Ny Judge Orders ‘compassionate Release’ Of Terror Lawyer Lynne Stewart

Koeltl ordered Stewart’s release Tuesday on grounds of compassion after a request from the director of the Bureau of Prisons through the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. The request said that Stewart was entitled to a compassionate release because she had been diagnosed with a terminal, incurable illness, and given less than 18 months to live. “The defendants terminal medical condition and very limited life expectancy constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons that warrant the requested reduction,” Judge Koeltl said in his order reducing Stewart’s sentence to time served. Stewart was convicted in 2005 on charges that she smuggled messages from Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to his followers in Egypt. Stewart had defended Rahman from charges that he conspired to blow up New York City landmarks. Rahman was convicted in 1995. Stewart was sentenced to 10 years in prison, which she had been serving at the Federal Medical Center Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas. “It’s just really wonderful,” Stewart said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. “I’m very grateful to be free. We’ve been waiting months and months and months.” Stewart left the prison late Tuesday with her husband, Ralph Poynter, en route to New York. “It’s a great way to start the new year,” Poynter said. Stewart was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and a court filing said that the cancer had spread to her lungs and bones. A previous compassionate-release request was denied in part on the grounds that Stewart had more than 18 months to live, though the judge said he would act promptly if the Federal Bureau of Prisons agreed she had less than 18 months to live and granted a compassionate-release application. A federal appeals court in 2012 upheld Stewart’s 10-year sentence, saying she earned it through serious crimes that she refused to acknowledge.

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Composite Police Sketches Waning Amid New Technology, But Some Forces Still Rely On Them

Butler 66, New Jersey Tech 48

But now he opts for composite-generating software, which allows officers and witnesses to select features from a database and piece together a single face. Dassoulas creates about 20 to 30 composites a year, half the demand from a decade ago. Montgomery County detective Sgt. Robert Grims, who investigates aggravated assaults, robberies and other violent crimes, said he will keep using composites. Not only does he believe that they help, but he also doesnt want the resource to disappear. I dont envision it scaled back, said Grims, who has become a bigger believer in composites over his 17 years as a criminal investigator. But forensic artist Michael Streed thinks more departments will follow the lead of the District, whose agency doesnt have a sketch artist at all, instead training officers to use software. Streed works for Baltimore city police and is a full-time forensic artist, one of only about 100 in the nation. The role of the police sketch artist will be greatly diminished over time through the use of an effective software solution and the proliferation of surveillance videos, said Streed, who has also developed the composite- generating software Sketch Cop . Theres no standard way for law enforcement agencies to calculate arrest and conviction rates that come with the help of the sketches. And many local composite artists couldnt say how many of their drawings actually helped close cases. Thats a problem, said John Watson, a journalism professor at American University who studies the ethics and effectiveness of composite sketches in the criminal justice system and the media. Inappropriate use of composites contributes to racial profiling, false arrests and wrongful convictions, critics say. There are a bunch of studies that explain in great detail why it doesnt work, but nothing has apparently persuaded people to stop using these things, Watson said.

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Freshman Rene Castro added 10 points off the bench for the Bulldogs (10-2), who improved to 6-0 at home and 9-0 in their home state of Indiana. Kameron Woods grabbed a game-high 12 boards and added three blocks. Damon Lynn led the Highlanders (6-9) with 11 points and Ky Howard added a game-high seven assists. Butlers defense limited New Jersey Tech to fewer than 50 points for the first time this season. Butler opened a 14-4 lead with an early 8-0 run and closed the first half up 29-16 as New Jersey Tech shot just 6-for-28 in the opening 20 minutes. Castro capped the first-half scoring with a layup in transition after Marshall intercepted a Highlanders inbound pass. Bulldogs guard Kellen Dunham was 0-for-5 from 3-point range before knocking one down to slow an 11-3 run by New Jersey Tech midway through the second half. Butler outrebounded the Highlanders 45-27 in a dominant effort. GAME NOTEBOOK: Castro was named high school player of the year in Massachusetts in 2012. His career high is 12 points. Butler made 13-of-23 free throws – an area the Bulldogs have struggled in all season. The Bulldogs open their inaugural Big East schedule on New Years Eve when they host No. 11 Villanova. Tweet this

