Workers inspect a section of the Summer Bay Resort after a large sinkhole opened on the property's grounds, in Clermont, Fla., on Monday.
By Ian Johnston, Elisha Fieldstadt, Kerry Sanders, NBC News
A 40-foot-wide sinkhole caused a three-story building at a Florida resort near Disney World to collapse early Monday.
Firefighters arrived at the Summer Bay Resort, near Clermont, Sunday at about 11:30 p.m. ET after people reported the building had started to shake, Lake County Fire Rescue's Battalion Chief Special Operations Tony Cuellar said.
Florida sinkhole causes a three-story building near Disney World to collapse.
Cuellar said the sinkhole was beneath a central elevator shaft connected by breezeways to two apartment blocks.
?The building on the west side ? a portion of that structure just collapsed. It?s literally breaking in half,? he said at about 3:20 a.m. ET.
The elevator building was leaning over at ?about 30 or 40 degrees,? Cuellar said.
Thirty six guests were evacuated from the building and an adjacent structure, Cuellar said. Everyone was accounted for and no injuries were reported, according to NBC Orlando affiliate WESH.
Resort security guard Richard Shanley is credited with making sure the guests of both buildings escaped safely after someone alerted him that the building was making ?glass breaking? and ?popping? noises.
Shanley told WESH that he was unaware that the building would crumble within the hour, but he knocked on every door in two buildings and led guests down side stairwells and outside before emergency crews were even inside.
?I went from floor to floor, building to building, room to room, knocked on doors and got people out,? Shanley told WESH on Monday.
A security guard is being praised for evacuating families and leading them to safety as a massive sinkhole began to swallow a Florida vacation villa. WESH's Marina Marraco reports.
?If I hadn't have been there and it had been later in the night, we don't know what would have happened. Somebody could be trapped in the building.?
Still, he does not consider himself a hero.
?I'm just an average run-of-the-mill person ? I just happened to be at the right place at the right time to get everyone out of the building and keep them safe,? he said.
Resort guest Maggie Tamry told WESH she sensed trouble before the collapse.
"I was walking into the room and I heard 'bang, bang, bang' and glass breaking," Tamry said. "And I ran back to the car and I told my family, we have three toddlers with us, 'Jump in the car, I have a bad feeling.' I thought someone was getting into an altercation."
Manoj Chopra, a professor of engineering at the University of Central Florida told NBC News that sinkholes are common in Central Florida and some happen without any indication of imminent danger.
?They are very lucky in this case, that they had significant warning from the structure itself and they were able to get out,? Chopra said.
Cuellar said the hole was about 10 feet deep and 40 feet in diameter.
?It?s not expanding outward so we?re just watching it to see if it?s sinking downward,? he said.
Rescue teams evacuated guests from a resort in Clermont, Fla., before the building sunk into the ground. Geologists aren't able to predict when a sinkhole will occur, but they do know what causes them to appear. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
The resort ? about 10 miles west of the Disney attraction ? had made 50 other rooms available to the evacuees, Cuellar added.
WESH reported that the resort will allow guests back into the standing building once the surrounding ground is assessed. However, Summer Bay officials determined the building that was swallowed is a total loss.
I wouldn't send anybody to the next structure over, or anybody to the whole area for a while,? because ?an open sinkhole may open other sinkholes,? Chopra said.
Sheila Nowak, a guest who was vacationing at Summer Bay with her family told NBC News she was worried about the safety of the ground below their unaffected building but joked, ?I told the kids it?s something to write home about.?
Adrienne Logan came to the vacation spot for her honeymoon and said resort employees did not inform her of the incident.
It?s a ?beautiful resort,? she said but, ?we won?t be coming back to here.?
Summer Bay Resort president, Paul Caldwell said about 4,500 guests are currently staying at Summer Bay, which has 40,000 timeshare holders.
Luis Echeverria / AP
A look at some of the most amazing sinkholes around the world.
Related:
This story was originally published on Mon Aug 12, 2013 7:51 PM EDT
Source: sportstwo.com --- Saturday, August 10, 2013 Since Denny took over the Lillard thread, I figured a new thread that can talk about the metric of NBA players comping out early, to those that stay in College. https://www.amherst.edu/media/view/3...EntrytoNBA.pdf This study explains that the school experience is better for players that don't have "superstar talent"; but it also explains that the "mental maturity" is learned through college; with these young kids able to learn respect, humility and team philosophy. Here is a quote from this study.... Quote: The general pattern in the data would suggest that less- skilled players perform at a lower level when they enter the NBA earlier and are therefore helped by the 2006 age minimum. For these players, playing college basketball seems to be correlated with an improved level of performance that would lead to a higher earning potential, but this cannot be proven at a statistically significant level. For more-skilled players, the trends in the data seem to suggest that entering the NBA at an earlier age might have a neutral if not positive effect. Although the results show primarily negative coefficients for performance after entrance from high school, the primarily positive coefficients for the ?Top 5? interaction term have the opposite effect. Combining these two coefficients tells us that top five recruits who enter the NBA immediately after high school fair about the same as those who attend college and in some cases outperform ...
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he hopes Republicans who oppose the president do so "based on substance and not the fact that he's an African-American."
The comment came during a wide-ranging interview Friday with Las Vegas-based National Public Radio affiliate KNPR (http://bit.ly/16AheWv), in which Reid lamented Republican filibusters and claimed opponents do everything they can to make Obama fail.
He recalled that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said during Obama's first term that his most important goal was ensuring Obama wasn't re-elected. McConnell was speaking about financial issues and said he wanted Obama to change, not to fail.
McConnell's office referred a request for comment to Sen. Tim Scott, a black Republican from South Carolina, who said Reid's remarks were offensive and asked for an apology.
