to the unionist party that no new regulatory barriers will be placed between the UK and the North. Varadkar and May speak by phone ahead of draft EU withdrawal document on Brexit The draft document, set to give a legal basis to last December’s preliminary agreement, will be published on Wednesday. That has to happen at some point in time otherwise you can’t have a basis for a negotiated agreement on a withdrawal treaty.With reporting by Christina FinnRead: European pilots group calls for Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary to resignRead: Companies with HQs in the IFSC have a ‘duty to give back’ to north inner city, says minister Feb 26th 2018, 10:59 PM Tweet thisShare on FacebookEmail this article 7,859 Views As the clock ticks down, get all the best Brexit news and analysis in your inbox: Monday 26 Feb 2018, 10:59 PM 25 Comments read more

It’s always nice to be reminded that a good edit concept and innovative design don’t go unnoticed by readers—or advertisers. Each of the drastically different cover approaches appealed to various types of readers, which was the reason Latina decided to keep both and do a split run of the covers for newsstand and subscribers.Like many women’s service titles this year, Latina Media Ventures’ publication was hit hard, with the 506,000 circ title seeing ad revenue fall 32.4 percent in the first half of this year, according to PIB. But the two custom Mexico issue covers—and the special issue editorial, of course—were able to secure a 6 percent increase in additional issue revenue based on new advertisers Sephora, TBS (Lopez Tonight), DosEquis and Goya, said a magazine spokesperson. “This beautiful country is not all H1N1, drug wars and violence. Mexico is so much more and this issue serves as a reminder,” said Mimi Valdés Ryan, Latina’s editorial director of the November 2009 issue which pays homage to Mexico. “Since this special issue is such a departure from our regular format, a celebrity cover model just didn’t feel right. If we used a Mexican celebrity instead, I don’t think it would have been as visually clear what the theme of the issue was. With these covers, there’s no mistaking what this issue is about.”Latina’s design director Florian Bachleda decided upon two cover artists, Jesse Reyes and Rodrigo Corral, to compete for the cover, with the runner-up’s design going inside to open as the main Mexico feature. But Valdés Ryan was “blown away when they [the covers] came in, and couldn’t decide on which one should be the cover. To make matters more complicated, the staff was also evenly split,” she told FOLIO:.The graphically strong concept covers look more like bright, authentic posters or newsweekly covers than that of a women’s service title covering health, beauty and lifestyle. Here at FOLIO:, we receive a sizable number of magazines in our mailboxes every day. Needless to say, we notice when a title touts a particularly interesting, out-of-the-box concept. So when Latina, a women’s service title geared toward young, bilingual women, scrapped its typical cover model concept and debuted two poster-quality, Viva Mexico covers, it didn’t go unnoticed by us—or new advertisers. Bachleda said that Reyes’cover, influenced by Mexican boxing and lucha libre (wrestling) posters, used “selected letterforms that are more than a century old and were in keeping with typestyles still being used in Mexico.” Corral, responsible for New York’s “Reasons to Love New York,” among others, was a “no-brainer” for a Mexico issue designer, and pulled from traditional Ballet Folklorico dances as the graphic inspiration, Bachleda said. read more

The University of Alaska Fairbanks has released a list of academic program cuts and changes in response to reduced state funding. The cost saving measures are the first of numerous expected as UAF tries to cover a more than $20 million budget hole. Download Audio

The Bethel Police Department’s 911 system cannot trace calls from cellphones. Callers need to tell them exactly where they are. (Google Maps screenshot)One night last December, D.K.’s husband started drinking. A few drinks in, he started to punch her.Listen now“I was thrown onto the floor a few times, and into the wall,” D.K. said. She remembers grabbing her cellphone and calling 911. “I just had a few minutes to dial 9-1-1 and toss my phone in the closet,” she said. “I thought I could throw my phone and they could hear me screaming for help.”She fought back against her husband and tried to put him in a choke hold that her dad and brother had showed her. When her husband saw that she had called the police, he ran from the house.D.K. said that she chose to talk to KYUK in order to raise awareness about domestic violence, which is too often suffered in silence. When her husband ran out of the house she called 911 again and officers came to help her, but the first time D.K. called 911 the police didn’t show up. The Bethel Police Department can’t track a caller’s location from a cell phone, so they wouldn’t have known where she was.That technological lapse may have put people at risk. If she had known that Bethel PD couldn’t track 