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Alexandria man accused of raping 14-year-old girl at gunpoint is arrested

Marc A. Jones Jr. faces charges of criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, rape, sexual misconduct with a minor and pointing a firearm.

       




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Grocery store operating hours, latest shopping changes during the coronavirus pandemic

Here's how grocery stores are trying to accommodate shoppers with new hours, special times for at-risk customers and other changes as of April 29.

       




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Shopping malls could reopen soon. Here are the changes you can expect.

Simon Property Group has published protocols to keep shoppers safe during coronavirus. Here's what changes the shopping mall owner is planning.

       




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Katrina Trinko: Put family, not shopping, first on Thanksgiving

Consumers could fight back by not shopping on Thanksgiving.

       




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Editorial: Helping Indy's young black males requires city-wide effort

More than 100 companies and nonprofits have pledged support for the Your Life Matters initiative, created to help the city's most vulnerable residents. That's a great start, but momentum is critical.

       




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Illinois' Alan Griffin is ejected after stepping on Purdue's Sasha Stefanovic

Stefanovic was on the court after scoring when Griffin stepped on his chest

      




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Illinois' Alan Griffin gets suspension for stepping on Purdue's Sasha Stefanovic

First-half incident resulted in an ejection for Illini player as he stepped on Boilermakers guard

      




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Alexandria man accused of raping 14-year-old girl at gunpoint is arrested

Marc A. Jones Jr. faces charges of criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, rape, sexual misconduct with a minor and pointing a firearm.

       




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Dom Bess on England, the Ashes, spin bowling and his fondness for 'the chat'

Dom Bess talks about England, the Ashes and why he looks up to Australia's Nathan Lyon.




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Football Focus: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 'ramping up' Man Utd training

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is "ramping up" training with tools such as GPS trackers, to make sure his side will be ready for a potential return to action.




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Coronavirus: Challenge of reshaping UK cities after lockdown

Replacing cars with bikes or walking will cut infection and address climate change, say campaigners.




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Opinion: Get ready for college football chaos this summer, with no one in charge and leagues itching to play

Wheels turning toward college football in the fall, but no one is in charge. Expect summer chaos with push to return, few answers on coronavirus risk.

       




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Timeline: The Philippines

A chronology of key events




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Philippines country profile

Key facts, figures and dates




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Coronavirus capital by capital: How are Europeans coping with shutdown?

Europeans face a blizzard of restrictions on their freedoms as authorities try to stop the spread.




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Alleged thieves found sleeping in car surrounded by stolen items

Having a snooze proved costly for two alleged thieves from Owen Sound.





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'It is very gratifying to see': Active COVID-19 cases dropping in Regina, southern Sask.

Physical distancing measures are working in southern Saskatchewan. There has been one new case in Regina in the past ten days and the South region hasn’t seen a new case since April 5.




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How J.J. Abrams took on the ‘daunting’ task of wrapping up the Star Wars Skywalker saga

Seeing the first Star Wars in 1977 changed the director's life. He wants viewers to be similarly moved by "Rise of the Skywalker."




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Istanbul’s new airport is one of the world’s largest. A fleet of humanoid robots is helping passengers find their way around.

How do you help millions of passengers navigate one of the world's largest airports? In Turkey, the answer is a fleet of humanoid robots.




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Fantasy Football start/sit tips Week 12: Cowboys will have no trouble stopping the Redskins

Washington will be without their starting right guard, right tackle, left guard, left tackle, center and starting quarterback on Sunday, making the Dallas defense a very solid pickup.




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It’s time to stop sleeping on the Chargers’ Super Bowl chances

Since 2002, the first year the league expanded to 32 teams, the Chargers have made the playoffs six times, just one of which saw them advance further than the divisional round. That could change this season.




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Soccer star Megan Rapinoe will be secretary of state if Jay Inslee has any say

The presidential candidate and Washington governor wants Rapinoe in his administration — should he get elected.




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Cause Celeb: Kimberly Williams-Paisley lobbies for funding to help women in developing countries

The "Father of the Bride" star spent two days meeting with lawmakers to press for foreign assistance funding.




