Updated at 1:50 p.m. ET

 (CBS News) President Obama spoke out for the first time on Friday about the fatal shooting of an unarmed 17-year-old African-American boy in Florida named Trayvon Martin, calling it a "tragedy."

 "I can only imagine what these parents are going through," Mr. Obama said from the White House Rose Garden, "and when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this and that everybody pulls together, federal, state and local, to figure out how this tragedy happened."

 Mr. Obama said he is glad the Justice Department is investigating the shooting and that Florida Gov. Rick Scott formed a task force in response to the incident as well. The president suggested he was sympathetic to suspicion that the shooting may have been racially motivated.

 "You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Mr. Obama said.

 "All of us have to do some soul-searching to figure out how does something like this happen," he continued. "And that means that we examine the laws and the context for what happened as well as the specifics of the incident."

 Gingrich, Romney, Santorum discuss Trayvon Martin

 Mr. Obama was asked about the shooting on Friday during an event at which he announced the nomination of Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim to be World Bank president.

 Martin was shot in Sanford, Florida, nearly a month ago after a confrontation in a gated community with a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman.

 Zimmerman maintains he shot Martin in self defense, and a Florida self-defense law has so far let Zimmerman remain free. But Martin's girlfriend, who was on the phone with him when it happened, says Zimmerman was the aggressor. Before he shot Martin, Zimmerman called 911 and told an operator an unfamiliar African American was in the neighborhood. The 911 operator told Zimmerman to stop following him.

 In spite of the ongoing investigations, outrage over the incident continues to grow.

 Martin's mother Sybrina Fulton said on "CBS This Morning" on Friday that she wants Zimmerman arrested. Thousands of people rallied in Sanford on Thursday to push for his arrest, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have also decried the fact that Zimmerman remains free.

 Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida took to the House floor on Wednesday to call for justice for Martin, calling the incident "a classic example of racial profiling quickly followed by murder."

 After Mr. Obama commented on the shooting today, the Martin family released the following response: ||||| President Barack Obama weighed in Friday on the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, calling it a national tragedy — and saying that the young man reminded him of his own children.

 "When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids," Obama said in the Rose Garden. "I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. And that everybody pull together."

 Obama has come under fire from some black leaders for failing to comment on a case that has become a major national story — and brought thousands of Americans into the streets for demonstrations calling for the arrest of Martin's shooter. One black leader even wondered why Obama called a Georgetown student who was attacked by Rush Limbaugh but not Martin's family. Obama's comments Friday represent the first time the president has addressed the growing controversy.

 "My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Obama said. "All of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves."

 "Obviously, this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through," Obama said. "All of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how something like this has happened."

 (Also on POLITICO: Geraldo Rivera: Trayvon Martin killed due to 'hoodie')

 The president was careful not to comment too extensively on an active investigation on both the federal and state levels, noting that as head of the executive branch, the Department of Justice reports to him. Earlier this week, under intense public pressure, the FBI and the DOJ joined the investigation into the Martin case.

 Obama's answer also reflects a departure from usual precedent. The president, who was ostensibly announcing the nomination of a new World Bank head, usually does not take questions shouted by reporters at the end of his prepared remarks — but today, he made an exception for the Martin case.

 Martin, a middle-class black teen with no history of trouble, was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla., a community just north of Orlando. His alleged assailant, George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain and criminal justice student, apparently killed him on Feb. 26 as the 17-year-old walked home from a convenience store near his suburban neighborhood to his father's house a few blocks away.

 Before the shooting, Zimmerman, who has a weapons permit, told a police dispatcher there was "a real suspicious guy" who looked "like he was up to no good or on drugs or something" and looked to have "something in his waistband." The dispatcher told Zimmerman not to approach the teen, but Zimmerman pursued Martin anyway. He chased Martin on foot and eventually shot him. The unarmed teen was carrying only a bag of candy and an iced tea he had just purchased.

 The case exploded into a national story after reports that the town's police department had not arrested or charged Zimmerman, who says he was acting in self-defense and pointed to a state la,w allowing him to respond with deadly force. On Wednesday, Sanford's police chief announced he'll take a voluntary leave of absence, effective immediately, to avoid becoming a distraction in the investigation. And on late Thursday, Florida Gov. Rick Scott appointed a new prosecutor to investigate the killing.

 The White House had originally said not to expect Obama to stand at a lectern and speak about the tragedy any time soon. Though staffers and Democratic operatives interviewed Wednesday said the shooting has been a hot topic inside the West Wing — and that Obama is monitoring the situation closely — they're wary of a repeat of the uproar caused by Obama's 2009 comment at a news conference that a Cambridge, Mass., police officer "acted stupidly" in arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.

 That remark, hailed by African Americans but condemned by some whites and many conservatives, unleashed a firestorm of criticism. The furor lasted for weeks and didn't subside until after Obama's awkward White House "beer summit."

 The White House had said Obama wasn't likely to talk about the Martin case because — unlike the Gates arrest and the firing of Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod over video of what appeared to be racially insensitive remarks — the shooting is a law-enforcement matter still under investigation by local police as well as the Justice Department. And Obama was careful in his remarks to steer clear of specifics on the case.

 On Tuesday, White House press secretary Jay Carney delivered the administration's official position on the case.

 "We here in the White House are aware of the incident, and we understand that the local FBI office has been in contact with the local authorities and is monitoring the situation," Carney said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Trayvon Martin's family, but obviously, we're not going to wade into a local law-enforcement matter."

 Attorney General Eric Holder announced late Tuesday that a team of investigators from the FBI and other Justice offices were headed to Sanford to investigate the case and monitor developments. But just before federal investigators departed for Florida, the Congressional Black Caucus called for the shooting to be investigated as a federal hate crime.

 Martin's death "compromises the integrity of our legal system and sets a horrific precedent of vigilante justice," Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said in a statement. "As a nation we cannot, should not, and will not ignore, Trayvon's brutal murder and the inconceivable fact that his killer remains free. ... Trayvon had a family, friends and a future all taken away because of the color of his skin."

 Joe Williams contributed to this report.

 Read more about: Barack Obama, Trayvon Martin

Summary: – President Obama weighed in on the Trayvon Martin shooting today in the most personal of ways: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," he said at the White House today, reports Politico. "When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. And that everybody pull together." Obama has come under pressure from black leaders for steering clear of the case, and today marked his first public comments. "All of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves," he said, calling it "absolutely imperative" that the investigation be thorough, notes CBS News.


Posted by lastrealindians on May 12, 2014 in Featured

 ‘Siouxper Drunk’ Shirts Worn at the University of North Dakota’s Springfest, By Ruth Hopkins

 On Saturday, May 10, 2014, a Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota man posted this picture to my Facebook wall:

 The photo was taken at the University of North Dakota’s Springfest earlier that same day. In it, non-Native UND students are wearing shirts that say ‘Siouxper Drunk.’ Beneath it, a stereotypical ‘Indian head’ reminiscent of the retired Fighting Sioux logo is pictured drinking from a beer bong. What followed the post were a string of comments from understandably infuriated Natives, many of whom were from the Spirit Lake Nation, the Dakota Tribe located closest to the UND campus.

 Dakota, Lakota and Nakota people comprise the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires), also known as The Great Sioux Nation. Oceti Sakowin were called ‘Sioux’ by their enemies.

 The UND Fighting Sioux logo was retired after the NCAA concluded that the race-based mascot was hostile and abusive toward Native Americans. This decision was based on numerous complaints, affidavits, and an abundance of evidence collected over the years that proved the mascot was not only offensive, but detrimental and contrary to NCAA policy.

 Native mascots personify the widespread systemic racism against Native people that still prevails in the subconscious of western society. The Fighting Sioux-esque ‘Siouxper Drunk’ tees worn at UND’s Springfest by UND students are proof positive that Native mascots are harmful and degrading to Native people, and that retiring all race-based mascots is not only appropriate, but necessary.

 The ‘drunken Indian’ caricature is one of the worst stereotypes about Native people that there is. Historically, imbibing is not part of Native culture. There are many Native people, Oceti Sakowin included, who do not abuse alcohol.

 Europeans introduced alcohol to the Indigenous population in America. Prior to their arrival, Native people did not drink alcohol at all. Since then, Europeans have been pretty successful at using alcohol to subdue & assimilate Natives.

 Alcoholism is a serious issue in Indian country and its nothing to laugh about. According to the CDC, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis is the #5 cause of death among Native Americans. In 2010, 15,990 Natives died from alcoholic liver disease alone. Another 25,692 died from alcohol-induced deaths, not counting accidents and homicides. In fact, 1 in 10 Native American deaths are alcohol-related.

 The tiny town of Whiteclay, Nebraska, located just over the border from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, rakes in millions of dollars for beer companies every year by profiting off the misery of Lakota addicted to alcohol. These people who are sick live short lives full of pain and suffering. Families are destroyed. Now tell me again, how is ‘Siouxper Drunk’ funny?