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Bihar: Political Equations Changing Fast In An Increasingly Complex Situation

Khodorkovsky Will Work to Free Political Inmates

Starting with the humiliating defeat of the JD(U) by the RJD in the Maharajganj Lok Sabha by-election in May, chief minister Nitish Kumar had to walk the tightrope following Narendra Modis elevation as the BJPs prime ministerial candidate and subsequent split in the 17-year-old NDA. After the NDA split, the JD(U) appeared to be exploring a possible tie-up with the Congress, which was cosying up to Nitish Kumar on the issue of special category status for Bihar. In between, the imprisonment of RJD chief Lalu Prasad in a fodder scam case strengthened the impression that the JD(U) and the Congress would eventually form an alliance against the BJP in Bihar. It was understood that the RJD vote bank, particularly Muslims and Yadavs, would split, with Muslims going for the JD(U)-Congress combination and the Yadavs opting for a party or combination with the potential to defeat the JD(U)-Congress alliance. But the Congress debacle in four states and almost-simultaneous release of Lalu Prasad on bail seem to have upturned political equations in Bihar, triggering a realignment of forces, with the Congress rethinking its strategy and the JD(U) distancing itself from the Congress. Kumars aggressive stance against the Congress is an indication of his changed strategy. He seems to be inspired by the success of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi assembly polls. Discounting the Narendra Modi factor in the BJPs victory in Delhi, he said, The BJP performed only in states where it was in direct fight with the Congress. Similarly, the JD (U) will be the only non-Congress and non-BJP alternative in Bihar. As the major political parties are busy contemplating alliances, all of them are besieged with the problem of retaining their respective vote banks. The JD(U), which roped in some criminals-turned-politicians into the party fold recently, soon shooed them away when rivals questioned the state governments much-publicised plank of improving the law and order situation. Another big task before the JD(U) is to keep its vote bank of backward castes, extremely backward castes and mahadalits intact. Besides, with Lalus entry into the poll arena, the JD(U) will face a challenge in winning Muslim support. The RJD too is faced with the challenge of retaining its Muslim voters in view of Kumars desperate bid to make an inroad into the community after dumping the BJP. The RJD chief also needs to keep its support intact among the powerful Rajputs, who supported him in the Maharajganj bypoll. The BJP is banking on its traditional vote base of upper castes and a section of backward castes, including the trading class.

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The location was one of the main crossing points from East Berlin to West Berlin during the Cold War. Calm and composed in a dark blue suit, with only his shaved head betraying his recent incarceration, Khodorkovsky said his release shouldn’t be mistaken as a sign that there are no more political prisoners in Russia. “You should see me as a symbol of the fact that the efforts of civil society can lead to the release also of those people whose freedom was never expected by anyone,” he said. Khodorkovsky thanked the media, human rights groups and Western politicians who played a role in securing his release by drawing constant attention to his case. He said they also helped him keep up his spirits during the long ordeal. “The most important thing for a prison inmate is hope,” he said, speaking in Russian. It’s not clear when, if ever, Khodorkovsky would return to Russia. Hinting that he may have retained some of his vast fortune, Khodorkovsky also ruled out reviving the business career that once made him Russia’s richest man. “My financial situation doesn’t require me to work just to earn some more money,” Khodorkovsky said Sunday, explaining his future focus on political prisoners. Khodorkovsky was convicted in 2003 for tax evasion and money-laundering in cases that were widely criticized as revenge for his political activities. He faced a second trial and prison sentence in 2010, and was not due to be released from prison until next August. He was serving his sentence at a penitentiary in the northwestern region of Karelia before his surprise release and flight to Berlin in a private jet on Friday.

