Tom Hamilton Uses Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf” Guitar In Boston Opener [Full Audio/Video]
Last night, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead hit the House of Blues in Boston, MA in the shadows of historic Fenway Park. For their first of two shows in Boston this weekend, the band (Joe Russo, Scott Metzger, Marco Benevento, Dave Dreiwitz, and Tom Hamilton) featured a very special “guest”: Jerry Garcia‘s “Wolf” guitar, played by Hamilton throughout the show.Jerry Garcia Wolf Guitar Raises $3.2M For Charity While Joe Russo’s “Friends With Benefits” Rock Out On It [Photos/Videos]The band hit the ground running to begin the performance, seamlessly working through “Big Railroad Blues” and Bob Dylan/Robert Hunter number “Silvio”, and “Loser”. Without pause, the band proceeded to deliver a languid “Easy Wind” before locking in for a pair of aces back-to-back–masterfully extended versions of “Row Jimmy” and “St. Stephen”–before closing the set with a “Samson & Delilah” exclamation point.Set two got moving with “Dark Hollow” into “Mr. Charlie”, as Benevento continued to steal the show with his enthralling keyboard work. “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” followed, the soaring tones Hamilton conjured from “Wolf” highlighting the segment. Rather than moving into the traditional “Franklin’s Tower” (the smart money is on “Franklin’s” making its appearance on night two tonight), the band eventually moved into a top-notch “Mississippi Half Step”, which the band broke down into a beautiful vocal harmony-focused jam. A funky “Estimated Prophet” followed, before Russo ended the set in dramatic fashion with a towering “Morning Dew”–and appropriate call, considering the “dew” had not rolled away earlier in the set. Finally, the band returned for a “Greatest Story Ever Told” encore to cap Boston night 1.Joe Russo’s Almost Dead closes their two-night Boston run tonight. For a list of upcoming JRAD shows, head to the band’s website.Listen to a full audience recording of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead’s first of two shows at the House of Blues this weekend below, taped and transferred by Mike Camp:Watch a selection of fan-shot videos from the show below:“Row Jimmy” (via monihampton)“Dark Hollow” (via monihampton)“Morning Dew” (via Jamey Klein)SETLIST: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead | House of Blues | Boston, MA | 12/8/17Set One (8:20pm – 9:43PM)Big Railroad Blues ->Silvio >Loser ->Jam ->Easy Wind @ ->Jam # ->Row Jimmy ->St. Stephen ->Jam ->St. Stephen Reprise >Samson & DelilahSet Two (10:13pm – 11:50PM)Jam ->Dark Hollow >Mr Charlie $ >Help On The Way ->Slipknot! % >Mississippi Half Step >Estimated Prophet >Morning DewEnc:Greatest Story Ever Told ^TH played “Wolf” for the whole show.@ – “Flipped” Version – Opened with the last verse sung first.# – With Let It Grow Teases (TH)$ – With a “Moby Dick” (Led Zeppelin) Jam% – With Let It Grow Teases (TH then Band)^ – With The Wheel Teases (Band)Pre Show Music: Scott Metzger’s Spotify Xmas MixSet Break Music: Costello’s Spotify Motown MixPost Show Music: Dirty Water (Boston You’re My Home) – The Standells and Pancho & Lefty – Townes Van ZandtPoster: Colortest[Cover photo via Instagram user @ejstoltz]
Summer was still in full swing this morning as Harvard President Drew Faust delivered the first Morning Prayers of the fall semester in the Memorial Church’s vaulted Appleton Chapel. The faculty, staff, students, and other members of the Harvard community who filled the dark pews amid the rising heat reflected Faust’s message that being at Harvard “is about being together.”“This is a bold and a brave commitment,” said Faust from the dais, bright sunlight streaming through the large Palladian window behind her. “This year we are acutely aware of conflicts that seem to be tearing peoples apart across the nation and around the globe. And we have been recently reminded of frictions here on our own campus by those who have felt marginalized or unsafe. All the more reason for us to be especially mindful, especially vigilant, especially dedicated to what we believe in: that a shared commitment to learning, to the pursuit of truth, to the rigor and respect of argument and evidence bind us together across our differences.”Faust urged her listeners to embrace, “explore, and celebrate” those differences. She likened the Harvard community’s diversity to a symphony that relies on a range of instruments and rigorous practice to reach its ideal sound.“I ask you today as we begin this new year to rededicate yourselves to that commitment, to that effort. To cherishing our diversity, to making it work, to enabling all of us to be our best selves. To all together performing that Harvard symphony.”The daily ritual that mixes prayer, a brief address, and song has been held at Harvard since the School was established in 1636. About 70 people attended the opening 15-minute service.In keeping with tradition, the Choral Fellows of Harvard University provided the music, opening the service with the William Billings hymn “Awake My Heart; Arise My Tongue.”The Rev. Jonathan L. Walton, Harvard’s Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, drew the session to a close with his own message of encouragement and hope. Love your neighbor and yourself, Walton said.“Be quick to compliment, slow to criticize, and if you do so, do so constructively,” he said. “Be led by your faith, never by your fears. And when we do these things we will begin to approximate what it means to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly before our God.”Drew Gilpin Faust — Tuesday, September 2, 2014 | Morning PrayersMorning Prayers service with speaker Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard University, on Tuesday, September 2, 2014.
The killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, a powerful figure in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a drone attack Friday ordered by President Trump has triggered a cascade of potentially incendiary consequences.Iran officials appeared to make good on some of the retaliatory threats exchanged with President Trump on social media with ballistic missile attacks Tuesday on two military bases in Iraqi where U.S. troops are stationed. No deaths have been reported. Iran has already taken another significant step in response to Suleimani’s death. On Sunday, Tehran announced it would no longer honor stockpiling and processing limits on nuclear materials at the heart of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the official name of the 2015 nuclear agreement. Though Trump withdrew the U.S. from the deal in May 2018, Iran’s decision is widely viewed as a deliberate escalation of tension aimed at the White House.Leaders from the European Union, which is still a party to the nuclear deal and hopes to salvage it, determined Monday that Iran’s recent violations did not warrant the imposition of new sanctions.As U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Ambassador Wendy R. Sherman spent four years brokering the historic nuclear pact as lead negotiator for the U.S. She’s now director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School. Sherman discusses the tinderbox state of affairs between Iran and the U.S.Q&AWendy R. ShermanGAZETTE: There seem to be mixed signals coming out of Iran following the announcement. Foreign minister Mohammed Javad Zarif said Iran would continue to allow inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). From your vantage point, where do things stand right now?SHERMAN: Certainly, the Iranians saying that they will no longer respect the limits of action is not a good thing. Nonetheless, they have not formally withdrawn from the deal. They are allowing the IAEA inspectors to stay. They have said any steps they’ll take will be for technical needs and that they are all reversible, and that they would be open to returning to the deal if economic sanctions were lifted. So this isn’t good news, of course, but it could have been worse.{In addition, Belfer Center experts weigh in on the potential foreign policy impact of the U.S. killing of Suleimani. Read their assessments here.}GAZETTE: In terms of preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, which was a primary goal of the JCPOA, is the world still under the deal’s umbrella protection or are we on the precipice of going back to where we started before there was a deal?SHERMAN: I think the deal is hanging on by a very, very thin thread. And although Iran has said it’s ready to come back in, it appears that the Trump administration is doing everything it can to make it quite difficult for Iran to come to the table. The choice has always been a deal to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or an unrestricted nuclear program and a form of war. The president, for now, has chosen the latter.GAZETTE: So there’s still room for diplomacy?SHERMAN: There is still room for diplomacy, but there are no signs of diplomacy at the moment. The Trump administration seems to be on an escalatory path, particularly [with the death] of Qassim Suleimani, a ruthless killer, and Iran will indeed respond. None of us quite know how or when that will happen. It will be asymmetric in its response and hopefully the administration will then try to open a channel for diplomacy as opposed to continuing an escalatory cycle, which would likely spiral out of control and find us at war.,GAZETTE: What will be the determinative factor? Is it Trump’s behavior or the success of whoever is at the negotiating table or something else?SHERMAN: There are multiple pieces here. Iran is not a good player here. They have been attacking Americans. Interestingly, while the deal was fully in place, there were no rocket attacks by Iran. But since the president pulled out of the deal, those attacks and asymmetric actions of Iran have increased. The hardliners, or as I call them, the hard, hardliners, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds force that Qassim Suleimani headed up, have been in control of Iran’s foreign policy and military policy and so Iran has been part of this escalatory cycle, as well. But the killing of Qassim Suleimani has accelerated this spiral quite considerably and how Iran responds and then how Trump responds to that will determine whether there’s any path back to a negotiating table or whether we are headed toward conflict.GAZETTE: On Sunday, Secretary of State Pompeo described Iran’s calls for retaliation as “a little noise.” How likely is Iran to follow through on its threats and what kinds of actions would they likely have in mind to satisfy a desire for payback for Suleimani’s