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oscon: Easily Invoke Common Protocols with Twisted - Spin up Python-friendly services with 0 lines of code http://t.co/29oTkk0isW

oscon: Easily Invoke Common Protocols with Twisted - Spin up Python-friendly services with 0 lines of code http://t.co/29oTkk0isW




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strataconf: A roundup from the data journalism beat http://t.co/y8RVUwHO4G Global open data, scholarships, mapping a civil war & more #strataconf

strataconf: A roundup from the data journalism beat http://t.co/y8RVUwHO4G Global open data, scholarships, mapping a civil war & more #strataconf




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strataconf: Innovative ways journalists are using data to tell stories http://t.co/y8RVUwHO4G Global open data, scholarships, mapping a civil war & more

strataconf: Innovative ways journalists are using data to tell stories http://t.co/y8RVUwHO4G Global open data, scholarships, mapping a civil war & more




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Fin24.com | WATCH: Documents show Huawei role in shipping prohibited US gear to Iran

China’s Huawei, which for years has denied violating American trade sanctions on Iran, produced internal company records in 2010 that show it was directly involved in sending prohibited US computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator.




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Google’s got a new Shopping ad test — and it’s a weird one

A Shopping ad is accompanied by a clickable text unit.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.




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Now, Shopify merchants can quickly turn their catalogs into shoppable Pins

The new Pinterest app on Shopify is now available in the U.S. and Canada.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.




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AT#201 - Travel to the Philippines

The Amateur Traveler talks to Ivan Hernares, an award winning Philippines travel blogger, about his home country of the Philippines. Ivan leads us on a virtual tour of the 7107 islands of the Philippines archipelago starting in Manila. Manila has the walled city of Intramuros that reflects its Spanish colonial heritage as well as its asian heritage in Binondo (its chinatown where we can pick up some Lumpia or a winter-melon cake ). There are inexpensive places for backpackers to stay in the Malate neighborhood. Polish up your layup if you want to meet locals since the unofficial national sport is basketball. Then we head south to the power white sand beaches and nightlife of Borocay, the oldest city in the Philippines which is Cebu, the chocolate hills of Bohol and the underground river of Palawan. We explore the rice terraces of Ifugao (a world heritage site) and the WWII historic sites at Corregidor and Bataan. Ivan talks about unique architecture such as the Philippine Baroque churches and the vahay na bato” stone houses. Ivan loves a good hike up Mount Pinatubo or Mount Pulag in the Cordilleras. And if you go to the Philippines don’t forget to pick up some dried mangoes.




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AT#457 - Travel to the Island of Cebu in the Philippines

Hear about travel to the region around Island of Cebu as the Amateur Traveler talks to Tommo & Megsy from fivedollartraveller.com about their vacation in Visayas, the central group of islands in the Philippines. They visited the islands of Bohol, Cebu and Negros. 




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AT#475 - Travel to the Philippines

Hear about travel to the Philippines as the Amateur Traveler talks to Julie Longland about her travel to the Cordilleras mountain region and the island of Palawan which was just named the "Best Island in the World".




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Silicone mini-pinch bowls have 101 uses

These little silicone rubber bowls come in handy in so many ways.

I use them with my digital scale to measure the bulk powder supplements I take. We use them at the dinner table to hold condiments. We use them while preparing meals to hold spices and minced herbs. I keep finding new ways to use them. For instance, when I fry or scramble eggs, I now crack the eggs over one of these bowls so I can pull out shell pieces and woogers (I wish I had a wooger snatcher but the bowl will have to do). Read the rest




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Sport24.co.za | Sharma hoping Aussie tour gets the go-ahead

India top-order batsman Rohit Sharma is hopeful their tour to Australia at the end of 2020 is allowed to proceed.




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Watch Wayward Pines Full Episodes Online | Season 1 Video Streaming & Torrent Search

Wayward Pines Synopsis Wayward Pines is a mystery thriller television series produced by Fox Network and set to premiere in May of 2015. Based on the book Pines written by Blake Crouch and produced by M. Night Shyamalan Wayward Pines follows the story of an FBI agent Ethan Bruke (played by Matt Dillon), who travels […]





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Brighten Up Your After-Dark Road-Tripping with Lanmodo’s Vast Automotive Night Vision System

With a bright, 8.2-inch HD display and the flexibility to work in almost any vehicle, the Lanmodo Automotive Vast Night Vision System is a near-perfect alternative to factory-installed systems.

The post Brighten Up Your After-Dark Road-Tripping with Lanmodo’s Vast Automotive Night Vision System appeared first on Vagabondish.




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Breaking: Justice Department Dropping Michael Flynn Criminal Case

The following article, Breaking: Justice Department Dropping Michael Flynn Criminal Case, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Michael Flynn has finally been exonerated. The Associated Press is reporting exclusively that the Justice Department said it is dropping the criminal case against President Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. In court documents being filed Thursday, the Justice Department said it is dropping the case “after a considered review of all the facts […]

Continue reading: Breaking: Justice Department Dropping Michael Flynn Criminal Case ...




