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John Edwards: What now for former Chelsea defender Alex, one wonders.
The powerfully-built Brazil centre-back left Stamford Bridge to link up again with former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti in a £4.2million deal just over two years ago but appears to be surplus to requirements under current coach Laurent Blanc. Or about to be made surplus to requirements, anyway.
With Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic and Manchester City right-back Pablo Zabaleta figuring prominently on a list of targets for a defensive reshuffle at PSG, Alex is widely expected to be on his way at the end of the season.
He turns 32 in June but will be a free agent and could provide useful cover for any number of Barclays Premier League clubs.
Adam Crafton: Mexico manager Miguel Herrera met up with Javier Hernandez on Saturday evening.
The coach told Raza Deportiva: 'Chicharito is frustrated because the current manager is not giving him many minutes but he remains committed.'
He added to Mediotiempo: 'The managerial change came and now he has to keep fighting to win the confidence and trust of the new manager but he is working hard like he always has done.'
'His goals per minute ratio is very high, he has scored 30 for the national team, 58 in England - this is not in question.'
Hernandez wrote on Instagram following the 2-2 draw v Fulham: 'The time to speak about so many things will come.'
Matt Barlow: More travel misery looms for thousands of football fans heading to midweek fixtures in London which will be hit by the latest tube strike.
London Underground workers in the RMT union will strike for 48 hours from 9.30pm tomorrow which will disrupt the network and complicate journeys for supporters, starting with those heading home after West Ham's relegation scrap against Norwich at Upton Park tomorrow.
Those bound for Arsenal v Manchester United and Fulham v Liverpool in the Barclays Premier League on Wednesday will also be hit.
In the Championship, fans heading to Watford v Birmingham at Vicarage Road, and, in League One, those planning to watch Leyton Orient v Bristol City, will be affected.
Dan Burn has moved to clarify his remark that Manchester United's barrage of crosses in yesterday's 2-2 draw at Old Trafford reminded him of his days with Darlington in the Conference.
Speaking to the club's website, the centre-back, who cleared many of United's record 81 crosses during the match, said: 'I didn't mean that quote to sound as disrespectful as it's been reported.
'There were a lot of crosses, statistically more than any game since stats started, so I just joked that I hadn't headed as many balls since the Conference.
'It was a deluge of pressure, and I was just glad I could get on the end of some of them and we were all relieved to get a point.
'United have world-class players, and we're up against more world-class players, and arguably the best striker in the league, on Wednesday night.'
Colin Young: Liam Bridcutt had never even been to the Stadium of Light before making his home debut for Sunderland on Saturday.
And the £3million transfer window signing from Brighton and Hove Albion may not have fond memories of his first showing at the Wearside ground.
Ten-man Sunderland were easily outplayed by Steve Bruce's Hull City and shortly after Nikica Jelavic scored the Tigers' second, half the stadium had headed for home.
Bridcutt, who was booked and then sacrificed by Gus Poyet as Sunderland went for goals, admitted his introduction to life at home had been a tough one after the glory of the derby win at Newcastle the previous week.
The Scotland midfielder said: 'It's definitely been two very different extremes. But last week we didn't get overexcited. We knew it was a massive game for the club with it being a local derby. We knew it was a great performance and we played really well. We have got to keep level-headed and focus on what has to be done.
'It is always going to be difficult. Every game we play until the end of the season is going to be difficult. It wasn't our day.
'Every game is a massive game. We are in a fight now and we know what it is going to take to get out of it. Every game is going to be hard so to lose a man that early, you are just chasing the game.'
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopes to have Craig Noone and Kevin Theophile-Catherine available for Tuesday's meeting with Aston Villa.
Winger Noone was an unused substitute for the derby defeat to Swansea and has a muscle strain, while full-back Theophile-Catherine has been nursing a knee knock.
Jordon Mutch could come into side having been on the bench at the weekend while Solskjaer could hand defender Juan Cala his debut.
Provisional squad: Marshall, Taylor, Caulker, Turner, Whittingham, Medel, Jones, Campbell, Kim, Smith, Eikrem, Noone, Gunnarsson, Mutch, Cowie, McNaughton, Theophile-Catherine, Daehli, Lewis, Berget, Fabio, Zaha, Bellamy, Cala.
THE TRANSFER COLUMN - PSG eye Chelsea's Ivanovic, United and Arsenal keen on Coleman and City chase 12-year-old Swede
Simon Jones: Paris St-Germain are back on the trail of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic but are set to be disappointed.
The powerful Serbian, a cult hero at Stamford Bridge, has opened discussions over a new contract and wants to stay with Chelsea.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc is keen to add a new right-back with Ivanovic, Manchester City's Pablo Zabaleta and Newcastle's Mathieu Debuchy among his prospective targets.
John Edwards: Manchester City appear to have missed out on one of their prime transfer targets after Porto revealed that Fernando has signed a three-year contract extension to remain with them.
Though no club officials have been quoted so far, Porto announced on their official Twitter page that 'Fernando extends his contract until 2017.'
The release clause is understood to remain the same, at 30million euros.
City were reluctant to pay that much, during negotiations to try and seal the 26-year old's signature before the last window shut, and are unlikely to be any more willing to meet it when the next one opens.
There are already suggestions in France that manager Manuel Pellegrini will, instead, move for midfielder Blaise Matuidi, who is out of contract at Paris St Germain in the summer and expected to seek a fresh start.
British illusionist Dynamo couldn't make Cristiano Ronaldo magically appear on the pitch for Real Madrid at the weekend but he was was happy to bring some of his own special flair to the Ballon d'Or winner's birthday party.
Suspended Madrid striker Ronaldo marked his 29th year with a bash in Madrid following his side's comfortable over Villarreal that saw them briefly go to the top of the La Liga ladder.
Bradford's Dynamo posted images of himself with Ronaldo and teammates Pepe and Sergio Ramos after Saturday's celebrations with the caption 'Birthday celebrations for my bro @Cristiano in Madrid! Amazing night!'
Ronaldo's response via his official Twitter account was an emphatic 'Thanks, you're fantastic.'
Chelsea will once again be without captain John Terry for their Barclays Premier League trip to West Brom on Tuesday evening.
The defender missed Saturday's win over Newcastle as a precaution and Blues' manager Jose Mourinho will again leave Terry out of the firing line at the Hawthorns.
The Chelsea skipper is likely to return for Saturday's FA Cup fifth-round clash with Manchester City but the league leaders will have Fernando Torres back from a knee injury in time to be in contention against the Baggies.
Provisional squad: Cech, Schwarzer, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Azpilicueta, Kalas, Ramires, Lampard, Mikel, Matic, Oscar, Schurrle, Salah, Hazard, Ba, Willian, Eto'o, Torres.
Defender Billy Jones is West Brom head coach Pepe Mel's latest injury concern ahead of Tuesday's Barclays Premier League match with leaders Chelsea at The Hawthorns.
Jones is a doubt with a knee problem and will undergo a late fitness test on Tuesday morning, and if ruled out will join Nicolas Anelka, Stephane Sessegnon and Jonas Olsson on the sidelines.
After scoring on his debut in Saturday's 3-1 loss at Crystal Palace after coming on as a half-time substitute, Mel may play on-loan Thievy Bifouma from the start.
Provisional squad: Foster, Myhill, Reid, Popov, Ridgewell, Lugano, McAuley, Dawson, Jones, Yacob, Morrison, Sinclair, Brunt, Dorrans, Amalfitano, Mulumbu, Gera, Anichebe, Vydra, Berahino, Bifouma.
Matt Barlow: Big call for Arsene Wenger re Mesut Ozil from here. Does he give him a breather or challenge him to respond to the criticism which followed his performance in the thrashing at Liverpool?
By resting him against Manchester United and Liverpool, he can recall him fresh against Bayern Munich.
Ozil's influence has certainly faded but perhaps it was over-exaggerated in the first place, simply because he cost so much money.
Arsenal's brilliant start to the season was down largely to the form of Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and the improved solidity at the back, built on Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.
The arrival of Ozil meant Arsenal did not miss Santi Cazorla as they might have done when he was injured but Wenger has to work out if he can play them together every week, especially against the better teams if the midfield is without workers like Mathieu Flamini and Ramsey.
A midfield five of Ozil, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wilshere and Arteta is light away against a powerful Liverpool team.
Ozil remains a gifted playmaker. His quality is not in doubt, but Wenger has to figure out the how to get the best from him in the most important games and if that means leaving out him or Cazorla now and then, so be it.
Craig Bellamy is facing a three-game ban after the FA charged the Cardiff striker with violent conduct over his apparent punch on Swansea's Jonathan De Guzman in the south Wales derby on Saturday.
The Cardiff forward clashed with De Guzman in the second half of his side's 3-0 defeat and the FA confirmed on Sunday that they are aware of the incident.
However, Manchester City's Yaya Toure is set to escape any charge after he kicked Norwich striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel.