Reid also criticized members of the tea party, comparing them to anarchists who helped spark World War I. He said that while modern anarchists don't resort to violence, they do not believe in government and rejoice in its troubles.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]In a world full of hungry predators, prey animals must be constantly vigilant to avoid getting eaten. But plants face a particular challenge when it comes to defending themselves.
Today many.. Autoinsurancequotesforfree.Com contains further concerning the reason for it.
Auto insurance can be an insurance policy bought by the vehicle owner to safe guard his/her car against robbery, accident and any loss sustained. You can purchase auto insurance for just about any of the auto mobile including car, truck or bus. Automobile insurance not just covers insured party and insured vehicle, however many moments it covers third parties also. Different automobile insurance policies have norms, different conditions and circumstances under which, these items are covered.
Today vast quantities of auto insurance policies can be found in the marketplace and it?s really very difficult task to buy the best auto insurance for the shield of your car.
Here are a few tips, which can be used to locate the most useful automobile insurance on your black boomer.
1. To locate best auto insurance, you?re required to produce a search by yourself. To begin with visit local auto insurance companies. Examine auto insurance prices provided by them. Nearly all of automobile insurance providers have their sites, you can get there and obtain car insurance prices online, if you own a car. If you are concerned with marketing, you will perhaps wish to learn about definition of free. Examine their prices and find most useful automobile insurance for the vehicle. Remember that bargaining may be the key to purchase inexpensive car insurance.
2. After comparing auto insurance rates apply for the best one for you and your car or truck. While implementing given them details up to you can such as your name, handle, zip code, your marital status, cars annual commuting miles and safety features since as standard they can offer you high estimates without any particular benefits. Ergo, to purchase a cheap and best car insurance always provide full details about you and your car or truck. If you are interested in reading, you will perhaps wish to read about read free lols.
3. Sometimes insurance firms provide specific offers. If you think anything at all, you will certainly want to explore about pay for car insurance quotes. Thus always try to find offers, because they may take your quality from $200 to $400.
4. Before signing your application form read each and every point of fine print, because they can protect your right.
With maintaining these simple methods in your mind you can find best car insurance policy.
Bmi Regional is to cancel its East Midlands-Frankfurt flights from next month.
The independent airline currently operates on the route six times per week but the service will end from September 2. The carrier uses an Embraer ERJ135 aircraft with 37 seats on the route.
Bmi Regional CEO Cathal O?Connell said: ?After careful review of our route network, including performance of individual routes we have taken the decision to withdraw services between East Midlands and Frankfurt, effective as of September 2, 2013.
?We remain committed to the German market and will continue to operate direct flights from Bristol to Hamburg, Hannover, Frankfurt and Munich, as well as the Toulouse to Bremen service.?
The last flights on the East Midlands-Frankfurt route will operate on September 1. All passengers with reservations after this date will be contacted and offered ?alternative routing?.
Bmi Regional also operates flights to Brussels from East Midlands.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Recent developments in health and science news. Also this week: cheetahs? body temperatures while hunting and the effect of pesticides on honeybees.
By CHRISTINE CHISHA and KAPALA CHISUNKA MINISTER of Defence Geoffrey Mwamba has urged Zambians to venture into agriculture as it is a sustainable way of making a living. And Vice-President?s wife Charlotte Scott, has described this year?s 87th edition of the Agriculture and Commercial Show as an eye-opener for farmers to diversify crops and adapt to climate change. Mr Mwamba, who pledged Government?s support towards the sector, said agriculture is the mainstay of the Zambian economy. ?Why should we allow foreigners to take over the agriculture sector when we are able to work more than them? In fact, I have been informed by the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock that there are various support programmes for farmers,? he said. Mr Mwamba was speaking in Lusaka after touring stands at the Agriculture and Commercial Show yesterday. The 87th edition of the Agriculture and Commercial Show is running under the theme ?Business in a changing environment?. The minister said it is time Zambia became a nation of producers to feed the entire nation and export excess produce. Mr Mwamba, who described the exhibitions at the show as impressive, said he has been encouraged to venture into agriculture in Kasama. Mr Mwamba expressed optimism that this year?s show will be a success and toured nine local stands. The minister arrived at the showgrounds around 09:40 and was met by Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Bob Sichinga and other senior Government officials. Mr Sichinga said his ministry targets to produce 150,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser for the 2013/2014 farming season. He said 70,000 tonnes of fertiliser will go towards the Fertiliser Input Support Programme (FISP) and the rest will go to the open market. And Dr Scott said apart from farmers adapting to climate change and conservation farming, this year?s theme will help business people to diversify in their marketing strategy. She said she was impressed that both farmers and business people have come up with new ways of doing business. She pinpointed companies like Zesco, who are working tirelessly to meet the demand for electricity countryside, mitigate load shedding and build more hydro-power stations. Dr Scott was also impressed with young farmers from rural areas who she said have more information and knowledge on climate change. She commended NIPA for coming up with degree programmes and building a modern library. She arrived at the Show Grounds around 09:10 hours and toured eight stands in the company of show society past president Elizabeth Nkumbula.
559?total views, 497?views today
This entry was posted on August 4, 2013 at 12:01 am and is filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Llevamos algo m?s de un a?o con ?Diablo III? tanto en Mac como en PC, pero todav?a tenemos que esperar un poquito m?s para verlo en consolas, tal y como pas? con el primer ?Diablo? en PSone. En esta ocasi?n las agraciadas ser?n PS3 y Xbox 360, el pr?ximo 3 de septiembre en Espa?a.
M?s adelante har? lo propio en PS4, pero por lo pronto llegar? a esas dos consolas dentro de un mes. Una de las principales caracter?sticas de esta versi?n para consolas ser? la posibilidad de jugar con tres colegas en modo local, por si preferimos este m?todo cl?sico en vez del juego online, y es precisamente lo que vamos a ver ahora al detalle gracias a la gente de Penny Arcade.