death?SHERMAN: They have said they would certainly take action against military sites of the United States, but added [Monday] that they are not limited to military sites. There’s some concern that they will use cyber as a tool. They have a lot of options on the ground. There are any number of soft targets around the world, including in our own country, that could see retaliation, so they will pick a time and place and method of their choosing, and they mean to keep everybody on guard as this proceeds forward. We’ve seen several countries issue alerts for their citizens. The United States has issued alerts for American citizens worldwide and, more specifically, in particular countries. So we are on greatly heightened alert all over the world, and it is of tremendous concern.GAZETTE: Broadly, what are some of the immediate and longer-range dangers this situation poses to the U.S. and our allies? What are some of the potential worst-case scenarios?SHERMAN: Clearly, the worst-case scenario is that we’re headed to war, and war would be horrific. The United States’ conventional capability is much greater than Iran’s. There’s no doubt about it. And so, in conventional terms, there’s no question we would win such a war. But Iran has many asymmetric capabilities, and we have seen in other theaters where we overmatched our opponents, our opponents sometimes use asymmetric warfare. It happened, quite frankly, in Vietnam, [and] that really makes it quite difficult for us to prevail in the way that we wish to. So I have no question about America’s military strength. We are unparalleled in conventional terms, and we can do any number of things. I do think, however, that the president’s tweets about cultural sites, about going after citizens after doing whatever he feels is necessary, is not only provocative, but, in many instances, [would be] illegal under international law and considered war crimes.GAZETTE: Who benefits from a conflict with Iran? Oil prices are already up, and analysts predict they could double. China and Russia have harshly criticized the U.S. actions, more strongly than allies like the U.K. and France. Could we see an alliance of convenience between Russia, China, and Iran and what would that mean for the world?SHERMAN: The alliance of convenience already exists, and it could grow deeper over this. So they stand to gain. But I don’t think anyone in the world stands to gain if there’s conflict in the Middle East because it will undermine the global economy as well the U.S. economy. I think it will have a downward effect for everyone. And obviously, there will be unintended consequences that none of us can imagine and quite terrible ones.GAZETTE: Clearly, this a very volatile, fast-moving situation that’s hard to predict.SHERMAN: Yes, I think it will change dramatically. A month ago, there were anti-regime protesters in Iran; there were anti-Iranian protesters in Baghdad. Today, all of the protesters are anti-American. I don’t know how any of this has made the U.S. safer, as Secretary Pompeo said all day [Sunday]. It has not; it has made us all much more at risk. Ironically, President Trump has told us that he didn’t trust our intelligence community for months and months and months. And now, he says that the intelligence sent to him [persuaded him] to take this action, but he can’t tell us what that intelligence was. So we are in an upside-down world where I hope the U.S. Congress takes action to slow the president down before he hurls us into war.This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed for length. The Daily Gazette Sign up for daily emails to get the latest Harvard news. Will succeed David Gergen at Center for Public Leadership Related Lead negotiator Wendy Sherman, now at the Kennedy School, explains how a key agreement was crafted Wendy Sherman appointed professor and director at HKS Inside the Iran nuclear deal
The University commemorated the death of President George H.W. Bush in a press release Saturday morning.The 41st president, who died Friday night, received an honorary degree from Notre Dame and visited campus more than any other president, according to the release.“Notre Dame joins with our nation and world in mourning the passing of President Bush,” University President Fr. John Jenkins said in the release. “He was the epitome of a public servant, not just in the Oval Office, but in his eight years as vice president and in his service in the U.S. Navy during World War II. We were fortunate to host him at Notre Dame on five occasions, and in each instance, the honor was ours. Our prayers are with the Bush family.”Bush received an honorary doctor of laws in 1992 from University President Emeritus Rev. Edward A. Malloy.Malloy said he served on two of the Bush administration’s major initiatives and admired Bush’s leadership style.