John McCain Has Brain Cancer, His Office Says - Hoping for Fast Recovery

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WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee known for his independent streak over more than three decades representing Arizona in the Senate, has brain cancer, his office disclosed Wednesday night in a statement from the Mayo Clinic.

The statement said the medical condition was discovered after Mr. McCain, 80, who was re-elected to a sixth term in November, underwent surgery to remove a blood clot above his left eye at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix.

“Subsequent tissue pathology revealed that a primary brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was associated with the blood clot,” the statement said. “Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.”

Medical experts said his condition was extremely serious. Eugene S. Flamm, chairman of neurosurgery at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, said that “a glioblastoma is the most common and most malignant of brain tumors.”

The median survival is about 16 months, he said. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, died in 2009 from this kind of aggressive brain tumor, which almost always grows back even after chemotherapy and radiation.

The illness of Mr. McCain, a former Navy pilot who was captured and held as a prisoner during the Vietnam War, had implications this week for the health care debate. His absence caused Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, to postpone a floor fight until Mr. McCain returned to Washington.

The diagnosis shook the Senate, where Mr. McCain is a popular figure despite his occasionally heated disputes with colleagues in both parties. About a dozen lawmakers who on Wednesday night were gathered in the Dirksen Senate Office Building to explore a health care compromise asked Senator James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican who is a Baptist minister, to lead them in prayer for their colleague.

“It was very emotional,” said Senator John Hoeven, Republican of North Dakota, who was present. He said finding a solution to the health care impasse was “more challenging without him.”

Mr. McConnell called Mr. McCain a hero to both Senate Republicans and the nation at large.

“He has never shied from a fight, and I know that he will face this challenge with the same extraordinary courage that has characterized his life,” Mr. McConnell said Wednesday night. “We all look forward to seeing this American hero again soon.”

The disclosure on Wednesday suggested that Mr. McCain’s condition was more serious than initially believed, although the statement said that “he is recovering from his surgery ‘amazingly well,’” according to his doctors, “and his underlying health is excellent.”

President Trump on Wednesday night issued a statement urging Mr. McCain to quickly recover.

“Senator John McCain has always been a fighter,” Mr. Trump said.

As the Republican health care bill teetered in recent days, Mr. Trump referred affectionately to Mr. McCain as a “crusty voice” in the capital. But their relationship has been fraught. In July 2016, during the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump denigrated Mr. McCain’s military record, saying he was considered a war hero only because he was captured. “I like people who weren’t captured,” Mr. Trump said in a comment that many suggested had gone too far. Mr. McCain, who at the time was facing conservative opposition in his re-election to his Senate seat, remained a supporter of Mr. Trump throughout the campaign.

However, Mr. McCain has pressed for a deep investigation into any interference into the presidential campaign that was conducted by Russia, which he considers an adversary. On Tuesday, and despite his condition, Mr. McCain issued a statement warning about Russian intrusion in Ukraine and calling for new sanctions against Moscow.

On Twitter, former President Barack Obama, who defeated Mr. McCain in the 2008 election, called the senator a “hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”

Mr. McCain, who had failed to win his party’s presidential nomination in 2000, faced an uphill battle in 2008 given public discontentment with the United States-led war in Iraq and overall fatigue with the administration of President George W. Bush. Mr. McCain picked Sarah Palin, then the governor of Alaska, as his vice-presidential running mate in an effort to reinvigorate a flagging campaign with a woman on the ticket.

A crucial moment in the race occurred in late September 2008 when he suddenly suspended his campaign and returned to Washington for an economic summit meeting at the White House that was also attended by Mr. Obama, then a Democratic senator from Illinois. Mr. McCain’s 11th-hour effort to focus on the economy was generally considered a lost opportunity, and the financial collapse helped propel Mr. Obama to the presidency.

Mr. McCain currently leads the Senate Armed Services Committee and is a top proponent of using military force overseas. The Senate is preparing to take up the annual Pentagon policy measure produced by the committee.

