﻿Welsh AMs worried about 'looking like muppets'
There is consternation among some AMs at a suggestion their title should change to MWPs (Member of the Welsh Parliament).
It has arisen because of plans to change the name of the assembly to the Welsh Parliament.
AMs across the political spectrum are worried it could invite ridicule.
One Labour AM said his group was concerned "it rhymes with Twp and Pwp."
For readers outside of Wales: In Welsh twp means daft and pwp means poo.
A Plaid AM said the group as a whole was "not happy" and has suggested alternatives.
A Welsh Conservative said his group was "open minded" about the name change, but noted it was a short verbal hop from MWP to Muppet.
In this context The Welsh letter w is pronounced similarly to the Yorkshire English pronunciation of the letter u.
The Assembly Commission, which is currently drafting legislation to introduce the name changes, said: "The final decision on any descriptors of what Assembly Members are called will of course be a matter for the members themselves."
The Government of Wales Act 2017 gave the Welsh assembly the power to change its name.
In June, the Commission published the results of a public consultation on the proposals which found broad support for calling the assembly a Welsh Parliament.
On the matter of the AMs' title, the Commission favoured Welsh Parliament Members or WMPs, but the MWP option received the most support in a public consultation.
AMs are apparently suggesting alternative options, but the struggle to reach consensus could be a headache for the Presiding Officer, Elin Jones, who is expected to submit draft legislation on the changes within weeks.
The legislation on the reforms will include other changes to the way the assembly works, including rules on disqualification of AMs and the design of the committee system.
AMs will get the final vote on the question of what they should be called when they debate the legislation.
Macedonians go to polls in referendum on changing country's name
Voters will vote Sunday on whether to change their country's name to the "Republic of North Macedonia."
The popular vote was set up in a bid to resolve a decades-long dispute with neighboring Greece, which has its own province called Macedonia.
Athens has long insisted that its northern neighbor's name represents a claim on its territory and has repeatedly objected to its membership bids for the EU and NATO.
Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, an opponent of the plebiscite on the name change, has said he will disregard the vote.
However, supporters of the referendum, including Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, argue that the name change is simply the price to pay to join the EU and NATO.
The Bells of St. Martin's Fall Silent as Churches in Harlem Struggle
"Historically, the old people I've talked to say there was a bar and a church on every corner," Mr. Adams said.
"Today, there's neither."
He said the disappearance of bars was understandable.
"People socialize in a different way" nowadays, he said.
"Bars are no longer neighborhood living rooms where people go on a regular basis."
As for churches, he worries that the money from selling assets will not last as long as leaders expect it to, "and sooner or later they'll be right back where they started."
Churches, he added, could be replaced by apartment buildings with condominiums filled with the kind of people who will not help the neighborhood's remaining sanctuaries.
"The overwhelming majority of people who buy condominiums in these buildings will be white," he said, "and therefore will hasten the day that these churches close altogether because it is unlikely that most of these people who move into these condominiums will become members of these churches."
Both churches were built by white congregations before Harlem became a black metropolis - Metropolitan Community in 1870, St. Martin's a decade later.
The original white Methodist congregation moved out in the 1930s.
A black congregation that had been worshiping nearby took title to the building.
St. Martin's was taken over by a black congregation under the Rev. John Howard Johnson, who led a boycott of retailers on 125th Street, a main street for shopping in Harlem, who resisted hiring or promoting blacks.
A fire in 1939 left the building badly damaged, but as Father Johnson's parishioners made plans to rebuild, they commissioned the carillon.
The Rev. David Johnson, Father Johnson's son and successor at St. Martin's, proudly called the carillon "the poor people's bells."
The expert who played the carillon in July called it something else: "A cultural treasure" and "an irreplaceable historical instrument."
The expert, Tiffany Ng of the University of Michigan, also noted that it was the first carillon in the world to be played by a black musician, Dionisio A. Lind, who moved to the larger carillon at the Riverside Church 18 years ago.
Mr. Merriweather said that St. Martin's did not replace him.
What has played out at St. Martin's over the last few months has been a complicated tale of architects and contractors, some brought in by the lay leaders of the church, others by the Episcopal diocese.
