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Neural activity that occurs during the creation of a new memory trace can be observed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Event-related designs have been used to demonstrate that activity in prefrontal and medial temporal lobe areas is associated with successful memory storage. Here we contrasted activity associated with encoding success and encoding effort. Participants viewed a series of 150 words but attempted to remember only half of them. Encoding effort was manipulated using a cue in the form of a letter (R or F) presented after each word to instruct participants either to remember or to forget that word. Increased activity in left inferior prefrontal cortex was observed when words were followed by the cue to remember. In contrast, increased left medial temporal lobe activity was observed for words that were successfully recalled later. These results show that fMRI correlates of the intention to encode a word are different from fMRI correlates of whether that encoding is successful. Prefrontal activation was strongly associated with intentional verbal encoding, whereas left medial temporal activation was crucial for the encoding that actually led to successful memory on the subsequent test.
- episodic memory
- medial temporal lobe
- prefrontal cortex
- event-related fMRI
- subsequent memory
- encoding effort
Neuropsychological evidence indicates that memory for recently experienced episodes depends critically on a number of interconnected brain regions, including the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and prefrontal cortex (Squire and Knowlton, 2000; Squire and Schacter, 2002). Although lesion evidence has been useful for implicating brain regions that are necessary for the expression of episodic memories, it is more difficult to ascertain whether these regions make their contributions to the formation, storage, and retrieval of memories. Functional imaging allows examination of the contributions of various brain regions to memory and of how coordination between multiple processes supports memory performance. In the present study, event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the neural correlates of memory encoding.
Neural events responsible for the formation of episodic memories have been investigated previously (for review, see Paller and Wagner, 2002).Wagner et al. (1998) acquired fMRI data while participants made concrete/abstract judgments about words. Words subsequently recognized with high confidence, compared with forgotten words, were associated with encoding-related activity in left inferior prefrontal cortex (LIPFC) (BA 44, 45, and 47) and left parahippocampal gyrus (BA 35/36). Brewer et al. (1998) devised a similar experiment in which participants performed indoor/outdoor discriminations on visual scenes. Subsequent recognition was associated with increased activation of right prefrontal cortex and bilateral parahippocampal cortex. In both cases, increased MTL activity predicted encoding success, whereas the laterality of this effect was stimulus specific (left hemisphere for words, right hemisphere for pictures). Encoding processes varied across items because of fluctuations in participants' attention to the stimuli, attention to the task, or the use of particular processing strategies such as semantic elaboration. Furthermore, certain stimuli may precipitate successful memory encoding attributable to distinctiveness or idiosyncratically salient features. Therefore, it is advantageous to combine the subsequent memory methodology, as used in these previous experiments, with experimental manipulations that specifically influence encoding.
In the present study, we monitored neural activity associated with encoding and analyzed the influence of two factors. The first was whether later recognition was successful. The second was the extent to which the participant intended to memorize the stimulus information. Intention to remember was manipulated with a procedure known as directed forgetting (DF). Typical DF procedures entail cues to participants to remember some items and forget others. DF instructions at encoding can have a robust influence on subsequent memorability (Bjork, 1989; Golding and MacLeod, 1998).
Participants viewed words and faces and were instructed to remember or forget individual items on the basis of a cue presented 1 sec after each stimulus. The 1 sec delay gave participants adequate time to perceive, identify, and attend to each study item before knowing whether to remember or forget. For analysis, trials were sorted on the basis of the instruction (remember/forget) as well as on the subsequent memory outcome, assessed with a post-scan recognition test. We thus contrasted encoding intention and encoding success.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Participants. Twelve right-handed volunteers (9 women, 3 men) between the ages of 18 and 25 years (mean = 20) were recruited from the Northwestern University community and screened for compatibility with MRI scanning. Data from six other participants were eliminated after testing because of errors in stimulus presentation. All participants were native speakers of English. Each participant was in good health and free from neurological and psychiatric problems. All participants gave informed consent, and the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Northwestern University.
Stimulus materials. Word stimuli were selected from the MRC Psycholinguistic Database (http://www.psy.uwa.edu.au/MRCDataBase/uwa_mrc.htm). Words ranged in frequency from 30 to 40 occurrences per million (Kucera and Francis, 1967) and in length from 5 to 10 characters. One hundred fifty words were chosen at random for the study phase. Face stimuli were scanned from a 1997 high school yearbook (R. M. Siwiec), and 150 were chosen at random for the study phase. An additional 150 words and 150 faces not used in the study phase were used as foils in the memory test.
Procedure. On each trial, a word or a face was shown for 1000 msec, followed by either a cue to remember (a green “R”) or a cue to forget (a red “F”) for 1500 msec and then by a 500 msec intertrial interval during which a fixation cross was shown. Participants were instructed to watch all stimuli but to remember only stimuli followed by the remember cue. To ensure that a minimum level of attention was paid to each stimulus, we required participants to respond on each trial by indicating with a button press whether they had seen a face or word. A short demonstration was used to familiarize participants with the stimuli and cues. They were then situated in the MR scanner, as described below, and the study phase was administered in five scanning runs. Each run included 30 words and 30 faces, half with a remember cue and half with a forget cue. To enable the separation of individual hemodynamic responses by deconvolution, an additional 30 trials in each run consisted of only the fixation stimulus for 3 sec. Randomized trial orders were selected to maximize the separation of both cue and stimulus effects.
A recognition memory test was administered ∼20 min after the completion of the study task, outside of the scanner. Participants were told that the test contained words and faces that were either novel or from the study phase (“old”). For each test item shown on a computer screen, participants were instructed to use two keys to indicate whether the stimulus was novel or old. Participants were instructed to make these responses regardless of whether the stimulus had been followed by a remember or forget cue and to respond as quickly and accurately as possible.
Imaging methods. A Siemens Vision 1.5-T magnet and head coil were used. The subject's head was comfortably secured using padding and a vacuum-immobilizer device. Stimuli were projected onto a rear-projection screen and viewed through a mirror. Whole brain T2*-weighted gradient-recalled echoplanar images were collected during the study task [24 6 mm slices; repetition time (TR) = 2000 msec; echo time (TE) = 40 msec; flip angle = 85°; field of view (FOV) = 24 cm]. Slices were oriented along the line connecting the anterior and posterior commissure (AC/PC line; slightly oblique from transverse) with a resolution of 3.75 × 3.75 × 6 mm. In each run, 154 whole-brain volumes were collected (4 initial volumes to reach steady state, 135 volumes during the study phase, and an additional 15 volumes at the end of the scan to collect the residual hemodynamic responses of the final trials). For anatomical localization, 3DFLASH T1-weighted images (TR = 15 msec; TE = 5.6 msec; flip angle = 20°, 160 1 mm axial slices; FOV = 240 mm; 256 × 256 matrix) were acquired after the study phase.
Image analysis. Images were coregistered through time using a three-dimensional registration algorithm (Cox, 1996). Functional volumes were spatially smoothed with a 7.5 mm full-width half-maximum Gaussian kernel to improve the signal-to-noise and accommodate residual anatomical differences across participants. Within each run, voxels were eliminated if signal magnitude changed >10% between time points (TR = 2 sec) or if the mean signal level was below a threshold. Each of the runs was then transformed (Collins et al., 1994) to conform approximately to the atlas of Talairach and Tournoux (1988) (using the MNI-305 reference model) with a final resolution of 2.5 mm3. The five runs of functional data were concatenated into a single time series for each participant. The average response to each trial type was estimated using a general linear model analysis (D. Ward, “Deconvolution Analysis of fMRI Time Series Data,” http://afni.nimh.nih.gov/afni) that included the onset of each trial type and several control variables (average signal and linear drift estimated individually for each of the five runs, and estimates of corrected motion for each time point to remove signal changes that were correlated with head/brain motion). Differences between trial types were estimated by contrasting the average peak response within the window of 4–8 sec after stimulus onset (to account for hemodynamic delay). Differences between trial types were estimated for each participant individually and then combined in a second-stage random-effects analysis that identified differences in evoked responses that were consistent across participants. Regions exhibiting a significant effect by this random-effects analysis were those in which each voxel exhibited a reliable change in activity across participants (t (11) > 3.5; p < 0.005 uncorrected) in a 500 mm3 region (equal to 32 voxels in the 2.5 mm3resolution of normalized space or ∼6 voxels in the original anatomical space). Monte Carlo simulations using normally distributed noise with 750 time points (equivalent to the five runs) and 12 simulated participants indicate <5% false positives per experiment with this statistical threshold.
Recognition memory performance on the post-scanning test demonstrated the expected directed forgetting effects for words, as shown in Figure 1. Participants endorsed more words that had been given with the cue to remember (R-words) than words given with the cue to forget (F-words) (t (11) = 4.53; p < 0.001). In addition, participants exhibited successful memory for both R- words and F-words by endorsing these at a higher rate than novel words (t (11) > 6.48;p < 0.001). For face stimuli, participants exhibited successful memory for the faces seen during scanning (t (11) > 4.56; p < 0.001) but did not exhibit a directed forgetting effect, because the endorsement rates for R-faces and F-faces were not reliably different (t (11) = 1.49; p > 0.10).
The robust effect of the remember/forget cue on encoding words was reflected in a network of brain regions that exhibited increased activity for R-words compared with F-words (Fig.2, Table1). Regions that exhibited increased activity during remember trials included a sizeable portion of LIPFC. This region includes both the anterior–ventral and posterior–dorsal areas observed in many previous verbal encoding studies (Wagner et al., 1998; Kirchhoff et al., 2000; Davachi et al., 2001; Otten et al., 2001). In addition, increased activity was observed in the anterior cingulate, middle superior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, right insula, and right cerebellum.
Responses on the subsequent recognition test were used to sort study trials into those subsequently remembered (i.e., participants correctly responded “old”) and those subsequently forgotten (i.e., participants incorrectly responded “new”). Activity thus associated with successful encoding was contrasted regardless of the remember/forget cue. Brain regions that exhibited increased activity for subsequently remembered words (Fig.3, Table 2) included left parahippocampal cortex and posterior hippocampus, LIPFC, right superior parietal cortex, and right cerebellum.
The previous two contrasts reinforce the roles of both prefrontal cortex and left medial temporal lobe in episodic encoding. In addition, because the cue associated with each word was not completely predictive of subsequent memory (i.e., some R-words were forgotten and some F-words were remembered), it was possible to compare the effect of the cue and subsequent memory performance separately. In this analysis, each word was classified by both the subsequent memory outcome [successful (SM); unsuccessful (UM)] and the cue [remember (R); forget (F)]. The four possible conditions were thus SM-R, SM-F, UM-R, and UM-F. There were an average of 41.2 SM-R trials for each participant (range, 19–55), an average of 24.6 SM-F trials (range, 9–43), an average of 31.2 UM-R trials (range, 17–55), and an average of 47.9 UM-F trials (range, 25–66).
The critical comparison is between R-words that were not successfully remembered (UM-R) and F-words that were successfully remembered despite the cue to forget them (SM-F). To identify areas in which activity was more associated with the remember/forget cue than with subsequent memory, differential activity associated with UM-R and SM-F trials was compared within the network of brain areas already associated with the remember cue. [Note that this comparison is effectively the difference between the cue effect and the subsequent memory effect. The effect of the cue = (SM-R + UM-R) − (SM-F + UM-F) and the subsequent memory effect = (SM-R + SM-F) − (UM-R + UM-F). Contrasting these two subtractions (cue − SM) reduces to 2*UM-R − 2*SM-F, a linear combination of (statistically equivalent to) the UM-R − SM-F contrast used.] Restricting the analysis to just these regions (identified previously with a fairly stringent statistical threshold) reduced the number of concurrent comparisons. Accordingly, we identified clusters of voxels with consistently higher activity for UM-R trials than for SM-F trials at a threshold of t(11) > 2.20 (p < 0.05 uncorrected). By this analysis, three areas were identified: anterior cingulate, x = −6,y = +21, z = +33 (volume = 1031 mm3, comprising 98.5% of the region within which it was located); superior frontal gyrus, x= −10, y = 0, z = +60 (volume = 984 mm3, 97% of the region in which it was located); and anterior left inferior prefrontal cortex,x = −50, y = +28, z = +6 (volume = 797 mm3, 11% of the region in which it was located). The identified areas were of sizeable spatial extent (797–1031 mm3) and encompass a large percentage of the source region of interest (ROI) for the superior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulated, making it highly unlikely that the differences were observed by chance.
A similar analysis examined regions that exhibited increased activity for encoding success rather than encoding cue. In other words, activations for SM-F trials versus UM-R trials indicated which areas were reliably associated with successful encoding as opposed to the attempt to encode. Two such subregions were identified: left parahippocampal cortex, x = −28, y = −35, z = −12 (volume = 391 mm3, 70% of the region in which it was located); and right superior parietal cortex, x = +32,y = −62, z = +45 (volume = 156 mm3, 14% of the region in which it was located). This left medial temporal region and associated fMRI responses are shown in Figure 4,C and D.
To further verify that the analysis comparing the SM-F and UM-R trials effectively captures differential activity for the regions examined, an ROI analysis was done by combining the data for all voxels within each region that exhibited increased activity for the remember cue and then comparing the peak activity for the UM-R and SM-F trial types estimated from the resulting time series. This analysis showed that the anterior cingulate and superior frontal gyrus regions each exhibited consistently higher activity for the UM-R trials (t (11) > 3.25; p < 0.01). The region-wide effect in the LIPFC was only marginal (t (11) = 1.83; p < 0.10), reflecting the fact that the region exhibiting increased UM-R activity was only a portion of the entire ROI. It is worth noting that this analysis is strongly affected by a single outlying participant who performed much worse than the rest of the group on the memory post-test (remembering 25% of the R-words, compared with the group average of 57%), suggesting that this participant may have failed to use an effective encoding strategy. Adjusting the analysis to weight functional activity by memory performance or holding aside this outlier finds the effect to be reliable across the rest of the group (t (11) = 2.21, p < 0.05 and t (10) = 2.59,p < 0.05, respectively). Another possible reason for the weaker ROI-wide response in the LIPFC is that the large LIPFC area that exhibited greater activity for “remember” than “forget” trials may include multiple sub-areas (Kirchhoff et al., 2000). Within this ROI, only an anterior, ventral subregion (Fig.4 A,B) exhibited reliably more activity for the cue to remember compared with successful memory (in the first voxel-based analysis above). The posterior portion of this ROI exhibited increased activity for successful memory as well as for the remember cue.
A similar analysis was performed for the combined voxels within each ROI that exhibited increased activity for successful memory. Reliably increased activity was observed for the SM-F trials compared with UM-R trials in both the left parahippocampal region and the right superior parietal region (t (11) = 3.48,p < 0.01 and t (11) = 2.51, p < 0.03, respectively).
Because participants did not exhibit a robust directed forgetting effect for faces, it is not surprising that few brain areas showed differential activity for faces associated with the remember cue (R-faces) versus the forget cue (F-faces). Regions with greater activity for R-faces and F-faces are shown in Figure5; coordinates are listed in Table3. For R-faces, increased activity was observed in left posterior occipital cortex, left fusiform gyrus, and right inferior occipitotemporal cortex. In addition, two areas exhibited greater activity for F-faces: right parietal cortex and right middle frontal gyrus. It is unclear whether these areas reflect activity associated with an attempt to forget or some other cognitive activity that occurs after the forget cue (e.g., rehearsal of other previously presented stimuli, vigilance for the next stimulus).
No brain areas showed greater encoding activity for successfully remembered faces compared with forgotten faces. This absence of subsequent memory effects is likely attributable to the low recognition accuracy for faces. Given the high false alarm rate (30% of the novel faces were incorrectly endorsed as old) relative to the hit rate (40% of the old faces were correctly endorsed as old), a large proportion of faces considered to be subsequently remembered may reflect guessing rather than a veridical memory.
Brain areas in which activity differed for word and face trials are listed in Table 4. Areas where words evoked consistent activity included the LIPFC (Broca's area) and left superior temporal gyrus (Wernicke's area). Face stimuli evoked more activity in the right amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus.
The conjoint analysis of subsequent memory effects and directed forgetting effects yielded evidence that left inferior prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe play different roles in verbal encoding. Based on the directed forgetting procedure, increased encoding effort on remember trials was associated with increased activity in LIPFC. Furthermore, comparisons between successful and unsuccessful encoding based on subsequent recognition revealed what have been termed declarative memory (DM) effects (Paller and Wagner, 2002). Increased left MTL activity was thus associated with the successful formation of declarative memories.
Although effort and success were correlated, high effort did not always lead to success and low effort did not always lead to forgetting. Therefore, it was possible to separate these factors by comparing trials when recognition was unsuccessful despite a remember cue (UM-R trials) and trials when successful recognition followed a forget cue (SM-F trials). The anterior, ventral portion of LIPFC exhibited greater activity for UM-R trials, indicating that activity in this brain area was more closely associated with the effort to encode a new memory than with successful creation of a new memory. In contrast, left MTL exhibited greater activity for SM-F trials, indicating that activity in that area was more closely linked with the creation of a memory that could be retrieved subsequently than with the intention to create a memory.
These two areas, LIPFC and left MTL, have been found in several previous studies to coactivate as part of a circuit associated with successful memory encoding (Wagner et al., 1998; Kirchhoff et al., 2000; Baker et al., 2001; Otten and Rugg, 2001; Otten et al., 2001;Strange et al., 2002). Factors that increase the effectiveness of encoding, such as instructions to remember or deeper processing in a levels-of-processing manipulation, might be expected to increase activity throughout this circuit. In the current study, both areas were strongly activated for successfully remembered trials that included the remember cue (SM-R trials). In earlier investigations, comparisons between successful and unsuccessful encoding were based on variability in memory resulting from stimulus differences, varying levels of attention and effort put forth across stimuli, and other uncontrolled factors. By including cues to remember or forget in the present experiment and presenting the cue after each stimulus presentation, we reduced the effects of fluctuating attention from trial to trial on the mnemonic fate of each stimulus. Because this directed forgetting procedure manipulated encoding effort and effectiveness in a direct manner, we were able to disentangle the roles of LIPFC and MTL in encoding new episodic memories.
Although our a priori hypotheses concerned the roles of the LIPFC and MTL in episodic encoding, similar patterns of activity were also observed in other areas. The anterior cingulate and medial superior frontal gyrus both exhibited patterns of activity similar to LIPFC. These findings suggest that these additional frontal areas may act in concert with LIPFC as part of a network supporting verbal encoding effort. Right parietal cortex exhibited a pattern of activity similar to that of left MTL, suggesting that this area may be acting to support successful encoding of an episode. This right parietal area was also identified by Davachi et al. (2001) as exhibiting increased activity during rote word rehearsal that led to successful memory. Processing in this region may play a supportive or subsidiary role in encoding, given the ample neuropsychological evidence that the MTL is critical for memory (Scoville and Milner, 1957; Squire, 1992). The parietal area may process details of the spatiotemporal context of the episode, given that the context of the encoding episode is necessary to later remember the episode and recognize the pre-experimentally familiar words on the test.
Two additional regions were identified as active during both encoding effort and success. The posterior dorsal part of the LIPFC encoding area and the right cerebellum both exhibited increased activity in response to the remember cue and when encoding was successful, without preferentially activating in either contrast. This pattern of results suggests that these two areas are active when encoding is attempted and when it is successful. However, it is unclear whether these areas are engaged in a cognitive process common to both of these conditions or whether these areas play different cognitive roles depending on context. One possibility for a common process would be linking a to-be-remembered word to semantic memory in an elaborative manner (an effortful and successful encoding strategy).
Although inferences from neuropsychology did not originally point to PFC as a necessary component of episodic encoding networks, neuroimaging results have repeatedly implicated PFC. Manipulations that increase encoding effectiveness, such as deep or elaborative encoding, consistently produce increased activity in left prefrontal cortex (Kapur et al., 1994, 1996; Buckner et al., 1999). These manipulations may increase the effort that participants devote to encoding or may reflect common mechanisms engaged when encoding effectiveness is increased by any factor that improves subsequent memory. Although we did not provide participants with instructions to use specific encoding strategies during remember-cued trials, we expect that they engaged in various elaborative encoding strategies, rote rehearsal, and other mnemonic devices. The superior recognition of words that were cued to be remembered indicates that these strategies were mostly successful. Although LIPFC activity was observed on UM-R trials (when encoding effort was unsuccessful), LIPFC may be part of a network specifically engaged for verbal memory processing, perhaps for both rote rehearsal and semantic elaboration. A related hypothesis is that LIPFC may play a supporting or modulating role in episodic encoding through excitatory inputs to MTL. LIPFC may help to precipitate processing in MTL that functions to link various verbal and contextual features together, so as to facilitate later retrieval of the encoding episode.
In contrast to the effectiveness of DF cues on encoding of words, the same cues had minimal effects on encoding novel faces. Given the absence of a significant behavioral difference, it is not surprising that little differential activity was observed related to the cue. Despite this, increased activity was observed for remember trials in three posterior cortical areas. Because the cue followed the faces, this activity may reflect efforts to visualize the face after the remember cue. In right midfrontal and parietal cortex, activity increased during forget trials. This may reflect active attempts to forget or to rehearse to-be-remembered stimuli from previous trials during a forget trial. If displaced rehearsal took place, it would remove power from both DF and subsequent memory analyses.
During the subsequent recognition test, participants produced a high false alarm rate to novel faces, complicating the subsequent memory analysis for faces by calling into question the proportion of correct old responses that reflected veridical memories rather than correct guessing. The resulting decrease in power likely caused the lack of subsequent memory effects observed for faces. Because of this limitation in DM studies, future test conditions should influence response criteria to minimize the false alarm rate. It is also critical that the difference between the correct old (hit) rate and the miss rate is not too large; at maximal recognition performance, power is greatly reduced for subsequent memory analysis because of a low number of forgotten trials.
Stimulus-specific effects were found for words and faces (Table 4). Increased activity for words was found throughout areas that have classically shown greater involvement in language processing. Increased activity for faces was observed only in the right amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus. Although the fusiform gyrus was not active in the group analysis, many individual subjects exhibited increases in this area [reflecting the fusiform face area of Kanwisher et al. (1997)]. The general lack of activity for face stimuli suggests that there may have been some perceptual difficulty associated with the faces, possibly caused by poor image contrast. The greater stimulus-correlated activity for words reinforces the fact that for our study, the responses to word stimuli are more informative about the PFC and MTL circuitry that supports memory encoding.
By manipulating encoding through post-stimulus directed forgetting instructions, we identified an association between the intention to encode the episode of viewing a word and increased activity in left inferior prefrontal cortex. By examining neural activity that was predictive of subsequent success in remembering across the same trials, we identified a different association between successful verbal encoding and left medial temporal activation. We conclude that these two areas collaborate in a circuit that supports the encoding of episodic memories for verbal materials, but that these two regions play divergent roles. In the normal course of operation, the intention to encode results in increased activity in left inferior prefrontal cortex. This activity in turn can potentially modulate activity in the medial temporal lobe, where an increase in activity may reflect the storage of the multidimensional links that effectively support successful encoding.
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants R01-MH58748 (P.J.R.) and R01-NS34639 (K.A.P.). We thank Patrick Skosnik and Sara Polis for assistance with data collection, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Paul J. Reber, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60201. E-mail:.