 The fact that a whole group of students were able to walk around UND’s Springfest in ‘Siouxper Drunk’ t-shirts without being stopped speaks volumes. Why would faculty, staff, students, and community members choose to ignore such blatant racism? Didn’t anyone have the good sense to feel embarrassed or ashamed of such a discriminatory display? By allowing such open, aggressive hostility against Natives, you are complicit. If you disapprove of such behavior, stand up and be counted.

 Native students attend UND now, and dozens of Natives have graduated from there. Dakota, Lakota and Nakota Tribal members have degrees from the University of North Dakota. It’s appalling that UND would allow their own students and distinguished alumni to be openly harassed and humiliated on the basis of race by others who attend their institution and are subject to the University disciplinary system.

 No one can tell me this act was not purposeful. Social media posts reveal that students wearing ‘Siouxper Drunk’ shirts knew exactly what they were doing. One individual, who’s Twitter handle is @Sioux_Sam, not only posted a picture of himself wearing the offending garment, he previously tweeted about having the shirts made and putting “the beer bong right into the mascot head.”

 Another UND student apparently had the nerve to hope she would gain notoriety from the act of prejudice against Natives her and her friends perpetrated when they wore ‘Siouxper Drunk’ shirts. Parents, please let your children know that this is not the kind of behavior one should want to be known for. Being labeled a racist for the rest of your life is nothing to be proud of.

 University of North Dakota administrators: you cannot afford to remain silent in the face of such arrogant bigotry. This mockery against Native people, this repugnant spectacle of racial intolerance, took place at your Springfest. An apology for allowing ‘Siouxper Drunk’ tees to be worn at your Springfest isn’t good enough. Sensitivity training will not suffice. Racially motivated incidents keep happening on the University of North Dakota campus. Implement a zero tolerance policy for any and all words, actions, and depictions that discriminate against Native Americans. Only by imposing automatic, pre-determined penalties for clearly defined, racially motivated infractions will you finally purge such shameful conduct from your institution. The onus is on you, not the Native Americans who are being subjected to this harassment and abuse. Students who wore ‘Siouxper Drunk’ shirts at Springfest should be expelled.

 Native people deserve to be treated like human beings, worthy of respect. We pay taxes. We vote. We are part of this economy and society. We make contributions to our communities, UND, North Dakota, and this country. We will no longer accept being treated as second class citizens. If you aren’t outraged by ‘Siouxper Drunk’ shirts featuring a Native mascot in a headdress drinking from a beer bong, you need to check your moral compass.

 Pictures provided via Frank de la Paz, Danielle Miller and https://storify.com/xodanix3/sioux-sam ||||| UND students wear "Siouxper Drunk" shirts to Springfest Posted: Monday, May 12, 2014 6:57 PM EDT Updated: Monday, May 19, 2014 6:57 PM EDT

 Valley News Live -- A group of students at the University of North Dakota are in hot water for wearing shirts that, some say, display "blatant racism." Several photos of the T-shirts have been making the rounds on social media following this weekend's Springfest at UND.

 The group photo shows ten students in their black, green and white shirts. The shirts say "Siouxper Drunk" with a logo underneath, similar to the retired Fighting Sioux logo, pictured drinking from a beer bong. Prior to Springfest, someone in the group tweeted "Our Springfest shirts will make the news I just know it lol."

 UND student Frank Sage says many students coming into Indian Student Services on Monday were upset by the incident. Sage says there was no excuse for it. He called it very degrading and demeaning. We are still waiting for comment from UND Administration on whether the students involved in the incident could face any disciplinary action.

 A blog on "Thelastrealindians.com" says, "The 'Drunken Indian' caricature is one of the worst stereotypes about Native people that there is." Writer Ruth Hopkins goes on to say, "Alcoholism is a serious issue in Indian country and it's nothing to laugh about." The blogger cites a CDC statistic that liver disease and cirrhosis is the fifth cause of death among Native Americans and says 1 in 10 Native American deaths are alcohol-related.

 People on social media are not only bothered by the student's choice to wear the shirts, but are also coming down on CustomInk.com, which is apparently where the shirts were made. CustomInk released the following statement on Monday:

 "We are very sorry about this offensive design. CustomInk's business is focused on bringing people together in positive ways. We handle hundreds of thousands of custom t-shirt designs each year and have people review them to catch problematic content, including anything that's racially or ethnically objectionable, but we missed this one. We apologize for any pain or offense caused by this shirt, and we will continue to improve our review processes to make them better."

 UND President Robert Kelley released the following statement late Monday afternoon:

 "I was appalled to learn this weekend that a group of individuals had the poor judgment and lack of awareness and understanding to create and then wear T-shirts that perpetuated a derogatory and harmful stereotype of American Indians. The message on the shirts demonstrated an unacceptable lack of sensitivity and a complete lack of respect for American Indians and all members of the community.

 These T-shirts were not worn at a UND function -- in fact, the event they are associated with is NOT a university event. They don't appear to have been worn on UND property, and we are not aware that the group represents any UND organization. UND has a responsibility to promote respect and civility within the campus community, and we have the responsibility and right to speak out against hateful behavior. As a University, we teach respect for others. It is imperative that, through our actions, we demonstrate respect for all."

 The UND Fighting Sioux logo was retired after 68 percent of North Dakota voters voted to drop the nickname deemed "hostile and abusive" by the NCAA. The University of North Dakota cannot select a new nickname until 2015. ||||| The NCAA declared the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux mascot "hostile and abusive" in 2005, and the state voted to remove it in 2012, which leaves the school without a nickname until 2015. Not to worry, though. A group of students has found a solution: Use the same mascot, but add a beer bong to the logo. There's no way this could possibly backfire.

 "Siouxper Drunk" T-shirts featuring the beer-bonging Fighting Sioux character debuted over the weekend at Springfest, a popular party not sponsored by UND, leading to several complaints to Indian Student Services Monday morning. One student called the shirts "degrading and demeaning."

 American Indian Student Services Director Leigh Jeanotte told the Grand Forks Herald he doesn't expect the school to take the complaints seriously.

 "Until there is a statement, until there is action, true action, to say that this is wrong, hurtful and it shouldn't be continued, it's going to just keep going on and on and on," he said.

 The timing of the shirts only added to the controversy. During Time Out Week, a Native American educational event in April, a sorority hung a banner referencing the Fighting Sioux nickname, which also drew several student complaints.

 The shirts also got the attention of the blog Last Real Indians, which broke down the drunken Indian stereotypes and stats on Native deaths from alcohol that make "Siouxper Drunk" offensive.

 The students behind the shirts apparently knew they would bring negative attention, but either didn't care or welcomed it. Last Real Indians posted a screengrab of a deleted tweet from April where a student bragged the shirts would "make the news."

 [H/T ValleyNewsLive, Photo via Last Real Indians]

Summary: – University of North Dakota students are taking heat—not least from their school's president—after photos showed 10 of them in T-shirts reading, "Siouxper Drunk." The shirts were apparently for a spring festival this weekend, and they show an image that looks a lot like the university's former Fighting Sioux logo drinking from a beer bong, KSFY reports. The NCAA called that logo "hostile and abusive," and the state voted to get rid of it in 2012, Gawker reports. One member of the group tweeted, "Our Springfest shirts will make the news I just know it lol." "I was appalled to learn this weekend that a group of individuals had the poor judgment and lack of awareness and understanding to create and then wear T-shirts that perpetuated a derogatory and harmful stereotype of American Indians," says university president Robert Kelley in a statement, saying the shirts show "a complete lack of respect for American Indians and all members of the community." He notes that the shirts weren't worn at an official school event. It's unclear whether the students will be disciplined. Notes a blogger at Last Real Indians: "The Fighting Sioux-esque ‘Siouxper Drunk’ tees worn at UND’s Springfest by UND students are proof positive that Native mascots are harmful and degrading to Native people, and that retiring all race-based mascots is not only appropriate, but necessary."


 “The British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta” at Sotheby’s in London. (Reuters)

 A Sotheby’s employee holds the stamp. (Agence France-Presse)

 In 1873, a British schoolboy living with his family in British Guiana (now Guyana) who was a fledgling stamp collector was going through his late uncle’s personal letters, soaking off the stamps to add to his collection, when he came across an octagonal specimen, printed in black letters on magenta, adorned with an image of a three-masted ship and inscribed with the colony’s motto: “We give and expect in return.”

 Louis Vernon Vaughan had not seen anything like it, in part because there was nothing like it.

 It was printed in 1856 by a newspaper publisher in the colony of British Guiana after the local post office ran out of stamps shipped from London.

 The postmaster was unhappy with the quality of the stamps and concerned that they might be counterfeited. So he ordered the postal clerks to personally initial each stamp at the time of sale to prevent fraud, according to a history offered by the Kenmore Stamp Company.

 Sotheby’s is set to auction the stamp known as “The British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta” on June 17 in New York.

