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MONCTON, New Brunswick – Royal Canadian Mounted Police combed the streets and woods of this normally tranquil city Thursday in search of a man suspected of killing three officers in the deadliest attack on their ranks in nearly a decade.
The suspect, 24-year-old Justin Bourque, was armed with high-powered long firearms. He was spotted three times while eluding the massive manhunt that emptied roads and kept families hunkered in their homes in Moncton, an east coast city where gun violence is rare.
Dozens of police officers could be seen in a part of the search perimeter with their weapons drawn, some glancing around buildings. Others, including members of a tactical unit, were patrolling streets within the cordoned off area. Armored security trucks were also visible.
"Our search for the suspect is still ongoing," RCMP Cpl. Chantal Farrah told a news conference Thursday afternoon. "Our focus remains in the mountain north area."
Police urged residents to keep their doors locked and to turn on exterior lights to help the search.
"Stay at home, bar your doors and be vigilant," Farrah said. "I know it's hard for families. You are in your house, you are locked, you have your kids, you want to go outside. But the police are saying to stay in."
Police were using air support, tactical teams and canine units, she said. Several hundred officers from New Brunswick and elsewhere from across Canada were involved.
"We have deployed a large amount of resources from here and elsewhere, and we are well-equipped to face this situation," Farrah said.
Bourque was spotted three times around the search area Thursday morning, said Commander Marlene Snowman.
Bourque was wearing military camouflage and carrying two rifles in a picture released by police on Twitter.
At one point, he was seen coming in and out of a wooded area, Snowman said. "He's capable of moving into the wooded area and out," she said.
Investigators have not determined a motive for the shooting Wednesday evening, in which three officers were killed while responding to a call about an armed man. Two other officers were wounded.
Police did not identify the dead or injured officers.
Canada's Parliament observed a moment of silence and the flag on Parliament Hill flew at half-mast.
It was the deadliest attack on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police since four officers were killed by a gunman on a farm in the western Canadian province of Alberta in 2005. That attack remains the deadliest on Canadian police officers in 120 years.
Snowman said Bourque was not known to police.
Schools and government offices were closed, and the city pulled its buses off the roads. Mail delivery was suspended.
Police commandeered armored trucks and told residents to stay indoors.
Commanding Officer Roger Brown said the two wounded officers underwent surgery for non-life-threatening injuries Thursday and he met with their families. One was later released from hospital.
"The RCMP family is hurting. As is Moncton, New Brunswick and our country," Brown said.
The homicides were the first this year in this city of 69,000 people about 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of the Maine border. RCMP Constable Damien Theriault said Moncton had no homicides last year.
Police released a map of a large portion of the northwest section of the city, including a heavily wooded area, where they wanted people to remain indoors with their doors locked. Families hunkered down in their basements.
Tim Holt said he and his daughter had been locked down in their home for hours. Holt's wife worked late Wednesday and wasn't allowed to join her family.
"I've just been locked in with my baby girl," Holt said by telephone as his 1-year-old daughter Leigha babbled in the background.
A few blocks away, Conrad Gagnon, 53, said he was playing a video game in his living room when he spotted a man through a window.
"It was like he was meditating on something and talking … like somebody on drugs and living in his own world," he said. "He was talking to himself. I saw his lips moving."
Shortly afterward, Gagnon said he heard gunfire.
"I heard five or six shots, and after that another five or six shots," he said.
Kerry Fitzpatrick, who lives half a block away from Bourque and heard gunfire ring out on Wednesday, said he met Bourque in 2010 when they were both working at the same warehouse. Fitzpatrick hadn't seen him much since he quit that job two years later, but stopped by Bourque's place five days ago after hearing he had gotten a new job at a food depot. Bourque lived in a trailer home with a male roommate, Fitzpatrick said.
"He seemed fine, it was a normal conversation," Fitzpatrick told The Associated Press on Thursday by phone from his home, where he was on lockdown. Fitzpatrick said Bourque "obviously had things on his mind," based on a stretch of recent Facebook posts about guns and the police.
"It was never something that we took serious because we actually know him, as friends," he said. "He lost it. The guy lost it."
Fitzpatrick said he heard Wednesday's shooting from inside his home and then walked to Bourque's place when he heard it might be him. The door was open and Bourque's wallet was on the table, he said.
Fitzpatrick said Bourque had a collection of guns and was "an avid hunter" of birds, deer and moose.
"He never missed a season," Fitzpatrick said.
Such violence is rare in Canada, particularly on the east coast.
The three officers were the first Canadian police killed in the line of duty since March 2013, when a police officer in northern Quebec was shot after responding to a domestic violence call.
According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police website, the last officer to die from a gunshot wound was on Nov. 5, 2007.
In 1974, two Moncton officers were kidnapped, shot and killed after making a traffic stop.
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update #2: and another port, basilisk ported his game bumble, see below. F'ing A!
update: twbompo already ported his game QB :D, see below
I wrote a GWT backend for libgdx over the weekend and ported Super Jumper. Click on the below screenshot to try it out. You need Firefox/Safari/Chrome/Opera 11 with WebGL support. You can also run it in Opera Mobile on Android or on the Xperia Play browser. If nothing shows up, please check if WebGL works on your browser/OS/GPU combination, e.g. by trying some of the WebGL experiments. If nothing helps, i'm afraid your browser/OS/GPU isn't cool enough. Use your mouse to navigate through the "menus", use the left and right arrow key to move the dude ones you clicked on "Ready?".
Stefan Wagner, alias twbompo, already ported his game QB. Click the image below:
And here's another quick port by basilisk from Molded Bits.
What's done
- Graphics fully implemented, full GL ES 2.0 capabilities. There's some space for optimizations.
- Input 90% implemented, need a solution for Input#getTextInput()
- Files 80% implemented, files are preloaded before the app starts. They will be fetched from the browser cache on second startup. Files are accessed via Gdx.files.internal, so your code can stay the same. Currently you can't read binary files, i'll try to work around that with a few tiny tricks, no promises.
- Most of the graphisc classes like Mesh, ShaderProgram, SpriteBatch, TextureAtlas, BitmapFont and so on are fully working
- All of the math classes are fully supported.
- Almost all collections in utils/
- More stuff i forgot.
You can check out this file to see which libgdx classes you can currently use. I have to gradually include more classes and check if everthing still works.
What's left to do
- Audio, most likely leveraging Sound Manager 2 which falls back to Flash if the audio tag doesn't work
- Preferences and local files, most likely implemented via the Web Storage APIs.
- Binary file support. This one is a bit harder to do with regards to caching, but it should be possible. XmlHttpRequest to the rescue (screw IE)
- Making sure the rest of libgdx compiles and works (scene2d, some stuff in the packages utils and g3d).
- Figuring out a good way to embed GWT apps into any web page
What i'd like to integrate eventually
- Web Sockets. The GWT Quake 2 port did i, so can we. This would mean the inclusion of a new module for libgdx that provides networking capabilities. So far this was unnecessary as all backends have access to the standard Java networking classes.
- Mobile HTML5 apis, e.g. anything that PhoneGap exposes (multi-touch, accelerometer etc).
- App cache support, so you can play offline.
What you won't be able to do with the GWT backend
- Native code, obviously. That also means no Box2D, unless you use JBox2D or the cleaned up version by the PlayN guys.
- Concurrency, Javascript is single threaded, there's no way to do anything fancy. However, we can easily abstract things like http requests via callbacks. Web workers seem to be in their infancy at the moment, and communication is done via message passing. A Java-compatible version of that is unlikely (e.g. concurrency primitives you usually work with won't be available)
- All the caveats of GWT apply. Reflection is not available, which is a pain because our awesome Json class relies heavily on reflection. A lot of standard Java classes aren't available either in GWT. I did my best to port over a few crucial ones, like most of the java.io and java.nio package from Harmony/Avian/gwt-quake-2. Big shout out to those projects, and Stefan Haustein in particular, who did a lot of ground-work with gwt-quake. Standing on the shoulder of giants here 🙂
- Local file storage will be limited. I'm new to this html5 stuff, but if i'm correct, then you can store just a few mb on the client side.
- Other things i overlooked so far, e.g. integration of in-app purchases and so on. Given that we use GWT, the simple interface approach you already use on Android/desktop should work here as well.
Where's the code?
In SVN. Check out the gdx-tests-gwt project and the superjumper projects. If you want to play around with things, check out the SVN trunk, import everything into Eclipse, make sure GWT is installed and away you go. I'll post a full guide how to setup a desktop/android/gwt project once i'm done with the above list. Note that running GWT projects in hosted mode is terribly slow and not representative of the real performance. Think Android emulator…
What about PlayN?
After Google I/O last year i contacted the guys. They were not really interested in a collaboration (yeah, i was kinda disappoint). They were aware of libgdx at the time, which is unsurprising given both frameworks have a very similar architecture and target audience (it's a pretty obvious design choice :)). Here's why i think that libgdx might be more valuable in the end. It is also not meant as an attack on the project, i sincerely like what they guys pulled off (especially their non-Google contributors which seem to keep the project going). The work Ray Cromwell did on the GWT backend is fantastic, he's a beast 🙂 Take the following as a justification for me to invest time in the GWT backend.
PlayN doesn't expose OpenGL directly, as they fall back to Canvas or a DOM renderer if WebGL is not available, a good choice if you want to stay as compatible as possible. This might also be a wise decision should WebGL not get the adoption it deserves. With the GWT backend i do not aim for maximum compatibility. WebGL is a requirement, so IE is out (unless you use Google Chrome Frame maybe). I place my bet on WebGL, hence the full exposure of the GLES 2.0 like API in the backend, which enables you to do anything graphically. update: Stefan Haustein just send me a mail, he's now working on PlayN (a good thing ™) and will add a GL ES 2.0 interface.
The Android port seems to have a few performance problems, which given the age of the framework is more than forgivable. This is something that can be solved over time. Libgdx does not sacrifice anything in that regard, it's probably as fast as can be given it's Dalvik/JVM heritage.
The Flash port is basically dead, which is kinda sad. In my opinion this was the big point for PlayN, Flash is everyhwere, HTML5 not yet.
There's currently an iOS port in the works, based on IKVM and MonoTouch (sounds familiar?). I'm not sure if this will allow to debug the transformed Java/CLI code in MonoDevelop, but if it does it's a pretty cool thing. What's less cool is that MonoTouch costs 399$ in its most basic version. My work on the Avian based iOS backend is currently on ice, i can't stem all of the work i'd like to do at the moment. Avian would mean no debugging support (unless i can add a JDWP bridge, which is unlikely, Avian is a complex beast). It currently also means no FPU support, the ARM backend emits software float code. An ARM emitter with FPU support is in the works it seems, not sure about it's current state. There's a lot of drawbacks using Avian, but in the end it is fun to do something a tad bit more complex from time to time, and it would mean i don't have to pay for MonoTouch. PlayN has an easier time targeting other platforms like consoles should the Mono port come to fruitation. Avian can be made to work there as well, however, the dependency on OpenGL is a major drawback.
The build system of PlayN seems to be based on Maven with all its benefits and complexities. At the moment it seems to put off beginners, eventually that might be a big plus for PlayN. The more platforms you support, the harder it can be to setup a project. Whether Maven is the way to go in terms of dependency managment and project setup is another story. At the moment it seems to be hard to escape the claws of Maven.
Documentation is a big issue, for both projects. I like to think that we are a tad bit ahead in that regard, i might be totally wrong. Our forums seem to be filled with a lot of knowledgable people that actually help out, we have a few video tutorials to help absolute newcomers and mostly complete java docs. For libgdx, i think we are on the right track. We still lack a unified tutorial/dev guide system. PlayN is still in the process of gathering a community. Again, the age of the project probably plays a major role in that regard, and given time this can and will improve.
In the end it's a matter of taste and targets. Choose your poison 🙂