911 calls from cell phones, D.K. said that she might have behaved differently that night. “I probably would’ve tried to hide and stay on the phone,” she said.According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety, over 70 percent of today’s calls to 911 are made with cellphones. The Bethel Police Department has been trying to fix their system so that it can track those calls, but the upgrading process has proven bureaucratic.Acting Police Chief Burke Waldron said that the department updated its 911 system about six months ago so that it can receive exact GPS coordinates from cellphones. According to Dispatcher Natalie Hayes, the problem is GCI, which needs to update its own equipment for the system to work. Hayes said that they requested that GCI make that upgrade last summer, but GCI spokesperson Heather Handyside said that the company has no record of receiving the department’s letter, and didn’t know it was an issue.Regardless, the Bethel Police Department is still only able to get a general sense of where callers using cellphones are. To demonstrate just how big a problem this can be, Hayes asks me to take out my phone. We’re sitting in the Bethel Police Department, near her desk, where Hayes monitors calls on four different computer screens.My call appears on one of her monitors. “As you can see,” says Hayes, “all I have is your ‘no record found’ and your phone number.” It can’t determine my location, even though I’m sitting right next to her.“I can call you back,” Hayes says. “But if you don’t pick up, or if something’s happened to you, there’s nothing I can do.”Bethel is far from the only community in Alaska with this problem, even though the technology exists to solve it. According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety’s John Rockwell, 911 systems in a lot of Alaskan communities don’t have cellphone location services, including towns on the road system. “And that would be a large, large percentage of the state that we’re talking about,” he said.The irony, said Rockwell, is that the state of Alaska played a key role in creating 911 in the first place. U.S. Senator Ernest Groening was instrumental in starting the system back in the 1960s, and the second 911 call center ever implemented in the country was in Nome.Through the course of KYUK’s reporting on this issue, GCI got in touch with the Bethel Police Department. Spokesperson Heather Handyside said that they’re assessing whether the department’s system was properly updated, and will then upgrade their own technology. That process could take months.Until it’s fixed, Bethel Police Dispatcher Natalie Hayes has some advice: tell your 911 dispatcher exactly where you are. read more

Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts 3Fantastic Beasts (@fantasticbeastsmovie/Instagram)Johnny Depp’s personal and professional lives are currently under the radar after his former wife Amber Heard reportedly accused him of tormenting her during their marriage. Amid all the ongoing controversy, there are reports that Warner Bros. is not taking this lightly. Fans are now concerned whether they get to see Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3 or not?In the Fantastic Beasts movie series, Johnny Depp plays the role of Gellert Grindelwald — the dark wizard who was once very close to Albus Dumbledore. Johnny’s portrayal of Grindelwald in the second part was appreciated by fans and critics. However, amid the ongoing lawsuit, things are not looking too good for Depp.As reported earlier this week, Johnny Depp has filed a $50 million lawsuit against his former wife Amber Heard, who, in return has asked a judge to dismiss the defamation lawsuit. As per a report by PageSix, executives at Warner Bros. are wondering how to handle the ongoing backlash when it comes to Johnny Depp.”High-level female execs at the studio are extremely worried about working with Depp and the message it sends to the public, especially after the recent sordid departure of CEO Kevin Tsujihara,” reads the latest report.As we reported last month, Warner Bros. decided that its chairman and CEO, Kevin Tsujihara should step down from his position based on his inappropriate affair with an actress. When it comes to Johnny Depp, the report suggests that this is yet another blow to all the female employees who work at Warner Bros. Amber Heard and Johnny Depp divorced in August after 15 months of marriage, following weeks of highly publicized claims of domestic violence by Heard and counterclaims of financial blackmailing by Depp.Reuters”Many at Warner Bros. wish that Rowling hadn’t come out so strongly behind Depp, because having made her opinion so public boxes them into a corner,” a source said.So, will Johnny Depp be featured in Fantastic Beasts 3 movie? JK Rowling commented on this back in 2017 when she wrote on her website that the stories on Depp have concerned her and everyone who is closely involved with the franchise. That being said, she added that David Yates considered the possibility of recasting in the past.”Within the fictional world and outside it, we all have to do what we believe to be the right thing,” Rowling said in the past. read more

