Datasets:

allenai

/

multinews_sparse_mean

like 2

Story highlights Dusk-to-dawn curfew established nationwide, a general says The whereabouts of President Blaise Compaore are not immediately known Parliament stormed as lawmakers consider extending the President's rule The military in the West African nation of Burkina Faso seized control of the government on Thursday and set a dusk-to-dawn curfew in what one general described as an effort to protect lives and restore order. Unrest has gripped Burkina Faso -- a key ally for the West in the fight against al Qaeda -- as protests against President Blaise Compaore's government turned violent, culminating Thursday with demonstrators storming the Parliament and setting fire to the building. Saying it was in the best interest of the country's citizens and supported by "national and international opinion," Gen. Honore Nabere Traore told reporters in the capital city of Ouagadougou that the "government is dissolved." "An interim authority will be set up in order to prepare the conditions for the return to normal constitutional order within a period of 12 months at the latest," Traore said. The whereabouts of Compaore were not immediately known, and it was not immediately clear whether he had surrendered control of the country. Earlier in the day, Compaore took emergency measures, asking in a government communique read on national radio for an end to the violence. He also withdrew a proposed constitutional amendment that included a provision that would allow him to seek another term in office, according to the communique. Compaore, who has been in office since he took power following a bloody coup in 1987, also made an appeal via Twitter, urging for a return to calm. But it was unlikely to placate the opposition, which called for his immediate resignation. Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – Lt. Col. Isaac Yacouba Zida pauses as he makes an announcement to the media in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Saturday, November 1. Zida, a largely unknown military colonel, says he has taken the helm after violent clashes in the capital forced President Blaise Compaora and his family to flee to neighboring Ivory Coast after 27 years in office. Protesters demonstrated against the high cost of living and a proposal to amend the constitution so Compaore could run for another term. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – Burkinese celebrate on Friday, October 31, after the embattled Compaore announced that he was stepping down from power. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – People help clean the avenue leading to the burnt parliament on October 31, a day after it was stormed by protesters. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – People stand in front of smoke rising from Burkina Faso's parliament building, where demonstrators set parked cars on fire Thursday, October 30. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – Troops face off against protesters on October 30. Compaore has been in office since 1987, when he took power following a bloody coup. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – A Burkina Faso deputy clutches a national flag as he flees parliament on October 30. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – Troops line up against protesters after hundreds of protesters stormed parliament on October 30. Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – A protester poses in front of a burning car outside of parliament on October 30. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – Cars and documents are set ablaze outside parliament on October 30. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – Protesters enter the parliament on October 30. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – Police cordon off access to parliament on Wednesday, October 29. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – People gather October 29 to take part in a march protesting the cost of living in Ouagadougou. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Photos: Unrest in Burkina Faso Unrest in Burkina Faso – People march in Ouagadougou on October 29. Hide Caption 13 of 13 In Bobo-Dioulasso, the country's second largest city, protesters reportedly tore down a statue of Compaore. The incident followed reports that a large group of protesters had stormed the Parliament building, where lawmakers were set to vote on a motion to allow Compaore to extend his 27 years of rule. Footage aired by a number of the country's media outlets show the Parliament building engulfed in flames. There have been reports of casualties in the violence, but CNN has not been able to independently confirm the claim. Flights in and out of Ouagadougou have been suspended, according to the Burkina Faso Embassy in Washington. Embassy personnel told CNN that it was still issuing visas but that there were no flights at the moment. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all groups to end the violence, asking that they "exercise calm and restraint." The West, particularly France, considers Burkina Faso a key ally in the fight against al Qaeda. The country was formerly known as the Republic of Upper Volta, when it was established in 1958 as a self-governing colony under France. France urged restraint in the current situation. The French Foreign Ministry condemned the violence. The African Union announced it would deploy troops alongside United Nations forces as part of a joint mission to address the unrest. ||||| With officials and demonstrators posting developments on #lwili hashtag, this is how the protests were covered on social media After two days of protests in Burkina Faso the president, Blaise Compaoré, has reportedly abandoned plans to amend the constitution to allow himself a further three terms in office. Followed on Twitter by journalists and protestors, and with live reports streaming on Radio Omega FM Ouaga’s online station, this “revolution 2.0” has been called a victory by the Burkinabè opposition. Communications minister, Alain Edouard Traore, announced the move in a hurried statement after the parliament, national TV and radio buildings were stormed, and statues were toppled in the country’s second largest city, Bobo Dioulasso. Burkina24 (@burkina24) The Government informs the entire population of the cancellation of the examination of the draft law amending the Constitution. #cnn At 12.15pm, Compaoré took to Twitter to appeal for “calm and serenity” as protests continued to rage outside government buildings. Blaise Compaore (@PF_Compaore) Chers Compatriotes Burkinabè, je lance un appel au calme et la sérénité. BC. #Bukina #bf226 #lwili #faso French media also reported that the president’s brother was arrested as he tried to flee the country, and statements by the army’s Général Kouamé Lougué have fuelled speculation that the army are poised to remove Compaoré from power. At 1.40pm Reuters photojournalist Joe Penney tweeted: “People marching towards presidency led by General Kwamé Lougé. About to meet presidential guard loyal to Blaise. Final assault #burkina.” Aisha Dabo™ (@mashanubian) #Burkina is the army stepping in to topple Compaore, confusing reports Imad Mesdoua (@ImadMesdoua) New sheriff in town? #Burkina Général Kwamé #Lougué #Lwili pic.twitter.com/Qw7l3hHkez Compaoré, 63, has been president for 27 years since seizing power in a military coup in 1987. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Footage from protests on October 28 in Ouagadougo Facebook Twitter Pinterest Footage captured in Bobo Dioulasso. Despite already being reported as a victory for the Burkinabè people against Compaoré’s “constitutional coup d’etat”, protesters say they continue to face rounds of live ammunition from the security forces even after the announcement, as governments buildings continue to burn: Nnenna (@nnenna) #lwili shots ring out around presidential palace in Ouaga as protests continue. #BurkinaFaso Joe Penney (@joepenney) Saw miltary firing on protestors in front of Francois compaores house and in front of the presidency #burkina #lwili Update 3.53pm: Nnenna (@nnenna) The big hospital in Ouagadougou says 3 are confirmed dead and 60+ are wounded. #BurkinaFaso #lwili Facebook Twitter Pinterest Soldiers attempt to stop anti-government protesters from entering the parliament building in Ouagadougou, October 30, 2014. Photograph: https://twitter.com/mikederismith/status/527866139326816256/Reuters Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anti-government protesters take over the parliament building in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, October 30, 2014. Photograph: Joe Penney/Reuters Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters stand outside the parliament in Ouagadougou as cars and documents burn outside. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images On Twitter, journalists and protesters have been following events using the #lwili hashtag, named after the traditional Burkinabè Lwili Peendé cloth being worn by many in the protests. Now dubbed Burkina’s “revolution 2.0”, a reference also to the country’s popular movement led by Thomas Sankara in 1983, the announcement suggests a promising break with the trend set by various African rulers finding elasticity in constitutional limits, including Chad, Gabon, Guinea, Namibia, Togo and Uganda. Commentators have also been linking Burkina Faso’s protests to a wider recent history of revolution and unrest. Opposition activist Emile Pargui Pare told the AFP news agency: “October 30 is Burkina Faso’s Black Spring, like the Arab Spring.” Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) In Ukraine it took 4 months for a revolt to gain momentum. In Egypt three weeks. In Burkina Faso just 3 days. #lwili Protesters storm key buildings in the capital Reports continue of fighting in the capital, and images emerge from inside the state TV station, stormed by protesters earlier today. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anti-government protesters take over the state TV podium in Ouagadougou Photograph: Joe Penney/Reuters Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anti-government protesters carry the injured in Ouagadougou, October 30, 2014. Photograph: Joe Penney/Reuters Général Kouamé Lougué has also delayed his statement by over two hours, leaving protestors and observers unsure of the military’s aims. David Lewis (@DG_Lewis) If Blaise does go, look forward to how it's presented + how nimbly Paris and Washington dance around usage of word 'coup' #BurkinaFaso Imad Mesdoua (@ImadMesdoua) #Burkina - COS General Honore #Traore still not spoken because of a reported "disagreement" between him and General Kwame #Lougue #Lwili Authorities at Dakar airport have also apparently confirmed that Compaoré arrived in Senegal this afternoon after fleeing the country. Update 5.43pm Earlier reports that Compaoré had fled the country now seem false, after the president makes an announcement on a local FM frequency. Facebook Twitter Pinterest A protester at a hotel where members of the parliament were said to be staying in Ouagadougou, October 30, 2014. Photograph: Joe Penney/Reuters The opposition leader Zéphirin Diabré has tweeted “We totally oppose a coup in #Burkina #Faso . We must remain democratic. #lwili # bf226” in response to fears that the military are poised to take power. Zéphirin Diabré (@Zephirindiabre) Nous nous opposons totalement à un coup d'Etat au #Burkina #Faso. Notre doit rester démocratique. #lwili #bf226 State of emergency declared A communique read on Radio Omega at 5pm says Compaoré has “dissolved government”, declared a state of emergency, and has made an appeal to the opposition leaders and to the public to end the protests and “stay calm”. Here is a text of the address, as reported by Reuters and the BBC: “A state of emergency is declared across the national territory. The chief of the armed forces is in charge of implementing this decision which enters into effect today. I dissolve the government from today so as to create conditions for change. I’m calling on the leaders of the political opposition to put an end to the protests. I’m pledging from today to open talks with all the actors to end the crisis.” Imad Mesdoua (@ImadMesdoua) #Burkina - bottom line in communique from #Compaore Presidency "I'm still here, I'm still head of state" #Lwili Joe Penney (@joepenney) Blaise Compaore just made a radio address on private radio saying he is still president. People not having it #burkina #lwili Joe Penney (@joepenney) Protestors looting, but very targeted, only against institutions/buildings led/owned by Blaise and his clan #burkina #lwili We’re signing off on this survey of the situation in Burkina Faso. For continued updates, follow the developing news story by David Smith. Friday update: Burkina Faso president ousted, says army

– After 27 years under the autocratic rule of President Blaise Compaoré, protesters in Burkina Faso have signaled their desire for change by storming the country's Parliament and other government buildings and setting them ablaze. Violence erupted yesterday as lawmakers were set to vote on a bill that would have allowed Compaoré, who seized power in a 1987 coup, to stay on for another three terms, reports the New York Times. The African country's military says the government has been dissolved, according to CNN, but the president says he will stay in charge for a 12-month transitional period before stepping down. At least three people have been killed in the protests, and there have been reports of demonstrators toppling statues of Compaoré and burning the homes of his relatives. In an address to the nation, the president declared a state of emergency, appealed for calm, and pledged to hold "open talks with all the actors to end the crisis," reports the Guardian. He added that the bill that would have allowed him to stay on has been withdrawn. Compaoré's current whereabouts are unknown, but there have been reports he has fled to Senegal.

A golden statue of Harvey Weinstein, wearing a silk robe, holding an Oscar and sitting on a golden chaise couch, was erected in Hollywood Thursday -- just days before the Academy Awards on Sunday. Interested in Harvey Weinstein? Add Harvey Weinstein as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Harvey Weinstein news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest The statue, called "Casting Couch," is located near the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and it's the product of a two-month collaboration between street artists Plastic Jesus and Joshua "Ginger" Monroe. Plastic Jesus, who is an anonymous British street artist, explained on social media the impetus behind the statue. Damian Dovarganes/AP "Harvey Weinstein became an icon in the entertainment industry. His power and influence was almost without compare," he wrote. "However, whilst many thought the ‘casting couch’ was a thing of the past it was clearly still a part of the Hollywood culture." Plastic Jesus went on to write: "For many years the exploitation of many hopefuls and established names in the industry was brushed under the carpet with their complaints of harassment and sexual abuse being ignored or worse. "Hopefully now in the light of recent allegations, against many leading figures in Hollywood the industry will clean up its act." Weinstein, 65, has been accused by dozens of women of sexual misconduct, including rape. Though the former movie mogul has admitted to wrongdoing and sought professional help, a spokeswoman for him has told ABC News previously that "any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein." Still, Weinstein was fired from the company that bears his name, banned from the Producer's Guild of America and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. ||||| The piece is the work of Plastic Jesus and Joshua "Ginger" Monroe, the artist behind the infamous naked Donald Trump statues. A robe-swaddled Harvey Weinstein statue, sitting arms spread on a golden chaise lounge urging pedestrians to sit beside him, appeared in Hollywood on Thursday days before the 90th Academy Awards ceremony. The sculpture, located on Hollywood Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, is a collaboration between street artists Plastic Jesus, best known for his annual Oscar season installations that take aim at the dark side of show business, and Joshua "Ginger" Monroe, the artist behind the infamous naked Donald Trump statues. The piece was intentionally crafted to allow passersby to sit beside Weinstein and take photos with him. Clenched in Weinstein's right hand is an Oscar statue, strategically placed near his groin. "For many years the exploitation of many hopefuls and established names in the industry was brushed under the carpet with their complaints of harassment and sexual abuse being ignored or worse," Plastic Jesus tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Hopefully, now in the light of recent allegations against many leading figures in Hollywood the industry will clean up its act." Plastic Jesus does not give his name but has said that he is a former London photojournalist who moved to L.A. many years ago to explore installation art as a way to tackle sociopolitical issues. His works include last year's Kanye West crucifixion sculpture, on which he also collaborated with Ginger, and 2015's coke-snorting Oscar statue. Ginger is a Las Vegas-based artist. His naked Donald Trump statues were installed across multiple cities in 2016. According to the artists, the life-size Weinstein sculpture took two months to produce. A casting was initially taken from a friend of the artists, and Ginger subsequently molded the face to match Weinstein's. "The whole couch and the entire image it gives off was to me a visual representation of the practices and methods that are used in Hollywood with these big powerful people," Ginger says. "They have money and power to give jobs and they use that for their own sexual gratification and there's no better way to visualize this than the way we did with the casting couch." Making it Instagrammable felt only natural. "Everyone wants a selfie, everyone wants to be part of the experience," he says. "To be able to knock the monster down a peg and poke fun and ridicule it helps remove its power. That's how you take these powerful people down. As Mark Twain once said, 'Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.'"

– A statue of Harvey Weinstein was erected Thursday in Hollywood—but not the good kind of statue, ABC News reports. The golden sculpture shows the producer accused by dozens of women of sexual misconduct sitting on a couch in a robe while holding an Oscar near his groin. "The whole couch and the entire image it gives off was to me a visual representation of the practices and methods that are used in Hollywood with these big powerful people," Joshua "Ginger" Monroe tells the Hollywood Reporter. "They have money and power to give jobs and they use that for their own sexual gratification." The statue was a two-month collaboration between Monroe, known for the naked Trump statues that popped up in 2016, and street artist Plastic Jesus. The statue is likely the closest Weinstein will get to this weekend's Oscars ceremony as he has been expelled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video A suspect was detained Tuesday after a former bridal reality show contestant disappeared under "suspicious circumstances" following a birthday party near Torrance over the weekend, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Jackie Jerome Rogers, a 34-year-old nursing student, was detained around 10:30 a.m. for questioning amid the ongoing search for 36-year-old Lisa Marie Naegle, a nurse and onetime contestant on E! Television's "Bridalplasty," LAPD Officer Tony Im confirmed. Her disappearance is now being treated as a homicide and Rogers is being held on $2 million bail after being booked just after 6 p.m., police said. Rogers confessed to burying her body in the yard of his residence on West 106th Street in Lennox after leaving the Torrance celebration, investigators said. Around 6:30 p.m., authorities said they had found the remains of a female in a shallow grave at the home. “The information he has provided has led them to believe that Lisa has been murdered and that her body is at Rogers’ residence in Lennox,” LAPD Detective Meghan Aguilar said. Rogers had been studying under Naegle, who taught nursing classes part-time at West Los Angeles College in Culver City. Investigators said they suspect the two had been having an affair, but were unable to confirm a motive or when Naegle was killed, noting that a search warrant has not yet been obtained for Rogers' home. Although police have not confirmed that the deceased body found is Naegle, her family is mourning their loss. “Lisa’s an angel. Her wings were so large, her heart was so loving," her sister, Michelle Naegle, told KTLA. "She wasn’t meant to be on this earth that long, she was meant to be with the heavenly father.” Michelle, one of the victim's four siblings, described her sister as an outgoing, caring person who always put others first. “Every good dream I ever will have or my children will ever have is because of her. Because her heart was gold,” she said. Naegle hadn't been seen or heard from since she called her husband around 2:30 a.m. Sunday following a birthday party at the Alpine Village restaurant in an unincorporated area near Torrance. She told her husband, Derek Harryman, that she was going to stop for food before heading back to her San Pedro home. “I even said to her, ‘You sound like you’ve been drinking a lot, are you OK? And she said, like, ‘I’m going to get food, and then I’ll be home," Harryman told KTLA. Naegle never returned to the home and failed to show up Sunday morning to teach at the college. "There's video footage that was just discovered from Alpine Village within the last hour showing my wife getting into a black SUV," Harryman said in an interview Monday night. The missing woman's family told KTLA they called police on Monday after speaking to Rogers, who said he attended the party but then changed his story. “When I started questioning him and the house, he just seemed really antsy, kind of nervous," the victim's sister Michelle Naegle said. Naegle appeared in 2010 on "Bridalplasty," a reality show that documented a group of women who competed for a dream wedding and plastic surgery. KTLA's Jennifer Thang contributed to this story. Please enable Javascript to watch this video Please enable Javascript to watch this video 33.736062 -118.292246 ||||| On Tuesday, Los Angeles police detained Jackie Jerome Rogers for questioning and later placed him under arrest, according to LAPD spokesman Officer Tony Im. Rogers, 34, was a nursing student of Naegle's and the information he gave to investigators led them to believe she was murdered, Im said.