 The value: between $10 million and $20 million. (The highest auction price ever paid for a stamp is reportedly $2.3 million for the Swedish Treskilling Yellow.)

 “It will be by size and weight simply the most expensive object ever sold in history,” said Sotheby’s David Redden in a promotional video.

 Vaughn’s heirs and descendants, wherever they are, must be eating their hearts out.

 Perhaps because it had been cut at the corners and was smudged, he thought it dispensable, according to an exhaustive study by Sotheby’s.

 Vaughn offered the stamp to a local dealer who had no interest until Vaughn told him he would use the proceeds to make a few purchases. The dealer agreed to buy it for six shillings, the equivalent then of about $1.50.

 “Now look here, my lad,” the dealer reportedly said, “I am taking a great risk in paying so much for this stamp and I hope you will appreciate my generosity.”

 That was an early link in a long chain of ownership that would make the One Cent perhaps the most famous stamp in the world.

 In 1980, it was sold for $935,000 to an anonymous bidder who turned out to be John E. duPont, heir to the chemical company fortune and an avid collector. DuPont, who also was a patron of amateur wrestling, was later convicted of murdering a freestyle wrestler with whom he had had a falling out. He died in prison in 2010.

 In 1935, when the stamp had an estimated value of about $40,000, the Sotheby’s study reported that:

 The London Daily Mail tracked down Louis Vernon Vaughan, still living in British Guiana, to ask how he felt about the prospect of the stamp selling for twenty-five thousand times the six shillings he had received more than sixty years previously. He appeared more bemused than regretful: “[I]t is apparently coming into the market again — and the world’s greatest stamp dealers and philatelists are ready to outbid each other and pay ridiculous sums of money for that little scrap of paper that I once owned. Really, it does seem remarkable! People ask me what I think about it. … As a matter of fact, I hardly ever think of it at all now and never with disappointment or chagrin. What is the use?”

 Interested in bidding? Register here. ||||| Unique 1856 stamp, which has not been seen in public for 28 years, was last owned by a millionaire convicted murderer

 A scrap of dark-red paper faintly printed in black, the only surviving example of a legendary stamp that sold for one cent in 1856, is to be auctioned in New York for an estimated $20m (£12m), reinforcing its reputation as the world's most famous and valuable stamp. It was most recently owned by an American millionaire who died four years ago in a prison cell.

 If the British Guiana one-cent magenta reaches the predicted price at a Sotheby's sale in New York on 17 June, it will set a new auction record for a single stamp.

 The stamp was one of an emergency printing of several denominations by the local Official Gazette newspaper in British Guiana in 1856, when storms delayed a shipment from the UK and the postmaster was in danger of entirely running out of stamps. Apart from the schoolboy who first recognised its rarity, it has brought no luck to a succession of eccentric private owners.

 The last owner, John du Pont, an heir to the DuPont chemical fortune, paid nearly $1m for it in New York in 1980. He won an award in 1986 for a display of British Guiana stamps at an international exhibition in 1986, the last time the stamp was seen in public before the current promotional tour by the auction house.

 Ten years later, suffering from severe mental illness, Du Pont shot dead the Olympic gold-medal wrestler Dave Schultz – after many years of sponsoring and helping in the training of Schultz and other US Olympic athleteswrestlers. His illness meant he escaped the death penalty but he was found dead in his Pennsylvania prison cell in 2010, aged 72.

 The stamp is now being sold by his estate, with some of the money going to another of the causes he championed, the Eurasian Pacific Wildlife Conservation Foundation.

 The stamp's first collector, who sold it to a dealer for a few shillings in 1873, was Vernon Vaughan, a 12-year-old Scottish schoolboy living with his family in British Guiana, who found it among his uncle's papers. In the 1880s it was bought by Count Philippe la Renotière von Ferrary, one of the wealthiest men in Europe, who kept a mansion full of stamps that he never sold or exhibited.

 He intended to leave his collection to Berlin's postal museum but the French state seized it as part of post-war reparations, and sold it in 1922, when it set its first world record: the American collector Arthur Hind outbid several rivals, including the stamp-obsessed King George V, and paid £7,343. According to stamp-collecting legend, a second copy did turn up soon afterwards, which Hind bought and set fire to, saying: "I still possess the only copy."

 David Redden, Sotheby's chairman and a books specialist, said he was overawed to have the stamp in his care.

 "I have been with Sotheby's all my working life, but before I knew about the world's greatest works of art, before I knew about the Mona Lisa or Chartres Cathedral, I knew about the British Guiana.

 "For me, as a schoolboy stamp collector, it was a magical object, the very definition of rarity and value, unobtainable rarity and extraordinary value. That schoolboy of long ago would be bemused and astonished to think that he would one day, years later, be temporary guardian of such a world treasure."

Summary: – A stamp, created by a newspaper publisher when a British colony ran out of proper stamps in 1856, "will be by size and weight simply the most expensive object ever sold in history." The British Guiana One-Cent Black on Magenta stamp will sell at Sotheby's on June 17 and is expected to fetch between $10 million and $20 million. If that sounds like a lot for a stamp, that's because it is. The most expensive stamp to ever sell at auction went for a far less-impressive-sounding $2.3 million, the Washington Post reports. The British Guiana hasn't been seen in public for 28 years and was last owned by convicted murderer John duPont, who died in prison four years ago, reports the Guardian. The stamp can be traced back much further than duPont, though. Sotheby's notes a young stamp collector living in what is now Guyana found it among his late uncle's letters in 1873. Since it was cut at the corners and a bit smudged, Louis Vernon Vaughan sold it for six shillings, or about $1.50 at the time, to a dealer who reportedly said, "I am taking a great risk in paying so much for this stamp and I hope you will appreciate my generosity." It had an estimated value of $40,000 by 1935, at which time Vaughan said "the world's greatest stamp dealers and philatelists are ready to outbid each other and pay ridiculous sums of money for that little scrap of paper that I once owned."


Defence lab unable to definitively say where nerve agent that poisoned Sergei Skripal and his daughter came from

 British scientists at the Porton Down defence research laboratory have not established that the nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was made in Russia, it has emerged.

 Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), said the poison had been identified as a military-grade novichok nerve agent, which could probably be deployed only by a nation state.

 Aitkenhead said the government had reached its conclusion that Russia was responsible for the Salisbury attack by combining the laboratory’s scientific findings with information from other sources.

 The UK government moved quickly to make it clear that the prime minister, Theresa May, had always been clear the assessment from Porton Down was “only one part of the intelligence picture”. The comments came hours before an extraordinary meeting in The Hague of the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), called by Russia.

 Speaking to Sky News, Aitkenhead said it was not possible for scientists alone to say precisely where the novichok had been created.

 He said: “It’s a military-grade nerve agent, which requires extremely sophisticated methods in order to create – something that’s probably only within the capabilities of a state actor.”

 He denied Russian claims that the substance could have come from Porton Down, which is eight miles from Salisbury, saying: “There’s no way that anything like that would ever have come from us or leave the four walls of our facilities.”

 Aitkenhead said: “We were able to identify it as novichok, to identify it was a military-grade nerve agent. We have not verified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions that they have come to.”

 He said the location of manufacture could be established through “a number of different input sources which the government has access to”, adding: “Scientific evidence is only one of those sources.”

 Aitkenhead said Porton Down was continuing to work on the substance to try to provide additional information that might help.

 He also said there was no known antidote to novichok but said Porton Down had advised Salisbury district hospital on how to treat the Skripals.

 Salisbury attack sites face months of decontamination Read more

 Seizing on Aitkenhead’s remarks, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Britain will have to apologise to Russia for its “mad accusations” that “have no foundation whatsoever.”

 The Russian embassy in London said the UK’s claims that Moscow was behind the attack was a “bluff” and added: “This has been confirmed by the head of the secret lab. This only proves that all political declarations on the Russian origin of the crime are nothing but assumptions not stemming from objective facts or the course of the investigation.”

 A UK government spokesman played down the signficance of Aitkenhead’s remarks. He said: “We have been clear from the very beginning that our world-leading experts at Porton Down identified the substance used in Salisbury as a novichok.

 “This is only one part of the intelligence picture. As the prime minister has set out in a number of statements to the Commons since 12 March, this includes our knowledge that within the last decade Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents probably for assassination – and as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of novichoks; Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views former intelligence officers as targets.

 “It is our assessment that Russia was responsible for this brazen and reckless act and, as the international community agrees, there is no other plausible explanation.”

 However, two weeks ago Boris Johnson was asked by an interviewer on Deutsche Welle, Germany’s public international broadcaster, how the UK had been able to find out the novichok originated from Russia so quickly.

 He replied: “When I look at the evidence, the people from Porton Down, the laboratory, they were absolutely categorical. I asked the guy myself, I said: ‘Are you sure?’ And he said: ‘There’s no doubt.’ So we have very little alternative but to take the action that we have taken.”