subset: commoncrawl


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The repeated overlap on the calendar of Christianity's Easter week and the eight days of Judaism's Passover calls attention to evolving tension between the two monotheistic religions.
For almost 2,000 years there has been suspicion on both sides about the way Christians mark the death and resurrection of Jesus and Jews' celebrate Passover in the name of liberation.
In Europe's most bloody medieval centuries, some church leaders demonized Jews by claiming they kidnapped Christian children, using their blood to make Passover matzah, an unleavened bread.
Even though those hate-filled days are largely gone in this era of interfaith dialogue, Jews today continue to bridle when many Christians act as if "The Last Supper" of Jesus was actually a Passover meal.
Some Jews, not all, also cringe when well-meaning Christians conduct their own versions of the Passover dinner, which has come to be called a Seder, to get a taste of Jesus's original Jewish life.
Can these two monotheistic religions find reconciliation over their sacred meals?
This year the eight days of Passover, which commemorate the ancient Hebrews' Exodus story of escape from Egypt, began Tuesday with Seder dinners.
The holy week of Easter, meanwhile, began in the West on April 17th.
What should Jews make of synagogue gift shops in North America increasingly noting that Christians are coming in prior to Easter to buy Passover paraphernalia, including matzah?
Virtually all Jews criticize evangelistic Christians who today co-opt the Seder meal to try to convert Jews, including by claiming one of the matzahs represents the body of Jesus.
However, many Jews respect how moderate Christians have in recent decades been trying to embrace the Passover meal to accentuate the value of freedom and show solidarity with Jesus's roots.
The meal conflict appears to have started a few decades after the death of Jesus.
That's when some gospel writers began reporting that Jesus's last supper took place at a Passover meal in Jerusalem.
Classic church tradition went on to call that momentous evening "Maundy Thursday," or "Holy Thursday" – the night in which Jesus took wine and bread and told his disciples it was his blood and body, to be shared in remembrance of him.
However, in recent decades some Christian denominations have been softening on whether Jesus was indeed attending a ritual Passover supper the night before he was crucified.
For their part, most Jewish scholars have long insisted it was an ordinary meal.
They maintain Jesus's final dinner could not have taken place on Passover as described in the gospel of Mark.
They cite many New Testament contradictions about the chronology of events, including that one gospel says Jesus was arrested before the Passover meal could have occurred.
In addition, many Jewish historians emphasized the modern-day Passover Seder meal was not even invented by rabbis until 70 years after the birth of Jesus.
As a result, they say there is no point in Christians holding their own Seders with the intention of experiencing Jesus' Jewishness.
It's a multi-edged religious dispute, but many Jews and Christians believe it can be resolved.
Rabbi Michael Cook offers a bridge-building approach in his new book, Modern Jews Engage the New Testament: Enhancing Jewish Well-Being in a Christian Environment (Jewish Lights).
The New Testament professor at Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion outlines several ways open-minded Christians and Jews can reconcile over Passover and Easter.
Although Cook vehemently opposes Christians trying to seize on Seder to proslytize Jews, the rabbi believes Jews can mostly feel good about the way some Christians are "honouring" Jews through their interest in Passover Seders.
For instance, Cook appreciates the way some Catholic and mainline Protestant church leaders are asking adherents not to treat a Seder as a "reenactment of the Last Supper."
And the rabbi values how some of those same Catholic and Protestant leaders suggest perhaps the best way for Christians to experience a Passover meal is by responding to an invitation from Jews.
However, Cook does not necessarily oppose interfaith Christian-Jewish Seder presentations, such as those outlined in the book, The Passover Celebration, edited by Leon Klenicki.
Such rites, Cook says, are a way for Christians to reach out to Jews, to acknowledge the genuine Jewishness of Jesus and his companions and to celebrate universal principles.
"What (Christians who hold Seder meals) intend to say by their celebration is essentially this is how it all began, with the liberation of the chosen people from slavery," Cook writes.
"And the Last Supper is the expanded parallel to the experience of the Exodus. This great act is now expanded to the world – to apply to every sort of slavery or oppression, not only physical and political, but moral and spiritual."


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Clinical Pharmacology Analytical Core
The Clinical Pharmacology Analytical Core (CPAC) is available to assist Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center (IUSCCC) investigators as well as external partners with pre-clinical and clinical pharmacokinetics in support of their research projects and scientific goals.
Established in 2004 in response to a growing need for pharmacokinetic analysis and modelling, the Clinical Pharmacology Analytical Core (CPAC) assists investigators by providing detailed information on drug interactions, quantification of drugs, metabolites, and protein binding of small molecules. In addition, CPAC offers preliminary determination of drug metabolism which includes metabolite identification and metabolic stability.
The process of rational drug design should be based upon a strong foundation of biology, chemistry, in vivo pharmacology, and pharmacokinetics. Relevant pharmacokinetic and metabolism studies should be conducted in small animal models or in vitro systems before first drug administration in humans. This allows for the iterative process of implementing structural changes in the drug molecule to optimize the activity of the drug and its pharmacological and pharmacokinetic properties prior to moving to the more regulated and expensive clinical phase of drug development.
For these reasons, CPAC interacts closely with the In Vivo Therapeutics (IVT) Core to coordinate these efforts. Over the past years, the CPAC and IVTC have worked together to generate data allowing PIs to better evaluate molecules being developed within the IUSCC that show promise as novel cancer drugs. Pharmacokinetic and metabolism data provide important information to guide drug design and treatment in pre-clinical drug discovery (bench) as well as in clinical drug development and treatment (bedside). Using state-of-the-art technology and expertise, CPAC supports the research and development of safe and more efficacious drug treatment for IUSCC investigators.


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Juan Williams has a clear grip on responsibility for the failure of a program that got passed in Congress with no Republican votes, and implemented with no Republican management in a Democratic administration. Williams claims that the White House would have delayed the rollout of ObamaCare's exchanges except for the opposition of the GOP to the program as a whole. As a result, Williams argues, Barack Obama and Kathleen Sebelius had no choice but to lie about the exchanges and let it unfold.
Come on — you knew the media would eventually get around to this argument. You just didn't expect to hear it first on Fox (via Twitchy):
Stephen Hayes was amazed … and not in a good way:
The look on Steven Hayes face while Juan Williams tried to explain why Sebelius is not to blame was priceless #tcot
— Eric Powers (@PowersMisterE) October 22, 2013
Follow the link back to Twitchy to catch the screencap.
My Townhall colleague Dan Doherty scoffs:
The idea that Obama refused to enact a sweeping delay of his signature legislative achievement because of Republicans is an obvious red herring. The reason The One won't delay Obamacare is quite simple: He feels he's "won" this battle — in other words, he defeated Governor Mitt Romney in 2012 and the ACA was ruled constitutional by the High Court. Case closed. Therefore, any attempt by Republicans to amend or delay or defund his Big Government achievement is a non-starter. He's made that quite clear.
By the way, the Obama administration knew full well that the website did not and would not work. They tested it and (surprise!) there were all sorts of problems with it.
And actually, the issue came up even earlier than that, as Jeff Dunetz reminds us today. In early August, the Inspector General warned that the system testing had been insufficient, and that the "margin for error" had disappeared:
The federal government is months behind in testing data security for the main pillar of Obamacare: allowing Americans to buy health insurance on state exchanges due to open by October 1
The missed deadlines have pushed the government's decision on whether information technology security is up to snuff to exactly one day before that crucial date, the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general said in a report.
As a result, experts say, the exchanges might open with security flaws or, possibly but less likely, be delayed.
"They've removed their margin for error," said Deven McGraw, director of the health privacy project at the non-profit Center for Democracy & Technology. "There is huge pressure to get (the exchanges) up and running on time, but if there is a security incident they are done. It would be a complete disaster from a PR viewpoint."
We're still not sure whether those bugs still exist. The performance of the website hasn't provided any basis for confidence in the competence in any other area.