Juan Mata has bemoaned Manchester United's 'cruel' luck following their latest miserable result in the last-gasp draw against Fulham on Sunday.
Darren Bent's equaliser deep into injury time saw David Moyes' side drop another two points against the Premier League's basement boys and fall nine behind Liverpool in the race for their final Champions League spot.
Despite yet another disappointing result piling more pressure on Moyes, Mata reckons United deserved a victory after laying siege to Fulham's defence for most of the match.
John Edwards: Midfield grafter Alex Tettey is being hailed as the key to Norwich's hopes of edging out West Ham in tomorrow's crucial relegation battle at Upton Park.
Leroy Fer's attacking flair threatened to embarrass Manchester City in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Carrow Road, and much of it was down to Tettey's physical presence, in only his second start after ankle surgery, according to manager Chris Hughton.
'Leroy is one of our better players on the ball, and he was excellent against City in a different role that allowed him a little more freedom,' said Hughton.
'A lot of the credit for that must go to Alex, who showed again he is a big player for us. There aren't many frills about his game, and he won't get many headlines, but he does cover distances and nick possession for us.'
Left-back Martin Olsson echoed the sentiment, saying: 'Having Alex back is making a big difference to us, as an attacking unit and from a defensive point of view.
'He makes a difference to the back four, because he's always around us, covering on the flanks and clearing things up in the middle, and the work he does in deep positions means Leroy can do his stuff for us up front. He just never stops running.'
Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribery will miss the Champions League tie with Arsenal, the Bundesliga club have announced.
The France international underwent a 'minor operation' to repair a burst blood vessel in his buttock last Thursday, with tests on Monday showing the procedure had been successful in removing bruising which had been affecting a nerve.
However, Bayern also confirmed that the 30-year-old would only return to training next week and will miss the first leg of their last-16 Champions League meeting with Arsenal in London on February 19.
A statement on Bayern's official website said: 'An examination on Monday revealed that the bruise, which had pressed on a nerve, was completely removed by surgery last Thursday.
'After healing, the 30-year-old is scheduled to begin exercise therapy later this week and, a week later, he will return to running training.
'Therefore Ribery will miss the next games for the record champions, among them the last-16 tie at Arsenal in the Champions League.'
Ribery is Bayern's most influential player and made the three-man shortlist for the Ballon d'Or earlier this year.
Burnley have dug in their heels to keep their Championship match with Leeds United on March 15 a 3pm kick-off.
The authorities had wanted to move the fixture at Turf Moor forward to lunchtime, but the club have refused.
The club's chief executive Lee Hoos said: 'We appreciate and understand the concerns of the authorities.
'However we view this match as a great opportunity for the fans of both clubs to show that 3pm kick–offs of high profile matches are perfectly manageable.
'The majority of fans simply want to come and enjoy a game of football and I am sure they will be encouraging their fellow supporters to confine themselves to doing just that.'
West Brom manager Pepe Mel has been speaking ahead of the match with Chelsea tomorrow and Laurie Whitwell was there for us to get the best of the quotes:
On the defeat at Crystal Palace
The first half we didn't understand the match. It was the same for a short time at Villa Park. These days we need to focus on performance to answer these questions.
On whether it was a penalty for the third goal
I think West Brom need decisions from the referees. It's the same in Spain. Refereeing is very, very different work, decision is one second, but the last match is no good for us?
On Jose Mourinho
Our problem is Chelsea, our problem is Hazard. He's scoring goals not Mourinho. We need concentration in the pitch: 90 minutes for a good result.
In my opinion Jose Mourinho is a big manager, it is more difficult to win in Portugal, England, Spain, Italy. He is a very, very big coach. But it's possible to win.
The last season Mourinho was a coach at Real Madrid and Pepe Mel at Betis. Betis won 1-0. Mourinho is at top, top teams, it's difficult to win.
Now my job is to work, work, work to improve West Brom next season in Premier League. My problem is Chelsea. Mourinho is a good manager, for me is a good person. In Spain, our relation is good, no problem.
On the importance of the next week
The next week for us is important because the team will travel to Spain for six days. It's important for me to work tactically, physically, because the next weekend West Brom don't play.
On Chelsea having the meanest defence in the league
The best plan is to stop them scoring because then the tempo of match is in our favour. Chelsea need a win.
On the competitiveness of the Premier League
The Premier League is the best, yesterday Fulham had a good result at Manchester United, 2-2. For us it's important. Tomorrow why not West Brom?
Matt Barlow: It has been a while since any of the relegated clubs sprang straight back into the Barclays Premier League with automatic promotion. The Championship trampoline has lost some of its spring in recent years.
Newcastle and West Brom were the last to do it, back in 2010. Of the nine clubs relegated since, only West Ham have returned at the first attempt, and they did it via the play-offs.
Of the others, Portsmouth wallow in League Two and Wolves in League One.
Southampton will again be without defender Dejan Lovren and forward Gaston Ramirez at Hull as the pair continue to recover from their respective ankle injuries.
Striker Rickie Lambert is pressing to retain his place in the side after scoring in the 2-2 draw with Stoke on his return from a hamstring injury.
Midfielder Victor Wanyama is another in contention following his recovery from a hairline fracture in his leg.
Provisional squad: Boruc, Shaw, Fonte, Clyne, Yoshida, Davis, Lallana, Cork, Schneiderlin, Rodriguez, Lambert, Davis, Do Prado, Isgrove, Hooiveld, Ward-Prowse, Wanyama, Chambers.
Luke Augustus: He may never be classed in the same bracket as Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Fernando Torres but Peter Crouch can boast a better stat than them all in England's top flight.
Crouch's header that earned Stoke a 2-2 draw at Southampton was the former England striker's 85th Premier League goal – taking him one above Ronaldo, Tevez and Torres in the all-time scoring charts.
It's a fair achievement by the 6ft 7ins striker – even if it has taken him 348 games for six different clubs to get there.
Neil Ashton: Jose Mourinho has challenged his players to stay in pole position at the top of the Barclays Premier League.
The Chelsea manager will be without John Terry at West Brom tomorrow for the second successive game through injury.
But they are top and head to West Brom on a big run as they prepare to fight for the fourth Premier League title in the club's history.
Mourinho said: 'We are going to fight to stay where we are. We are in the race.
'I like being top of the Premier League. We have 13 matches to play and the difference between first and fourth is six points.
'I keep saying I want the fifth team far from us because the Champions League spot is so important.
'When the fifth is far away we will be focused on the four and then you have better conditions to fight for the title.'
Jose Mourinho is speaking ahead of Chelsea's trip to West Bromwich tomorrow night and has confirmed that captain John Terry will still be missing. However, Fernando Torres is fit again and available for selection.
Mourinho added that Terry should return for the FA Cup tie against Manchester City at the weekend.
Laura Williamson: Darren Bent has scored more Premier League goals than Steven Gerrard, Didier Drogba and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
His late equaliser for Fulham against Manchester United on Sunday was his fourth goal at Old Trafford - a record no visiting striker has yet bettered in the Premier League. English clubs have splashed out more than £50million in transfer fees for a player who celebrated his 30th birthday last week.
Bent should be in the prime of his career. Instead, the biggest surprise was not even that the on-loan Aston Villa striker scored against United with the 10th of 10 second-half touches on Sunday, but that he got onto the pitch at all.
Barcelona forward Neymar has taken a big step toward returning to action, training with the first-team on Monday.
The Brazil striker has been sidelined since badly spraining his right ankle in a Copa del Rey match at Getafe on January 16. He has missed a total of seven games.
Barcelona say Neymar is 'in the final phase of his recovery' with the Catalan club traveling to Real Sociedad on Wednesday for the return leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final. They are 2-0 up from the first leg.
Neymar has scored 10 goals in 24 appearances since his summer move from Santos, which has also caused off-field distractions as a Madrid court investigates irregularities in the player's contract.
Sam Allardyce will welcome Joe Cole and Mohamed Diame back into his squad to face Norwich as West Ham look to once again win without the suspended Andy Carroll.
The striker has two matches remaining on his ban, following the unsuccessful appeal against the red card he received in the win at Cardiff, with fellow forwards Carlton Cole and Marco Borriello both pushing for starts.
Cole returns from a groin problem with Diame (knee) also back in contention although Joey O'Brien (shoulder) and Ravel Morrison (groin) are absent.
Provisional squad: Adrian, Jaaskelainen, Demel, Tomkins, McCartney, Collins, Johnson, Reid, Armero, Noble, Nocerino, Diame, Taylor, Nolan, J Cole, Downing, Jarvis, Borriello, Vaz Te, C Cole
Colin Young: Alan Pardew will be in charge for his 150th game for Newcastle United tomorrow.
The Newcastle boss looked back on his time at St James' Park.
'It is a job that the passion from the fans can't help but inspire you and I have enjoyed 90 per cent of my time but I have lost some emotional games like Sunderland and the cup games which is tough to take at a club desperate to win a trophy.
