Horse racing history of all kinds is being made Saturday in the final Triple Crown race of the year.

Sen. Bernie Sanders has reaffirmed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris and her quest to become president. The Vermont independent, who endorsed Ms. Harris in August, has followed up with a statement issued through Our Revolution, a grassroots political action organization he founded after the 2016 presidential election.

Though the presidential election has come and gone, press coverage of the momentous event continues. The news media can't get enough. They continue to offer a spectrum of reactions to Donald Trump's victory in the national election on Tuesday -- a story that continues to evolve.

The Australian government announced on Thursday what it described as world-leading legislation that would institute an age limit of 16 years for children to start using social media, and hold platforms responsible for ensuring compliance.

The head of the Church of England, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, is under pressure to resign after an investigation found that he failed to inform police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.

A federal appeals court has ruled the Department of Education improperly rejected Grand Canyon University's switch from for-profit to nonprofit status, granting a key point in the Christian school's appeal of a record fine.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is facing mounting pressure to step down after a report revealed years of institutional cover-ups by the Church of England, allowing a known abuser to operate unchecked for years.

Novak Djokovic won't defend his ATP Finals title after ruling himself out on Tuesday due to an unspecified injury.

Musical Ladder System? Licensing

Price: $99.00

To learn more about the Musical Ladder System? please call 803-917-1434
email info@musicacademysuccess.com or visit http://www.MusicalLadderSystem.com

Musical Ladder System? Licensee Benefits Summary

1. Right to use Trademark

2. Right to use logos

3. Right to use the patent pending
protected science behind the method.

4. Training sessions.

5. IRS contractor session.

6. Done for you marketing items.

7. Musical Ladder System? software

8. Unique portal for your school (no hosting fees)

9. Dedicated customer support for software,
trophy and wristband orders.

10. The latest system and software updates for free.

11. Done for your certificate templates.

12. Access to purchasing the unique Musical Ladder
System? trophies and wristbands.

13. Training to help ensure you will not lose students.

14. Training on how to deal with

15. Training on how to ‘roll’ out the system in your school.

16. 12 month 100% money back guarantee (trophy and wristband purchases not included).

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said there are "no credible threats" to the District ahead of Tuesday's presidential election, despite several downtown businesses boarding up their buildings and the White House and other federal properties erecting climb-proof fencing along their perimeters.

A judge in a rural Virginia city has ordered two officials there to certify the results of the election after they filed a lawsuit last month threatening not to certify unless they could hand-count the ballots.

Washington Post employees enjoying flexible work schedules introduced as the pandemic unfolded will return to the office full time starting in February.

Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the world's largest Iranian dissident organization, says in an exclusive interview that the Tehran theocratic regime is on its last legs and warns there can be no real peace in the Middle East so long as the mullahs remain in power.

"Outlander" is returning with the concluding episodes of its seventh season this month, but its stars have already wrapped official production on the show's eighth and final season.

Year 1 for Kevin Willard was a supernova streaking through the sky, but year two brought high expectations that quickly crashed back to earth. For year three, the Maryland coach believes he has found the answer to the Terrapins offensive woes via both the transfer portal and one dynamic freshman: Derik Queen.

President-elect Donald Trump is looking to fill hundreds of top positions in his incoming administration during the next two months -- but one of the most coveted, flash point slots is that of attorney general.

Call it the "Tax Cuts and Wall Act." Republicans, on the verge of a full sweep of government, are plotting immediate legislation that would extend and expand tax cuts, bolster U.S. energy production and perhaps provide money to finish building the southern border wall.

President-elect Donald Trump says that Tom Homan, his former acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, will serve as "border czar" in his incoming administration.

Tom Homan, President-elect Donald Trump's new border czar, delivered a stern warning to sanctuary cities on Monday by telling them to "get the hell out of the way" as the next administration comes for illegal immigrants.