“I had the privilege of serving on President Bush’s Drug Advisory Council and his Points of Light Foundation,” Malloy said in the release. “I found him to be a leader deeply committed to the country he had been elected to serve, a gracious host and a down-to-earth person. He recognized the importance of American higher education and he sought to enhance it. He also sought to promote a culture of citizen engagement with the great issues of the day. May he rest in peace.”Bush visited Notre Dame during his 1988 campaign for president, where he delivered a speech to an audience of 2,000, the release said.In 1987, he spoke at the closing ceremony of the International Special Olympics Games, held at Notre Dame that year. He also delivered a commencement speech for the University’s 1992 sesquicentennial year celebration. According to the release, Bush attended Notre Dame football games in 1986 and 2001.Tags: Fr. John Jenkins, George H.W. Bush, Honorary degrees, Monk Malloy
An event with Benedict Cumberbatch and a number of West End shows have canceled performances on April 1 after an electrical fire underground caused around 2,000 people to be evacuated. According to BBC News, the fire was first seen at 12:30PM local time and broke out among cables in the Holborn area.The following shows will not go ahead: Charlie and the Chocolate FactoryThe Woman in BlackGypsyThe Lion KingBeautifulThe Play That Goes WrongThe Letters Live event at the Freemason’s Hall, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, has also been canceled. View Comments
by: Tom PetrunoIf you want to invest for the social good — or at least, how some professional money managers define the social good — there are plenty of options.But the No.1 rule of socially responsible investing is the same as for any investing: Do your homework. Just because an investment meets socially responsible standards doesn’t automatically mean it’s a good idea financially.“You can pick a bad investment just as well in socially responsible investing as in mainstream investing,” said Jed Emerson, chief impact officer at ImpactAssets, which advises investors on socially responsible strategies.With that caveat, here are details on some popular ways to invest with a social conscience:•Mutual funds. Dozens of funds invest in stocks using screens that evaluate companies by what’s known as ESG standards: environmental, social and governance. For most funds that has always meant no tobacco, alcohol, gambling or weapons companies. Beyond that, socially responsible funds can judge companies by a wide variety of factors, such as employee benefits, community impact and philanthropy.In recent years, some of the most popular stocks with socially responsible funds have been tech issues, including Apple Inc. and wireless giant Qualcomm Inc. There’s a reason for that: With technology, “you can see the benefits of what they make” in society, said Amy Domini, founder of Domini Social Investments. continue reading » 5SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr
Feb 16, 2009Vietnam reports new H5N1 caseA Vietnamese man has tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza, according to an Associated Press (AP) story today. The 35-year-old man from Ninh Binh province in the north developed a fever Feb. 5 after slaughtering and eating several ducks that his family had raised, said a provincial health official. If confirmed by the World Health Organization, his case would be the country’s 109th overall and second this year.More avian flu outbreaks in EgyptEgyptian veterinary officials report that H5N1 avian influenza has struck more poultry in the country, according to reports posted Feb 12 on the Web site of Egypt-based Strengthening Avian Influenza Detection and Response (SAIDR). The outbreaks have affected Fayoum, Giza, Oseim, Beheira, Gharbiya, Asyut, and Menoufiya governorates.Airport temperature scanners of little use in pandemic, study findsUsing temperature-scanning equipment at airports is of little use when disease incidence is low, as it likely will be during the start of an influenza pandemic, a recent study found. French researchers, reporting in the Feb 12 issue of Eurosurveillance, used data from temperature-screening efforts such as the 2003 SARS (sudden acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak to predict that non-contact infrared thermometers would be of little help in delaying introduction of a novel flu strain into a country.[Study in Feb 12 Eurosurveillance][Feb 15 Canadian Press article]FDA committee to discuss flu vaccine strains this weekThe idea of adding a second strain of influenza B to seasonal flu vaccines will be one of the topics at a meeting of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on Feb 18 and 19. The committee also will discuss which flu strains should be used in next winter’s seasonal flu vaccine, among other topics.[Jan 16 CIDRAP News story on influenza B strains in seasonal vaccine]Poultry farms may have caused 2008 Oklahoma E coli outbreakContamination from nearby poultry farms may have caused last year’s E coli outbreak in northeastern Oklahoma that killed one and sickened more than 300, according to the state’s attorney general’s office. Samples of well water used by the Country Cottage Restaurant in Locust Grove were found to contain poultry DNA, according to a Feb 13 report from KOCO TV in Oklahoma City. Investigators said poultry litter spread on nearby fields may have washed into the water supply.[Sep 17, 2008, CIDRAP News story on end of E coli outbreak]
