Columbia Pictures Will Smith, left, and Jaden Smith in 'After Earth.'

 Is "After Earth" the worst movie ever made? Maybe not; there's always "Battlefield Earth" to remind us how low the bar can go. But that's the wrong question, since it implies that this bizarre enterprise is a movie in the conventional sense.

 At first the production exhibits movielike characteristics, a sort of "Star Trudge" crossed with a hero's journey by way of Joseph Campbell. The story begins on a planet that has served as humanity's refuge since Earth became uninhabitable. Will Smith is Cypher Raige, the commanding general of a U.N.-sanctioned peacekeeping group—I'm only reporting what's on the screen—called the United Ranger Corps. Mr. Smith's son, Jaden Smith, is the general's son, Kitai, a painfully earnest 13-year-old who's desperately seeking approval from his authoritarian father, even though the old man seems to have no approval to give. Despite the sci-fi trappings, and dollops of almost literally unspeakable dialogue—"Graviton buildup could be a precursor to mass expansion," someone warns someone else—"After Earth" is basically a two-character study of what happens to father and son after their spaceship crashes on a quarantined planet that is, in fact, Earth, but Earth infested with exceedingly cheesy digital monsters.

 Watch a clip from the film "After Earth." A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after events forced humanity's escape. (Photo/Video: Sony)

 Here again, the action conforms to a recognizable movie template. With his father gravely injured and unable to extricate himself from the ship's wreckage, Kitai must summon the courage to go forth on his own and fight whatever demons come his way in order to find the electronic beacon that will bring lifesaving help. In other words, a familiar tale of a boy surviving vicissitudes to become a man. Yet this variant of the template, as directed by M. Night Shyamalan from a script he wrote with Gary Whitta—and based on a story by Mr. Smith—soon takes the form of turgid pontifications that Cypher lays on Kitai at every step of the poor kid's way. (They're connected by a fancy communication system that only emphasizes the disconnections of the quasidramatic structure.) "Every single decision you make will be life or death," the general intones. Or, rather, "Every...single…decision…you…make…will…be…life...or...death," because every…single…word…the…general…speaks…is…spoken…slowly…for…emphasis. It's gravity without gravitas.

 I've never seen a movie that moves so slowly, or takes itself so seriously, which is why it doesn't seem like a movie at all, but a sermon whose central subject is fear: "Danger is real," the father tells the son, "but fear is a choice." So a right question might be why "After Earth" was made. The sermon echoes a central theme of Scientology. Is that the production's subtext, or are there reasons yet to be uncovered why humor and humanity have been essentially banished; why everyone looks pained; why the very notion of entertainment has been banished in favor of grinding didacticism, and why Mr. Smith, who has been such a brilliant entertainer over the years and decades, looks as if he has undergone a radical charismaectomy? It…is…all…very…mysterious…and…deeply…dreary.

 Watch a clip from the film "The East." An operative finds her priorities changing after she is tasked with infiltrating an anarchist group known for executing covert attacks upon major corporations. (Photo/Video: Fox Searchlight)

 'The East'

 In one of many anxiety-provoking sequences in "The East," the heroine, Sarah, who is played by Brit Marling, must find a way to feed herself even though she, like her companions at a large dinner table in an abandoned house, has had her arms tied up in a straitjacket. (The solution is both practical and symbolic.) Part of the anxiety—good anxiety, almost as good as suspense—grows out of the situation: Sarah is in a scary spot. A former FBI agent newly hired by a private intelligence group, she has infiltrated an anarchist collective that's bent on punishing corporations for their supposed crimes. I felt bad anxiety, though, about the cartoonish characters—hippie stereotypes, clumsily updated, plus smarmy corporate execs—and about Ms. Marling, a gifted actress, tying herself up in a story that's essentially a glib preachment to the anticorporate choir.

 Enlarge Image Close Fox Searchlight Brit Marling in 'The East.'

 The film takes its title from the name of the collective, a shadowy group whose leader, Benji (Alexander Skarsgård), has a tragic past and a fatalist's view of the turbulent present: "Things would be easier," he tells Sarah, "if we didn't feel the need to fight." She feels the need to fight against falling in love with him, and against being radicalized in the course of her dangerous mission.

 Ms. Marling makes Sarah's moral dilemma interesting, even sporadically convincing; she's an unusually economical actress who can express unspoken feelings with a piercing glance or pensive stare. But Sarah's exertions in the action realm—listening to the tumblers as she cracks a safe, feeling for a bullet in a shooting victim's belly—are hard to take seriously. It's harder still to find any grounding in contemporary life for the vengeful anarchists. They operate in a realm that's part Woody Guthrie from the 1930s—hobos in freight cars, beset by brutal railroad bulls—and part counterculture from the 1960s, with an overlay of up-to-the-minute ecoterrorism. (Ellen Page plays one member of the collective, Izzy; her father runs a company that has dumped arsenic in its local water supply. Patricia Clarkson is Sharon, the intelligence-group boss who hires Sarah after warning her about the dangers of the ego, and of being too smart. Roman Vasyanov did the handsome cinematography.)

 "The East" was directed by Zal Batmanglij, from a script he wrote with Ms. Marling. Two years ago they collaborated on "Sound of My Voice," the director's small but impressive debut feature. In that film, Ms. Marling played an enigmatic beauty who might have been, as she claimed, a time-traveler from the future, or the cynical priestess of a crackpot cult in the San Fernando Valley. This new film deals with cult behavior in a different setting. Sarah, who'd been listening to Christian radio in her car on her way to applying for the counterterrorism job, must renounce her faith, at least outwardly, by submitting to the collective's secular version of a baptism. The whole movie has the smugness of a cult. At one and the same time it's devoid of reality and insufferably full of itself.

 Watch a clip from the film "Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay," a documentary on the world-renowned magician, author, historian and actor. (Photo/Video: Hopscotch Films)

 'Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay'

 Maybe I should have recused myself from reviewing Molly Bernstein's marvelous documentary, which opened while I was on vacation and is now entering national release. For one thing, I count myself a friend of the main subject, the peerless magician, historian and actor Ricky Jay. For another, I would have been satisfied if the film had contained nothing but closeups of his hands manipulating a deck of cards—shuffles and arcs and cascades, fans appearing and vanishing as in a silent version of "The Mikado" accompanied by visual music. But I'm no more prejudiced in his favor than anyone else who has seen him perform. Nor do I know any more than anyone else about how he does the astonishing things he does. And the film isn't only about him, though it does contain such closeups, and some fascinating footage of his early performances. The larger subjects, eloquently evoked, are the sources of his knowledge and inspiration, and the singular tradition within which he works and flourishes.

 Enlarge Image Close Kino Lorber Ricky Jay in the documentary 'Deceptive Practice.'

 It's a tradition that goes back more than a century, a continuum of virtuosi with names to conjure with: Malini, Houdini, Kellar, Thurston, Slydini, Cardini, Charlie Miller, the unquenchably comic Al Flosso, the incomparable Dai Vernon. Magic is inherently honest, the film insists; you tell people you're going to deceive them before you deceive them. But honesty isn't the issue; enchantment is. For a working definition of the word, watch Ricky Jay watching his fingers as they tear a piece of paper into the shape of a moth's wings, and—watch closely now—the paper moth turns into a real moth that silently flutters away.

 DVD Focus

 'Hitch' (2005)

 Enlarge Image Close Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection Will Smith and Eva Mendes

 Will Smith is a self-styled date doctor, Alex Hitchens, in an uneven but likable comedy that Andy Tennant directed from an original script by Kevin Bisch. When the film came out, I wrote that Mr. Smith "has been a fluid concept until now—immensely likable, reliably droll and self-assured, though never self-important." Self-importance and solemnity have set in since then, but "Hitch" allows its star to fulfill what seemed like his manifest destiny at the time—becoming an urbane comedian who is also, shades of Cary Grant, a romantic hero. Eva Mendes is alluring as a gossip columnist.

 'Melancholia' (2011)

 Alexander Skarsgård is an immature husband-to-be in this hauntingly beautiful drama by the Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. Kirsten Dunst is the wife-to-be, Justine, beset by depression in a movie that isn't depressing at all. Its true subject is melancholia as a spiritual state, a destroyer of happiness that emerges from its hiding place behind the sun, just like the menacing planet of the film that may or may not put an end to terrestrial life. The extraordinary cast includes Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling, Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt and Alexander's father, Stellan Skarsgård.

 'Heist' (2001)

 Ricky Jay is Pinky Pincus, a sad-faced associate of Joe Moore, the zestful mastermind played by Gene Hackman in David Mamet's intricately entertaining caper. One assessment of Joe comes from Bobby (Delroy Lindo), a hitherto stalwart member of his crew, after Joe's plans for an ambitious robbery have seemingly turned to dross. "Baby," Bobby says, "you got old." Another comes from Pinky. Joe is so cool, Pinky says, that "when he goes to bed sheep count him." Which appraisal to bank on? An easy call if you're familiar with the movies of Mr. Mamet, whose specialty is scammers scamming scammers.

 Write to Joe Morgenstern at joe.morgenstern@wsj.com ||||| Laremy Legel May 30, 2013

 1.2 "The level to which 'After Earth' is a catastrophe is amazing."

 We open with a voice-over, followed immediately by flashbacks. Incredibly, with these bold strokes, “After Earth” announces it will be terrible right from the outset, and woe be upon the person who holds out hope that it will get better after the initial wobbly start. It will not get better, it will only get worse, until you’re actively cheering for a teenage kid to get eaten by a tiger (and wanting the tiger to savor every bite). I didn’t plan to feel this way, and no one could have predicted the best possible outcome for the film would be the brutal murder of a character one of the Smithlettes was portraying, but you did this to me, “After Earth”. You made me root against the good guy, mostly because you made him so incompetent, so repugnant, so unlikable, that you rendered his journey and story arc meaningless. For when is a hero not a hero? When he acts worse than your average guy off the street. “After Earth” stupefies us with nonsense, such little thought and logic went into this idea that it can’t even be considered a rough draft, this is a movie almost daring an audience to emotionally detach throughout. For shame!