'There is pride in doing a good job and we have played some fantastic football and achieved some unbelievable results.
'By the time I reach my next landmark which is 200 hopefully we will have the trophy the fans are so desperate to win.'
Colin Young: Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has admitted Willie Donachie's exit is a blow to the club.
The Under-21 manager resigned last week after a dressing room bust-up with defender Remie Streete in last week's reserves' defeat at Sunderland.
Donachie has left the club. And Pardew said: 'It was an unfortunate situation, out of the personality traits of Willie Donachie who is a fantastic coach and we have had to lose him which is a bit of a blow to us but we have good coaches here.
'We put the right foundation in for success, all the players have improved since they have been here which is the most important when looking at your coaching strategy.
'We have people who will carry the flag until the end of the season like Joe Joyce, Peter Beardsley, Dave Watson, Steve Stone and John Carver to deal with Willie's loss.'
Sam Cunningham: Stoke boss Mark Hughes cannot remember a tighter relegation scrap than the one unfolding this season.
Just seven points separate Swansea in 10th and rock-bottom Fulham and none of the teams in the bottom half of the table are safe.
'I don't think I've experienced it as a manager or a player the fact so many teams are so close together in terms of points separating teams from the top half and the bottom half,' Hughes said.
'It's quite unusual. It's about taking care of our business and everyone else will take care of theirs.'
Colin Young: Newcastle United are looking to secure a long-term deal for striker Adam Armstrong.
The teenager, who celebrates his 17th birthday today, has been on the bench for Newcastle's last three games. And he will be on the bench for injury-ravaged manager Alan Pardew tomorrow to face Tottenham.
Pardew said: 'We had a 16 year old on the bench and he turned 17 today so our bench has been strengthened a little bit
'We have really high hopes for him, he is a great talent. We are looking to tying up his long term future very shortly.'
Colin Young: Newcastle United may still be reeling from their derby defeat at home to Sunderland but two Geordie supporters have happier recent memories of taking the Mackems' scalp.
Steve Bruce made his first return to the Stadium of Light on Saturday and masterminded a vital relegation victory over Gus Poyet's side.
He is hoping the game draws a line under his fractious relationship with Sunderland fans who subjected him to taunts and insults during Hull City's 2-0 win.
Bruce said: 'There will be more managers sacked here, I won't be the last. People can have a look at what we did and in a few years' time they might think we didn't do too badly.'
Hull's win, which took them back up to 11th in the Barclays Premier League table, came thanks to a goal apiece from new strike partners Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic.
And former Newcastle keeper Steve Harper also pulled off two important saves to preserve a clean sheet. The veteran stopper has still not lost at the Stadium of Light and he was determined to enjoy every minute of it, especially after Sunderland's comfortable derby win the previous week.
Harper said: 'I enjoyed that. I've been here a few times now and still not lost. It's always nice to win and when you've been up the road for so long, as I was, it always adds a bit extra to it, but the main thing was the result.
'We needed the three points and having Sone Aluko back is a big lift for us because he's a top player who we've really missed. It's a good day all round.
'We've struggled away from home, but we seem to like this part of the world. We won at Newcastle, we beat Middlesbrough in the FA Cup and we've won here. Sadly that's the end of the North East away games.
'We needed a response away from home. You can't rely on your home games in this league, you have to go away from home with the mentality of winning a game and certainly not losing.
'Shane Long cottoned on to that right from the start of the game and what a great signing he's been. He's been clever, he's got across Wes Brown and left him with no choice and he's brought him down. It gave us a great start to the game.
'Buying those two has been a huge, huge statement from the club and for them both to get a goal today is absolutely fantastic.
'With Sone coming back as well, the manager has options, which is what you need in such a tough league when you've got games on Saturday and Tuesday and obviously we're still in the cup as well.
'I haven't seen the other results, but the most important thing is that we won and hopefully that'll give us a lift going into Tuesday.'
Fulham defender Dan Burn thought he was back in the Conference with all the crosses he had to deal with at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Manchester United knocked an incredible 81 crosses into the Fulham box - and scored from none of them as Darren Bent struck deep in stoppage-time to clinch a 2-2 draw for the Premier League's bottom team.
Six foot seven inch Burn cleared on 22 occasions, his sheer size underlining the futility of a tactic that raises question marks over David Moyes given he has such gifted technical players in his ranks.
It was certainly meat and drink for Burn, who up until four years ago was plying his trade outside the Football League with Darlington.
'I've never headed that many balls since the Conference,' he said.
'We knew that was going to happen and I was happy for them to play like that.
'I'm six foot seven. It helps when dealing with those sort of balls.
'When we started dropping further back we wanted to get more compact and make them play around us because we had the strength in numbers.
'Manchester United still have amazing players - on another day they could have scored more often but we defended really well.'
West Ham's Ravel Morrison will join Queens Park Rangers on loan within the next 48 hours, it is understood, after turning down the chance to join Leicester City and Derby County.
This promises to be the tightest La Liga title race for years, with the top three of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid locked together on 57 points.
Atleti have added an extra dimension this season, stopping the league being a straight fight between Barca and Real again, but their surprise defeat by Almeria at the weekend saw them slip to third.
There will be more twists and turns until the end of the campaign and here Pete Jenson gives his verdict on who will win La Liga.
Hull will be without full-back Liam Rosenior for Tuesday's Barclays Premier League visit of Southampton.
Rosenior was forced off with a thigh problem at half-time in the weekend win over Sunderland and will need to rest for at least a week.
Sone Aluko made his first substitute appearance since October at the Stadium of Light and should once again make the bench, but James Chester (hamstring) and Allan McGregor (suspended) are out.
Provisional squad: Harper, Jakupovic, McShane, Davies, Bruce, Huddlestone, Elmohamady, Meyler, Brady, Long, Jelavic, Quinn, Livermore, Boyd, Figueroa, Fryatt, Koren, Sagbo, Aluko
QPR have shown an interest in taking West Ham midfielder Ravel Morrison on loan.
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce has admitted the midfielder faces "severe competition" to work his way back into his side once he overcomes a troublesome groin issue.
The former Manchester United youngster, 21, started the season in superb form for the Hammers but his own good performances seemed to fade at the same time as the team hit a slump.
Since then Morrison has been on the fringes of Allardyce's side and has been struggling with a groin complaint since December.
Allardyce, whose side face Norwich on Tuesday evening looking for a third successive Barclays Premier League victory, wants to see Morrison's injury cleared up but refuted claims the England Under-21 international is set to depart the club on loan - although QPR is believed to be a potential destination.
Disillusioned Newcastle fan Dave Wood has decided to sell his treasured Lambretta scooter, inscribed with the names of club legends, after the team's derby day disgrace against Sunderland.
The 59-year-old toolmaker bought the 1962 scooter last year and since then has had the faces and names of Toon greats - including Sir Bobby Robson, Alan Shearer and Joe Harvey - etched on the vehicle.
But Dave says he can no longer keep the treasured bike.
Norwich winger Robert Snodgrass faces a late fitness test on a groin problem ahead of the Barclays Premier League trip to West Ham.
Forward Gary Hooper has shrugged off a kick to his foot suffered in the goalless draw against Manchester City, but defender Ryan Bennett (thigh) and midfielder Jonas Gutierrez (calf) remain out, along with centre-back Michael Turner (hamstring).
Midfielder Jonny Howson should return to full training after a back problem next week, while winger Elliott Bennett continues his rehabilitation from a serious knee injury.
Provisional Squad: Ruddy, Olsson, Yobo, Bassong, Martin, Pilkington, Fer, Tettey, Johnson, Redmond, Van Wolfswinkel, Bunn, Elmander, Whittaker, Hooper, Garrido, Hoolahan, Murphy, Becchio
Rangers manager Ally McCoist does not believe his side are favourites to win the William Hill Scottish Cup.
A home game against Albion Rovers is all that stands in the way of Rangers reaching the semi-finals, which will both be held at Ibrox.
The League One leaders are second favourites behind Aberdeen with all the major bookmakers after the Dons were handed a home tie against Dumbarton as reward for their shock win over holders Celtic.
But the Rangers boss believes there is little difference between his side and the Scottish Premiership teams left in the tournament. St Johnstone face Raith Rovers away after their 4-0 win at Forfar while Dundee United are set for a trip to Inverness if Caley Thistle can overcome Stranraer in a replay.
McCoist : 'Some bookies might have us as favourites now as is their right but I wouldn't go that far.
'I'm not trying to play any mind games when I say this but I think Aberdeen and Dundee United will, in a lot of people's eyes, still have a slightly better chance.
'I counted us in the next band after Celtic and I still do. I don't think there's an awful lot between a lot of the teams there.
'But United beat St Mirren 2-1 and I watched St Johnstone three weeks ago when they beat Partick 1-0 and they weren't looking bad at all.