Dos horas de juego a cuatro bandas, ni m?s ni menos. Toda una locura que nos servir? para comprobar qu? cambios ha experimentado el juego multijugador de ?Diablo III? trasladado al modo local. Como tener que pausar el juego cuando un usuario abre el inventario, entre otras cosas.
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, Thursday, Aug. 1 2013. Tsvagirai said the election is "null and void" due to alleged violations in the voting process, but president Robert Mugabe has denied vote rigging. (AP Photo)
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, Thursday, Aug. 1 2013. Tsvagirai said the election is "null and void" due to alleged violations in the voting process, but president Robert Mugabe has denied vote rigging. (AP Photo)
Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, Thursday, Aug. 1 2013. Tsvagirai said the election is "null and void" due to alleged violations in the voting process, but president Robert Mugabe has denied vote rigging. (AP Photo)
Voters look at posted results outside a polling station in Harare Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013 President Robert Mugabe's ZANU PF party said Thursday, that it has withdrawn an unauthorized message on its Twitter feed claiming a resounding victory in the country's national elections. (AP Photo)
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) ? Zimbabwe's electoral panel on Saturday declared that longtime President Robert Mugabe had won re-election by a landslide, a result that could exacerbate tensions in the country, where the 89-year-old's chief rival and former coalition partner has accused him of poll-rigging.
Mugabe seemed set to strengthen his hold over Zimbabwe after the state Election Commission said his party won 158 of the 210 parliament seats. That gives it a two-thirds majority in the legislature ? enabling it to amend a recently approved constitution that provides for democratic reforms.
Challenger Morgan Tsvangirai's party, which had gambled that a high turnout in its favor would overcome any alleged fraud in the vote, captured 50 seats and two went to independent candidates.
According to the results, Mugabe won 61 percent of the vote, compared to 33 percent for Tsvangirai, who had been prime minister in a tense power-sharing deal with the president. Officially, Mugabe, who has been in power for 33 years, gets another five-year term in office.
Tsvangirai rejected the results as fraudulent and called for fresh elections. He urged a peaceful response to the alleged massive rigging by Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, which has the muscle of the security forces to deter any groundswell of street protests.
In contrast to an election marked by deadly attacks in 2008, the vote on Wednesday was mostly peaceful and African poll monitors, while expressing some concern about reported irregularities, seemed mostly relieved that it was not violent.
Britain and the United States were more forceful in their criticism of the voting process, though Mugabe has based his career in part on sparring with Western powers and there is little chance their disapproval will sway him.
That leaves the Zimbabwean opposition with few options for countering Mugabe, who presides over a country that still has economic problems but enjoys some measure of stability compared to a period of soaring inflation years ago.
Tsvangirai said his Movement for Democratic Change party has in its possession evidence of massive rigging by Mugabe's party in the just-ended polls and will challenge results from Wednesday's voting in court.
"People of Zimbabwe must be given another chance to participate in a free, fair and credible election. They have been shortchanged by a predetermined election," he said. He added that his party will not "participate in any government institutions" in protest but stopped short of saying it will boycott its reduced seats in the Harare parliament.
Mugabe's loyalist army and police have set up security posts in Harare on Saturday, apparently in case there are any protest demonstrations.
"We are rejecting the results because they are fraudulent," Tsvangirai said. "We will go back to our people. Our people are the ones hurting. Our people are disciplined. We don't want a violent resolution to this crisis."
He said a complete audit is needed of the shambolic lists of registered voters, which were made available to the parties only at the time of the election.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that the election process was "deeply flawed" because of irregularities in the voters' roll, unequal access of the parties to state media, a lack of political reforms as mandated by the constitution, and other problems. He cited "the balance of evidence," although the United States was barred from monitoring the vote.
"The people of Zimbabwe should be commended for rejecting violence and showing their commitment to the democratic process," Kerry said. "But make no mistake: in light of substantial electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers, the United States does not believe that the results announced today represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed "deep concern" over the election, saying the failure to share the voters' roll with political parties was a "critical flaw." Hague said that and other irregularities "call into serious question the credibility of the election."
"We note that some political parties have rejected the result on the basis of these irregularities," he said, without saying whether Britain endorsed their move. "We will need to examine what has happened and consider further reports from regional and local observer missions. In the meantime, it is important that all allegations of electoral violations are thoroughly investigated."
Tsvangirai's party lost several seats in its Harare urban strongholds by massive margins compared to their overwhelming victories in 2008.
In one Harare constituency, Tsvangirai's party won with 9,538 votes to 8,190 captured by Mugabe's party. In 2008, the same district voted for the MDC candidate, Tendai Biti, by about 8,300 ballots against Mugabe's 2,500 votes.
Independent monitors have charged that as many as 750,000 voters were prevented from casting their ballots on Wednesday because of irregularities in voters' lists. They also allege that thousands of unregistered voters were allowed to vote.
The continent-wide African Union and regional monitors of the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, have generally endorsed the elections as peaceful. But they have expressed misgivings over how voting numbers might have been manipulated and have demanded a full account of voter numbers from the official state election body before passing their final judgment on whether the polls were free, fair and credible.
___
AP Writer Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's newly designated central bank chief dropped his candidacy for the post Friday, following a similar withdrawal of the previous candidate.
In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said economist Professor Leonardo Leiderman informed the prime minister he was abandoning the prestigious job. No reason was given, but the announcement came a day after an Israeli television channel reported that Leiderman consulted with an astrologist regularly.
The Argentinian-born Leiderman has been a faculty member at Tel Aviv University for the past 20 years and is also a macroeconomic adviser to Israeli Bank Hapoalim. He has a doctorate in macroeconomics from the University of Chicago and has written seven books.