 To explain the threadbare plot shouldn’t take particularly long, even though the 100-minute running time of “After Earth” lasts around six years. Will Smith, as the delightfully named Cypher Raige, is a general in a futuristic army. He’s human, a descendant of Earthlings forced to flee the planet because “we destroyed it,” though the destruction seems to have been a mix of nuclear bombs, pollution, and natural disasters. 1,000 years later, everyone lives on a planet called Nova Prime, where things are pretty peachy except for the occasional Ursa monster, a predator that is utterly blind, able to hunt based solely upon the scent humans make when they’re afraid. Cypher is FEARLESS, and thus doesn’t secrete the “fear” pheromone, so he’s able to waltz up to these Ursas and wallop them with impunity. He definitely gives them the ol’ “what for,” I tell you. Look here, Ursa, there’s a new sheriff in town, and this one can’t be smelt.

 Also check out: The Films of M. Night Shyamalan, Ranked from Best to Worst

 Now, set aside your thinking cap for just a moment, the one that says, “well couldn’t they wear airtight suits, or make a perfume, or use missiles, or mix fear smells with poisonous gas, or have robots punch all the Ursas, or use drones that existed a full millennium earlier to hunt the Ursa down, all while they snacked in front of a futuristic monitor?” No! Put all of these thoughts right out of your head! “After Earth” has no time for your foolishness, because it’s too busy getting Cypher and his son, Kitai (Jaden Smith, clearly typecast as Will’s son) together for an adventure. Kitai wants to be a Ranger too, just like his dad, but he doesn’t have the “no fear” part down yet, which would make him Ursa lunch, or dinner, depending on the time of day.

 Cypher and Kitai (coincidentally the name of my new CBS pilot) are having trouble connecting, because dad is always out stomping around, secreting nothing but machismo and Old Spice. To alleviate the growing distance between them, Cypher brings Kitai along on a training mission, that, you guessed it, goes horribly wrong. They are then marooned on Earth, and Cypher is hurt, leaving Kitai to perform a dangerous life-saving mission by his lonesome. He’s got his dad to virtually lead him, using futuristic “Go-Pro” technology every step of the way, but he’s going to have to prove he’s got the right stuff, or else they are both, gulp, dead meat.

 That’s not a terrible premise. Or rather, it’s not a wholly terrible premise, there are good parts in there, like the father-son bonding, future Rangers, and men who have been named Cypher without any subtext whatsoever. Sadly, as soon as the action switches to Earth, around 20 minutes in, it’s all doom from there on out. Little Kitai fights poisonous slugs, a giant bird, tigers, simians, and ultimately, ugh, himself. Along the way he’ll have to prove he’s every bit the man that dad is, even if dad happens to come off as a complete jerky jerk who raised a son that wouldn’t be fit to deliver newspapers on a rainy day. Indeed, Kitai is the kid you’d put in charge if you were working for Team Ursa, he has so many ways to fail that the scouts would label him a “five-fool player” and draft him the first round of the “nincompoop draft”.

 Yes, Kitai is instantly unlikable, when he’s not listening to his parents, he’s proving he knows nothing about the world, and when he is tuning into what his father is saying, it’s usually just so he can come back with a genius rejoinder such as, “I can do it myself, Dad! I don’t need your help!”

 So, unlikable hero, a distant and disposable father-son bond, but surely the futuristic aspect of “After Earth” gets in there and salvages this thing, right? Well, no. Not at all. If anything it makes it so much worse, because when the action parts are playing out, riddled with logic problems, you find yourself pining for the quiet stupidity of an abusive dad and his ninny son. For instance, Kitai wears a fancy suit that alerts him to danger by turning black, or to toxins by turning white. Now, whatever you do, don’t ask, “well, does it do something else besides turn color, like say put up a force field, or make him faster, or give him medicine, or maybe turn on an emergency jetpack, or provide a distraction to the predator, or camouflage him somewhat?” No! Do not ask these things, for the suit has just turned white, ooooh, how impressive. Why, they’ve stumbled onto the same lofty technology that the Coors guys use, to tell me when my beer is cold!

 Here’s another example – the use of spears. Little Kitai Raige (Best band name ever) is sent out to fight thousands of predators with a mutable spear. Oh, it changes shapes, it can become a scythe, a sword, whatever sort of weapon you like, except for the one that would actually help, something along the lines of a machine gun. Can you imagine fighting off a pack of tiger-wolves with a freaking spear?! Or outrunning simians without anything resembling advanced technology? “After Earth” takes place in a time where we were able to figure out light speed and interstellar travel, but any weapon above “Swiss Army Knife” seems to outpace our ambition. That’s “After Earth” for you, where nothing makes any sense at all, not the weaponry, the relationships, the antagonists, or the mission itself. It’s astoundingly awful.

 Thankfully, once you’ve gotten past the terrible logic and meaningless relationships, “After Earth” assaults you with a complete lack of tension. They are trying to kill this Kitai fellow off every ten minutes, only what are the chances of them doing just that? Especially 25 minutes in, when all the “action” commences? Everything in “After Earth” is arbitrary. Kitai must get to a transmitter because he needs to transmit. Cypher must not leave the ship himself because he’s hurt, no one else an be around because they’ve only got the one camera crew and so on, and so forth. He has exactly enough oxygen to finish the mission! Safety, each evening, is the exact distance he could plausibly reach! Cypher can man the computer interface 24/7 because he never needs bathroom breaks or food! And so on, and so forth, into the cold receding distance of irrelevance.

 The level to which “After Earth” is a catastrophe is amazing, but what’s even more impressive is the lengths everyone must have had to gone to for such an epic level of failure. Everyone involved, from director M. Night Shyamalan all the way down to Jaden Smith is culpable, and truly capable of so much better. “After Earth” shouldn’t be seen on this planet, and if we ever discover new ones, habitable ones, we should take steps to make sure it’s never shown there either, just in case.

 SCORE: 1.2 / 10

 Laremy wrote the book on film criticism and thinks Shamalan’s best movie is actually “Unbreakable”.

 Categories: Reviews

 Tags: After Earth ||||| ‘May cause extreme drowsiness’’ reads the flashing warning on a pain killer that Will Smith takes after breaking both legs in his new movie — a caution that applies equally to “After Earth.’’

 Basically, this is Smith and his real-life son, Jaden (both affecting ridiculous mid-Atlantic accents) talking the audience to death for something like 90 minutes before the closing credits.

 I’m giving it one star because Smith’s longtime enablers at Sony apparently encouraged him to whittle this humorless sci-fi epic down from a much longer movie.

 The back story in the opening narration — Earth’s evacuation following a vague environmental catastrophe — is boiled down to a couple of sentences.

 A thousand years later, Smith is the aptly named Cypher, a general in the United Ranger Corps, the military arm of the former Earthlings who have settled on a distant planet and produced exceedingly dull descendants.

 On the verge of retirement, Cypher decides to take his 14-year-old son, Kitai, along on his last mission.

 The two have a frosty relationship because, we’re told, Kitai blames his frequently absent dad for his sister’s death. I have a sneaking suspicion that the fact Cypher wears a perpetual scowl probably doesn’t help things.

 A meteor shower forces their spacecraft to crash land on Earth, where Cypher and son are the only survivors in a hostile environment.

 “Do exactly as I tell you, and we will survive!’’ the disabled Cypher barks at Kitai in an order that would probably sound better if papa Smith had delivered it as a rap lyric.

 Most of the film consists of Kitai traveling miles on foot to recover a rescue beacon, and then, even less interestingly, trying to find the intergalactic equivalent of a cellphone signal.

 There are exactly two action sequences — brief pursuit by what look like deranged orangutans, and a climactic battle with a badly executed special effect that’s supposed to represent a deadly extraterrestrial.

 Eleven years and several progressively more dreadful movies after “Signs,’’ director M. Night Shyamalan would be lucky to get a gig directing traffic.

 His work on this reported $150 million vanity project manages to generate no suspense or excitement. Only yawns.

 Will Smith, who co-produced with assorted family members, also contributed the vaguely

 L. Ron Hubbard-ish story, for what is laughably described in the press notes as a “franchise.’’

 The erstwhile box-office king, who appears to be suffering from delusions of grandeur in recent years, really should stick to his day job.

 Separating father and son for most of the film certainly limits the dramatic possibilities. What’s more, while Jaden Smith pulled off the remake of “The Karate Kid,’’ he’s not quite a good enough actor (or sufficiently charismatic) to hold the screen by himself in scene after scene.

 We’re left to ponder how Earth remains so green and leafy when the temperatures drop below freezing every night, or why all that plant life can’t supply sufficient oxygen so that Kitai doesn’t have to rely on an imperiled supply of inhalers.

 He is able to receive Dad’s overbearing self-help lectures via a communication device — which, like all the 31st-century technology on view, is surprisingly more fragile than anything you could buy at the Apple store these days.

 “Fear is not real, it is a production of your imagination!’’ Cypher exhorts Kitai. “Danger is very real but fear is a choice!’’

 And so is avoiding the crashing bore that is “After Earth.’’

 Follow @LouLumenick on Twitter for the latest movie news and reviews.