By The Associated PressThe statue of the unnamed Confederate soldier has stood since 1909 in front of the courthouse in Louisiana’s East Feliciana Parish, hands resting on his rifle looking down on the flow of lawyers, jurors and defendants going into the white columned building.Ronnie Anderson, an African-American man charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, illegal possession of a stolen firearm, and speeding, was one such defendant and the statue gave him cause for concern.Ronnie Anderson, an African-American man charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, poses for a photo with his lawyer Niles Haymer, left, in front of a confederate statue on the lawn of the East Feliciana Parish Courthouse, where he is facing the charge, in Clinton, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)“It’s just intimidating to walk into a courthouse that’s supposed to be a place of equality, fair justice and to see this monument that made me feel like … I don’t stand a chance,” Anderson said.Anderson wants his case to be moved to another parish without such a memorial; his motion to change venue argues he can’t get a fair trial in the same place where a “symbol of oppression and racial intolerance” stands.Confederate flags and monuments — long a part of the Southern landscape — have come under renewed scrutiny following the 2015 shooting by Dylann Roof of nine black churchgoers in South Carolina and the 2017 deadly White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.Supporters say the statues are a part of history honoring their ancestors; detractors say they, in effect, honor slavery and in many cases were erected during the Jim Crow era to intimidate Black people and bolster White supremacy.Confederate monuments dot the lawns of many Southern courthouses. In addition to the one in East Feliciana, a database compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center lists 11 more in front of Louisiana courthouses.Ben Cohen, a lawyer with the New Orleans-based Promise of Justice Initiative that advocates for reforming Louisiana’s criminal justice system, says so far it’s rare for defendants to use the legal argument Anderson is making.Cohen represented a defendant appealing a conviction in a Caddo Parish murder case in which a prospective juror objected to the Confederate flag in front of the courthouse.The state Supreme Court ultimately upheld the conviction but Cohen said he anticipates this argument being used more often.“I think people are looking at these monuments in a new light,” he said.Officials in Caddo Parish voted last October to remove theirs. They concluded that citizens would be better served if it was not in front of the courthouse “where justice is to be administered fairly and impartially.” A lawsuit stalled the move, but was recently dismissed by a federal judge.The East Feliciana Parish District Attorney, Sam D’Aquilla says its “ridiculous” to think a statue would affect the fairness of Anderson’s trial and questions why an out-of-town defendant and lawyer are stirring up trouble in the primarily rural parish, located about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Baton Rouge. Anderson is from Plaquemines Parish to the southeast and was driving through when he was pulled over. His lawyer, Niles Haymer is based in Baton Rouge.D’Aquilla said he doesn’t have an opinion on the statue but regardless of whether it’s there the people inside strive for colorblind justice. He also points out the racial diversity of the elected officials across the parish.“All the elected officials that I know of, your judges, your clerk of court, your sheriff, we all strive for racial equality. And we work hard for that,” he said.This is not the first time the East Feliciana Parish statue has come under scrutiny.In 2016, retired physician Paul Jackson Jr. asked the parish to move the statue to a local Confederate cemetery. He says having the statue on the courthouse grounds signals that the Confederacy was for justice: “But it wasn’t. They’re for slavery obviously.”His suggestion was debated during a parish meeting and ultimately rejected. Jackson said he lost two friends over the issue. He said he supports Anderson’s change-of-venue motion.Lataya Johnson, who lives and works in the parish, sympathized with Anderson’s argument and dismissed the idea that most people don’t pay attention to the statue.“You walk by and you think about it. Because if you’re African-American do you look at it and say, ‘My fate is already destined because of this statue … Judgment has already been made because of this statue,’” she said.But parish president Louis Kent said Anderson is “very mistaken” in believing he will not get a fair trial in East Feliciana.“I have been in this parish all my life. We don’t have a race problem. We never have and we’re not going to create one,” he said.Anderson’s lawyer, Niles Haymer, says he’s already heard from other lawyers interested in filing similar motions, and he may be filing the same motion for another client. For him, this case could become a catalyst for change. A hearing on the motion is expected August 7.“I feel like if we flood the criminal justice system with these motions, they’re going to have to deal with this monument issue,” he said. read more