In Congress, he is probably best known for his efforts to champion changes in campaign finance laws over the fierce objections of some of his Republican colleagues, particularly Mr. McConnell.

Mr. McCain’s office said he “appreciates the outpouring of support he has received over the last few days.” The statement added: “He is in good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family in Arizona. He is grateful to the doctors and staff at Mayo Clinic for their outstanding care, and is confident that any future treatment will be effective. Further consultations with Senator McCain’s Mayo Clinic care team will indicate when he will return to the United States Senate.”

The standard of care includes surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible, and then radiation and chemotherapy. In the past, radiation sometimes diminished patient’s brain function, but techniques have improved so that more healthy brain tissue is spared and patients fare better, said Dr. Mitchel S. Berger, a neurosurgeon and glioblastoma expert at the University of California, San Francisco.

Senator Jeff Flake, the junior Republican senator from Arizona, acknowledged the seriousness of Mr. McCain’s diagnosis in a still-hopeful Twitter post. “Tough diagnosis, but even tougher man,” Mr. Flake wrote.

 Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/john-mccain-brain-cancer.html

Labels: john mccain surgery, mccain surgery, john mccain brain, john mccain cancer, mccain cancer, senator john mccain, senator mccain, john mccain age, trump john mccain, trump mccain

2017 Mazda CX-5 - Mazda first drive review

7 Mazda CX-5 first drive review: Will more tech, quieter cockpit match Audi, BMW?

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The second-generation Mazda CX-5 compact crossover / SUV stands as the best choice for driving enthusiasts who need an affordable crossover to haul gear or family members. The 2017 CX-5 is also emerging as the category’s technology champ with a head-up display, smart blind spot detection aler t, full-range adaptive cruise control, standard LED headlamps, and an intelligent all-wheel-drive system. Mazda makes a fair claim that the CX-5 has “class above” technology more in line with what Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz offer. “We know we’re already better than [Honda] CR-Vs and such, so we benchmarked upscale,” Mazda’s chief engineer proclaims.
To appeal to mainstream buyers who’ve made Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 each outsell Mazda 3-1 last year, Mazda has worked on sound-damping, improving ride quality, adding rear seat heaters, upping the quality of the audio system, and adding rear seat USB jacks. Nobody’s perfect and in Mazda’s case there’s still no performance engine for enthusiasts. For mainstream buyers, there’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto offered, no satellite radio except on the costliest CX-5, and those rear seat heaters are an option on the costliest CX-5. Overall, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Second generation, looks like the first generation

Mazda says there are big changes inside and out, as there have been almost every since the first-gen CX-5 arrived as a 2013 model. For 2017 (lower image above), there’s a sharper nose, a black egg-carton grille (no horizontal strakes now), and a side body character line that sweeps down instead of up as it moves rearward. It’s still 179 inches long, right in the sweet spot for compact SUVs. There’s one engine choice, a 187-hp normally aspirated (no turbo) four-cylinder engine, rated at 23 mpg city, 30 mpg highway, 26 mpg combined for all-wheel-drive, 24/31/27 for front-drive. The transmission is a six-speed automatic.
Mazda said new features appealing to mainstream buyers are an available power liftgate, a second-row seat that reclines (slightly) and also folds fully flat, and improved NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) without degrading handling. See the slideshow below for the 10 tech improvements that make the CX-5, as Mazda says, punch above its weight, including full-range adaptive cruise control, G-Vectoring, more USB jacks, a head-up display that includes blind spot information, and traffic sign recognition.
Ten tech features make the 2017 CX-5 stand out:

Full-range adaptive cruise control (ACC)

Among Mazda's 10 coolest, class-above features: Mazda Radar Cruise Control (Mazda's term) for 2017 goes all the way down to stopped and back up to speed. It's a big advantage in metro areas with stop-and-go highway commuting. It's also less abrupt then 2016's system. ACC is still not common on mainstream compact SUVs; here, it's offered on all but the entry trim line.