Summary: – Are you a huge fan of sci-fi adventure epics? Do you insist on seeing every movie Will Smith makes? Are you one of the last remaining M. Night Shyamalan fans? Well, then we have some bad news, because After Earth appears to be a train wreck of epic proportions. But if you just love reading snarky movie reviews, then the news is good indeed. Here's what people are saying: "Is After Earth the worst movie ever made?" asks Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street Journal. Heck, "it doesn't seem like a movie at all, but a sermon." Will Smith's character endlessly pontificates at his son, uttering his "almost literally unspeakable dialogue" very .... very .... slowly … for … some … reason. "I've never seen a movie that moves so slowly, or takes itself so seriously." By the end "you’re actively cheering for a teenage kid to get eaten by a tiger," writes Laremy Legel at Film.com. "I didn't plan to feel this way … but you did this to me, After Earth," by making your characters so horrifically unlikeable—one's a jerk, the other's a "nincompoop." The story, meanwhile, "stupefies us with nonsense, such little thought and logic went into this idea that it can’t even be considered a rough draft." Lou Lumenick at the New York Post gives it one star, and it's only getting that much "because Smith's longtime enablers at Sony apparently encouraged him to whittle this humorless sci-fi epic down from a much longer movie." Even now, the movie is likely to put you to sleep. After this (and his last decade of duds), "director M. Night Shyamalan would be lucky to get a gig directing traffic." But Dana Stevens at Slate cuts the film a tiny amount of slack. "Once you accept the elemental simplicity of After Earth’s plot ... you can stop resenting the movie for all the things it’s not (a rollicking summer actioner, a typical Shyamalan twist-based narrative)," she writes. And "there's a compelling creepiness to this quasi-mythical quest tale." But Jaden Smith simply isn't ready to "carry an entire action movie on his slender shoulders."


North Korea KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missiles on display during a military parade on May 31, 2016. A new ICBM could be put on show on April 15, according to a South Korean press report. File Photo by KCNA.

 April 7 (UPI) -- North Korea is expected to stage a massive military parade on April 15, and possibly use the event to showcase its latest weapons, including a new intercontinental ballistic missile, according to South Korean officials.

 The parade will commemorate the 105th birth anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung.

 The weapons display could be a low-key way for North Korea to show the world it is ready for war, without launching new projectiles, officials in Seoul said, according to local television network MBC.

 Satellite images of the country indicate North Korea is preparing for a large-scale parade at Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, the report stated.

 More events are expected on April 25, when the country celebrates the founding of the Korean People's Army.

 But the anniversary on April 15 is expected to be symbolically important. North Korea has already publicized the parade to foreign press outlets and tour groups, according to MBC.

 In previous parades, North Korea unveiled new missile models, including the KN-09 300-mm Artillery Rocket, the KN-08 ICBM, the KN-14 and nuclear backpacks.

 The backpacks were strapped to marching North Korean soldiers in a past parade and could be used to spray radioactive material, according to experts.

 North Korea belligerence, however, has been accompanied by increased emphasis on reconciliation with the South following the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, the former president.

 On Friday a pro-North Korea newspaper in Japan reported on a women's ice hockey tournament in the South, where teams from the two Koreas faced off on Thursday in a match where the South Korean team won 3-0.

 The Choson Sinbo described the atmosphere at the rink as "reminiscent of the June 15 unification period," a reference to a declaration signed by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in 2000.

 The statement from the paper run by North Korea's de facto embassy in Japan is believed to be a sign North Korea is interested in boosting civic exchange ahead of South Korea presidential elections on May 9. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

 / Updated By William M. Arkin, Cynthia McFadden, Kevin Monahan and Robert Windrem

 The National Security Council has presented President Donald Trump with options to respond to North Korea's nuclear program — including putting American nukes in South Korea or killing dictator Kim Jong-un, multiple top-ranking intelligence and military officials told NBC News.

 Both scenarios are part of an accelerated review of North Korea policy prepared in advance of Trump's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.

 The White House hopes the Chinese will do more to influence Pyongyang through diplomacy and enhanced sanctions. But if that fails, and North Korea continues its development of nuclear weapons, there are other options on the table that would significantly alter U.S. policy.

 The first and most controversial course of action under consideration is placing U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea. The U.S. withdrew all nuclear weapons from South Korea 25 years ago. Bringing back bombs — likely to Osan Air Base, less than 50 miles south of the capital of Seoul — would mark the first overseas nuclear deployment since the end of the Cold War, an unquestionably provocative move.

 "We have 20 years of diplomacy and sanctions under our belt that has failed to stop the North Korean program," one senior intelligence official involved in the review told NBC News. "I’m not advocating pre-emptive war, nor do I think that the deployment of nuclear weapons buys more for us than it costs," but he stressed that the U.S. was dealing with a "war today" situation. He doubted that Chinese and American interests coincided closely enough to find a diplomatic solution.

 An undated file photograph released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un overseeing Korean People's Army military exercise in Pyongyang, North Korea. KCNA/EPA/REX/Shutterstock / Shutterstock

 "I don’t think that [deploying nuclear weapons] is a good idea. I think that it will only inflame the view from Pyongyang," retired Adm. James Stavridis told NBC News. "I don't see any upside to it because the idea that we would use a nuclear weapon even against North Korea is highly unlikely."

 Two military sources told NBC News that Air Force leadership doesn't necessarily support putting nuclear weapons in South Korea. As an alternative, it's been practicing long-range strikes with strategic bombers — sending them to the region for exercises and deploying them in Guam and on the peninsula as a show of force.

 Mark Lippert, the former U.S, ambassador to South Korea, said nuclear deployment there is a concept that's been embraced by a growing number of Koreans.

 "Some polls put it at well over 50 percent," he said. "It's something that's being debated, and support for it over time, at least at this point, is climbing."

 Still, he thinks it's a bad idea, undermining the U.S. objective of a nuclear-free zone and "South Korea's moral authority toward de-nuclearization of the peninsula."

 A woman walks past a television screen showing file footage of a North Korean missile launch, at a railway station in Seoul on April 5, 2017. Jung Yeon-Je / AFP - Getty Images

 Another option is to target and kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other senior leaders in charge of the country's missiles and nuclear weapons and decision-making. Adopting such an objective has huge downsides, said Lippert, who also served as an assistant defense secretary under President Barack Obama.

 "Discussions of regime change and decapitation...tend to cause the Chinese great pause of concern and tends to have them move in the opposite direction we would like them to move in terms of pressure," he said.

 Stavridis, a former NATO commander, said that "decapitation is always a tempting strategy when you're faced with a highly unpredictable and highly dangerous leader."

 "The question you have to ask yourself," he said, "is what happens the day after you decapitate? I think that in North Korea, it's an enormous unknown."

 A third option is covert action, infiltrating U.S. and South Korean special forces into North Korea to sabotage or take out key infrastructure — for instance, blowing up bridges to block the movement of mobile missiles. The CIA, which would oversee such operations, told NBC News it could offer "no guidance" on this option. But Stavridis said that he felt it was the "best strategy" should the U.S. be forced to take military action. He described such action as: "some combination of special forces with South Korea and cyber."

 Last year, South Korea announced the creation of a special operations unit called Spartan 3000 to operate behind enemy frontlines inside North Korea.

 Trump has already indicated he's open to unilateral action if China fails to rein in its ally, telling the Financial Times over the weekend, "If China is not going to solve North Korea, we will."

 But on Wednesday, Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "any solution to the North Korea problem has to involve China." He said that while his job was to present "military options" to the White House, he finds it "hard ... to see a solution without China."

 Related: Defense Secretary Says North Korea 'Has Got to be Stopped'

 Still, military exercises and simulations focused on North Korea have been getting larger and more complex in recent years. In 2017 alone, these exercises have included;

 "Key Resolve," a command post exercise held in March

 "Foal Eagle," a peninsula-wide mobilization and logistics exercise underway now,

 An anti-submarine exercise taking place this month, part of the "Silent Shark" series.

 "Nimble Titan," a gigantic multinational missile defense synchronization experiment last month.

 And last month, the Army announced that it would permanently station its version of the armed Predator — called Gray Eagle — on the Korean Peninsula. That follows an exercise last summer in which hunter-killer Reaper drones practiced the mock destruction of North Korean mobile missile launchers.

 Since North Korea’s first successful nuclear test in 2009, the United States has adopted a strategy to "slow, stop, and defeat" the North’s nuclear and ballistic missile pursuits. That ranges from interdiction of supplies to interception of a ballistic missile actually in the air.

 The Trump White House, through the National Security Council, asked for blue sky options in early February, a senior official told NBC on background. "Think big," the official said that the agencies were instructed. Many proposals have already been abandoned, but on the military side, sources say, the three options with the highest impact still constitute the next steps.

 "It is absolutely appropriate," Stavridis said, for all contingencies to be considered. "In fact, it's mandatory for the Pentagon to present the widest possible array of options. That's what enables presidents to make the right decisions, when they see all the options on the table in front of them." ||||| NORTH Korea is ready to deliver the “most ruthless blow” if provoked by the United States, its ambassador to Moscow said overnight, after US President Donald Trump pledged to keep building up defences against Pyongyang.

 “Our army has already said that if there will be even the smallest provocation from the United States during exercises, we are ready to deliver the most ruthless blow,” Interfax news agency quoted ambassador Kim Hyong-Jun as saying.

 “We have the readiness and ability to counter any challenge from the US,” he was quoted as saying.

 Mr Trump on Wednesday pledged to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the US would “continue to strengthen its ability to deter and defend itself and its allies with the full range of its military capabilities,” a day after Pyongyang fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

 North Korea’s foreign ministry on Monday assailed Washington for its tough talk and for an ongoing joint military exercise with South Korea and Japan which Pyongyang sees as a dress rehearsal for invasion.

 The “reckless actions” are driving the tense situation on the Korean peninsula “to the brink of a war”, a ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency.

 The idea that the US could deprive Pyongyang of its “nuclear deterrent” through sanctions is “the wildest dream”, it said.

 The US military said on Tuesday that nuclear-armed North Korea had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan but that it did not represent a threat to North America.

 Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.