 Looking ahead to Wednesday’s OPCW meeting, a Foreign Office spokesman said Russia had called it to try to undermine the work of the organisation. The spokesperson said: “This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.”

 The Russian ambassador to Ireland, Yury Filatov, was the latest to join the criticism from Russia over the UK’s handing of the aftermath of the attack.

 He said Russia wanted Britain to “provide every possible element of evidence” it had, adding: “We certainly reject any notion or claim of Russian involvement in the Salisbury incident. We will not tolerate this kind of irresponsible and basically indecent behaviour on the part of the British government. They will have to answer for that.”

 Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, called the attack a “provocation arranged by Britain” to justify high military spending because “they need a major enemy”. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Image copyright EPA/ Yulia Skripal/Facebook Image caption Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned by a nerve agent called Novichok

 The precise source of the nerve agent used to poison a Russian ex-spy and his daughter has not been verified, says the head of Porton Down laboratory.

 The defence research facility, which identified the substance in Salisbury as Novichok, said it was likely to have been deployed by a "state actor".

 The UK said further intelligence led to its belief that Russia was responsible.

 Russia's president has said he hopes a line can be drawn when the chemical weapons watchdog meets on Wednesday.

 Expressing surprise at the "pace" of what he described as an "anti-Russia campaign", Vladimir Putin added that Russia wants to be part of the investigation and hopes "a line can be drawn under" the incident.

 Porton Down's chief executive Gary Aitkenhead dismissed Russian claims it might have come from the UK military laboratory.

 "We have not identified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific info to [the] government who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions," Mr Aitkenhead said.

 "It is our job to provide the scientific evidence of what this particular nerve agent is - we identified that it is from this particular family and that it is a military grade, but it is not our job to say where it was manufactured."

 A UK government spokesperson said that identifying the substance at Porton Down was "only one part of the intelligence picture".

 It maintained Russia was responsible, adding there was "no other plausible explanation".

 Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with the nerve agent on 4 March.

 The BBC understands Miss Skripal, 33, is now conscious and talking. Salisbury District Hospital has said her father, 66, remained critically ill but stable.

 Mr Aitkenhead said he had been advising those treating the Skripals.

 "Unfortunately this is an extremely toxic substance. There is not, as far as we know, any antidote that you can use to negate the effects of it," he added.

 Analysis

 By Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent

 The man who runs the government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down chose his words carefully today.

 Speaking strictly as a scientist, Gary Aitkenhead said that his staff had not yet verified that the nerve agent used to poison the Skripals had come from Russia.

 It was not his scientists' role, he said, to work out the source of the poison, implying that the government had reached the conclusion that Russia was to blame from other sources - notably secret intelligence.

 His comments come a day before an extraordinary meeting - called by Russia - with the world's chemical weapons watchdog, the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

 'The whole truth'

 "We hope to discuss the whole matter and call on Britain to provide every possible element of evidence they might have in their hands," said the Russian ambassador to Ireland, Yury Filatov.

 "Russia is interested in establishing the whole truth of the matter and we hope certainly that this meeting will help to return to at least the realm of normality within the realm of international law and...decency in international relations."

 A Foreign Office spokesman called the meeting a "diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion".

 "There is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator," he added.

 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Skripals were found on a bench in Salisbury

 So far 29 nations have expelled diplomats over the poisoning, which the British government holds Russia responsible for.

 Russia has now told the UK that more than 50 of its diplomats have to leave the country.

 In a news conference on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested the poisoning could be "in the interests of the British government" because of the "uncomfortable situation" they had found themselves in with Brexit.

 "There could be a whole number of reasons and none of them can be ruled out," Mr Lavrov said. ||||| Scientists from Porton Down have not been able to establish where the novichok nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was made.

 Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, told Sky News they were not yet able to prove it was made in Russia.

 He said: "We were able to identify it as novichok, to identify that it was military-grade nerve agent.

 "We have not identified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific info to Government who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions you have come to."

 1:42 Video: 'We don't know source of nerve agent'

 He said establishing its origin required "other inputs", some of them intelligence-based, that the Government has access to.

 Mr Aitkenhead added: "It is our job to provide the scientific evidence of what this particular nerve agent is, we identified that it is from this particular family and that it is a military grade, but it is not our job to say where it was manufactured."

 However, he confirmed the substance required "extremely sophisticated methods to create, probably something only in the capabilities of a state actor".

 He said there was no known antidote to novichok.

 Image: Mr Aitkenhead would not comment on whether Porton Down keeps novichok

 Porton Down's boss would not comment on whether the lab had developed or keeps stocks of novichok, but dismissed suggestions the substance used to poison the Skripals had come from Porton Down.

 "There is no way anything like that could have come from us or left the four walls of our facility," said Mr Aitkenhead.

 The Foreign Office responded that they still believed Russia was behind the attack because of the wider "intelligence picture".

 A spokesperson said: "We have been clear from the very beginning that our world leading experts at Porton Down identified the substance used in Salisbury as a novichok, a military grade nerve agent.

 "This is only one part of the intelligence picture.

 0:23 Video: 'Porton Down said it was Russia'

 "As the Prime Minister has set out in a number of statements to the Commons since 12 March, this includes our knowledge that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents - probably for assassination - and as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of novichoks.

 "Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views former intelligence officers as targets.

 "It is our assessment that Russia was responsible for this brazen and reckless act and, as the international community agrees, there is no other plausible explanation."

 The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory also responded to Mr Aitkenhead's comments, writing in a series of posts on Twitter: "Our experts have precisely identified the nerve agent as a novichok.

 "It is not, and has never been, our responsibility to confirm the source of the agent.

 "This chemical identity of the nerve agent is one of four factors used by the Government to attribute the use of chemical weapons in Salisbury to Russia.

 "The Government's assessment has been clear from the start. Our chemical analysis is a key part of the Government's assessment, and this has not changed."

 It comes as the chemical weapons watchdog said it would hold a special meeting on Wednesday into the UK Government's claim that Russia was behind the attack.

 Image: Porton Down's boss says there is 'no way' the nerve agent came from there

 The OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) said its executive council would meet in the morning in The Hague.

 In a letter, Russia's ambassador to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin, asked for the meeting to discuss Britain's allegations "in a confidential sitting".

 Russian President Vladimir Putin has also called for a "thorough inquiry" into the incident.

 OPCW experts have taken samples from Salisbury to try to verify the nerve agent used and its origin.

 Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned four weeks ago in Salisbury.

 Russia has been pushing hard for access to the pair, saying it "insists" on seeing them.

 Image: Sergei Skripal and his daughter remain in hospital

 Ms Skripal's condition improved significantly last week and she is now said to be conscious and talking. Her father, however, remains unresponsive and critical.

 The UK Government has said it is looking into the legality of Moscow's request and also considering "the rights and wishes" of the 33-year-old.

 The diplomatic row has led to more than 100 diplomats being expelled from the UK, Russia, the US and Europe, and the war of words shows no signs of dying down.

 Moscow's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko, said on Tuesday that the poisonings may have been set up by the UK to justify an increase in military spending.

 In comments reported by Russian news agencies, Mr Grushko said the attempted murders could have been "arranged by Britain" because "they need a major enemy".

 Image: Sergei Lavrov suggested the UK may have carried out the attack because of Brexit

 His boss, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, floated another possible motive on Monday: that the UK could have carried out the poisonings to distract from Brexit.

 A retired Russian lieutenant general has also warned of a doomsday scenario and suggested the situation could escalate into the "last war in the history of mankind".

 Evgeny Buzhinsky, who leads security think tank the PIR Center, told the BBC's Today programme he was "afraid that it will end up in a very, very bad outcome".

 Asked to clarify, he said: "A real war, worse than a cold war is a real war, it will be the last war in the history of mankind."

 Mr Buzhinsky said the West was "cornering Russia and to corner Russia is a very dangerous thing".

 When asked if there was any realistic possibility of triggering war, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said: "We need to respond in a proportionate way to this aggressive behaviour from Russia and that's what we're doing."

Summary: – Countries have lined up behind the UK to enact consequences on Russia in the wake of the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia, but the scientists who have been analyzing the nerve agent on Tuesday clarified that they haven't been able to establish it was created in Russia. Porton Down exec Gary Aitkenhead tells Sky News it was "probably only in the capabilities of a state actor" to have created the substance, which was definitively identified as novichok. But "we have not identified the precise source," which he presents as unconcerning. "We identified that it is from this particular family and that it is a military grade, but it is not our job to say where it was manufactured." What the scientists did do is hand "the scientific information to government who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions that they have come to." Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down elaborated on Twitter, writing, "This chemical identity of the nerve agent is one of four factors used by the Government to attribute the use of chemical weapons in Salisbury to Russia." The BBC quotes a UK government rep as echoing that, saying Porton Down's work is "only one part of the intelligence picture" and asserting there is "no other plausible explanation" than that Russia was the perpetrator. But the Guardian suggests Aitkenhead's "comments are bound to be seized on by Russia" all the same. (Read the latest on Yulia's condition here.)