The older I get, the more I respect history — the many missteps that our leaders and folks have made and the repercussions that follow. Civil war statues are being torn down or hidden away because we, as a country and as individuals, don’t want to be reminded of our previous, heroic, deadly foolishness. It has been said that if,“one forgets history, we are bound to repeat it.” Our very human nature, I guess.Below is a quote from a news article written 80-plus years ago. “This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.” That quote was attributed to Adolph Hitler in 1935 on The Weapons Act of Nazi Germany. Most of us realize the terrible carnage of World War II. But few realize the underlying causes.“Peace in our time” as an early peacemaker with Germany and England started with a signed document. That sure didn’t work out very well, did it? Quick fixes and shortsightedness bring on unintended consequences. We are lucky enough to be born in, or migrated to, the greatest country on Earth. Our Constitution guarantees this. Let us not belittle our constitutional rock upon which this country is built.LEONARD MULLERGreenfield CenterMore from The Daily Gazette:EDITORIAL: Urgent: Today is the last day to complete the censusEDITORIAL: Beware of voter intimidationSchenectady, Saratoga casinos say reopening has gone well; revenue down 30%Foss: Should main downtown branch of the Schenectady County Public Library reopen?EDITORIAL: Find a way to get family members into nursing homes Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion
But the World Health Organization moved to calm fears, saying the new numbers did “not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the outbreak.””This increase that you’ve all seen in the last 24 hours is largely, in part, down to a change in how the cases are being reported,” Michael Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies programme, told reporters in Geneva.Outside Hubei, there were 12 more deaths but the number of new cases fell for a ninth day in a row, with 312 extra patients.Hubei authorities said the increases were because they had broadened their definition for infection to include people “clinically diagnosed” via lung imaging.Up until now, they had solely confirmed cases with a more sophisticated laboratory test. Trustworthy data? Health officials said they looked into past suspected cases and revised their diagnoses, suggesting older cases were also included in Thursday’s numbers.”It is better to clinically diagnose and admit patients… than leaving room for doubt,” Tong Zhaohui, vice president at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, said at a press conference organised by the Hubei government.China had been praised by the WHO for its handling of the outbreak, in contrast to the way it concealed the extent of the deadly SARS virus epidemic in 2002-2003.But the government has faced continued scepticism among the global public, with fears that there may be similarities to the way it dealt with SARS.Criticism intensified after the death of a doctor who had tried to raise the alarm about the outbreak in December but was silenced by authorities.Senior White House official Larry Kudlow said Thursday that the US was “a little disappointed in the lack of transparency” from China, which he said had refused American help.President Donald Trump previously hailed Beijing for its efforts, but Kudlow asked: “Is the Politburo really being honest with us?”Analysts said Hubei’s new counting methodology might be a legitimate attempt to be more transparent.”It is not clear if the problem up to now, on this issue, was lack of transparency or simply bad medical practice,” Sam Crane, political science professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, told AFP.On Thursday, the leaders of Hubei and Wuhan were sacked, the highest-profile political casualties of the crisis, after the province’s top health officials were fired.Shanghai mayor Ying Yong took over the top provincial post while an official from eastern Shandong province was appointed in Wuhan.Both are seen as “Xi’s men” with security backgrounds, said Richard McGregor, senior fellow at the Lowy Institute think tank.”If the situation in Hubei is a long way from being under control, the party should be