Summary: – President Trump may be considering putting American nuclear missiles in South Korea—or even assassinating Kim Jong-un. Military and intelligence officials tell NBC News the National Security Council has presented Trump with options on responding to North Korea's refusal to curtail its nuclear program. The options all represent big changes in US foreign policy. The US removed its nukes from South Korea 25 years ago; putting them back would be the first time US nuclear weapons were located overseas since the Cold War. Another option—apart from the assassination of North Korea's leader—is sneaking special forces into North Korea to sabotage its nuclear program and abilities. The options would be considered if China doesn't successfully put more pressure on North Korea. And one intelligence official tells NBC he doesn't see a diplomatic solution forthcoming. Trump has vowed to keep building defenses against North Korea, prompting a North Korean ambassador to threaten the "most ruthless blow" if the country is provoked, News.com.au reports. “We have the readiness and ability to counter any challenge from the US,” Kim Hyong-Jun says. Meanwhile, South Korean officials say North Korea appears ready to unveil a new intercontinental ballistic missile during a huge military parade planned for April 15, according to UPI.


MOUNT Etna is one of the most active and destructive volcanoes in the world - having wiped out entire villages after shooting lava and ash hundreds of feet into the air.

 We examine Europe's tallest active volcano and look at where it is based, when it last erupted, and why it's sliding into the Mediterranean.

 Rex Features 2 Etna regularly erupts, spewing lava and ash up into the sky

 Where is Mount Etna?

 The volcano Mount Etna sits on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy.

 It is set between the cities of Messina and Catania and lies between the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

 Towering Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and stands at a staggering 3,329m - making it the highest peak in Italy south of the Alps.

 Etna is also by far the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy and roughly two and a half times the height of the second largest Mount Vesuvius.

 Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is an almost constant state of activity.

 The fertile soil around the volcano allows for extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across its lower slopes.

 The volcano was added to a list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2013.

 AFP - Getty 2 Mount Etna in Sicily is edging 14mm closer to the sea every year

 When did did the volcano last erupt?

 Mount Etna's most severe recent eruption was on March 16, 2017, when ten people including a BBC news crew were injured.

 A further eruption in August 2018 sent plumes of ash and lava spewing in the air but no evacuations or injuries were reported.

 The volcano is active and still erupts because of its position between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates, as well as the fault between the African and lonian micoplate.

 The lonian plate is tilted backward - allowing space for mantle magna to well up to the surface.

 Volcano explorer flies drone camera over Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy

 Is Etna sliding into the sea and could it cause a tsunami?

 Scientists say the giant volcano is edging closer to the Mediterranean Sea by 14mm every year, which could result in "devastating" consequences.

 The movement has been put down to underlying platform of weak, pliable sediments.

 Open University geologist Dr John Murray believes this is the first sliding of this magnitude to be recorded.

 Writing in the Bulletin of Volcanology, he wrote: there was "strong geological evidence" of sliding have a natural tendency to result in "large catastrophic sector collapse" and "devastating consequences" such as a tsunami.

 Research published in Science Advances in 2018 showed a "slow landslide" taking place that could could accelerate and move fast into the sea.

 Speaking to the Independent, Dr Morelia Urlaub from Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research said they had been monitoring Etna on shore for 30 years - just a fraction of the mount's age.

 About the landslide she said: “It could happen in 10 or 100 or 100,000 years – we can’t tell.”

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 What other eruptions of Mount Etna have taken place?

 Etna's most destructive eruption took place in March 1669 and produced lava flows that destroyed at least 10 villages on its southern flank.

 The lava reached the walls of the city of Catania five weeks later on April 15.

 An eruption in 1928 was the first time a population a centre had been destroyed by Etna since 1169.

 The village of Mascali was almost completely destroyed in two days.

 In 1971 the Etna Observatory destroyed the first generation of the Etna cable car.

 Between 2002 and 2003 a series of activity threw up a huge column of ash that could be seen from space.

 It fell as far away as Libya - 370miles from Sicily.

 Through January 2011 to February 2012 Etna experience intense activity and erupted frequently, causing Catania airport to be closed on several occasions.

 We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. ||||| Mount Etna, Europe’s largest and most active volcano, is slowly sliding towards the Mediterranean Sea, scientists have observed.

 The entire 3,350m (11,000ft) stratovolcano, located on the east coast of the Italian island of Sicily, is currently moving downslope at an average rate of 14 mm per year - or 1.4 metres over 100 years.

 Experts have warned the sliding could eventually lead to greater risk of large scale slope failure, which could trigger landslides, however researchers at The Open University emphasised there is currently no sign of that happening.

 Dr John Murray, lead author of the paper published in the Bulletin of Volcanology, stressed the minute movement currently posed no danger to life, but warned that monitoring the volcano for more significant changes was crucial.

 “At the moment there is no cause for concern from the sliding of the volcano towards the sea, the movement is just too small,” Dr Murray told The Telegraph. “However, the possibility of things changing in the future needs to be taken seriously, so it is important to keep monitoring the movement.” ||||| Our results are broadly similar to GPS data published by other workers (Bonaccorso et al. 2006, 2011; Bonforte et al. 2008), bearing in mind that slightly different time periods are involved, and different base stations used. They are also similar to measurements of deformation in the period 1993–2000 between the major flank eruptions of 1991–1993 and 2001 (Bonaccorso et al. 2011; Bonforte et al. 2011). In every case, there is strong asymmetry in displacement vector magnitudes, much longer deformation vectors occurring to the ESE, and the vectors do not radiate from the summit, but from points to the WNW of it. InSAR is a useful technique that complements GPS measurements, but InSAR data are blind to the north-south component of movement, due to satellite configurations, so cannot be used to measure displacement vector length nor direction, but only the east-west component of movement. Solaro et al. (2010) have a table of east-west displacements which covers the period 2003–2008, taking a station in Catania as stable, though actually this is in the unstable SE sector of Etna and might be subject to local fault movement. Nonetheless, it is clear from their data that east flank stations show persistently eastward movement between 2003 and 2008, whereas the west flank stations show generally smaller movements with no overall trend eastwards between major flank eruptions.

 2008 2008 7 Open image in new window It would be interesting to know what happens during periods of horizontal contraction instead of expansion: does Etna continue to slide during periods of deflation? Unfortunately there are no periods of contraction in any of the inter-eruptive periods we are considering. Some episodes of horizontal contraction have occurred outside these inter-eruptive periods, e.g., during the period July 2004 to July 2005, interpreted by Bonforte et al. () as a deflation associated with the 2004 eruption that occurred during this interval. The 2004 eruption was noteworthy for the generally small amounts of deformation, behaving like a summit eruption in that respect, so can be regarded as similar to an inter-eruptive period. If we subtract the sliding vector from Bonforte et al.’s () published data (Fig.), it is clear that horizontal contraction has indeed occurred all around the summit, with vectors pointing towards the summit, the eruption site, and the area of subsidence on the north flank. Like the period 2008–2012, also seen is clear displacement associated with the well-known areas of local faulting, particularly the Pernicana fault, where a small left-lateral displacement averaging 4 cm has taken place, though this movement diminishes with distance from the fault.

 Dozens of short explosive summit eruptions occurred in the period 2011–2012, when a new summit cone adjacent to the Southeast Crater was formed (Behncke et al. 2014). Deformation related to magma movements associated with these eruptions included periods of contraction, notably in 2011, but this was small: of the order of 5 ppm (Patané et al. 2013) and it has not affected the overall dilation between 2008 and 2012 (Fig. 2c).

 Regarding the relationship between eruptive fracturing and basement sliding, geophysical measurements confirm that intrusions take place within the volcanic edifice (Sanderson 1982; Murray and Pullen 1984; Bonaccorso 1996; Bonaccorso et al. 2002; Aloisi et al. 2003, 2009) whereas the uniformity and direction of the basement sliding are consistent with it taking place in the ductile sediments below the base of the volcanic pile. However, it is likely that the basement sliding will have an influence, for example on the position and orientation of the eruptive fractures, due to changes in the stress field at the volcano/basement interface, brought about by sliding.

 The sloping model basement used in the laboratory analogue model is planar, in contrast to the Etna basement surface which is an almost horizontal plateau surface beneath the NW flanks, with a 17-km wide horseshoe-shaped depression scooped out of the eastern and southeastern sector (Neri and Rossi 2002; Norini and Acocella 2011; Branca and Ferrara 2013), that reaches a depth of about 400 m, and includes the summit craters, which lie about 1 km inside its northeastern edge. The overall slope of the basement is towards the ESE, and Fig. 6b shows a WNW-ESE section through the volcano showing the basement topography, compared to the model planar substratum (Fig. 6a). However, the present basement of Etna is the end product of tens of thousands of years of gravitational spreading (Borgia et al. 1992), and of conduit formation below the summit. At the end of our laboratory experiment, the silicon putty basement also had a pronounced valley downslope from the summit, caused by the basement sagging under the weight of the sand volcano, as is the case with all such experiments (Merle and Borgia 1996; Acocella et al. 2013b). The effect of a different starting basement slope angle is demonstrated in Wooller et al. (2004). On Etna, the sedimentary basement outcrops near Vena, 700 m above sea level on the NE flank, and the Pernicana Fault displaces both the sedimentary basement and the volcanic superstructure (Neri et al. 2004), so it is highly likely that the basement is involved in the sliding, which will have modified its original surface.

 Regarding the cause of the component of radial expansion between eruptions, we have used two different models. One simulates a magmatic inflation on a sliding basement (Fig. 4) in which the component of radial expansion is the direct result of magma pressure, and the other gravitational spreading on a shallow slope (Fig. 6) in which radial expansion is caused by the volcano deforming under its own weight (Borgia et al. 1992; Borgia 1994). Both models reproduce the main features of Etna’s horizontal deformation; it remains to be seen which of the two processes is dominant. In this paper, we have only considered horizontal movements; adding the vertical component of movements could help discriminate the two models. Our model demonstrates that if inflation of a magma chamber is causing the dilation of Etna, then the chamber is directly beneath the summit, rather than WNW of it as suggested by previous authors (Nunnari & Puglisi 1994; Puglisi et al. 2004; Bonaccorso et al. 2011).