Sister Nivedita University organised an event on the occasion of 122nd birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Indo-Japanese Friendship Day on January 23. At the event, where different Japan delegates were invited, Masayuki Taga, Consul General of Japan and his wife, also marked their presence. Dr Fumitsugu Otsuki, Director of Dept of International Relations – Kake Educational Institution and Dr Shozo Azuma, Vice President of Dept of Risk and Crisis Management System- Chiba Institute of Science were also present to discuss the future collaborative prospects between Techno India Group and Kake Educational Institution. Also Read – Add new books to your shelfDr Ashok Ranjan Thakur, Vice-Chancellor of Sister Nivedita University, Pradyut Kumar Biswas, OSD to Chancellor, Professor Suman Chatterjee, Registrar- Sister Nivedita University, Dr R T Goswami, Director- Techno International New Town, Dr Arindam Roy, Director Academics- Techno India Group, Dr Summauli Pyne, Director – International Relations and Outreach, Techno India Group were a part of the team, to make the event successful. The event concluded with a cultural performance by the students in the honour of the guests to mark the celebration of the 122nd birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. read more

Following radiation, the bone marrow shows nearly complete loss of blood cells in mice (left). Mice treated with the PTP-sigma inhibitor displayed rapid recovery of blood cells (purple, right). Credit: UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center/Nature Communications News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 07, 2019 Qfix kVue One Proton Couch Top Validated by Mevion Medical Systems Qfix and Mevion Medical Systems announced that a special version of the kVue One Proton couch top is now both validated… read more The top piece of content in July was a video interview explaining how Princess Margaret Cancer Center is using machine learning to create automated treatment plans. This was a hot topic at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) 2019 meeting in July.  Related Content News | Radiation Oncology | July 31, 2019 Laura Dawson, M.D., FASTRO, Chosen as ASTRO President-elect The members of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) elected four new officers to ASTRO’s Board of… read more News | Radiation Therapy | August 02, 2019 Varian Showcases Cancer Care Systems and Software at AAPM 2019 Varian showcased systems and software from its cancer care portfolio, including the Identify Guidance System, at the… read more News | Patient Positioning Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 Mevion and C-RAD Release Integration for Improved Proton Therapy Treatment Quality Mevion Medical Systems and C-RAD announced the integration between the C-RAD Catalyst PT and the Mevion S250i proton… read more News | Radiation Therapy | August 15, 2019 First Patient Enrolled in World’s Largest Brain Cancer Clinical Trial Henry Ford Cancer Institute is first-in-the-world to enroll a glioblastoma patient in the GBM AGILE Trial (Adaptive… read more News | Radiation Therapy | August 16, 2019 Drug Accelerates Blood System’s Recovery After Radiation, Chemotherapy A drug developed by UCLA physician-scientists and chemists speeds up the regeneration of mouse and human blood stem… read more Feature | August 05, 2019 | Dave Fornell, Editor Most Popular Radiology and Radiotherapy Topics in July 2019 August 5, 2019 — Here is the list of the most popular content on the Imaging Technology New (ITN) magazine website fr read more News | Brachytherapy Systems | August 14, 2019 Efficacy of Isoray’s Cesium Blu Showcased in Recent Studies August 14, 2019 — Isoray announced a trio of studies recently reported at scientific meetings and published in medica read more Feature | March 07, 2014 First U.S. Patients Receive Esteya Electronic Brachytherapy for Skin Cancer Treatment helps minimize radiation exposure to healthy tissues News | Proton Therapy | August 08, 2019 MD Anderson to Expand Proton Therapy Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center unveiled plans to expand its Proton Therapy Center during a… read more Catalyst PT image courtesy of C-RAD News | Proton Therapy | August 06, 2019 IBA Signs Contract to Install Proton Therapy Center in Kansas IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) recently signed a contract and received the first payment for a Proteus One solution… read more March 7, 2014 — A 67-year-old male patient received his final Esteya electronic brachytherapy session to treat a squamous cell carcinoma on his right hand, Jan. 14. He was the first patient in the United States to receive Esteya treatment, which was delivered at a Los Gatos, California clinic by Rakesh Patel, M.D., medical director, The Targeted Radiation Institute. Since Patel began treatment of the patient in late December, he has added nine