Netanyahu's previous choice for central bank chief had similarly impressive credentials for the job of Israel's governor of monetary policy. Jacob Frenkel withdrew his nomination over an old shoplifting case, though he was never charged or detained over the incident at a Hong Kong airport seven years ago.
Leiderman's withdrawal marks another blow to Netanyahu and his finance minister Yair Lapid as they seek to fill the void left by the internationally respected economist Stanley Fischer. Fischer stepped down in June after eight years on the job.
HERNDON, Va. (AP) ? USA Today reports that its longtime music critic, Steve Jones, who impressed people with his mental warehouse of music history and his unflappable cool, has died. He was 57.
Jones, whose career spanned nearly 28 years at the paper, died at his Herndon, Va., home Friday morning after a long illness.
The newspaper says he introduced readers to a variety of artists and trends, shedding light on the cultural and artistic significance.
Executive editor Susan Weiss says: "Steve had it all ? talent, integrity, intelligence and a huge heart."
Jones joined the paper in 1985. He interviewed legends such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and James Brown, as well as contemporary superstars like Jay Z, Kanye West and Alicia Keys.
Jones graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1978 with a journalism degree.
The problem with repealing Obamacare is that every bill passed by the Republican-led House dies on the vine in the Senate.
Recent sobering revelations about the Affordable Care Act?s implementation make it crystal clear that this law is deeply flawed and will wreak havoc on citizens and the federal budget. But Senate Democrats under Majority Leader Harry Reid make sure that no legislation from the House, up to and including full repeal, goes any further than the doors of the Senate.
When Barack Obama illegally delayed Big Business requirements under Obamacare for a year by fiat ? contravening the very legislation he rammed through Congress ? the House passed the measure. The President then vowed to veto the constitutionally correct approach to such a change in standing legislation but he needn?t have bothered ? Harry Reid buried the bill.
Now, House and Senate figures as well as many conservative organizations ? including mine ? are asking John Boehner to defund Obamacare in a ?must pass? bill like a continuing resolution or debt ceiling extension. These cannot be ignored by Harry Reid or Barack Obama and are a direct consequence of the Senate ignoring widespread public concerns as well as House legislation.
John Boehner and the House leadership will be vilified by some groups if they refuse this demand but they may be blamed by the general public if such an impasse with the White House and Senate leads to a shutdown of the government. It seems to be a no-win political moment, approaching the desk of Speaker Boehner.
And yet many serious problems with the design and implementation of Obamacare have become even more obvious in recent months but have gone largely unreported by the mainstream media. As the public comes to understand just how deeply flawed is this legislation and how profoundly it may affect their own lives, defunding could begin to look like a very responsible action by the House.
Take, for example, recent warnings by a former Social Security Commissioner about the startling absence of privacy protections in the portals the public will use to enroll under the new healthcare system. He warns that HHS has ignored predictions from experts that the lack of adequate privacy measures will lead to massive identity theft. Who would risk signing up if they knew it would open them to identity theft?
Shortly after the President declared the one-year delay of the Employer Mandate the Administration tried to quietly leak that the income verification that entitles citizens to hundreds of billions of dollars in premium subsidies was not ready and would be skipped for a year. It is an open invitation to massive fraud. Is this something that average people support?
Does the general public know about these troubling facts? Generally no. For whatever reasons, the consequences of these administrative actions by fiat have gone unreported although they have an immediate and important bearing on public attitudes toward this law.
More widely reported were recent remarks by labor leaders who now see that Obamacare will likely spell the end of their own union healthcare plans. Since those are one of the primary reasons that workers join unions ? and after unions spent millions to elect pro-Obamacare Democrats ? this has come as a rude awakening, to say the least.
They have also warned that Obamacare may spell the end of the 40-hour work week in America as employers increasingly shift to part-timers to avoid Obamacare costs and penalties. The decision by the Administration to avoid this sobering unintended consequence by delaying the employer mandate only pushes back the reality of the effects of this law on our economy.
The Detroit skyline is seen from Grand River on Thursday, July 18, 2013.
Detroit aims to file a restructuring plan by the end of 2013, earlier than a date previously proposed by the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the case, an attorney for the city said during Friday's hearing.
Detroit's proposed filing date would be much sooner than the March 1, 2014 date proposed by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes earlier this week.
"Our view is that time is our enemy," said David Heiman, an attorney with Jones Day, the law firm representing the city. "The facts are not going to change, no matter how long we wait . So we aim to file a plan by the end of the year."
Heiman also told the judge that Detroit is continuing talks with its creditors, but "significant difficulties" make a deal hard to reach.
He added that Detroit held talks with the city's unsecured creditors last week and has scheduled more for Friday and next week.
On Tuesday, Judge Rhodes proposed Oct. 23 for the start of a trial on potential objections to Detroit's eligibility to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
If the court does determine the city qualifies for bankruptcy, Detroit would have until March 1, 2014 to file a reorganization plan, according to Judge Rhodes' schedule.
That timeline is more ambitious in some areas than the one proposed by Detroit's Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr after he filed the city's bankruptcy petition on July 18.
During Friday's hearing, Rhodes was expected to lay out a roadmap for the biggest Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. Detroit must prove it is insolvent and has negotiated in good faith with creditors owed more than $18 billion before Rhodes would allow the city to file a reorganization plan that the judge must then approve.
Friday's court session is a key step in Orr's effort to see the city emerge from the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy filing in history by September 2014.
In a court filing on Thursday, Detroit released a list of creditors including current, former and retired workers, that filled 3,504 pages. Prominent among them are bondholders and pension funds.
A group of about 20 protesters outside the federal courthouse on Friday held signs and chanted, "hands off our pensions" and "make the banks pay."