– Cops searching for a missing nurse who appeared on the reality show Bridalplasty made a grim discovery at a Los Angeles County home Tuesday. The body of 36-year-old Lisa Marie Naegle, who was last seen leaving a birthday party Saturday night, was found in a shallow grave at the Lennox home of Jackie Jerome Rogers, the Los Angeles Times reports. Police say Rogers, a 34-year-old student in a nursing course Naegle taught part-time at West Los Angeles College, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Naegle was a contestant on Bridalplasty, in which brides-to-be competed for plastic surgery, in 2010. Naegle's husband told police that she went to a birthday party at the Alpine Village entertainment complex Saturday night. He said she called sounding drunk early Sunday and said she was going to get some food on the way home. She never showed up at home, or to teach her course Sunday. Rogers became a suspect after relatives obtained security footage from Alpine Village showing her getting into his SUV. He had previously denied leaving the party with her. Her sister, Michelle Naegle, says "he just seemed really antsy, kind of nervous." Investigators say Rogers, who they believe was having an affair with Naegle, confessed to killing her and burying her in his backyard, KTLA reports.

Police have identified the four servicemen who died in Midland, Texas when a freight train plowed into a parade float carrying wounded veterans and their spouses at a crossing, two of whom saved their wives by pushing them to safety before they died. Army Sgt. Maj. Gary Stouffer, 37, and 47-year-old Army Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin were pronounced dead at the scene, police said, after the float carrying wounded veterans and their families to an honorary banquet was struck by a Union Pacific train around 4:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The train struck as the parade was crossing the tracks, turning the honorary event into a scene of destruction. Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 34, and 43-year-old Army Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers were transported from the scene and later pronounced dead at Midland Memorial Hospital, according to the Midland Police. Seventeen people in all were transported to the hospital and 10 were treated and released. Four people were in stable condition and one is in critical condition as of this morning. Michael was killed in the crash but was able to save his wife, his mother-in-law told the Amarillo Globe-News. "He pushed his wife off the float -- my daughter," Mary Hefley told the newspaper. "He was that kind of guy. He always had a smile on his face. He would do for others before he would do for himself." Hefley said Michael retired from the Army due to health reasons. According to a website set up by Cory Rogers, a friend of Michael's family, the father of two completed two tours of duty in Iraq, and received two Purple Hearts after being wounded in combat. "His love of country and for his wife, Daylyn and their two children shone through," his family said in a statement on the site. "The family appreciates everyone's thoughts and prayers in this very difficult time." Sgt. Maj. Boivin also pushed his wife out of the way before he was hit, Jaime Garza told ABC News. He said that his wife was hurt in the crash, but survived. Boivin died in his arms, Garza said. Garza said that he and his wife Denise lost their son in Afghanistan seven years ago. On Thursday, they were driving in a separate car about a block away, helping escort the floats. "I looked in my rear view mirror. That's when I saw the train hit the float," he said. "I made a quick U-turn to get back up there. The first person who was there was Lawrence. I had to help him out ... and he gave me his last breath ... He actually pushed [his wife] off the float and then he got hit." Denise Garza said that the entire incident happened very fast. "Everybody was getting help in two seconds. Everybody had help. It was like the best response," she said. "It was terrible. The worst thing I've ever seen in my whole life." About two dozen veterans and their spouses had been sitting in chairs on the back of a flatbed tractor-trailer decorated with American flags and signs identifying each veteran. The first truck crossed the tracks in time, but the second did not, according to Hamid Vatankhah, a witness who owns a used car lot near the scene of the crash. Sirens from the police cars in the parade may have drowned out the sound of the approaching train, Vatankhah said. The impact, witnesses say, was deafening as the train plowed through the parade float crossing the tracks in an industrial part of Midland. "Some people were able to jump, and some that were sitting in wheelchairs on top couldn't do nothing about it," Vatankhah said. Patricia Howle was sitting traffic with her daughter watching the parade go by when she heard the train honking its horn. "I just saw people going under the train," said eyewitness Eservando Wisler. "There was blood. There was blood all over." A Union Pacific spokesman, Tom Lange, said it appeared safety devices at the crash site were working. But there were conflicting reports by eyewitnesses about whether the gates went down at the crossing when the train approached. "I saw the truck crossing the tracks. About halfway across the gates started coming down. The truck tried to blow his horn to get the other people in front of him out of the way. The gates actually hit the first people on the trailer," witness Michael Briggs said. "Our preliminary findings indicate that the lights and gates were working at the time of the incident and that our train crew sounded the locomotive horn," said Lange. ||||| Wounded U.S. military veterans leapt for their lives just before a freight train struck their parade in rural Texas, killing four veterans and injuring 16, and federal officials rushed to the scene Friday to piece together why it happened. Midland police, fire and sheriffs respond to an accident where a trailer carrying veterans in a parade was struck by a train crossing in Midland, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. "Show of Support" president... (Associated Press) Parade participants react after a trailer carrying wounded veterans in a parade was struck by a train in Midland, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. "Show of Support" president and founder Terry Johnson... (Associated Press) This undated family photo provided the Show of Support, Hunt for Heroes committee shows Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47, one of four veterans killed when a parade float he was riding on was struck by a... (Associated Press) This undated family photo provided the Show of Support, Hunt for Heroes committee shows Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 34, one of four veterans killed when a parade float he was riding on was struck by a freight... (Associated Press) This undated family photo provided the Show of Support, Hunt for Heroes committee shows Sgt. Maj. Gary Stouffer, 37, one of four veterans killed when a parade float he was riding on was struck by a freight... (Associated Press) Parade participants and public safety officials huddle after a trailer carrying wounded veterans in a parade was struck by a train in Midland, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. Authorities say four people... (Associated Press) Hundreds gather early Friday, Nov. 16, 2012, in Midland, Texas, some holding flags, for a prayer service to honor and pray for all those involved in the incident on Thursday where four veterans were killed... (Associated Press) This undated family photo provided the Show of Support, Hunt for Heroes committee shows Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers, 43, one of four veterans killed when a parade float he was riding on was struck by a... (Associated Press) About two dozen veterans and their spouses had been sitting on the parade float, set up on a flatbed truck decorated with American flags. Many seemed to panic as the train's horn blared, said Patricia Howle, who was waiting in her car at a nearby traffic light. "I was on the phone, and I just started screaming," she told The Associated Press after Thursday afternoon's crash. "The truck was on the other side of the train, but I did see the panic on the faces of the people and saw some of them jump off." Police said the first truck with veterans safely crossed the tracks, but the second truck's trailer was still on the crossing as the Union Pacific locomotive approached. The U.S. marked Veterans Day earlier this week, and the parade was part of an event to honor wounded veterans. The scene just after the crash reminded Sudip Bose, a doctor and front-line physician in Iraq who had been volunteering at the parade, of war. He said veterans were already tending to the wounded with limited medical supplies when he arrived. "Instincts kicked in. They were applying tourniquets, holding pressure to the wounds." Bose said. Police on Friday confirmed that all four of the dead were veterans. Midland city police spokesman Ryan Stout said 37-year-old Sgt. Maj. Gary Stouffer and 47-year-old Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin were pronounced dead at the scene and 34-year-old Army Sgt. Joshua Michael and 43- year-old Army Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers were pronounced dead at a hospital. A preliminary investigation indicated the crossing gate and lights were working, said Union Pacific spokesman Tom Lange, though he didn't know if the train crew saw the float approaching. "There is going to be a very thorough investigation," Lange said. "It's obviously a very tragic incident." He said the train crew did not sustain any injuries but would be offered counseling. Six people remained hospitalized Friday, including one in critical condition. Ten others were treated and released. "The train honked its horn, but the 18-wheeler could not go anywhere because of the other one being right in front of it. It was a horrible accident to watch happen right in front of me," said Daniel Quinonez, who was in traffic that had been stopped to allow the parade to pass. "I just saw the people on the semi-truck's trailer panic, and many started to jump off the trailer. But it was too late for many of them because the train impacted the trailer so fast." Pam Shoemaker said she and her husband, a special ops veteran, were on the float ahead of the one that was struck. She said they heard the train coming but had heard no warning before that. They jumped from the float just as crossing barriers had just started to come down. Her husband, Tommy, resuscitated one person and applied a tourniquet to a bleeding woman. "They are trained for tragedy," Shoemaker said. The event was organized by Show Of Support, a local veterans group. Its president, Terry Johnson, did not immediately return an email for comment and his phone number was unlisted. The phone rang unanswered at the group's offices. The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Deborah Hersman, said Friday on NBC that the train was equipped with a forward-facing camera whose footage could help in the investigation. "That will give us some video images if it survived the crash, and we can download it, as well as recorders on the train," Hersman said. "We're going to be looking at the signals ... and making sure that the gates and lights were coming down." Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta "was deeply saddened by news of the tragic accident involving veterans heroes and their spouses in Midland," Pentagon spokesman George Little said in a statement. At a prayer vigil Friday morning, Mayor Wes Parry's voice cracked as he described how he had met Boivin, one of the victims, and his wife a day earlier. "It's hard to believe today that he's not here anymore," Parry said. Federal records show 10 previous collisions at the same railroad crossing. Records reviewed by The Associated Press from the Federal Railroad Administration show that five cars and five trucks have been struck by trains or rail equipment there since 1979. Six drivers were injured, but there were no fatalities. ___ Terry Wallace reported from Dallas. Associated Press writers James Beltran in Dallas and Joan Lowey in Washington contributed.

– Two of the military veterans killed in yesterday's horrific train accident in Midland, Texas, died saving their wives, reports ABC News. Witnesses say Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 34, and Sgt. Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47, pushed their wives to safety but were unable to escape themselves as the train bore down on the parade float at a crossing. Also killed were sergeant majors Gary Stouffer, 37, and William Lubbers, 43. Michael, a Purple Heart recipient, "pushed his wife off the float—my daughter," Mary Hefley tells the Amarillo Globe-News. "He was that kind of guy. He always had a smile on his face. He would do for others before he would do for himself." Witness Jaime Garza said he got to the scene just after impact, and Boivin died in his arms. "He actually pushed (his wife) off the float, and then he got hit." Sixteen people were injured in the crash, and one remains in critical condition. The investigation continues, but authorities say the crossing gate and lights appeared to be working, reports AP. The float was behind another truck at the crossing and couldn't move out of the way.

Twenty-five years ago, seven astronauts died aboard space shuttle Challenger when it exploded shortly after liftoff. (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) ADVERTISEMENT (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) National Aeronautics and Space Administration Administrator (NASA) Charles Bolden lays a wreath at a Challenger memorial, at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, in... (Associated Press) Henry Cruz, lower right, looks at a space shuttle Challenger replica honoring USAF Colonel Ellison Onizuka, the first Japanese American astronaut who died in the Challenger explosion in 1986, at a memorial... (Associated Press) NASA officials will gather at Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Friday morning to mark the somber anniversary. Special guests include the widow of Challenger's commander, June Scobee Rodgers. She'll be the featured speaker at the outdoor ceremony. Her husband, Dick Scobee, died along with his six crewmates on Jan. 28, 1986. Schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe was among the dead. Rodgers was instrumental in establishing the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. The ceremony will take place at the Space Mirror Memorial, a granite monument bearing the names of all 24 astronauts who have died in the line of duty. ___ Online: NASA: http://history.nasa.gov/sts51l.html ||||| ARLINGTON, Va. – NASA Chief Charlie Bolden paid tribute to the agency's 17 fallen astronauts on Thursday in a short but solemn ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery -- a memorial made a little more raw by the 25th anniversary of the Challenger accident today.Trudging through a fresh layer of about four inches of snow, Bolden laid wreaths at shrines to the shuttle crews of Challenger and Columbia and then at the tombstones of two Apollo 1 astronauts who are interred in Arlington."We thank them and their families for their extraordinary sacrifices in service to our nation," said Bolden, who choked up toward the end of his speech. "These men and women will always be a part of us, and we're still building on their legacy."U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Science, Space, and Technology committee, also dabbed his eyes as about a dozen NASA employees paid their respects during NASA's annual Day of Remembrance.Each year, NASA honors its fallen astronauts in the final week of January, as each of the tragedies occurred at this time of year. On January 27, 1967, the three-member team of Apollo 1 – Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee -- died in a fire during a pre-launch test of their capsule.Nineteen years later, Challenger exploded on Jan. 28, 1986. Columbia broke apart on Feb. 1, 2003 while re-entering the atmosphere. In each case, the seven-member crews were killed.It was the memory of Challenger that carried extra weight Thursday."The nation will never forget, and I will never forget, Jan. 28, 1986, or its indelible image," said Bolden, a former astronaut who described the Challenger crew, and that of Columbia, as "personal friends of mine."A quarter-century ago this morning, Challenger blew apart 73 seconds after liftoff, killing the astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a New Hampshire high-school educator and participant in NASA's Teacher in Space Project. Because of her involvement, schoolchildren nationwide had watched the launch.Her widower, Steven McAuliffe, issued a statement Thursday saying the country would be best served by remembering why she decided to join the Challenger crew – and not what happened afterward."Christa confidently and joyfully embraced life, no less than her friends and colleagues on Challenger, and no less than the crews of Columbia, Apollo 1, and all of those people who courageously follow their own paths every day," he said in a statement.Bolden echoed that sentiment as he stood, head bowed, at the shuttle memorials – a short walk from the Tomb of the Unknowns."They've all left their legacy of exploration for us to follow. They all lived and breathed NASA. They would tell you, if they came here today, to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so the things we learn and the things we do benefit all humankind," said the retired Marine Corps general, who did a slow roll call of the dead.A separate tribute to the Challenger crew is planned today by the Astronauts Memorial Foundation at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The remembrance service starts at 9 a.m.Mark K. Matthews can be reached at 202-824-8222 or mmatthews@orlandosentinel.com

– NASA officials will gather at Kennedy Space Center today to mark the 25th anniversary of one of the worst disasters in the history of space travel. The space shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after take-off on Jan. 28, 1986, killing all seven astronauts aboard. The widow of Challenger commander Dick Scobee will be the featured speaker at today's ceremony, AP reports. NASA chief Charlie Bolden paid tribute to all 17 of the agency's fallen astronauts at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday, reports the Orlando Sentinel. "They've all left their legacy of exploration for us to follow. They all lived and breathed NASA," said Bolden, a former astronaut. "They would tell you, if they came here today, to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so the things we learn and the things we do benefit all humankind."