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BREAKING: New Docs Prove Obama Knew Details Of Flynn Wiretapping…Newly Surfaced Video Shows Obama Explaining How He Stays Out Of FBI Investigations

The following article, BREAKING: New Docs Prove Obama Knew Details Of Flynn Wiretapping…Newly Surfaced Video Shows Obama Explaining How He Stays Out Of FBI Investigations, was first published on 100PercentFedUp.com.

Barack Obama knew. Documents released yesterday that were used to exonerate President Trump’s new NSA General Flynn, prove that President Barack Obama was aware of the details of Michael Flynn’s intercepted phone calls on December 16 with then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. On January 5, 2017, then-Deputy Attorney General, Sally Yates attended an Oval Office meeting […]

Continue reading: BREAKING: New Docs Prove Obama Knew Details Of Flynn Wiretapping…Newly Surfaced Video Shows Obama Explaining How He Stays Out Of FBI Investigations ...




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Owners of new retail cannabis store hoping to open soon in Pillette Village

At a time when store front vacancies are growing thanks to COVID-19, a new retail cannabis store in Pillette Village is hoping to open soon.




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The Hurdles to Developing a COVID-19 Vaccine: Why International Cooperation is Needed

23 April 2020

Professor David Salisbury CB

Associate Fellow, Global Health Programme

Dr Champa Patel

Director, Asia-Pacific Programme
While the world pins its hopes on vaccines to prevent COVID-19, there are scientific, regulatory and market hurdles to overcome. Furthermore, with geopolitical tensions and nationalistic approaches, there is a high risk that the most vulnerable will not get the life-saving interventions they need.

2020-04-23-Covid-Vaccine.jpg

A biologist works on the virus inactivation process in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on 24 March 2020. The Brazilian Ministry of Health convened The Technological Vaccine Center to conduct research on COVID-19 in order to diagnose, test and develop a vaccine. Photo: Getty Images.

On 10 January 2020, Chinese scientists released the sequence of the COVID-19 genome on the internet. This provided the starting gun for scientists around the world to start developing vaccines or therapies. With at least 80 different vaccines in development, many governments are pinning their hopes on a quick solution. However, there are many hurdles to overcome. 

Vaccine development

Firstly, vaccine development is normally a very long process to ensure vaccines are safe and effective before they are used. 

Safety is not a given: a recent dengue vaccine caused heightened disease in vaccinated children when they later were exposed to dengue, while Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccine caused the same problem. Nor is effectiveness a given. Candidate vaccines that use novel techniques where minute fragments of the viruses’ genetic code are either injected directly into humans or incorporated into a vaccine (as is being pursued, or could be pursued for COVID-19) have higher risks of failure simply because they haven’t worked before. For some vaccines, we know what levels of immunity post-vaccination are likely to be protective. This is not the case for coronavirus. 

Clinical trials will have to be done for efficacy. This is not optional – regulators will need to know extensive testing has taken place before licencing any vaccine. Even if animal tests are done in parallel with early human tests, the remainder of the process is still lengthy. 

There is also great interest in the use of passive immunization, whereby antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 (collected from people who have recovered from infection or laboratory-created) are given to people who are currently ill. Antivirals may prove to be a quicker route than vaccine development, as the testing requirements would be shorter, manufacturing may be easier and only ill people would need to be treated, as opposed to all at-risk individuals being vaccinated.

Vaccine manufacturing

Developers, especially small biotechs, will have to make partnerships with large vaccine manufacturers in order to bring products to market. One notorious bottleneck in vaccine development is getting from proof-of-principle to commercial development: about 95 per cent of vaccines fail at this step. Another bottleneck is at the end of production. The final stages of vaccine production involve detailed testing to ensure that the vaccine meets the necessary criteria and there are always constraints on access to the technologies necessary to finalize the product. Only large vaccine manufacturers have these capacities. There is a graveyard of failed vaccine candidates that have not managed to pass through this development and manufacturing process.

Another consideration is adverse or unintended consequences. Highly specialized scientists may have to defer their work on other new vaccines to work on COVID-19 products and production of existing products may have to be set aside, raising the possibility of shortages of other essential vaccines. 

Cost is another challenge. Vaccines for industrialized markets can be very lucrative for pharmaceutical companies, but many countries have price caps on vaccines. Important lessons have been learned from the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic when industrialized countries took all the vaccines first. Supplies were made available to lower-income countries at a lower price but this was much later in the evolution of the pandemic. For the recent Ebola outbreaks, vaccines were made available at low or no cost. 