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In this hot summer, you may find that your car became so hot after parking outside for even short periods, this give you bad mood especially when you leave your pet in the car and seeing his sweat face when you come back. In fact, a car cooling fan will solve this problem, and a solar powered car cooling fan would be the perfect solution. This solar powered car cooling fan maintains a safe, comfortable temperature level for your return. Place Auto cool vent on top of window, then close window and lock up. It's solar panel uses sunlight – not the car's electrical wiring or batteries – to power the built-in fan
It is no doubt that air conditioning is necessary for car, but sometimes you may find cold air isn't necessary, you just want air flow this would work a whole lot better, especially when you're not in the mood for air conditioning requires you to use more power from your car.
Wish you will like this cool solar gadgets. Click here for more solar products


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Hey man, All Time RD sign ups are up http://forums.prosportsdaily.com/sho...1#post28324451
Whats up big blue. Long time. Congrats
what happened to the laker forum? so dead
hi ,shep33,i stumbled upon the village of the banned and found that Pierre The Poet was permanently banned because he was a dupe of kobe24fire.I am wondering if kobe24fire will come back one day?I am looking forward to your reply.
Hey, in the nba forum can you sticky the ALL-star game thread
You're a mod now??!! I must've missed something! Well deserved man.
Shep, you became a mod? Congratulations! The next time, I say something that is universally offensive on PSD, I'll worry about you lol
Yeah, and Farmar is back
Damn that's a bit disappointing, so wes Johnson should get a lot of mins tonight rightv
Hey man do you know if manny Harris was cut ? Or is he playing tonight weird question I know but I do a daily fantasy thing and he's super cheap lol
Mamba from Down Unda'
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text:
The second quarter was rough for investors, and for many financial institutions, including broker-dealers and their parent companies. Overall earnings in the banking sector, for instance, declined 9%, according to Reuters.
Still, Bank of America (BAC) staged a big turnaround in its financial results, which kept the sector's performance way ahead of where it could have been had another quarterly loss been reported by the banking giant.
Many broker-dealers, though, reported earnings declines in the March-to-June period. Hence, the list of the six "best" companies in Q2 with broker-dealer operations includes one with negative shifts in net earnings.
Here are 12 companies, most of which were ranked on AdvisorOne's list of Best & Worst Advisor Partner Firms for Q1, selected as the six best and six worst performers in Q2, based largely on how they out- or underperformed their broker-dealer rivals.
6th Best
Despite posting lower profits of $4.96 billion, down some 9% from a year ago (when net income was $5.43 billion), due largely to the chief investment office's trading losses of $4.4 billion in the quarter, JPMorgan came in at sixth best out of the 12 in AdvisorOne's list.
Still, JPM's $1.21 earnings per share versus last year's $1.27 cheered investors and analysts, who had expected per-share earnings of only $0.70.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management saw profits decrease to $391 million, down 10.9% from $439 million a year ago but up from $386 million in the prior quarter. Revenue from private banking was $1.3 billion, up 4% from a year ago.
5th Best
Wells Fargo's Q2 profits grew 7%, to $4.62 billion from $3.95 billion a year ago. Earnings stood at $0.82 per share, a penny higher than analysts' expectations.
In Wells' business segment covering wealth, brokerage and retirement, profits rose to $343 million, up 1.8% from $337 million a year ago and up from $296 million in the prior quarter.
The wealth, brokerage and retirement unit includes 15,170 financial advisors as of June 30, an increase over the 15,134 financial advisors reported as of March 31.
4th Best
For the quarter ending June 30, Raymond James had net income of $76.4 million, or 55 cents a share, up 63% from $46.8 million, or 37 cents per share, for the year-ago period.
The third-quarter fiscal year results included a $21 million pretax charge for expenses related to its purchase of Morgan Keegan. Without the charge, net income would have been $89.2 million, or 64 cents per share.
Net revenues of $1.09 billion were $214 million higher than the preceding quarter and "slightly better than the anticipated quarterly revenue increment associated with the MK acquisition," the company said in a press release. This represents a sales jump of 25% over the earlier quarter and 28% over last year; analysts had expected revenues of $975.28 million.
The number of U.S.-based financial advisors stands at 5,487—up from 4,532 in the quarter ending March 31, before the Morgan Keegan deal wrapped up. Including reps in Canada and the U.K., Raymond James now has 6,567 advisors.
3rd Best
Investors Capital posted net income of $261,700 for the quarter versus a loss of $1.26 million a year ago. You can't calculate a proper percentage increase from a negative number, and the dollar amount of the turnaround was somewhat small, so we have ranked Investors Cap No. 3.
Specific expense reduction initiatives implemented in the previous quarter led to reduced operating costs. Total revenue decreased 3.0% to $20.80 million compared with revenue of $21.44 million for the year-ago period, as commission revenue fell 4.9% to $16.09 million. Advisory fees, which comprise 19.8% of total revenue, remained fairly consistent with the prior period, declining 1.7%.
Total expenses fell $1.91 million or 8.6%, declining in every expense-related category, resulting in operating income of $0.45 million compared with an operating loss of $0.82 million for the prior period.
2nd Best (sort of)
(Bank of America could have topped the list, which will be explained shortly.)
BofA reported profits of $2.5 billion for second-quarter 2012, or 19 cents a share, beating analysts' estimates of 14 cents, on revenues that jumped 66%, to $21.97 billion. A year ago, the bank showed a net loss of $8.8 billion, or 90 cents a share, largely due to mortgage-related losses. BofA's results for the second quarter reflect higher mortgage banking income, according to BofA's second-quarter earnings release.
These Q2 results were a massive $11.3 billion turnaround from last year's quarter and probably merit being the best of the bunch, but, again, since you can't calculate a proper percentage increase from a negative number, AdvisorOne decided to give the nod to the little guy for the Best of the 12.
Compared to BofA's gargantuan dollar shift, Stifel Financial reported net income of "only" $26.1 million, or $0.42 per diluted share, on net revenues of $374.4 million, versus net income of $3.4 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, on net revenues of $358.9 million for the second quarter of 2011.
This represents a whopping 664% jump in earnings for the company, which has more than 2,000 financial advisors.
"In the quarter, asset management, investment banking advisory and Stifel Bank performed well, while commissions stabilized, and principal transactions and equity capital raising results were lower," said Stifel President & CEO Ronald J. Kruszewski, in a press release.
The Global Wealth Management segment of Stifel Financial generated pre-tax operating income of $61.4 million, compared with $55.4 million in the second quarter of 2011 and $69.2 million in the first quarter of 2012. Net revenues for the quarter were $240.0 million, compared with $225.6 million in the second quarter of 2011, and $248.3 million in the first quarter of 2012.
6th Worst
Citigroup reported net income for the second quarter 2012 of $2.9 billion, or $0.95 per diluted share, on revenues of $18.6 billion. This represents a 12% decline in earnings.
Excluding certain charges and adjustments, Citigroup net income was $3.1 billion, 1% lower than the second quarter of 2011. Operating expenses of $12.1 billion were 6% lower than the prior year period. Citigroup's cost of credit in the second quarter of 2012 was 17% below the prior-year period, reflecting a $1.6 billion improvement in net credit losses which was partially offset by a $1.0 billion reduction in net loan loss reserve releases.
Citi CEO Vikram Pandit said in a press release: "Our core businesses performed well in a difficult environment and are generating solid returns. We had strong growth in both loans and deposits, showed resilience in our markets-facing businesses, and saw record revenues in Transaction Services.
5th Worst
Goldmans' second-quarter profit fell 12% to $927 million, as it and other Wall Street banks grappled with weak market conditions and the continuing European fiscal crisis, both of which have made investment banking and trading less profitable.
The firm's profit amounted to $1.78 a share and beat the average analyst estimate of $1.16 a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Goldman's quarterly revenue fell 30% to $6 billion. It set aside $2.2 billion for pay, 2% less than the year before.
Fear about the European debt crisis made the stock and bond markets volatile late last year, and clients of all the major banks shied away from mergers and acquisitions and public offerings of stock.
Goldman took in 43% less in the most-recent quarter than it did in the same quarter a year earlier from advising companies on mergers and acquisitions and underwriting fees for stock and bond sales.
4th Worst
In a repeat from last quarter, LPL Financial reported that quarterly profits were down although revenues were up. An added bright spot was the Boston- and San Diego-based independent broker-dealer's addition of 223 net new advisors.
Profits for second-quarter 2012 dropped 13%, largely on investor uncertainty and low yields, the company said, with LPL reporting net income of $39.5 million, or earnings of $0.35 per share, $6 million lower than income of $45.5 million, or EPS of $0.40, a year ago. LPL earned $0.49 per share before charges and adjustments, but analysts had expected earnings of $0.56.
A 1.5% revenue rise to $908 million versus $894 million a year ago led to LPL's first-ever quarterly cash dividend, of $0.12 per share.
3rd Worst
Ameriprise Financial (AMP) reported second-quarter 2012 net income from continuing operations of $224 million, or $0.99 per diluted share, compared with $319 million, or $1.27 per diluted share, a year ago—a decline of about 30%.
Results in the quarter included a charge of $57 million, or $0.26 per share, for unfavorable items, including a $40 million, or 18-cent-per-share, impact from a tax-related issue.
Operating net revenues were $2.5 billion, a 3% decline from a year ago, primarily due to lower net investment income from continued low interest rates and volatile equity markets, the company says. These market-driven impacts, though, were partially offset by growth in fee-based revenues driven by Ameriprise advisor client net inflows.
The number of Ameprise financial advisors is 9,803 vs. 9,744 in the previous quarter and 9,663 a year ago. About 7,500 of its advisors are franchisee reps and 2,300 are employees.
2nd Worst
Morgan Stanley said its second-quarter profits decreased 53% to $563 million compared with profits of $1.19 billion a year ago.
Earnings per share came to $0.28 for income from continuing operations versus last year's loss of $0.36 a share. Morgan Stanley's loss included a negative adjustment of about $1.7 billion, or $1.02 per diluted share, related to the conversion of preferred stock held by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Morgan Stanley in its Q2 release also reported net revenues of $7 billion for the quarter compared with $9.2 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings per share of $0.43 on revenue of $7.7 billion.
Also, the number of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) advisors in the Global Wealth Management Unit dropped 2% from last quarter and 6% from last year to 16,934.
UBS reported that its net income fell to 425 million Swiss Francs, or 0.11 Swiss francs per share, in the second quarter from 1.02 billion Swiss francs, or 0.26 Swiss francs per share a year ago—a 58% drop.
The wirehouse firm's investment bank had a pretax loss of 130 million Swiss francs (or $133 million) in the second quarter due to "challenging market conditions," as well as a loss of 349 million Swiss francs (about $358 million) related to the Facebook (FB) initial public offering.
Its Wealth Management-Americas unit, though, had a pretax profit of $211 million in the quarter ended June 30—a 28% jump over last year's results of $165 million and a 1% gain from the earlier period, when pretax income was $209 million.
Top 10 lists from AdvisorOne:


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WMUR.com launching new Escape Outside Road Trip series
First trip to White Mountains Region May 30
I can hear those words echo through the house in the 1970s, growing up in Concord.
That meant we were going on a family adventure, with no set itinerary. We would get in the car and see where the road brought us. It might mean a trip to L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine, led us to an overnight paddle on the Saco River from Saco Bound.
We would find a hike, get a swim and buy an ice cream cone, find a place to rest for the night and do it all again the next day, plus perhaps splurge on a shopping experience or an adventure park at the very end.
It is so easy to just pack the car and go. If the weather looks good, you can go to the beach, the mountains, the lake, the track -- and spend less than $200 for a family of four.
In that spirit, we are launching Escape Outside's Road Trip series, and will be offering set itineraries during the summer school vacation period.
A reconnaissance mission, of sorts, to all seven of the state's tourism regions is about to begin, and I am excited.
We will start with New Hampshire and then move out to other states.
New Hampshire has so much, though. There is the Great North Woods, the White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the Darmouth-Lake Sunapee Region, Merrimack Valley Region, the Monadnock Region and the Seacoast. Each have their own flavor and opportunities.
We are beginning with the White Mountains Region May 30, our first stop on the Road Trip.
We head to the Seacoast next, and to the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee Region as well, in June.
In July, we will visit the Lakes Region and the Great North Woods; and in August, it will be the Monadnock and Merrimack Valley Regions.
The first one is at the White Mountain National Forest Headquarters in Campton at 10 a.m. that Thursday.
We are looking for ideas, events, interesting outdoor people, and to get a better understanding of each region and why they would be a great place to cover and to visit.
Conservation associations, visitor attractions, chambers of commerce, and state and federal folks who deal with outdoor visitors are particularly encouraged to join in the conversation and give us some great ideas.
If you cannot make it, you can send me a note at firstname.lastname@example.com or visit and "like" our new Escape Outside's Facebook page!
Escape Outside is a new venture for WMUR.com that began only in January. So, we are new and excited to head out on our Road Trip!
At the meetings, we will have a brief presentation on this new area of coverage for WMUR.com and WMUR News 9 and what we have in mind.
They will all be on Thursdays at 10 a.m. and more details on locations are forthcoming.
The presentation will be followed by a group conversation about that particular region of the state and what visitors can find, with a particular eye toward the inexpensive, family-oriented, off-the-beaten path outdoor getaway.
We want to be able to meet you and learn about what's fun to do outside in each of the state's many varied regions for stories we will use both during the News broadcasts each Wednesday on WMUR News 9 at 5:50 p.m. and on the webpage.
It'll be fun! So join us.