'You've got to say they had a fantastic result at Forfar and a lot of people would have been looking at that as a really tough fixture.
'We're in the mix but when you consider the other teams in there, I still don't think we're favourites to win the competition. I genuinely don't.
'You'd have to say Aberdeen, having knocked the holders and the champions out, would probably be most people's favourites now.'
Ravel Morrison could join Queens Park Rangers on loan, according to reports.
More to follow.
Yaya Toure did kick out at Ricky van Wolfswinkel and the incident may have been worth a red card, Norwich boss Chris Hughton has claimed.
The Football Association is looking into the clash involving the Manchester City midfielder and if action is taken he would face a three-match ban.
The kick, during the 0-0 draw at Carrow Road, appeared to be missed by match officials and Hughton said: 'It did go unnoticed and there was no doubt there was a slight kick out.
'There was certainly something, but whether that was enough for a red card, then that is for the referee to decide on.
'It was a minimal incident in the game, and the bigger factor was it was a good team performance by us.'
A suspension for the Ivory Coast international would be a hammer blow to City's title hopes after Manuel Pellegrini's side dropped two points at Norwich on the back of losing to current Premier League leaders Chelsea.
A three-match ban would see Toure, arguably City's most influential player this season, miss Wednesday's game against Sunderland, the FA Cup fifth round match against Chelsea at the weekend, and the league fixture against Stoke at a time when City are already stretched in midfield.
John Edwards: It used to be known as Fortress Old Trafford - and David Moyes must have believed he was swopping Goodison for a garrison when he left Everton to take over as Manchester United manager last summer.
How quickly perceptions can change.
No longer an intimidating venue that fills visiting players with dread, it is becoming known increasingly for easy pickings, even for lesser lights who were virtually beaten before the first whistle in Sir Alex Ferguson's day.
Striker Chuba Akpom has returned to Arsenal following his month's loan spell at League One promotion chasers Brentford.
The England Under-19 international played in four matches for the Bees, helping them secure eight points.
Mark Warburton, Brentford manager, told the club's official website: 'It was a pleasure to have Chuba at Brentford for his first loan spell away from his home club.
'He made an immediate impact both in training and in matches and I hope very much that he returns to Arsenal having benefited from his experience with us.
'The difficult aspect was that he came to us at a time when the team was performing exceptionally well and as such, it was impossible to make unenforced changes.
'This meant Chuba did not perhaps get as many minutes on the pitch as he might have initially expected.
'I would like to thank everyone at Arsenal – particularly Head of Youth Development Liam Brady – for working with us during Chuba's loan and everyone at Brentford wishes Chuba all the best for the future.'
Jonathan McEvoy: Steven Gerrard has sent a text message to an Olympic skier who wore 'No 8' in his honour in Sochi.
Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud, who is a devoted Liverpool fan, requested the England captain's shirt number for the men's downhill event, in which he won a bronze medal.
Jansrud had relaxed before Sunday's competition – the blue riband of the Winter Games – by watching Liverpool's 5-1 win against Arsenal.
He describes himself on Twitter as 'Alpine skier and Liverpool fan. In reverse order.' On Saturday he tweeted a picture of himself watching the Liverpool-Arsenal game on a laptop from the Norwegian base in the mountains. He wrote: 'You'll never walk alone #SochiAnfield.'
Jansrud, who tore a ligament in his left knee at the World Championships almost exactly a year ago, said: 'I did start with Gerrard's number today. Maybe it had something to say.'
The 28-year-old's bronze medal follows the silver he won in the men's slalom at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
Craig Hope: They have been lauded as the deadly duo who will fire Manchester United towards Champions League football.
Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney have never been shy to share their admiration for each other, and David Moyes has pinned the bulk of his hope on the fit-again strike pairing.
The beleaguered Scot, then, may well be alarmed to learn of the on-the-field disconnect between his star men.
West Ham have sold the Boleyn Ground, with up to 700 new homes to be built on the site.
A statement just released on the club's website reads: 'West Ham United can confirm that Award-Winning local London developer Galliard Group has reached an agreement to purchase the Boleyn Ground Football Stadium once the Club completes its move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016.
'Following a competitive bidding process, West Ham United selected Galliard Group as the purchaser for the site ahead of a number of other national and international companies. The Club was impressed with Galliard Group's links to the local community and their commitment to honouring the history of the Hammers at the Boleyn Ground as part of their proposed development.
'West Ham United Vice-Chairman Karren Brady said: 'We opted to reach an agreement with Galliard because they are a local London developer and employer with origins in east London. We know they are committed to working closely with the local community and Newham Council on proposals to transform the site into a residential and retail village, which will benefit the local community and east London's regional economy. The deal demonstrates that we have been true to our word by securing the regeneration of two areas of east London through our move to the Olympic Stadium in 2016.
'In addition, and most importantly for us, we can see that Galliard are passionate about working with West Ham United to engage their supporters to help deliver a fitting legacy that will honour the tradition of the famous ground. We are confident that West Ham United fans will be excited about their vision and the way they plan to respect more than 100 years of West Ham history at Upton Park.'
More to follow
If the shirt on Mahdi Soliman, keeper for Ghazl Mahalla in the Egyptian Premier League, looks suspiciously familiar that's for good reason - aside from the massive McDonald's ad on the chest it's identical to the one worn by Liverpool's Simon Mignolet.
The Egyptian keeper was wearing the shirt in his side's 1-0 loss to Al Ahly in which he conceded a penalty.
Reports say the shirt match-up came after the Mahalla club kit man left the keeper's shirt behind on their trip to the league giants, so he picked up the Reds strip from a local store.
Thom Drake: Several of the Italian paper have Juventus across their back page as Antonio Conte's side let a two-goal lead slip against Hellas Verona.
Carlos Tevez had netted both goals for Juve and Conte was furious that his side undid all their hard work. He also makes the point of criticising the officials.
Simon Cass: West Ham manager Sam Allardyce has revealed Ravel Morrison will not be having an operation to cure his long-standing groin problem - and has challenged the midfielder to get fit.
Morrison has been troubled by the complaint since before Christmas and has not played since January 21.
Allardyce said: 'Ravel is still complaining about the groin problem he's had from before Christmas. He has to decide whether he's going to go for the hernia operation or not. At the moment he's not so he has to get back fit.'
On-loan Ryan Bertrand is a doubt for Aston Villa ahead of their Barclays Premier League clash at Cardiff on Tuesday.
The defender, signed from Chelsea in mid-January until the end of the season, damaged ribs after colliding with a post during Saturday's 2-0 defeat to West Ham.
Manager Paul Lambert could again be without centre-back Ron Vlaar for the second successive match due to a hamstring problem.
Provisional squad: Guzan, Steer, Clark, Baker, Luna, Bertrand, Vlaar, Bennett, Lowton, Bacuna, El Ahmadi, Albrighton, Westwood, Delph, Sylla, Holt, Gardner, Tonev, Helenius, Weimann, Agbonlahor, Benteke, Bowery
Sunderland defender Wes Brown will be suspended for two games following his dismissal against Hull, the Football Association has confirmed.
The 34-year-old was sent off by referee Mike Jones just four minutes into Saturday's 2-0 Barclays Premier League defeat by the Tigers at the Stadium of Light after felling striker Shane Long as he headed towards goal.
FA disciplinary chiefs have confirmed he will receive a one-match ban for denying a goalscoring opportunity, and another as it was his second red card of the season.
The former Manchester United defender will miss Wednesday night's league trip to Manchester United and the FA Cup fifth-round tie against Southampton on Saturday as a result.
However, he will be available for Sunderland's league visit to Arsenal on February 22 and more importantly, the Capital Cup final clash with City at Wembley the following weekend.
Brown has actually been sent off three times this season, although his first red card was rescinded on appeal.
He received his marching orders from referee Kevin Friend during the 2-0 defeat at Stoke on November 23 for a challenge on midfielder Charlie Adam, but later had a claim for wrongful dismissal upheld.
However, he was suspended for three games after being dismissed for a crude tackle from behind on Norwich striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel during a 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light on December 21.
Colin Young: Mathieu Debuchy is having a scan this morning.
The Newcastle defender has a calf injury which he picked up in Saturday's defeat at Chelsea.
He is definitely out of Spurs' visit to St James' Park on Wednesday as Newcastle's injury crisis seems to be worsening.
The France international joins Fabricio Coloccini, Cheick Tiote, Papiss Cisse and Yoan Gouffran in the treatment room, while Loic Remy is still suspended.
The good news for Newcastle is that Cisse and Gouffran should be back to face Tottenham.
Rik Sharma: Barcelona have had a bid for Croatian wonderkid Alen Halilovic rejected by Dinamo Zagreb.
The Catalans are thought to have offered around £3.2m plus add-ons for the 17-year-old, a target for both Tottenham and Arsenal.