additional patients to the Esteya schedule.Esteya electronic brachytherapy is a form of high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy that brings an electronic brachytherapy source in close proximity to the cancerous site. Its direct delivery enables Esteya to focus more therapeutic radiation on the disease target and to minimize radiation to surrounding tissues and organs. The therapy typically is delivered over six to eight treatments twice per week.”The hand is traditionally a very difficult place to treat because of healing issues,” Patel said. “In this first Esteya case, the main concern was to preserve hand functionality. The skin on the hand is very thin and there are nerves and tendons that we want to avoid the risk of damage that surgery potentially incurs. Treatment with this approach also is pain-free, non-invasive and takes just a few minutes per fraction.”Patel, past president of the American Brachytherapy Society, said that in comparison to other HDR brachytherapy systems, Esteya offers a combination of simplicity and refinement.”Esteya has significant advantages over current brachytherapy technology,” he observes. “The quality assurance process is more robust and efficient, requiring only a once-daily, two-minute QA. In other systems, QA must be done not only for every source in every machine, but also for every single patient every time they come in, which decreases clinic efficiency.”Superficial radiotherapy employs a similar energy range as electronic brachytherapy, the source to skin distance in superficial, orthovoltage or electron beam radiotherapy is greater, which translates into higher doses at depth,” he said. “With these technologies – if you’re trying to treat a small, superficial skin lesion, like a skin cancer, particularly in a cosmetically sensitive area such as the face – you will potentially get unnecessary collateral radiation exposure to deeper structures. This is not the case in highly tailored electronic brachytherapy.”Electronic brachytherapy systems present a tremendous opportunity for patients with skin cancer by extending the reach of brachytherapy beyond cancer centers and radiation facilities.”Esteya is not available for sale or distribution in all markets.For more information: www.elekta.com FacebookTwitterLinkedInPrint分享 The MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center expansion is expected to be completed in 2023. Rendering courtesy of Stantec. read more

Related posts:Grab your binoculars: It’s Christmas Bird Count season in Costa Rica! Urban flocks (Part 1): 5 common birds of San José Urban flocks (Part 2): 5 more common birds of San José Urban flocks (Part 1): 5 common birds of San José Heads up! One of the most spectacular wildlife displays on the planet is happening in the skies over Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast right now: fall raptor migration. As the days grow shorter in the Northern Hemisphere, billions of migratory birds around the globe are making the annual southward journey to their wintering grounds. While many accomplish mind-boggling feats of endurance, few put on a show like raptors, which converge by the millions into what’s known as a “river of raptors.” And one of the best places in the world to witness it is the Kèköldi indigenous territory on Costa Rica’s southern Caribbean coast.What’s a raptor?The term “raptor” refers to birds of prey, which share a set of adaptations that allow them to hunt other animals and consume flesh: excellent binocular vision and a semi-transparent “third eyelid” to protect the eye, strong feet with sharp talons, and a sharp, hooked bill for tearing flesh. In the Americas, this group is primarily represented by hawks, eagles, kites, vultures, falcons, owls, and the osprey. And while they’re well built for high-speed attacks, for most raptors a long-distance journey of continuous flapping flight would simply be too energy-consuming. Their solution? Soar. The Osprey, whose Costa Rican name translates to “fish eagle,” is uniquely adapted to subsist almost entirely on fish. It can hover over water, tracking its prey before plunging feetfirst into the water and then flying off with the fish in its talons. The Osprey is the lone member of its family. (Courtesy of Johnny Rodríguez/Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)Riding thermalsTo conserve energy when migrating, raptors rely on pockets of rising air in the form of updrafts and thermals to help them gain altitude without flapping. An updraft occurs where a steady wind meets an obstacle, such as a mountain, and is forced upward. A thermal is a column of rising warm air that occurs when the ground warms unevenly in the sun; for example, the air over a field will warm faster than the air over a forest, creating a zone of rising air that a broad-winged bird can simply ride upward. Raptors take advantage of updrafts and thermals to gain altitude without flapping. (Courtesy of Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)When raptors enter a thermal, they soar in tight circles, spiraling upward. As the air rises and cools, it provides less lift, and when the birds reach a certain height they peel off and glide in the direction of travel, slowly losing altitude until they (ideally) reach the bottom of another thermal, where the process begins again. Raptors are generally solitary, but ornithologists believe that travelling in large groups makes it easier to locate thermals. Hundreds of raptors soar in small circles on a thermal to gain altitude. Such a group is commonly referred to as a “kettle,” so-named for its resemblance to something boiling in a cauldron.  (Courtesy of Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)Raptors tend to migrate over level terrain, avoiding obstacles like tall mountains and large bodies of water (since thermals don’t form over water). This strategy channels them into “flyways,” where they may be able to take advantage of updrafts along the edge of a mountain range or thermals along a coastline, for example. (Courtesy of Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)Migratory bottlenecks: Mexico and Central AmericaWhere geographic features funnel migrating raptors into a bottleneck, it’s common for thousands of birds to pass by a given vantage point in a single day. Five sites (so far) in the world have been identified as “million-raptor watch sites,” places where a million or more raptors can be observed in a single migration season. In the Eastern Hemisphere, there’s Eilat, Israel and Batumi, Georgia, which see dozens of raptor species flowing from both Europe and Asia southward into eastern Africa. But for sheer numbers, the trans-American migration takes the cake.Raptors migrating from North America to Central or South America flow into Mexico across a broad front, but the mountainous terrain eventually channels them all toward the Gulf Coast. Near the port city of Veracruz, the mountains come so close to the coast that the raptors are squeezed through a passageway only a quarter of a mile (0.4 km) wide. This spot has the highest concentration of migrating raptors in the world, with fall migration counts topping 5 million. Although raptors fly along both coasts of Costa Rica during their northward spring migration, they are funneled only along the Caribbean coast as they fly south in the fall. (Courtesy of Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)After the birds pass Veracruz, they disperse and take different routes through southern Mexico and into Central America, some “dropping out” as they find a place to stay for the winter. When they reach Costa Rica, the country’s mountain ranges funnel them once again toward the Caribbean, where eventually the broad Talamanca Mountains press so close to the coast that the birds are forced through a narrow chute just a few miles wide. The perfect vantage point for this is the Kèköldi indigenous territory, where fall raptor counts average 2.5 million per year.The scenario repeats when the birds turn south and fly along the Panama Canal to reach the Pacific coast, crossing over Panama City, where raptor counts are held at Cerro Ancón. Fall counts reach 3 million, and just last week Audubon Panama tweeted a count of over 1.1 million raptors in a single day.Kèköldi Scientific CenterI was lucky enough to see the migrants in action at Kèköldi in October as part of a weekend-long raptor identification and conservation course offered by the Costa Rica Raptor Foundation (Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica, FRCR) in conjunction with the Kèköldi Wak Ka Koneke Indigenous Association.According to Sebastián Hernández Balma, president of the association, the Kèköldi indigenous territory is home to more than 300 members of the Bribrí and Cabécar indigenous groups. The Kèköldi Scientific Center, of which Hernández is director, lies in the heart of the territory and boasts a spacious, open-air lodge, an observation tower and access to several trails. The Kèköldi Indigenous Territory, shown in brown, occupies an inland strip of land the runs roughly the distance between the towns of Cahuita and Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. (Courtesy of Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)The center operates primarily as a research station, receiving researchers from around the world and a variety of fields. Since I set out for Kèköldi with nothing but soaring raptors on the brain, I was blindsided by the beauty of the place and the wildlife living, well, on the ground. (Like the 6-foot bushmaster coiled in the middle of the trail on our night hike.) Just getting to the Kèköldi Scientific Center is an invigorating and muddy affair. Birders follow a trail off the road between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo for a slippery, 30-minute climb through the cacao trees and rain forest toward the lodge on October 10, 2015. Robin Kazmier/The Tico TimesA total of 17 species of migrant raptors pass over Kèköldi each migration season, and FRCR Director Pablo Camacho led our group through a raptor identification course, focusing on the most common species for October: turkey vultures, Swainson’s hawks, broad-winged hawks, Mississippi kites, peregrine falcons, ospreys and a few