On the road

I test-drove the CX-5 in San Diego and eastward along the US-Mexico border (lots of border patrol agents, no sign of the wall). In comparison with the 2016 Mazda CX-5 I’ve been driving the past half-year, the new one is indeed quieter and a bit less bouncy on rough roads. Mazda attributes this to more welds, acoustic laminated glass in front, extra door seals, and more sound insulation in the floor.
The adaptive cruise control was smoother; the older one sometimes locked on to a car ahead and then a few seconds later braked firmly, enough to make the passengers look up. The head up display was a great addition, particularly since it put the blind spot warning in the HUD (as well as in the side mirrors). When a car shows up in your blind spot, three sonar-looking waves turn orange on the left, right, or both. If you’re thinking about changing lanes, you have to shift your vision to the side mirror for a couple hundred milliseconds; with the HUD, you just glance down, all the while keeping your eyes on the road ahead. The steering wheel has even bigger buttons this year.
The engine is basically the same: Mazda’s high-tech SkyActiv inline-four with low emissions and adequate pickup for merging onto expressways. The mileage is decent, but you’ll probably be in the high 20s in combined driving; you need a light foot to pass 30 mpg. Thus my interest in seeing how peppy and economical the 2.2-liter SkyActiv diesel will be this fall.
Navigation is adequate; there are better and worse from competitors, but it gets the job done. The new Bose audio with 10 speakers sounds better. It’s great having USB jacks for back seat passengers. I’ve grown to like the Commander control wheel in the console. A nearby button to fetch audio presets (you scroll to the one you want) gives you as many as you want, but it’s not as direct as having six or eight dedicated presets right under the center LCD.
The back is still roomy especially for a small car. Four adults can travel all day in comfort, and even more so with back seat HVAC vents and the improved ride.

Where Mazda isn’t yet class-above

Mazda wants to be compared with the big boys: Audi Q3 and Q5 (the CX-5 falls in between in size), BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC, and the two Japanese crossovers that are 1-2 in premium SUV sales: Lexus NX and Acura RDX. Fair enough. Here’s where Mazda comes up short.
Blind spot detection doesn’t offer haptic feedback, meaning a steering wheel or seat vibration that only alerts the driver. The beep is only a second long, which makes it only halfway annoying. Lane departure warning does offer a vibration now, along with either a beep or a rumble strip sound through the speakers (pick one).
Not having Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in 2017 is starting to look dated. We understand that adopting them puts a small automaker at the mercies of Apple and Google. At least it’s in the works. Satellite radio is only offered on the costliest CX-5, the Grand Touring. It needs to be on every trim line.
Some, not all, class-above competitors offer side window screens (the CX-9 does, too) and it’s great for long trips. The CX-5 also lacks surround vision cameras, automated parallel parking, and factory-installed rear parking sonar (as a dealer accessory, it’s costly). Campers and boaters would wish for 3,500-pound towing capacity, not just 2,000 pounds; it’s rare in affordable compact SUVs (Toyota offers a special RAV4 that tows 3,500 pounds), but not uncommon among higher end competitors.
Mazda as yet offers no telematics package like GM OnStar. It will become more and more useful to get real-time updates on road conditions, detours, and restaurant and hotel information. Mazda at least gets current speed information by reading roadside speed limit signs (also stop signs and traffic lights).
There are also little things: BMW and Audi have roller wheels on the steering wheel for adjusting volume or audio choices, which is faster, smoother, and cooler than up-down buttons. It also costs a bit more.
The interior leather trim is either off-white or black; a medium brown or chestnut would be a good in-between choice. For Mazda, the challenge is that every time it offers another choice, there’s more complexity in finding exactly what you want in stock. (Although it’s zero percent now if you want a tobacco-color leather.)
Mazda doesn’t lose all the comparisons. Mazda has LED headlamps standard; BMW offers LED headlamps on the X3 for $1,900. Advantage, Mazda.