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Kasey Kahne smoking, after slapping the wall, as Kyle Busch (green) slips underneath, and Matt Kenseth lurks just behind in the final minutes of the Southern 500 (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
By Mike Mulhern
Denny Hamlin made an amazing comeback Saturday night, truly amazing, charging down the stretch with a shot at the win, in his first full race back on the NASCAR tour after suffering an serious back injury just six weeks ago.
"It feels good to just be competitive again," Hamlin said after finishing second to teammate Matt Kenseth in the legendary Southern 500. "Watching the races from the sidelines is tough.
"My back held up good. I'm more sore, shoulders, neck, things like that. I've got to get back in racing shape. It will take time to get back to where I need to be.
"I definitely didn't feel any back pain. It was just more stamina that I had issues with."
Teammate Kyle Busch dominated, but lost in the final miles. Kenseth did the same thing himself last weekend at Talladega.
Kurt Busch also started strong but faded midway.
Hamlin, on the other hand, started slow but turned things around.
"We didn't run as strong as what I hoped throughout the day," Hamlin said. "We were mired fifth to eighth.
"Track position was so key. You had two to three laps on restarts to get your positions, and after that you were in defense mode.
"For me, we kept grinding away. And the pit crew picked us up some stops.
"I feel good. I'm just sore and tired.
"But it just takes a while -- Really, it's like starting your season over.
"There are some muscles that have gotten weak. I've gotten pretty sore and tired, mentally tired as well.
"We'll have a couple weeks really to rest until the next long event (Dover June 2), and we'll be good to go then."
This was a surprising Southern 500 in many aspects.
First there was virtually no passing, virtually no caution flags. In fact, the race was more than an hour old before the first yellow, and that for debris. Not until the final 30 minutes did the intensity pick up.
Lapped traffic wasn't easy. And figuring out which groove to run frequently seemed a mystery.
Even for Kyle Busch -- on one late restart, he picked the outside line, and that turned out to be the wrong decision. The next time he picked the inside lane.
Hamlin said "it didn't matter if it was a lap-car or a position car, if you got within five or six car lengths of someone, you really struggled to make the pass... even get up to the guy."
It appeared to be an aerodynamic issue, not surprisingly given the amazing jump in speeds this season with the new 2013s. Speeds here were well over 200 mph into the corners.
"I could have a clean track about half a straightaway, and be the fastest car by a long ways -- three-tenths or four-tenths every lap," Hamlin said. "But as soon as I reel somebody in (and get trapped in bad air in traffic), I'm a 20thplace car.
"It's tough when you can't get around some guys. But the lap cars -- it's tough, because they don't have anywhere to go. This track is very narrow, and they're trying to predict whether you're running the bottom, middle or top. All that , and it is only three cars wide."
Teammate Kyle Busch, naturally, didn't take his fate that well.
"It's tough when you have a car as dominant as his, and then the last run whatever happens happens," Hamlin said.
"But it's part of the game of racing. I don't run as hard for the first 400 miles as I did the last 100. And until you get track position, you never know what your car can do.
"Matt didn't look like he had a winning car all race long, until he got the track position. Then he took off.
"Whether it was holding back and saving, whatever he was doing, he found an extra gear in the last run.
"And it is always tough when it's a team car that overtakes you at the end. It's always more difficult."
Busch wasn't the only man disappointed.
So was Kasey Kahne, who wound up scrapping the wall on lap 335 of the 367-lapper, while dicing for the lead with Busch.
It was the second straight week the two tangled, and the third time this season.
It did not appear that Busch actually tagged Kahne's left-rear bumper to trigger the incident, but it was very, very close.
Kahne was not happy: "We were racing hard. I cleared him getting into turn three... so I had the outside. And I then I saw he entered so early that I knew he was not going to be able to turn when we got to the corner.
"The next thing I knew I was spinning.
"I don't know... Three times this year me and Kyle have had contact, when I've had cars capable of winning.
"Whether he hit me or just blew the air off, he blew his entry... and I'm not real sure what he was thinking on that.
"He needs to quit. I mean he's got to just race me. I've never touched the guy in my life.
"Three times this year...and there have been other times in other years. I don't really know what his deal is with me.
"I think he just struggles racing me, and he made an error in his entry. He entered so early and had no steering.
"He'd passed so many lap cars he knew what was going to happen. He tried to stop but he couldn't slow down at that point. He just kind of just screwed up again.
"This is his third time this year he has screwed up.
"I imagine he will call me again tomorrow and say he's sorry."
I recall several races years ago where a second place car purposely tried to take the air off a lead car to loosen him up at the end of a race in an attempt to get around him. Isn't that what a racer should do? If Kyle didn't touch him, I don't see that Kasey has a legitimate complaint about this race.
The race the week before was different. Kasey had a legitimate complaint. But part of the blame has to go to NASCAR for having cars so light in the rear that the slightest touch in the rear can send the car into the wall.
Fans want to see close, aggressive racing, and the ability to pass a slightly slower leading car, but without drivers intentionally wrecking someone with a hard bump. It will not happen without NASCAR improving the aerodynamics.
As far as the lack of passing last night, the track looked too smooth. I remember just a few years ago (before the track was repaved) watching the cars wiggle coming off every corner because of bumps. I didn't see that last night.
Last night was by no means the best Darlington race I have seen, but it is sad to think that it will be a whole year until the next Darlington race.
I'm sick of kasey's excuses- maybe he caught the "whine" bug from Gordon? A couple weeks ago, he intentionally wrecked Mark,so he's no stranger to wrecking people,and nothing is ever his fault. i'm no fan of either driver, but for K.K. to complain about kyle is asinine, given his recent actions.
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| 8.5°C Belfast
Police are to look again at whether payday lender Wonga should be subject to a criminal investigation after it sent fake legal letters to pressure customers in arrears into paying up.
City of London Police discussed the case a year ago but it was previously decided that it should be left to regulators so the 45,000 consumers affected would not be delayed in receiving their compensation.
But it said that now that the Financial Conduct Authority's investigations have concluded and a compensation agreement has been reached, it will "be reassessing whether a criminal investigation is now appropriate".
Earlier this week, Wonga said it had agreed with the regulator to pay £2.6 million in compensation for the letters it sent from non-existent law firms.
City of London Police said in a statement: "In March 2013 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) met with the City of London Police to consider their (OFT's) investigation into Wonga and whether it should be referred to the National Policing Lead for Fraud.
"The interests of the consumer were at the forefront of these discussions and directed the decision that the most appropriate course of action was for the OFT to continue to investigate as regulator focusing on but not limited to the consumer credit act, legal services act, and unfair trading regulations.
"Now that the regulator's investigation has concluded and a compensation agreement has been reached with Wonga, the City of London Police will be reassessing whether a criminal investigation is now appropriate."
The Law Society has already stepped up pressure for a criminal investigation to be held into Wonga.
The society, which represents around 160,000 solicitors across England and Wales, said it has asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate Wonga and consider whether any offences, such as blackmail or those under the Solicitors Act, have been committed.
It has also called on City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to hand over copies of its investigation. The FCA confirmed it had been contacted by the society but declined to comment further.
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: "It seems that the intention behind Wonga's dishonest activity was to make customers believe that their outstanding debt had been passed to a genuine law firm.
"It looks like they also wanted customers to believe that court action undertaken by a genuine law firm would follow if the debt was not repaid."
The case, which consumer campaigners described as a "shocking new low" for the payday industry, saw Wonga add charges to some customers' accounts to cover administration fees for sending the letters, from fictitious firms Chainey, D'Amato & Shannon and Barker and Lowe Legal Recoveries.
The FCA could not impose a fine on Wonga for what it described as "unfair and misleading" debt collection practices, which happened between October 2008 and November 2010, because the failings were uncovered by a previous regulatory regime and it does not have powers to issue retrospective penalties.
Wonga has apologised "unreservedly" and said the "few" people who were directly involved with sending the letters are no longer in the business.
A spokesman for Wonga said earlier today that its focus is on compensating customers who received the "unacceptable" debt collection letters.
The Law Society said that, in its letter to the FCA, it has asked the regulator to provide copies of the fake legal letters and the regulator's investigation files.
The society said it is also asking the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which administers the register of solicitors, to investigate whether there is a case under the Solicitors Act or under the Legal Services Act, "with a view to prosecution if the investigation discloses sufficient evidence".
The SRA has declined to comment on what it plans to do about this.
The title of solicitor is covered by Section 21 of the Solicitors Act 1974, as well as misuse of "any description implying that (a person) is qualified or recognised by law as qualified to act as a solicitor".
Section 17(1)(a) of the Legal Services Act 2007 prohibits any person, who is not entitled under the Legal Services Act to carry on activities reserved for qualified lawyers, from wilfully pretending that they are so entitled. Reserved activities include the issuance of court process on behalf of another person.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police said: "We have received a letter and we are currently assessing the contents. We have made contact with the person who wrote the letter."


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The other day my daughter was sitting on the floor of my office playing with a few of my paper punches and trying her best to use up all my paper, when an idea suddenly popped into my head for an ornament.
After playing around with a few ideas and wasting even more paper, I came to the conclusion that I had a really cute (and super cheap) homemade gift idea, or nifty little holiday decoration…and it's pretty ridiculously simple, too. I know it's a million degrees outside and Christmas is forever away, but well…I'll just play the "Christmas in July" card…and aside from that, it's never too early to start thinking about Christmas gifts, right?
No grumbling about how it's too early for Christmas. ChristmasChristmasChristmas! Okay, let's go!
Here's what you'll need:
- A Styrofoam ball. I used a 3″ size, but you could use any size you want.
- A paper punch with a cool shape, as long as it's relatively small; I would stick with an inch or less. For this ornament, I used a 1″ Martha Stewart snowflake punch. (Curse you, Martha Stewart craft section at Michaels…curse you).
- 2 sheets of white cardstock.
- Lots and lots of straight pins
- Lots and lots of sequins…I used aqua blue.
- Glitter (Thanks again, Martha..)
- About 6″ of ribbon to make the hanger
- And…nothing else. I'll just continue with this extra bullet point here so this ornament seems more intricate than it really is.
- Oh wait, there IS something else…glue, of course! (You know how some bartenders wear a bottle opener strapped to their arm? I wear glue like that).
First you'll need to punch out lots of little snowflakes (or whatever shape you are using). The number of punches will vary depending on the size of your punch and the size of your styrofoam ball…for my snowflake ornament, I probably used about 100 snowflakes. (I also doubled them up…see below). I used cardstock for this shape, because the edges of the snowflake were so flimsy, and I was afraid thinner paper would rip or bend easily…but a thinner (and less painful to punch out a million pieces of) paper would probably work perfectly fine for a more solid shape.
After I punched out all the little snowflakes and my hand cramps had subsided, I decided I wanted to sparkle them up a little bit with some white glitter…if you want to do this too, just spread them out on a newspaper, and lightly (lightly!) spray a tiny bit (a tiny bit!) of glue across them, and then sprinkle on the glitter. I sprayed a little too much on a few of the snowflakes, and those poor guys didn't make it. And so, just a teeny bit (a teeny bit!) will do the trick (the trick!).
Finally time to start making the ornament…add a sequin to a pin, and then stick the pin through the centers of two snowflakes. I doubled up the snowflakes, unevenly, to make them look more full, but you may not need or want to do this with other shapes.
And then stick that one, and a whole bunch more, into the Styrofoam ball…easy peasy, snowflake squeezy.
At some point before your ball is covered, just put one of your snowflake-d pins through the ends of a loop of ribbon…
…and pin it down. (I like to add a little glue to the end of the pin before pushing it into the foam ball, for some added security).
And once the entire ball is covered…your ornament is done! How awesome and simple is that?!
These would look so cute on the Christmas tree…or a few grouped together in a bowl…just think of all the things you could do. Maybe some tiny beads instead of sequins…different colors and patterns and shapes of cardstock…
Or something a little dressier? A shimmery red and silver tablescape idea, perhaps?
Tell me what you think! Any other ways to vary this idea up?
P.S. Here's a pinnable!