President-elect Donald Trump's top allies are working to thwart either Sen. John Thune or Sen. John Cornyn from becoming the next majority leader and are pushing for Trump stalwart Rick Scott of Florida to win the post.

President-elect Donald Trump is to return to Washington with the distinct advantage of having previously served in the Oval Office. He is wiser.

I imagine the past few weeks have been stressful for you and Dr. Jill. I noticed that on election day, she was dressed in red - not blue. Was her Freudian slip showing?

World leaders are converging Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan although the big names and powerful countries are noticeably absent, unlike past climate talks which had the star power of a soccer World Cup.

If what former ABC News journalist Mark Halperin said last month about there being a national mental health crisis in the event of a second Trump presidency, as a "deplorable" I want to ensure that my friends and relatives suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome stay fully calm.

Spencer Shrader is next up in the New York Jets' kicking shuffle.

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels couldn't engineer another game-winning drive on Sunday, as the Pittsburgh Steelers recorded a 28-27 victory at Northwest Stadium.

As Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels was trying to lead his team in a comeback in the final minutes against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers, the scene inside Northwest Stadium was a sea of towels. Gold "Terrible Towels."

The Washington Commanders woke up in second place in the NFC East on Monday morning. Sunday's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Commanders' third of the season, allowed the rival Philadelphia Eagles to slip into the top spot in the division.

Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels has repeatedly said he doesn't see himself as a superstar, but the latest data from the NFL Shop would disagree. The No. 2 pick in this year's draft ranked fifth in jersey sales from April 1 through Oct. 31.

Shohei Ohtani had arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday to repair a labrum tear in his left shoulder, following an injury the Los Angeles Dodgers star suffered during Game 2 of the World Series on Oct. 26.

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was charged with illegally carrying a gun in his vehicle during the altercation in a parking lot that led to his arrest over the weekend, Dominican Republic prosecutors said Tuesday.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Thursday that his government would begin proceedings on a rule that would ban social media use for children under 16 years old.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved an audacious plan to employ booby-trapped pagers in September against members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, his office said Monday.

The Baltimore big man recorded a double-double -- in the first half alone -- en route to a stellar 22 point, 20 rebound debut as Maryland pulled away from Manhattan in the second half to win its season opener, 79-49

Just over a year since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in his left leg, Real Madrid defender Eder Militao ruptured the ACL in his right leg when he crumbled amid screams at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Saturday.

USA Track and Field is bringing the U.S. Paralympics Track & Field program in-house beginning Jan. 1 as part of a partnership that will unite all of its athletes under one roof.

A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked a state law that would require classrooms in Louisiana to post the Ten Commandments starting in January.

The young Avatar Aang must learn to master the four elements to save the world in the new series

The post Avatar: The Last Airbender Goes Live-Action On Netflix first appeared on SciFi Stream.

Strange New Worlds gets another season, but it's the end of the road for the animated hit Star Trek: Lower Decks.

The post Good News / Bad News for the Future of Modern Star Trek first appeared on SciFi Stream.

A main obstacle to reach the 2010 biodiversity goals and to implement the European Biodiversity Strategy is lacking integration of biodiversity aspects into political, economic, and management decisions in different sectors mainly due to knowledge gaps. EU BON will provide access to sound data sources and scientific knowledge that is reliable, relevant, up-todate, and publicly available. Europe maintains substantial capacities to generate and manage such knowledge and to provide data relevant to assessing and managing our biological resources. These capacities concern research and technology development, tools for information management and infrastructure, and procedures for the development and implementation of well-informed environmental policies. 

In order to meet the demands of the main political stakeholders in the EU, in this workshop an overview of the project will be given and first results will be shown summarized in the first show case which is dealing with datasets in relation to political targets and indicators. In addition, the idea how the science–policy/management interface can function for example via the planned European Biodiversity Portal will be presented and the requirements for policy (political administration) discussed.

Results of this first stakeholder round table will be documented and passed back to the project in order to increase its relevance. Next stakeholder round tables can be used to evaluate the progress of the project with regard to serving the demands of EC, EEA, GEO BON, IPBES and other stakeholders.