Detroit workers, retirees and pension funds have already tried to derail the bankruptcy petition in state court on Michigan constitutional grounds. But Rhodes last week suspended their lawsuits, putting his court in full control of the case.
(Read more: If Detroit cuts pensions, will your city be next?)
But even if Rhodes' schedule is adopted, the deadlines may not be set in stone, according to Jim Spiotto, a municipal bankruptcy expert at law firm Chapman and Cutler in Chicago.
(Read more: How your city might pay for Detroit's money mess)
"If people don't agree and become contentious it takes longer," he said.
The schedules put forward by Orr and Rhodes would have Detroit moving through bankruptcy court more quickly than Stockton, California, which took nearly a year to pass through the eligibility phase alone. Detroit's debt load dwarfs that of Stockton, which listed liabilities of around $1 billion when it filed in June 2012.
On Friday, Rhodes was expected to address the court's "limited role" in a Chapter 9 bankruptcy. Unlike corporate bankruptcies under Chapter 11, a judge overseeing a municipal bankruptcy case cannot order the liquidation of assets. Nor can a judge order fee or tax hikes to satisfy debts.
(Read more: Detroit hurtles toward first bankruptcy hearing Wednesday)
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner speaks at a press conference about allegations he sexually harassed women. (AP)
BY: Washington Free Beacon Staff
A ninth woman has accused San Diego Mayor Bob Filner of sexual harassment, Fox 5 San Diego reports:
Emily Gilbert told Fox5 that she met the mayor at a fundraiser just days after Filner took office in December. Gilbert, who is a dead ring for Marilyn Monroe, was hired to sing at a fundraising event.
?He grabbed me a little too tight, then proceeded to slide his hand down my arm and then did a little grab on my derriere,? Gilbert said. ?I didn?t want to make a scene there were kids around.?
She tried to laugh it off, but was embarrassed by the crude behavior.
Filner said last week he would undergo two weeks of therapy and would not resign his position as mayor, despite the allegations against him. Filner?s inappropriate conduct toward women reportedly traces back to his days in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Japanese gamers will be able to download Sega?s Nintendo 3DS Shinobi II re-release a week from today. Sega?s Japanese website has been updated with an August 7th release date for 3D Super Shinobi II. It will cost 600 yen, which is about the Japanese equivalent of $6. The game contains enhanced 3D visuals compared the original Shinobi II, which released a full 20 years ago and is known outside of Japan as Shinobi III. A handful of screenshots showing the game in action have been released, and you can check them out below.
None of Sega?s 3D releases have made it out of Japan. Think 3D Super Shinobi II will change that?
I hesitate to call Joshua Oppenheimer?s documentary The Act of Killing a great film. It is undoubtedly an achievement of incredible stature: a breathtaking, unforgettable piece of filmmaking. In a number of ways, it is unlike any other movie that has ever been made, blending fiction and non-fiction, reality and fantasy, in eerie and revealing fashion. It is a film that already feels part of the essential cinematic canon. And some of its scenes will burn into your memory, images so odd and mysterious, so rich in unspeakable horror, so surreal, strange, or absurd that you will have a difficult time shaking them loose from your consciousness. It has been a few days since I?ve seen it, and those images haven?t stopped haunting me.
And yet, given the horrific insight into the nature of humanity The Act of Killing conjures, it doesn?t feel right to call it ?great.? Everything in the film, in fact, is terrible. The movie concerns the mass killings in Indonesia that took place in the mid-1960s. Paramilitary groups, operating with the implicit blessing of the government, abducted and murdered millions, accusing them of being communists. Villages were sacked and burned to the ground; men marauded homes, raping and killing entire families on a whim. An open-air balcony visited in the film was the setting of so much carnage that the executioners had to improvise more efficient tools of murder to cut down on the over-saturation of blood.
The Act of Killing provides only a cursory historical context for the killings. Instead, it introduces us to the murderers, who are not only still living freely in their home country, but are revered as folk heroes. Here is where The Act of Killing takes a strange, inspired turn. Rather than making a straight non-fiction film about the murders, Oppenheimer instead invites the murderers to retell their own story. The gangsters stage vicious scenes under the auspices of making a fiction film about their own history, often employing the genres of the American films that inspired their dirty work to re-create the horrifying settings of mass murder.
Oppenheimer?s approach to his material creates a complex, multifaceted film. It is not enough to say it blends fact and fiction; rather, fiction becomes an active agent in the film, working on the authors and gradually exposing some of them to greater empathy for their victims. This is little payoff. What dominates The Act of Killing is a sense that the gangsters took cruel, perverse pleasure in their crimes. But to what extent is this sense affected by the relationship between the camera and the subject? How is reality warped by the activity of filming? The idea of non-fiction filmmaking itself becomes one of the film?s many subplots.
As they did in the 1960s, the gangsters force innocent Indonesians into the service of their vicious game. Some of the most unforgettable moments in The Act of Killing come when villagers reenact a mass killing. When the director/gangster yells ?cut? after the feigned attack, the children in the scene keep crying. For them, it is difficult to discern the boundary between the fear and suffering unleashed by fact or fiction. These scenes are jarring, but just as frightening are more surreal visions, in which the gangsters orchestrate strange utopian scenes, rich and colorfully pastoral moments featuring waterfalls and beautiful, young dancing girls, immortalizing themselves as saint-butchers.
The Act of Killing raises many important questions about the nature of murder, about the human beings who commit it, the society that allows it, the politics that justify it, and the art that obscures, objectifies, desensitizes, or exposes it. But the film?s most searing inquiry and implication is bound up in the same philosophical material explored by Fyodor Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment. What is it to kill, and is the wrongness of killing merely an expression of a socially constructed morality ? or is there an absoluteness to the immorality of murder?