Mazda CX-5 pricing: $25,000 to $34,000 all-in

Mazda pricing is on par with most other mainstream compact crossovers. There are three trim lines, or model variants.  The technology builds with each trim line.
CX-5 Sport. $24,985 (including $940 freight), $26,285 with all-wheel-drive. Standard equipment includes LED headlamps, Smart City Brake Support, backup camera, two USB jacks, phone and audio Bluetooth, 7-inch dash mounted LCD, AM/FM/HD radio, and 17-inch alloy wheels. Seats are manual with cloth trim. There are no options packages other than Soul Red Crystal paint: $595 for a dazzling red.
CX-5 Touring. $26,855, $28,155 with AWD. It adds blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, keyless entry, two rear USB jacks, leatherette heated front seats with “lux suede” inserts and six-way power driver’s seat, auto-leveling LED headlamps, six-speaker audio, rear center armrest, and rear HVAC vents. The $780 Preferred Equipment Package adds 10-speaker Bose audio, a moonroof, a power liftgate, navigation, auto-dimming mirrors, Homelink (garage door opener), and auto on/off headlamps. The Touring i-Activsense package, $625, adds lane departure warning, automatic high beams, lane keep-assist, stop and go adaptive cruise control (“radar cruise control”), and smart brake support. Machine Gray Metallic paint is $300, and Snowflake White Pearl is $200.
CX-5 Grand Touring. $30,335, $31,635 with AWD. In addition to the Touring’s standard and optional features, it adds steerable headlamps, LED fog and tail lamps, satellite radio, rain-sensing wipers, heated outside mirrors, eight-way power driver’s seat, leather seats, and 19-inch alloy wheels. The $1,830 Grand Touring package includes a true head up display (“Active Driving Display”) with traffic sign recognition, power front passenger seat, heated outboard rear seats, heated steering wheel, and windshield wiper de-icer.

Is this the compact SUV to buy?

Mazda makes a strong case that its compact crossover has the most features offered at a competitive price. If marriage and a baby make you trade your sports sedan for a small SUV, this is hands-down the best crossover for enthusiasts who don’t want to pay BMW X3, Audi Q5, or Mercedes-Benz GLC kinds of money. A loaded CX-5 is a couple thousand less than a stripped Lexus NX or Acura RDX, the two sales leaders among premium compact SUVs, and about $6,000 less than an zero-options X3. Comparably equipped, a premium compact SUV will be $10,000-$15,000 more, although they’ll likely have better resale value, meaning attractive lease rates.
With the tweaks in the 2017 model, you’ll find the new CX-5 more palatable for passengers who don’t like a firm ride. The interior is upscale. The exterior lines are crisper. The Soul Red Crystal paint is to die for (at almost $600, you might feel a small twinge). The sum of the technology is best-in-category against the CR-V, RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Ford Escape, and Chevrolet Equinox, the five compact SUVs that sold 242,000 (Chevy) to 357,000 units (Honda) last year versus Mazda’s 112,000.
If you value technology, the 2017 Mazda CX-5 is your car. The case for the 2017 CX-5 is best if you’re looking at the very top trim line, the Grand Touring with the Premium package. It shows the most changes from the outgoing 2016.5 CX-5, particularly the adaptive cruise and HUD. The bang-for-the buck CX-5 is the CX-5 Touring with the two options packages that give you lane departure warning, automatic high beams, lane keep-assist, stop and go adaptive cruise control, the power liftgate, premium audio, and the sunroof: just under $30,000, all in.
If you’re not a fan of new technology, then you should also look at leftover 2016 models, making sure that your spouse/partner goes along for the test ride so your both comfortable with how it feels on smooth and bumpy roads. Mazda indeed punches above its weight.

Source: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/245417-will-tech-quieter-cockpit-put-2017-mazda-cx-5-par-audi-bmw

Snap Stock - Shares in Snapchat maker fall below initial trading price and falling

Snap Inc.’s stock market debut last week has been celebrated as a success in the tech world as its share price surged in their first two days on the market. But that optimism doesn’t necessarily extend to Wall Street, where analysts remain doubtful of the company’s current value.

Shares of Snap Inc. opened at $28.17 on Monday morning, up about 4% from their price at the close of market Friday and up 66% from the $17 price paid by investors in Snap’s IPO last week. But they fell just below $24 — Snap’s initial trading price — when the session ended.