Halilovic is the youngest goalscorer in the Croatian league and is also the youngest debutant for his national side.
MARTIN SAMUEL - West Ham's appeal over Carroll shows why clubs think relegation is a fate worse than death
Martin Samuel, Chief Sports Writer: It is easy to condemn West Ham's opportunism, or mock their desperation, but this ignores a wider question: why? Why, in this of all seasons, are clubs going to such extremes in the fight against relegation?
West Ham may be frantic over Carroll but a look at the league table will confirm that they are one of only two teams in the bottom seven not to have sacked their manager. In total, seven managers have been dismissed this season, six for fear of relegation.
It is too simplistic to blame this on trigger-happy foreign owners: West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace and Swansea City do not fit that model at all.
The truth is the Football League has made itself such a hostile landing strip, such an inhospitable place to end up, that club owners now recoil at the very thought of it.
Sami Mokbel: Raheem Sterling is set to be handed the chance to replace Theo Walcott in England's World Cup plans.
The Liverpool winger, 19, has already been pencilled into Roy Hodgson's squad to face Denmark at Wembley on March 5.
His team-mate Jordan Henderson, who has been impressive this season, is set to keep his place after his call-up for the defeats against Chile and Germany in November.
Jamie Redknapp: After that performance on Sunday, it is time for Manchester United to stop considering Nemanja Vidic their first-choice centre-back. They need to look to the future, assuming everybody is fit.
He was at fault for Fulham's late equaliser when he should have headed the ball away and it must be better to play the younger players now.
Once you know you are leaving a club, it is normal for your level to drop. I've played with people who knew they were leaving a club and it was clear that they had one eye on the future.
West Ham captain Kevin Nolan has criticised the decision to uphold a three-match ban for team-mate Andy Carroll, claiming it was a missed opportunity for the Football Association to admit it had made a mistake.
Carroll was sent off after it was deemed he had struck Swansea defender Chico Flores and the Hammers, upset that the FA did not overturn the decision, took the matter to an independent arbitral tribunal on Friday seeking what manager Sam Allardyce claimed would be 'justice'.
However, the independent panel, at which the FA was also represented, found there was 'no serious issue to be tried' and as such rejected West Ham's submissions, meaning Carroll must serve out his punishment.
The first game of that suspension was the 2-0 victory over Aston Villa on Saturday and Nolan, who scored both goals at Villa Park, still believes the FA was wrong not to overturn the initial decision.
Chris Wheeler: David Moyes admitted that Manchester United have a 'mental softness' after his troubled Old Trafford reign hit a new low.
Darren Bent's goal deep into added time gave bottom-of-the-table Fulham a dramatic 2-2 draw and delivered another blow to United's hopes of Champions League qualification, They are now nine points behind fourth-placed Liverpool.
Moyes said: 'You could (point to) mental softness that we didn't see the game out and get the job done. I would agree with that. Was it lack of concentration? Yes, maybe.'
Another week of Football 9-5 starts here, with all the day's breaking news from around the globe, plus the best of our content here at the Mail Online.
We'll have all the fall-out from another dramatic weekend in the Barclays Premier League and start to look ahead to the midweek action.
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Combination life insurance products, which combine a pool of benefit dollars for covered long-term care expenses, a death benefit for beneficiaries, or both, showed tremendous growth in 2010, with new premium sales soaring 62% to $1.2 billion, according to LIMRA research released June 17.
"Overall sales of combination products in 2010 were remarkable, especially coming off the double-digit growth experienced in 2009," said Catherine Ho, LIMRA research actuary, in a press release. "In addition to carriers boosting their marketing campaigns, consumers' growing desire for an alternative to stand-alone long-term care insurance has driven sales of these products. For some buyers, combination products are a more affordable alternative to stand-alone LTCI."
New sales of combination products were 6% of the individual life insurance market based on new premium, with more than 26,000 policies sold in 2010. Policy count of combination products jumped 69% over 2009 sales results.
Meanwhile, sales of whole life and universal life combination products shot up in 2010 over 2009. Universal Life combination products continue to be the biggest sellers in this market, not just in premium but also in new policies and insurance sold. New premium jumped 58% from 2009, representing 80% of the combination market, while policy count jumped 60% from 2009 sales results.
Sales of variable life products hit lows during the Great Recession, but new premium sales of variable universal life combination products increased 44% and policy count increased 88% in 2010.
Most of the growth in the past few years in the combination product market has come from linked benefit products, which provide long-term care benefits above the life death benefit. Linked benefit products jumped 60% in 2010, representing 45% of policies sold.
At the same time, acceleration products, which provide long-term care benefits up to the amount of the life death benefit and are more commonly riders that can be attached to many of the products in a carrier's life product portfolio, soared 76% in 2010, which exceeded sales growth linked benefit products in 2010. Acceleration products now are 55% of the market by policies sold.
According to LIMRA, individuals in their 60s make up most of the buyers of insurance policies, but acceleration products are gaining popularity with younger buyers who are purchasing higher face amount policies. The average amount for acceleration products has increased continuously, while linked benefit products have stayed the same.
The study shows that female policy owners purchase 65% of in force policies, an increase of six percentage points from the 2009 survey.
Meanwhile, financial institutions and banks sold 32% more combination products based on premium in 2010 compared to 2009, while financial planners and advisors sold 33% more premium in 2010 than in 2009, LIMRA notes.
— Ruthie Ackerman writes for Financial Planning, a SourceMedia publication.
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Baroness Barker: My Lords, the Minister is as convincing as ever on the subject of evaluation. On that basis, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Baroness Barker moved Amendment No. 403B:
The noble Baroness said: I should have declared an interest for this part of the debate. I am of an age not only to have been brought up on formula milk, but also to have had free school milk before it disappeared.
The amendment states the importance not only of the encouragement of breast-feeding, which we know is not nearly widespread enough, but also of maintaining the presence of infant formula where breast-feeding is for one reason or another not adopted.
Infants require special protection and therefore the maintenance of infant formula is important. I accept the Government's argument about the need to move to a wider range of healthy diets, but at a previous stage we seemed to be in danger of going too far down that track.
Noble Lords may remember the tragic case a few months ago of the small baby who died because her young parents did not understand that infants cannot take an adult diet. These amendments attempt to focus back on that and to place the scheme's emphasis on infants. I beg to move.
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to discuss these aspects of the scheme with
It is worth pointing out to the House that the panel on child and maternal nutrition of the Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy, which reviewed the current scheme in 1999 and informed what we are doing, expressed the firm view that the scheme could be greatly improved without additional cost. That is a significant finding.
Our aim is to ensure that those in greatest need get the most help from the reformed scheme. I applaud the purpose of the amendments; to safeguard the position of families with young children on the basis that they have the greatest need. We intend to do just that. Realising that the intention of the amendments would make reform almost impossible within anything close to our current budget makes it difficult to accept them. However, perhaps I may explain what we are thinking about.
It is our intention that the value of the voucher for all the scheme's beneficiaries will be at least Ł2.80, as this is the average amount that retailers supplying seven pints of liquid milk under the current scheme are reimbursed. It is also our intention to give greater benefit to younger infants up to the age of one and we expect the value for them to be twice that of older children; that is, at least Ł5.60 per week. We anticipate that this higher level of benefit will be given throughout the child's first year and will provide an essential safety net for babies who are bottle fed. That is important for mothers who cannot breast feed. But it will also ensure that mothers who are breast feeding obtain extra help to meet their own nutritional needs at this important time. It is a time when progressively less formula is needed by infants.
By these means, we will ensure that families with very young children are not disadvantaged by a move to value-based vouchers. Breast-feeding mothers of infants have long lost out because they have been able to exchange tokens for only seven pints of milk, which has a lower monetary value than 900 grams of infant formula. Under the scheme, for the first time, they will be given the same amount of benefit as all other mothers of infants. That is very much part of our initiative to encourage greater levels of breast feeding among low income groups.
I hope that the noble Baroness will see that we are very aware of the needs of younger infants in the way that she would want and will therefore be able to withdraw her amendment.
Baroness Barker: My Lords, I take heart from that. I believe it is important to restate exactly what the scheme is all about. If I had a criticism of the Minister's letter, it was that at times it was too general and I do not believe that it covered the matter in quite as much detail as the noble Baroness has just done. However,
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Baroness Barker moved Amendment No. 403C:
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the amendments in this group relate to a similar issue. They concern the information and advice that will be provided and the people to whom that will be provided. In debate on the previous group of amendments, the noble Baroness talked about the way in which breast-feeding is not as widespread as it should be and about how important it is.
The amendments are framed very much by the way in which the earlier versions of these provisions were written and they relate to the fairly widespread fear that not all pregnant women will be in a position to qualify for the new scheme. We consider that to be wrong; we believe that all pregnant women, whoever they are, should be included in the scheme and that they should be given appropriate nutritional advice. That is the gist of the amendments, and I hope that they will find some favour. I beg to move.