» SEE THE SLIDESHOW « Angelina Jolie is explaining why she took the role of Elise Clifton-Ward, the woman of mystery who captivates Johnny Depp in The Tourist, which opens this month. It’s because she plans things. “I was looking for a very short thing to do before Brad started filming [Moneyball],” she says. “And I said I needed something that shoots not too long, in a nice location for my family. Somebody said there’s a script that’s been around, and it shoots in Venice and Paris. And I said, ‘Is it a character I haven’t played before?’ And they said, ‘Yes, it’s a lady.’ ” She laughs: Uhhuhhuhhehhehheh. Sitting opposite one of the world’s most notorious beauties is an experience that requires some processing. Impressions: (1) She has a seriously filthy laugh. (2) She is graceful, straight-backed, head held high. (3) Her photogenic beauty is mesmerizing in real life. Which is quite disturbing, because it makes you “gaze and gaze” (to borrow Nancy Mitford’s phrase from Love in a Cold Climate). Women who can hypnotize people just by sitting and breathing have a spooky power. Like Princess Diana (though she was not as beautiful as Angelina). I asked her producer, Graham King, at one point if he found the beauty distracting. He said, “In The Tourist?” Me: “On her face!” King: “Oh! One hundred percent.” She is wearing a little cropped jacket by Neil Barrett, who dresses haute Hollywood, classic pants by Helmut Lang, and Ferragamo flats. Black, black, and black. “As Brad’ll tell you—and my kids—apparently Mommy only wears black,” she says. Because she was a Goth, right? No, she says, it’s utilitarian, it’s practical: “I like to get up so every pair of pants goes with every top, every dress goes with every shoe. I’ve a very tiny closet. Brad’s always laughing at me. Some days, yes, I have the nightgown that looks like a dress that I can sleep in and pick the kids up at school. And maybe take a meeting if I switch into heels.” She didn’t need heels today. Her choice of location for Vogue’s interview is a coolly hip hotel on Hollywood Boulevard called the Roosevelt, whose restaurant (where we have dinner later) is on “the Marilyn Monroe bridge” overlooking the Hockney pool. Oh! Glamour. On the way here, my cell phone rang and a panicky voice asked, “Where are you? Because Angelina is approaching the hotel, so she’ll be ten minutes early.” (In my entire career, no female actor has ever been early. One man has: John Cleese.) As my driver hurtled us into the hotel car park, access was blocked by two vans flanking an SUV—clearly containing a VVIP—and all I could do was watch the little figure being swooshed up, wafted aloft, and delivered inside by burly escorts. Everyone stood in line to gaze, like parlormaids in Gosford Park. The level of (a) security and (b) logistical organization that moves the Jolie-Pitt machine probably feels normal to them now. From the inside, Brad and Angelina are two hardworking parents with in-demand skill sets who manage their work/life/family balance as best they can, while fitting in philanthropy on top. From the outside, they’re people who can shut down Toronto. I pick Toronto only because I witnessed Brad Pitt do just that in 1997, for the Seven Years in Tibet premiere. Screaming Bradmaniacs confined him to his hotel room for 48 hours, while costar David Thewlis strolled around unbothered. “For a man, being as beautiful as Brad is almost an affliction,” Thewlis told me at the after-party. When I tell Angelina this tale, her eyes dance and she gets very gurgly. “Well, he’s a handsome man.” Yes! And? “No, I think he’s an extremely sexy—extremely handsome and the most sexy. . . . When I think about him, I just think of the man who’s such a great friend and such an extraordinary father. And that’s when I fall, you know, when I have my moments of getting—whoarr!—caught up in how much I love him . . . it’s usually when I see him with the children.” Which is often, because he’s pretty hands-on. “We take turns working. One of us is always at home with the kids—always,” says Jolie. “Taking them out to things and being there with them and bringing them to school or to the set to visit Mommy or Daddy.” But “at home” from February to May this year was a villa on the Grand Canal: Daddy was child-wrangling in Venice while Mommy filmed The Tourist. Jolie can barely get her words out about how blissful it was, how the kids loved it, and how fabulously lucky she felt to work while “living in the history of this gorgeous country.” Click here for a slideshow of Angelina Jolie throughout the years in Vogue. The Venetian setting makes The Tourist a nice, gift-wrapped holiday movie. The financial skulduggery and beastly villainy has a British accent, and the knowingly high-Hitchcock look has Jolie wearing fabulous clothes (costume designer Colleen Atwood used an original Charles James day dress some people I know would kill for). Plus, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie go head-to-head for the first time ever. Depp in Venice! Who can resist? Their onscreen chemistry in The Tourist is quite swoony. “I suppose either you spark or you don’t,” Depp told me from the set of Pirates 4. The Tourist’s director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (a smart and instantly likable man whom we shall call by his given name from now on because “Henckel von Donnersmarck” is just too Almanach de Gotha), was Jolie’s pick. She thought the film should have “a European elegance”; she’d loved The Lives of Others (2006), his extraordinary German-language debut feature. “I couldn’t believe it that he was open to doing it, and then we found out that Johnny was open to doing it. So what was always this tiny idea to do a little film in Europe suddenly became this . . . bigger movie.” Florian really wanted to work with her, too. Are you kidding? “Literally,” he tells me in a phone call, “she gets every single script that has a female role aged between eighteen and 40—every script. And she just follows her feeling, holds her own counsel. She’s probably the only global megastar that doesn’t even have an agent—she doesn’t even have a publicist.” Mmm. And that thing of gazing and gazing? “You never lose it,” he says swiftly. “I can tell from the way that Brad looks at her that he never loses it.” Florian was intrigued when his birthday fell during filming and Angelina asked what his plans were. He thought she meant dinner. She meant his plans for the next year. “She wanted to hear what I was going to change about myself. Because that’s how she approaches life. She looks into the future.” She does. Clear away the craziness and tabloid clatter that swirls around the Jolie-Pitt family (or “brand”), and you find a practical woman with terrific forward-planning skills. She plans in all areas: family, movies, humanitarian work, though they intertwine because she is a working mother. “I was feeding the babies”—Vivienne and Knox—“while I was reading the script [of Salt],” she remembers, “and I was feeling very round and lovely and Mom-y, and I’d been living in a nightgown for a very, very long time.” Part of the reason she did it was to get back in shape (“practicing the stunts is where you get your strength back”); another was sex-changing Tom Cruise (for whom it was written—or rumored to have been written). She says, “I felt it was a weird thing that every time you ask for a strong female role, it’s written in this strange way where it uses sexuality far too much. Or it’s all about being a woman and beating a man. So it wasn’t a surprise to me that the only way to do a strong female role properly was to not have originally written for a woman.” Jolie has an uncanny nose for projects that will get some money into the coffers, between doing things she has a passion for. She smoldered through Tomb Raider 1 and 2 (and there is a generation of 30-year-old men who worship her for them) on the back of Girl, Interrupted, the little movie that made her an Oscar winner. She made Beyond Borders, basically about the work of Médecins Sans Frontières, because she wanted to; it tanked utterly. The movie of hers she likes best is A Mighty Heart. “Possibly because I loved Mariane [Pearl], and Brad produced it, and I think it was a well-done film about something that matters.” Voilà. She picked up a rumored $20 million paycheck from Salt, after which she wallowed happily in The Tourist and began shooting her directorial debut (still called Untitled Love Story as I write), which is about the Bosnian war of 1992–96, one of those foreign wars that many, many people can only vaguely place in geography or history (Bosnia? Herzegovina? Montenegro?), and yet the Siege of Sarajevo was one of the most vicious actions of modern times. So “because Sarajevo, happily, has been rebuilt,” she and the family were in a rented house on location in Budapest, Hungary, in the runup to the holidays while Mommy was shooting there. Their permanent homes are on three continents (and two hemispheres) because she planned her family’s life that way. The house on stilts in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia that she bought for Maddox when he was a baby; the “little place in New Orleans,” where Brad’s Make It Right houses are being built; and the “little place here,” in Los Angeles. Their big place is in the South of France, which is, I think, where she plans to end up. “Hopefully, they’ll go to high school in Aix-en-Provence,” she says. Aix-en-Provence? “It looks like a great place to be a teenager.” And that is why she does the child-rearing thing that she is most viciously excoriated for: first of all, hiring polyglot nannies in a kind of family language bank (one helper speaks Vietnamese to Pax; another, Cambodian to Maddox. “We have not yet attempted Amharic,” says Jolie—Zahara’s from Ethiopia—“but we will one day”). And second, enrolling all the school-age children at the Lycée Français, where much of the curriculum is in French. This fall, while she was in Hungary filming her Bosnian movie, Maddox, Pax, Zahara, and Shiloh trotted off to school at Budapest’s Lycée Français, picking up exactly where they left off at the Lycée in L.A. How smart is that? Angelina or Brad could make movies in Athens, Bangkok, Caracas, or Düsseldorf (and that’s only A to D) while the kids get on with lessons as normal because the instruction is the same the world over. Did you want a big family? I ask her. She shrugs and says, “I didn’t know.” Because it’s rare, I say, especially now and here in the West, where really big families seem culturally odd and newsworthy. She looks at me levelly as I burble on about how the popular perception of women who have large broods (polygamists, Octomom) is unfavorable. Her shocked giggles are loud on my voice recorder; she loses her equanimity enough to say, “That sounds horrible.” (Not to mention rude. I can’t believe I dragged in Octomom.) But when everything in the modern world is reducing women’s fertility, compromising their ability to even have children, big families seem, um. . . . She retorts, “I didn’t have all my children.” Three, though? “I only planned for two!” says the mother of twins. “To each his own. It’s one of those things. How you build your family—you have to know what you’re capable of handling and how your children will relate to each other. Maybe if you have one child and that child has a lot of needs, you realize you cannot give more attention to another. Sometimes you just know as a parent. We felt we could handle more children, and we have a very happy, very full home. So.” With the look on her face querying whether my intellect is dull enough that show-and-tell might be better than question and answer, she takes out her white BlackBerry, automatically glances around to check that nobody else can see, and scrolls fiercely. “Wait, where is it, give me a second, I’m a mom, sorry, there’s a lot of them. . . . Now. One of my favorite pictures: This is Brad. Dinnertime.” Interior, evening, big round table set with plates, in foreground Brad Pitt, three-quarter profile, surrounded by one, two, three . . . four (Jolie snickers as I count aloud), five, six little faces. Me: “You did very well, to even everyone up like that.” She says, “It wasn’t a plan for it to be as even as it turned out.” She takes back her BlackBerry and scrolls again: “My girls [Zahara, Shiloh, Vivienne, all spattered with great gobs of color]—they did some body painting.” They’re adorable. It is hard, she says, to think of having any fewer. I wonder if she’s overrun with cats and dogs and hamsters on top? “Well, someone found a lizard yesterday,” she says. “And Shiloh appeared.” (She checks herself momentarily, saying, “I am sure there’s going to be some comment about this, which fortunately I will not read,” before restarting.) “Shiloh found a dead bird, so she came in and said, ‘Can I have a dead pet?’ And I’m . . . ‘Uh-uh, I don’t think it’s healthy, honey. I think they have to put him in a box,’ and I had to run out to find, like, a taxidermy bird. I just worked it out for her.” Did Shiloh know about taxidermy? “No. But I figured that I couldn’t keep the actual dead bird from the yard, so I swayed her toward one that had been cleaned, at least.” We are both giggling, and Jolie says that Shiloh is indeed “hysterical.” Also that they have a bulldog called Jacques, who lives in their house in France. And does she cook their dinner? “Sometimes. I’m not the best cook. Pax is a better cook than me. Pax likes to cook. But I try to when I can. Any house that we’re in, we all chip in. But the kids are very sweet . . . so enthusiastic anytime I cook. Especially Maddox; he’s just this little man that’s very supportive of me—it’s like he’s raised me a bit. So I cooked them all breakfast before school this morning, and he has that kind of ‘Thanks, Mom! Good job!’ ” She starts giggling helplessly and says she didn’t burn the bacon. “I’m getting better at bacon.” Film, family, and philanthropy are the three pillars of her life. “My children are from the countries that I work in,” she says. “I don’t see my family as a global family. I don’t see it separate. So when I look at my kids, and I wake up and hear something’s happening in Pakistan, I think: It’s Asians, and my children are from that part of the world. Those kids are very much like my kids. So I’m happy to be able to go.” It was a different-looking, different-sounding Angelina Jolie I saw in BBC reports from flooded northwest Pakistan in early September. (She was between scouting Budapest for her Untitled Love Story and doing publicity for The Tourist.) Asked by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to highlight the plight of people displaced into camps by the floods, she met with women who lost children to the surging water and gave impromptu press conferences in sweaty rooms, loud with angry-seeming men. Back in Los Angeles, she tells me the country with the highest number of refugees in the world is Pakistan. Jolie was appointed UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in 2001: She does an impressive job for them. She talks about the issues like this is her day job. I tell her Pakistan is a hard country to raise money for: Zardari’s government seems pretty unlovable. She becomes slightly heated: “The president is not the people!” And says, “If you are concerned about security in the world, the last thing you want to do is not give your support to Pakistan and Afghanistan, because that’s the most dangerous thing. That’s the least intelligent thing, as far as I’m concerned, to do.” It was a tough trip, with security issues. “Because it was so high in the north. . . . I don’t like it when Brad has to worry.” She was happy to be back home safe. “But I got calls from the people that’d asked me to go—from the U.N. to the State Department. They felt it was effective, so I could go to sleep for two days and play with the kids and feel like. . . . ” Effective? What does it mean, effective? She says, “I don’t ask the details. They thought it was effective. I just do the best I can do.” ||||| Angelina Jolie: Brad Pitt Is 'Extremely Sexy' Email This and In the new issue of Vogue, 'The Tourist' star opens up about her relationship with Pitt and their six kids. "I think he's an extremely sexy -- extremely handsome and the most sexy ... When I think about him, I just think of the man who's such a great friend and such an extraordinary father. And that's when I fall, you know, when I have my moments of getting caught up in how much I love him ... it's usually when I see him with the children," she says. Interestingly enough, both Pitt and the children are vocal about Jolie's wardrobe choices. "As Brad'll tell you -- and my kids -- apparently Mommy only wears black. I like to get up so every pair of pants goes with every top, every dress goes with every shoe. I've a very tiny closet. Brad's always laughing at me. Some days, yes, I have the nightgown that looks like a dress that I can sleep in and pick the kids up at school. And maybe take a meeting if I switch into heels," she explains. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are arguably the most beautiful couple in the world, but Jolie finds her partner most handsome when he's playing dad.In the new issue of Vogue, 'The Tourist' star opens up about her relationship with Pitt and their six kids."I think he's an extremely sexy -- extremely handsome and the most sexy ... When I think about him, I just think of the man who's such a great friend and such an extraordinary father. And that's when I fall, you know, when I have my moments of getting caught up in how much I love him ... it's usually when I see him with the children," she says.Interestingly enough, both Pitt and the children are vocal about Jolie's wardrobe choices."As Brad'll tell you -- and my kids -- apparently Mommy only wears black. I like to get up so every pair of pants goes with every top, every dress goes with every shoe. I've a very tiny closet. Brad's always laughing at me. Some days, yes, I have the nightgown that looks like a dress that I can sleep in and pick the kids up at school. And maybe take a meeting if I switch into heels," she explains. "I felt it was a weird thing that every time you ask for a strong female role, it's written in this strange way where it uses sexuality far too much. Or it's all about being a woman and beating a man. So it wasn't a surprise to me that the only way to do a strong female role properly was to not have originally written for a woman.""My children are from the countries that I work in. I don't see my family as a global family. I don't see it separate. So when I look at my kids, and I wake up and hear something's happening in Pakistan, I think: It's Asians, and my children are from that part of the world. Those kids are very much like my kids. So I'm happy to be able to go.""Sometimes. I'm not the best cook. Pax is a better cook than me. Pax likes to cook. But I try to when I can. Any house that we're in, we all chip in. But the kids are very sweet ... so enthusiastic anytime I cook. Especially Maddox; he's just this little man that's very supportive of me -- it's like he's raised me a bit. So I cooked them all breakfast before school this morning, and he has that kind of 'Thanks, Mom! Good job!'"

– Angelina Jolie opens up about her home life and her “extremely handsome and … most sexy” beau Brad Pitt in the December issue of Vogue, along the way relaying a funny story about Shiloh that she says will surely inspire “some comment … which fortunately I will not read.” It appears Shiloh, along with boys’ clothing, also likes dead animals, and recently asked Jolie if she could keep a dead bird she found. Mom’s solution: Buy her a dead bird “that had been cleaned, at least,” from a taxidermist. Jolie defends her family, reminding Vicki Woods—who brings up the unfavorable public opinion of many people with large families—“I didn’t have all my children.” Nor can she imagine life without any of them: “We have a very happy, very full home,” she says as she scrolls through family photos on her BlackBerry. She especially savors watching Pitt with their kids: “That’s when I fall, you know, when I have my moments of getting—whoarr!—caught up in how much I love him … it’s usually when I see him with the children.” Click here for more from the interview.

NEW YORK (AP) — A former franchisee alerted an executive in charge of Subway's advertising in 2008 about her concerns about pitchman Jared Fogle, according to her lawyer. Cindy Mills exchanged phone numbers with Fogle after they met at an event, said Robert Beasley, a lawyer in Florida who represents Mills. After Fogle began talking about paying for sex with minors, the lawyer said Mills alerted a regional Subway contact in Florida where her stores were based. Later, he said Mills alerted Jeff Moody, who was in charge of the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, which handles the company's marketing. At the time, Subway's franchise advertising fund was controlled by franchisees, said Don Sniegowski, editor of Blue MauMau, a site for franchisees. Subway had little say in the fund, but gained control of it in 2010 after a lawsuit, he said. Subway did not respond to a request for comment late Thursday. The company has said it does not have a record of the complaints about Fogle by the former franchisee, which were previously reported by Business Insider. The publication initially kept Mills' identity anonymous at her request, but identified her on Thursday. It also identified Moody as the Subway executive she alerted. Beasley said Mills became comfortable about coming forward after Fogle agreed on Aug. 19 to plead guilty to allegations that he paid for sex with girls as young as 16 and received child pornography. Mills was not immediately available for comment Thursday evening. But according to Beasley: —Fogle told her about paying for sex with minors on a trip to Thailand, and paying for sex with a 16-year-old he found on Craigslist. —She offered to show Moody the texts from Fogle, but Moody stopped her and said he didn't want to hear anymore. —Moody said he had dealt with similar comments, and reassured Mills that Fogle had met a teacher who would get him on the right track. "To me, it was confirmation that they knew about it," Beasley said. Beasley said Mills explored the idea of suing Subway, but that there is a "good bit of legal separation between Jared and Subway." Beasley said the company is structured in a way that insulates it from Fogle. Phone numbers listed for Jeff Moody and Theresa Moody, who is listed as a property co-owner, were not answered Thursday. When reached by The Associated Press earlier this week, a woman who identified herself as Theresa Moody said Jeff Moody did not want to speak about the Fogle case. Jeff Moody is currently CEO of Rita's Italian Ice, according to LinkedIn. The site says he was CEO of Subway's franchise advertising fund between 2007 and 2011. The agreement with Fogle released by prosecutors last week said Fogle will pay $1.4 million in restitution to 14 minor victims, who will each get $100,000. The document noted that the payments would not prevent any victims from pursuing civil litigation. The government agreed not to seek a sentence of more than 12 1/2 years in prison, and Fogle agreed not to ask for less than five years. The same day authorities announced the deal with Fogle, Subway said it had ended its relationship with its pitchman of 15 years. The company has also said it's investigating a second claim, made by a former journalist, that it was alerted to concerns about Fogle. When prosecutors charged Fogle on Aug. 19, Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven DeBrota said that there were no charges or allegations at the time that anybody at Subway knew what Fogle was doing. Fogle attorney Ron Elberger declined to comment Thursday. Tim Horty, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Indianapolis, said the office cannot confirm the names of any of the sources the government used in its investigation of Fogle. ___ AP Writer Rick Callahan contributed from Indianapolis. ____ Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi ||||| Disgraced former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. AP A former Subway franchisee claims she warned Subway about Jared Fogle's sexual interest in children seven years ago and that the sandwich chain did nothing. Cindy Mills says that Fogle, Subway's pitchman for 15 years, started calling her daily and making disturbing comments in early 2008, shortly after they had met at a Subway function. "He would just tell me he really liked them young," Mills told Business Insider. Mills was a Subway franchisee from 2006 to 2012 in Pensacola, Florida. Fogle was charged last week with possessing and distributing child pornography and traveling across state lines to have sex with minors. He plans to plead guilty to the crimes and pay $1.4 million in restitution to 14 victims. Mills says Fogle admitted to her that he'd had sex with minors, telling her about trysts with child prostitutes between the ages of 9 and 16 years old in Thailand and the US. Mills previously told Business Insider that Fogle allegedly tried to get her to sell herself for sex on Craigslist. When she first spoke with us, she requested anonymity. She said she didn't want more press attention at the time. But now that Fogle's case has been exposed, she says she feels comfortable using her name. Mills says she shared this information with Subway in 2008 but that the company ignored her complaints. That's when she decided to hire a lawyer. "I thought, 'This man has a lot of money. Subway has a lot money. They have made each other a lot of money,'" Mills said. "I was worried. I was scared to death." She asked her lawyer, Robert Beasley, to explore legal action against Subway for a potential breach of the franchiser-franchisee contact. Gary Tramontina AP Images for SUBWAY Restaurants But Subway couldn't be found culpable, Beasley said, because Fogle wasn't an employee of Subway. Fogle was employed by the Subway Franchisee Advertising Fund Trust, or SFAFT. SFAFT, which is in charge of Subway's global marketing, was legally viewed as a separate entity from Subway — even though it shares the same address as the company headquarters. "They have pretty well isolated themselves from Jared's acts," Beasley told Business Insider. "We couldn't find an avenue to pursue where it would connect his acts and statements to any legal liability to Subway. Combine that with [Mills'] unwillingness to get out in public and say this and you end up staying silent." Subway didn't respond to a request for comment on this story. The company said Wednesday that it is investigating whether executives were aware of Fogle's interest in children. Mills says that when she contacted Subway about Fogle's behavior in 2008, the company directed her to Jeff Moody, then CEO of SFAFT. Mills says that she spoke to Moody on the phone and told him about Fogle's disturbing comments about children. REUTERS/Subway/Ray Stubblebine/HO Mills says Moody cut her off in the middle of the conversation, saying, "Please don't tell me any more." He indicated that he had dealt with similar complaints in the past, according to Mills. "He said, 'Don't worry, he has met someone. She is a teacher and he seems to love her very much, and we think she will help keep him grounded,'" Mills recalls. Moody, now CEO of Rita's Italian Ice, did not respond to requests for comment. In a July 31 statement regarding the matter, Subway told Business Insider, "Jeff Moody hasn't worked for the brand for years and we have no record of this allegation." Mills says she didn't drop the issue after her alleged conversation with Moody. She says she also contacted a regional Subway manager tasked with making sure franchisees have all appropriate signage and advertising in their stores. Mills says she asked the manager — whose name she couldn't recall — if she could remove all Jared Fogle signage from her store. "Every time I would see him on TV in a commercial with his arms around these children, it would kill me," Mills said. "I couldn't stand it anymore." Mills says her request to remove Fogle marketing from her store was denied. AP Mills says she went on to share her concerns about Fogle with two additional SFAFT executives at a Subway-sponsored NASCAR event in Phoenix, which she attended with her stepson. She'd won tickets to the event because she was a franchisee. Mills said she was terrified that Jared might show up. She says she pulled two SFAFT executives aside and told them everything. They assured her that Fogle wasn't scheduled to attend the event. When asked why she never went to law enforcement with her concerns, Mills said it was because she was terrified of Fogle's money and influence. She says she was also concerned about her job with Subway. "I thought, 'No one is going to believe me, he looks like the all-American boy' — but he's not," she said. Mills says the last time she saw Fogle was at Subway's annual convention in 2011, held in San Francisco that year. Mills was seated in a giant ballroom at a dinner with hundreds of guests when she spotted Moody and Fogle walking toward her, she recalls. They took a seat next to each other at the table beside hers, according to Mills. "I felt so uneasy," Mills said. Not long after, Mills sold her Subway franchises and got out of the business. She says she decided to come forward with her story in hopes of inspiring others at Subway with information about Fogle's past to come forward as well.