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Bathed in Mediterranean sunshine and rich with gastronomic tradition, Cyprus offers a culinary landscape as diverse as its history. Greek, Turkish, and Middle Eastern influences merge to create a cuisine both familiar and unique. Here are the top five places to eat in Cyprus.
1. **Ta Piatakia** – Nestled in the heart of Limassol, Ta Piatakia (meaning ‘little plates’) offers a modern take on traditional Cypriot cuisine. Under the stewardship of chef Roddy Damalis, the restaurant serves up dishes like Aphrodite’s Salad and slow-cooked lamb in a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
2. **Pyxida Fish Tavern** – Located in Nicosia, Pyxida Fish Tavern is renowned for its exceptional seafood. The restaurant serves fresh local fish prepared simply and beautifully, letting the ingredients shine. The traditional meze, a selection of small dishes, is an excellent way to sample the variety of Cyprus’s marine offerings.
3. **7 St. Georges Tavern** – This rustic tavern in Paphos is the epitome of farm-to-table dining. Known for its seasonal and organic meze dishes, 7 St. Georges Tavern offers a rotating menu that reflects the best of Cyprus’s local produce, from home-cured meats to freshly picked herbs.
4. **Hondros Tavern** – In the bustling city of Larnaca, Hondros Tavern is a favourite among locals and tourists alike. Known for its Makaronia tou Fournou, a traditional Cypriot pasta bake, and its exceptional Kleftiko, a slow-cooked lamb dish, Hondros provides an authentic taste of Cypriot home cooking.
5. **Ouzeri** – Situated on the coast of Ayia Napa, Ouzeri offers panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea and an array of dishes inspired by the traditional Cypriot ‘ouzeri’ eateries. Their meze, featuring local favorites like grilled octopus and tzatziki, perfectly complements their selection of ouzo and local wines.
These top five dining destinations provide a well-rounded taste of Cyprus’s culinary traditions. From the creative Cypriot dishes at Ta Piatakia to the delectable seafood at Pyxida Fish Tavern and the traditional fare at Hondros Tavern, these restaurants invite you to immerse yourself in the rich flavors of Cyprus.