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China Money Rates Surge As Banks Struggle To Meet Demand

and Guotai Junan, two of Chinas three biggest securities firms by assets, predict the central bank will refrain from using open-market operations to inject funds this week. There will likely be a limited amount of reverse-repurchase contracts offered at tomorrows auction, said Li Ning , a bond analyst in Shanghai at Haitong Securities Co., the second-largest brokerage. The Peoples Bank of China has refrained from offering reverse repos in its Tuesday and Thursday money-market operations for almost three weeks, the longest pause since July. Targeted Injections The monetary authority is instead tackling the cash crunch using short-term liquidity operations that supply funds to unnamed banks and said Dec. 20 more than 300 billion yuan ($49 billion) was added in three days. The banking systems excess reserves exceed 1.5 trillion yuan, a historically high level for this period of the year, the PBOC advised. The one-year interest-rate swap, the fixed payment needed to receive the floating seven-day repo rate, increased three basis points to 5.08 percent as of 4:43 p.m. in Shanghai . It earlier touched 5.13 percent, the highest in Bloomberg data going back to 2006. Seasonal factors , coupled with a delay of fiscal fund transfers from the central bank, fueled the market concern, leading to a spike of the rates, said Chen Peng, a Shenzhen-based analyst at Fortune Securities Co. Chinas central government usually allots funds to local administrations at year-end, boosting the availability of cash at commercial banks. The reluctance to use open-market operations reflects the central banks belief there is still ample liquidity in the financial system given capital inflows and the likelihood of sizable fiscal deposits in coming days, Barclays Plc economists Jian Chang and Jerry Peng wrote in a note dated Dec. 21. Inflows, Yuan Chinas net capital inflows amounted to $110 billion in the last three months, according to a Bloomberg estimate, as the yuan appreciated 0.4 percent. The currency has strengthened 0.4 percent this month, a performance second only to India s rupee in Asia , and closed today at a 20-year high of 6.0702 per dollar in Shanghai.

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RPT-Hedge funds lose out to equities, again

Total net inflows by the end of November topped $71 billion, almost double last year, eVestment said in a report this week. Combined with performance gains, this has raised industry assets to $2.8 trillion, 3 percent below its all-time high. Institutional investors are fuelling the inflows, believing that when markets skid hedge funds will offer them the best protection from losses on their stock and bond holdings. “Hedge funds need a year when you get more differentiation across markets. Maybe next year will bring that, but if funds still can’t perform better, then what can managers say ?,” Botero said. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Click For Restrictions – http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp RELATED VIDEOS DATA PROVIDERS Copyright 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved. Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Morningstar Inc . Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Morningstar Inc . Quotes delayed by up to 15 minutes, except where indicated otherwise.

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Facebook Acquires Sportstream To Increase Sports Chatter By Providing News Outlets With Cleaner Data

SportStream is a product of Paul Allen-backed news aggregator, Evri, which first launched its suite of sports applications for iOS and Android devices in September of 2011. Evris patented semantic matching algorithms formed the foundation of SportStream, eventually providing sports fans with a ready-made stream of personalized, realtime news updates from a range of sources. The app also allowed fans to bring their social feeds into the conversation, tweet highlights, view in-game scores, and tailor their mobile content streams to focus on their favorite teams, players and topics. After finding plenty of demand for this kind of personalized content experience, SportStream raised $3.5 million from Paul Allens Vulcan Capital in the summer of 2012 and spun out of Evri, becoming an independent company. Since then, the new mobile sports startup has continued to solidify its relationships with the providers of its social data, leading to the announcement last month , in which Facebook chose SportStream as an API partner, giving SportStream deeper access to sports-related data from the social network. As Josh explained at the time, when people post about sports, the problem is jumbled data. When you write RG3 touchdown, you mean Robert Griffin the third scored a touchdown for the Washington Redskins NFL football team. Facebook cant parse that, but SportStream can.By making its sports data easier to understand, Facebook might get more outlets and teams to use it. Facebook hopes the perception that its a home for real-time event chatter will trickle down to users. Over the last few years, Facebook has been looking to strengthen its media partnerships and, in so doing, has allowed media organizations (like CNN, Buzzfeed, Fox News, NBC and Slate, to name a few) to access its data more easily. The hope is that networks like CNN will begin pulling status updates into their broadcasts, for example, and that its partners will begin to find new ways to incorporate Facebooks enormous repository of social data into their content initiatives. Of course, for media networks, making sense of Facebooks massive social stream has traditionally been too steep of a hill to climb. But, in the case of sports content, at least, acquiring SportStream allows Facebook to fling open those doors and make it simpler for its media partners to parse its social data. While terms of the acquisition werent disclosed, from what weve heard, SportStreams product will continue to live on and the startup continue its work with the fifty plus teams and news outlets to which it already provides data.