It?s a question that can?t fully be answered in the film. In some instances, the condoning and corrupt Indonesian government and the lies some of the murderers tell themselves suggest that history?s victors can forge their own morality. But the final and most powerful moments conjure something else. These moments are so raw and simple, yet profound and soul shaking. They suggest something about human nature that can?t be photographed or explained, but, through Oppenheimer?s art, is forced violently to the surface.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI ? To MLive readers, Barry County officials who recently approved plans to eradicate its mute swan population are targeting the wrong fowl.
Instead, another bird considered by many to be as much, if not more, of a nuisance as the swans should be killed off: the widespread Canada goose.
"The Canada geese are more of a problem," reader Paul Schramm commented on The Grand Rapids Press's Facebook page. "Parasites and filthy."
Others seemed to agree, saying the large birds congregate and leave parks and private property covered in feces.
"Canada geese seem to be the bigger problem," reader aktow said. "They are everywhere now and are pretty destructive. I guess this is where we leave it to the experts."
The conversation started after news Barry County would, over the course of five years, work with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to eradicate mute swans.
Wildlife officials said the swans are an invasive species not native to Michigan, whose seemingly insatiable appetites can deprive other wildlife of food and harm ecosystems.
They also can be aggressive toward other creatures and even humans, DNR waterfowl expert Barb Avers said.
Unlike the swans, Canada geese actually are native to Michigan, Avers said. What's more, more than 60,000 waterfowl hunters in the state help keep their numbers in check.
Canada geese may be hunted at various times between late summer and winter, and their are daily bag limits.
"We try to balance that with trying to have as few nuisance complaints as possible," Avers said. "I look at them as completely separate" from mute swans.
Still, the geese are a pervasive presence throughout Michigan. There are more than 300,000 in the state, up from an estimated 9,000 in 1970, according to the DNR.
Though not as aggressive as mute swans, Canada geese are known to leave feces buildup in their wake.
This can be unsightly on lawns, and even elevate bacteria levels in waterways. High concentrations of bacteria from goose droppings have even forced beach closures.
Earlier this year, a Grand Rapids resident petitioned the city to evict Canada geese from the city's Riverside Park because of feces buildup.
"It is a serious issue," Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell said during the City Connection TV program in April, according to citizen news website The Rapidian, "and I want to treat it seriously."
Canada geese also have a habit of choosing "inappropriate" nesting spots, like bushes near buildings, according to the DNR. They also tend to be aggressive while nesting.
The birds also are known to damage agriculture. The DNR proposes control methods like hunting, using scare devices or dogs to scare the geese away, among others.
Overall, though, the species "aren't having this type of wetland vegetation impact" like the swans, Avers said.
Read more about Michigan's Canada goose problems here, and weigh in on the Barry County swan cull here.
Finding a job is not easy ? especially in the competitive post-college market. So what is the best way for an aspiring copywriter to get noticed by potential employers? Chris Liu transformed his resume into a Google search results page which includes his bio resume, social media channels and educational background. Not missing a beat and identically mimicking Google?s layout which cleverly he calls ?Liugle?. A creative, stand-out resume website, yet Google might have its own concerns with copyright infringement.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? Gov. Rick Perry isn't letting lawmakers leave until they deliver more spending for congested Texas highways so drivers can get where they're going.
But there's one growing problem: simply getting lawmakers to the Capitol to vote.
When the Texas House failed to approve spending an extra $900 million a year to ease traffic-choked and crumbling highways, missing from the make-or-break vote were 23 lawmakers, some of whose absences remained unexplained Tuesday.
The bill ? the only order of business left for the Legislature ? fell short by 16 votes Monday. The result Tuesday was an immediate third session ordered by Perry, who called the failure of a transportation funding bill "unacceptable."
Some lawmakers believe the bill would have prevailed in a full chamber ? thereby averting yet another special session, each of which costs the state roughly $800,000.
Republican House Speaker Joe Straus said filling chairs won't get easier as the Legislature drags into an eighth month.
Without enough lawmakers present to deliver a two-thirds majority, the House can't approve a plan to send voters a November referendum for more transportation spending.
"It is clear as you get deeper into the summer that to have 150 members here is not going to happen," Straus said. "There's several members who have family illnesses that they're attending to. There's members whose families are going back to school shortly. There's a lot of reasons why members who are part-time legislators can't be here every day so it's going to be tough to pass something that requires a hard 100 votes."
The Associated Press reached out to every House member absent for Monday's vote. At least three lawmakers were dealing with sensitive personal issues: Democrat Marisa Marquez was mourning the weekend death of her chief of staff, and Democrat Terry Canales was in a California hospital with his son. Republican John Zerwas was at a hospital with his wife.
Aides to other House members would not comment on their bosses' whereabouts and took messages that were not returned.
Republican state Rep. Lyle Larson, one of only a handful of lawmakers who showed up for work Tuesday, said the bill's prospects in a full House on Monday would have been strong because some members likely would have switched votes if the bill was on the brink of passage.
"We would've got real close," Larson said.
Some lawmakers were unapologetic for not being at their desks.
"We're supposed to be a part-time Legislature. They've held us there captive," said Rep. Jessica Farrar, who was among 14 Democrats absent for the vote. "They had us there for abortion. I really just think it's failed leadership. It should have been taken care of a long time ago."
Farrar said she missed the afternoon vote because she was studying for the bar exam. By the evening, the former House Democratic leader said she decided she was still not ready to take it.
Farrar said she would not have supported the bill if present, further dooming its chances anyway.
In the Senate, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst blasted the House for their thin ranks.
"I'm really shocked that so many people who have been elected take off when they need to be here," Dewhurst said.
He then added: "These members have responsibility to show up and do the work they were elected for or resign."
Justin Rodriguez, a first-term Democrat from San Antonio, also missed the vote. Brian Hodgdon, his chief of staff, would not reveal where Rodriguez was other than to say that he was among nine lawmakers Monday whose absences were recorded as excused.