– Subway may have known about spokesperson Jared Fogle's alleged desire to have sex with children since 2008. At least, that's what the former owner of a Subway restaurant in Florida tells Business Insider. Cindy Mills, who was a Subway franchisee from 2006 to 2012, says Fogle started calling her every day after she met him at a company event in 2008. She says he would make inappropriate comments, telling her "he really liked them young." Mills says Fogle told her he'd had sex with child prostitutes, some as young as 9, in both Thailand and the United States and even encouraged her to prostitute herself on Craigslist. Mills says she went to executives within the company with her concerns but was ignored. Her attorney has confirmed the allegations to AP. Mills tells Business Insider she spoke to the CEO of Subway's affiliated advertising company, which employed Fogle, and he told her Fogle had recently met a woman who would hopefully "help keep him grounded." Mills offered to show the executive texts from Fogle, but he stopped her, reports AP. The executive, Jeff Moody, is no longer affiliated with Subway and has declined to discuss Fogle. Mills says she didn't go to police because she feared Fogle's "money and influence" and didn't want to lose her job. Business Insider reports Mills did request to remove all images of Fogle from her restaurant, but Subway denied that request. "Every time I would see him on TV in a commercial with his arms around these children, it would kill me," Mills says. "I couldn't stand it anymore." (A talented police dog played a crucial role in Fogle's arrest.)

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Steve Rosenberg: "The war of words between east and west continues" The Ukraine authorities say they have seized back control of the regional administration building in the eastern city of Kharkiv from pro-Russia separatists. They say they hope buildings in Luhansk and Donetsk will be freed shortly as well. On Monday, pro-Russia demonstrators seized government buildings in the three cities. Russia recently annexed the peninsula of Crimea following a referendum. Kiev and the West say the referendum in the territory, where the majority of people are Russian speakers, was illegal. Moscow has thousands of troops massed along its border with eastern Ukraine. Although it insists it has no intention of invading Ukraine, it says it reserves the right to defend ethnic Russians in the country. Ukraine Deputy Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky has told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the situation in eastern Ukraine was "under control but remains dangerous". Image copyright Reuters Image caption Interior ministry troops block a group of pro-Russia protesters in Kharkiv Image copyright Reuters Image caption Pro-Russia protesters gather at a barricade outside the offices of the SBU state security service in Luhansk Image caption Barricades can also be seen outside the Donetsk regional administration building Image caption In the seized building in Donetsk, the man on the left says pro-Russia activists are "modern-day Oliver Cromwells", reports the BBC's Steve Rosenberg Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov says several Ukrainian policemen have been injured in the operation to free the Kharkiv regional state administration. Some 70 people were held without shots being fired, Ukraine's interior ministry said in a statement. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lawmakers traded blows at Ukraine's parliament in Kiev Mr Turchynov said those who seized the buildings would be treated as "terrorists and criminals" who would be prosecuted with the full force of the law. Rebels occupying Donetsk's regional government building on Monday declared a "people's republic" and called for a referendum on secession from Ukraine to be held by 11 May. There have been talks overnight in Donetsk between the authorities and pro-Russian activists who had occupied the regional administration building. On Tuesday, Russia warned Ukraine to stop any military preparations, with the Russian foreign ministry saying in a statement that such preparations risked causing a civil war. Russia is refusing to recognise the new authorities in Kiev who took power after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February. 'Whipping up tension' Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen: "I urge Russia to step back" Nato's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has warned Russia that if it were to "intervene further in Ukraine it would be a historic mistake with grave consequences for our relationship with Russia and it would further isolate Russia internationally", he told the BBC. Moscow denies orchestrating instability and separatist sentiment in Ukraine's industrial heartland. In an article on the website of the UK's Guardian newspaper, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov condemned what he described as the "groundless whipping up of tension" - he said the West was to blame for what was happening , because it had tried to force Ukraine to make a choice between east or west. He also warned authorities in Kiev against any use of force against pro-Russian demonstrators. On Tuesday, the Russian foreign ministry alleged that Ukraine was deploying "US mercenaries" from a private security firm dressed as Ukrainian special forces - but there has been no confirmation of that, says the BBC's Steven Rosenberg in Donetsk. This is part of the continuing war of words between Russia and the West, our correspondent says. But amid the war or words, there is still some talk of diplomacy, our correspondent adds: senior diplomats from the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union are expected to meet within the next 10 days in an effort to defuse the tension. The US and the EU have already imposed targeted sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian individuals over the annexation of Crimea. BBC Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford says that although events in Donetsk appear similar to those in Crimea, there are major differences. Donetsk has many Ukrainian speakers as well as a Russian-speaking majority, and opinion polls there have shown considerable support for a united Ukraine, he says. Eastern Ukraine was the political heartland of Mr Yanukovych and has a large Russian-speaking population. Mr Yanukovych fled Kiev for Russia after months of street protests triggered by his refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia. More than 100 people died in the ensuing unrest. ||||| Kiev (CNN) -- Russia warned Tuesday that any use of force in Ukraine's eastern region could lead to civil war, as Kiev seeks to regain control after pro-Moscow uprisings in three cities. Pro-Russian protesters seized government buildings in the cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv on Sunday. Rebels occupying Donetsk's regional government building Monday declared a "people's republic" and called for a referendum on secession from Ukraine to be held by May 11. There were conflicting reports late Tuesday over whether demonstrators who seized control of a Security Service of Ukraine building in Luhansk took hostages. An anti-terrorism unit outside the building claimed the pro-Russian demonstrators were holding hostages, Victoria Syumar, a security service spokeswoman, and Yarema Duh, spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council, told CNN. Fifty-one people were released from the building early Wednesday morning, the security service said in a statement. But pro-Russian demonstrators holed up in the building denied they have taken anyone hostage, according to Reuters reports. The security service also accused the demonstrators of placing explosive throughout the building, a claim the protesters denied, Reuters reported. Russia's Foreign Ministry said reports that the protesters are facing a crackdown by Ukrainian authorities are of particular concern. "We are calling for the immediate cessation of any military preparations, which could lead to civil war," it said in a statement on its website. The ministry alleged that what it called "American experts from the private military organization Greystone," disguised as soldiers, as well as militants from the Ukrainian far-right group Right Sector, had joined Ukrainian forces preparing for the crackdown in the country's east. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that Russian forces and special agents have been behind what he called the "chaos" in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours. Kerry described the developments as "more than deeply disturbing" and said they amounted to what could be a "contrived pretext for military intervention just as we saw in Crimea." He followed up by warning of increased sanctions targeting Russia's banking, energy, mining and arms sectors if the Russians "cross over" into eastern Ukraine. Current sanctions target individuals over the Crimean annexation. Kerry will meet Monday with his Russian, Ukrainian and European Union counterparts to discuss efforts to de-escalate the crisis, according to a statement released by the spokesperson for EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton. Ashton "calls against any further destabilization of Ukraine, whether from the inside or the outside," the statement said. Building cleared Late Monday, special forces cleared armed protesters from the security service headquarters in Donetsk, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov's office announced. But Ukrainian interim Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema was quoted by Russian state-run news agency ITAR-Tass as saying Tuesday that authorities are not going to storm the city's regional administration building. Yarema said the decision was made after talks with representatives of the protesters in the building. Donetsk protesters dig in at government building According to the deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council, Victoria Syumar, negotiations are under way between the protesters and police, coordinated by influential oligarch Rinat Ahmetov. Donetsk is the hometown of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose pro-Russian government was toppled in a popular revolt in February. At a news conference in Kiev, interim presidential chief of staff Serhiy Pashinksiy said he had "convincing evidence" suggesting the protests were being financed by Yanukovych and his supporters. In remarks posted by Russia's Interfax news agency and confirmed by his press secretary, Pashinksiy said authorities had frozen "dozens of bank accounts and seized colossal resources. All of these massive rallies are financed." This could not immediately be independently verified. 'Anti-terrorist operation' Police detained about 70 people in Kharkiv in an "anti-terrorist" operation that cleared the building in Kharkiv, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. Special forces police from outside of the city carried out the operation, in which all those arrested were armed with knives or batons, spokeswoman Natalia Stativko said. Those arrested have been taken to police detention centers in the cities of Poltava and Zaporijya and face charges relating to separatism, violence and taking part in mass protests, she said. Earlier, in a Facebook message, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the city center had been closed to the public and urged people to remain calm. No guns were fired, he said. Turchynov blamed "separatist groups coordinated by Russian special services" for the revolts, which he said echoed events leading to the Russian annexation of Crimea three weeks ago. "Enemies of Ukraine are trying to play out the Crimean scenario, but we will not let this happen," he said in a televised message. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the protests bore "all the hallmarks of a Russian strategy to destabilize Ukraine" and warned of "grave economic and political consequences." Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy warship USS Donald Cook is scheduled to enter the Black Sea no later than Thursday as part of the latest U.S. military effort to demonstrate support for Eastern European allies concerned about Russia's troop buildup, two U.S. military officials said. The ship will conduct exercises and port visits while in the Black Sea, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made. The move comes ahead of an April 15 meeting among top NATO political representatives, who will discuss and potentially approve NATO recommendations for additional military measures, including shortening the response time of NATO forces in a crisis. Other options include more military exercises with member nations, including the United States, and potentially providing military advisers to Ukraine. Ukraine to Russia: I'm not your child ‎Separatism outlawed Turchynov reiterated Tuesday he would treat Russian separatists who have seized buildings in the east of the country as "terrorists" who will be prosecuted with the full force of the law. His remarks to parliament came ahead of a vote in which it approved legislation outlawing groups and individuals who call for separatism. Of the 450 members of the Ukrainian parliament, 230 voted in favor of the bill. All members of the Communist Party abstained from voting. Before the vote, a fight broke out in parliament when Petr Simonenko, the leader of the Communist Party, began to say lawmakers should listen to the demands of eastern Ukraine. He defended demonstrators who have seized local government buildings, saying they are not doing anything different from what the current interim government has done. He also accused "nationalists" of starting the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Simonenko was prevented from speaking further by a member of the far-right Svoboda party, and peace was restored in the parliament. Russia urges talks Russia, which has tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border, said Monday that it was "watching closely" what was unfolding and told Ukraine to stop blaming it for Ukrainian problems. President Vladimir Putin's government pushed Ukraine to set up a federal system in which regions with ethnic Russian majorities would have more autonomy, and its Foreign Ministry urged Ukraine to enter into talks over the issue. "Ukrainian people want to get a clear answer from Kiev to all their questions. It's time to listen to these legal claims," a Foreign Ministry statement read. The Ukrainian government was acting "irresponsibly," it said. At a news conference Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow has proposed involving Ukrainian presidential candidates in Russian, U.S. and EU talks on Ukraine. He insisted that representatives of southeast Ukraine take part, too, according to the Interfax news agency. He said Russia was ready for the talks, which may take place in 10 days. Moscow dispatched thousands of troops to Crimea in support of a pro-Russian movement that seized power in the semi-autonomous region shortly after Yanukovych fled to Russia. The Black Sea peninsula was then subsumed into Russia after a referendum denounced as illegal by Kiev and the West. Russia has called Yanukovych's removal a coup and says the interim government in Kiev is illegitimate. It has said it doesn't intend to invade eastern Ukraine but reserves the right to protect ethnic Russians there. Ukraine says it retakes building seized by protesters Is Russia done after Crimea? FIRST ON CNN: Ukraine warns Russia in phone call: Don't invade CNN's Laura Smith-Spark and Marie-Louise Gumuchian wrote in London and journalist Victoria Butenko reported from Kiev. CNN's Chelsea J. Carter, Barbara Starr, Kellie Morgan, Nick Paton Walsh, Boriana Milanova, Azad Safarov, Lindsay Isaac and Tom Cohen contributed to this report. ||||| The Ukrainian authorities seemed to be responding cautiously, but made several enforcement efforts throughout Monday night. In Kharkiv, they expelled demonstrators from the regional administration building, which was then briefly set ablaze as protesters threw firebombs. The first was extinguished, but at least two people were injured in clashes with the police outside the building, local news agencies reported. Photo In Donetsk, the authorities were able to retake control of the headquarters of the security services, but remained in a standoff with demonstrators occupying the regional administration building. Several thousand people remained on the streets early Tuesday morning, and tension remained high across the region, with a continuing risk of violence. In recognition of the potential dangers, Secretary of State John Kerry told the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, in a phone call on Monday that there would be “further costs” if Russia took additional steps to destabilize Ukraine, the State Department said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Kerry said in the call that the United States was monitoring with growing concern the pro-Russia protests in Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Mariupol, and did not believe they were a “spontaneous set of events,” said Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “He noted in particular the recent arrests of Russian intelligence operatives working in Ukraine,” Ms. Psaki added. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Obama administration has warned Russia that it is prepared to impose additional sanctions if Russia intervenes militarily or covertly to undermine the new Ukrainian government, a point Mr. Kerry repeated on Monday. “He made clear that any further Russian effort to destabilize Ukraine will incur further costs for Russia,” Ms. Psaki said without providing details. Officials from the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union are planning to meet in the next 10 days to discuss the situation in Ukraine, Ms. Psaki said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story NATO’s top commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, said last week that the approximately 40,000 Russian troops near the Ukrainian border are capable of intervening in eastern Ukraine on 12 hours’ notice and could accomplish their military objectives in three to five days. Photo In Kiev on Monday morning, the acting prime minister, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk, said, “There is a script being written in the Russian Federation, for which there is only one purpose: the dismemberment and destruction of Ukraine and the transformation of Ukraine into the territory of slavery under the dictates of Russia.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Russian officials, including Mr. Lavrov, have said that they have no intention of taking military action in eastern Ukraine, and in a statement on Monday afternoon, the Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated its call for federalizing Ukraine, a move that would substantially weaken the government in Kiev, making it vulnerable to manipulation by Moscow. “As the Russian side has noted repeatedly, it is difficult to count on a long-term stabilization of Ukraine without a real constitutional reform within the framework of which, through federalization, the interests of all regions would be ensured, its nonaligned status maintained and the special role of the Russian language reinforced,” the Foreign Ministry said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Foreign Ministry denied any role in the unrest, even though the demonstrations on Sunday evening in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk seemed coordinated and bore the hallmarks of similar protests last month that were organized with support from Moscow. “Stop pointing at Russia, blaming it for all the troubles of today’s Ukraine,” the ministry said. “The Ukrainian people want to hear from Kiev, a clear answer to all the questions. It’s time to listen to these legitimate demands.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story The unrest in eastern Ukraine seemed to heighten fears in Kiev and the West about possible Russian military action a little more than a month after Russian forces occupied Crimea. The Kremlin annexed Crimea after a referendum there last month. In Germany, a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday that the government was extremely concerned about the events in eastern Ukraine and called for calm. Photo “The latest developments in Donetsk and in Kharkiv are something which we are all very worried about in the German government,” the spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said at a news conference. “We must urgently renew our appeal to all those in positions of responsibility to help stabilize the region and avoid such escalation.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story Even as the Kremlin denied any role, government-controlled television stations in Russia gave live coverage to the events in Donetsk on Monday, including the reading of a sort of declaration of independence of the “sovereign state of the Donetsk People’s Republic” by a pro-Russian demonstrator inside the regional administration building. Protesters occupied the building on Sunday. While the demonstrators in Donetsk announced that a ballot referendum on secession from Ukraine would be held no later than May 11, there did not appear to be the same overwhelming support for such a move that there was in Crimea last month. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. The regional prosecutor, Mykola Frantovkskiy, issued a statement calling the demonstrators’ actions illegal and saying that law enforcement officials had identified the criminal “separatists” and that “all necessary measures will be taken to apprehend the violators.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Donetsk City Council called on the protesters to end their occupation of government buildings and engage in negotiations. “All conflicts should be resolved legally,” the council said in a statement. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Aleksei Pushkov, the head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia’s lower house of Parliament, told reporters in Strasbourg, France, that the events in eastern Ukraine showed that the opinions of Russian speakers in Ukraine could not be ignored. “Stability will not be achieved in Ukraine without heeding the wishes of the people who live in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, primarily, Russian-speaking people,” Mr. Pushkov said in France, where he was attending a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, according to the Interfax news service. Video The events in the east unfolded just hours after a Ukrainian military officer was shot and killed in Crimea in a confrontation with Russian troops. Advertisement Continue reading the main story A spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Vladislav Seleznev, said the officer, Maj. Stanislav Karchevskiy, was killed in a military dormitory where he lived with his wife and two children, next to the Novofedorivka air base in western Crimea. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The death of the Ukrainian officer was a rare instance of deadly violence as Ukrainian forces continued their withdrawal from the peninsula after its annexation by Russia. Mr. Seleznev said the Ukrainian soldier had been collecting his belongings in preparation to leave Crimea when an argument broke out with Russian service members, Reuters reported Monday. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Mr. Seleznev said that the altercation involved several Ukrainian and Russian soldiers and that there were no other injuries. He said a Russian soldier armed with an automatic weapon entered the dormitory and shot Major Karchevskiy, who was unarmed. With tensions intensifying in the east, the former prime minister, Yulia V. Tymoshenko, who is running for president in elections next month, traveled to the region. At a news conference in Donetsk, Ms. Tymoshenko said she was committed to strengthening the autonomy of Ukraine’s regions, especially by letting them control their finances, but said she opposed federalization. Advertisement Continue reading the main story She also said that she did not believe most people in Donetsk supported the protesters. “I got the impression that all of this aggression lives on its own island, separate from the life of Donetsk,” she said. “It does not at all correspond with the opinions or wishes of the people in Donetsk.” ||||| A cordon of Interior Ministry personnel (front) stand guard in front of a group of pro-Russian protesters outside the regional administration building in Kharkiv, April 8, 2014. KIEV/DONETSK, Ukraine Police detained 70 people occupying a regional administration building in eastern Ukraine overnight, but pro-Moscow protesters held out in a standoff in two other cities in what Kiev called a Russian-led plan to dismember the country. Kiev says the seizure of public buildings in eastern Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking industrial heartland on Sunday night is a replay of events in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow annexed last month. Ukrainian authorities gave few details of the "anti-terrorist" operation that cleared the building in the town of Kharkiv but said two police had been wounded by a grenade that was thrown. Russia has denied Ukrainian charges of involvement but warned Kiev against any use of force against Russian-speakers. Ukrainian special forces in combat gear, helmets and balaclavas and carrying kalashnikovs and machine guns stood guard early on Tuesday outside the building whose outside windows were broken. A partly destroyed sign near the main door read: "Avakov - to jail", a reference to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. The pro-Russian protesters who also took over official buildings in Luhansk and Donetsk demanded that referendums be held on whether to join Russia like the one that preceded Moscow's annexation of Crimea. "An anti-Ukrainian plan is being put into operation ... under which foreign troops will cross the border and seize the territory of the country," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in public remarks to his cabinet. "We will not allow this." Interior Minister Avakov said on Tuesday about 70 "separatists" had been detained in Kharkiv. "An anti-terrorist operation has been launched. The city center is blocked along with metro stations. Do not worry. Once we finish, we will open them again," he wrote on his Facebook page. Ukraine's Interior Ministry was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying those detained were suspected of "illegal activity related to separatism, the organization of mass disorder, damage to human health" and breaking other laws. Russia's Itar-Tass news agency quoted Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema as saying there would be no storming of Donetsk's regional authority building on Tuesday. He said the decision was made after talks in Donetsk with the protesters involving influential and wealthy businessman Rinat Akhmetov, who is from the city. On Tuesday about 200 people were gathered in front of the building and a group of National Guard were stood to one side. But the situation was calm and there was no sign of any attempt to enter by force. Acting President Oleksander Turchinov, in a televised address to the nation, said Moscow was attempting to repeat "the Crimea scenario". He added that "anti-terrorist measures" would be deployed against those who had taken up arms. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a phone call that Washington was watching events in eastern Ukraine with great concern and any further moves by Moscow to destabilize Ukraine would "incur further costs for Russia". Kerry "called on Russia to publicly disavow the activities of separatists, saboteurs and provocateurs" in Ukraine, the State Department said. The two discussed convening direct talks in the next 10 days between Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union to defuse tensions. WHITE HOUSE WARNING The White House warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against moving "overtly or covertly" into eastern Ukraine and said there was strong evidence that pro-Russian demonstrators in the region were being paid. Lavrov told Kerry that constitutional reform was required to resolve the crisis. Russia says this would give Ukraine's regions more powers, as it believes the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine are being violated. In an article on the website of Britain's Guardian newspaper, Lavrov denied Russia was destabilizing Ukraine and accused the West of the "groundless whipping-up of tension". Separately, he warned authorities in Kiev against any use of force against pro-Russian demonstrators. The Russian Foreign Ministry later called on Ukraine to stop massing military forces it said were tasked with suppressing anti-government protests. "We call for an immediate halt to military preparations which could lead to an outbreak of civil war," the ministry said in a statement. Police said they cleared the protesters from the building in Kharkiv, but in Luhansk the demonstrators had seized weapons. In Donetsk, home base of deposed Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovich, about 120 pro-Russia activists calling themselves the "Republican People's Soviet of Donetsk" seized the chamber of the regional assembly. An unidentified bearded man read out "the act of the proclamation of an independent state, Donetsk People's Republic" in front of a white, blue and red Russian flag. "In the event of aggressive action from the illegitimate Kiev authorities, we will appeal to the Russian Federation to bring in a peacekeeping contingent," ran the proclamation. The activists later read out the text by loud hailer to a cheering crowd of about 1,000 outside the building. RUSSIAN SPEAKERS Putin announced on March 1, a week after Yanukovich was overthrown, that Moscow had the right to take military action in Ukraine to protect Russian speakers, creating the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. The United States and EU imposed mild financial sanctions on some Russian officials over the seizure of Crimea and have threatened much tougher measures if Russian troops, now massed on the frontier, enter other parts of Ukraine. Western European governments have hesitated to alienate Russia further, fearing for supplies of Russian natural gas, much of which reaches EU buyers via pipelines across Ukraine. Ukraine's own dependence on Russian gas gives Moscow strong leverage, especially over Ukraine's eastern industrial areas. Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom said it had received no payments from Ukraine for money owed for gas and Kiev's arrears have now reached $2.2 billion. In previous years, gas disputes between Moscow and Kiev have hurt supplies to Europe. NATO has halted cooperation with Russia. The Western military alliance announced on Monday it would now restrict access to its headquarters by Russian diplomats apart from Moscow's ambassador, his deputy and two support staff. Mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine, densely populated and producing much of the country's industrial output, has seen a sharp rise in tension since Yanukovich fled the country, and Kiev has long said it believes Moscow is behind the unrest. Pro-Russian protesters briefly held public buildings in the east early last month and three people were killed in clashes in mid-March. But trouble had subsided until Sunday. Unlike in Crimea, where ethnic Russians form a majority, most people in the east and south are ethnically Ukrainian, although they speak Russian as a first language. Eastern oligarchs who once backed Yanukovich have thrown their weight behind the government in Kiev, and the unrest there is a test of their ability to assert control. (Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Natalia Zinets and Pavel Polityuk, Writing by Richard Balmforth, Peter Graff and Timothy Heritage, editing by Elizabeth Piper and Andrew Heavens)