 This is the first time that current persistent basement sliding of the entire edifice has been detected and measured on an active volcano. These results are important because there is strong geological evidence that volcanoes that have slid downslope in this manner have a propensity to experience very large catastrophic sector collapse on the downslope side later in their history, as at Socompa, Chile (Wooller et al. 2004), and at Colima, Mexico, which is situated on the steep slopes of the larger, older Nevado da Colima (Cortés et al. 2010). Such events are rare, occurring about four times a century worldwide (Siebert 1992), but have devastating consequences, so the possibility of future occurrences needs to be taken seriously, both at Etna and other volcanoes. It has already been suggested that a sloping substrate may be presently playing a major role at two other volcanoes. Teide volcano, Tenerife, is built upon a 5° sloping clay-rich substratum and has evidence of downslope movement (Marquez et al. 2009), and slow sliding or spreading is taking place at Piton des Neiges volcano, which may have been a contributory factor to the large flank collapse events at Piton de la Fournaise volcano (Le Friant et al. 2011), built upon its flanks (Upton and Wadsworth 1965). Colima volcano is also showing signs of downslope movement (Murray 1993; Murray and Wooller 2002), which may result in another sector collapse, which has already occurred at least five times on this volcano (Cortès et al. 2010).

 Regarding possible future major slope failure at Etna, this has been discussed many times following an episode in the 1980s when a 2-km sector of the upper eastern flank of Etna began subsiding at an accelerating rate, some levelling stations attaining nearly 2 m of subsidence before stabilizing. Tilting of stations at Pizzi Deneri and Citelli between 1980 and 1987 suggested that much of the NE flank of the volcano was affected (Murray et al. 1994). There were small local slope failures during east flank eruptions in 1986, but the feared catastrophic sector collapse did not occur. These events inspired the E.U.-funded multi-disciplinary EPOCH project 1990–1993 on slope stability at Etna. More recently, the Italian national FLANK project, also on flank instability at Etna (Acocella et al. 2013a), has revived interest in slope failure. The EPOCH project emphasized the importance of gravitational spreading and slope metastability/intrusion interaction (Borgia et al. 1992; Murray et al. 1994) on potential slope failure, whereas the FLANK project looked at a wide range of factors such as degassing (Federico et al. 2011), faulting (Bonaccorso et al. 2013), intrusions and extensional tectonics (Bonaccorso et al. 2011; Norini and Acocella (2011). Poland et al. (2017), summarizing knowledge of volcano instability worldwide, and particularly at Etna, Kilauea, and Piton de la Fournaise, propose two principal driving forces: gravitational spreading, which dominates at Kilauea, and magmatic activity, which dominates at Etna and Piton de la Fournaise.

 We would suggest that basement gravitational sliding is a third force, though it is as yet unclear what part this plays in relation to events and mechanisms discussed in the previous paragraph. The sliding identified in this paper is a slow precursive phenomenon, likely to be important over very long time scales, which may eventually prime the edifice for a major collapse and confine it to one preferential direction. Such large edifice-wide events may include large amounts of substrata, like at the Heart Mountain slide, Wyoming (Anders et al. 2011).

 Such an event is likely to be triggered by a large, brief event of an intrusive or seismic nature (Bonaccorso et al. 2013), perhaps aided by hydrothermal weakening, for which there is some evidence at the present time (Behncke et al. 2008; Liotta et al. 2010). Such a scenario has also been invoked for the Heart Mountain slide (Mitchell et al. 2015).

 However, the low velocity of sliding, amounting to 1.4 m per century at present, is at least four orders of magnitude lower than that observed prior to the Mount St Helens event (Voight et al. 1983). Failure is likely to be preceded in the short term by a progressive acceleration in downslope movement (Voight and Cornelius 1991; Murray et al. 1994). This could be missed if data are interpreted without allowing for the effect presented here. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Etna is a big draw for scientists and tourists because of its constant fiery rumblings

 Europe's most active volcano, Mount Etna, is sliding towards the sea.

 Scientists have established that the whole structure on the Italian island of Sicily is edging in the direction of the Mediterranean at a rate of 14mm per year.

 The UK-led team says the situation will need careful monitoring because it may lead to increased hazards at Etna in the future.

 The group has published its findings in the Bulletin of Volcanology.

 "I would say there is currently no cause for alarm, but it is something we need to keep an eye on, especially to see if there is an acceleration in this motion," lead author Dr John Murray told BBC News.

 The Open University geologist has spent almost half a century studying Europe's premier volcano.

 In that time, he has placed a network of high-precision GPS stations around the mountain to monitor its behaviour.

 This instrumentation is sensitive to millimetric changes in the shape of the volcanic cone; and with 11 years of data it is now obvious, he says, that the mountain is moving in an east-south-east direction, on a general track towards the coastal town of Giarre, which is about 15km away.

 Essentially, Etna is sliding down a very gentle slope of 1-3 degrees. This is possible because it is sitting on an underlying platform of weak, pliable sediments.

 Dr Murray's team has conducted lab experiments to illustrate how this works. The group believes it is the first time that basement sliding of an entire active volcano has been directly observed.

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mount Etna is close to the east coast of Sicily

 On the human scale, a movement of 14mm/yr - that is 1.4m over a hundred years - will seem very small, and it is. But geological investigations elsewhere in the world have shown that extinct volcanoes that display this kind of trend can suffer catastrophic failures on their leading flank as they drift downslope.

 Stresses can build up that lead eventually to devastating landslides.

 Dr Murray and colleagues stress such behaviour is very rare and can take many centuries, even thousands of years, to develop to a critical stage.

 Certainly, there is absolutely no evidence that this is about to happen at Etna. Local residents should not be alarmed, the Open University scientist said.

 "The 14mm/yr is an average; it varies from year to year," he explained.

 "The thing to watch I guess is if in 10 years' time the rate of movement has doubled - that would be a warning. If it's halved, I'd say there really is nothing to worry about."

 Of more immediate concern is the confounding effect this sliding could have for the day-to-day assessment of the volcano.

 Scientists get hints that eruptive activity is about to occur when magma bulges upwards and deforms the shape of the mountain. To gain an unambiguous view of this inflation, researchers will need to subtract the general E-S-E motion.

 Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Summary: – Europe's biggest and most active volcano is sliding into the Mediterranean Sea and could suffer catastrophic failure one day—even if that day is far away, the BBC reports. Scientists who studied Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily say it is sliding just over half an inch annually thanks to weak sediment and a modest slope of 1-to-3 degrees. Moving east-south-east, Etna should reach the coastal town of Giarre nine miles away in just over a million years. Of greater concern: Etna could endure catastrophic failure on her lead flank, as experts have seen in extinct volcanoes that went adrift. "I would say there is currently no cause for alarm, but it is something we need to keep an eye on, especially to see if there is an acceleration in this motion," says lead author John Murray. "Around one million people live on Etna and its immediate surroundings, so the destruction of property and loss of life could be catastrophic," says Murray, per the Telegraph. "Clearly even the mention of such a dangerous event would be very unnerving for the people who live on Etna, so I am anxious that they don't get the wrong impression." Murray suggests measuring Etna's slide in 10 years to see if it has doubled—which "would be a warning," he notes. His team's 11-year study marks the first time experts have seen an entire active volcano sliding on its base. Standing nearly 11,000 feet high between the cities of Catania and Messina, Etna spewed lava three times over just three weeks last March, the Sun reports. (Another volcano's eruption recently "annihilated" a mountain peak.)


Italian prosecutors have filed an appeal against the acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia.

 Knox and Sollecito were initially handed 26- and 25-year sentences for the fatal stabbing of Kercher, who was found partially clothed with her neck slashed in her apartment in November 2007.

 The pair were acquitted on appeal last October after a court ruled that Knox had been pressured to make compromising statements during interrogation and that key DNA evidence was poorly handled.

 Under Italian law, both prosecutors and the accused have the right to take cases to a second appeal at Italy's supreme court, and the filing on Tuesday was expected. Depositing the 111-page appeal, the prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola said: "I immediately had the feeling that the appeal decision was profoundly unjust and now I am convinced that it should be annulled."

 A local drifter, Rudy Guede, was given a definitive conviction in a separate trial for his role in the murder.

 Reacting to news of the appeal, Sollecito said: "This is a story that never ends. For me it's a real torment which has lasted for four years."

 The supreme court will not reconsider evidence and cannot convict but will examine whether correct legal procedures were followed. Should it decide procedures were violated, it will order a retrial.

 Prosecutors have previously questioned whether the appeal court was within its rights to order the review of DNA evidence that proved crucial to the acquittal.

 Carlo dalla Vedova, a lawyer representing Knox, said: "Hypothetically speaking, should there be a new hearing, it would be held in Florence. But I doubt the supreme court will rule before the end of 2012. Then you would need months to fix a new hearing and neither the supreme court nor the court in Florence could order the defendants to be taken into custody before a final verdict, which would be three to four years from now."

 Knox moved back to her home town in Seattle after serving four years in jail in Perugia. Asked whether she could be extradited from the US should a new trial find her guilty, Dalla Vedova said: "There is an extradition treaty between Italy and the US which is automatic for Italian citizens, but in the case of US citizens you would need approval from the US government."

 Knox has launched an appeal of her own against the three-year sentence she received for initially claiming that a local barman, Patrick Lumumba, was in the house the night Kercher was killed. Lumumba was arrested and then released when his alibi stood up. Knox's sentence was upheld on appeal although she was freed having already served the time.