There is a low threshold for being granted an excused absence in the House. The explanations in the official journal are vague and typically chalked up to "important business in the district."
The House needed two-thirds of the chamber to support the would-be constitutional amendment. The vote came after a week of talks between the House and Senate, and was freighted with the hopes of finally sending lawmakers home after seven months.
Among the Democrats not present was Trey Martinez Fischer, who was at the White House for a conference on voting rights. Ruth McClendon, who sits on the House Transportation Committee, was speaking at the Southern Legislative Conference in Alabama, said Janis Reinken, her chief of staff. Rene Oliveria was sick in Brownsville, said spokesman Anthony Gray.
Other Democrats missing were Rafael Anchia, Garnet Coleman, Helen Giddings, Sylvester Turner, Joe Farias and Joe Deshotel.
Republicans not present were Pat Fallon, Jim Keffer, Chris Paddie, Diane Patrick and Allan Ritter. Republicans Matt Krause and Stefani Carter said they were temporarily out of the chamber but would have voted no.
___
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
Myanmar at the crossroads: Conservationists see opportunities and challenges in biodiversity hotspotPublic release date: 30-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Delaney jdelaney@wcs.org 718-220-3275 Wildlife Conservation Society
Wildlife Conservation Society study finds impending economic growth and climate change impacts require long-term adaptation efforts to conserve Myanmar's unique biodiversity
Long isolated by economic and political sanctions, Myanmar returns to the international community amid high expectations and challenges associated with protecting the country's great natural wealth from the impacts of economic growth and climate change.
In a new study, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society have examined the implications of economic development and climatic changes on conserving Myanmar's biodiversity and provide recommendations for conservation planning within a context of a changing climate by strengthening the protected area system and engaging in ecosystem-based adaptation strategies.
The paper appears in the latest edition of AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment. The authors include: Madhu Rao, Saw Htun, Steven G. Platt, Rob J. Tizard, Colin M. Poole, Than Myint, and James E.M. Watson of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
"For many years, Myanmar's isolation has served to protect the biodiversity which has disappeared from many other regions in Southeast Asia," said Wildlife Conservation Society's Dr. Madhu Rao, lead author of the study. "Things are now changing rapidly for Myanmar, which will soon experience increasing economic growth and the myriad cascading effects of climate change on its forests and coastlines. The opportunity to protect the country's natural heritage with a strategic and multi-faceted approach is now."
Unlike many other countries in the region, Myanmar still contains high levels of biodiversity along with vast swaths of natural forests. The country contains a wide assemblage of habitats including lowland tropical forests and mangrove ecosystems that are increasingly degraded and depleted elsewhere in the region. Myanmar also contains a number of species found nowhere else on Earth, such as white-browed nuthatch (Sitta victoriae), Myanmar snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri), Burmese star tortoise (Geochelone platynota), and Burmese roof turtle (Batagur trivittata). In all, Myanmar is home to 233 globally threatened species, including 37 critically endangered and 65 endangered species.
The authors conducted their analysis of Myanmar's environmental threats with an examination of relevant peer-reviewed and gray literature sources. Within a context of weak environmental safeguards and low investment in conservation, rapid economic development is expected to have negative implications for already threatened biodiversity and natural resource-dependent communities. Climate change will further exacerbate prevailing threats given Myanmar's high vulnerability. The effects of climate change, the authors assert, will directly impact wildlife species through loss of suitable habitat and changes in ecosystem function. Climate change will also impact local communities, and affect their reliance on terrestrial, freshwater, and marine resources.
"The threat of climate change implies the need to embrace ecosystem-based strategies that will enable people to be resilient and allow species to survive. With sensible planning, the people of Myanmar can aim to protect the key ecological services that will provide an important buffer for the likely effects of climate change that are already occurring," said Dr. James Watson, WCS's Climate Change Program Director and a co-author on the study.
Recommendations presented in the paper include a planned expansion in the existing protected area network to capture underrepresented ecosystems and climatic refugia while ensuring functional connectivity for species in the context of climate change. The authors recommend the development and implementation of strict regulatory frameworks to mitigate potential negative impacts of large-scale infrastructure development projects on biodiversity.
"Leaders of the Myanmar government have a chance to transform their country into a model for sustainable development," said Joe Walston, Executive Director of WCS's Asia Program. "Saving Myanmar's natural wonders for posterity will rely on filling knowledge gaps and correctly anticipating the responses of environment and people in a changing world."
###
The study was made possible by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and other generous supporters.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Myanmar at the crossroads: Conservationists see opportunities and challenges in biodiversity hotspotPublic release date: 30-Jul-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: John Delaney jdelaney@wcs.org 718-220-3275 Wildlife Conservation Society
Wildlife Conservation Society study finds impending economic growth and climate change impacts require long-term adaptation efforts to conserve Myanmar's unique biodiversity
Long isolated by economic and political sanctions, Myanmar returns to the international community amid high expectations and challenges associated with protecting the country's great natural wealth from the impacts of economic growth and climate change.
In a new study, scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society have examined the implications of economic development and climatic changes on conserving Myanmar's biodiversity and provide recommendations for conservation planning within a context of a changing climate by strengthening the protected area system and engaging in ecosystem-based adaptation strategies.
The paper appears in the latest edition of AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment. The authors include: Madhu Rao, Saw Htun, Steven G. Platt, Rob J. Tizard, Colin M. Poole, Than Myint, and James E.M. Watson of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
"For many years, Myanmar's isolation has served to protect the biodiversity which has disappeared from many other regions in Southeast Asia," said Wildlife Conservation Society's Dr. Madhu Rao, lead author of the study. "Things are now changing rapidly for Myanmar, which will soon experience increasing economic growth and the myriad cascading effects of climate change on its forests and coastlines. The opportunity to protect the country's natural heritage with a strategic and multi-faceted approach is now."