That’s still above what Wall Street analysts believe Snap shares are worth. Of seven analysts surveyed by FactSet who cover the stock, none has issued a “buy” rating for Snap, and all have set their fair value estimate or target price between $10 and $23.

“It’s overvalued,” said Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group, a financial analysis firm. “That’s the simple answer.”

Wieser set the year-end target price for Snap’s stock at $10 and gave it a “sell” rating based on his estimates of the company’s future profitability. “To get to the [current] valuation requires willful optimism about the fundamentals,” he said.

In a report on Snap last week, Wieser pointed to the company’s high costs — which include hosting, serving and creating content, as well as sharing revenue with content partners — and its “sub-optimal corporate structure” with relatively inexperienced managers at the helm.

Analysts were also concerned about Snap’s ability to grow and to compete successfully with Facebook, which has 1.2 billion daily active users compared with Snapchat’s 158 million.

Laura Martin, an analyst with Needham & Co., said Snap’s narrow target demographic and bandwidth-intensive app limit its potential audience to young people in first-world countries. She estimated the total size of that audience to be about 650 million, compared with the 3.6 billion for each Google and Facebook.

And even within its core demographic, Snap faces competition from copycats, Martin said.

“If you’re a Snap shareholder, you get hit with all the failures as they experiment and then when they have a win, Facebook copies it,” she said. “They have no protection.”

Instagram, for example, launched its own version of Stories, a Snapchat feature in which users can post a sequence of photos or videos that are available for viewing for 24 hours, last August. Snap’s growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter of 2016.

“The major risk for Snap is the possibility that its coveted demographic of younger users finds Facebook’s collection of apps more appealing than Snap’s and migrates over,” wrote Victor Anthony, an analyst at Aegis Capital Corp., in a report initiating his firm’s coverage of Snap last week.

Adopting Snap-like features doesn’t just mean Facebook can retain or attract young users. Advertisers, too, will stick with the platform.

“Large advertisers still view Snap as experimental,” said Anthony in an interview by phone, but they feel more comfortable with Facebook. “It’s a platform they know whose return is proven,” he said.

That’s a problem for Snap, which, like other social media companies, makes its money from advertisers, not consumers. The bulk of Snap's $400 million in revenue last year came from selling ads that appear on the Snapchat app, and ads are expected to be the main revenue driver for the foreseeable future.

So how come the stock is still trading far above its $17 offering price?

“There’s a lot riding on the success of the Snap IPO,” said Anthony. After a drought of technology IPOs in recent years, investors are hoping this one will succeed and open the floodgates to other tech IPOs, Anthony said.

On top of that, most of the investors who have thus far bought Snap shares are institutional investors — big funds and corporations, such as NBCUniversal, which purchased about 15% of the shares available in last week’s IPO. Many of these investors have committed not to sell their shares for at least a year, Anthony said, meaning there’s a limited supply available, which drives up the price.

And all the buzz around Snap’s IPO may be tempting small and individual investors to buy, said Anthony, pushing up demand.

Though he expressed concerns about Snap’s ability to grow and the formidable competition it faces from Facebook, Anthony said he surveyed several advertisers and found they are eager to get in front of Snap’s coveted demographic.

“We see Snap as a sustained ad share gainer over the next two year,” he wrote. “That alone should lead to share price performance this year.”

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tn-snap-stock-20170306-story.html

Dancing With the Stars 2017: Season 24 celebrity cast and partners revealed on 'GMA’

‘Dancing With the Stars’ 2017: Season 24 celebrity cast and partners revealed on 'GMA’

 The cast of season 24 of the hit reality TV show "Dancing with the Stars" was announced live on "Good Morning America" today.

This year's lineup of stars features decorated Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, legendary figure skater Nancy Kerrigan, and the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Erika Jayne, among other celebrities from music, television and sports, who will all be hitting the dance floor to battle each other for the mirrorball trophy this season.