 Knox is still on trial in Italy charged with falsely claiming that Italian police hit her during her interrogation. ||||| ROME — Italian prosecutors filed an appeal to the country’s highest court on Tuesday seeking a new trial for Amanda Knox of Seattle and her onetime boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, in the fatal stabbing of a British student in Perugia, Italy .

 The appeal was filed four months after an appellate court overturned the 2009 convictions of Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito, in the murder of Meredith Kercher, a British exchange student found dead in November 2007 in the apartment she shared with Ms. Knox.

 The appeal had been expected as part of the appeals in the Italian justice system, which could stretch out for some time. If it is granted, prosecutors could retry Ms. Knox in absentia, if necessary, and she could ultimately face extradition if convicted. But her lawyers dismissed that outcome as highly unlikely.

 “We’re not considering that possibility; for us she has been acquitted,” said one of her lawyers, Luciano Ghirga. “That’s how the system works, but for us it’s a hypothesis far into the future.”

 Carlo Dalla Vedova, who also represents Ms. Knox, denounced reviving the case, saying it would “reopen painful wounds” and again draw attention to a sensational tale of sex and violence. “I am sorry for the two kids,” he said of Ms. Knox, 24, who moved back to her hometown, Seattle, after her release from prison, and Mr. Sollecito, 27, who has been living in southern Italy.

 “But I am especially sorry for Meredith Kercher; silence would have been better,” he said by telephone.

 Speaking to reporters in Perugia on Tuesday, the prosecutors Giovanni Galati and Giancarlo Costagliola said they remained convinced that Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito were guilty of the killing, the news agency ANSA reported. And they challenged the October decision to overturn the conviction, arguing that it was “full of errors,” ANSA reported.

 In their original case against Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito, prosecutors suggested that the killing was the result of a drug-fueled game of rough sex gone awry, involving a reluctant victim, the two defendants and a third man, an Ivorian living in Perugia, Rudy Guede. The seminaked body of Ms. Kercher was found under a duvet, her throat slit, in the house the women shared.

 After two appeals, Mr. Guede was found guilty in 2010 of participating in a homicide and is serving a 16-year sentence.

 While the prosecutors won convictions of Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito in the original case, serious questions were raised about the prosecutor’s theory of the crime and the quality of the evidence. After an independent review cast doubt on the DNA evidence, the appellate court ruled that the prosecution’s case no longer stood up.

 The Supreme Court will not hear new evidence, ruling only on the appeal presented by the prosecution and whether or not proper legal procedures have been followed, Mr. Dalla Vedova said.

 Last week, Ms. Knox’s defense also filed its appeal in the same case, asking the Supreme Court to overthrow her conviction on slander charges, which was upheld by the appellate court last October. Ms. Knox was found guilty of falsely accusing her former employer, the barman Patrick Lumumba, of being at her apartment on the night that Ms. Kercher was killed. He was arrested but later released. Ms. Knox later said she had been pressured to accuse him.

 Mr. Ghirga said he thought the Supreme Court would rule on the admissibility of the appeal later this year.

 On Tuesday lawyers for the Kercher family also challenged the appellate court’s ruling, “in the interests of the family,” said their lawyer, Francesco Maresca.

 Ms. Knox is not required to attend the Supreme Court hearing. She could, however, return to Italy in June, Mr. Dalla Vedova said, as a witness in a trial involving her parents, who have been charged with defamation through the press after they said in an interview in a British newspaper that Ms. Knox had told them that she had been verbally and physically abused by the police.

 Mr. Dalla Vedova said his client was not worried because her innocence had “been proven.” He added, “We’re just sorry she has to deal with all this again.”

Summary: – Amanda Knox moved back to Seattle after her murder conviction was overturned last October, but Italian prosecutors hope they haven't seen the last of her. They have, as expected, filed an appeal to reinstate her and Raffalle Sollecito's convictions for the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, reports the Guardian. Italy's supreme court can order a third trial if it decides legal procedures were not followed in the pair's retrial. Knox can be tried in absentia if necessary, and extradited to Italy if convicted, but her lawyers say that is highly unlikely, reports the New York Times. One of her lawyers slammed the decision to revive the case, saying it would "reopen painful wounds" for everybody involved. "I am sorry for the two kids," she said, "but I am especially sorry for Meredith Kercher—silence would have been better." A drifter from the Ivory Coast was found guilty of taking part in Kercher's murder, and is serving a 16-year sentence.


Washington, Wahlberg Are Bad Boys, And Whatcha Gonna Do?

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Patti Perret/Universal Patti Perret/Universal

 2 Guns Director: Baltasar Kormakur

 Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime

 Running Time: 109 minutes Rated R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity With: Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Edward James Olmos, Paula Patton

 Hypermacho but tongue-in-cheek, the first 20 minutes of 2 Guns are enormous fun. Tough guys Bobby and Stig (Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg) bicker and flirt — with a pretty diner waitress, and with each other — while casing a small-town Texas bank.

 Then they set the diner on fire, don masks, and knock over the bank for $43 million, all while taking care to save any cops from getting hurt and even kissing an available baby. The heist, it would seem, has gone according to plan. Yet something's a little off.

 In fact, nearly everything's a little off, including the bulk of Blake Masters' script (derived from a comics series written by Steven Grant). As the countdown-clock plot ticks toward its conclusion, every tock moves the movie further into overplotted tedium.

 It turns out that, though neither knows the other's true identity, both Bobby and Stig are not crooks but undercover agents, and each is trying to use the other to snare a Mexican drug lord (Edward James Olmos). Bobby works for the DEA, which is plausible, while Stig toils for, uh, Naval Intelligence.

 Naval Intelligence targets Mexican drug cartels? Why not have Stig employed by the CIA? The movie does provide an answer to the latter question: Bobby can't be CIA because the tale also has a role for that agency, embodied by the purringly sadistic Earl (Bill Paxton). So the battle over the stolen $43 million becomes a four-way contest, and that's not counting a few double-crossers.

 Enlarge this image toggle caption Patti Perret/Universal Pictures Patti Perret/Universal Pictures

 Stig reports to a by-the-rulebook officer (James Marsden) who may not apply the same rigor to his own behavior; Bobby, to his colleague and sometime lover Deb (Paula Patton). She's depicted nearly nude and with leering close-ups of her sexy bits in a hotel makeout-session scene so much like the one in Flight as to suggest that such moments are obligatory in any R-rated Denzel Washington movie. (Maybe they're in the actor's rider, like Van Halen's no-brown-M&M's directive?)

 Having betrayed each other, Bobby and Stig are then forced to work together, though they're still inclined to quarrel. (During one dispute, they roll around in the dirt, punching as wildly as little boys.) The agents are constantly on the move, with regular jaunts across the Mexican border, all while being pursued by multiple varieties of thugs.

 One advantage of their being frantically and forever on the run is that the guys are constantly grabbing new cars, trucks or dune buggies; they switch vehicles as often as the protagonists of a chick flick might change shoes.

 The action is helmed efficiently, and with blessedly little CGI, by Baltasar Kormakur, who directed Wahlberg in Contraband but started by making arty little films in his native Iceland. Kormakur's work is well supported by Michael Tronick's taut editing and Clinton Shorter's rousing if predictable ambient-blues score.

 The script is less propulsive, and not just because it's overstuffed with reversals and revelations. 2 Guns loses its charm amid multiple incidents of torture and brutality, including animal cruelty, and its attempt to riff on reports of CIA involvement in the drug trade just burdens a movie whose adolescent-daydream ideas about manliness aren't terribly helpful as an approach to real-world issues. When two charismatic bad boys are being chased across the border by phalanxes of cops, thugs and spies, social commentary is just so much excess baggage. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| The only thing simple and direct about "2 Guns" is its title. This self-consciously nihilistic action movie is one slick piece of business as well as something of a double-edged sword.

 On one hand, it can be briefly diverting to see Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur and stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg use style and attitude to put a different spin on traditional genre plot dynamics in a story of misplaced drug money and mistaken identity.

 But it's also true that the plot of "2 Guns" — filled as it is with multiple feints, dodges and mystifications — is so tricky that events all but evaporate as soon as they happen. Though individual set pieces are well done, the film inevitably leaves an empty taste behind it once it's done.

 PHOTOS: Summer Sneaks 2013

 Written by Blake Masters and based on Steven Grant's series of five graphic novels, "2 Guns" throws us into the middle of a story, then almost immediately tells us that everything we think we know about that story is completely wrong.

 We're introduced to Robert "Bobby" Trench (Washington) and Michael "Stig" Stigman (Wahlberg), a pair of wise-cracking hard guys whose glib patter is more irritating than amusing.

 Seated in a diner in a small Texas town, they're directly across the street from the Tres Cruces Savings & Loan, a fiduciary establishment with ties to a Mexican drug cartel that they are fixing to rob.

 Just a week earlier, however, both men were south of the border trying to do a deal with the cartel's leader, ruthless Manny "Papi" Greco (Edward James Olmos).

 VIDEO: Upcoming summer films

 Nothing about Trench and Stigman, as it turns out, is as it seems, including Trench's strategically placed gold teeth. They are both undercover agents, Trench for the Drug Enforcement Agency, Stigman for U.S. naval intelligence. More than that, neither one knows that the other guy is an agent.

 Even more baffling is the fact that this small-town savings & loan turns out to have more money in its vaults than either man anticipated. A whopping $40 million more, which scares the pants off everyone involved, including Trench's DEA boss Deb Rees (Paula Patton) and Stigman's superior officer Lt. Cmdr. Quince (James Marsden).

 Not amused one little bit by the robbery is Earl (a nasty Bill Paxton), who shows up representing the owner of all that money, an entity whose identity the film keeps secret for as long as it can. A man so scary he is known as "God's S.O.B.," Earl is beside himself when it turns out that no one, including Trench and Stigman, seems to know where that money they stole has disappeared to.