The vestry - the parish's governing body, made up of lay leaders - wrote the diocese in July with concerns that the diocese "would seek to pass along the costs" to the vestry, even though the vestry had not been involved in hiring the architects and contractors the diocese sent in.
Some parishioners complained of a lack of transparency on the diocese's part.
Shark injures 13-year-old on lobster dive in California
A shark attacked and injured a 13-year-old boy Saturday while he was diving for lobster in California on the opening day of lobster season, officials said.
The attack occurred just before 7 a.m. near Beacon's Beach in Encinitas.
Chad Hammel told KSWB-TV in San Diego he had been diving with friends for about half an hour Saturday morning when he heard the boy screaming for help and then paddled over with a group to help pull him out of the water.
Hammel said at first he thought it was just excitement of catching a lobster, but then he "realized that he was yelling, 'I got bit!
I got bit!'
His whole clavicle was ripped open," Hammel said he noticed once he got to the boy.
"I yelled at everyone to get out of the water: 'There's a shark in the water!'" Hammel added.
The boy was airlifted to Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego where he is listed in critical condition.
The species of shark responsible for the attack was unknown.
Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said at a media briefing that a shark had been spotted in the area a few weeks earlier, but it was determined not to be a dangerous species of shark.
Giles added the victim sustained traumatic injuries to his upper torso area.
Officials shut down beach access from Ponto Beach in Casablad to Swami's in Ecinitas for 48 hours for investigation and safety purposes.
Giles noted that there are more than 135 shark species in the area, but most are not considered dangerous.
Sainsbury's plans push into UK beauty market
Sainsbury's is taking on Boots, Superdrug and Debenhams with department store-style beauty aisles staffed with specialist assistants.
As part of a substantial push into the UK's £2.8bn beauty market, which is continuing to grow while fashion and homeware sales fall back, the larger beauty aisles will be tested out in 11 stores around the country and taken to more stores next year if it proves a success.
The investment in beauty comes as supermarkets hunt for ways to use up shelf space once sued for TVs, microwaves and homeware.
Sainsbury's said it would be doubling the size of its beauty offering to up to 3,000 products, including brands such as Revlon, Essie, Tweezerman and Dr. PawPaw for the first time.
Existing ranges from L'Oreal, Maybelline and Burt's Bees will also get more space with branded areas similar to those found in shops like Boots.
The supermarket is also relaunching its Boutique makeup range so that the majority of products are vegan-friendly - something increasingly demanded by younger shoppers.
In addition, perfume retailer the Fragrance Shop will be testing out concessions in two Sainsbury's stores, the first of which opened in Croydon, south London, last week while a second opens in Selly Oak, Birmingham, later this year.
Online shopping and a shift towards buying small amounts of food daily at local convenience stores means supermarkets are having to do more to persuade people to visit.
Mike Coupe, the chief executive of Sainsbury's, has said the outlets will look increasingly like department stores as the supermarket chain tries to fight back against the discounters Aldi and Lidl with more services and non-food.
Sainsbury's has been putting Argos outlets in hundreds of stores and has also introduced a number of Habitats since it bought both chains two years ago, which it says has bolstered grocery sales and made the acquisitions more profitable.
The supermarket's previous attempt to revamp its beauty and pharmacy departments ended in failure.
Sainsbury's tested a joint venture with Boots in the early 2000s, but the tie-up ended after a row over how to split the revenues from the chemist's stores in its supermarkets.
The new strategy comes after Sainsbury's sold its 281-store pharmacy business to Celesio, the owner of the Lloyds Pharmacy chain, for £125m, three years ago.
It said Lloyds would play a role in the plan, by adding an extended range of luxury skincare brands including La Roche-Posay and Vichy in four stores.
Paul Mills-Hicks, Sainsbury's commercial director, said: "We've transformed the look and feel of our beauty aisles to enhance the environment for our customers.
We've also invested in specially trained colleagues who will be on hand to offer advice.
Our range of brands is designed to suit every need and the alluring environment and convenient locations mean we're now a compelling beauty destination which challenges the old way of shopping."