domain: food


text:
NEW DELHI -- The world's second-biggest apparel exporter is now home to fashion labels of its own.
Bangladesh can chalk up this turn of fortunes to stable economic growth. The country's gross domestic product has been on a yearslong winning streak. In the 12 months through June, it grew at a 7.86% clip. Per capita GDP doubles every seven to eight years, with the figure now standing north of $1,700.

domain: news


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DENVER — A man involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenager in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
KUSA-TV reports (http://on9news.tv/1K1ynL5 ) Alton Kirkland was sentenced Tuesday for the May 2 death of 18-year-old Jordan Sprouse. Kirkland previously pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Prosecutors say he was drunk when he sped through a red light and crashed into Sprouse's car. Kirkland's girlfriend and her two young children also were in his car and were injured.
Information from: KUSA-TV, http://www.9news.com
All content copyright ©2015 Daily Journal, a division of Home News Enterprises unless otherwise noted.


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Sapphire Montrose always felt like a loser in the struggle of life, but when she becomes the airline manager of a run-down airline she starts to believe she is a winner – until she unwittingly propositions her new boss and all her hard work is undone.
In a moment of recklessness air stewardess, Sapphire Montrose throws caution and her dress to the wind by propositioning a handsome stranger in a hotel in Florence, only to find herself waking up alone and embarrassed in her hotel room.
Unfortunately for Sapphire, it turns out that her new boss, Marco Cavarelli, is the man she failed to seduce and she is now fighting for her job and her self-respect when he tells her there is no place in his revamped airline for an alcoholic woman with lascivious tendencies. To make matters worse she is increasingly attracted to him and he seems to be giving out the same vibes. Or is he simply testing her? One wrong move could be the end of her career. But what if he really is offering love – and is he worth the risk?
Book Rating: 8/10
Lighthearted, fun, and romantic!
The Magic of Stars is a charming tale that takes us into the lives of two main characters. Sapphire, a spunky air stewardess who finds herself in a precarious situation when the sexy, Italian hunk she drunkenly propositioned turns out to be her new boss. And Marco, an intelligent, handsome businessman who finds himself not only struggling to revive a failing airline but also fighting the pull of attraction he feels for one of his new employees.
The prose is humorous and fluid. The main characters are hardworking, endearing, and genuine. And the plot sweeps you away into a push-pull storyline filled with tension, chemistry, friendship, heartbreak, romance, as well as a little insight into the pressures and challenges of the airline industry
The Magic of Stars is the second novel in the Blue Skies Airline series and is a delightfully witty, thoroughly entertaining novel with great characterization, beautiful settings, snappy dialogue and a happy-ever-after ending that will make you smile.
About the Author:
Jackie Ladbury was desperate to become a journalist when she left school but was ousted within minutes on the day of the exam at her local rag because she’d forgotten to bring a pen.
Short and sharp lesson learned.
Her budding writing career was not on hold for long, though, as Jackie found herself scribbling love stories of pilots and ‘hosties’ while she flew in aeroplanes of various shapes and sizes as a flight attendant herself.
Fast forward a good few years and, after being short-listed in a couple of prestigious romantic writing competitions, Jackie decided it was time to discard her stilettos, say goodbye to the skies and concentrate on writing romantic novels, where the only given is a guaranteed ‘happy ever after.’
Thank you to Jackie Ladbury and Rachel’s Random Resources for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.
For more information on Jackie Ladbury, visit her website at: jackieladbury.com
The Write Romantics – thewriteromantics.com

domain: artistic


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ISLAMABAD: Around 500 cases are pending with different courts of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) presently, reported a local newspaper. TV channels that are operating on stay orders without licences are apart from those that have had fines levied on to them by Pemra.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, almost a month ago, advised Pemra to withdraw cases against TV channels that are operating only on stay orders without licenses, according to the newspaper. According to the PM, withdrawing these cases will reduce the burden on the public exchequer under the head of litigation fee.
Lahore High Court (LHC) has the highest amount of such pending cases (158), followed by Sindh High (137), Islamabad High Court (121), Supreme Court of Pakistan (37), lower courts (51), Peshawar High Court (8) along with those pending with other courts.
Pemra, under the chairmanship of Absar Alam, has imposed more than Rs75 million in fines on various TV channels, in the last two years for the code of conduct violation in different talk shows and news coverage reporting.
However, with a meagre Rs20million allocated for litigation, Pemra relies heavily on the services of junior lawyers to defend its verdict in court. Media houses, that usually have huge amounts of money at their disposal, mostly use experienced lawyers to fight their cases.
According to the report, mostly those code of conduct violation cases are decided in favour of Pemra where the violation was done against the judiciary.
Most of the other channels/shows have been permitted to continue their transmission under stay orders regardless of any show-cause notice, fine imposed by Pemra or licensing issue.