The first EU BON Stakeholder Round Table is now approaching. The workshop will take place in Brussels on 18 June 2013 and be hosted by the Leibniz Association. A main obstacle to reach the 2010 biodiversity goals and to implement the European Biodiversity Strategy is the lacking integration of biodiversity aspects into political, economic, and management decisions in different sectors mainly due to knowledge gaps. The aim of the 1-day workshop will be to identify existing gaps, determine current needs regarding biodiversity information and develop solutions to overcome the existing knowledge gaps within the EU BON project.

EU BON will provide access to biodiversity information that is reliable, relevant, up-to-date, and publicly available. In the first Stakeholder Round Table, the EU BON approach for establishing a European Biodiversity Observation Network will be outlined. Based on that introduction, existing approaches that compile biodiversity or biodiversity-relevant data and the possible synergies and possible contributions to EU BON will be discussed. Another important aspect of the meeting will be to highlight the link to policy and governments of the European Union and their specific needs regarding biodiversity information.

Results of this first stakeholder round table will be documented and passed back to the project in order to increase its relevance. Next stakeholder round tables can be used to evaluate the progress of the project with regard to serving the demands of EC, EEA, GEO BON, IPBES, JRC and other stakeholders.

The first EU BON Stakeholder Round Table was held on 18 June 2013 at the Leibniz Association in Brussels, under the motto "Requirements for Policy".

Important topics regarding biodiversity information were discussed with political stakeholders and a variety of valuable recommendations were given for the future process of EU BON. Among the participants were members of the European policy, representatives of recent European biodiversity projects and EU BON members. At the round table, intensive discussions took place regarding what biodiversity policy needs, like which indicators and measurements are needed to answer burning policy questions. Suggestions were made to formalize Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV’s) and Aichi targets. A future approach was set towards producing a guideline and timeline for indicators that should be established within EU BON.

The challenges of future research policy were also discussed and the collaboration of EU BON with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) will be a substantial part of the continuous contributions to the global process. EU BON should also serve as a showcase for the European Commission in this respect. EU BON will also be responsible for answering crucial questions regarding data policy, e.g. how to establish a general repository for a long-lasting storage of data and how to handle ‘big data’. Another future task will be to integrate EU relevant projects and initiatives and their data portals, datasets and metadata.

At the round table it was also discussed how public stakeholders can be involved in the future, particularly citizen scientists, so that they could be integrated in EU BON and provide useful information for scientists and researchers.

Among the participants were representatives of major biodiversity stakeholders including Gilles Ollier, Jane Shiel and Sofie Vandewoestijne - European Commission, DG Research and Innovation; Anne Teller - European Commission, DG Environment;  Georgios Sarantakos - GEO Secretariat; Cigdem Adem - European Environment Agency; representatives of recent European biodiversity projects (FunDiv, BioFresh, STEP and INSPIRE) and EU BON members.

Presentations:

From 16^th to the 18^th of July, a European stakeholder consultation for the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services (IPBES) took place in Leipzig (Germany). The consultation was organized by three European Biodiversity Platforms: Network-Forum Biodiversity Research Germany (NeFo), the Belgian Biodiversity Platform, and the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) (further information on the conference: www.biodiversity.de/index.php/de/ipbes/nefo-aktivitaeten-zu-ipbes/workshops/pan-european-stakeholder-consultation).

IPBES will greatly influence future biodiversity policy and research, and EU BON is expected to provide a European contribution to IPBES. IPBES will be in particular of high interest, because it will need tools to integrate and analyse different data sources, to develop relevant infrastructure and to do assessments of state and trends of biodiversity at multiple scales.

EU BON was represented by several partners at the meeting and we acted as facilitators in the round-tables, gathered input for the project, participated in discussions and exchanged ideas with many representatives and colleagues. We provide you with a short summary of the meeting below.