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Serious Reads: Birdseye, by Mark Kurlansky
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.
Mark Kurlansky has written several of the more widely-read and well-researched food history books that have come out in the last ten years. Cod, Salt, and The Big Oyster are all accessible reads that convey wealth of information. In Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man, Kurlansky takes us through the life of Clarence "Bob" Birdseye, an inventor who revolutionized the food industry by developing and marketing frozen foods.
Birdseye didn't originally intend to enter into the food industry; in fact, his first entrepreneurial venture was selling animal pelts. Birdseye's talent was for spotting an unanswered question or problem and figuring out an achievable solution. Like many entrepreneurs, he was very confident and a little obsessive about his projects. But more often than not, Birdseye was successful in his ventures. By the time of his death, he had over 2,000 patents to his name on products ranging from lightbulbs to freezers. He didn't fancy himself an inventor; rather, he found life to be an unending adventure, and was always curious to learn more.
When Birdseye became interested in frozen foods in the early 1920s, the industry was already developing. Frozen fish was available in markets, but was often the leftover catch after a long day of sales. Consequently, frozen food had a less-than-stellar reputation. Birdseye's first frozen food venture was fish fillets. His business was backed by J.P Morgan, and eventually was sold in 1929—along with many patents—to the Post family.
After this sale, Birdseye was rich, but his job was not yet finished. Americans had still not accepted frozen foods into their pantries. At the time, fresh foods were consumed by the middle class, canned foods by the lower class, and frozen food—with its promise of year-round seasonality and flavor—was reserved for the upper class. But the end of World War II brought a cultural shift. More women were working, creating opportunities for convenience foods, and a boom in industry brought competition to the frozen foods industry and lowered costs. Bird's Eye became a very successful subsidiary company of General Foods.
Bird's Eye is very much still in business. Clarence Birdseye revolutionized the frozen foods industry by seeing an opportunity, doing the necessary—and constant—testing to get his products on the market, and seeing his company through to success. His is a model story of entrepreneurship, and a fascinating case study in how one small segment of the food industry can hold so much importance in the greater American context.
About the Author: A student in Providence, Rhode Island, Leah Douglas loves learning about, talking about, reading about, and consuming food. Her work has also been featured in Rhode Island Monthly Magazine.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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ExCEL Program
This is an archival page, since the funding source for this program has expired. If future funds are found, this page will be updated.
Anchored by a multi-year $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the ExCEL program will provide scholarships and other services to academically talented students who are in need of financial support. This program will cultivate a community of scholars across all academic levels and a variety of computing-related degree programs. Scholarship awards are in the amount of at least $5,000 per year (subject to financial need). Graduate students will also receive 9 credits of tuition remission, valued at over $8,000. Also note that this award can be combined with other financial aid granted by Loyola, which is typically substantial at the undergraduate level. (Each year's award will be disbursed in two halves near the beginning of Fall and Spring terms, contingent on continued eligibility.) Undergraduates may apply for renewal throughout their Senior year, subject to availability of funds and other selection criteria. Questions, after reading the information below, may be directed to the ExCEL program director, Dr. Ronald Greenberg.
New Applicants
Eligibility Requirements
During any semester in which funds will be received, students must
- Be citizens of the United States, nationals of the United States (as defined in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), aliens admitted as refugees under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or aliens lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.
- Be enrolled full time in a degree program offered by the Department of Computer Science (including programs that are joint with other Arts and Sciences departments). Eligible degree programs are:
- BS in Bioinformatics, Communications Networks and Security, Computer Science, Computer Science and Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics, Information Technology, or Software Development (See Undergraduate Programs.)
- MS in Computer Science, Software Technology, or Information Technology (See Graduate Programs.)
- Demonstrate financial need, defined for undergraduate students by the US Department of Education rules for need-based Federal financial aid, or, for graduate students, defined as financial eligibility for Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GANN).
Financial need is defined for undergraduates by the US Department of Education as the Cost of Attendance (COA) for an institution minus the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) for the student (see US Dept. of Education guide). The Cost of Attendance, determined by each educational institution, is the total amount it will cost a student to go to school, including tuition and fees; on-campus room and board (or a housing and food allowance for off-campus students); allowances for books, supplies, transportation, loan fees, dependent care, costs related to a disability; and miscellaneous expenses. The Estimated Family Contribution is determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and represents the expected family contribution toward the Cost of Attendance.
The Loyola Office of Student Financial Assistance will verify that the ExCEL scholarship plus other financial assistance will not exceed the student's federally defined financial need. (See instructions for applying for financial assistance at Loyola.)
- Graduate students must have at least 15 credits of work remaining to degree completion at the beginning of the Fall term in which they will begin to receive scholarship funds.
Selection Process and Criteria
Once the above eligibility criteria are satisfied, selection of scholarship recipients will focus on academic merit and career and leadership potential. However, the selection committee may also consider such issues as diversity of student interests and demographics. Also, in the case of graduate students, there is a preference for students who do not have an undergraduate computing degree, so that they must take some courses in common with undergraduates. Any student meeting the eligibility criteria in the section above may apply, but it is generally expected that most successful applicants will meet at least the following academic thresholds:
|Type of Student
|Incoming Freshman
|3.2 high school GPA (on a 4-point scale) AND
24 ACT composite or 1100 combined SAT (Math and Verbal)
|Incoming Graduate
|3.0 undergraduate GPA (on a 4-point scale)
|Current Frosh. or Soph.
(including transfers)
|undergrad GPA and other available information as above
Entering students should list a major/program corresponding to the ExCEL-eligible degrees on their application for admission, and students already enrolled at Loyola must have declared an appropriate major. The following deadlines apply:
|February 1
|Applicants for undergraduate ExCEL scholarships who are not already admitted to Loyola must submit undergraduate admission application (free online).
|February 1
|Graduate ExCEL applicants must submit graduate admission application (free online).
|February 15
|Submit ExCEL application.
Additionally, you must be sure that Loyola's Office of Student Financial Assistance will have your current FAFSA data.
Use the following links to complete an ExCEL application (also free):
- ExCEL Undergraduate Application Form
- ExCEL Graduate Application Form
- Current Loyola Students only: Optional Recommendation Mechanism
Undergraduates who hold an ExCEL scholarship and will need at least two more semesters of full-time study to complete their degrees (after the Spring term in which applications are processed) may apply for renewal.
Renewal applicants may begin by noting that the basic eligibility criteria above remain applicable. Furthermore, continuing undergraduate students must meet all requirements of the "Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy" of Loyola's Office of Student Financial Assistance. Meeting these requirements does not by any means guarantee renewal of an ExCEL scholarship, however. In particular, higher GPAs will generally be expected, specifically at least 2.5 overall and at least 3.0 in the major.
Students seeking renewal of an ExCEL scholarship must complete a brief form here. Remember also to update your FAFSA information with the Office of Student Financial Assistance.
This scholarship program was initiated and primarily funded through support by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DUE-0728671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations that may be expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.


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Keep an eye out for storms on Fri. night and Sat. afternoon
Slight risk of severe weather Fri. PM and Sat. PM
Some thunderstorms are possible through the evening on Friday and through the afternoon and evening on Saturday.
KMBC's Lisa Teachman said the northern fringe of the KMBC 9 News viewing area was under a slight risk of severe weather for Friday night, including St. Joseph, Mo. The Kansas City metro was not included in the slight risk.
Teachman said any storms that developed in far northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri could contain frequent lightning, damaging wind and hail.
Storms were expected to refire on Saturday afternoon, this time closer to the Kansas City metro.
The metro is under a slight risk of severe weather for Saturday afternoon after 3 p.m. Teachman said that once again, any storms that develop could contain damaging winds, hail and frequent lightning.
Stay with KMBC.com for interactive radar through the weekend, and download the KMBC 9 News app on your smartphone to keep an eye on the weather while on the go.


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Today (Saturday, February 26) is the anniversary of the first performance of Bizet's Symphony in C. It had a very unusual premiere. Bizet wrote it in 1855, when he was only 17. He never heard it performed. It lay ignored in his papers until 1935, when a copy of the score was found in the Paris Conservatory. Felix Weingartner gave the premiere on February 26, 1935 in Basel, Switzerland. The San Antonio Symphony will play this work on March 18 & 19 under the baton of guest conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky.
I've got two very personal connections to this concert, and it is one I've been looking forward to all season. The first connection is with Sitkovetsky, although he won't remember it. We were both at The Juilliard School at the same time, me as a lowly bass player, Dmitry as a superstar violinist. He won one of the school's major concerto competitions and I was in the orchestra when he performed. It was one of the most exciting performances I experienced in my six years there. On March 18 & 19, Dmitry will be both the conductor and violin soloist.
The second personal connection is to Bizet's Symphony in C. I first came to know this piece because it was used as a ballet by Balanchine. My mother is a lifelong fan of the New York City Ballet and this is one of those rare pieces I first came to know because of her interest in ballet, not from the concert world. It is also famous for a very tough second violin part. While this piece was never a concert series favorite, I've noticed it more lately on programs. It is quite refreshing, energetic and melodic. It is one of those pieces that will never have the fame of a symphony by Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, but is a delight when heard live. Here is a short video with a few excerpts:
San Antonio Symphony
March 18 & 19, 2011
Majestic Theatre
Dmitry Sitkovetsky, conductor & violin
Mozart Serenade No. 7, "Haffner"
Strauss Prelude to Capriccio
Bizet Symphony No. 1 in C major
Jack Fishman
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
For more blogs by Jack Fishman visit: www.sasymphony.org/blog