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Artist-runs now – BNE ART
The ARI Remix collective would like to acknowledge with deep gratitude the support and encouragement of BNE ART collaborator Travis Dewan during the past two years.
BNE Art is a useful Brisbane based eresource collaboration about news, opportunities, exhibitions, projects and arts writing about contemporary art for artists, designers and co-workers located here:
PHOTO CREDIT: Artist Belinda Gunn, Self Portrait with collaborator artist Leanne Ramsay, 1987. Belinda was the co-director of artist-run Arch Lane Public Art alongside artist David Holden located off Macrossan Street off Adelaide Street from 1987- 1991.


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The Danish philosopher thought faith had become too easy. This book doesn’t have that problem.
Beautifully honest, this novel blurs the line between fiction and reality.
When our evangelism focuses on apologies instead of God’s grace, we're burying the lede.
The Salvadoran archbishop was thoroughly of his own time. But his words speak to us too.

domain: library


The Garda is to spend up to half a million euro on memorabilia to commemorate the foundation of the organisation 100 years ago.
Management is seeking to purchase thousands of coins and medals bearing the Garda insignia which will be distributed to serving and retired members of the force as well as dignitaries.
An Garda Síochána will mark the centenary of its foundation next year. The organisation was officially founded on February 22nd, 1922 and was initially known as the Civic Guard. It took over policing duties from both the Royal Irish Constabulary and its parallel organisation, the Irish Republican Police, eight months after the end of the War of Independence.
Policing duties in the capital remained the function of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) until 1925 when it was subsumed in the Garda.
The Garda estimates the memorabilia may cost between €350,000 and €500,000 excluding VAT, according to tendering documents.
A total of 26,000 medals are to be ordered, along with 5,000 commemorative coins. Another 50 “sterling silver” centenary coins will also be ordered.
Each of the 18,000 current gardaí and civilian staff will receive a medal or coin, along with more than 11,000 retired personnel. The memorabilia is to be delivered to divisional and district offices before December 31st, this year.
The medals will be made of a bronze alloy and “shall be delicately modelled in all of its fine detail fashioned after the manner of the official An Garda Síochána crest and in the centre circle of An Garda Síochána crest will contain the chosen 1922/2022 dates”.
The order will also include a high-quality presentation box and ribbon bars for the medals, according the documents published by the Garda.
The idea of a commemorative medal was first suggested by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and was raised in the Dáil by Independent TD for Kildare Cathal Berry.
Mr Berry, a former Army officer, said similar medals were handed out to members of the Defence Forces to mark the 1916 centenary.
As part of the Garda centenary celebrations next year, an event will be held on February 7th to mark a meeting in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin of a committee which decided to form the Civic Guard. This would later be renamed An Garda Síochána under section 22 of the 1923 Garda Síochána (Temporary Provisions) Act.
A second event, on August 21st, 2022, will commemorate the “storming of Dublin Castle” by the then Garda commissioner on August 17th, 1922, when the Civic Guard took control of Dublin Castle.
A similar State event planned by the Government last year to commemorate the RIC and DMP was abandoned following significant public backlash.


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An awning is a retractable closed structure like a roof which is made of various types of materials including cloth fabric and polyester etc. it may or may not be supported by the building or a frame. Along with cotton and polyester cloth these awnings are made of various other materials like acrylic and polyester yarn. These awnings can be put on your doors, windows as well as above the pathways to provide shade. Along with protecting your doors and windows from the heat of the sun they also help in decorating the exterior of your house. You can also use Singapore awning as canopy by taking them away from your building and supporting them using columns.
Importance of awnings
After knowing about the awnings you must also know their importance before selecting the right one for you. The awnings are mainly used to protect your doors and windows from the heat of the sun especially during summer season. So their importance is to save your doors and windows from discoloration. You can also use them for protecting yourself from sun rays while relaxing in your backyard or your garden during a sunny day. Along with protecting you and your home from the heat of the sun your awnings can also help in improving the looks of the exterior of your home. They can also save your home and you during rainy season along with summers.
Selecting the right awnings
Along with providing shade awnings can be used for various purposes like providing extra space to protect your drapes, furniture or rugs from fading due to sun exposure or to spend time with your guests and family. Some businesses also use Singapore awning to give artistic look to their exterior to attract more customers. They also provide a feel of projection to your shop or restaurant. They can also be used to provide dimension, colour and shape to your space. They can also be used to save the consumption of energy in your building by preventing the radiations of the sunray. The sun rays penetrating through the glass of your windows can increase the power consumption of your air conditioner by 20%.
So while selecting such an important and beneficial thing you should be a bit more careful. You will have to consider several things while choosing right awnings for your space. Some information is provided here under to help you in this respect.
Location and purpose of using awnings
First thing to be considered while choosing right Singapore awning is where and how you are going to use it.
A retractable awning will be the best option for you if you are going to use it on your patio or porch as it will allow you to control the entry of light coming in to your building. A retractable awning is far better option than a fixed awning especially when you have limited space on the exterior. It can be rolled up when not in use. It can also provide additional outdoor space without spending money on remodeling your place completely.
A fixed awning can be the best choice for you if you are planning to place it on your doors, windows or the entry point of your building. You do not need flexible awning at these areas as they have to be covered permanently to protect your furniture and window panes from the direct rays of the sun. They also help in reducing the glare of sunrays without obstructing natural light. They also allow you to keep your doors and windows open when it is raining. You cannot get these benefits by installing retractable awnings.
Materials and colour of the awnings
The next thing to be considered while choosing right awning for your space is the colour and type of materials used to make it.
You can choose the colour of your awning as per the external decor of your building, the setting of your property or to make it main feature of your space. You can also choose its colour as per the location of your property. Earthy or neutral tone can be suitable if there are lots of plants but bright colour awning will be the best for pool or sea side location. Stripped awning in black and white colors can be the best for giving a classic look to you r business. So you can choose the colour of your awning as per the colour and style of your home or office.
Normally awnings are made of different types of materials including mesh, fabric, resin, acrylic, aluminium and polycarbonate etc. You should consider the style and colour of your awning as well as its maintenance requirements while choosing its materials. The kind of weather is another important thing to be considered while choosing material for your awning as it is usually exposed to it every time. But while choosing aluminium awnings you need not care for its colour and maintenance as it can protect you in all weather conditions without much maintenance.
Style of the awning you prefer
Singapore awnings are available in various styles from which you can choose the suitable one for your space. Traditional styled straight edge, semi-circular and dome are some of the commonly used styles of awnings used these days. The edging on the bottom of the awning is also available in various styles like scalloped, serpentine and ocean waves etc.
Suitability to your structure
Along with pattern and style of your awning you should also consider the size, ventilation and drainage of the space where you are going to use it.
Thus, after considering all the points discussed in this write-up you can easily choose right Singapore awning for your home or office. But if you are still unable to choose right awning for your space then you can contact professional awning installation service providers to help you in this regard.

domain: design


Published Mar 12, 2010Roland Pemberton (aka Cadence Weapon) has a rock band now. Really. Our man's man of hip-hop and poetry has decided to dabble in rock, and you know what? It's good. Pemberton seemed ecstatic of this new opportunity, as did his new band-mates. "Welcome to Canada raps!" he yelled, poking fun at a recent competition he's been in, Canada Reads. Pemberton and his band (made up of Gordon Lightfoot's son Eric on drums, guitarist Paul Prince of the Cansecos, Ian Koiter on bass and Jered Stuffco of DVAS on keyboards) played a slew of new material from Pemberton's upcoming album, Roquentin, that ranged from jazz and soul to hard rock and punk. When they played the old rap material as rock, it was a little awkward, but the show was too much of a spectacle to be bothered by it.


JAKARTA -- Japanese car maker Honda Motor jumped to the No. 2 position in Indonesia's auto sales last year, shouldering out Daihatsu Motor, which had been the runner-up for seven years in a row.
Honda muscles into No. 2 spot among automakers in Indonesia
Leading Japanese brands' domination hits 73% market share


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Help your employees define their path forward.
A retirement plan is the cornerstone of most employer benefits packages. Therefore, you should have the tools to recruit, reward and retain qualified employees.
Each employer is different and a one-size-fits-all approach is not always appropriate. Parsec Financial seeks to understand your business first, as well as your goals as a business owner. We then develop the right solution for you and your employees. You can trust that our advice is not biased towards any product line or promise of commission, but to always define the path forward.
- The development, maintenance and monitoring of the Plan’s Investment Policy Statement (IPS)
- Assessment of the Plan’s investment objectives
- Selection of investment options for the plan
- Ongoing investment option due diligence and monitoring
- Investment Reports
- Annual trustee meeting; the advisor may recommend more based on complexity of the plan or time constraints
- Selection and monitoring of the Plan’s Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA)
- Investment Manager monitoring and search for the Plan’s investment options
- Quarterly investment model rebalancing, or sooner if market conditions warrant
- Annual investment model asset allocation rebalancing within their respective risk tolerances and asset classes annually, or sooner if market conditions warrant
- Develop, maintain and monitor risk-based investment models
- Vote proxies of the mutual fund shares in the plan
- Annual fee disclosure
- Annual consultation with the plan’s investment committee
- Annual group education and/or enrollment meetings (includes up to two different locations)
- One-on-one participant meetings; in coordination of annual group education/enrollment meetings
- Participant investment advice within the confines of the Plan’s investment lineup
- Participant phone and email support
- Fee benchmarking
- General support for plan design features
- Vendor search and analysis
- Support and assistance with the creation of a Fiduciary File
- Review 404(c) liability protection
- Review of fidelity bonding amounts
Using Our 40 Years of Excellence to Help Define Your Path Forward
Get in touch with a Parsec Financial representative at an office near you.