The aims of the pan-European stakeholder consultation meeting in Leipzig were:

1. To reach out to stakeholders to inform people and institutes and to raise awareness of the dynamics in IPBES.
2. To discuss and obtain feedback on several IPBES-related documents that are currently being drafted. In their final form these documents will be submitted to the Panel for the IPBES 2 plenary session in 9-14 December 2013.

The meeting in Leipzig was organized around round table discussions of several draft documents of importance for stakeholders: the draft work programme, the stakeholder engagement strategy draft and the draft "Vision for pan-European IPBES support perspective". If you are interested these documents, currently for review, can be found here:  http://www.ipbes.net/intersessional-process/current-review-documents-ipbes2.html .

There were several opportunities for EU BON partners to flag the potential biodiversity data and analysis requirements for the future IPBES work program in separate discussions and to give recommendations as to what should be additionally integrated in the draft work programme.

We also brainstormed on a potential EU BON side event at the second IPBES meeting, which will be held in 9-14 December in Antalya, Turkey. Topics discussed by national delegates in that plenary will amongst other topics comprise: the first work programme, budget, stakeholder engagement, the position of observers, technical requirements and a list of thematic priorities for IPBES assessments.

Although the meeting was a success in terms of the number and diversity of participants, the consultation felt for many participants as a top down exercise. However, the importance of being involved at this stage was felt and the hope for stakeholder empowerment in the future was often voiced.

At the Bioinformatics Horizon 2013 Conference (3 - 6 September 2013, Rome) a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between PESI and EU BON. Christoph Häuser, on behalf of EU BON and Yde de Jong on behalf of PESI (see picture below), signed the document to strengthen the cooperation and formalise the integrating efforts of the European species infrastructures.  

PESI is now a new associate partner of EU BON, a consortium with currently 30 partners from 18 countries. One of the common aims of EU BON and PESI will be to establish and sustain standard taxonomies for Europe.  EU BON will support the PESI backbone developments, including its components, with a focus on Fauna Europaea and Euro+Med. Besides analyzing current gaps, new ideas will be developed to trigger expert involvement and enhance the data management systems.

In a side-meeting at BIH 2013, some ideas were discussed with available EU BON and PESI partners. Important steps will be taken to secure the sustainability of databases and expertise networks combined with the development of technical innovations for users and stakeholders and to promote the implementation of PESI as a European (INSPIRE) standard. It will be also important to further integrate the huge expertise networks, outreach to PESI Focal Points and expand the geographical scope. Furthermore, it will be important to integrate additional data types and data-resources.

The official kick-off of the EU BON project WP6 Stakeholder engagement and science-policy dialogue and WP7 Implementation of GEO BON: strategies and solutions at European and global levels took place on 18-19 February 2014 in Leipzig, Germany. The two work packages are a crucial part of the project outlining the future actions towards ensuring the integration of the project with its global counterpart GEO BON, as well as paving the road towards successful stakeholder and policy engagement.

As a result of this first meeting further short-term and long-term steps were outlined for WP6 and WP7 towards the achievement of main project objectives. These steps include shaping the future EU BON GEO BON interactions and EU BON’s approach towards stakeholder engagement.

In the following interview Ilse Geijzendorffer gives an insight on the outcomes from the meeting.

This image shows the discussions during the WP6/WP7 kick-off meeting. Credit: Eugenie Regan

1) What are the project’s main stakeholders that you are planning to approach and interact with in the future?

EU BON aims to develop a blue print for a data infrastructure for data handling, storage, indicator computation and transfer of knowledge via a data portal available to knowledge seekers. This data infrastructure thus has to be useful to data holders who want their data to be used (e.g. citizen scientists, nature associations, scientists) and to those that seek knowledge (e.g. reporting bodies). EU BON reaches out to these stakeholders and to bodies that would be interested to host or have such a data infrastructure themselves. Our first stakeholder round table focused on European knowledge seekers and existing data portals. Our second stakeholder round table planned for this summer will focus on citizen scientists and the organisations that currently handle the citizen science data, to receive input on what these two stakeholder groups would like to see in such a data infrastructure blue print.