 Though they are both arrogant and antisocial, these two guns are forced to cooperate in the face of Earl's machinations if they want to stay alive in a world where you never know where you stand.

 It can be fun initially to see how director Kormakur, who first came to international attention with expert Icelandic films such as "101 Reykjavik" and "Jar City," doles out this information to us with cinematic elan (helped by energetic, persuasive editing by Michael Tronick). But this is not enough for the long haul, particularly when Trench and Stigman's non-winning personalities and the film's exploitative attitude toward women and violence are added into the mix. Slickness can take you only so far.

 kenneth.turan@latimes.com

 "2 Guns"

 MPAA rating: R for violence throughout, language and brief nudity

 Running time: 1 hour, 49 minutes

 Playing: In general release

Summary: – The laid-back action flick 2 Guns, starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington, has a comic-book feel, refreshingly little CGI, and two characters that just won't quit. But though the title hardly describes the amount of gun-wielding that goes on, it's probably a good indication of how many stars critics would slap on this shoot-em-up. Read on as critics shoot it down: Wahlberg and Washington are "a hugely likable pair, exchanging one-liners with the same ease in which they trade gunfire," but it's not enough for Rene Rodriguez at the Miami Herald, who calls 2 Guns an "unremarkable, standard-issue shoot-em-up that rests entirely on the charisma of its two stars." She liked the set pieces, though. So did Kenneth Turan at the Los Angeles Times. But "though individual set pieces are well done, the film inevitably leaves an empty taste behind it once it's done." And he disagrees when it comes to the stars, or at least their characters: This is a slick movie, but that can only take it so far when the characters' "non-winning personalities and the film's exploitative attitude toward women and violence are added into the mix." The "multiple incidents of torture and brutality, including animal cruelty," didn't sit well with Mark Jenkins at NPR, either, though the first 20 minutes of flirting and bickering were "enormous fun." After that, "nearly everything's a little off, including the bulk of Blake Masters' script," Jenkins writes. "As the countdown-clock plot ticks toward its conclusion, every tock moves the movie further into overplotted tedium." So is there anyone who liked it? Sure. Chris Knight at the National Post writes that the movie "succeeds on the script, which has Wahlberg and Washington sparring and trading quips like a couple in an old screwball comedy. ... Even the stellar supporting cast tends to fade into the background; with these 2 guys, there’s no need for anyone else."


A rescue dive team removes the body of a child found in a frozen pond in Olympic Park, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017, in Aurora, Colo. An identification has not been made yet, but authorities notified David Puckett's... (Associated Press)

 A rescue dive team removes the body of a child found in a frozen pond in Olympic Park, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2017, in Aurora, Colo. An identification has not been made yet, but authorities notified David Puckett's family because of suspicions the body is that of the boy, Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said.... (Associated Press)

 AURORA, Colo. (AP) — Divers looking for a 6-year-old boy who apparently wandered away from his suburban Denver home on New Year's Eve found the body of a child in a frozen pond Tuesday.

 The body has not been identified yet, but authorities notified David Puckett's family because they suspect it is that of the boy, Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said.

 Bloodhounds looking for David didn't get good results, but a dog that can track scents in the air pointed authorities to the pond in a park Monday just a few minutes' walk from the boy's home, Metz said.

 The area had been searched extensively, but not the water because there was no sign of a break in the ice, the chief said.

 After the body was recovered, two holes were left in the frozen pond, which was surrounded by police tape. A bouquet of flowers was left along the perimeter.

 Police have said they don't suspect foul play in the disappearance of David, who has wandered off before. Investigators would try to re-create how a child could have ended up in the pond, Metz said.

 The FBI and other law enforcement agencies helped search for the boy missing for three nights, going door to door within 2½ miles of his home in Aurora, handing out fliers and using a helicopter with an infrared system.

 Temperatures dropped into the teens overnight, and David was wearing only a light jacket when he vanished Saturday.

 Authorities issued an Amber Alert and offered a $10,000 reward. Though police didn't suspect foul play, they contacted registered sex offenders who live nearby as a precaution.

 His mother and authorities appealed for help finding the boy as quickly as possible, partly because of the cold weather.

 "The public can help by physically searching their homes, automobiles, and any structures on their property where a child may be able to hide," police said in a statement.

 The FBI told the Denver Post that the agency assigned 50 agents to the case, including one who is highly specialized in searching for missing children. ||||| AURORA, Colo. -- Police in the Denver suburb of Aurora say they have found a child’s body amid a search for a 6-year-old boy who is believed to have wandered away from his home on New Year’s Eve.

 Late Monday afternoon, authorities issued an Amber Alert for David Puckett. Over 150 law enforcement personnel from a variety of agencies including the FBI, Aurora Police and Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, along with more than 200 volunteers, joined the search, said Aurora Police Chief Nicholas Metz.

 Tuesday, Metz said, crews discovered a child’s body in an iced-over pond.

 The body remains unidentified, according to Metz, but he said Puckett’s family has been notified.

 “I have the very unfortunate news of letting you know … we found the body of what appears to be a child, inside the pond, underneath the ice,” Metz said.

 Before the grim discovery, police said foul play isn’t suspected, but asked for help to find David as quickly as possible partly because of coming cold weather. Police said David had wandered off before. Metz said authorities are treating the pond as a crime scene to ensure a throrough investigation.

 His mother said he was only wearing a light jacket. On Sunday night, she issued a tearful appeal for people to help find him.

 Metz said it could take time to confirm the body’s identity.

Summary: – Divers looking for a 6-year-old boy who apparently wandered away from his suburban Denver home on New Year's Eve found the body of a child in a frozen pond Tuesday, the AP reports. The body has not been identified yet, but authorities notified David Puckett's family because they suspect it is that of the boy, Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said. Bloodhounds looking for David didn't get good results, but a dog that can track scents in the air pointed authorities to the pond in a park Monday just a few minutes' walk from the boy's home, Metz said. "I have the very unfortunate news of letting you know … we found the body of what appears to be a child, inside the pond, underneath the ice," Metz said, per CBS. The area had been searched extensively, but not the water because there was no sign of a break in the ice, the chief said. After the body was recovered, two holes were left in the frozen pond, which was surrounded by police tape. A bouquet of flowers was left along the perimeter. Police have said they don't suspect foul play in the disappearance of David, who has wandered off before. Temperatures dropped into the teens overnight, and David was wearing only a light jacket when he vanished Saturday.


Activists protest outside the French embassy, during the "wear what you want beach party" in London, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. The protest is against the French authorities clampdown on Muslim women wearing... (Associated Press)

 Activists protest outside the French embassy, during the "wear what you want beach party" in London, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. The protest is against the French authorities clampdown on Muslim women wearing... (Associated Press)

 PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the ruling by France's top administrative court on burkini bans (all times local):

 3:10 p.m.

 France's top administrative court has overturned a town burkini ban amid shock and anger worldwide after some Muslim women were ordered to remove body-concealing garments on French Riviera beaches.

 The ruling by the Council of State Friday specifically concerns a ban in the Riviera town of Villeneuve-Loubet, but the binding decision is expected to set a legal precedent for all the 30 or so French resort municipalities that have issued similar decrees.

 Lawyers for two human rights groups challenged the legality of the ban to the top court, saying the orders infringe basic freedoms and that mayors have overstepped their powers by telling women what to wear on beaches.

 Mayors had cited concern about public order after deadly Islamic extremist attacks this summer, and many officials have argued that burkinis oppress women.

 Lawyer Patrice Spinosi, representing the Human Rights League, told reporters that the decision should set a precedent, and that other mayors should conform to it. He also said women who have already received fines can protest them based on Friday's decision.

 ___

 10:05 a.m.

 France's highest administrative court is considering whether it's legal for towns to ban body-covering burkini swimsuits, which have become a symbol of tensions around the place of Islam in secular France.

 After human rights groups challenged a local burkini ban, the Council of State is scheduled to issue a ruling Friday afternoon.

 At a hearing Thursday, lawyers for the rights groups argued that the bans are feeding fear and infringe on basic freedom. Mayors who have banned burkinis cite concern about public order after deadly Islamic extremist attacks this summer, and many officials argue that burkinis oppress women.

 The bans have divided France's government and society and drawn anger abroad, especially after images circulated online showing police appearing to force a Muslim woman to take off her tunic. ||||| (CNN) Mayors do not have the right to ban burkinis, France's highest administrative court ruled Friday.

 The Council of State's ruling suspends a ban in the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, near Nice, and could affect cities around the country that have prohibited the full-length swimsuit.

 More than 30 French towns have banned burkinis , which cover the whole body except for the face, hands and feet.

 Officials say banning the burkini -- worn mostly by Muslim women -- is a response to growing terror concerns and heightened tensions after a series of terror attacks.

 Human rights activists argue that burkini bans are illegal, and that pushes to outlaw the garment are Islamophobic.

 They hailed Friday's ruling as a significant step.

 "By overturning a discriminatory ban that is fueled by and is fueling prejudice and intolerance, today's decision has drawn an important line in the sand," Amnesty International Europe Director John Dalhuisen said in a statement.

 But it's unclear how other towns with burkini bans will respond to Friday's decision. If mayors continue to enforce and enact such decrees, they could face similar legal challenges.

 No matter what, battles over the burkini in the court -- and in the court of public opinion -- are far from over.

 Friday's decision was an initial ruling by the Council of State while it continues to prepare its more detailed judgment on the legal issues in the case.

 Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has said he supports banning burkinis. And former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who plans to run again for the nation's top job, has said he would immediately enact a national ban of the swimsuits.

 Photo sparks outrage

 Critics of the bans say they discriminate against the women they claim to protect.

 "These bans do nothing to increase public safety, but do a lot to promote public humiliation," Dalhuisen said. "Not only are they in themselves discriminatory, but as we have seen, the enforcement of these bans leads to abuses and the degrading treatment of Muslim women and girls."