domain: finance


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Genre: YA Contemporary | Diversity: Latina MC + polyam | My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Taylor Cipriano had everything figured out, back when she lived with her single mother in Miami. Now, she’s moved upstate for her junior year to live with her mom’s boyfriend and her soon-to-be-stepsister and is trying to figure out who she is out of the shadow of her best friend. When she meets Theo—quirky, cute, sensitive Theo—he seems like a great match…except he has a girlfriend. Josey, icy and oh-so-intimidating.
But Theo and Josey aren’t like anyone Taylor’s met before; Josey grew up in a polyamorous family, and the two of them have a history of letting a third person in to their relationship. It’s nothing Taylor’s ever considered before…but she really likes Theo.
Her feelings for Josey, though?
That’s where it really gets complicated.
3 unwraps who we love and how we love, in numbers as odd as we are.
3 is a story about a 16-year-old Cuban-American, Taylor, as she falls in love for the first time—with two different people, in two different ways. It’s an incredibly engrossing storyline that caused me to examine some of my preconceptions of polyamory.
amazingly honest teen voice
As I said in my review of Gone, Gone, Gone, Hannah Moskowitz has a gift for writing teenagers in a way that’s realistic, raw, funny, and poignant—all at the same time. Taylor is a deeply flawed character: she’s often self-absorbed and occasionally a really not-so-great friend. The story is really about Taylor figuring herself out, from her relationship with her new step-family, to her emotional abandonment of her best friend Aanya, to her discovering how she falls in love. The dialogue between the teenage characters in particular was spot on. I loved the quirkiness of Taylor, Theo, and Josey; they each have their own voices and style, and I want to adopt all of them, okay?
polyamorous relationship that makes you think
It’s been a really long time since a YA book has made me think so much about my own worldview. I’ve never not been monogamous (even in my teen years when all I did was hardcore crush on one person at a time). Reading this, especially learning about polyamory through Taylor’s eyes, was eye-opening.
The relationship between Theo, Josey, and Taylor crushes everything you think you know about polyamory. Josey is quick to point out that it’s not about sex at all—and *spoiler alert* Taylor is a virgin who never has sex with Theo in the course of the story. *end spoiler alert* Rather, polyamory, at least in the case of this book, is about embracing different kinds of love between people.
As adorable and dorky as Theo is, I loved Josey even more. I really enjoyed watching Taylor’s relationship with Josey develop, from the initial stages of fear and jealousy to the not-quite-friendship they have by the end of the story. Although Taylor never identifies herself as any sort of bi (and she and Josey never so much as kiss), I read her as bisexual. The way she feels about Josey reminds me of the first time I realized I had a girl crush: I wasn’t so sure about the sex part, but I knew that the way I felt about said girl was not a friendship feeling.
honest talk about the future
Another side plot of the book is the conversations the teens have about the future. Josey thinks she knows exactly where her life is going—she wants to go to Cambridge and become a vet—but as the story progresses, she has to come to terms with the reality of her future. The truth is, none of us really know where life will take us; all we can do is try to roll with the punches.
I really appreciated how the three talk about the future of their relationship as well. They love each other and they do want to stay together, but even Taylor acknowledges that she doesn’t know what will happen when they all go to college. I love when young characters are in love but also talk about the reality, which is that none of us really knows anything for sure.
The subplot of Josey’s pregnancy and abortion was also handled really well. It wasn’t a complete fade-to-black abortion, but it wasn’t overdramatized either. I liked that Josey acted strong about it, but at the point right before the procedure she talks a little bit about her fear that she’s making the wrong choice. This is a beautifully nuanced treatment of a really serious thing in a young girl’s life. I also loved how uncomfortable Taylor was about it, considering that she’s Catholic and a product of an unplanned pregnancy, but how she did everything she could to be there for Josey anyway.
why I wanted more
Aside from the frequent types and formatting issues (which didn’t bother me that much), my main complaint about 3 is that it left me wanting more.
In particular, I wanted Taylor to talk about her sexuality. I realize this is me being selfish: I wanted to be able to definitively label this book as bi af. Instead, Moskowitz leaves it open, in that Taylor doesn’t talk about how her feelings for Josey relate to her sexual or romantic orientation. I felt that this would’ve been a great opportunity to talk about the difference between sexual attraction and romantic attraction—as I read Taylor as biromantic. I can acknowledge the impact of leaving it open-ended, in that it allows readers to more easily put themselves into Taylor’s shoes a bit.
overall: still recommended
Despite the flaws, this is still the only book of its kind that I’ve read. Most of us don’t know a whole lot about polyamory, and this book dispels a lot of the stereotypes, as well as showing that love isn’t as simple as we’d like to think it is. 3 really made me think about assumptions I have about love and relationships, and I loved discovering that through Taylor’s eyes.
Find 3 online:
Have you read 3 or any other books by Hannah Moskowitz? What’s your favorite YA with an unconventional romance? Drop a comment below!


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This paper attempts to throw some light on union organisation based on the results of a survey of every electronics company in Scotland which employed 11 or more people in 1984.
|Number of pages||7|
|Journal||Quarterly Economic Commentary|
|Publication status||Published - 1 Aug 1987|
- Scottish electronics industry
- Scottish economy
- union representation

domain: economics


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A small display exploring the evolution of the humble bicycle, from an early 1800s pedal-less hobby horse to an Australian-designed Olympic Superbike.
The bicycle is an amazing invention and a highly efficient means of transport. Its genius is that it uses the strongest muscles in the human body to turn cranks. For centuries, the cranks that powered machinery had been turned by hand, using the weaker muscles of the arms and back, or by treadles, using only small movements of the feet.
Eight bicycles from the Museum's collection reveal how this revolutionary concept actually evolved over many years of thought, experiment, development and testing of materials, and growth in manufacturing know-how.
Explore some of the interesting and distinctive features of the selection of bicycles on display. These include the weighted pedals of the Velocipede, the huge front wheel of the Penny Farthing, the two separate chains of the Dwarf Ordinary, and the coupling rods that allow the back-seat rider to override the steering of a tandem bicycle's pilot.


Stayers Hurdle Tips & Predictions
2024 Stayers Hurdle Tips
The penultimate day of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival sees the long-distance hurdlers get their chance to shine on the new course at Cheltenham. Affectionately known by UK horse racing punters as St Patrick's Day at the Cheltenham Festival, it's also the home of the Stayers Hurdle. We'll have all the live horse racing betting markets here at Bet UK, so you'll never miss a beat during the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.
Check out our Cheltenham Betting Odds and place your UK horse racing bet on the Stayers Hurdle.
3.30pm – Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle (Grade 1 - 3m)
What promised to be a refreshed division has an awfully familiar look to it. Last year, TEAHUPOO looked like the heir apparent when just coming up short and, a year old and having won readily on his only start this season, he can justify favouritism to land the Thursday feature.
About The Stayers Hurdle
Contested over three miles and on the new course at Cheltenham, the Stayers Hurdle is one of the most popular markets in UK horse racing betting and, of course, in the Cheltenham Festival betting markets. Formerly known as the World Hurdle, this race takes in twelve hurdles and can be quite a task for horses if they lack the stamina to make it up the testing Cheltenham run in.
Stayers Hurdle Race Winner Tips
The Stayers Hurdle is the leading long-distance hurdle race in the national hunt UK horse racing calendar. We'll have all of the leading Cheltenham tips in the build-up to the main event, so you'll always be in the know when it comes to Cheltenham betting.
Stayers Hurdle Recent Winners
|Sire Du Berlais
|More Of That
Stayers Hurdle Top Trainers
When it comes to the Stayers Hurdle and looking at the Cheltenham Races online betting odds before the race, the top winning trainer hasn't played a big part in who has won the race in the last decade. Nine trainers have won this race in the last decade, looking at the stats. However, when it comes to trainers with the most wins, that's Paul Nicholls, thanks to the Big Bucks quadruple wins between 2009 and 2012.
Top Trainer Stats
|W P Mullins
Stayers Hurdle Top Jockeys
When it comes to the Stayers Hurdle, it's also worth considering which jockeys may be running on specific horses. However, given that no jockeys have won this race in consecutive years since Ruby Walsh unless you're choice in on the favourite, it could be a choice to avoid
Top Jockey Stats
Stayers Hurdle Trends
When putting together our Cheltenham tips and browsing the Cheltenham Betting markets, we also take into account recent race trends to help make our selections. If you prefer to consider horse racing betting odds when making your choice for the race, it may be worth noting that 42% of competitive runners in the race were over the odds of 14/1.
However, given that 72% of runners have also placed previously in a grade 1 race and 70% of runners in this race have graded race as their last win, the chances are you'll need to look for those as you browse our Cheltenham Betting Tips.
One other trend to monitor for this race is that 70% of runners had fewer than five stars in the current racing season before featuring at the Cheltenham Festival, so we'd suggest looking for horses who have been lightly run this season before placing your bets.
Stayers Hurdle FAQs
History of the Queen Mother Champion Chase
The Stayers Hurdle is the highlight race that is run on the third day of the Cheltenham Festival. First open to runners in 1912, the name of the race was later changed to the World Hurdle before being reverted to the more familiar name.
Which horse has been the most victorious in the Stayers Hurdle?
Between 2009 and 2012, Big Bucks and Ruby Walsh won this race on four consecutive occasions.
Who is the most successful Stayers Hurdle trainer?
Thanks to those four wins from Big Bucks, this accolade falls to trainer Paul Nicholls.
How long is the Stayers Hurdle?
The Stayers Hurdle is contested over three miles, and horses will take in twelve hurdles around Prestbury Park.
What is the prize money for the Stayers Hurdle?
The purse on offer for the Stayers Hurdle is £325,000 and £182,878 of that will go to winner.
What time is the Stayers Hurdle?
The race will take place on Cheltenham's St Patricks Day, (day three) at 3:30pm.
How many runners are there in the Queen Mother Champion Chase?
In the 2023 Stayers Hurdle, 11 runners went to post, and we expect to see a similar number of runners in the 2024 race.
Is the Champion Chase broadcast on TV?
Like all of the 2024 Cheltenham Festival, the Stayers Hurdle will be shown on ITV.
Where can I bet on the Stayers Hurdle?
Right here at Bet UK! We'll offer all of the top UK horse racing betting markets for the 2024 Cheltenham Festival so that you can browse our Cheltenham Betting tips and head over to our online betting pages.
Who won the 2023 Stayers Hurdle?
The 2023 running of this race was won by Sire Du Berlais, the legendary 11-year-old won the race for Mark Walsh at odds of 33/1, demonstrating that even at high odds, you can't write off any horse.
*All odds from Bet UK’s online betting markets correct at the time of writing.