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China Bans Payment Companies From Clearing Bitcoin, News Says

Companies currently offering services must end services by the Chinese New Year, a weeklong holiday that begins on Jan. 31, the newspaper cited Zhou Jinhuang, deputy director of payment clearance at the Peoples Bank of China, as saying at a meeting with more than 10 third-party payment service providers. Chinas central bank regulated the virtual currency for the first time on Dec. 5 by banning financial institutions and payment providers from conducting transactions in the virtual currency. Zhou was cited as saying by China Business News that the rules would be strictly enforced. The PBOC statement on Dec. 5 was somewhat vague and there is more clarity now, Zennon Kapron, managing director of financial consultancy Kapronasia, said in an interview in Shanghai. The way its reading now is that after the Chinese New Year, you wont be able to get your money off the platforms. The PBOCs news department didnt immediately comment on the Bitcoin report when contacted by Bloomberg News. Two calls to Li Yue, director general of the central banks payment and settlement department, were unanswered. Bank Ban Bitcoin prices on BTC China, Chinas largest exchange, plunged to as low as 3,251 yuan ($535) today before rebounding to 4,155 yuan at 4:16 p.m. local time. The drop in prices was triggered by concern that PBOC officials may visit lenders next to enforce the ban against Bitcoin settlement, Kapron said. The number of banks and payment providers that can transact Bitcoin has shrunk since the ban was announced, he said. Bitcoin prices on the CoinDesk index jumped as much as 11 times since October, prompting former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to call the market a bubble. Speculation that authorities in China may halt trading in Bitcoin surfaced after police arrested three people on suspicion of stealing money from investors through a fake online exchange. GBL, a Bitcoin trading platform in China that began operating in May and had 4,493 registered users at the end of September, abruptly closed on Oct. 26, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Dec. 3., citing police in eastern Zhejiang privinces Dongyang city.

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10 News Media Content Trends To Watch In 2010

We’ll see social TV take center stage in 2010. 9. Marketers as Producers Marketers are also beginning to skip the journalist as a middleman to produce their message and are instead producing it themselves. Mike Sprouse , chief marketing officer at Epic Advertising , started a 28-page monthly (printed) magazine called Winning the Web . The magazine includes commentary and content on emerging trends in online marketing, and is produced by just two people working full-time. It’s distributed to about 3,000 people and is completely free. Sprouse sees more marketers and other professionals in general moving into the direction of producing content themselves. He said most companies have a blog or a Facebook page, and going into the coming year, more companies will shift to produce content themselves in a thought leadership approach. 10. Social News Gaming With social gaming sites growing in popularity ( Facebook’s Farmville is bigger than Twitter ), news media companies will surely experiment with creating their own social news gaming applications. Social gaming is highly addictive and if a news organization were to effectively execute their own game, it could serve as a way to keep news consumers coming back and a way to present stories or information in new ways. NBC introduced a social media game for its series Chuck called Chuck Me Out that lets users gain points for spreading news about the show or getting friends to watch it.