– Attempts by the Ukrainian government to retake government buildings seized by pro-Russia protesters who have declared independence in regions in the east of the country could lead to "civil war," warns Russia—which says it will intervene if necessary to protect Ukraine's Russian-speakers and is watching developments closely. Ukrainian authorities say they have already forced out "terrorists" in Kharkiv who were calling for a referendum on seceding from the country but demonstrators remain in control of buildings in Donetsk and in Luhansk, where they have raided a weapons storage facility, Reuters reports. More: Moscow, which has tens of thousands of troops close to the border, is pushing Ukraine to adopt a federal system that would give regions more autonomy, reports CNN. Russia's foreign ministry claims American mercenaries have joined Ukrainian forces preparing for a crackdown. The parliament in Kiev, meanwhile, passed a bill banning calls for separatism. Some 230 of the 450 members of parliament approved the measure, but a fight broke out before the vote when the chief of Ukraine's Communist Party demanded that the wishes of the country's east be considered. NATO's secretary-general has warned Russia that there will be "grave consequences" if it intervenes further in Ukraine, the BBC reports. Such a move would be a "historic mistake," he said. The activists in eastern Ukraine seem to be hoping for Crimea-style annexation by Russia, though analysts aren't sure whether Moscow will comply, the New York Times notes. Russia's main goal, they suspect, is to destabilize the new government in Kiev ahead of elections next month.

An aerial drone, a pilotless aircraft of the type that has aroused intense public discussion in recent months, crashed Saturday into the stands at a public event in Virginia that has also aroused heated discourse. A drone crashed into the grandstand at Virginia Motorsports Park during the Great Bull Run, said Major W.B. Knott, of the Dinwiddie County sheriff’s office, reporting what might be described as the dramatic encounter between a controversial piece of hardware and a controversial spectacle. Knott said he was told that four or five people suffered very minor injuries. They were treated by EMS personnel at the event, and none was taken to a hospital, Knott said. The bull run was billed as a daylong festival featuring bands, drinking, games and a tomato fight. The highlight was to be four scheduled bull runs in which participants were to try to elude or outrace 24 hefty specimens of male livestock. Animal rights organizations have contended that the event endangered both people and bovines. A Richmond area television station, WTVR-Channel 6, said the drone was being used to capture video of the event, though it was not operated by or recording for WTVR-TV. When most Americans think of drones, they see military machines used to monitor and kill terrorists abroad. But more and more people are using them in ways you wouldn't expect. The Fold's Gabe Silverman introduces us to some of the engineers hoping to change your mind about drones. (The Washington Post) In video posted on the station’s Web site, the drone was seen hovering above the stands. It appeared to be about four feet in diameter and reminiscent of a spider, with numerous appendages projecting from a central core. Then, it suddenly dipped and fell into the midst of about a dozen spectators. Others rushed toward the place where it came down. One picked it up and put it aside. ||||| PETERSBURG, Virginia | PETERSBURG, Virginia (Reuters) - About 4,000 people - dressed in everything from thongs to superhero costumes - dodged 1,000-pound bulls as they sprinted down a quarter-mile dirt track on Saturday in rural Virginia's version of the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It was the first event of what promoters say will be a national, 10-city bull-running tour modeled on the annual Pamplona event. "I just didn't want to die, to get trampled by bulls and die," said Cat Jones, 22, who works in engineering and traveled from New York City for the run. "It was a rush ... a shot of adrenalin," she said. Jones had such a thrill dodging bulls and watching them race by at breakneck speed that she paid $30 to run again in the afternoon. The first six runs were conducted with about 500 runners each, chased by 12 bulls, and the last run featured 24 bulls chasing about 700 runners. About 8,000 people came to watch the runs, said Rob Dickens, co-founder and chief operating officer of the Boston-based Great Bull Run. Most of those who signed up were 18 to 40 years old, and about 40 percent were women. Two runners were taken to the hospital with concussion-like symptoms, according to Great Bull Run. One other runner saw a medic after being knocked down and stepped on by other participants. Every participant in the race had to sign a waiver, absolving the organizers of liability in case of injury. Dickens said it was "doing something dangerous and living to tell the tale" that draws participants to the event. "I wanted to test myself," said Laurie Blaha, 27, of Richmond, Virginia.. Blaha said she passed the test, conquering the fear and nervousness she had before the bulls ran onto the track. "It was exhilarating," Blaha said. "I would definitely do it again." Dickens said the only major problem came on the first run of the day, when the initial group of six bulls stopped about midway down the dirt course. They didn't start running again until six additional bulls were let out of the gates. Dickens said they apparently did not have the confidence to run alone, and needed more company. After that, he said the staff overseeing the bulls began sending 12 bulls at a time. In nearly all the runs held during the day, the bulls started slowly and then quickly accelerated to a stampede-like pace. The Virginia run was set on the grounds of the Virginia Motorsport Park, a drag strip south of Richmond. Animals rights groups, such as PETA, have protested the Great Bull Run, saying the events puts stress on the animals. Dickens has said the bulls are not harmed and has invited anyone observing someone abusing the animals to report it. The next Great Bull Run is scheduled for October 19 in Atlanta. Other cities on the nationwide tour include Houston, Tampa and Los Angeles. (Reporting by Gary Robertson; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Peter Cooney)

– People got hurt at America's first "running of the bulls" in Virginia on Saturday—but not for the reason you might expect. An aerial drone, apparently being used to film the event, fell out of the sky and crashed into spectators, reports the Washington Post. According to the local sheriff's office, four or five people suffered minor injuries in the crash. A few people were also injured in the more traditional way—of the 4,000 who showed up to take part in the first Great Bull Run, two were sent to hospital with "concussion-like" symptoms, and another was treated at the scene after falling and being trampled by other runners, Reuters reports.