Biles, who will be dancing with partner Sasha Farber, joins the cast the season after her Olympic teammate, Laurie Hernandez, took home the trophy last season. Hernandez said winning the Mirrorball brought her the "same joy" as winning her Olympic medals. Val Chmerkovskiy, Hernandez's champion partner last season, is back this year, teaming up with "Fifth Harmony" singer Normani Kordei.

The season 24 premiere is the 400th episode of the hit show, and many fan-favorite dancing partners will also be returning to the show, including Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd, who welcomed their first child together just this year. Veteran dancer Kym Herjavec is also back this season, after she took a hiatus following her marriage to her former "DWTS" partner Robert Herjavec.

The celebrities and their partners appeared live on "GMA" today.

The new season of “Dancing With the Stars” premieres on Mon. March 20, 2017 at at 8 p.m. ET.

'Dancing With the Stars' 2017: Fun facts about the new celebrity cast

'Dancing' stars Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd to return to next season of the show

'DWTS' winner Laurie Hernandez had 'same joy' winning mirror ball as she did Olympic medals

Simone Biles with Sasha Farber
The four-time gold medalist will be dancing with partner Sasha Farber.

Simone Biles will compete with pro Sasha Farber on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Simone Biles will compete with pro Sasha Farber on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Bonner Bolton with Sharna Burgess
The professional bull rider and model will be dancing with partner Sharna Burgess.


Bonner Bolton will compete with pro Sharna Burgess, left, on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Bonner Bolton will compete with pro Sharna Burgess, left, on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Charo with Keo Motsepe
The "Chuchi-Chuchi" girl will be dancing with partner Keo Motsepe.


Charo will compete with pro Keo Motsepe on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Chris Kattan with Witney Carson
The "Saturday Night Live" veteran will be dancing with partner Witney Carson.


 Chris Kattan, right, will compete with pro Witney Carson on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Chris Kattan, right, will compete with pro Witney Carson on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

David Ross with Lindsay Arnold
The two-time World Series champion, and the show's first baseball star, will be dancing with partner Lindsay Arnold.


David Ross, right, will compete with pro Lindsay Arnold on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
David Ross, right, will compete with pro Lindsay Arnold on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Erika Jayne with Gleb Savchenko
The dance club musician and "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star will be dancing with partner Gleb Savchenko.


Erika Jayne will compete with pro Gleb Savchenko on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Erika Jayne will compete with pro Gleb Savchenko on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Heather Morris with Maksim Chmerkovskiy
The "Glee" actress will be dancing with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy.


 Heather Morris will compete with pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Heather Morris will compete with pro Maksim Chmerkovskiy on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Mr. T with Kym Herjavec
The former professional wrestler and actor will be dancing with partner Kym Herjavec.


 Mr. T, right, will compete with pro Kym Herjavec on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Mr. T, right, will compete with pro Kym Herjavec on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Nancy Kerrigan with Artem Chigvintsev
The former Olympic figure skater will be dancing with partner Artem Chigvintsev.


 Nancy Kerrigan will compete with pro Artem Chigvintsev on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Nancy Kerrigan will compete with pro Artem Chigvintsev on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Normani Kordei with Valentin Chmerkovskiy
The "Fifth Harmony" singer will be dancing with partner Valentin Chmerkovskiy.


 Normani Kordei will compete with pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Normani Kordei will compete with pro Valentin Chmerkovskiy on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Rashad Jennings with Emma Slater
The NFL player will be dancing with partner Emma Slater.


 Rashad Jennings will compete with pro Emma Slater on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Rashad Jennings will compete with pro Emma Slater on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

Nick Viall with Peta Murgatroyd
The Bachelor will be dancing with pro Peta Murgatroyd.


Nick Viall will compete with pro Peta Murgatroyd on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC
Nick Viall will compete with pro Peta Murgatroyd on the new season of "Dancing With the Stars."

The new season of “Dancing With the Stars” premieres on Mon. March 20, 2017 at at 8 p.m. ET.