worried about instability, because you are literally going to have tens of millions of people confined indoors at least for another month,” he said.Other cities in Hubei sealed off neighbourhoods like Wuhan this week, with some citing “war-time” management to contain the virus.Quarantined cruise ship In Vietnam, authorities announced they were locking down the commune of Son Loi, a farming region about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Hanoi, for 20 days.Checkpoints were set up around the commune, according to AFP reporters in a district on the outskirts of Son Loi. The biggest cluster of cases outside China is on a cruise ship quarantined off Japan’s coast, where 218 infections have now been confirmed.Several countries have banned arrivals from China, while major airlines have halted flights to and from the country.The outbreak has wreaked havoc with global events, with the World Mobile Congress in Spain cancelled and the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens tournament and Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai postponed.China’s economy is also taking a hit and having international repercussions, with global oil demand expected to suffer its first quarterly drop in a decade, according to the International Energy Agency.Topics : Under criticism at home over the handling of the crisis, China’s Communist Party sacked two top-ranking officials in Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak.The developments came hours after President Xi Jinping claimed “positive results” from efforts to contain an epidemic that has now officially killed 1,367 people and infected nearly 60,000.In Hubei and its capital Wuhan, where tens of millions of people are trapped as part of an unprecedented quarantine effort, 242 new deaths were reported on Thursday.Another 14,840 people were confirmed to be infected in Hubei alone, with the new cases and deaths by far the biggest one-day increases since the crisis began. China’s official death toll from the new coronavirus spiked dramatically on Thursday after authorities changed their counting methods, fuelling concern that the epidemic is far worse than being reported.As the figures soared in China, a troubling new front opened abroad as neighbouring Vietnam placed 10,000 people under quarantine after six COVID-19 cases were discovered in a cluster of villages — the first such lockdown overseas.Japan reported its first death of an infected person — the third fatality outside mainland China after the Philippines and Hong Kong.
He said at the time that he had decided to look for new challenges, after talking to the supervisory board leadership about the skills the company would need in the future.Over the last few years, AP Pension has been actively making investments in farmland.In April 2015, it proposed a new deal to buy agricultural land in eastern Romania and lease it back to the Danish company FirstFarms that would be operating farms on the land. The previous year, the pension fund set up Dansk Farmland, a new fund to invest DKK600m (€80.7m) in Danish agricultural land and buildings, aiming to buy farms and lease them back to the individual farmers.The chairman of AP Pension’s supervisory board, Niels Dengsø Jensen, is a farm owner.AP Pension, which will be 100 years old in 2019, has its roots in the Danish cooperative movement.“I have participated in all board meetings over the past six years, and I have repeatedly heard board members stress that it is for them is important that there is no confusion of interests,” Rasmussen said.He said the supervisory board did not interfere with the normal operation of AP Pension. “The investments AP Pension has made in Danish agriculture have been based on a draft proposal from the executive board and a concrete recommendation to the board,” he said.AP Pension said that it had been part of a controlled offensive investment policy to invest in individual Danish farms for several years.“It took place as part of a strategy for alternative investments to obtain attractive returns with controlled risk,” the pension fund said. AP Pension, the Danish labour-market pensions provider, has hit out at media reports that its chief executive quit in December because of pressure from the supervisory board to invest in the agricultural sector.The media reports, from newspaper Jyllands-Posten and the online news site finans.dk, cited only anonymous sources. AP Pension claimed the publications’ interpretation of events had “no basis in reality”.Bo Normann Rasmussen, acting chief executive of AP Pension, said: “I strongly reject that directors of AP Pension ever attempted to get AP Pension to make investments for the benefit of the companies where they are employed.”Søren Dal Thomsen left his job as chief executive of AP Pension suddenly in December, having led the customer-owned pensions provider for many years.