The United Nations observer mission in Syria will expire this weekend and will not be extended, France's Ambassador to the UN, Gerard Araud, told reporters Thursday. The news comes as the Syrian government pounded the country's largest city Thursday, using aerial forces to shell neighborhoods and intensifying the siege that has become a focal point of the country's civil war. CNN inside Syria: Nobody imagined it would turn into this Meanwhile, in neighboring Lebanon, another person was kidnapped in an incident believed to be linked to the violence in Syria. At least 158 new deaths were reported across Syria on Thursday, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees in Syria. The deaths include 50 in Aleppo. They also include 60 unidentified bodies found in Qatana, a Damascas suburb, the LCC said. The bodies, found in a landfill, "seem to have been executed in a massacre by the regime's army," the group said. At least eight people were killed and more than 50 wounded when shells struck near an Aleppo bakery where people had lined up to buy bread, said Ahmad al-Zaeem, a commander in the rebel Free Syrian Army. At least 150 people have been wounded in the latest violence in Aleppo, he said. ||||| The Security Council will let the U.N. military observer mission's mandate in Syria expire Sunday and will back a new civilian office there to support U.N. and Arab League efforts to end the country's 18-month conflict. France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud, the current Security Council president, said Thursday that members agreed to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's proposal for a liaison office. Araud said the council agreed that conditions set for possibly extending the mission of the unarmed observers past Sunday were not met. He says there was no halt to the Syrian government's use of heavy weapons and no significant reduction in violence. Russia invited U.N. ambassadors from key world powers that met in Geneva in June and agreed on guidelines for a political transition in Syria to meet in New York on Friday and call on all sides to end the violence. "More than 18,000 people have been killed during the last 18 months," Ban told reporters in East Timor on Wednesday. "The Syrian people have suffered too much too long." In a letter to the council last Friday, Ban said, "it is imperative for the United Nations to have a presence in Syria" aside from its humanitarian operation in order to support U.N. and Arab League efforts "in mediating and facilitating a peaceful resolution to the crisis." The Security Council initially authorized the 300-strong observer mission to deploy to Syria for 90 days to monitor implementation of a six-point peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. The plan was to start with a cease-fire and withdrawal of the government's heavy weapons and culminate with Syrian-led political talks. Assad's government and opposition forces agreed to the plan, but it was never implemented. Because of the worsening bloodshed and insecurity, the observers have been mainly confined to their hotels since June 15, and their numbers have been cut by about two-thirds. The U.N. said Wednesday that 110 observers remain in Syria, mainly in Damascus. A bomb exploded Wednesday outside their hotel, wounding three people, but no observers were hurt. Frustrated at the escalating conflict and the failure of world powers on the Security Council to unite to stop the chaos, Annan announced last month that he was resigning effective Aug. 31. Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed Security Council resolutions that would have stepped up pressure especially against the Syrian government by threatening sanctions if the fighting didn't stop. ||||| A powerful Shiite Muslim clan in Lebanon on Thursday claimed to have abducted more Syrian nationals and vowed further kidnappings in retaliation for the seizure of a family member by rebels in Syria this week, as Syria's civil war threatened to break open violent rivalries in its neighbor Lebanon. Lebanese army soldiers walk as they pass between tents that were set by Sunni group who blocked a road linked to the Lebanese-Syrian border, in Masnaa, eastern Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012. Masked... (Associated Press) A masked man from a Sunni group who blocked a road linked to the Lebanese-Syrian border, checks a Syrian car which carries Syrian passengers, in Masnaa, eastern Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012. Masked... (Associated Press) A masked man from a Sunni group who blocked a road linked to the Lebanese-Syrian border, stands in front a tent, in Masnaa, eastern Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012. Masked Lebanese believed to be from... (Associated Press) The wave of kidnappings raises the dire scenario that the battle for control over Syria will ignite tensions in Lebanon, a country with its own history of civil war, an explosive sectarian mix and deep divisions between pro- and anti-Syrian factions _ many of them armed. Already, the abductions have brought gunmen from both the Shiite and Sunni communities into the streets. On Wednesday, Shiite supporters of the al-Mikdad clan went on a rampage in a Beirut neighborhood, vandalizing dozens of Syrian-run stores, and then blocked the road to the airport, setting tires on fire and wandering the road with guns. Travelers were forced to walk from their cars to the airport, and at least one flight was cancelled. The road was only reopened early Thursday morning. The tensions emerged Thursday in the eastern Bekaa Valley, near the Syrian border. Masked men believed to be from the Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar _ a Sunni stronghold _ burned tires and set up roadblocks on the main highway leading to the Masnaa border crossing between Lebanon and Syria. They stopped cars going either way and checked passengers' IDs before deciding whether to let them pass, apparently looking for Shiites or Mikdad supporters. In the nearby town of Chtoura, four gunmen abducted Syrian businessman Hossam Khasroum, pulling him from his car as he was driving and taking him to an unknown location, security officials said. Khasroum, the offficials said, is known to be a support of Assad's regime. In a separate incident, gunmen attacked a car driven by pro-Syrian Lebanese politician, Joseph Abu-Fadel, breaking his car windows with stones as he was driving to Syria. He and three others were lightly injured. On Wednesday, armed members of the al-Mikdad clan said they had kidnapped more than 20 Syrian nationals and a Turk in Lebanon in retaliation for the abduction of their relative, Hassane Salim al-Mikdad, who was captured in Syria this week. Rebels who kidnapped al-Mikdad claimed he was a member of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, a staunch supporter of President Bashar Assad's regime. Hezbollah and his family deny this. Maher al-Mikdad, a family spokesman, warned on Thursday that "if anything happens to Hassane, we will kill the Turkish hostage we have and many others. But we will start with the Turks." Speaking to The Associated Press, he said the clan has snatched more Syrians and warned that it would go on with further kidnappings until their clansman is released. He could not give an exact number but said the clan was now holding more than 20 captives. Lebanon's government appeared largely unable or unwilling to stop the kidnapping spree and escalating violence. Hezbollah and its allies hold a majority in the Cabinet, which has adopted a policy of "disassociation" from the events in Syria, trying to remain neutral. Hezbollah critics say it is assisting Assad in moving the conflict to Lebanon to divert attention from the deadly civil war raging in Syria. The al-Mikdad family is a powerful Shiite Muslim clan that originally comes from the eastern Bekaa Valley, an area where state control is limited and revenge killings are common. Like most tribes in this area, they have their own militia, and security officials say many of its members are outlaws wanted on arrest warrants. The family reach also extends to the capital. A south Beirut neighborhood with strong al-Mikdad ties, Rweis, is often avoided by outsiders who fear any possible offense that could put them at odds with the clan. The al-Mikdad's power often put them at odds with Hezbollah, the main power broker in the area, although many observers believe the appearance of armed groups Wednesday claiming to be members of the "military wing" of al-Mikdad family could not have happened without at least tacit Hezbollah support. The wave of hostage-taking prompted Gulf countries to call on all their citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately. Sunni regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who back the Syrian rebels, were the first, followed by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. Lebanon is a popular summer destination for Gulf residents trying to escape the searing heat. Al-Mikdad backed off an earlier threat to abduct Gulf nationals. He said Thursday that only Syrians and Turks would be targeted. "Our problem is with the Syrians who have abducted our son and Syrian opponents of the region," he said. "And why Turkey? Because Turkey is an operation theater for the Free Syrian Army," he added. Turkey shelters thousands of Syrian refugees along with the leadership and members of the Free Syrian Army rebel group. The conflict in Syria has a sharply sectarian tone. The rebels are predominantly Sunni, whereas President Bashar Assad and his inner circle come mainly from the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism. Similarly, Lebanon has had long rivalries between its own Sunni and Shiite communities. Throughout Syria's conflict, Lebanese Sunnis have largely been sympathetic to the Syrian rebellion, while Hezbollah _ the main Shiite political power _ has backed Assad. ||||| Launch Gallery Expand A residential area in Azaz, hit by at least two bombs from a Syrian fighter jet on August 15, 2012. © 2012 Rachel Beth Anderson for Human Rights Watch (Azaz) – A Syrian government fighter jet bombed a residential neighborhood, killing more than 40 civilians and wounding at least 100 others in the town of Azaz, including many women and children, Human Rights Watch said today after visiting the town. In the attack on August 15, 2012, at least two bombs destroyed an entire block of houses in the al-Hara al-Kablie neighborhood of Azaz, in Syria’s northern Aleppo province. Human Rights Watch investigated the site of the bombing two hours after the attack and interviewed witnesses, victims, medical personnel, and relatives of those killed. “This horrific attack killed and wounded scores of civilians and destroyed a whole residential block,” said Anna Neistat, acting emergencies director at Human Rights Watch. “Yet again, Syrian government forces attacked with callous disregard for civilian life.” Azaz residents told Human Rights Watch that, at around 3 p.m., they saw a fighter jet drop at least two bombs on the residential area. Within seconds, dozens of houses in an area of approximately 70-by-70 meters – more than half a football field – were flattened. Houses on the surrounding streets were significantly damaged, with collapsed walls and ceilings. On the streets around the bombed area, windows were broken and some walls had collapsed. Two opposition Free Syrian Army facilities in the vicinity of the attack might have been targets of the Syrian aircraft, Human Rights Watch said. One was the headquarters of the local Free Syrian Army brigade, in the former building of the Baath party, two streets away from the block that was hit. The other was a detention facility where the Free Syrian Army held “security detainees” – government military personnel and members of pro-government shabeeha militia. Neither of these facilities was damaged in the attack. Rescuers used two bulldozers to retrieve the dead and wounded from the ruins. By 7 p.m., medical personnel at the scene said they had recovered 25 bodies, and were looking for more in the rubble. A man helping to bury the bodies said that by midnight 33 people had been buried in Azaz. The exact number of victims is difficult to verify. Most of the wounded were transported to hospitals across the nearby Turkish border. A hospital volunteer in the Turkish town of Kilis, about 20 kilometers north of Azaz, told Human Rights Watch that 61 wounded people from Azaz had been brought to the hospital, and another 13 people had died either on the way to Kilis or shortly after arrival, among them seven men, two women and four children. At least another 16 severely wounded people were brought to a hospital in the Turkish town of Gaziantep, about 80 kilometers from Azaz, a doctor in that hospital told Human Rights Watch. One Azaz resident, “Ahmed,” told Human Rights Watch that the bombing had killed at least 12 members of his family in their home. He believed that four other family members were still under the ruins. He said: I was about 100 meters away from the house when I saw the airplane and heard the sound of the bombing and destruction. My three brothers lived here. I buried 12 of my family members today, including my father, my mother, and my sister – my brother’s wife as well. Walid, my brother, was cut into pieces. We didn’t recognize him at first. We buried my brothers’ children also. The youngest was 40 days old. “Ali” was weeping on the ruins of his house. He told Human Rights Watch: I was on the roof, making tomato soup, when I suddenly heard the plane. I heard several loud bangs, and was thrown to the floor. When I got up, I saw my wife who was injured – hit in the chest by shrapnel or debris. She was taken to the hospital – I still do not know what happened to her. “Ayman” told Human Rights Watch: My brother, sister and my father’s wife were killed today. What was Bashar al-Assad looking for in this area? …There were no weapons here. I live far away from my family, but when I heard the sounds of the explosion I came here and saw all this destruction. I was here when they removed the bodies of my family from under the rubble. Two of my killed relatives were 9 and 6 years old. International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, applies to all Syrian government and armed opposition forces in Syria. The laws of war prohibit direct attacks on civilians. Homes, apartments, and other civilian structures are also to be protected from attack, unless they are being used for military purposes. Where there is doubt about whether a target is military or civilian, it must be presumed to be civilian. The laws of war also prohibit attacks that strike military targets and civilians indiscriminately, such as those that are not directedat a specific military target.Attacks are also prohibited that may be expected to cause incidental civilian loss that would be disproportionate to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated from the attack. Military commanders must choose the means of attack that can be directed at military targets and will minimize incidental harm to civilians. If the weapons used are so inaccurate that they cannot be directed at military targets without imposing a substantial risk of civilian harm, then they should not be deployed. Weapons, such as aerial bombs with a large blast radius may be considered indiscriminate when used in populated areas. The laws of war do not prohibit fighting in urban areas, although the presence of many civilians places greater obligations on all warring parties to take steps to minimize harm to civilians. All forces need to take constant care during military operations to spare the civilian population, and take all feasible precautions to avoid loss of civilian life and property. These precautions include doing everything feasible to verify that the objects of attack are military targets and not civilians or civilian objects, and giving "effective advance warning" of attacks when circumstances permit. All forces must also avoid deploying near densely populated areas, and strive to remove civilians from the vicinity of their forces. At the same time, attacking forces are not relieved from their obligation to take into account the risk to civilians simply because they consider the defending forces responsible for locating military targets within populated areas. Governments have an obligation to investigate allegations of serious laws-of-war violations by their military forces. Those committed with criminal intent – deliberately or recklessly – are war crimes. Governments are obligated to identify and prosecute the individuals responsible for war crimes according to international fair-trial standards. Human Rights Watch called on United Nations Security Council members to impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government and targeted sanctions on government officials responsible for abuses, and refer the Syrian conflict to the International Criminal Court. “Syrian forces in northern Aleppo are using heavy artillery and aerial bombing in populated areas that kill and maim civilians every day,” Neistat said. “All Security Council members should show that protection of civilians means more than empty words.”

– The UN will allow its observer mission in Syria to expire Sunday, even as reports of extreme violence continue to pour in. A government airstrike on a rebel-held town killed more than 40 people and injured at least 100 more, Human Rights Watch reported today, and that wasn't the half of it. The opposition's Local Coordination Committees estimate there were at least 158 deaths today, including 50 in Aleppo, CNN reports. The UN Security Council intends to replace the observer mission with a new civilian office originally proposed by Ban Ki-moon, French Ambassador Gerar Araud tells the AP, explaining that the observer mission could not be extended because it hadn't even come close to meeting goals like halting the regime's use of heavy weapons. In other Syria news: A powerful Shiite group in Lebanon says it's abducting Syrians in retaliation for rebels allegedly seizing a family member, raising the specter of the violence spilling into Lebanon.

Carbohydrates, long blamed for fuelling obesity, have now been linked to lung cancer. A new study has revealed a 49 per cent increase in risk among people consuming a diet with a high glycemic index. The index measures how quickly blood sugar levels are raised after a meal, and foods with a high GI include white bread or bagels, corn flakes and puffed rice. However, diets high in fruits and vegetables were found to decrease the risk. Lead study author Dr Stephanie Melkonian, of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said: "We observed a 49 per cent increased risk of lung cancer among subjects with the highest daily GI compared to those with the lowest daily GI. • Breath test that tells you if you have lung cancer "Diets high in glycemic index result in higher levels of blood glucose and insulin, which promote perturbations in the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs). "Previous research suggests increased levels of IGFs are associated with increased lung cancer risk. "However, the association between glycemic index and lung cancer risk was unclear." In the UK, there are around 45,525 new cases of the disease diagnosed each year, while 35,371 people lose their life to the disease annually, according to Cancer Research UK. Photo: Alamy In the US, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women. Five cancer red flags to never ignore The study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, is the largest ever to investigate the potential link between glycemic index and lung cancer. Scientists surveyed 1,905 patients newly diagnosed with lung cancer and compared the results with 2,413 healthy individuals. Senior study author Dr Xifeng Wu said: "The associations were more pronounced among subjects who were never smokers, diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma or had less than 12 years of education. "This suggests that it is the average quality, instead of quantity, of carbohydrates consumed that may modulate lung cancer risk." Photo: Alamy Dr Wu added: "The results from this study suggest that, besides maintaining healthy lifestyles, such as avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol consumption and being physically active, reducing the consumption of foods and beverages with high glycemic index may serve as a means to lower the risk of lung cancer." • Lung cancer victims lack sympathy ||||| Scientists from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that people who eat a diet full of high glycemic index foods—think processed white bread, bagels, white rice, baguettes—had a 49% higher risk of developing lung cancer, even if they’ve never smoked a single cigarette. The study, which was published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention this week, is the largest ever to investigate the potential links between glycemic index and lung cancer, according to the authors. A glycemic index is a measurement of how rapidly carbohydrates elevate blood sugar levels in the body. The higher the glycemic index, the more rapidly blood sugar levels rise after a meal which results in elevated levels of blood glucose and insulin. That in turns raises what’s called insulin-like growth factors, which are linked to an increased lung cancer risk, according to the scientists. Scientists at MD Anderson surveyed 1,905 patients newly diagnosed with lung cancer and another 2,413 healthy individuals, all non-Hispanic whites. Those subjects reported their past dietary habits and health histories, and they were then divided into groups based on their associated glycemic index and glycemic load, a measure of carbohydrate quantity. “We observed a 49% increased risk of lung cancer among subjects with the highest daily glycemic index compared to those with the lowest daily glycemic index,” said Xifeng Wu, professor of epidemiology and senior author of the study. “The associates were more pronounced among subjects who were never smokers.” Interestingly, there was no link between the glycemic load—i.e. the quantity of carbohydrates consumed—and lung cancer, which suggests that it’s the quality, not the amount of carbohydrates, that has the biggest effect on lung cancer risk, said Wu. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer among both men and women in the U.S. It’s also the leading cause of cancer mortality, with over 150,000 deaths from lung cancer expected in the U.S. this year alone, according to the American Cancer Society. Smoking and tobacco use is still the leading cause, though it doesn’t account for all cases. Researchers had long suspected a link between a high-glycemic index diet and lung cancer risk, but the link between the two was unclear until now. Among non-smokers in the study, those within the highest glycemic index group were more than twice as likely to develop lung cancer as those in the lowest group. For smokers, the difference was elevated by 31% between the two groups. “The results from this study suggest that, besides maintaining healthy lifestyles, such as avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol consumption, and being physically active, reducing the consumption of foods and beverages with high glycemic index may serve as a means to lower the risk of lung cancer,” said Wu. Low glycemic index foods include things like 100% stone-ground whole wheat bread, rolled or steel-cut oatmeal, most fruits, and non-starchy vegetables. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. SUBSCRIBE People who eat a sugary, starchy diet may be raising their risk of lung cancer, even if they don’t smoke, researchers say. They found that people who recall eating more foods that have a high glycemic index also were more likely to develop lung cancer. Glycemic index is a term that’s familiar to people with diabetes. It describes food that raises blood sugar and stimulates production of insulin — think bagels, white rice and some fruits such as melon and pineapple. It’s not the first study to link glycemic index with cancer risk, but it’s rare to link it with lung cancer. That may be mostly because lung cancer is so overwhelmingly caused by smoking. The team at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston studied 1,905 people who had just been diagnosed with lung cancer and compared them to 2,415 people without cancer. They quizzed them about their eating habits, smoking, income and other factors. "Reducing the consumption of foods and beverages with high glycemic index may serve as a means to lower the risk of lung cancer." People who ate the most foods with a high glycemic index were about 50 percent more likely to be in the lung cancer group than people who reported they ate the fewest high-glycemic foods, the team reported in the journal Cancer Epidemiology and Biomarkers. The link was stronger among people who never smoked; non-smokers were more than twice as likely to have lung cancer if they reported eating a high-glycemic diet. “The results from this study suggest that, besides maintaining healthy lifestyles, reducing the consumption of foods and beverages with high glycemic index may serve as a means to lower the risk of lung cancer,” said Dr. Xifeng Wu, who led the study. Related: Here's how sugar might fuel the growth of cancer How can this happen? Doctors aren’t sure, but there’s a theory that high-glycemic foods stimulate the body to make insulin, which in turn affects the growth of cells via compounds called insulin-like growth factors or IGF. Cancer is the uncontrolled proliferation of cells, so it might be that the high-glycemic foods are fueling the growth of tiny tumors. “IGFs have been shown to play a critical role in regulating cell proliferation and differentiation in cancer and there is evidence to suggest that IGFs are elevated in lung cancer patients,” Wu’s team wrote. It’s a suspect in several types of cancer. “Previous studies have investigated the association between glycemic index, and the related measure glycemic load, and a variety of cancers including colorectal, stomach, pancreas, endometrial, ovarian, prostate, and thyroid but these studies are limited and results have been largely inconclusive,” the researchers wrote. This study is not conclusive, either. For one thing, the researchers asked their volunteers to remember what they ate. For another, it’s an association. People who eat high-glycemic foods may also do something else that also raises their risk of cancer. And this particular study focused only on non-Hispanic white people. Marji McCullough, an expert in nutritional epidemiology at the American Cancer Society, says it will be important to look at people who don't have cancer now and watch what they eat for years or decades, and see who develops cancer. Related: Cancer experts are mad about the dietary guidelines Lung cancer is the No. 1 cancer killer in the U.S., killing more than 150,000 people a year. It causes only vague symptoms at first, so when most people are diagnosed, the cancer has already spread and is then far more likely to be fatal. Experts know diet and lifestyle can affect cancer. Obesity, lack of exercise, eating red meat and lots of high-fat dairy foods, and eating too few fruits and vegetables can all raise a person’s odds of developing cancer. This study adds to a growing body of evidence that people can lower their cancer risk not only by staying away from tobacco and exercising more, but by choosing a healthier diet. "Aside from not smoking, it’s important to follow cancer prevention guidelines that maintain healthy body weight, physical activity, and eating an overall healthy diet rich in vegetables and plant food and lower red and processed meat. Choose foods that help maintain healthy body weight," McCullough said. According to the American Diabetes Association, low-glycemic foods include: 100 percent stone-ground whole wheat or pumpernickel bread Oatmeal (rolled or steel-cut), oat bran, muesli Pasta, converted rice, barley, bulgar Sweet potato, corn, yam, lima/butter beans, peas, legumes and lentils Most fruits, non-starchy vegetables and carrots Medium glycemic index foods include: Whole wheat, rye and pita bread Quick oats Brown, wild or basmati rice, couscous High glycemic index foods include: ||||| Abstract Background: Postprandial glucose (PPG) and insulin responses play a role in carcinogenesis. We evaluated the association between dietary glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL), markers of carbohydrate intake and PPG, and lung cancer risk in non-Hispanic whites. Methods: GL and GI were assessed among 1,905 newly diagnosed lung cancer cases recruited from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX) and 2,413 healthy controls recruited at Kelsey-Seybold Clinics (Houston, TX). We assessed associations between quintiles of GI/GL and lung cancer risk and effect modification by various risk factors. ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using multivariable logistic regression. Results: We observed a significant association between GI [5th vs. 1st quintile (Q) OR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.21–1.83; P trend <0.001] and lung cancer risk and GI ac (5th vs. 1st Q OR = 1.48; 95% CI, 1.20–1.81; P trend = 0.001) and lung cancer risk. We observed a more pronounced association between GI and lung cancer risk among never smokers (5th vs. 1st Q OR = 2.25; 95% CI, 1.42–3.57), squamous cell carcinomas (SCC; 5th vs. 1st Q OR = 1.92; 95% CI, 1.30–2.83), and those with less than 12 years of education (5th vs. 1st Q OR = 1.75; 95% CI, 1.19–2.58, P interaction = 0.02). Conclusion: This study suggests that dietary GI and other lung cancer risk factors may jointly and independently influence lung cancer etiology. Impact: Understanding the role of GI in lung cancer could inform prevention strategies and elucidate biologic pathways related to lung cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 25(3); 532–9. ©2016 AACR.