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A top Mitt Romney foreign policy aide on Sunday said the GOP presidential candidate would back an Israeli military strike on Iran to prevent Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
"If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that capability, the governor would respect that decision," said Romney adviser on Middle East affairs Dan Senor in a briefing with reporters, according to media reports.
Mitt Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel and said he would seek to move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv as president if the Israeli government ascents.
"A nation has the capacity to choose its own capital city, and Jerusalem is Israel's capital," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said in an interview on CNN, conducted in Jerusalem. "I think it's long been the policy to ultimately have our embassy in the nation's capital of Jerusalem."…
"I would follow the same policy we have had in the past, our embassy would be in the capital, and the timing of that is something I would want to work out with the government," Romney said.
While traveling in Israel on a foreign policy "listening tour," Mitt Romney said he's not a foreign policy wimp, which is how he's depicted on the latest cover of Newsweek.
"If I worried about what the media said I wouldn't get much sleep, and I sleep pretty well," Romney told CBS News' Jan Crawford during an interview Sunday in Jerusalem…
Crawford asked Romney about his campaign which has focused on the former Mass. governor and Bain Capital founder's business experience. "Would you say that foreign policy is the area where you're weakest?" she asked. Romney invoked another former governor-turned-president, Ronald Reagan, as a model.
"I would say that foreign policy is a place where intelligence, resolve, clarity and confidence in cause is of extraordinary importance," he said. "Ronald Reagan was one of our great foreign policy presidents. He did not come from the Senate, he did not come from the foreign policy world; he was a governor. But his resolve, his clarity of purpose, his intelligence, his capacity to deal with complex issues and solve tough problems served him extremely well.
An Israeli newspaper reported Sunday that the Obama administration's top security official has briefed Israel on U.S. plans for a possible attack on Iran, seeking to reassure it that Washington is prepared to act militarily should diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Tehran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks, said the article in the Haaretz daily was incorrect.
Haaretz said National Security Adviser Tom Donilon laid out the plans before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a dinner at a visit to Israel earlier this month. It cited an unidentified senior American official as the source of its report, which came out as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was telling Israel he would back an Israeli military strike against Iran.
But Romney would face several critical challenges in a conflict with Iran that Obama would not:
— Romney would be a new president in 2013, which could plausibly be the year for a preventive attack. He will be inexperienced, and his national security team will be new and potentially inexperienced as well. The learning curve on Iran is steep, and the Iranian regime knows it. The Obama team is deeply knowledgeable, appropriately cynical about Iranian intentions, and has had the time and confidence to make course corrections.
— Romney, by all accounts, is uninterested in inheriting the mantle of President George W. Bush, who invaded two Muslim countries and lost popularity and credibility as a result. Romney, despite his rhetoric, is more of a pragmatist than Bush, and far more cautious. An attack on Iran is an incautious act, one that even Bush rejected.
— The unilateral use of force in the Middle East for a liberal Democrat like Obama is a credential; for a conservative Republican like Romney, it could be an albatross. I argued in a previous column that Romney is more likely than Obama to oversee a revitalized Middle East peace process. That's because conservatives are better positioned to make peace; liberals are generally better positioned to launch preventive strikes at the nuclear programs of rogue nations. We know that U.S. voters, and world leaders, allow Obama extraordinary leeway when it comes to deadly drone strikes, precisely because of his politics, character and background. (We are talking about a man, after all, who won the Nobel Peace Prize while ordering the automated killing of suspected Muslim terrorists around the world.) Romney will get no comparative slack.
— Obama has done a superior job of building an international sanctions coalition against Iran. He has even received some cooperation from China and Russia.
I believe that the enduring alliance between the State of Israel and the United States of America is more than a strategic alliance: it is a force for good in the world. America's support of Israel should make every American proud. We should not allow the inevitable complexities of modern geopolitics to obscure fundamental touchstones. No country or organization or individual should ever doubt this basic truth: A free and strong America will always stand with a free and strong Israel.
And standing by Israel does not mean with military and intelligence cooperation alone.
We cannot stand silent as those who seek to undermine Israel, voice their criticisms. And we certainly should not join in that criticism. Diplomatic distance in public between our nations emboldens Israel's adversaries.
By history and by conviction, our two countries are bound together. No individual, no nation, no world organization, will pry us apart.
[I]f the Republican left little doubt about his ardor for Netanyahu, the prime minister was glad to return the favor.
Despite recently telling Vanity Fair that he didn't know Romney well, Netanyahu seemed to be auditioning for a future diplomatic buddy pic.
"We've known each other for many decades, since you were a young man, but for some reason, you still look young," he said, prompting a laugh from Romney. "You've been a personal friend of mine and a strong friend of the state of Israel, and that's why it's a pleasure to welcome you here."…
The moment was reminscent, if less gushing, of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy all but endorsing Obama four years ago when the then-senator came to Paris during a similar summer foreign tour.


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TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) today announced the release of its most advanced thin-film photovoltaic (PV) module, the Series 3 FS-392, which is rated at 92.5 watts. The new FS-392 module maintains all the existing IEC certifications and UL listings for the Series 3 family, including UL listing for 1000-volt systems.
"The FS-392 demonstrates the success of First Solar's R&D investment to drive higher and higher module conversion efficiencies into production," said Tom Kuster, First Solar Vice President of Product Management and System Technology. "This increase in module efficiency, coupled with our thin-film technology's real-world yield advantage when compared to crystalline silicon PV, results in higher energy density and lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE)."
One of the drivers of First Solar modules' performance advantage over crystalline silicon solar modules is a lower temperature coefficient, delivering higher energy yields at elevated operating temperatures typical of utility-scale power plants in sunny regions. For full details, please see a white paper on this topic, which can be downloaded at www.firstsolar.com/Innovation/Advanced-Thin-Film-Modules.
About First Solar, Inc.
First Solar is a leading global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic (PV) solar systems which use its advanced thin-film modules. The company's integrated power plant solutions deliver an economically attractive alternative to fossil-fuel electricity generation today. From raw material sourcing through end-of-life module collection and recycling, First Solar's renewable energy systems protect and enhance the environment. For more information about First Solar, please visit www.firstsolar.com.
For First Solar Investors
This release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Those statements involve a number of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks associated with the company's business involving the company's products, their development and distribution, economic and competitive factors and the company's key strategic relationships and other risks detailed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. First Solar assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information contained in this press release or with respect to the announcements described herein.


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Blake Shelton Talks Babies After Teasing 'Cool' News
Blake Shelton is a 6-foot, 5-inch tease. On Tuesday, the 'God Gave Me You' singer tweeted about big news, but deflected any guesses and assured fans that wife Miranda Lambert is not pregnant.
"Just received news that is so cool it supersedes any award, hit song, platinum album, sold out tour or TV show!! What a year… What a year!" Shelton said on his Twitter page. He's yet to further explain himself, but his followers did get a few chuckles out of fan guesses.
"BABY?!" one fan guessed. "Ha! Ha! I knew y'all would think that that… No, but it is about her!!!!!" Shelton tweeted back. That was the most popular guess, and Shelton took time to respond to more than a few similar inquiries.
"Is Miranda pregnant?????" one fan asked, to which Shelton replied, "Ha! Ha! For sakes NO!!!! We don't touch each other anyway!!!! Ha!"
"You don't touch your wife?" a fan tweeted after that. "Oh hell no… We're married!!!!" Shelton joked.
"Are you gonna be a daddy?" another fan chimed in. "No… But you can call me daddy," Shelton shot back.
Our guess is that Shelton may have learned that he and Lambert's separate record labels have agreed on a way to allow the couple's duet on 'Red River Blue' to be released as a single. The pair come together on the title track, and Shelton has expressed his frustration with Nashville politics keeping the song down. In some ways, Lambert being pregnant with triplets seems more likely.
Of course, Shelton could just be pulling our leg. The tweet that proceeded this conversation makes one wonder if he was up to no good: "If the first step is admitting I have problem then here goes…. My drink is empty!!!!!!!"


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Oil-wax combination that leaves an open, breathing and diffusive surface finish. Due to the wax content, a uniform matt, velvety surface is produced. With Magic Oil 2K, thanks to the hardener component, very rapid drying is achieved. This rapid drying, even in extremely heavy wear areas (catering industry, hotels, business premises, offices…) allows renovation work to be completed in the shortest possible time, with no reduction in resistance to mechanical wear or chemicals once allowed to dry overnight. The improved density of the cross-linking action result in a stronger water and dirt repellant surface that cannot be achieved with 1-component parquet oils. Dirt removal compares with that on lacquered parquet/wood floors. The high care expenditureof well known parquet oils does not apply to Magic Oil 2K update.
Especially suitable for the surface treatment of:
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Contact of this product with pads or textile materials produces a risk of spontaneous combustion!