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, the noble Baroness is absolutely right. It is essential that, when we provide advice to beneficiaries about nutrition, we do so fully and appropriately. Indeed, providing that advice is a key element of our plans for reforming the scheme. However, it is important that the advice should be accessible, simple, appropriate and friendly. It should not be patronising; it should be tailored to the needs of individual beneficiaries; and it should not simply be a repetition of a set list of dos and don'ts on issues which are set down in legislation.
It goes without say that for pregnant women and mothers of infants, any advice given must include the importance of breast-feeding and encouragement to initiate and maintain the appropriate use of formula. However, having said that, we must be very careful. When mothers are already bottle-feeding or when their children are older, giving them inappropriate advice could be counter-productive. Requiring them to receive irrelevant advice could damage the relationship or the trust that they have with health professionals and their receptiveness to other forms of advice. A similar situation would occur if, for example, we insisted, through legislation, that mothers of older children be given advice on infant-feeding in general.
The noble Baroness also alluded to the fact that the amendments were tabled before we came forward with other changes. Therefore, I also point out that a number of the amendments relate to subsection (4), which we intend to remove from the Bill in response to
Baroness Barker: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that reply. Our concern was not that mothers should be given irrelevant advice but that it should be comprehensive and that there should be no fads and fashions in the advice given to pregnant women. It would not be the first time that that has happened. It was in that spirit that we tabled the amendment. We wanted to try to prevent the good elements of the current scheme being thrown out along with the rest of the reforms. However, I take on board what the noble Baroness said and acknowledge the changes which she will no doubt talk about in more detail. On that basis, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
[Amendment No. 404 not moved.]
Baroness Barker moved Amendment No. 404A:
The noble Baroness said: My Lords, as I said a moment ago, these amendments were framed very much by the seeming requirement within the original provision for registration and to attend certain clinics, and so on.
Our concern is simply that all pregnant women should receive appropriate and comprehensive advice. We also felt that while the scheme is being rolled out, no one should be left out in the transition while the new system of registration and vouchers is introduced. We saw that as a potential problem. That is the spirit behind the amendments. I hope that the noble Baroness will respond positively. I beg to move.
Baroness Andrews: My Lords, as the noble Baroness explained, the intention of the amendments is to make it impossible to deny benefit to any pregnant woman, mother, infant or child irrespective of family circumstances or need, who applies to participate in the reformed scheme. They would also allow any person to benefit from the scheme even otherwise than as a beneficiarysuch as a supplier of foodsregardless of whether they need the benefits that the scheme provides or whether they meet other eligibility criteria.
Once on the scheme the intention seems to be that a person should then not be removed from it without full consideration of his or her welfare. The scheme would, therefore, in effect be almost universal and very rigid. In addition, that would contradict the historic aims of the scheme and our intentions for the future.
We intend that the reformed scheme should build on its fundamental principle and provide help with nutrition through vouchers to those pregnant women, mothers and young children who, because they are on low incomes and receive qualifying benefit, are in greatest need of them. To increase coverage to all pregnant women, mothers and young children or others, whether or not they are on low incomes, could not be done within the current financial constraints without devaluing the benefit to the point that it becomes useless.
We must have flexibility to use resources in a way that will do most good. I fully accept the principle that underlies the amendments, which is that we must ensure that pregnant women and families who meet eligibility criteria are brought on to the scheme quickly so that they begin to receive the benefits as quickly as possible. We intend to address that by streamlining and improving the application process, linking it with other benefits available to the group, such as the Sure Start maternity benefit, and most importantly, by publicising the scheme to those who are on qualifying benefit. Those are aspects that we fully intend to test and evaluate. We shall make modifications to the operation in the light of evaluation.
I also fully accept that families should not be removed from the scheme for any other reason than that they no longer meet the standard eligibility criteria, for example, having children of the appropriate age, and being in receipt of benefits. However, putting the specific requirements that have been proposed on the face of the Bill will not achieve that for the reasons I have outlined. It would be a source of confusion and contradiction within the benefit regime. For those reasons I hope that the noble Baroness will withdraw her amendment.
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Lisa Genova graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is the author of the New York Times Bestselling novels STILL ALICE and LEFT NEGLECTED. Learn more at LisaGenova.com.
We will be giving away copies of award winning author Lisa Genova's new book Love Anthony! All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post and you will be chosen at random!
I didn't want to write about autism. Not yet. I'm a neuroscientist who writes novels, and as of today, we know frustratingly, embarrassingly little about the neuroscience of autism.
I looked through The Principles of Neuroscience, the core textbook, the neurological Bible of my graduate school days at Harvard in the 90s, and there's no mention of autism. Not a single word. It's not referenced, in fact, in any of my Harvard texts. The current research on gene expression, neurochemistry, neurophysiology, and circuitry is too early, not definitive, unknown.
Autism in 2012 is still very much in the hands of psychiatry and psychology, in nomenclature and behavior. How do we organize the symptoms? What should we call them? How do we manage them through behavior modification? Psychiatrists prescribe inadequate medications. Psychologists administer Applied Behavioral Analysis.
Our understanding of autism today is mostly limited to a discussion of restricted, repetitive behaviors and deficits in social communication. But what are the altered neural connections and molecules responsible for these symptoms? Neuroscience doesn't yet know.
So as a neuroscientist, I wasn't at all ready to write a novel about autism. But as it turns out, the novel was ready for me.
My cousin Tracey and I were both pregnant in 2000. She had twins, a boy and a girl, and I had a girl. We became new mothers at the same time, and it drew us close. We were together in our living rooms, kitchens, and backyards, sharing our exhaustion and joy, dreaming of our children growing up. We imagined it all. School plays, soccer and baseball games, prom, college. Of course, our daughters would be maids of honor in each other's weddings. They would all be brilliant and beautiful, and we would be proud and happy.
But then, something wasn't right with Tracey's son. At first she thought he might be deaf. He wasn't responding to her voice. But clearly, he could hear. He wasn't talking like his sister or my daughter. I told her not to worry. Boys are often slower than girls to develop language. He wouldn't play like or with our daughters. He wanted to watch Barney over and over. He wanted to be alone.
From our living rooms, kitchens, and backyards, I watched what happened next unfold, disbelieving, scared, heartbroken. I watched our girls skip effortlessly each year in the direction we had dreamed about as Tracey's son struggled with each developmental step, landing each time somewhere entirely different, unexpected, unimaginable. I was there for early intervention, ABA therapy, floor time, picture exchange, special diets. Anything and everything that offered a way back to the boy we dreamed about.
Our children are twelve now. Tracey's son has autism, and he is still mostly nonverbal. He can't play on the baseball team, act in the school play, or say, "I love you." In twelve years, we haven't learned enough neuroscience to change his autism. But Tracey changed. We changed. In our living rooms, kitchens, and backyards, I still see and feel moments of anger and heartache, but the despair is gone. Most often now, I witness and feel acceptance and peace, the coalescence of new dreams for her son, different than the dreams for our daughters yet still full of meaning, pride, and joy. Where there was once terror and despair, I now see and feel unconditional love.
In 2009, I was on my way from Cape Cod to Logan Airport, leaving for a Still Alice book event in Denver. I'd just signed a new two-book deal with Simon & Schuster and was preoccupied with the entirely unknown subject of the second novel (I'd already begun writing Left Neglected). I closed my eyes in the back seat and meditated. I might've fallen asleep, but I don't think I did.
Stephen King says that "stories are found things." He believes they already exist, and the writer's job is to excavate them like fossils from the earth. Elizabeth Gilbert poses that creative ideas come not from us, but through us from a magical, divine source.
After that ride to the airport, I see the obvious truth in both of these beliefs. When I arrived at Logan, I knew that my next book would be about autism. It would be about a nonverbal, autistic boy who died following a seizure. It would be about his mother who is searching for answers, for peace. It would be about another woman who is trying to make a decision about her marriage and the life she wants. It would be about the connection between these two women, finding the answers they need through the voice of a voiceless boy. The book would be about autism, but it wouldn't be about neuroanatomy or genetics. It would be about the ways in which we're all connected, how we're all worthy of dreams. It would be about denial and despair, acceptance and peace. It would be about unconditional love. And the title of the book would be Love Anthony.


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Related Articles
Nokia has announced that they will be delivering firmware updates for their Windows Phone 8 offerings - Lumia 920, Lumia 820 and Lumia 620. The announcement, delivered via the Nokia Developer Blog, states that the updates will deliver further performance, stability improvements and more.
Microsoft has recently begun pushing out an update for the Windows Phone 7.8 platform that featured a number of bug fixes and enhancements especially for the Live Tile sticking issue. Now, Nokia has revealed plans for a new firmware release for its Windows Phone 8 range of handsets that include the flagship Lumia 920, Lumia 820 and Lumia 620 models.