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Attorney General Kilmartin Calls on Education Secretary DeVos to Reject Accrediting Agency that Approved Failing For-Profit Schools
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin joined a coalition of states in opposing an application by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) to regain its status as a nationally-recognized accreditor, noting the accreditor’s “extreme and far-reaching oversight failures” and the serious harm it caused students and taxpayers across the country by enabling fraud and abuse by predatory for-profit schools.
In response to the U.S. Department of Education’s call for written comments, Attorney General Kilmartin joined a coalition of 20 attorneys general in calling for the Department to reject ACICS’s application for initial recognition. In the comments, the attorneys general note that the Department terminated ACICS’s recognition just over a year ago due to ACICS’s pervasive oversight failures, so any attempt by ACICS to become nationally recognized once again “should be treated with great skepticism.” Under the Department’s regulations, the attorneys general assert, ACICS cannot meet the threshold eligibility requirements for receiving national recognition.
“For-profit schools overpromised and underdelivered, leaving students laden with debt and no real opportunity for employment in their chosen field, and it was ACICS that failed to properly regulate these corporations. ACICS has proven to not be able to properly accredit schools, and Secretary DeVos should reject their request to again be a recognized as an accreditor,” said Attorney General Kilmartin.
Accreditors serve a critical role in ensuring that schools provide students with an education that meets minimum standards of quality. They function as gatekeepers, protecting students from abuse by institutions that offer education of little-to-no value. When accreditors fail to fulfill this responsibility, they enable abusive schools to engage in misconduct that can be devastating to students.
According to the comments, ACICS’s oversight failures include its decision to extend accreditation to a large number of campuses operated by the now-defunct Corinthian Colleges. ACICS continued accrediting Corinthian even after upwards of 20 state and federal agencies initiated investigations into Corinthian’s fraud, and up until the day Corinthian declared bankruptcy.
“ACICS’s previous stint as a nationally recognized accreditor provides a stark illustration of the damage done to both students and taxpayers when accreditors fail to fulfill their oversight responsibilities. During these years, ACICS willingly accredited predatory schools that left students across the country mired in debt and without the quality education they were promised,” the comments state.
Attorneys general from California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington joined today’s comments.

domain: politics


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The New Pornographers were among the artists performing at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival. Below, watch them play “Moves” (from Together) and “Brill Bruisers” (from the 2014 album of the same name).
The post The New Pornographers Perform “Moves” and “Brill Bruisers” at Pitchfork Music Festival appeared first on Festival Gear.
This post was originally published on this siteOliver Hudson: “Valee is listening, and we’re not even friends!”
The post Watch Valee’s Cameo in ABC’s “Splitting Up Together” appeared first on Music News | Best Music Festival Blog By Festival Gear.
This post was originally published on this site JOBS Log On For The Free Chance To Log On For Free [Ramp Local; 2018] Rating: 4/5 In that time when your network feels mechanized — your responses were programmed before you could…
This post was originally published on this siteIf you follow the worlds of house or nu-disco, then you most likely are familiar with The Black Madonna. Throughout all of 2018, this producer has demonstrated that the underground genres are a…


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domain: entertainment


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- Did you know that 2008 marks the first time that Notre Dame has started off a season – any season – 4-1 but isn’t ranked?
- In spite of that, Dennis Dodd thinks Notre Dame has a better chance of getting to a BCS bowl right now than Vanderbilt does of getting to any bowl. Call him the anti-Mandel on that one.
- Check out this little tidbit from ESPN.com’s Ivan Maisel: “… one assistant coach who has seen the Razorbacks up close last year and this year said they are not playing nearly as hard for Bobby Petrino as they did for Houston Nutt.” I bet the folks in Fayetteville will want to check out Maisel’s phone records after seeing that.
- And from that same ESPN piece we learn that there are 18 bowl teams from last year that currently have a losing record. Ouch.
- Joe at Coaches Hot Seat Blog speculates there’s nothing going on with Tuberville, Franklin and the Auburn offense that can’t be figured out at Cracker Barrel.
- When dumbasses support the head coach, sometimes it isn’t pretty.


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AT&T Corp. on Friday reported net income of $520 million, or 64 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2005, compared to a net loss of $7.1 billion, or loss per share of $8.99, during the third quarter of 2004.
The company is nearing its sale to SBC Communications Inc., making this third quarter earnings release possibly its last.
“AT&T’s solid third quarter results demonstrate the successful execution of our strategies across both our consumer and business portfolios,” said AT&T chairman and CEO David W. Dorman, in a news release. “We’ve expanded our margins in the consumer and small business markets as we wind down these businesses, and our enterprise portfolio has benefited from significant cost structure improvement, revenue and volume growth in IP and enhanced services and share expansion in other product lines.”
AT&T said it had third-quarter 2005 consolidated revenue of $6.6 billion, which includes $5.1 billion from AT&T Business and $1.5 billion from AT&T Consumer. Consolidated revenue declined 13.3 percent versus the third quarter of 2004, mostly due to continued losses in long-distance voice and data sales. AT&T last year reduced its agent channel from four tiers to one, canceling a number of its agent contracts; the company also stopped selling to retail consumers.
"The big, one-stop-shop providers just can't keep up with this pace of change." goo.gl/fb/Ew3Lq2
March 22 2019 @ 20:35:09 UTC