Students protest the election of Donald Trump as president after walking out of classes from nearby schools, Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) (Associated Press)

 Students protest the election of Donald Trump as president after walking out of classes from nearby schools, Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) (Associated Press)

 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Students left high school classrooms by the thousands, carrying their signs and their chanting voices into the streets of several U.S. cities nearly a week after Donald Trump's election.

 They walked out Monday in California, Colorado, Maryland, Washington and other states, many declaring concerns over the president-elect's comments about minorities and the effect he will have on their communities.

 Some of Trump's supporters have called for the demonstrations to stop, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who dismissed the protesters as "spoiled crybabies."

 Trump has accused some of being "professional protesters," although he said in a "60 Minutes" interview broadcast Sunday that he also believes some are afraid for the country's future "because they don't know me."

 Here's a look at some of Monday's protests:

 ___

 LOS ANGELES

 More than a thousand students from several schools on Los Angeles' heavily Hispanic east side marched out of classes.

 The demonstrations began at Garfield High School, the subject of the 1988 film "Stand and Deliver" focusing on teacher Jaime Escalante's successful college-level math programs.

 Students with signs and slogans headed to nearby Mariachi Plaza. They were joined by hundreds of students from several schools, many shouting, "Say it loud. Say it clear. Immigration, welcome here."

 Some carried signs that read "Deport Trump," while others waved the U.S., Mexican and gay pride flags. Many said they have relatives and friends in the country illegally who they fear will be deported.

 Brian Rodriguez, 16, was born in the U.S. to parents from Mexico and Guatemala. He said he was offended by Trump's criticism of Latinos.

 "It hurt me inside knowing somebody from outside our race is talking bad about us," said Rodriguez, carrying a sign reading, "Brown and Proud."

 Rodriguez said his school's principal opened the gates and told students they could participate.

 Nancy Meza, a community organizer who announced the walkout, said she helped students organize after they reached out to her.

 "It was really out of frustration of students wanting to voice their opinions," Meza said. "And wanting to feel protected."

 ___

 OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

 Hundreds of students from a dozen high schools in Oakland skipped classes to demonstrate.

 They called on California cities to remain sanctuaries for people in the country illegally, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee vowed Monday to maintain that status.

 Administrators had hoped students would return to class quickly, but they did not ask them to stop protesting, Oakland Unified School District spokesman John Sasaki said. "We support our students' First Amendment rights," he said.

 ___

 DENVER

 About 200 middle- and high-school students left two Denver charter schools to march to the state Capitol, where they chanted and held up signs saying, "Millennial voice matters" and "Make peace not war."

 Police and school officials escorted the students along city streets to ensure their safety.

 The protesters called out "Si, se puede" — Spanish for "Yes, we can" — and "The people united will never be divided."

 Noelie Quintero, 17, said they represented Latinos, Muslims, women and others marginalized by Trump.

 "We're not going anywhere — we're going to continue to stand strong," she said. "Even though we're only 16- and 17-year-olds and we can't vote, our voice matters. What we believe matters, and we're not going to stop."

 ___

 PORTLAND, OREGON

 In a city that has seen large and destructive protests, a few hundred students from several schools walked out of class to gather in the rain near City Hall.

 The group held signs saying "Students for change" and "Love trumps hate." They marched across a bridge, some of them climbing up it, while officers stopped traffic.

 It was peaceful, following smashed windows and other vandalism at recent rallies. Daily demonstrations have led to $1 million in damage and more than 100 arrests.

 A protest organizer says activists were contacting counterparts in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and other cities in an effort to stop Trump from prevailing on his issues.

 "Trump is going to be president, so we need to prepare for that," said Greg McKelvey of the group Portland's Resistance.

 McKelvey said they want to ensure local governments fight racial disparities in policing and help address global warming.

 ___

 SEATTLE

 Thousands of students across Seattle chanted as they marched in the streets and waved "Not My President" or "Love Wins" signs.

 Seattle Public Schools spokesman Luke Duecy reported more than 5,000 students from 20 middle and high schools walked out of classes Monday.

 Some said they oppose Trump's divisive rhetoric and wanted to show support for those he targeted, such as Muslims or immigrants. Others say they came to support their friends or simply to observe.

 High school senior Rose Taylor, who is bisexual, says she worries about what Trump's election will mean for the LGBT community and others.

 Police say two men, who were not students, were arrested in connection with the protest.

 ___

 SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND

 Hundreds of high school students left campus and took to the streets to declare their opposition to Trump, while hundreds more gathered for a rally at a school football stadium.

 About 800 Montgomery Blair High School students attended the rally at the stadium, and most returned to class afterward, Montgomery County Public Schools spokeswoman Gboyinde Onijala said.

 The ones who left joined students from nearby Northwood High School, making up a gathering that Onijala estimated at 200 to 300, some of them chanting, "Not my president."

 Police Capt. Paul Starks says the protesters were peaceful except for one bottle-throwing incident. No one was hurt.

 ___

 Associated Press writers Christine Armario in Los Angeles; Andrew Selsky in Portland, Oregon; Phuong Le in Seattle; and Sarah Brumfield in Washington contributed to this story.

 ___

 This story has been corrected to show Jaime Escalante's name was misspelled Jamie. ||||| Top Donald Trump campaign advisers who have taken charge of the president-elect’s transition team are casting aside much of the work on Cabinet picks that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his aides put in place over several months — and leaving behind a far more chaotic operation dominated by Trump loyalists.

 Trump aides have nixed at least one Christie-backed person being considered for a Cabinet position in the aftermath of last Friday’s shakeup, a person closely tracking the transition told POLITICO.

 Story Continued Below

 The transition team has yet to publicly release a code of ethics for itself or for nominees. And an aide to a person being considered for a top Cabinet position said the person had not yet been asked to complete a detailed questionnaire to suss out red flags.

 Trump was slated to meet Tuesday with Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who now leads the team, to review names in hopes of announcing nominees for key Cabinet posts in the coming weeks.

 "Obviously, Inauguration Day is not getting further away," transition spokesman Jason Miller told reporters waiting in Trump Tower Monday night. "And people need to get going. This is an absolute top priority understood by the president-elect and the vice president-elect.”

 By comparison, President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team was deep into the vetting process by early November 2008 — not just meeting with prospective nominees but also compiling fat dossiers on them, according to emails made public through WikiLeaks. The Obama team also released a code of ethics for transition team members just a few days after the election to limit the influence of special interests. The Trump transition team, meanwhile, is full of lobbyists and has not released such a code.

 “It’s a lot of new people coming in the door. I’m sure their heads are spinning, with security clearances and background checks,” said one transition team source. “They’re going from the footloose and fancy-free world of the campaign into the process of setting up a government. It’s a little different.”

 The demotion of Christie and his top aides — Rich Bagger, Christie’s former chief of staff, and William Palatucci, a former Christie law partner and the transition’s general counsel — sent shock waves through the team’s ranks.

 Bagger and Palatucci worked behind the scenes for months to create a methodical operation that was less drama-filled than the New York-based campaign shop. They played a central role in hiring transition staff, developing an infrastructure, setting up policy- and agency-focused teams and culling shortlists for top administration jobs.

 The shakeup “definitely caused some confusion,” said one person on Trump’s transition team. “There’s been a lot of dust that’s been kicked up.”

 Among those departing is former House Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, who said Tuesday that the group’s work “will provide a strong foundation for the new transition team leadership as they move into the post-election phase, which naturally is incorporating the campaign team in New York who drove President-elect Trump to an incredible victory last Tuesday.”

 At one point, members of the transition team even talked with good-government types — some of them Democrats, such as former Obama administration ethics czar Norm Eisen — to think through a code of ethics for the team. “I and others appealed to both sides in this election to put in these tough rules, starting in the transition, because that is where the tone is set,” he said.

 The transition team has not yet made public its internal code of conduct, nor did it respond to a request for comment about it.

 Nonetheless, Trump’s closest aides are meeting with prospective candidates in hopes of announcing nominees for key Cabinet posts in the coming weeks, sources told POLITICO.

 Going forward, sources familiar with the team said they expect the operation to have a more top-down structure, with the president-elect’s closest advisers, such as Pence, Sen. Jeff Sessions, newly named chief of staff Reince Priebus, political strategist Steve Bannon and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner bulldozing much of the former transition leaders’ existing work and making Cabinet decisions on their own, in consultation with Trump.

 Trump’s aides are focused on recruiting allies and loyalists who they have long hoped to install in top Cabinet posts, such as Sessions, or as Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, a Trump donor and Goldman Sachs veteran.

 One person who has talked to transition officials compared their approach to that of Dick Cheney, who ran George W. Bush’s transition team.

 “Cheney had his own list in his head, and he appointed the people he wanted,” the person said, adding that there are factions within the Trump transition — including Sessions loyalists, Heritage Foundation wonks, Trump’s campaign staff and conservative activists who admire Pence — that are each pushing their preferred candidates.