Charo will compete with pro Keo Motsepe on the new season of Dancing With the Stars.Craig Sjodin/ABC

Source:  http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/dancing-stars-2017-season-24-celebrity-cast-partners/story?id=45767534

6 things you probably didn’t know about Birthday boy Justin Bieber

After being discovered by a talent manager through his YouTube videos covering songs in 2008, Justin Bieber has gone on to become one of the most notorious and successful musicians of our times. The baby-faced teenager who sprung on to the scene with his debut single 'Baby', has delivered four multi-platinum albums over the course of his career. Much is known about his eccentric habits, relationships and breakups, but here are 6 things that you probably didn't know about the artist who turns 23 today.

1. Birthday boy Justin Bieber loves to watch the re-runs of his favourite sitcom 'Friends':
Even though the show ended its ten year run on TV screens in 2004, Beebs is a big fan of the 62-time Primetime Emmy Awards nominated show. The popstar apparently likes to catch up on re-runs of his favourite show whenever he can.

2. Bieber, who spends $750 on a haircut, once auctioned his cut hair online for $40,668:
A lock of his freshly-chopped locks, which Justin gifted to chat show host Ellen DeGeneres in a signed box after his much talked about buzz cut was put to auction in 2011. The bidding went up all the way to $40,668 and the proceeds were donated to charity.

3. Justin Bieber was born in Canada, today he boasts of more Twitter followers than the population of Canada:
J-Beebs has a current follower count of over 92 million on Twitter, while the population of his home country Canada is 35.15 million according to their 2016 census.

4. Justin can solve the Rubik's cube in less than two minutes!:
In a TV show appearance, JB went on to solve the Rubik's cube in under two minutes. He flaunted his skills again in a recent episode of 'The Late, Late Show with James Corden.'
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5. Birthday boy Justin Bieber is counselled by Will Smith on a weekly basis:

However unlikely it may seem, but his mentor is one of Hollywood's greatest (and most famous) actors. We don't know how the two got connected, but clearly they have a lot in common. On a red-carpet appearance, Will said that he'll be available for the young musician whenever he calls on him for help.


6. The music sensation feels that denim shorts and a tank top is the sexiest thing a woman can wear:

Justin told a popular magazine that he thinks "attitude" is the hottest thing about a girl. The singer also said that he likes when girls wear "booty shorts" and tank tops.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/english/music/news/6-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-birthday-boy-justin-bieber/articleshow/57412313.cms

Kellyanne Conway explains 'disrespectful' Oval Office sofa picture

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Kellyanne Conway has explained she "meant no disrespect" after she was widely criticised for kneeling on a sofa in the Oval Office.
Ms Conway, the senior advisor to President Donald Trump, spoke on Fox News about the backlash she faced for her "disrespectful" stance.

She told Fox:  "These are the presidents and other leaders within the historically black college and universities and they came to visit the White House.

"Of course, just today, the President signed the executive order on HCBU’s and I had an occasion to speak at length to many of those leaders before that picture and after that picture and again today.

 

"And I really want to thank so many of them for coming to my defense because they were in the room and they know I was being asked to take a picture in a crowded room with the press behind us. I was asked to take a certain angle and was doing exactly that. I certainly meant no disrespect, I didn’t mean to have my feet on the couch."
Some questioned why she felt she had to take the picture on her phone instead of asking an official photographer to document the moment.
Ms Conway, who has courted controversy in recent weeks for referring to a fictional "Bowling Green Massacre" to justify the president's travel ban and for promoting Ivanka Trump's brand, was widely lambasted for the way she sat.

Moments after taking a photo herself, she was seen checking her phone, with her legs tucked beneath her on the sofa.

"What are you doing on that couch Kellyanne Conway? Does not look respectful in the Oval Office," one Twitter user said. 
Another said: "To be fair we shouldn't expect people born in barn to know any better. No respect for the highest office."
Kellyanne Conway blamed the media for the furore and spoke about the coverage she receives.

Source:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/01/kellyanne-conway-explains-disrespectful-oval-office-sofa-picture/

BPI (Basketball Power Index)- who are the winners and losers?