At the same time we reach out to ongoing platforms that consist of networks of knowledge and that have needs regarding their data flow. A very important partner in the data infrastructure development is GEO BON. The coordination of GEO BON has just changed and EU BON will reinforce the ties with GEO BON during the General Assembly in Crete coming in April.

2) Science-policy dialogue proves to be a crucial part for the success of large scale projects like EU BON, how are you tackle this challenge?

The objective of EU BON is a moving target in the sense that the blue print for data infrastructure will need to suit the needs for current and future monitoring. Additionally, the actual implementation, funding and hosting of such an infrastructure could be within a structure that may not yet exist in that form today. Changes in mission, coordination and targets occur constantly. To profit from lessons learned, we are in close contact with the Biodiversity Knowledge Project; a project that has already gained experience in the last four years in identifying the most important elements for handling data requests from knowledge seekers and in developing a suitable management plan.

For EU BON to achieve and reach its moving target, we keep in touch with the changes within the biodiversity knowledge landscape (e.g. progress in IPBES, CBD reporting, European targets ad evaluations); we explore multiple scenarios for the data infrastructure, the business plan and the implementation options; and we collaborate with a large range of stakeholders to include not only their ideas and needs, but also the transitions that they go through.

Care about biodiversity protection and science-policy dialogue? The second BESAFE stakeholder workshop might be just the thing for you.

The BESAFE project invites all interested policy makers, NGO representatives, decision makers and people, who argue ('lobby') for biodiversity protection to take part in its second stakeholder workshop, focusing the results from the project case studies and the best ways to make them useful through a stakeholder focused web-based tool.

The workshop will be held on 13 and 14 May 2004 at the Park Inn Brussels Midi, Brussels, Belgium. To register and participate is easy just follow this link, which will take you to an easy to follow and use registration page.

On the afternoon of 13 May BESAFE will present the results of the project’s case studies and then their use and implications will be discussed with stakeholders. The morning of 14 May is reserved for a learning workshop on the best ways to unlock and present project results. As committed stakeholder involvement is crucial to BESAFE’s success, we hope that you will be able to join us in Brussels!

In a nutshell, BESAFE investigates the effectiveness of different types of arguments in convincing policy makers to take action for biodiversity protection in a variety of circumstances. The project has two specific focus areas: the interactions of environmental protection policies between governance scales, and the contribution that ecosystem services BESAFE is committed to produce practically usable results and to make them available and easily accessible through a web-based tool. This is a goal we can clearly only achieve through input and feedback from stakeholders. BESAFE is therefore set up as an interactive project in which we inform and consult those on a regular basis.

Deadline for registration is the 1st of April 2014, but registration will be closed earlier when our limit of 25 stakeholders is reached. Due to this limited capacity, registration is subject to approval.

A memorandum of understanding has been signed between EU BON and Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA). The hand over took place at the 21st GBIF Governing Board (GB21) in New Delhi (India) on 16-18 September 2014 between EU BON project co-ordinator Christoph Häuser and Roald Vang (Head of Department on Information technology) and Frank Hanssen from NINA.

IMAGE: At the handover: EU BON co-ordinator Christoph Häuser and Roald Vang (Head of Department on Information technology) and Frank Hanssen from NINA.

The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) is Norway’s leading institution for applied ecological research, with broad-based expertise on the genetic, population, species, ecosystem and landscape level, in terrestrial, freshwater and coastal marine environments. The core activities encompass strategic ecological research integrated with long-term monitoring, as well as a variety of environmental assessments and development of methodologies. Most work is aimed at improving the understanding of biodiversity, ecosystem services, ecological processes and their main drivers to facilitate better management of ecosystem services and resources. NINA addresses a wide variety of interdisciplinary issues involving both ecologists and social scientists, and plays an important role in European and other international research cooperation.