Unlike many other countries in the region, Myanmar still contains high levels of biodiversity along with vast swaths of natural forests. The country contains a wide assemblage of habitats including lowland tropical forests and mangrove ecosystems that are increasingly degraded and depleted elsewhere in the region. Myanmar also contains a number of species found nowhere else on Earth, such as white-browed nuthatch (Sitta victoriae), Myanmar snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri), Burmese star tortoise (Geochelone platynota), and Burmese roof turtle (Batagur trivittata). In all, Myanmar is home to 233 globally threatened species, including 37 critically endangered and 65 endangered species.
The authors conducted their analysis of Myanmar's environmental threats with an examination of relevant peer-reviewed and gray literature sources. Within a context of weak environmental safeguards and low investment in conservation, rapid economic development is expected to have negative implications for already threatened biodiversity and natural resource-dependent communities. Climate change will further exacerbate prevailing threats given Myanmar's high vulnerability. The effects of climate change, the authors assert, will directly impact wildlife species through loss of suitable habitat and changes in ecosystem function. Climate change will also impact local communities, and affect their reliance on terrestrial, freshwater, and marine resources.
"The threat of climate change implies the need to embrace ecosystem-based strategies that will enable people to be resilient and allow species to survive. With sensible planning, the people of Myanmar can aim to protect the key ecological services that will provide an important buffer for the likely effects of climate change that are already occurring," said Dr. James Watson, WCS's Climate Change Program Director and a co-author on the study.
Recommendations presented in the paper include a planned expansion in the existing protected area network to capture underrepresented ecosystems and climatic refugia while ensuring functional connectivity for species in the context of climate change. The authors recommend the development and implementation of strict regulatory frameworks to mitigate potential negative impacts of large-scale infrastructure development projects on biodiversity.
"Leaders of the Myanmar government have a chance to transform their country into a model for sustainable development," said Joe Walston, Executive Director of WCS's Asia Program. "Saving Myanmar's natural wonders for posterity will rely on filling knowledge gaps and correctly anticipating the responses of environment and people in a changing world."
###
The study was made possible by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and other generous supporters.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 100 U.S. Republican donors and fundraisers called on conservatives in Congress to back an overhaul of the nation's immigration system, including supporting "legal status" for those in the United States illegally, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
The Republicans, including former President George W. Bush's aide Karl Rove, told lawmakers in a letter that refusing to reform the immigration system amounted to "de facto amnesty," the newspaper said.
"Standing in the way of reform ensures that we perpetuate a broken system that stifles our economy, leave millions of people living in American unaccounted for, maintain a porous border, and risk a long-lasting perception that Republicans would rather see nothing done than pass needed reform," they said in the letter, a copy of which was posted on the newspaper's website.
"That is not the path for the Republican Party."
The effort was shepherded by former Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, who also served under Bush, and included a variety of political donors and fundraisers who offered three mandates that should be included in final legislation:
"To fix our immigration system we need meaningful reforms that will (1) secure our borders, (2) provide a legal way for U.S.-based companies to hire the workers they need while making it impossible to hire workers here illegally, and (3) take control of our undocumented immigration problem by providing a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants who pay penalties and back taxes, pass criminal background checks, and go to the back of the line," the donors wrote.
Lawmakers are trying to work out a solution to overhaul the U.S. immigration system, including a plan to address the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.
The Senate passed a sweeping reform bill in June, but House Republicans are deeply divided over the issue and have no clear strategy or timeline for passing their own legislation that could eventually be merged with the Senate bill.
White House spokesman Jay Carney has said he expects Congress will pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation that President Barack Obama will sign into law.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Christopher Wilson)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Seventeen car bombs exploded in Iraq on Monday, killing at least 55 people in predominantly Shi'ite areas in some of the deadliest violence since Sunni insurgents including al Qaeda stepped up attacks this year.
Police and medical sources said the attacks, which appeared to be coordinated, were concentrated on towns and cities in Iraq's predominantly Shi'ite south, and districts of the capital where Shi'ites reside.
The car bomb attacks in busy streets and crowded markets underscore deteriorating security in Iraq, where nearly 4,000 people have been killed since the start of the year, according to violence monitoring group Iraq Body Count.
The violence has raised fears of a return to full-blown conflict in a country where Kurds, majority Shi'ite and minority Sunni Muslims have yet to find a stable way of sharing power.
At least 10 people were killed when two car bombs blew up near a bus station in the city of Kut, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of the capital, police said.
Four more were killed in a blast in the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad, and two bombs in Samawa, further south, killed two.
The rest of the bombings took place in regions of Baghdad, in Sadr city, Habibiya, Hurriya, Bayaa, Ur, Shurta, Kadhimiya, Risala, Tobchi and Abu Dsheer neighborhoods.
In July, more than 810 people were killed in militant attacks.
Iraqi forces patrolling alone since U.S.-led troops left in 2011 are struggling to contain a resurgent al Qaeda, which has been regrouping and striking with a ferocity not seen in years.
Sectarian tensions across the region have been inflamed by the civil war in neighboring Syria, which has drawn Shi'ites and Sunnis from Iraq and beyond into battle on opposite sides.
(Reporting by Kareem Raheem in Baghdad, Aref Mohammed in Basra and Jaafar al-Taie in Kut; Writing by Isabel Coles; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
By CHRISTINE CHISHA and KAPALA CHISUNKA
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vGWq9jOBUy0l8JwGaw7y106bDCTrCRClieGEaUFIhoLrj1tvSjRHcDHgc0YwqAqk-iE8LC_5WDH-dgzO7DfkbMwlqrvGHnNdI__LimSsM=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 30-Jul-2013
Share ]