Geopolitics may also play a role. Should countries that manufacture a vaccine share it widely with other countries or prioritize their own populations first? It has been reported that President Trump attempted to purchase CureVac, a German company with a candidate vaccine.  There are certainly precedents for countries prioritizing their own populations. With H1N1 flu in 2009, the Australian Government required a vaccine company to meet the needs of the Australian population first. 

Vaccine distribution

Global leadership and a coordinated and coherent response will be needed to ensure that any vaccine is distributed equitably. There have been recent calls for a G20 on health, but existing global bodies such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and GAVI are working on vaccines and worldwide access to them. Any new bodies should seek to boost funding for these entities so they can ensure products reach the most disadvantaged. 

While countries that cannot afford vaccines may be priced out of markets, access for poor, vulnerable or marginalized peoples, whether in developed or developing countries, is of concern. Developing countries are at particular risk from the impacts of COVID-19. People living in conflict-affected and fragile states – whether they are refugees or asylum seekers, internally displaced or stateless, or in detention facilities – are at especially high risk of devastating impacts. 

Mature economies will also face challenges. Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccine will be challenging where inequalities and unequal access to essential services have been compromised within some political systems. 

The need for global leadership 

There is an urgent need for international coordination on COVID-19 vaccines. While the WHO provides technical support and UNICEF acts as a procurement agency, responding to coronavirus needs clarity of global leadership that arches over national interests and is capable of mobilizing resources at a time when economies are facing painful recessions. We see vaccines as a salvation but remain ill-equipped to accelerate their development.

While everyone hopes for rapid availability of safe, effective and affordable vaccines that will be produced in sufficient quantities to meet everyone’s needs, realistically, we face huge hurdles. 




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Distinct and Overlapping Sets of SUMO-1 and SUMO-2 Target Proteins Revealed by Quantitative Proteomics

Alfred C. O. Vertegaal
Dec 1, 2006; 5:2298-2310
Research




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The focal adhesion protein kindlin-2 controls mitotic spindle assembly by inhibiting histone deacetylase 6 and maintaining {alpha}-tubulin acetylation [Signal Transduction]

Kindlins are focal adhesion proteins that regulate integrin activation and outside-in signaling. The kindlin family consists of three members, kindlin-1, -2, and -3. Kindlin-2 is widely expressed in multiple cell types, except those from the hematopoietic lineage. A previous study has reported that the Drosophila Fit1 protein (an ortholog of kindlin-2) prevents abnormal spindle assembly; however, the mechanism remains unknown. Here, we show that kindlin-2 maintains spindle integrity in mitotic human cells. The human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line expresses only kindlin-2, and we found that when SH-SY5Y cells are depleted of kindlin-2, they exhibit pronounced spindle abnormalities and delayed mitosis. Of note, acetylation of α-tubulin, which maintains microtubule flexibility and stability, was diminished in the kindlin-2–depleted cells. Mechanistically, we found that kindlin-2 maintains α-tubulin acetylation by inhibiting the microtubule-associated deacetylase histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) via a signaling pathway involving AKT Ser/Thr kinase (AKT)/glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) or paxillin. We also provide evidence that prolonged hypoxia down-regulates kindlin-2 expression, leading to spindle abnormalities not only in the SH-SY5Y cell line, but also cell lines derived from colon and breast tissues. The findings of our study highlight that kindlin-2 regulates mitotic spindle assembly and that this process is perturbed in cancer cells in a hypoxic environment.




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Japan's ‘Indo-Pacific’ question: countering China or shaping a new regional order?

8 January 2020 , Volume 96, Number 1

Kei Koga

Japan's primary objective of the ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ (FOIP) strategy is to shape and consolidate regional order in the Indo-Pacific region based on the existing rules-based international order. The concept initially aimed to achieve two different objectives—shaping a regional order in the Indo-Pacific and ensuring the defence of Japan; however, Japan has gradually shifted its strategic focus onto the former, separating national defence from the FOIP concept, which reflects a change in the degree of its commitment to the two objectives. On the one hand, as its overall security strategy, Japan has determined to steadily enhance its national defence by increasing its own defence capabilities and strengthening the US–Japan alliance, while transforming its partnerships with like-minded states, such as Australia and India, into a diplomatic, and potentially military, alignment. This has been brought about by shifts in the regional balance of power, particularly the rise of China and the relative decline of the United States. On the other hand, as part of its FOIP strategy, Japan's attempts to build a new regional order in the Indo-Pacific region aim to defend the existing rules-based order established by the United States from challengers, particularly China. Yet, given the strategic uncertainty over Japan's international coalition-building efforts to create a new regional order, Japan has made its approach flexible; Tokyo is using its ambiguous FOIP concept to gauge other states' responses, understand their perspectives, and change its strategic emphases accordingly—so-called ‘tactical hedging’. Japan has pursued similar means to achieve the two key objectives. Nevertheless, the country's core interest, the defence of Japan, is more imperative than building a regional order in the Indo-Pacific region, and Japan faces different types of challenges in the future.