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Consumers to Rethink Priorities in 2014, Ford Trend Report Reveals

Against this backdrop, Looking Further with Ford 2014 uncovers people’s desire to have downtime to reflect on what matters most friends, family and community.This evokes nostalgia as consumers remember the comfort and character associated with the way things were. “There is no escaping the impact both positive and negative of the rapid pace of technology. What is more fascinating to watch in 2014 is how a culture of reflection is emerging,” said Sheryl Connelly, Ford global trend and futuring manager. “We are seeing a consumer culture that is increasingly mindful of the need to nurture society’s valuable and irreplaceable resources.” Looking Further with Ford Ford monitors shifts in social, technological, economic, environmental and political arenas to understand what drives consumer attitudes and behaviors and how these attitudes and behaviors can impact the automotive category. Insights from the annual trend report then guide Ford Motor Company designers, engineers and marketers in development of future Ford products and services. Looking Further with Ford 2014 focuses on a broad range of micro trends that affect businesses and consumers. The insights revealed reflect years of qualitative and quantitative research and collaboration with thought leaders from around the world. “Understanding our customers and their evolving needs is key to Ford’s accelerated growth plan and new vehicle development,” said Connelly. “Consumer insights and trends help guide our product strategies and the development of vehicles that not only exceed customer expectations, but also connect with the rapidly changing landscape of our society.” 10 trends for 2014 Ford’s 10 trends expected to influence consumers and brands in the coming year include: Innovation’s Quiet Riot: Fast-paced and disruptive innovation is becoming increasingly institutionalized and ubiquitous fundamentally changing the way consumers work, play and communicate Old School: Consumers are romanticizing how things used to be, finding comfort and connection in products, brands and experiences that evoke nostalgia Meaningful vs. the Middle Man: Seeking more intimate connections with retailers and service providers, consumers are hunting for stories of identity and meaning in their products and services Statusphere: Across the globe, consumers are broadening the ways they display their wealth sometimes it screams, sometimes it whispers upending traditional expressions of status and influence Vying for Validation: In a world of hyper-self-expression, chronic public journaling and other forms of digital expression, consumers are creating a public self that may need validation even more than their authentic self Fear of Missing Out/Joy of Missing Out: A tug of war is emerging as the traditional FOMO is challenged by the JOMO. On one end, consumers are persevering to take advantage of everything at their disposal. On the other, they are mindful of the need to focus on, and enjoy, what matters most Micro Moments: With so much information at our fingertips, downtime has given way to filling every moment with bite-sized chunks of information, education and entertainment seemingly packing our lives with productivity Myth of Multitasking: In an increasingly screen-saturated, multitasking modern world, more and more evidence is emerging to suggest that when we do everything at once, we sacrifice the quality and often safety of each thing we do Female Frontier: Profiles of women have reached new prominence; demographic shifts are changing household dynamics and definitions. Together, women and men will redefine roles and responsibilities in 2014 Sustainability Blues: The world has been fixated on going green, and now the attention is shifting beyond recycling and eco-chic living to a growing concern for the power and preciousness of the planet’s water Please click here for the Ford 2014 Trend Report. About Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company , a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 180,000 employees and 65 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln.

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Monday Morning Headlines – Ktiv News 4 Sioux City Ia: News, Weather And Sports

Kick Off: All the latest headlines after Sporting Kansas City win 2013 MLS Cup

excited about the world of science and technology. This year’s challenge was Nature’s Fury, exploring what can happen when a natural disaster strikes a community. Teams from around the region gathered at West High School to put their robots to the test. They were judged on core values, challenge project, robot design and the robot game. Monday-Morning-HeadlinesMonday Morning Headlines More>> Daycare owner saves seven children in van fire The babysitter pulled the van over immediately when she saw smoke and unloaded the children, ages one to six. More >> The babysitter pulled the van over immediately when she saw smoke and unloaded the children, ages one to six. More >> Mt. lion killed in Northwest Iowa The DNR says it was necessary to kill the animal because it was near houses with children. More >> The DNR says it was necessary to kill the animal because it was near houses with children. More >> Madison Star-Mail According to company spokesperson Gary Mickelson, an exterior heating unit caught fire. More >> Fire crews were called to the Tyson pork plant in Madison, Nebraska Friday night.According to company spokesperson Gary Mickelson, an exterior heating unit caught fire.Mickelson says there was do damage to the building. The plant operated as normal on Saturday. More >> Ireton, IA fire leaves family without a home Crews from Ireton, Hawarden, and Sioux Center were on the scene at 405 Main Street for several hours.