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Wag Way - Birdeye, Inc.
Wag Way has been an OEM for Caterpillar since 1984, and is a leader in the design and manufacture of all types of attachments for excavators and backhoes. All of our attachments are built with the finest materials available to assure a long, trouble-free life.
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So now the ballpark of the moment is glassy and modern and full of moving fish, leaving the retro-style ballparks of the previous moment kaput. What happens to all those teams that are stuck with suddenly unfashionable nostalgia-parks? (And are stuck with them for a very long time.)
Apparently it's time to strip away, bit by bit, that idealized Old Tyme-ness that was supposed to entice people to show up. This is happening!
Consider the Mets, who bought into the timeless style just as its time expired. Much was made of the fact that the Mets moved in Citi Field's outfield fences this year—if you're going to shed $50 million in payroll, you might as well see some home runs.
But before the first pitch was thrown on Opening Day, as the Mets were unveiling the Gary Carter patch in left center field, the TV cameras picked up something far more notable and resonant about the fences: they're blue! A royal, Shea blue.
Originally, they were
forest green black and the seats inside the stadium were forest green—inspired, supposedly, by the Polo Grounds, but faithful to the color scheme laid down 20 years ago at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Patient Zero of the retro fever. "Dark green is the color of a classic ballpark," said Dave Howard, the Mets president, in 2009. "And we thought the other team in town would use blue." And if you used the color scheme of a "classic ballpark," the Wilpons believed, you would suddenly have a classic ballpark.
Well, the fans responded: They didn't show up the past two years, and Citi Field is unloved. But it yearns to be loved! Now, the moment you sit down, there's that blue sweeping across the outfield, topped by a Mets-orange stripe. If you squint, it feels like you're at a Mets Stadium (sorry, the "Let's Go Mets" Citi Field sign in deep center never worked). It clashes with the over-tasteful green of the seats and the rest of the stadium—a familiar and comfortingly ugly clash, almost as dissonant as the old orange, blue, green and red seating arrangement at Shea. (As ungainly, that is, as a color scheme patched together from the blue of the ex-Brooklyn Dodgers and the orange of the ex-New York Giants.)
There are still issues. Even with the walls drawn in, there's a lingering quirkiness to the outfield walls—antithetical to the round and reassuring symmetry of the old Shea dimensions that Mets fans grew up on. There's that disturbing, horrible 408 sign in center field, which is still, fundamentally, not a Mets dimension. The Mets spent decades at 410. The Yankee Stadiums—both old and new—have spent more than two decades at 408. Let them have it.
And there's the old left field wall, now a backdrop to the new, shorter fence, and covered with all the retired numbers. It looks a bit too much like the old Veterans Stadium.
But that's nitpicking. The blue wall is in keeping with what the Wilpons have been forced to do since the stadium—adding large banners of Mets greats throughout the stadium, bringing the old Shea home run apple to the front of the stadium, trying to cover the overwhelming, generic Otherness of the entire stadium with something identifiably Mets-ian. Oh, and that's right: For the first time since 1996 the Mets are bringing back Banner Day.
So the Mets are symbolically relocating their ballpark from vague Baseball Elysium to actual Flushing, Queens. And they're not alone in making such a move. The oldest Olde Tyme Base-Ball Park has been trying to claim some specific heritage, too.
As Richard Sandomir reported in the Times last week, a new roofdeck bar at Camden Yards is being used as a monument to Baltimore Orioles history:
Viewable from the rooftop bar is a second new feature: a sculpture garden that will house six bronze works of Orioles Hall of Famers, a feature adapted from stadiums new (like AT&T Park) and old (Wrigley Field). The 7- to 8-foot statues, by Antonio Mendez, will stand on granite bases in an area beyond center field.
The first statue, of Frank Robinson, will be unveiled April 28; the last one, of [Cal] Ripken, will be revealed in September. In between, the garden will grow monthly with the likenesses of Earl Weaver, Eddie Murray, Brooks Robinson and Jim Palmer.
In addition, artists were hired to paint murals in the main concourse depicting the team's logos since its arrival in Baltimore in 1954, and the walls of the main concourse were covered with stucco. A year-round restaurant named for the former Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey has been put in the warehouse.
It's not strictly in the design of the stadiums, either. The Orioles have brought back that cartoon bird. And the Mets? In honor of their 50th anniversary, they're spending the whole year wearing their 1962 uniforms. Blue caps. No more black drop shadows on the Mets logo. Terry Collins has spent the early part of the year looking a little like Gil Hodges in that blue jacket.
A Brooks Robinson statue and a blue fence don't exactly feel authentic—but at least, finally, there's something familiar about them.


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READ about Piers Morgan's long career in journalism here.
On the heels of his recent exclusive interview with Richie Incognito, and with the NFL's perceived bullying epidemic continuing to polarize the nation, on Tuesday evening FOX Sports' Jay Glazer joined "Piers Morgan Live" with his insights from an exchange that dominated the weekend's news cycle.
After speaking on-camera with the sports journalist, Incognito then shared the collection of text messages he's exchanged with former teammate Jonathan Martin, then man who's alleging claims of bullying, and has obtained legal representation since walking away from football.
"'The world's gone crazy, lol,'" remembered Glazer, sharing one of Martin's message with Piers Morgan.
In covering an incident that took place primarily behind closed doors, Glazer admitted that there can be challenges, particulalry in uncovering an accurate and unbiased account of events:
"The problem as a journalist, my job is to try to find out the facts. We want to try to find out what really happened, not what everybody close to Richie is saying, and not what everybody close to Jonathan is saying," explained Glazer. "We want to find out what's really gone on in there."
Amidst a culture that has become ultra-sensitive to mental health, and in the wake of mounting suicides following abuse, Tuesday's guest recognized the challenging nature of the current subject matter:
"It's a hot button topic, Piers. Anybody saying bullying, you know, it's hard to defend because people start acting like somebody condones bullying," he told Morgan. "We certainly don't. In locker rooms, nothing is off limits. They go after each other for everything."
Watch the clip for more of Morgan's interview with Glazer, and for the next edition of "Piers Morgan Live," watch CNN every night at 9.
» Follow "Piers Morgan Live" on Twitter
» Follow "Piers Morgan Live" on Instagram


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Maritime Vessels Directory
- Type
- Flag
- Norway (2)
- Port
- Companies
- Year
- 2008 (2)
- Gross Tonnage
- 9126 (2)
Liquefied Gas Carrier (LPG) | Flag: Norway | Port: BERGEN
Liquefied Gas Carrier (LPG) | Flag: Norway | Port: BERGEN
Maritime News
US CDC Issues Framework for Resumption of Cruise Ship Operations
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday issued a framework for a phased resumption of cruise ship operations after a no-sail order issued in March in response to the coronavirus pandemic expires on Saturday.The CDC said it was requiring testing and additional safeguards for crew members. A U.S. House of Representatives committee is investigating if the White House blocked the CDC from extending the no-sail order through mid-February.The no-sail order issued in March came amid a rising number of coronavirus cases on cruise ships. On Friday, shares of major cruise lines Carnival Corp, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruises jumped following the CDC order.
Iran Brands US 'Pirates' Over Seized Venezuela-bound Oil
Iran accused the United States on Friday of acting like the "Pirates of the Caribbean" after Washington said it had sold off Iranian crude oil shipments that it seized on their way to Venezuela.Washington said on Thursday it had sold 1.1 million barrels of previously seized Iranian oil that was bound for Venezuela, in the Trump administration's latest move to increase pressure on Tehran less than a week before the November 3 U.S. presidential election."The Pirates of the Caribbean openly boasting abt(about) their booty... No one civilized brags abt stealing," Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Twitter.
Fincantieri Delivers New Cruise Ship Silver Moon
Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri said it has handed over the second of three new "Muse" series ultra-luxury cruise ships it is constructing for Royal Caribbean's Silversea Cruises.Silver Moon, built at Fincantieri's Ancona yard and delivered on Friday, is a sister ship of Silver Muse, that went out to sea in 2017 from the Sestri Ponente (Ge) shipyard, and of Silver Dawn, to be delivered in 2021 in Ancona. At 40,700 gross tons, the newbuild has capacity for 596 passengers in 298 all-suite cabins.
CMA CGM's Second 23,000 TEU LNG Containership Delivered
CMA CGM has taken delivery of CMA CGM Champs Elysées, its second 23,000 TEU capacity containership powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).The newbuild, which follows flagship CMA CGM Jacques Saadé delivered in Setember, is part of a series of nine ordered by the French shipping line from CSSC's shipyard in Shanghai, designed as the world's most efficient ultra large container vessels.LNG fuel, which enables a 99% reduction in sulfur dioxide and fine particle emissions and an 85% reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions, is a key component of the CMA CGM Group's environmental ambitions. The group has previously outlined its objective to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Greece Gets Strong Interest for Igoumenitsa Port
Greece on Friday received nine non-binding bids for a 67% stake in Igoumenitsa port, its privatization agency said on Friday.Bids were submitted by Aegean Oil, Attica Holdings and a consortium of Archirodon Group and ANEK & Trident Hellas Group.The other bidders were a consortium of Grimaldi Euromed and Minoan Lines, Danthia Shipping, MRG Ltd, Portek International, Quintana Infrastructure and Thessaloniki Port Authority , the agency said.The deadline for bidding expired at 1500 GMT on Friday.


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Eight kilometers northwest of Berlin city center.
Berlin-Tegel International Airport
13405 Berlin
Country code: +49
Tel.: +49-30/60 91 11 50
Lufthansa at the airport
Lufthansa Lounges
You can relax, take forty winks or get down to some work before your next flight at all major international airports – our Lufthansa lounges and those of our Star Alliance partners make it possible.
To the loungefinder
How to get there
Arriving by car
The expressway A111 will take you right to the airport. The A10 Berliner Ring expressway and A111 converge at Kreuz Oranienburg intersection. Coming from the south and Berlin city center, exit the A100 Berlin orbital expressway onto the A111.
Buses and trains
The TXL JetExpressBus is the fastest way to get to the city center. This line travels via Berlin Hauptbahnhof (central station with mainline rail services) to Alexanderplatz. The X9 JetExpressBus runs via Jungernheide station (S-Bahn overland trains and U-Bahn subway trains) to Zoologischer Garten S- and U-Bahn train station. The TXL Expressbus also provides a link to the city's circular S-Bahn lines, at Beusselstraße station. For the U-Bahn subway network, take the X9 Expressbus to Jakob-Kaiser-Platz subway station. For an overview of current fares and travel times, visit the website of the Berlin-Brandenburg transportation authority (vbb.de).
Taxi ranks are located in the inner ring of Terminal A on a level with Gates 6 to 9 and also in front of Terminals C and E. Travel times into the city center is approx. half an hour.
Parking facilities
There are some 2500 parking spaces at Berlin-Tegel Airport. These are located in two parking garages (P1 and P2), on a short-stay parking lot (PK) and in P5, which offers ground-level parking and parking spaces in the multi-storey car park near Terminal C. Parking spaces for the disabled are available in the short-stay parking lot (PK) and the parking garages P2 and P5.