 The transition team is also working to develop cohesive policies aimed at vetting nominees and protecting against conflicts of interest. Trump’s transition website, greatagain.gov, says candidates for jobs in his administration will be subjected to a full FBI background check and must complete a “Personal Data Statement.”

 The statement includes questions about “possible conflicts of interest deriving from your sources of income; all aspects of your personal and professional life, including organizations to which you belong or once belonged; speeches you may have given and books, articles and editorials you may have written; legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings to which you may have been a party,” according to the website, which urges candidates to disclose “anything that might embarrass the President or you if he should choose you for a position in his administration.”

 If the transition team follows through on that plan, it would subject Cabinet nominees and top White House staff to a greater level of scrutiny than Trump himself received. He was the first presidential candidate in modern history to refuse to release his tax returns, leaving Americans in the dark about his own possible conflicts on financial matters and dealing with foreign governments.

 Past transition teams have generally subjected Cabinet nominees and other top administration officials to a rigorous in-house screening before announcing their nominations — and before nominees face questions from the White House Office of Government Ethics, the Office of Personnel Management and key Senate committees.

 Obama infamously asked Cabinet candidates to complete a seven-page form with 63 separate requests for information. A WikiLeaks email from Nov. 2, 2008 shows the extensive vetting of James Steinberg, which involved a total of nine lawyers and a deep dive into his past. Steinberg later served as deputy secretary of state.

 So far, the Trump transition team does not seem particularly concerned, for instance, about a transition team staffed heavily with lobbyists from energy, agriculture, transportation and banking.

 “Frankly, one of the refreshing parts of it about the whole Trump style is that he does not care about political correctness. From a practical standpoint, I have heard lots of people say, ‘Why would we box ourselves out of the most knowledgeable policy people in the country?’” said one source close to the transition team.

 Donald McGahn II, a partner at the firm Jones Day and Trump’s lawyer, is expected to play a central role in vetting nominees. So is Arthur Culvahouse Jr., a partner at the firm O’Melveny & Myers, who helped vet vice presidential candidates and, according to a source, has been helping the campaign organize its White House picks.

 Culvahouse declined a request for an interview. None of the lawyers in the political law practice at Jones Day returned POLITICO’s calls. Culvahouse has faced backlash from colleagues at his firm for working with Trump, according to people familiar with the situation, with one person saying the decision was “amazingly controversial” within the firm. Many top partners at O’Melveny, including Tom Donilon, were vocal backers of Hillary Clinton.

 ||||| Official: Trump's children have not sought security clearances

 Donald Trump's transition organization refuted a CBS report that the President-elect wants his children to have top-level security clearances.

 A transition official said that Trump has not requested for his children that they be granted this type of clearance, nor did he expect that to occur.

 Story Continued Below

 "That's not something I'm expecting right now," the official said, according to pool reports.

 Earlier, Rep. Adam Kinzinger downplayed the notion that this type of clearance would be a big deal.

 "There's a lot of people, by the way, in the country that have top-secret security clearance — basically anybody that does what I do in the military gets it," Kinzinger (R-Ill.) told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

 "It's a level that you have to go through some intense background, but that's different than what would be considered basically presidential-level security, and I'm not sure what that's called or that classification. But basically you're exposed to anything the president has, versus just top secret."

 The Illinois lawmaker served three tours of duty in Iraq and two Afghanistan as a pilot serving in Air Force Special Operations and Air Combat Command, among other posts.

 Authors: ||||| WASHINGTON—Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the leading candidate to be President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would elevate a well-known national figure to become the U.S.’s chief diplomat.

 Mr. Trump’s aides have also considered former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton as a possible candidate, but the close relationship between Messrs. Giuliani and Trump was a major consideration, the people said.

 ... ||||| As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to fight gridlock in Washington, the city he leaves behind should get ready for the real thing.

 The NYPD and the Secret Service are negotiating how to secure Trump Tower, the President-elect’s home and headquarters, with measures that could include shutting down Fifth Ave.

 The two agencies are scheduled to meet Thursday to develop plans to keep troublemakers at bay, according to a police source, who said the Secret Service wants to keep traffic off the busy avenue whenever Trump is in town.

 But top brass in the Police Department have argued that shutting down even a portion of one of the city’s major avenues would be a nightmare that “can’t happen.”

 Obama calls Trump 'pragmatic' in post-election press conference

 Front page of Tuesday's edition of the New York Daily News. (New York Daily News)

 “It’s a negotiation,” the source said. “Their job is to keep the President safe. Our job is to keep the President safe, but also let the people who live and work and visit there have some semblance of normality. It won’t be complete normality, but it’ll be adjusted normality.”

 It was unclear how many blocks of Fifth Ave. would have to be closed to accommodate stepped-up security at the building between 56th and 57th Sts.

 A spokesman for the Secret Service had no comment Monday regarding security or negotiations with the NYPD.

 Protests erupt around the country after Donald Trump is elected president

 The area around Trump Tower has been the epicenter of protests since Trump’s surprise election victory last week.

 Donald Trump may appoint openly gay man as UN ambassador

 The building has been blocked by concrete barriers to keep away protesters and thwart potential car or truck bombs. The glass tower, which opened in 1983, was built before 9/11 and is not fitted to withstand a terror attack.

 The building includes retail, office and residential space.

 President-elect Donald Trump is preparing for gridlock in Washington. (CARLO ALLEGRI/REUTERS)

 The Federal Aviation Administration has already declared a no-fly zone over the Midtown skyscraper until Trump is sworn in Jan. 21.

 The urgency surrounding the security measures was ratcheted up after talk Trump may not spend all of his time at the White House.

 Vladimir Putin congratulates Donald Trump for winning election

 The billionaire may still try to spend much of his time in his $100 million, three-story apartment on the building’s 58th floor.

 Donald Trump's road to the White House as President-elect

 But the Secret Service is reportedly trying to talk him out of it, according to London’s The Telegraph.

 Merchants said all the attention has been bad for business.

 Henri Bendel, the retailer directly across Fifth Ave. from the President-elect’s home, closed at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 3:45 p.m. on Sunday.

 ‘The Simpsons’ on Trump president prediction: 'Being right sucks'

 It was unclear how many blocks of Fifth Ave. would have to be closed to accommodate increased security at Trump Tower. (Susan Watts/New York Daily News)

 It is normally open until 8 p.m. those days.

 The store has also endured fallout from the protests in another way. The theme of the store’s annual holiday window is love — in the form of a “Love Wall” being installed by artist James Goldcrown. Protesters swamped Fifth Ave. on Wednesday as Goldcrown was putting up his love-themed mural.

 The window is officially unveiled Tuesday.

 Congestion on Fifth Ave. around Trump Tower on Monday. (James Keivom/New York Daily News)

 Michael Townsend, 41, of Weehawken, N.J., was in the neighborhood for a job interview. He said the new security measures are “chilling.”

 To Alec Baldwin: America needs your Trump impersonation

 “They don’t want to hear us.” Townsend said. “They don’t want to acknowledge there’s a lot more to America than the people who support Trump. So they’re going to shut this whole place down.

 “I’ve had so many conversations, from people who are afraid, to those being condemned. We need to fight and we need to take a stand."

 Paul Rossen, 54, a comedy club manager selling “NOT MY PRESIDENT” buttons on the corner of Fifth Ave. and 56th St., said he had mixed feelings about the potential lockdown.

 “The first thing they did was a good idea, with the dump trucks surrounding the buildings,” Rossen said. “I think there has to be a balance between incredible risk and being left alone. Airports are a great example. Everyone is getting searched and no one is complaining.

 Dunham on Trump’s call for unity: ‘You have to protect yourself’

 “I’ve been protesting out here six months, most of it right in front of Trump Tower. All I can say is the balance between free speech and danger must be considered. Three blocks seems like a bit much. If that happens, they’re going to enjoy a lot more protests. I don’t see how that helps anyone.”

 With Joe Dziemianowicz ||||| President Obama held his first news conference since voters sharply rejected his candidate and his party at the polls last week, reassuring people at home and abroad that Donald Trump was committed to governing in a more pragmatic fashion than his harsh campaign style would suggest.

 “He’s going to be the next president and regardless of what experience or assumptions he brought to the office,” said Obama, who met with Trump for the first time last week. “This office has a way of waking you up.”

 Obama faced reporters crammed into the James S. Brady Briefing Room on Monday before leaving Washington for a week-long foreign trip to Greece, Germany and Peru, where he will meet with more than a dozen foreign leaders with their own set of worries about where the United States is headed under its next president.

 At moments the president offered advice to his successor that sometimes sounded like a warning. He urged Trump to respect “those norms that are vital to a functioning democracy,” such as “civility and tolerance and a commitment to reason and facts and analysis.” For months Obama had accused candidate Trump of breaching those norms during a bitter and contentious campaign.