Teams that have hurt themselves: Kansas State, Gonzaga, Maryland
Teams that have helped themselves: Providence, SMU, Arkansas
With just less than two weeks to Selection Sunday, every men’s college basketball team is trying to either earn its way into the tournament or prove that it deserves a top seed. Games over the past week provided teams with the opportunities to do just that. Some teams took advantage of those opportunities, and some did not. The Basketball Power Index (BPI), which measures how good a team is looking forward, and strength of record (SOR), which measures how impressive a team’s win-loss record is, can be used to not only provide those pieces of information but also to simulate the rest of the season, tournament seeding and the tournament itself. The results of this week’s games, along with the window into the past and future provided by the metrics, allow us to see some of the biggest winners and losers of the week.
Winner: Southern Methodist University (BPI – 19, SOR – 18)
After upsetting the University of Houston on the road last week, SMU took its 20th BPI ranking into its only game of the week: a road game against 84th-ranked University of Connecticut. BPI gave SMU a 72 percent chance to win that game on the road and projected it would win by five to six points. SMU won, boosted its SOR to 18th and increased its odds of winning the American Conference tournament to 37 percent.
Winner: Providence (BPI – 53, SOR – 44)
Providence followed an impressive week in which it beat higher-ranked teams Butler and Xavier with two more good wins against Creighton on the road and Marquette at home. These wins have boosted Providence’s tournament prospects significantly. Its current SOR of 44 suggests that it has 62 percent chance to make the tournament -- up from just 50 percent before its win over Marquette.
Winner: Arkansas (BPI – 46, SOR – 31)
Much like Providence, Arkansas has had a good two-week stretch. It was ranked 55th in BPI two weeks ago, and since then it has beaten South Carolina, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Auburn. With that stretch of wins, it has moved up to 46th in BPI and, as two of those wins were on the road, now has the 31st most impressive schedule in the country. The win on Saturday at Auburn in fact boosted its odds to make the tournament to 95 percent from 85 percent. Arkansas had only a 6 percent chance of winning its past four games, and those wins have been key to solidifying a spot in the tournament.

Loser: Kansas State (BPI – 42, SOR – 51)
A rough week for Kansas State began with a loss at home to Oklahoma State in which BPI favored Kansas State to win by three. The team followed that with a loss on the road to 77th-ranked Oklahoma in which it was favored to win by 2. Kansas State was 33rd in BPI going into the week and has now slid to 42; worse, its odds to make the tournament have fallen to 14 percent from 39 percent before the Oklahoma game.
Loser: Gonzaga (BPI – 3, SOR – 3)
Gonzaga spoiled its perfect season by dropping a home game to 73rd-ranked BYU at home -- when the Zags were favored to win by nearly 26 points. While the loss certainly does not affect their odds of making the tournament, and while a perfect season is a great story, dropping one game -- even an eminently winnable one to BYU -- is understandable. But it will cost them in their chance to grab a top seed in the tournament. Going into the game against BYU, BPI had Gonzaga in the top spot with a 91 percent chance at landing a No. 1 seed. The loss dropped it to third in BPI and third in SOR, and Gonzaga now has only a 46 percent chance to grab a top seed.
Loser: Maryland (BPI – 49, SOR – 29)
Maryland’s record has exceeded the expectations of its BPI ranking all season, but that seems to be slipping recently. Maryland was 40th in BPI going into a week in which it had two home games. BPI gave it a 70 percent chance to beat Minnesota and an 84 percent chance to beat Iowa. Maryland lost both games, however, by a combined 28 points, pushing it down to 49th overall in BPI and behind such teams as Minnesota and Miami in SOR. Maryland was 40th in BPI and 17th in SOR going into the week and now sits at 49th and 29th, meaning that it might have cost itself significantly in seeding for the tournament. For example, if the tournament were seeded by SOR alone, Maryland would have gone from a 4- or 5-seed a week ago to a 7- or 8-seed this week.

Source: http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/129946/who-were-this-weeks-bpi-winners-and-losers