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The Security Council's peacekeeping trilemma

4 March 2020 , Volume 96, Number 2

Paul D. Williams

The United Nations (UN) Security Council is stuck in a peacekeeping trilemma. This is a situation where the Council's three strategic goals for peacekeeping operations—implementing broad mandates, minimizing peacekeeper casualties and maximizing cost-effectiveness—cannot be achieved simultaneously. This trilemma stems from longstanding competing pressures on how the Council designs UN peacekeeping operations as well as political divisions between peacekeeping's three key groups of stakeholders: the states that authorize peacekeeping mandates, those that provide most of the personnel and field capabilities, and those that pay the majority of the bill. Fortunately, the most negative consequences of the trilemma can be mitigated and perhaps even transcended altogether. Mitigation would require the Council to champion and implement four main reforms: improving peacekeeper performance, holding peacekeepers accountable for misdeeds, adopting prioritized and sequenced mandates, and strengthening the financial basis for UN peacekeeping. Transcending the trilemma would require a more fundamental reconfiguration of the key stakeholder groups in order to create much greater unity of effort behind a re-envisaged peacekeeping enterprise. This is highly unlikely in the current international political context.




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The US Role in Shaping World Trade

Webinar Research Event

21 May 2020 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Add to Calendar

Clete Willems, Partner, Akin Gump; Deputy Director, US National Economic Council, 2018 - 19
Chair: Marianne Schneider-Petsinger, Senior Research Fellow, US and Americas Programme, Chatham House

This event is  part of the Chatham House Global Trade Policy Forum and will take place virtually only.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank founding partner AIG and supporting partners Clifford Chance LLP, Diageo plc, and EY for their generous support of the Chatham House Global Trade Policy Forum.

Please note this event is taking place between 2pm to 3pm BST. 




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Virtual Roundtable: As COVID-19 Hits the Developing World, Where is the American-led Global Response?

Research Event

9 June 2020 - 2:00pm to 3:00pm
Add to Calendar

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, Chairman, SGO; Former Deputy Secretary-General and Chief of Staff, United Nations
Dr Elizabeth Cousens, President and CEO, United Nations Foundation
Ambassador Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School; US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, 2005 – 2008
Chair: Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, Director, US and the Americas Programme, Chatham House

This event is part of the US and Americas Programme Inaugural Virtual Roundtable Series on the US and the State of the World and will take place virtually only.

This event will take place from 14:00 – 15:00 BST.

US and Americas Programme

Department/project




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The certainties that underpin the Kingdom need reappraisal

6 February 2014 , Volume 70, Number 1

From the point of view of a Saudi policy-maker, the country, the region and the world look to be increasingly complex places

Sir Tom Phillips, British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia 2010-12

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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in discussions with John Kerry, the US Secretary of State. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty




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Keeping It Short

You’ve got a short story that goes on too long? A chapter that reads at a dying snail’s pace? A challenge entry that trails beyond the maximum word count? You’re also relatively new to writing and haven’t yet dragged your way through all the millions of writing articles? If yes to the last and anything else to the rest, here’s your article.

1. Remove all redundancies. I repeat: Remove all redundancies. I repeat: ….

“Unknown strangers” or “asked a question” can be removed right away. While it may sound silly, there’s a good chance you have a few of those rummaging around in your work for you to weed out.

More significantly you will want to root out the various strings of wordy words writers conjure up. “At that point in time,” can be replaced with “back then,” or even “then,” if the placement in the sentence allows it. “Despite the fact” can be “although.” “Less than great,” is just a polite man’s “mediocre.”

As a lone appreciator of purple prose I won’t tell you to always cull all of these combos, for there’s a time and place for everything and it’s called colle… a long-form story, but if you’re trying to shorten things up these are the first words to go.

Continue reading Keeping It Short at Mythic Scribes.



  • Writing Craft & Technique