 After last week’s shocking election results, Obama struck a more sanguine note. “I think he’s sincere in wanting to be a successful president and moving this country forward,” Obama said. “I don’t think any president ever comes in saying to himself, ‘I want to figure out how to make people angry or alienate half the country.’ ”

 President Obama said during a news conference Monday that it's "healthy" for the Democratic Party to go through reflection. "When your team loses, everyone gets deflated," Obama said. (The Washington Post)

 The president sought to reassure U.S. allies, noting that in his conversation with Trump last week, the New York businessman “expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships,” including the one with NATO. As he visits with world leaders, Obama vowed to let them know “that there is no weakening of resolve” when it comes to America meeting its commitments and defending its allies.

 Throughout the hour-long news conference, Obama sought to calm and reassure a jittery and divided country, choosing his words carefully and emphasizing unity over division.

 On many issues the president conceded that he and Trump continue to have competing visions on where to take the country and that his worries about Trump’s fitness for office and temperament haven’t disappeared. “Of course I have got concerns,” Obama said.

 He sought solace in the notion that change in Washington usually takes time.

 “The federal government and our democracy is not a speedboat. It’s an ocean liner,” Obama said.

 And he expressed hope that on issues such as the Affordable Care Act, the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Trump would modify his position.

 “I don’t think he is ideological. I think, ultimately, he is pragmatic,” Obama said. “And that can serve him well as long as he has got good people around him and he has a clear sense of direction.”

 President Obama said that his administration "stands ready" to assist President-elect Donald Trump and his staff as they transition to the White House in January. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

 The president declined to comment on Trump’s highest-profile and most controversial appointment so far — senior counselor and chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, former chief executive of the conservative website Breitbart News. Bannon is closely associated with the alt-right movement, which white nationalists have embraced.

 “Without copping out, I think it’s fair to say that it would not be appropriate for me to comment on every appointment that the president-elect starts making if I want to be consistent with the notion that we are going to try to facilitate a smooth transition,” Obama said.

 The president declined to answer a question on whether he still saw Trump as unfit to serve in the Oval Office — a criticism he had leveled more than once during the campaign — and instead emphasized that he had counseled the president-elect to reach out to some constituencies that had not supported his bid.

 “It is important to send some signals of unity” to minorities, women and other groups “that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign,” Obama said.

 In a sign of how Obama has been working doggedly to influence Trump to preserve some of his administration’s landmark achievements, the president spoke of the need to improve the Affordable Care Act rather than jettison it. He made a passionate case for not forcing children of undocumented immigrants to leave the country.

 “I will urge the president-elect and the incoming administration to think long and hard before they are endangering the status of what, for all practical purposes, are American kids,” he said.

 Going before the media soon after a major election is a rite of passage for the president. In Obama’s case, only one of these exchanges has been celebratory. While he could embrace his 2012 reelection victory, both the 2010 and 2014 midterms and now the election of his successor have amounted to serious setbacks.

 Six years ago, Obama called the Democrats’ congressional losses a “shellacking”; in 2014, he declined to characterize the results, saying instead to the American people, “I hear you.”

 Obama spent much less time talking about what contributed to Democrats’ latest losses, which were punctuated by disappointing turnout among some minority groups and a poor showing in rural areas and some key suburbs.

 But he acknowledged that Democrats need to engage in “some reflection” about the way they campaign and connect with the American people.

 “I believe that we have better ideas, but I also believe that good ideas don’t matter if people don’t hear them,” he said. “We have to compete everywhere. We have to show up everywhere.”

 Much of the president’s hour-long news conference was dominated by questions of his view of Trump’s character, temperament and fitness for office. Obama offered careful praise for Trump’s ability to galvanize his constituency.

 “What’s clear is that he was able to tap into, yes, the anxieties, but also the enthusiasm of his voters in a way that was impressive,” the president said. He observed that Trump was “impervious to events that might have sunk another candidate. That’s powerful stuff.”

 But Obama cautioned that Trump would not be able to govern as he campaigned: “There are going to be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognizes them and corrects them.”

Summary: – Is the Trump administration going to be a family affair? Nepotism rules prevent Donald Trump from hiring his children to serve in his administration, but sources tell CBS News that the president-elect is already looking into getting top-secret security clearances for his children, a move that, for now, would have to be approved by the current administration. They could get the clearances by being declared national security advisers. Trump kids Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr. are on his transition team, as well as son-in-law Jared Kushner. A member of the transition team, however, denies that top-secret clearances had been requested for Trump children, saying it's "not something I'm expecting right now," Politico reports. In other developments: The Wall Street Journal reports that Rudy Giuliani is rumored to be Trump's leading choice to replace John Kerry as secretary of state. "One never knows," Giuliani said Monday evening when asked if his job title would soon include the word "secretary." A source tells Politico that the transition team has become chaotic since Chris Christie was ousted. The insider says that in an approach reminiscent of how Dick Cheney ran George W. Bush's transition, the campaign officials that replaced Christie have discarded much of his work to focus on picking Trump loyalists. The Washington Post reports that in his first press conference since the election, President Obama described Trump as sincere about wanting to be a good president. "This office has a way of waking you up," said Obama, who was on his way out of town for a final foreign trip that will take in Greece, Germany, and Peru. A source tells the New York Daily News that the Secret Service has been holding talks with the NYPD about how to protect Trump when he's at Trump Tower. The source says the NYPD has told the Secret Service to forget about its plan to shut down Fifth Avenue whenever Trump is in town. The AP reports that students protesting Trump's election walked out of classes Monday in cities including Denver, Los Angeles, and Seattle, where more than 5,000 from 20 middle and high schools skipped classes to protest.


MANILA (Reuters) - When the image of Jennelyn Olaires weeping as she cradled the body of her slain husband went viral in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte called it melodramatic.

 Jennelyn Olaires, 26, cradles the body of her partner, who was killed on a street by a vigilante group, according to police, in a spate of drug related killings in Pasay city, Metro Manila, Philippines July 23, 2016. REUTERS/Czar Dancel

 There’s not much Duterte hasn’t said when it comes to his war on drugs, his only real election platform and his big promise to the 16 million Filipinos who swept him to power in May by a massive margin.

 And “the punisher”, as he is known, has been true to his word.

 Hundreds of suspected drug dealers have been killed since Duterte took office just one month ago. Six were assassinated in a single night in Manila, among them Michael Siaron, Olaires’s 29-year-old husband who was shot dead by unknown assailants on motorcycles.

 “A friend called out that Michael was shot. I ran out to see him,” Olaires, 26, said in a rundown part of the capital’s Pasay area, with its ubiquitous slums, squatters and thieves.

 “Thoughts were running in my mind. It can’t be you. You don’t deserve this. There are others who deserve this more than you,” she said, recalling the moment she discovered his body.

 “If I only have wings, I will quickly fly to his side.”

 (For a Wider Image photo series of Jennelyn Olaires, see reut.rs/2anBCTt)

 Photographers surrounded her behind a police cordon as she held his body. A piece of cardboard was left next to his corpse with the word “pusher” written on it.

 Dozens of similar killings have taken place almost daily in the Philippines, but with drugs and crime so deep-rooted, there is barely any public outrage.

 Some 316 suspected drug dealers were killed from July 1-27, 195 of which were vigilante killings, according to police. Human rights groups estimate the body count to be at least double the official number.

 ‘KILL DRUGS, NOT PEOPLE’

 Duterte has not condemned vigilante killings. He has previously promoted them.

 The tough-talking former mayor of Davao City mentioned the image of Olaires holding her husband in his state of the union address on Monday and said media had tried to portray it as being like the Michelangelo’s Pieta, the sculpture of Mary holding the body of Jesus.

 Olaires will bury her husband on Sunday. She concedes he was a drug user but says it is impossible he was a dealer because they were too poor and could barely pay for their next meal.

 Siaron made money by riding a pedicab - a bicycle with a sidecar - and did odd jobs.

 He even voted for Duterte in the May 9 election.

 “They must kill the ones who don’t deserve to live anymore, the ones who are a menace to society. Because they cause harm to others. But not the innocent people,” she said.

 Slideshow (7 Images)

 “I don’t need the public’s sympathy. I don’t need the president to notice us.

 “I know that he doesn’t like this kind of people. But for me, I just hope that they get the true offenders.”

 Asked if she had a message to tell Duterte, she said: “kill drugs, not people.” ||||| It was the third extrajudicial killing of suspected drug pushers that I covered on the graveyard shift last week.

 Around 1:30 a.m. on July 23, upon arriving on Edsa Taft-Pasay Rotunda from another crime scene, I could already see the picture.

 ADVERTISEMENT

 I knew this was different. In the middle of the police line in which photographers and bystanders are not allowed to cross was the lifeless body of suspected drug pusher Michael Siaron, cradled by partner Jennilyn Olayres. A cardboard sign that read “Drug pusher huwag tularan” (I am a drug pusher, don’t emulate) was left near the body.