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Mon 23 Dec 2013 20:00 (Attendance: 60,039)
The final top-flight game before Christmas pits the capital's highest-placed clubs against each other. Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton look in detail at the seasonal summit meeting…
So Sunderland summoned their age-old cup hex over the Blues and everyone at Chelsea has midweek diary dates free in January as a result. Most sympathy lies with those fans arriving back in London at 4.30am afterwards. On Monday the players will be aiming to be more efficient in every department at the Emirates to replicate the fine result and performance that dumped Arsenal out a round earlier.
It has not exactly been a great few weeks for the Premier League leaders, who have taken one point from the last possible six in the Barclays Premier League, shipped half a dozen against Manchester City, and finished second in their Champions League group, eventually being paired with the might of defending champions Bayern Munich.
Chelsea are unbeaten in our last three visits to the Emirates, one short of the sequence between 2004 and 2007. From 1959 to 1965 we managed to avoid defeat at Arsenal seven times in succession. The Gunners are looking to avoid three successive defeats for the first time since April 2010 when they lost to Barcelona, Tottenham and Wigan.
By the time this match kicks off, Liverpool may have gone top with a Saturday lunchtime win over Cardiff City. Chelsea would require the Scousers to drop points in order to lead the table at Christmas, even with another win in north London.
When asked the importance of hitting top spot at this time of year Jose Mourinho told reporters it is not 'crucial' and predicted the title race will end with a dive for the tape.
How indicative of success in May has leading the pack on 25 December been historically? Since 2003/04 seven of the 10 clubs in pole position have finished the season champions. The three who failed were Manchester United in 2003/04, Liverpool in 2008/09 and Arsenal in 2007/08.
The north Londoners' recent travails mean questions are re-emerging about their aptitude against the better sides and the viability of their relatively shallow squad: from the ecstasy of looking like ending the eight-year drought, to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Gunners working overtime.
Arsene Wenger complained his side were fatigued after the 3-6 beating at Manchester City, but his players will be fresher than some of Chelsea's as a result of our comfortable 2-0 Capital One Cup win at Emirates a few weeks back - Arsenal have had a free week to rest and prepare.
Following their draw with Everton a fortnight ago Arsenal have dropped more points on home soil than the Blues. The Gunners have the worst home record of the top four sides, with fewest victories and lowest goal difference.
This match also sees the personal battle between Mourinho and Wenger rejoined; after nine meetings the Alsatian has yet to sink his teeth into the Special One.
Barclays Premier League fixtures
Liverpool v Cardiff 12.45pm - BT Sport
Crystal Palace v Newcastle 3pm
Fulham v Manchester City 3pm
Manchester United v West Ham 3pm
Stoke v Aston Villa 3pm
Sunderland v Norwich 3pm
West Brom v Hull 3pm
Southampton v Tottenham 1.30pm - Sky Sports
Swansea v Everton 4pm - Sky Sports
Arsenal v Chelsea 8pm - Sky Sports
|Barclays Premier League top eight|
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Last time out Arsenal shipped six to a Manchester City side displaying the power and efficiency reminiscent of recent Chelsea teams that reaped similar rewards against the Gunners. The focus in these match always used to be on Didier Drogba's wrecking ball effect on Senderos et al, yet the Blues have won all three meetings since the Ivorian left in 2012.
A key factor in the Capital One Cup victory in late October was getting through the early part of the game and then scoring with Cesar Azpilicueta's opener on 25 minutes. There are no better starters to home games than Arsene Wenger's side, who have hit league sides with five goals without reply in the opening 20 minutes at Emirates.
Jose Mourinho will be aware of that threat and will be happy that Azpilicueta, his top-performing defender of late, is fit and available after the injury that caused his early departure in the midweek loss at Sunderland.
Especially so as Theo Walcott has returned from his lay-off and is looking a very real attacking threat. His pace and diagonal runs need to be tracked by someone of similar speed and more of Arsenal's attacks come from their right flank than elsewhere.
Right-back Bacary Sagna is capable of excellent crosses behind the defence and Mourinho will want to ensure there is someone ahead of Azpilicueta, who he has confirmed will start the game, or Ashley Cole if he comes on, to protect them. At the same time, Sagna has a tendency to leave space behind him that Chelsea will be keen to exploit.
On the other flank Nacho Monreal, more comfortable in an offensive role, played left-back in place of Kieran Gibbs at City. Gibbs uses his extra pace well but has similar tactical issues to Sagna.
Despite the overall disappointment of Wednesday's cup defeat for Chelsea, Willian's harrying and incisiveness with the ball were in evidence again. Rested that night, along with John Terry, Fernando Torres and Petr Cech, were the likes of Oscar, Ramires and Juan Mata. Mata has an outstanding record of scoring four times in five games against the Gunners, including the brilliant right-foot strike in our recent Capital One Cup win.
Midfield is often the key battleground in encounters with Arsenal and they lost their defensive discipline and organisation at City after the removal of deep-lying player Mathieu Flamini.
Jack Wilshere's mute expression of frustration towards the home fans there has led to a ban from today's match but the England man has not been performing as well as fellow midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Flamini, and Mikel Arteta (who himself missed our Cup win at Emirates through suspension) offers slightly more defensive cover.
Wenger suggested his team gifted five of Man City's six goals and Wilshere was partly responsible. He was caught in possession leaving the usually impressive Per Mertesacker exposed for lack of pace.
The German has been the key rear Gunner when they were the Premier League's meanest defence and demonstrated leadership quality when he chided teammate Mezut Ozil at the end of the 3-6 defeat for not applauding the traveling fans.
Lucas Podolski may return from his hamstring problem but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's knee injury may not have cleared until mid-January. The Gunners' biggest loss will be at the back, however. Deep gash victim Laurent Koscielny has been their best-performing defender this season - City had netted just two of their six when he was stretchered off at the Etihad.
This could come into play when it is considered Chelsea have been substantially more of a threat than the Gunners on attacking set-pieces but slightly more susceptible to conceding when defending them. Azpilicueta's opener in the 2-0 came, of course, after a lightning break from an Arsenal corner.
WE HAVE HISTORY
Chelsea have played more competitive games against Arsenal than any other team. This is London's oldest top-flight derby and tonight is our 181st meeting, though relatively few have been played around this time of year.
Just before Christmas 1955 defending title-holders Chelsea hosted Arsenal at Stamford Bridge. The kick-off was a civilised, pre-floodlights 2.15pm on a Christmas Eve Saturday and 43,000 were there to witness it.
Ted Drake was looking for a reaction against his former team after a 0-4 loss at Bolton. So Les Stubbs returned to the inside-left position occupied for the previous six matches by Roy Bentley, who shifted back to his regular centre-forward slot in place of 20-year-old Ron Tindall.
Tom Whittaker's struggling Gunners were taken apart in a dynamic first-half display from the champions, Bentley opening the scoring midway through and left-winger Frank Blunstone doubling the lead ten minutes before the break. It finished 2-0.
Fifty years later at Highbury on 18 December 2005 Chelsea were again defending the title, and inflicting a third successive league defeat on the Gunners for the first time in 10 years.
The game exposed Arsenal's relative physical weakness compared to the team Arsene Wenger fielded in his earlier years. Michael Essien and Claude Makelele's dominance of a Vieira-less midfield was the telling factor but Didier Drogba was causing havoc in the hosts' defence as usual.
It was the Ivorian who set up the Blues' route victory, controlling a throw-in and cleverly turning the ball into the path of Arjen Robben, who beat the offiside trap and clipped past Jens Lehmann.
The killer blow from the visitors was struck two minutes after a double substitution by Wenger. No sooner had old stagers Dennis Bergkamp and Robert Pires taken the stage than Joe Cole outmuscled Lauren, skipped past Sol Campbell and steered his shot beyond Lehmann.
'Oh what fun it is to see Chelsea win away,' went Chelsea fans' version of 'Jingle Bells.' Come April the tune had become 'We are the champions!' again.
Chelsea are looking for a fourth successive victory against the Gunners in league and cup and third in the Premier League having achieved the double against Wenger's side last season.
Arsenal last beat us in October 2011 when they won 5-3 at Stamford Bridge when Andre Villas-Boas was our manager. Their last home win against the Blues was in December 2010 when Alexandre Song, Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott put the Gunners 3-0 up before Branislav Ivanovic replied in the second half.
Juan Mata has scored on all four starts he has made against Arsenal.
The Gunners are trophyless for over eight and a half years since they defeated Manchester United on penalties in the 2005 FA Cup final. Over the same period Chelsea have won two Premier Leagues, four FA Cups, one League Cup, two Community Shields, one Europa League and, of course, London's only Champions League trophy.
Our last 10 away league meetings at Arsenal
2003/04 - Arsenal won 2-1
2004/05 - Drew 2-2
2005/06 - Chelsea won 2-0
2006/07 - Drew 1-1
2007/08 - Arsenal won 1-0
2008/09 - Chelsea won 4-1
2009/10 - Chelsea won 3-0
2010/11 - Arsenal won 3-1
2011/12 - Drew 0-0
2012/13 - Chelsea won 2-1
Other match last season
20 January 2013 Barclays Premier League
Mata 5 Walcott 57
Lampard 16 pen
Previous match this season
29 October 2013 Capital One Cup fourth round
Arsenal v Chelsea in all competitions
Games played 180
Chelsea wins 57
Arsenal wins 71
Head to head in the League at Arsenal
Games played 76
Chelsea wins 20
Arsenal wins 36
Biggest league win at Arsenal for each team
Arsenal 5-2 Chelsea - 16/04/1979
Arsenal 1-4 Chelsea - 09/04/1960, 12/11/1960 and 10/05/2009
Chelsea won a trophy: 222
Arsenal won a trophy: 3,138
Liverpool won the league: 8,633
Chelsea are undefeated in the last eight Barclays Premier League London derbies, comprising six wins and two draws.
Chelsea have gained 11 points from losing positions this season, the best record in the Premier League.
We have kept one clean sheet in our last 11 Premier League games.
The Blues have an identical record compared to the corresponding 16 fixtures last season.
We have won 11 points from a possible 24 away from Stamford Bridge this term.
Chelsea have trailed in five of our last seven league games, four of which have eventually been won.
|Last six results|
|Dec 1||Southampton (h)||W 3-1|
|Dec 4||Sunderland (a)||W 4-3|
|Dec 7||Stoke (a)||L 2-3|
|Dec 11||Steaua Bucharest (Champions League h)||W 1-0|
|Dec 14||Crystal Palace (h)||W 2-1|
|Dec 17||Sunderland (Capital One Cup a)||L 1-2 aet|
League games since
An away win: 1
An away draw: 5
An away defeat: 0
|Chelsea's next three games|
|Thu 26 Dec||Swansea City home||3.00pm|
|Sun 29 Dec||Liverpool home||4.00pm|
|Wed 1 Jan||Southampton away||3.00pm|
Frank Lampard's next converted penalty will be his 50th for the Blues.
13 League championships, last in 2004
10 FA Cups, last in 2005
2 League Cups, last in 1993
12 FA Charity/Community Shields (1 shared), last in 2004
1 European Cup Winners' Cup in 1994
1 Fairs Cup in 1970
Premier League - Fourth
FA Cup - Fifth round
Capital One Cup - Quarter-final
Champions League - Round of 16
Arsenal have won 19 points from a possible 24 at the Emirates this term. Since their only home defeat on the opening day against Aston Villa they have won six against Tottenham, Stoke, Norwich, Liverpool, Southampton and Hull and drew their last game to Everton.
Man Utd are the only team Arsenal have failed to score against in the league this term when David Moyes's team won by the only goal at Old Trafford in November.
The Gunners have conceded three league goals in the last 10 ½ hours at the Emirates.
They have opened the scoring in 13 of their 16 Premier League games and gone on to win 11 of them.
Arsenal have gained only one point from losing positions this term.
Manager Arsene Wenger
Days in charge: 6,293
|Arsenal's last 10 year league history|
|Last six results|
|Nov 26||Marseille (Champions League h)||W 2-0|
|Nov 30||Cardiff (a)||W 3-0|
|Dec 4||Hull (h)||W 2-0|
|Dec 8||Everton (h)||D 1-1|
|Dec 11||Napoli (Champions League a)||L 0-2|
|Dec 14||Man City (a)||L 3-6|
Premier League scorers (33)
Ramsey 8, Giroud 7 (1 pen), Ozil 4, Mertesacker 2, Podolski 2, Walcott 2, Wilshere 2, Arteta 1 (pen), Bendtner 1, Cazorla 1, Flamini 1, Gnabry 1, Sagna 1.
League games since
A home win: 1
A home draw: 0
A home defeat: 7
GUNNERS MAJOR SUMMER MOVES AND AUTUMN LOANS
Ins Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid, £42.5m), Mathieu Flamini (AC Milan, free), Yaya Sanogo (Auxerre, loan), Emiliano Viviano (Palermo, loan).
Outs Andrey Arshavin (Zenit St Petersburg, free), Denilson (Sao Paulo, free), Francis Coquelin (Freiburg, loan), Vito Mannone (Sunderland, £1.5m), Sebastien Squillaci (Bastia, free), Andre Santos (Flamengo, undisclosed), Gervinho (Roma, £8m), Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace, undisclosed), Johan Djourou (Hamburg, loan)
THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Mike Dean is the official for his second Chelsea match this term. He was the referee for our 1-1 draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane in September.
Michael Essien (one match) and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere (two matches) are suspended.
David Luiz is one domestic booking away from a suspension having received four yellow cards this season.
The Blues return from north London with a well-earned point following a 0-0 draw with Arsenal at the Emirates.
In a game shorn of many clear-cut opportunities, Frank Lampard went closest to scoring the decisive goal midway through the first half when he raced on to an Eden Hazard chip and smashed his volley against the bar.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with the defensive players on both sides coming out on top, although Olivier Giroud went close twice late on for Arsenal.
A first clean sheet in the league since the 3-0 win at West Ham is most welcome, while for Petr Cech it was his 150th Premier League shut out, and attention now turns to two successive home games, starting with the visit of Swansea City on Boxing Day.
Jose Mourinho made three changes from the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace just over a week ago. Gary Cahill returned to partner captain John Terry in central defence, with David Luiz dropping down to the bench. With Michael Essien suspended, John Mikel Obi returned to the starting line-up, while there was also a start for Lampard. Fernando Torres, who scored the opening goal against the Eagles, led the line once again. A strong substitutes' bench contained both Juan Mata and Oscar.
For Arsenal, Thomas Vermaelen played alongside Per Mertesacker at the heart of the defence and, with Jack Wilshere unavailable due to suspension, Tomas Rosicky was handed a start wide on the left-hand side.
With Arsenal unbeaten at home in the Premier League since the opening day of the season, it was important for us to start the game in a positive, assertive manner, and we were seeing plenty of the ball durng the opening few minutes, albeit without threatening from an attacking perspective.
Tactically, we began the game with Lampard, Mikel and Ramires operating as a midfield trio, and it appeared as though Mourinho had instructed them, and those players further forward, to press Arsenal high up the pitch, with the home side forced into a couple of uncharacteristic early errors.
Having kept only one clean sheet in our previous 11 league games, the team were set up early on to get men behind the ball when Arsenal were in possession and not afford the home side too much space in dangerous areas, and it was a strategy which proved effective for the opening 20 minutes with the hosts struggling to get in behind.
On the first occasion they did, a teasing Bacary Sagna delivery was expertly diverted behind by Cahill as Olivier Giroud looked set to pounce in a crowded penalty area.
Moments later we had our first real sight of goal following a quick break; Willian supplied the cross after Hazard had instigated the move inside our own half, but the header from Ramires lacked power and dropped over Wojciech Szczesny's bar.
Just after the half-hour mark we then produced the first real moment of quality in the game and came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock.
Lampard rolled the ball into Hazard on the edge of the Arsenal box; the Belgian looked up and chipped the ball back into the path of the midfielder, who had continued his run, and as he met it first time on the volley, the ball flew past Szczesny and crashed against the underside of the bar.
The danger wasn't completely clear, and as the loose ball bounced around inside the Arsenal box, Ramires swivelled and fired straight at the Polish goalkeeper.
Suddenly we were beginning to look a threat, and Torres was next to go close, spinning his marker on the edge of the box and firing towards goal, only to be thwarted by another Szczesny save.
The game, which had struggled to get going for much of the first half, was beginning to spark into life as the clock ticked towards the break, and the home supporters were appealing for a penalty when Willian and Theo Walcott tangled inside our penalty area. Referee Mike Dean, however, waved the claim away.
The Brazilian was then involved in the action at the other end as we broke at pace following an Arsenal corner. Ivanovic climbed highest to head Walcott's delivery away, and as the ball was worked out to Hazard he drove at the retreating defenders and slipped it in to the overlapping Willian whose strike was comfortable for Szczesny.
It was the Blues who threatened first after the restart, once again utilising the pace of our attacking players on the break.
As Cahill did well to block a Rosicky strike, the ball fell kindly for Willian who took two Arsenal players out of the game with a quick burst before feeding Hazard. With Torres to his left, the Belgian opted to seek out Willian, but his cross, intended for Ramires, was headed away to safety by Vermaelen.
Minutes later Willian was released again down the right, but on this occasion, with three players up in support his pass was behind Ramires, and though Hazard was able to retrieve the ball he was left with too much to do and, under pressure from two defenders, the chance went begging.
As the game approached the hour mark, there appeared to be no sign of a breakthrough from either side, and it was becoming increasingly clear the first goal could prove pivotal to the balance of the contest.
Lampard tested Szczesny from distance with a fizzing effort after Torres had done well to head the ball back into his path under pressure, while at the other end Terry was forced into a couple of defensive headers in quick succession as Arsenal attempted to seize the initiative.
As the rain continued to pour down challenges were beginning to fly in; Ivanovic and Mesut Ozil clashed, and minutes later the Serbian was on the receiving end of a late Sagna challenge.
Sensing the need for fresh legs, Mourinho made his first substitution of the night with 16 minutes remaining, replacing Hazard with Andre Schurrle, while soon after Oscar was introduced at the expense of Willian.
As the game began to flow from end to end, Arsenal saw their best chance of the game go to waste. Aaron Ramsey, a peripheral figure up to that point, lifted the ball over the Chelsea defence into the path of Giroud, but as Petr Cech raced off his line to narrow the angle, the Frenchman fired into the side netting.
It was the home side looking the more dangerous as the game entered its final stages, and Giroud again went close when he got the faintest of touches on a Kieran Gibbs cross, but Cech was equal to it and diverted the ball over the bar with his knee.
The home side forced a couple of late corners as they looked to steal it, one of which forced Azpilicueta into a clearance off the line.
At the other end, meanwhile, substitute David Luiz fired a free-kick straight into the Gunners' wall with what was our last real sight of goal.
Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Ramires, Mikel, Lampard; Willian (Oscar 77), Torres (David Luiz 87), Hazard (Schurrle 73).
Unused substitutes: Schwarzer, Cole, Mata, Eto'o.
Booked Ramires 63
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen (c), Gibbs; Arteta, Ramsey; Walcott, Ozil, Rosicky; Giroud.
Unused substitutes: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Monreal, Flamini, Cazorla, Podolski, Bendtner.
Booked Walcott 65, Rosicky 69
Referee Mike Dean