The new software has the version number of 1232.5957.1308.00xx and features a number of performance and stability enhancements to the handsets, which include better display stability when making a call, along with enhanced automatic display brightness adjustment, and has started to be pushed out to the Lumia 920 and 820.
Meanwhile the company has revealed that the Lumia 620 is being treated to some new software of its own that has a version number of 1030.6407.1308.00xx, which will bring with it better stability to the handset, improved camera quality that will see the exposure corrected when a user takes a photograph with a flash in bright conditions.
Click here for more Lumia 920 images...
Click here for more Lumia 820 and Lumia 620 images...
There are also improvements made to the handsets touch behavior and this new firmware has also begun being pushed out by the company so users can keep an eye out for a notification of its availability.
When it comes to specifications, Lumia 920 sports a 4.5 inch capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels along with PureMotion HD and ClearBlack display technologies. The handset is equipped with an 8.7MP rear camera with PureView branding, 1.3MP front camera, 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB RAM, 32GB internal memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro USB 2.0, NFC connectivity and 2,000 mAh Li-ion battery. The handset will come in Red, Yellow, Cyan, White and Black color options.
On the other hand, Lumia 820 packs a 4.3 inch AMOLED ClearBlack capacitive touchscreen display with 800 x 480 pixels. The handset has a 1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, 8MP camera with the PureView technology, a VGA front camera video calling, NFC and 1,650 mAh Li-ion battery. When it comes to color variants, Lumia 820 comes in White, Black, Yellow and Red.
Claimed to be the cheapest Windows Phone 8 based handset - Lumia 620 comes with a 3.8 inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen display, 1GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, 512MB RAM, 8GB internal storage, 5MP rear camera, VGA front camera, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 1,300 mAh battery. Lumia 620 will come in Magenta, Yellow, Cyan, White and Black color variants.


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Western Hemisphere lawmakers meeting in Rio de Janeiro have approved a resolution calling on nations to discuss holding referendums on whether to join the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, or FTAA. The resolution was one of several adopted by the lawmakers at the end of their three-day meeting.
The 330 parliamentarians attending the Rio conference Wednesday approved a series of resolutions, which they will take home for debate in their legislative assemblies.
Among the resolutions is one proposing that nations discuss holding referendums to approve or reject the establishment of a western hemisphere free trade zone. The proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, which is now being negotiated, would go into effect in 2005 and unite North and South America and most of the Caribbean into a single trade bloc.
Hemispheric leaders have endorsed the FTAA, but concerns have been raised by some sectors over possible job losses and other negative economic consequences.
This is why Brazilian Congressman Geraldo Magela says a referendum should be held in each country, once the FTAA is negotiated. Mr. Magela told reporters Wednesday the results of these votes would make clear whether the people of each country want free trade or not.
"Such a referendum could include several questions for people to vote on. It would depend on what each nation decides," he says. " We're not discussing the form here, he said, but the idea that such an important agreement as the FTAA cannot be signed until the people say yes or no."
Congressman Magela is the president of this just concluded Third General Assembly of the Parliamentary Conference of the Americas. In opening the conference Monday, Mr. Magela proposed creating a supra-national Parliament of the Americas, modeled on the European Union's parliament.
Delegates adopted his proposal Wednesday, and also passed other resolutions, including one calling for the creation of a working group to come up with measures to prevent and combat international terrorism. The recommendations of the group would then be submitted to the region's legislative assemblies for discussion and adoption.
The Parliamentary Conference was created as a result of the 1994 Summit of the Americas to promote hemispheric integration and parliamentary democracy. One of the delegates attending the Rio meeting, Washington State representative Velma Veloria, expressed satisfaction with the resolutions passed, including the one proposing referendums on the FTAA. A free trade supporter but also a critic of the way the FTAA negotiations are being conducted, Ms. Veloria says it was important for the Parliamentary Conference to pass such a resolution. "I think it is important that we study what the FTAA is all about, each country needs to study it, because it will impact each of them differently," she says. That was what I had hoped for, for the conference. For all the different effects, we will have commonalties all together, and, then, I think, we can understand the issue of international trade agreements much better."
No date was set for the next Parliamentary Conference General Assembly, but the organization's Executive Committee is expected to meet next year in Mexico.


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Biodiversity Crisis
Educator Materials, Article
Brown-Eyed, Milk-Giving
Which regions of the world have seen the greatest rates of mammal extinction? Surprisingly, it's not the Amazon rain forest nor the clear-cut forests of the U.S. or Africa's Serengeti plain.
Educator Materials, Article
Reefs in Crisis
Humans have harmlessly harvested coral reefs for thousands—or even hundreds of thousands—of years. So why has our behavior in recent years suddenly put reefs at risk?
Educator Materials, Article
Because they feed on everything from monkeys and pacas to armadillos and alligators, jaguars play a key role in the rain forest ecosystem. Learn how protecting them safeguards the jungles of Belize.
Educator Materials, Article
The Green Guerillas
From a humble start 25 years ago tossing seed-filled water balloons into abandoned city lots, the Green Guerillas have grown into an organization that has created and maintains 1,000 urban gardens.
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Wilderness Preservation Act
There are more than 260 distinct ecosystems in the United States. Yet only a little over half of them are in protected wilderness areas. What does it take to obtain "wilderness status"?
St. Lucia Parrot Recovery
In the mid-1970s, only 100 of these parrots were left in the wild. Learn how an international effort more than tripled the St. Lucia parrot population in 20 years.
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Restoration of the Elwha River
In a single century, the salmon population of Washington State's Elwha River shrunk by more than 99 percent. What caused this dramatic decline, and what can be done to turn it around?
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Lake Victoria
In the world's largest tropical lake, Nile perch have eaten their way through all but one of their prey species, bringing the ecosystem close to death. But don't blame the perch—humans are at fault.
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Around the world, habitats are being destroyed and people are turning away from ancient traditions. Balick is working to make sure that plant wisdom isn't lost in the process.
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PROFILE: Penelope Bodry-Sanders
From acting on the Broadway stage to acting on her concerns about habitat destruction in Madagascar, Penelope Bodry-Sanders has had a wide-ranging and active career.


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In pictures: New resort along Vietnam's Nha Trang shores pays homage to Indochina
VIETNAM'S stunning shores of Nha Trang is fringed by a new beach resort – The Anam.
Located on Northern Cam Ranh Peninsula just 30 minutes from Nha Trang and 20 minutes from Cam Ranh International Airport, The Anam contributes to Nha Trang's cause in selling itself as a high-end tourist destination.
The property's aesthetic pays tribute to its colonial past with imperial Hue-style roofs, glowing lanterns, big-bellied water vases, decorative pools, customized mosaic floor tiles and stone pathways.
SEE ALSO: Hunting for tailored clothing in the quaint Vietnamese city of Hoi An
Some 3,000 palm trees shade the 12ha property that fronts 300m of private beach overlooking the East Sea – the definition of a barefoot sanctuary in the tropics.
All 27 villas have separate living rooms and private pools, and offer views of the vast ocean, towering headlands and lush gardens.
While East-meets-West themes are common in Asia, old-world elegance prevails throughout the property. Forests cultivated for sustainable harvests supply the hardwood, local artisans designed floor tiles that reference colonial French floors, and Vietnamese artworks hang from the walls.
On top of that, the soothing Sri Mara Spa has 10 treatment rooms, including four VIP rooms designed for couples, each equipped with two massage beds, a steam room, sauna, and outdoor granite jacuzzi.
Here's a glimpse of the property:


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Gastrointestinal fistulas are abnormal openings in the stomach or intestines that enable gastric contents to leak, explains Healthline. Often a result of surgery, they may also be due to blockage in the gastrointestinal tract, infection, inflammatory bowel disease, radiation to the abdomen and deep injury wounds, explains MedlinePlus.Continue Reading
While many fistulas bear no side effects, others may cause diarrhea, malabsorption of nutrients and dehydration, according to MedlinePlus. Treatments include antibiotics, immune suppressing medicines, surgery (when the fistula is not healing) and nutrition through the veins while the opening heals. Some fistulas may heal on their own within a few weeks or months, states Healthline.Learn more about Gastrointestinal Issues


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Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017
- Details
- Created: Friday, July 14 2017 01:58
The Government has given its approval for the drafting of legislation to amend certain provisions of the Insurance Act 1964, in order to implement certain recommendations for reform of the Motor Insurance Compensation regime in Ireland.
It is intended that the Bill, will address the recent Setanta ruling, where the Supreme Court found the Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) liable for third party claims (in lieu of the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland ("MIBI")) arising from the insolvency of Setanta, the failed motor insurer. In doing so, it overturned the decisions in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The stark difference in compensation provisions (the MIBI effectively covers 100% of an award, whereas the ICF only covers 65%, with a cap of €825,000), was the basis for the Setanta case and it highlighted the need for the issue to be addressed.