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Headlines: US Government Shuts Down, World Says, ‘Meh’

DEMPSEY DECISION SOON It seems well know soon enough what Dempsey will be doing this offseason. With the US star suggesting his situation could be finalized this week . However, that doesnt mean Dempsey will necessarily be going anywhere, as the player has spoken about trying to make sure my body is just right ahead of a busy 2014. 7. GROUPS OF PERIL? The USA werent the only ones to land a tough group though. Mexico landed in Brazil’s group, although with Cameroon and Croatia rounding out the teams, you could argue their odds are more favorable . Honduras and Costa Rica certainly didnt get easy groups either while Tim Cahills Australia side will face Spain and the Netherlands, encounters whichtheRed Bulls’ staris relishing . 8. FRIENDLY ENCOUNTERS Now that the groups are set for next summer and each nation knows who theyll be facing, they can go about making preparations. Foe England this will apparently involve two games in Miami, including one against the USA .

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News of the U.S. shutdown has yet to crack the front pages of many major newspapers around the globe. Irans two major state-run news agencies, for instance, have barely mentioned it. The same goes for Pakistans major English-language paper, Dawn, and leading Urdu outlet, Jang. In London, The Times and The Guardian did not feature U.S. shutdown news on front pages Friday. But around the world, the budget stalemate is beginning to generate some negative headlines for the U.S. political system, economy and currency. Heres a look at some of them: GERMANY: Der Spiegel rounds up criticism of the shutdown. Credit: Der Spiegel GERMANY: In its subheadline, Handelsblatt warns of irreparable loss of confidence in the dollar if spending and the debt limit arent dealt with. The headline translates to U.S. dollar budget dispute accelerated decline, according to Google. Credit: Handelsblatt FRANCE: An editorial in Le Monde warns, in its headline: Jefferson, wake up, they became fools! Credit: Le Monde ISRAEL: Haaretz shows an Associated Press photo of a woman protesting at the U.S. Capitol. Credit: Haaretz SRI LANKA: As evidence of the shutdowns global embarrassment, the U.S. State Dept.

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Assisted Living Expansion Planned In Front Royal

Living Building standards “like LEED on steroids”

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 | Posted: 6:56 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 Assisted living expansion planned in Front Royal Sponsored Links The Associated Press CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. Commonwealth Assisted Living plans a $1.5 million expansion of its assisted living community in Front Royal. The expansion of The Southerlands includes a second elevator, renovation of a ground-floor dining area and an open stairway in the entrance lobby. Commonwealth Assisted Living says the expansion will create up to 10 jobs. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2014. The Daily Progress (http://bit.ly/1bj4YOL ) reports that the company announced the project Wednesday. Charlottesville-based Commonwealth Assisted Living and its affiliates operate 18 senior living communities in Virginia. ___ Information from: The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com Copyright The Associated Press