others. Since it’s often impossible to see the markings on birds viewed against a bright sky, identifying them comes down to knowing small details of their silhouettes, along with size and flight behavior. The observation tower at the Kèköldi Scientific Center offers sweeping views in almost every direction. (Courtesy of Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)Fortunately, it didn’t rain the morning we scaled the observation tower and as the sun warmed the ground, swirls of raptors appeared on all sides, slowly rising on thermals. They were small at first – each churning ball of birds would ascend as a unit until one or two at the top would straighten their path and glide out of the group, headed southeast toward Panama. As others followed suit, the ball would dissolve into a straight line of specks and fade from view. Observers watch a line of migrating raptors pass by from atop the tower at the Kèköldi Scientific Center on October 10, 2015. Robin Kazmier/The Tico TimesAs the morning warmed up, larger groups appeared. One group flowed into the bottom of a thermal for so long that the thermal looked like a tornado of raptors – birds flowing into the bottom, swirling hundreds of feet up, exiting the thermal, and cruising in an organized line to the bottom of another one, while hundreds of birds continued to enter the first one. The swallow-tailed kite is perhaps the easiest bird to identify amid hundreds of soaring, silhouetted raptors thanks to its unique tail shape. (Courtesy of Pablo Camacho/Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)Gazing at an endless stream of birds sliding across the sky is pretty hypnotic – until a peregrine falcon streaks overhead like a missile, and terrified parrots burst out of the trees squawking and screaming and flying for their lives. And with good reason. The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on earth, and a fierce hunter that takes other birds easily. They’ll soar now and then, but they are usually flapping like mad, in this setting a lone speck advancing at breakneck speed through the clouds of gliding birds. According to Camacho, Kèköldi has the distinction of seeing the highest concentration of migrating peregrines in the world. The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on earth, reaching speeds of up to 240 mph (386 kph) when diving. The individual pictured here is a juvenile. (Via Anita Ritenour/Flickr)The FRCR ran raptor counts at Kèköldi for several years but, unfortunately, had to stop after 2010 due to lack of funds. In the years that the count was conducted, the highest numbers recorded were 3 million birds in a single season (fall 2010) and 450,000 birds in a single day. Swainson’s hawks pass by Kèköldi almost exclusively during the month of October. Just shy of 450,000 individuals were counted at Kèköldi during the fall 2004 migration. (Courtesy of Pablo Muñoz/Fundación Rapaces de Costa Rica)It may already be November, but migration season isn’t over. Anyone who can get to the Caribbean coast in the next month should be able to spot migrating ospreys and turkey vultures spinning on thermals, and maybe even a few peregrine falcons. But good luck getting a photo.Robin Kazmier is general manager of The Tico Times Publications Group, editor of various field guides and natural history books, and author of National Parks of Costa Rica (with photographer Greg Basco). She lives in San José. “Into the Wild” is published monthly. Facebook Comments read more

Related posts:Will we finally be able to dislike something on Facebook? Grooveshark co-founder dead at 28 Comcast’s NBCUniversal invests $200 million in BuzzFeed Now you can watch Periscope streams directly in your Twitter feed SAN FRANCISCO, California – Facebook on Wednesday reported that its quarterly profit more than doubled as its ranks of users swelled during the past year.“Our community continued to grow and our business is thriving,” said Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in releasing quarterly results for the world’s biggest social network, which now has a user base of nearly 1.6 billion.Facebook reported a profit of $1.56 billion in the final three months of 2015 as compared with making $701 million in the same period a year earlier.Meanwhile, revenue in the quarter that ended on Dec. 31 rose to $5.84 billion from $3.85 billion the prior year.The results showed Facebook’s growing power in online advertising, especially on mobile devices. Mobile accounted for some 80 percent of the network’s ad revenue in the quarter.Net profit for the full year climbed to $3.7 billion from $2.9 billion in 2014, while revenue jumped to $17.9 billion from $12.5 billion.“2015 was a great year for Facebook,” Zuckerberg said. “We continue to invest in better serving our community, building our business, and connecting the world.”An average of 1.04 billion people used Facebook daily in December in a 17 percent rise from the same month the prior year. The number of monthly active users in December was 1.59 billion in a 14 percent climb from a year earlier, according to the social network. Facebook Comments read more