 An hour had passed after the shooting, according to witnesses. A gunman on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice fired on Siaron and left the cardboard sign beside him. Another person was wounded.

 TV floodlights and news cameras popped and flashed as Olayres wept for Siaron while cradling him in her arms like Michelangelo’s world-famous sculpture “Pieta,” a depiction of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ.

 I took many shots from a distance supported by the light from cameras illuminating Siaron and Olayres, which appeared very much like lighting from a theater stage. Hearing her pleading for help was gut-wrenching. I could do nothing but take more shots.

 I saw no need to use a flash, as I needed to capture the dark-at-dawn atmosphere.

 “That’s enough! And help us!” she cried out to media workers, authorities and onlookers.

 I stopped taking pictures and looked for a policeman. I asked him, “What are you waiting for?”

 The policeman replied: “We can’t do anything as he is already dead. Let’s wait for the Soco (Scene of the Crime Operatives).”

 ADVERTISEMENT

 The members of the Soco team came several minutes late because they came from the same crime scene we covered earlier outside the Senate Building in Pasay City.

 What could I do? It was heartbreaking but I knew I had to do my job. The crime scene still had to be processed. Evidence had to be gathered.

 I climbed the overpass and took more shots: an overview of the scene with cars passing along Edsa, with a few motorists stopping and looking at the commotion, a crowd gathering around the body and Olayres laying Siaron down on the pavement and weeping.

 Another report came—a body was found in Leveriza, Pasay City, the fourth on that shift. Many of my colleagues and I hurried off but we all had a heavy heart.

 We were not able to take pictures of the male victim—the fourth in “Patay City” (a play on Pasay City, meaning city of the dead), as a radio reporter jokingly said—as the body had been removed from the crime scene. The victim, a mute, was shot and killed by a motorcycle-riding gunman, who also left a cardboard message near his body.

 We were quiet as we went back to the Manila Police District, the office of graveyard-shift media workers. I lighted a cigarette to calm my nerves. Another photographer took deep breaths. Together, we recounted moments from the scene at Pasay Rotunda.

 Another veteran photographer said, while shaking his head, “I no longer want to be a photographer.” We all had the same feeling of guilt.

 We were unsure whether to submit the pictures for publication because we felt guilty for not being able to help the victim and his partner. We only took photographs.

 I remember shaking my head, wiping off my sweat and processing what had just transpired in my head.

 I told my colleagues: “Let’s file this. It’s our work.”

 We may not have helped the victim and his partner but it is our job to show these pictures. We have to show reality as it is and perhaps, get people to react and even take action.

 Read Next ||||| Human rights groups call on UN to denounce killings of suspected users and dealers since Rodrigo Duterte won presidential election in May

 More than 700 suspected drug users or dealers have been killed by police or vigilantes in the Philippines in less than three months, say human rights campaigners, who are calling on the UN to denounce the violence.

 Human Rights Watch, Stop Aids and International HIV/Aids Alliance are among more than 300 civil society groups that have signed joint letters to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), calling on them to break their silence over the crackdown.

 “We are calling on the UN drug control bodies to publicly condemn these atrocities in the Philippines. This senseless killing cannot be justified as a drug control measure,” said Ann Fordham, executive director of the International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC), which coordinated the letter.

 Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte urges people to kill drug addicts Read more

 “Their silence is unacceptable, while people are being killed on the streets day after day.”

 Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, won an electoral landslide in May after pledging to fill funeral parlours with drug dealers. He told Filipinos on the day of his inauguration last month: “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful.”

 Since 10 May – the day Duterte was announced the winner of the presidential poll – at least 704 people have been killed because they were suspected to have been involved with drugs, according to monitoring by journalists at ABS CBN News, a Filipino news network.

 One influential Philippine senator has called for an investigation into the killings. In a speech before the senate, Leila de Lima, a former justice minister, said: “We cannot wage the war against drugs with blood. We will only be trading drug addiction with another more malevolent kind of addiction. This is the compulsion for more killing.”

 De Lima, who has also headed the Philippines’ national human rights body, said police were summarily killing even innocent people, using the anti-drugs campaign as an excuse.

 A statement issued last week by the citizens’ council for human rights accused Duterte and his officials of abandoning due process and human rights in their zeal to fight the war on drugs. “Units of the Philippine national police, under the command of his close associate General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, have turned many low-income neighbourhoods in the country into free-fire zones,” it said.

 “The bloody encounters taking place daily have polarised the country between those who support the president’s quick and dirty methods of dealing with drugs and crime, and those who regard them as illegal, immoral, and self-defeating.”

 The killings appear to have been carried out by police, who attribute the violence to suspects who “resisted arrest and shot at police officers”, and vigilante groups emboldened by Duterte’s promises of impunity.

 In one case last month, eight suspected “drug personalities”, including a woman, were shot dead by police in a pre-dawn raid in the town of Matalam, about 900km (559 miles) south of Manila. On the same day in Manila, police said they found a man lying dead with his head wrapped in packaging tape and his torso covered with a cardboard sign reading: “I Am A Pusher.”

 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jennelyn Olaires, 26, cradles the body of her husband, Michael Siaron, who police said was killed on a street by a vigilante group in Pasay city, Metro Manila. The cardboard sign near his body reads: “Pusher Ako”, which translates to “I am a drug pusher.” Photograph: Czar Dancel/Reuters

 On another night in the capital, six people were killed by gunmen on motorcycles. One of the victims’ wives was photographed cradling his dead body in an image that has become emblematic of the Filipino drugs war.

 Jennelyn Olaires, the wife of Michael Siaron whom police said was killed by a vigilante group, told Reuters her husband had not been a drug dealer but that he was addicted to drugs. She said the 29-year-old made money by riding a pedicab – a bicycle with a sidecar – and did odd jobs. He even voted for Duterte in the 9 May election.

 “I don’t need the public’s sympathy. I don’t need the president to notice us,” Olaires said. “I know that he doesn’t like this kind of people. But for me, I just hope that they get the true offenders.”

 The IDPC’s letters ask the UNODC and the INCB to call on Duterte to immediately end all his incitements to kill people suspected of dealing drugs and act to fulfil all international human rights obligations, including rights to life, health, due process and a fair trial.

 Philippines' 'Duterte Harry': the would-be president accused of using vigilante squads Read more

 Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: “International drug control agencies need to make clear to Philippines’ president Roderigo Duterte that the surge in killings of suspected drug dealers and users is not acceptable ‘crime control’, but instead a government failure to protect people’s most fundamental human rights.

 “President Duterte should understand that passive or active government complicity with those killings would contradict his pledge to respect human rights and uphold the rule of law.”

 A spokesman for the INCB said that a response to the IDPC’s open letter would be considered over the next few days. The UNODC said that it had received the letter and that it would be reviewed.

 The most widely abused drugs in the Philippines are methamphetamine hydrochloride, known locally as shabu, and cannabis, which can easily be grown in the country’s rural areas. In 2014, 89% of drug seizures involved shabu while 8.9% involved cannabis, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

 Before he was elected president, Duterte was a lawyer who earned a reputation as an authoritarian figure while he mayor of the southern city of Davao. His campaign pledges included the reintroduction of the death penalty by hanging, as well as offering bounties for the bodies of drug dealers.

 During the campaign, Duterte said 100,000 people would die in his crackdown, with so many dead bodies dumped in Manila Bay that fish there would grow fat from feeding on them. After his election win, Duterte also launched a seemingly unprovoked attack against the UN.

 “Fuck you UN, you can’t even solve the Middle East carnage ... couldn’t even lift a finger in Africa [with the] butchering [of] the black people. Shut up all of you,” he said.

Summary: – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appears to be making progress in the war on crime he promised when he took office a month ago—as long as murder isn't considered a crime. The Guardian reports that more than 700 people suspected of dealing or using drugs have been killed since Duterte, nicknamed "the Punisher," was elected after vowing to kill tens of thousands of criminals. Critics including Sen. Leila de Lima, a former justice minister, say police and vigilantes are using an anti-drugs campaign as an excuse to kill innocent people. "We cannot wage the war against drugs with blood. We will only be trading drug addiction with another more malevolent kind of addiction," she told lawmakers recently. "This is the compulsion for more killing." Rights groups believe the rate of killing has reached dozens a day. A group of Filipino human rights advocates issued a statement last week condemning the killings and accusing police of "turning low-income neighborhoods in the country into free-fire zones." "The bloody encounters taking place daily have polarized the country between those who support the president's quick and dirty methods of dealing with drugs and crime, and those who regard them as illegal, immoral, and self-defeating," the statement said. Reuters reports that one recent victim was Michael Siaron, a 29-year-old pedicab driver shot dead in Manila by men on motorcycles. After photos of Siaron being cradled by his widow went viral, Duterte said the pictures were "melodramatic." The widow admitted that Siaron used drugs but said he was far too poor to have been a dealer—and that he voted for Duterte.