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is alerting pet owners and veterinary professionals about reports of canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs eating certain pet foods containing peas, lentils, other legume seeds, or potatoes as main ingredients. These reports are unusual because DCM is occurring in breeds not typically genetically prone to the disease.
Dave’s Pet Food of Agawam, MA is recalling a single lot of Dave’s Dog Food 95% premium beef cans because the products potentially contain elevated levels of beef thyroid hormone.
Merrick Pet Care, of Amarillo, Texas is recalling some beef dog treat varieties due to the potential that they contain elevated levels of a naturally-occurring beef thyroid hormone.
We are asking practice owners, managers and/or key staff to help us update our compensation and benefits information specific to the practice of veterinary medicine in Oregon.
If your dog or cat is itching and scratching, fleas are a likely culprit. Flea season usually begins in spring and lasts through the summer, but fleas can survive year round in western Oregon's moderate climate. Fleas that live on your pet can easily spread to your house or yard and vice versa, so it's important to treat both your pet and your pet's environment.
OC Raw Dog, LLC of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, is recalling its Freeze Dried Sardines because the fish have exceeded the FDA compliance guideline for fish larger than 5 inches. The FDA has determined that salt-cured, dried, or fermented un-eviscerated fish larger than 5 inches have been linked to outbreaks of botulism poisoning.
OC Raw Dog, LLC of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, is recalling approximately 1,560 lbs of Chicken, Fish & Produce Raw Frozen Canine Formulation which was manufactured on 10/11/2017 with a lot number 3652 and a use by date of 10/11/18.
The arrival of warmer weather means more time outside for you and your pets. But even in your own back yard, there are some potential hazards that could get in the way of the fun.
TruPet, LLC of Milford, OH, is recalling a limited amount of Boost Me Mighty Meaty Beef Topper Meal Enhancer because the products have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
Carnivore Meat Company of Green Bay, WI, is recalling these pet food items because the products may have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
K9 Natural Ltd is voluntarily recalling four batches of the K9 Natural Frozen Chicken Feast 2.2lb and 11lb bags that was imported into the US market in June 2017 because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria Monocytogenes.
Vitakraft Sun Seed Inc. of Weston, OH, is voluntarily recalling one lot of Sunseed Vita Prima Exotics Sugar Glider Formula because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
The Oregon Veterinary Medical Examining Board (OVMEB) met in March to address various compliance concerns. As part of the public hearing, they invited comments on a series of possible rule changes that are under consideration. It is important to note that at this meeting the OVMEB was merely gathering input. No action was taken. The OVMA will continue to monitor any action by the OVMEB.
March is Women’s History Month – a time to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. In honor of this celebration, we want to share inspiring facts about notable women in Oregon’s veterinary profession.
Darwin’s Natural Pet Products of Tukwila, Wash., a manufacturer of fresh raw meals for dogs, today announced it is voluntarily recalling a total of four lots of products after testing showed that some of the Chicken and Duck with Organic Vegetables Meals for Dogs may contain Salmonella, and the Turkey with Organic Vegetables Meals for Dogs sample may contain Salmonella and E. coli O128. These pathogens can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections.
The J.M. Smucker Company recalled specific lots of two varieties of Milo’s Kitchen® dog treats, distributed nationally, because the products potentially contain elevated levels of beef thyroid hormone.
Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, GA, is voluntarily recalling lot #GA0131 of BRB Complete raw pet food because of the potential of contamination with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes.
Radagast Pet Food, Inc. of Portland, OR is recalling one lot of Free-Range Chicken and one lot of Free-Range Turkey Recipe because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
Redbarn Pet Products, LLC of Long Beach, CA is expanding their recall initially issued on February 9th. The recall expanded to include all lots of product manufactured with raw material from a single supplier because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.
Dr. Simpson will serve as OVMA president until March 2019.
Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, GA, is recalling lot#GA1102 of Kitten Grind raw pet food because of the potential of contamination with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes.
Steve’s Real Food of Salt Lake City, Utah is voluntarily recalling one lot of 5lb Raw Frozen Dog Food Turkey Canine Recipe due to their potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.