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5:51 pm Section: Real Deal The Bullitt Center in Washington State is considered the greenest office building in the world. But with news of the Living Building Challenge spreading – information about the environmentally-conscience building system has just been translated into French green architects and developers are all abuzz over flower power. Modeled on a flowers petals, Living Buildings use zero net water and zero net energy. With only six buildings in the world now certified Living Building, the standard is more stringent than LEEDs highest level of certification, Platinum. Think of it as LEED on steroids, explains Joel Courchesne, a Montreal architect and member of the Living Building Challenges ambassador network. On Wednesday, the U.S.-based Living Building Challenge unveiled a French version of its latest standard 2.1 – in Montreal. (La version francaise doit etre disponible ici sous peu.) The Maison du developpement durable in downtown Montreal is Quebecs first building to get LEED Platinum certification. But a Canadian building has yet to meet Living Buildings standards which are explained in this video. Unlike LEED where buildings get points based on a checklist and inspection upon completion structures cant be called Living Buildings unless you prove the systems still work after a year. At one office building in Washington State, for example, solar panels generate energy and rain water collected from the roof, stored in an underground cistern for the buildings needs. Zero net energy during a Canadian winter? Now that will take a whole lot of creativity. alampert@montrealgazette.com

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Northern Territory Strengthens Ties With Melbourne Demons

The Melbourne Football Club is pleased to announce that it has extended its partnership with Tourism NT. As part of the agreement, Melbourne will play three games in the Northern Territory next season and will have the Tourism NT branding appear on the Clubs playing shorts. Melbournes three games in the Northern Territory will see the Club play the first AFL match for premiership points in Alice Springs, the now traditional game in Darwin for the fifth consecutive year, as well as a NAB Cup game in Alice Springs in February. Tourism NT is the promotional and development agency of the Northern Territory Government. The Club has had an ongoing relationship with the Top End dating back to 2010, when the Club first played a home game in Darwin. Melbournes partnership with Tourism NT was elevated at the start of 2013 when it became a commercial partner of the Club, and this agreement will see it remain at Melbourne until at least the end of 2014. Past player Russell Robertson will act as an Ambassador for the Tourism NT partnership. Northern Territory Minister for Tourism Matt Conlan said the agreement was a win/win for both parties. After years of declining tourism numbers in the NT, we are finally starting to improve our position and extending this agreement will help us kick even more goals, Mr Conlan said. The previous sponsorship agreement was crucial in Melbourne securing three games in the NT in 2014, including two games for premiership points. That will lead to leveraging tourism and business event opportunities from telecasts in Darwin and Alice Springs. It’s also important to have an affinity with one of Australia’s much loved sports and even more so where it aligns with our target markets in Melbourne and Sydney.

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About 1,100 jobs cut as Rio Tinto suspends production at Gove alumina refinery in the Northern Territory

The decision comes after the company abandoned plans to convert its refinery to gas power and announced it was reviewing future operations. In a statement released to the share market, Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh said it was a “sad day for everyone associated with Gove.” “It has been an extremely difficult decision and we recognise it will have a significant impact on our employees, the local community and the Northern Territory,” he said. “There is no doubt it is a challenging path ahead. We are working in partnership with the Northern Territory and Australian Governments, the broader community and Traditional Owners to identify initiatives to create new opportunities for the people of Nhulunbuy.” Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles is travelling to Nhulunbuy, where a community meeting has been held. Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Rio Tinto has a moral and legal obligation to offer to support to the town. “The people who I feel very sorry for are those who have bought homes and businesses in Gove on the expectation of a very vibrant, ongoing continuing economy, and who are now in a very difficult position,” he said. “I think these are the people who Rio does have a moral debt to if not necessarily a legal debt.” The Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss says the government will do what it can to reduce the economic impact of the refinery closure. But he warns it will be difficult to fill the gap left by such a large employer. “It will be very difficult for Commonwealth or State governments to replace a 1,000 jobs any time quickly,” he said. “There will be an adverse community impact and I regret that. The company and respective governments have been talking about the way forward. “Those discussions have been constructive but sadly they haven’t been fruitful in the end.” Low alumina prices and high dollar behind decision Rio Tinto’s statement says production will continue at the plant until early next year. “Key factors influencing the decision were continuing low alumina prices, a high exchange rate and substantial after-tax losses for the refinery despite considerable efforts to improve refinery performance during that time,” the statement said. “A priority will be establishing long-term certainty for the bauxite operation and its 350 employees and contractors.” Rio Tinto says all “practical scenarios” were considered for continuing alumina production.

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