– That morning bagel, bowl of corn flakes, or packet of instant oatmeal could be increasing your risk of lung cancer, according to a study published this month. NBC News reports researchers in Texas found a link between foods with a high glycemic index and lung cancer, which kills more Americans per year than any other cancer. After comparing the diets of more than 1,900 people with lung cancer and more than 2,400 without it, researchers found a 49% increase in lung cancer risk for those who ate the most high glycemic foods versus those who ate the least, according to the Telegraph. Forbes reports the glycemic index measures how quickly carbs raise blood sugar levels. Foods with a high glycemic index include white bread, many breakfast cereals, white rice, pineapple, melons, popcorn, and more. High glycemic foods have been linked to other cancers in the past, but doctors aren't sure why they would contribute to lung cancer. One possibility is that as foods with a high glycemic index increase insulin levels, they also increase insulin-like growth factors. Those IGFs could play a role in growing small tumors. Another interesting result from the study: nonsmokers who ate a lot of high glycemic foods were more than twice as likely to have lung cancer than nonsmokers who ate the least amount of those foods. While the study isn't conclusive, the doctor who led it says eating foods with a low glycemic index may lower the risk of lung cancer. Those foods include stone-ground whole wheat bread, rolled oatmeal, non-starchy vegetables, and most fruits. (These five states have the most cancer deaths.)

UPDATE: The Pirate Bay admitted Tuesday that the North Korea story was a hoax. "We're still only in it for the f**kin lulz and it doesn't matter to us if thousands of users disband the ship," the organization said on its Facebook page. "We hope that yesterdays little hack proved that we know the Internet better than our enemies." Original Story In a strange move, The Pirate Bay announced today that it will filter part of its operations through North Korea. "Today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea, to fight our battles from their network," The Pirate Bay said in a blog post. Given that North Korea severely restricts its citizens' access to technology, including cell phones and the Internet, the thought of an organization that promotes Internet freedom setting up shop there seems bizarre. When The Pirate Bay posted the news to its Facebook page, many of those who commented questioned whether the site was trolling them. But TorrentFreak reported this afternoon that traceroutes suggest that The Pirate Bay is indeed being routed through North Korea. What gives? The Pirate Bay acknowledged that "this is truly an ironic situation." The organization pointed to the U.S., which values freedom and freedom of speech, but is full of corruption, according to The Pirate Bay. "And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information," the group said. What that "help" entails is not clear. The Pirate Bay said working in North Korea could be the "first step of this country's changing view of access to information." "It's a country opening up and one thing is sure, they do not care about threats like others do," The Pirate Bay continued. "In that way, TPB and Korea might have a special bond." "We will do our best to influence the Korean leaders to also let their own population use our service, and to make sure that we can help improve the situation in any way we can," the group continued. "When someone is reaching out to make things better, it's also ones duty to grab their hand." Last week, The Pirate Bay left Sweden for Norway and Spain amidst legal threats. But according to TorrentFreak, the site was not actually welcome in Norway, prompting some downtime today before The Pirate Bay re-emerged in North Korea. Those behind The Pirate Bay are not actually in North Korea, just using its technology. In recent years, courts in various countries have ordered ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay because of the copyrighted material available on the site. The news comes shortly after former NBA star Dennis Rodman traveled to North Korea and became one of the first Americans to ever meet the country's new leader, Kim Jong Un. Rodman, of course, might not be the foremost expert on the region. Shortly after his arrival he tweeted that "Maybe I'll run into the Gangnam Style dude while I'm here" - referencing Psy, the South Korean pop star who probably doesn't hang out too much in Pyongyang. After Psy corrected him, Rodman later said the tweet was a joke. As Col. Steve Ganyard, USMC (Ret.), a former deputy assistant secretary of state, told ABC News, "there is nobody at the CIA who can tell you more personally about Kim Jong Un than Dennis Rodman, and that in itself is scary." Two Americans with a bit more knowledge on world affairs and technology - Bill Richardson and Eric Schmidt - were also in North Korea recently, but did not meet with Kim Jong Un. In discussing his trip, Schmidt said in a January blog post that "overall, the technology in North Korea is very limited right now." "As the world becomes increasingly connected, the North Korean decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world and their economic growth. It will make it harder for them to catch up economically," Schmidt concluded. ||||| The Pirate Bay says it has been offered virtual asylum in North Korea. The move comes after the Norwegian Pirate Party was forced to stop routing traffic for the infamous BitTorrent site by a local copyright group. "We can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the Republic of Korea, to fight our battles from their network," the Pirate Bay says. A traceroute indeed suggests that The Pirate Bay is now being routed through the dictatorial country. Last week the Swedish Pirate Party was forced to shut down its routing services to The Pirate Bay. The Party and its leaders took this difficult decision after they were threatened with a lawsuit by a local anti-piracy group. Luckily for The Pirate Bay, the pirate parties of Norway and Catalunya were willing to take over the role. However, after just a few days the Norwegians had to shut down their Pirate Bay node as well, facing similar threats as their Swedish comrades. This resulted in some downtime earlier today after which The Pirate Bay returned online from a rather unexpected location. A Pirate Bay insider informs TorrentFreak that they had been working for a while to get connectivity in North Korea. Today they made the big switch. “We’ve been in talks with them for about two weeks, since they opened access for foreigners to use 3G in the country,” a Pirate Bay insider told us. “TPB has been invited just like Eric Schmidt and Dennis Rodman. We’ve declined up until now.” While The Pirate Bay may not visit North Korea, they announce that they are using the country’s network to connect the BitTorrent site to the rest of the world. “This is truly an ironic situation. We have been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly huge corporations from the United States of America, a place where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high.” “At the same time, companies from that country are chasing a competitor from other countries, bribing police and lawmakers, threatening political parties and physically hunting people from our crew. And to our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information,” they add. The Pirate Bay says that it sees the current step as one forward for North Korea, and the BitTorrent site hopes that all North Koreans can soon access the site to foster freedom of information. “We believe that being offered our virtual asylum in Korea is a first step of this country’s changing view of access to information. It’s a country opening up and one thing is sure, they do not care about threats like others do. In that way, TPB and Korea might have a special bond.” “We will do our best to influence the Korean leaders to also let their own population use our service, and to make sure that we can help improve the situation in any way we can. When someone is reaching out to make things better, it’s also ones duty to grab their hand,” TPB concludes. It’s worth noting that the Korean connection is used to hide Pirate Bay’s true location. The cloud servers behind it are still believed to be hosted elsewhere in the world. While it’s hard to believe everything The Pirate Bay says, the site does indeed route through a North Korean netblock at the moment. Whether it is sanctioned by the authorities, or if there is perhaps some hacking and hijacking trickery involved is a “mystery”. Keep in mind that the Pirate Bay is known for its satire. In either case, Hollywood and the major music labels will have a hard time shutting that node down. Update: The Pirate Bay admits on Facebook, as expected, that it was a hack for the lulz. “We hope that yesterdays little hack proved that we know the internet better than our enemies. Since about 40% of the entire internets traffic consists of torrents enabled by us, you can almost say that we ARE the internets. Fuck with the internets and we’ll ridicule you (points at MAFIAA with a retractable baton) until you beg for mercy.” “We’ve hopefully made clear (once again) that we don’t run TPB to make money. A profit hungry idiot (points at MAFIAA with a retractable baton) doesn’t tell the world that they have partnered with the most hated dictatorship in the world. We can play that stunt though, cause we’re still only in it for the fuckin lulz and it doesn’t matter to us if thousands of users disband the ship.” “We’ve also learned that many of you need to be more critical. Even towards us. You can’t seriously cheer the “fact” that we moved our servers to bloody North Korea. Applauds to you who told us to fuck off. Always stay critical. Towards everyone!” Update: The Norwegian Pirate Party told TorrentFreak that they never routed any traffic. They just put their name on the node. The Telecom company Availo pulled the plug, allegedly after being contacted by copyright holders.

– North Korea has been getting some odd guests lately. First it was Dennis Rodman; now, controversial file-sharing site Pirate Bay is making a home in the country, PC Magazine reports. "Today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic of Korea, to fight our battles from their network," said the site in a blog post. Though some at first doubted the seriousness of the post, Torrentfreak says the site is being routed through the North—though its workers aren't actually based there. It's "truly an ironic situation," says the Pirate Bay, which exited Sweden last week. "To our help comes a government famous in our part of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and forbidding access to information." The site hopes to effect some good in the country, which it says is "opening up." "We will do our best to influence the Korean leaders to also let their own population use our service," it said. "When someone is reaching out to make things better, it's also one's duty to grab their hand."

Campbell Co. girl asked to stop attending school because of her "boyish" looks LYNCHBURG, Va. - You won't have any problem getting Sunnie Kahle to open up about her hobbies. The energetic eight-year-old will proudly show you her collection of coins, hunting knives, and autographed baseballs. "It's fun," she explained, when asked why she enjoys collecting those items. Kahle likes teddy bears and colorful bracelets, but for the most part she's interested in things that might be considered "boy hobbies." "Sunnie realizes she's a female, but she wants to do boy things," said Doris Thompson, Kahle's great-grandmother and legal guardian. "She wants to play rough and tough." Thompson has raised Kahle since she was an infant. When she turned five, Thompson said she asked for a short hair cut. "She had hair down to her waist and she wanted to give it to a child with cancer," said Thompson. "After we cut her hair she started wanting to wear jeans and a t-shirt. She didn't want to wear her frilly dresses anymore." Her appearance started leading to awkward questions at school. Kahle said her classmates would occasionally ask if she was a boy or a girl, but she said the question did not hurt her feelings. The issue caught the attention of administrators at Timberlake Christian School, where Kahle was a student. Elementary principal Becky Bowman sent home a letter last month, reminding Thompson of the school's religious affiliation and it's right to refuse students who contradict a "biblical lifestyle." "We believe that unless Sunnie and her family clearly understand that God has made her female and her dress and behavior need to follow suit with her God-ordained identity, that TCS is not the best place for her future education," Bowman wrote in the letter, which was given to WDBJ7 by Thompson. Thompson said she was offended by the letter's language and its references to biblical passages about sexual immorality. "To claim that we are condoning sexual immorality in our home is nonsense," Thompson said. "We are Christians. We understand the Bible. Sunnie knows it very well. She has accepted Christ." Thompson says Kahle is simply a tomboy, and that she's too young to understand sexual orientation or gender issues. "If my child grows up to be homosexual or transgendered, I will love her that much more," Thompson said. Although she wasn't forced to leave, Kahle is now in public school and no longer attending Timberlake Christian. She wishes things would have turned out differently. "I should just be able to be me and not let them worry about it," Kahle said. Jeff Abbett, administrator of Timberlake Christian Schools, sent WDBJ7 the following statement Tuesday afternoon: "We are heart-broken that Sunnie’s grandparents have made her the subject of a public discussion. We regret that they made the decision to withdraw Sunnie immediately from Timberlake Christian Schools. For confidentiality reasons related to a minor, it is not possible for us to explain in full detail the volume of documentation we have concerning the situation that the grandparents have made public. There is much more to this story than has been revealed related to Sunnie and the classroom environment. Our documentation shows a significantly different narrative than the one portrayed in the original news report. You can be assured that we have cared for Sunnie and worked with her grandparents for several years to assist them. Our TCS teachers and administrators love Sunnie and we can assure everyone that this has never been an issue of hair length or boots as it has been portrayed. It has been our constant desire over the last several years to work with this family and to shepherd this precious little girl in a way consistent with traditional values. As a private Christian school, we have the responsibility to all our students to assist parents to instill the Christian values upon which our school is founded. We reiterate that the decision to remove Sunnie was entirely that of the grandparents." Thompson said that Kahle never had any behavioral issues at TCS and maintained a 4.0 average in her academic work. She said the only disciplinary issue that Kahle might have caused was that she wanted to wear boy's pants as part of her school uniform. ||||| Little Girl Taken Out Of Christian School After Told She's Too Much Like A Boy Posted: Monday, March 24, 2014 10:22 PM EDT Timberlake, VA - Sports, sneakers, and short hair; it's what makes eight year old Sunnie Kahle unique. It's also what had her removed from Timberlake Christian School. Her grandparents pulled the plug on her time there after they said she was no longer welcome. The family received a letter telling them that if their eight year old granddaughter didn't follow the school's "biblical standards," that she'd be refused enrollment next year. She's out and in public school now. Sunnie Kahle has short hair and a huge heart, and as far as her grandparents are concerned, she is a completely normal little girl. "She cries every morning to get on the bus, she cries when she comes home because she wants to go back to Timberlake Christian with her friends," said Doris Thompson. Doris and Carroll Thompson are Sunnie's grandparents. They adopted and raised the little girl and took her out of Timberlake Christian School when they received a letter from the school's K-8 Principal. "You're probably aware that Timberlake Christian School is a religious, Bible believing institution providing education in a distinctly Christian environment," read Doris from a part of the letter. The letter goes on to say that students have been confused about whether Sunnie is a boy or girl and specifies that administrators can refuse enrollment for condoning sexual immorality, practicing a homosexual lifestyle or alternative gender identity. The letter goes on to reference specific Bible verses that affirm these beliefs. The letter reads in part, "We believe that unless Sunnie as well as her family clearly understand that God has made her female and her dress and behavior need to follow suit with her God-ordained identity, that TCS is not the best place for her future education." "How do you label a child, eight years old, or discriminate against an eight year old child? It just don't happen" said Carroll Thompson. "Sunnie says, 'I'm a girl, I know I'm a girl' and she said then you know, you're acting like and looking, and wanting to look and act like a boy" said Doris. An administrator from Timberlake Christian, said the problem with Sunnie goes "far beyond her hair length" and that the little girl is a good student, but that "things disturbed the classroom environment." "How do you tell a child when she wants to wear pants a shirt, and go out and play in the mud and so forth, how do you tell her, no you can't, you've got to wear a pink bow in your hair, and you've got to let your hair grow out long, how do you do that? I can't do that" said Doris. School administrators said they have not accused Sunnie of being anything or anyone and simply asked that her family follow the guidelines they set forth for all students. The Thompsons say they have no desire to re-enroll Sunnie at Timberlake Christian

– An 8-year-old girl's grandparents received a warning letter from her western Virginia school: Sunnie Kahle, the letter suggested, isn't feminine enough—and risked getting kicked out of the institution. "We believe that unless Sunnie as well as her family clearly understand that God has made her female and her dress and behavior need to follow suit with her God-ordained identity, that (Timberlake Christian School) is not the best place for her," the letter said. Kahle's grandparents, Doris and Carroll Thompson, didn't wait for the school to take action; they pulled her out of TCS themselves, ABC 13 reports. "How do you label a child or discriminate against an 8-year-old child?" asks Carroll Thompson. At age 5, Sunnie "had hair down to her waist and she wanted to give it to a child with cancer," Doris Thompson tells WDBJ7. Kids would sometimes ask about her gender, but she didn't mind. "Sunnie realizes she's a female, but she wants to do boy things," Doris Thompson notes. Now Sunnie is at public school, but she's struggling. A TCS administrator says the issue "goes far beyond her hair length," adding that "things disturbed the classroom environment."

NPR is known for their high journalistic standards, on the air, on their site, and even on Facebook. So it came as an endearing surprise when the organization’s official Facebook page was updated with a story about “Ramona.” In a Facebook post from Monday night, NPR posted about Ramona and her adventures with toys, hugs, and cats. The story itself is surreal out of context, because there isn’t enough information to know who or what Ramona is. But it’s the wholesomeness and adorableness of Ramona’s adventures, combined with the mistake on NPR’s part, that’s making the original post so memorable. “Ramona is given new toy: Smiles, examines for 20 seconds, discards,” the original post reads. “Ramona gets a hug: Acquiesces momentarily, squirms to be put down. Ramona sees three cats 30 feet away: Immediately possessed by shrieking, spasmodic joy that continues after cats flee for their lives.” Screengrab via NPR/Facebook NPR has since been edited the Facebook post, apologizing for the error. But by the time the organization caught the mistake, the internet already heard about Ramona and needed to know more. “This is so much better than the depressing news lately,” one Facebook user wrote. “Can Ramona updates be a new NPR feature?” “Where do we sign up for future Ramona updates?” another poster asked. You are so adorable @NPR. This seriously gave me the best lol today, which I needed. Please don’t fire Ramona’s human. pic.twitter.com/8G2xPNoJrw — Rocktober dreamer (@hurryhurryomaha) October 3, 2017 Dear @NPR, bring back Ramona. She was the best thing about today. pic.twitter.com/RllpOTuqtg — Amanda Kelly (@kelly_digital) October 3, 2017 Others are debating whether Ramona is a toddler or a cat. .@NPR, readers demand to know if Ramona is going to get a cat. Or, plot twist, is Ramona also a cat? #ramonaupdates pic.twitter.com/Je4npr3Y1i — Lindsey Wasson (@lindseywasson) October 3, 2017 Is @NPR's now-edited "Ramona" post about a cat or a human child? #RamonaUpdates — Jordan Kush (@jordankkush) October 3, 2017 Everything about this is wondeful, including the fact that people don’t know if Ramona is a baby or a cat. My vote is for baby. @NPR https://t.co/b6545pwvHx — Leah White (@leahlibrarian) October 3, 2017 Cat, toddler, dog, or something else, no one knows who Ramona is and whether NPR will listen to fans’ demands for more Ramona reports. But for many, the accidental post was a short break from a particularly stressful news cycle, after reports came in late Sunday and early Monday on the Las Vegas shooting that left 59 dead and over 500 injured. So while Ramona may not come back to NPR’s Facebook page, her story is a testament to the joyous things still happening around the world, even in the wake of a major national crisis. The NPR errant Ramona Facebook post is the only good thing in the world right now pic.twitter.com/QchgLVqChO — Ellen Stark (@ellenstark) October 3, 2017 Thanks Ramona, for being a bright spot in a bad news cycle. And thanks @NPR for allowing us to see the edit history 😂 pic.twitter.com/mNl0pYqlVE — Nicole (@mcafee2012) October 3, 2017 H/T Mashable Related video Why did this 24 y/o become an Internet Exhibitionist? Update, 10:30am CT, Oct. 3: NPR confirms that Ramona is indeed a baby! Swing editor Christopher Dean Hopkins says he accidentally posted the Ramona story to NPR’s Facebook page instead of his personal one. It remains unknown, however, if we’ll get more Ramona updates in the future. “I suppose if people keep promising to pledge to NPR and it doesn’t distract from the very good work our NPR journalists do, we’ll see,” Hopkins says. ||||| UPDATE: Oct. 3, 2017, 12:55 p.m. UTC NPR published a story Tuesday stating that Ramona is, in fact, not a cat—she is a baby. But she does have a cat. Here's hoping Ramona and her feline friend become NPR mainstays in the coming weeks. ——- Original story: Accidentally posting personal stuff onto a work page is every social media manager's worst nightmare. This time, after the last few days, it came as a moment of relief. On Monday, an NPR staffer's accidental Facebook post went viral, amassing more than 20,000 reactions at the time of writing. It concerned none other than a cat named Ramona, presumably belonging to the author of the post. "Ramona is given new toy: Smiles, examines for 20 seconds, discards," reads the original post. "Ramona gets a hug: Acquiesces momentarily, squirms to be put down." Yes, even the mistake reads like something from NPR. The NPR errant Ramona Facebook post is the only good thing in the world right now pic.twitter.com/QchgLVqChO — Ellen Stark (@ellenstark) October 3, 2017 The post was edited shortly afterward with an apology for the error, indicating that it was intended for a personal account. But it was too late, and people had caught wind of Ramona the cat. They wanted more. Dear @NPR: You do realize that tomorrow you have to do a story about #Ramona, right? WITH INTERVIEW. This is non-negotiable. ❤️ — Stephen Smith (@StephenSmithEsq) October 3, 2017 People were also calling on NPR to ensure the poster in question wouldn't be disciplined for their minor error. After all, what's more certain in life than mistakes and misbehaving cats?