Minister O'Donohoe stated that "the failure of Setanta and the uncertainty that followed over the compensation arrangements for claimants highlighted weaknesses with the current insurance compensation framework".
The Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2017 will increase the level of insurance compensation fund coverage for future third party motor claims from 65% to 100%, resulting in it coming into line with the compensation levels paid out by the MIBI.
This will provide greater certainty for both consumers and the industry, regarding the insurance compensation framework in Ireland.
The Bill will also provide for the transfer of the administration of the ICF from the Accountant of the Courts of Justice to the Central Bank of Ireland and for a more formal role for the State Claims Agency in the event of a failure of an insurance company resulting in a draw on the ICF.
This Bill also deals with the issue of providing amendments in relation to the time limit for making applications to the High Court for payments from the ICF from once in any 6 month period to once in any 3 month period, to allow payments to be made more frequently.


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21 Jul '11 to
24 Jul '11
No, not really
Est. Cost
450 -
AUD (AUD Australia Dollars)
Travel Partners Wanted
4 Days and 3 Nights in the Snowy Moutains
I have booked a bus, a driver and cabins for 4 days and 3 nights in the Snowy Mountains at Mt Selwyn. You can ski, tube, board or toboggan. The bus driver will shuttle us back and forward as we like. Leaving from Sydney with some pickups possible along the way if needed! For accommodation (twin share) and all transport is $450 a person total cost except snow gear and any lessons you want. So far there are 10 of us! Must be kid friendly as some children are travelling with us too!)
4 Days and 3 Nights in the Snowy Moutains
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- Nano Express
- Open Access
Facile synthesis of SrCO3 nanostructures in methanol/water solution without additives
© Lishuo et al.; licensee Springer. 2012
- Received: 25 April 2012
- Accepted: 30 May 2012
- Published: 15 June 2012
Highly dispersive strontium carbonate (SrCO3) nanostructures with uniform dumbbell, ellipsoid, and rod-like morphologies were synthesized in methanol solution without any additives. These SrCO3 were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and N2 adsorption-desorption. The results showed that the reaction temperature and the methanol/water ratio had important effects on the morphologies of SrCO3 particles. The dumbbell-like SrCO3 exhibited a Broader-Emmett-Teller surface area of 14.9 m2 g−1 and an average pore size of about 32 nm with narrow pore size distribution. The formation mechanism of the SrCO3 crystal was preliminary presented.
- Nanoparticle
- Crystallization
- SrCO3
- Refluxing
Recently, nanomaterials with different morphologies have attracted great attention for their promising applications such as optical materials, efficient catalysts, drug-delivery carriers [1–3], etc. Strontium carbonate (SrCO3) is one of the important reagents used in firework, pigment, and electron manufacturing [4]. There are two main usages of SrCO3: they are used in the production of cathode ray tubes and ferrite magnets for small direct-current motors [5]. However, SrCO3 with different morphologies may own different potential usages. For example, SrCO3 with a needle-like crystal is used in optical polymers to reduce birefringent phenomena [6]. A sphere-shaped crystal with a diameter less than 1 μm is favorable for high-temperature electric components. So far, SrCO3 with various morphologies such as hierarchical branches, hexagonal prisms, straw-like, pancake, ellipsoid, needle, flower ribbon, bundle, dumbbell, sphere, and rod-like have been reported [5, 7–13].
Various methods have been reported on the preparation of SrCO3 nanostructures including hydrothermal [14], microwave-assisted [9], microemusion-mediated solvothermal methods [5], etc. Although nanoscale SrCO3 with special morphologies was obtained, the preparation processes were complex and strict, such as high-pressure, high-temperature, and tedious synthetic procedures as well as high cost were required. Aside from that, large-scale synthesis of SrCO3 nanostructures still remains a considerable challenge.
In this work, a new facile way was reported to synthesize SrCO3 nanostructures by continuously carbonizing Sr(OH)2 with CO2 in methanol/water solution without additives. The effects of the reaction temperature and the methanol/water (m/w) molar ratio on the morphology evolution were investigated. This method is simple, low-cost, and easy to control in producing large-scale monodisperse SrCO3 nanostructures.
In the typical experiment, several grams of Sr(OH)2·8H2O were dissolved into the methanol/water solution and kept at room temperature for 24 h. The concentration of the solution was kept at 0.05 mol l−1 for all the experiments. The solution was put into the reactor and stirred using a propeller agitator with a speed of about 800 rpm. Mixed CO2 of 100 ml min−1(80 ml min−1 N2 + 20 ml min−1 CO2) was induced into the reactor and lasted for 30 min. Then, the gas was cut off and continuously agitated for another 2 h. Finally, the solution was naturally cooled to room temperature. The products were separated by centrifugation and washed with deionized water and ethanol alternately for three times. The obtained carbonate samples were dried at 60°C for 24 h.
The products were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM; JSM-6700 F, JEOL, Akishima-shi, Japan) and X-ray diffraction (XRD; X'pert PRO MPD, PANalytical B.V., Almelo, The Netherlands); patterns of carbonate were recorded on a diffractometer (using Cu Kα radiation; λ = 0.154 nm) operating at 40 kV/30 mA. A scanning rate of 0.2° s-1 was applied to record the patterns. The N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms were measured at 77 K using an automated surface area and pore size analyzer (QUADRASORB SI-MP, Quantachrome Instruments, Boynton Beach, FL, USA).
Results and discussion
From the XRD pattern, we can know that the SrCO3 from the pure methanol solution have poor crystallinity than those from the methanol/water solution (Figure 2; some crystal planes such as (021), (102), and (200) are only observed in the SrCO3 from the methanol/water solution. The results indicate that the SrCO3 from the methanol/water solution has better developed crystal plane.
In order to investigate the effect of the m/w ratio on the morphology of SrCO3, the crystals were prepared in m/w ratios of 3:2, 1:1, and 2:3. Figure 4 shows the morphologies of the products from the different m/w ratios. It is interesting that the rod-like SrCO3 with different length-diameter ratios were observed in most cases. The results indicated that the m/w ratio has a great effect on the morphology of products. When the ratio of m/w is 3:2 (Figure 4A), irregular plate-like products with a few short rods have been observed in the picture; the rods had a diameter of 90 nm and a length of 600 nm. As the m/w ratio was changed to 1:1, monodisperse rod-like products with a diameter of 120 nm and a length of 1.2 μm were observed (Figure 4B). When the m/w ratio is 2:3, the morphologies (Figure 4C) of the products were similar with those obtained in the m/w ratio of 1:1; it seems that the crystallinity of the products is better than that of Figure 4B.
Although the exact formation mechanism of these morphologies of the SrCO3 crystal is still not clear at present, our results show that the reaction temperature and the m/w ratio have great effects on the morphology. The m/w ratio or the polarity of the mixed solvent had a great effect on the morphology which had been reported by Lou et al. [17] and Zhang et al. [20]. Studies showed that alcohols can affect the dielectric constant of the medium and change the crystal growth rate [21]. When pure methanol was presented, the -OH of methanol might adsorb to the nuclei of the crystals and change its surface energy and then the morphology of the products. As the temperature was increased, the vibration of -OH groups in methanol was more rapid and absorption effects were weakened [22]. Thus, the morphology of the product has little change at relatively high temperatures of 60°C and 70°C (Figure 3A,B). However, when the methanol/water solution was presented, the forming hydrogen bond between methanol and water prevented the absorption to the nuclei, and rod-like products growing along the c-axis were obtained.
Highly dispersive SrCO3 nanostructures with unique ellipsoid, dumbbell, and rod-like morphologies were successfully synthesized by a facile way in pure methanol or methanol/water solution without additives. The morphology of SrCO3 nanostructures can be controlled flexibly by adjusting the reaction temperature and the m/w ratio. N2 adsorption-desorption result reveals that this dumbbell-like SrCO3 has a mesoporous structure. It is expected that these SrCO3 nanostructures can be used in photocatalysis and electronic manufacturing in the future.
Authors' information
LL is a Ph.D. on chemical engineering science. He researches on crystal growth and design at Guangxi University. Dr. RL works as an associate researcher at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the National Engineering Laboratory for Hydrometallurgical Cleaner Production Technology, he works on crystal growth and morphology controlling. Professors QF and ZT are experts of chemical engineering at Guangxi University.
This work is supported by the National Nature Foundation of China (20976181).
Authors' Affiliations
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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The cool new USB Chargeable Mini Flashlight is just that, a handy little LED flashlight that charges up via the USB port on your computer that's perfect for office blackouts, power outages while surfing TheGreenHead.com or just for illuminating any other unexpected darkening moments. It features a super bright white LED that lasts for 2+ hours on a 1.5 to 2 hour charge. If you leave it attached to a free USB port, now you'll always know where an extra flashlight is conveniently located, plus its nice to have when traveling or if your modern car has a USB port, keep one in there for emergencies as well.
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USB Chargeable Mini Flashlight
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