 Earlier this week, photos of police enforcing a ban in Nice spread rapidly on social media. The images show armed officers apparently ordering a woman to remove part of her clothing

 Police confront a woman in a burkini on the beach along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice this week.

 Authorities in Nice say the officers were simply exercising their duties. Deputy Mayor Christian Estrosi denounced the photos, saying they put the officers in danger.

 "I condemn these unacceptable provocations," he said.

 In London, demonstrators created a makeshift beach Thursday outside the French Embassy for a "Wear what you want beach party."

 Jenny Dawkins, a Church of England priest, told CNN she joined the protest after seeing a photo of the incident in Nice.

 "I think it's a frightening image," she said. "I find it quite chilling to see an image of a woman surrounded by men with guns being told to take her clothes off."

 What are France's burqa laws?

 In April 2011, France became the first European country to ban wearing in public the burqa, a full-body covering that includes a mesh over the face, and the niqab, a full-face veil with an opening for the eyes.

 And much like the recent burkini bans, opinion in the country is divided between those who see the laws as an infringement on religious freedom, and those who view the Islamic dress as inconsistent with France's rigorously enforced secularism.

 Those breaking the burqa law f ace fines of 150 euros (about $205) or public service duties.

 The law was upheld by the European Convention on Human Rights in 2014 after a 24-year-old woman brought the case to court, claiming it infringed on her religious freedom.

Summary: – France's tussle with the burkini was just dealt a strong blow by the country's top administrative court, which on Friday overturned one resort town's ban against the full-body beachwear, the AP reports. The ruling from the Council of State comes during a summer of high-profile cases along the French Riviera in which Cannes and more than two dozen other municipalities have forbidden Muslim women to don the specialized swimsuits. In the words of the Cannes mayor, the burkini is a "symbol of Islamic extremism" that doesn't respect "good morals and secularism" in a country that's been hard hit by militant attacks in recent months. But the director of Amnesty International's European office disagrees with this tactic, noting "these bans do nothing to increase public safety, but do a lot to promote public humiliation," per the BBC. The Council of State heard arguments from lawyers for two human rights groups who noted that mayors in the towns that have nixed the burkinis don't have the right to tell women what to wear. Protests in support of the burkini have been taking place around the world, per CNN, including a "wear what you want beach party" Thursday held on a DIY "beach" outside the French Embassy in London. Although Friday's decision refers specifically to the town of Villeneuve-Loubet, it's expected to set a legal precedent for other resorts that have issued the same mandate. At least one mayor—in Corsica—is already saying he'll continue to enforce the ban, despite the court's ruling, the BBC reports. (What the inventor of the burkini has to say about all of this.)


UPDATE:

 When most BASE jumpers come to Twin Falls they jump from the Perrine Bridge. Tuesday night a stunt jumper ascended from the canyon’s edge and found himself in a bit of trouble.

 The jumper miscalculated his takeoff and the result left him hanging by his parachute from the rocky edge.

 Regardless of experience some jumps aren’t worth the risk. Miles Daisher, a professional Red Bull BASE jumper and Twin Falls native, declined to jump from the same spot two years prior due to the dangers of not only the rocks but powerlines in the area.

 “If you have a 180 degree off headed opening that wall is coming at you fast, and if you’re not like lightening on your toggles, you’re going to hit the wall, like what happened yesterday,” Daisher said.

 Luckily for the stunt jumper, the Magic Valley Paramedics, Search and Rescue and Twin Falls Fire Department are trained and prepared for these rescues. Though rare, they're always high risk.

 Chad Smith is the director of special operations of Magic Valley Paramedics and was the one who descended into the cliff to rescue the jumper. Smith and his team train year-round for these rescues even though they perform one to 50 a year.

 "Obviously, it's pretty dangerous. We don't have the known obstacles as we do with the bridge, where everyone thinks the common area is. So safety is a huge factor. We try to make sure we get a good look from the top and the bottom before we do go perform those rescues so we can be as safe as possible,” Smith said.

 The jumper refused medical treatment even though there were injuries to his leg. However, the irony was that this was not the first time he had to be rescued from the canyon.

 “This is the second time we’ve rescued this BASE jumper. We picked him up by the Perrine Bridge last year. He wasn’t BASE jumping then but was out hiking and had a fall,” Smith said.

 The rocks and terrain in the area are unstable. Smith wants to express to visitors that safety should always be their number one priority.

 ------------

 Around 8:30 Tuesday night, a call came in to emergency responders of a BASE jumper stuck on the canyon wall just below Elevation 486 restaurant.

 Crews with the Twin Falls Fire Department, Magic Valley Special Operations Reach and Treat (SORT) and Twin Falls County Search and Rescue performed a rope rescue, pulling the man off the wall just after 10 p.m.

 Authorities drove him out to Clear Springs grade, but they told a reporter on scene that he refused medical attention and to go to the hospital.

 Magic Valley Paramedics were also on scene.

 Witnesses said one other man made the jump and landed safely on the canyon floor.

 KMVT will update this story as more information becomes available.

 Clarification: An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated the Magic Valley Paramedics performed the rope rescue. Magic Valley SORT is part of the Magic Valley Paramedics that assisted with the rescue. ||||| TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- Emergency responders rescued a BASE jumper from the wall of a canyon late Tuesday night after the man apparently got stuck.

 CBS affiliate KMVT-TV reports that authorities received a call around 8:30 p.m. about the jumper, who was located on the wall of a canyon below a restaurant.

 Paramedics arrived and one descended the face of the cliff on a rope, rescuing the man just after 10 p.m. Witnesses said another man successfully made the jump and landed safely at the bottom of the canyon.

 Authorities told a reporter the rescued jumper declined to go to the hospital or receive medical treatment.

Summary: – A BASE jumper apparently trying to make it to the floor of an Idaho canyon instead ended up stuck on the canyon wall Tuesday night, KMVT reports. Emergency responders were called to the scene in Twin Falls, where one descended the cliff face to perform a rope rescue, CBS News reports. Witnesses said another man made the same jump but did end up safe on the floor of the canyon. The man who was rescued declined medical attention.


KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban said on Monday that Kevin King, one of two professors from the American University of Afghanistan who were kidnapped in Kabul last year, is seriously ill and needs urgent medical attention.

 Kevin King in an undated photo. REUTERS/via FBI

 Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said King, an American, was suffering from “dangerous” heart disease and kidney problems.

 “His illness has intensified, his feet have swollen and sometimes he becomes unconscious and his condition worsens every day,” Mujahid said in a statement.

 “We have tried to treat him time to time but we do not have medical facilities as we are in a war situation,” he said.

 The U.S. State Department called for the immediate and unconditional release of King and other hostages.

 King and his Australian colleague Timothy Weeks were kidnapped in August 2016 as they were returning to their compound in the Afghan capital.

 Afghan and Western officials believe the men are being held by the Haqqani network, a militant group affiliated with the Taliban that has carried out many other kidnappings. They acknowledge that an unsuccessful rescue attempt was made in eastern Afghanistan months after the two were taken.

 The Taliban statement came around two weeks after Pakistani troops rescued Canadian Joshua Boyle and his American wife Caitlan Coleman from an area near the Afghan border. They had been held by the Haqqanis since being kidnapped in 2012.

 Earlier this year, the Taliban released a video of King and Weeks showing them pleading with their governments to release Taliban prisoners in turn for their freedom.

 Kidnapping high profile targets has become a lucrative business for the Taliban and other militant groups in Afghanistan who in return often demand huge ransom or release of their members. ||||| The Taliban claimed that an American teacher being held hostage in Afghanistan for over a year has a "dangerous" disease and said it wouldn't be held responsible if he dies.

 Interested in Taliban? Add Taliban as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Taliban news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest

 Kevin King, a teacher who was kidnapped from the American University in Kabul in Aug. 2016, is suffering from "dangerous heart and kidney disease" that has "exponentially worsened," the militant group said in a statement. The 60-year-old suffers from swollen feet and frequently loses consciousness, the statement said.

 King was abducted at the university with fellow teacher Timothy Weekes, an Australian national. Both are still being held hostage by the Taliban.

 The group said that it has tried to periodically treat King's illness but is "facing war conditions and do not readily have access to health facilities."

 It wasn't clear what kind of illness King is suffering from or what, if any, treatment he is receiving.

 The Taliban had previously released at least two videos in which the hostages make statements pleading for the U.S. government to negotiate a prisoner swap with the Taliban for their release.

 The recent story of American Caitlan Boyle and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle and their three children, who arrived in Canada this month after being held captive in Afghanistan for more than five years, has highlighted the cases U.S. hostages being held in the war-torn country.

 Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl spent more than five years in Taliban captivity after he walked away from his post in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. He pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior and faces up to life in prison at sentencing due to take place this month.

Summary: – An American professor kidnapped in Afghanistan more than a year ago is extremely ill and getting worse all the time, the Taliban says. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says 60-year-old Kevin King has "dangerous" heart and kidney diseases that have "exponentially worsened" during his time in captivity. "His illness has intensified, his feet have swollen, and sometimes he becomes unconscious and his condition worsens every day," Mujahid says, per Reuters. "We have tried to treat him [from] time to time, but we do not have medical facilities as we are in a war situation." Mujahid also warned that it wouldn't be the Taliban's fault if he dies, ABC News reports. King and a colleague, Australian citizen Timothy Weekes, were seized by militants last August as they traveled between the Kabul compound they lived in and the American University of Afghanistan, where they worked. Both men are believed to be in the hands of the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network, the group an American-Canadian couple and their three children were rescued from earlier this month. The US State Department called for the immediate release of the two men, who pleaded for then President-elect Trump to help them in a video militants released in January. (A US raid last year missed King and Weekes by hours.)