– Monday was a grim day to be reading the news, but an accidental post on NPR's Facebook account turned out to be a big exception. It's deleted now, but the Daily Dot recounts: “Ramona is given new toy: Smiles, examines for 20 seconds, discards," it began. Then: “Ramona gets a hug: Acquiesces momentarily, squirms to be put down. Ramona sees three cats 30 feet away: Immediately possessed by shrieking, spasmodic joy that continues after cats flee for their lives.” About 10 minutes later, poof, it was gone, followed by a mea culpa: "EDIT: This post was intended for a personal account. We apologize for the error." As NPR itself explains, social media editor Christopher Dean Hopkins put up the errant post. The story also clarifies that Ramona is a baby, not a cat as many thought. As Babble notes, the gaffe quickly became an Internet sensation as people clicked on the "edit history" of the editor's note to figure out the original post. "We don't generally delete posts, so I tried to do it in a way that would be transparent," says Hopkins. Mashable rounds up scores of tweets on the subject, including one that seems to sum up the reason for the popularity: "The NPR errant Ramona Facebook post is the only thing good in the world right now," it reads. People began demanding updates about Ramona, and a petition at Change.org suggests not only a series about her but a raise for Hopkins. No word from NPR on whether Ramona will resurface, but its story includes a photo of the new pint-sized celeb. (Speaking of wonderful online things, here's the story behind one of the best comments ever.)

Barack Obama’s relationship with his mother was complicated. She called him Barry or Bar (sounds like bear). She pushed him to be serious and to look at people with empathy. He always felt protective of her, according to his memoir. He describes a scene in which she told him that she intended to marry Lolo Soetoro and that, after the marriage, they would all live in Indonesia. As Obama recalls it, he turned to her and asked, “But do you love him?” — a question that made her chin tremble. It was, at the least, precocious. At the time he was only 31 / 2 . But it was also in keeping with one of the themes that weaves through his dealings with his mother over the years — that she was naive and idealistic, sometimes too good for her own good. In the journal that his New York girlfriend, Genevieve Cook, kept during their time together in the early 1980s, Cook wrote, “Told me the other night of having pushed his mother away over past 2 years in an effort to extract himself from the role of supporting man in her life — she feels rejected and has withdrawn somewhat.” Ann once joked that she had children with a Kenyan and an Indonesian so that the kids would not have light skin and get sunburns. She herself looked like a Kansas schoolmarm, she noted, which made it easy for her to sail through Customs during her foreign comings and goings. Barry, the hapa Kenyan, and his little sister Maya, the hapa Indonesian, could never say the same. The mother and her two children struggled to find their identities, but in very different ways. Ann found hers through her work and travels, a lifestyle that, among other things, meant she and her son were apart for most of his adolescence, he in Honolulu with his grandparents, she in Indonesia. The search for identity was more psychological for her children, something that Maya said her mother must have understood but never fully acknowledged. In her career, Ann was idealistic but not naive. If she at times came across as naive to her children, it was in the role of a mother not wanting her children to suffer. ||||| David Maraniss, an associate editor of The Post, is the author of “First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton�? and the forthcoming “Barack Obama: The Story.�? This is the fifth column in an occasional series on the 2012 presidential candidates’ political lives. Barack Obama’s mother died on Nov. 7, 1995, a few weeks before her 53rd birthday. She was less than two years older than the president is now. Her death from uterine cancer came between two key events in her son’s life. Four months earlier “Dreams From My Father�? had been published; it seemed destined to drown unnoticed in the deep ocean of books. One year later Obama won his first election, to the Illinois state Senate, the initial stop on his swift journey to the White House that, along the way, brought a mass audience to that forgotten memoir, which in its best-selling revival defined his political image and provided him with lifelong financial security. The title of the book was at once understandable and misleading. Obama barely knew his father except in dreams, or nightmares. He spent time with the old man only once, when he was 10, for an unsatisfying month. It is harsh to say but nonetheless likely that Barack Obama II was lucky never to have lived with Barack Obama Sr., an abusive alcoholic. By far the most influential figures in Obama’s early life were his mother and grandmother. He has some of the demeanor of his grandmother and the will and much of the outlook of his mother. “Dreams From My Mother�? better evokes his life’s story. She was a woman of many names. Born Stanley Ann Dunham, she assumed, as most people did, that her unusual first name was imposed by her father. An uncle tells a different story, attributing the choice to Madelyn Dunham, Stanley Ann’s mother, who as a small-town Kansas girl yearned to emulate Bette Davis, the sophisticated actress she saw on the big screen at the air-conditioned Augusta Theater. While Madelyn was pregnant, Davis was starring in a movie in which she played a female character named Stanley. (As it happened, no two people could have been less alike than Madelyn’s daughter and this film character, who was cruel, cunning and racist.) Stanley Ann became Stannie Ann in grade school, Stanley in high school and, finally, Ann in adulthood. Her last name changed as often, from Dunham to Obama to Soetoro to a final spelling of Sutoro. By any name, she was a searcher. She married a Kenyan and an Indonesian (both marriages collapsed; the first quickly, the second slowly) and spent most of her adult life overseas. She was constantly on the move. She earned a doctorate in anthropology and had an anthropologist’s nature as a participant observer, a character trait shared by her son. She was fascinated by other cultures and ways of living. A polyglot, she could speak Bahasa Indonesia fluently and had a working knowledge of Urdu, Hindi, Javanese, French and Latin. There was never a foreign film she did not want to see, a batik dress she did not want to wear, a mythology she did not wish to understand. In Indonesia, where she spent most of her adult life, she became obsessed with the work of rural blacksmiths, who were said to forge human souls. She devoted herself later to helping Javanese women maintain their handicraft livelihoods in a male-dominated society that practiced what she called “the gentle oppression�? of women. She would wake up before dawn every morning and, in notebooks with the black-and-white speckled covers, record her travels, her encounters and her hopes for people, including her only son. Barack Obama’s relationship with his mother was complicated. She called him Barry or Bar (sounds like bear). She pushed him to be serious and to look at people with empathy. He always felt protective of her, according to his memoir. He describes a scene in which she told him that she intended to marry Lolo Soetoro and that, after the marriage, they would all live in Indonesia. As Obama recalls it, he turned to her and asked, “But do you love him?�? — a question that made her chin tremble. It was, at the least, precocious. At the time he was only 31 / 2 . But it was also in keeping with one of the themes that weaves through his dealings with his mother over the years — that she was naive and idealistic, sometimes too good for her own good. In the journal that his New York girlfriend, Genevieve Cook, kept during their time together in the early 1980s, Cook wrote, “Told me the other night of having pushed his mother away over past 2 years in an effort to extract himself from the role of supporting man in her life — she feels rejected and has withdrawn somewhat.�? Ann once joked that she had children with a Kenyan and an Indonesian so that the kids would not have light skin and get sunburns. She herself looked like a Kansas schoolmarm, she noted, which made it easy for her to sail through Customs during her foreign comings and goings. Barry, the hapa Kenyan, and his little sister Maya, the hapa Indonesian, could never say the same. The mother and her two children struggled to find their identities, but in very different ways. Ann found hers through her work and travels, a lifestyle that, among other things, meant she and her son were apart for most of his adolescence, he in Honolulu with his grandparents, she in Indonesia. The search for identity was more psychological for her children, something that Maya said her mother must have understood but never fully acknowledged. In her career, Ann was idealistic but not naive. If she at times came across as naive to her children, it was in the role of a mother not wanting her children to suffer. “She made sure that laughter was the prevailing form of communication and that nothing ever became acrimonious and that everything was pretty and everything was sacred,�? Maya told me during an interview. “Maybe she didn’t want us to suffer with identity. She wanted us to think of it as a gift. The fact that we were multilayered and multidimensional and multiracial — it meant that she was perhaps unprepared when we did struggle with issues of identity. She was not really able to help us grapple with that in any nuanced way. Perhaps she felt that if she did acknowledge the difficulty of it, she would feel guilty.�? No guilt on Mother’s Day. Barack Obama’s mother, by any name, did not live to see her son’s rise, but she shaped the essence of this president.

– Barack Obama titled his memoir Dreams From My Father, but "Dreams From My Mother better evokes his story," writes Washington Post editor and Obama biographer David Maraniss. The president is very much a reflection of his mom, the Kansas-born Stanley Ann Dunham who married a Kenyan and later an Indonesian. "She was a searcher," writes Marannis in a Mother's Day tribute, a woman who earned a doctorate in anthropology and was endlessly "fascinated by other cultures and ways of living." One of the themes in Obama's relationship with his mom is that she was "naive and idealistic, sometimes too good for her own good," writes Maraniss. But if she came off as naive, "it was in the role of a mother not wanting her children to suffer." She may not have lived to see her son make history, "but she shaped the essence of this president." Click for the full essay, which includes a movie-related theory on why she was named Stanley. (Click to read about the biography excerpt dealing with Obama's old girlfriends.)

House Republicans are short of the votes they need to avoid a government shutdown, but Speaker Paul Ryan and GOP leaders remain confident they will pass a stopgap funding measure when it comes to the floor on Thursday. President Donald Trump is personally leaning on GOP lawmakers to fall into line, especially hard-line conservatives who are opposed to virtually anything Ryan and his leadership team propose. Story Continued Below Across the Capitol, Senate Democrats are upset about the House potentially jamming them with a last-minute bill that would do nothing more than avert the worst-case scenario. They’re still smarting over Trump seemingly backing away last week from a bipartisan deal to protect 700,000 Dreamers from deportation. Senate Democrats have refused to say whether they would block the funding measure, though Republicans believe Democrats won’t risk a shutdown with control of the chamber in play this fall. With government funding set to run out on Friday — and the two sides far apart on an immigration deal — Ryan and senior House Republicans are pushing legislation to keep the government funded until Feb. 16. In a bid to pick up votes from both parties, the measure would also fund a popular children’s health program for six more years and delay the implementation of several Obamacare taxes. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and fellow Democrats have refused to back the plan. Since Republicans are in the majority, they should pass the short-term funding bill — the fourth since the fiscal year began on Oct. 1 — without Democrats’ help, they say. With Democrats on the sidelines, Republicans spent Wednesday leaning on every member for their vote. “I think it passes. I don’t think it’s overwhelming, but I think it passes,” Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker (R-N.C.) said after GOP lawmakers met on Wednesday. Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. Inside the House Republican Conference, there are three main factions of potential “no” votes: defense hawks unhappy over the leadership’s failure to boost Pentagon funding; the Freedom Caucus, the group of conservative hard-liners; and members who are simply unsure what to do. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) — both key players on defense issues — will back the funding bill, according to Turner and a top House Republican. “I’m voting for the CR in support of the speaker and his efforts to get a budget deal,” Turner said. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), a defense hawk whose state stands to run out of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program this month, said Wednesday he was “torn” over the bill. “It’s a pretty tough vote for me, but it’s really a tough vote for all of us, because I think all of us care about defense and all of us care about” children’s health, Byrne said, suggesting that he will ultimately back the proposal. Knowing the vote is close, Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and other GOP leaders debated on Wednesday morning whether to add more provisions to the package, such as funding for community health centers. In the end, they decided to move ahead with the package as is, said GOP sources. But Freedom Caucus leaders say their group alone has enough disgruntled members to block the bill if Democrats remain opposed. The group’s chairman, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), is working to elbow himself into the broader spending and immigration talks. Meadows said his main priority is to make sure Ryan has a plan to end the “stop-and-go” budgeting cycle. Noting that Congress has already passed three continuing resolutions, or CRs, to keep the government running, he said, “So how is this CR going to produce a plan that’s different than the last three? Are we just going to hope that Feb. 16 is better than Jan. 19 just because it’s in a different month?” Trump has been pressuring Meadows to vote for the funding bill, and GOP leaders hope it will eventually bring Freedom Caucus members around. The White House issued a formal statement in support of the CR package on Wednesday afternoon. Restless conservatives have been asking Ryan and other senior Republicans for concessions to get them to yes, though it’s unclear whether they’ll get them. Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) said he’s holding out for assurances from GOP leaders that they’ll put a conservative Dreamers bill authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) on the floor. But GOP leaders have resisted, fearing a vote would upset bipartisan immigration talks to shield young immigrants from deportation. Other Freedom Caucus members are pushing to attach a yearlong appropriation for the Pentagon. GOP leaders, however, know that will fail in the Senate, so they aren’t entertaining the idea. “It’s crisis management at its worst,” Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) complained. “Nobody wants to shut down the government, but if they load this up … they’re going to have a fight on this.” House Democrats will refuse to bail out GOP leaders if Republicans can’t put up the votes themselves. “My sense is that everybody’s going to be unified on this. We’re not going to have many defections, if any,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.). “We have no bargaining power if we don’t stay unified.” When asked whether Democrats would uniformly vote against the bill, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said, “We’ll see what they’re going to do, but I think that’s probably the case.” During a news conference on Wednesday, Ryan tried to blame Democrats for any problems passing the funding bill, despite the internal GOP schism. “Real deadlines are occurring this Friday,” the Wisconsin Republican told reporters. “That is why it is unconscionable to me that they would block funding for our military or cut off funding for these states that really will lose their funding for [children’s health] by playing these political games and tying them to unrelated issues.” House Republicans had hoped to gain some Democratic votes by attaching policy sweeteners to the bill, including children’s health funding and delay of the Obamacare taxes. But members of the Congressional Black Caucus, whom Republicans had hoped to win over, say they’re still planning to oppose the proposal. Many CBC members were livid after Trump called certain African nations “shithole countries” during a meeting with lawmakers at the White House last week. They say the episode strengthened their resolve to withhold votes until Republicans show progress on a bipartisan Dreamers deal. Children’s health funding “alone is probably not going to change much,” said one CBC member, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), after the group’s weekly meeting Wednesday. “Why would we want to send a message to 800,000 young people” that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program “is not important enough to demand action on it in exchange for our support?” Pelosi implored Democrats to vote against the measure during a caucus meeting Wednesday morning. “We can’t vote for what they’re putting forth. Not for what’s in it but [for] what’s not in it,” Pelosi told lawmakers, according to an aide in the room. “This is an important moment for our caucus, standing up for what we know is right. … We will not give up our leverage, for our priorities and for our Dreamers.” Senate Democrats have not yet taken a formal position on the spending package, waiting to see what happens in the House first. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) noted that a number of Democrats “have said they don’t like this deal, … [and if we] kick the can down the road this time, we’ll be back where we started the next time. So there’s very, very strong support not to go along.” Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said there was little enthusiasm for the GOP plan during a Democratic policy lunch on Wednesday. “A handful stood up and said, ‘We’re going to vote against the CR.’ Another one or two said not sure. No one stood up and said they had to vote for the CR.” Rachael Bade and Connor O’Brien contributed to this report. ||||| (CNN) White House chief of staff John Kelly told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday that some of President Donald Trump's positions as a candidate on the border wall were "uninformed," sources told CNN. Rep. Ruben Gallego confirmed the comment to CNN's Wolf Blitzer on "The Situation Room." "Yes, we heard him say that," the Arizona Democrat said. A source familiar with Kelly's comments in the closed-door meeting with Democrats and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus told CNN that Kelly said he has worked to educate the President and move him away from his campaign promises. Another source in the room with access to notes from the meeting told CNN that Kelly was talking about the difference between campaign speech and actual policy, saying, "You make campaign promises but then you learn the reality of governing, which is difficult." The wall comments, Kelly said, were just "not fully informed" during the campaign. The "uninformed" comment was first reported by The Washington Post. No new proposal from White House Lawmakers described the meeting as "positive" but also mostly a "rehash" of where both sides stand on stalled immigration talks. The packed meeting with Kelly, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and key Hispanic Democrats lasted an hour, and was "cordial," according to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a Nevada Democrat. Kelly did not bring a new proposal from the White House on immigration, Rep. Luis Guiterrez, D-Illinois, said, calling it "unfortunate." Democrats have been pushing for a solution for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy , which protected young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children and which President Donald Trump is ending, before they vote for government funding. Last week, Trump rejected a bipartisan proposal from senators that would have done so, in a meeting where he used vulgar language to refer to certain countries. The infamous "shithole countries" remark didn't come up in Wednesday's meeting, lawmakers said, as the conversation focused on the narrow DACA fix Democrats would like to see and the White House's priorities for a deal. "He called the meeting to listen, is how he framed it," Rep. Pete Aguilar of California said of Kelly. Hispanic Caucus members said they were surprised Kelly said he was unfamiliar with a bipartisan bill Aguilar worked on with Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd, and Aguilar said White House legislative director Marc Short, who was also in the meeting, has been informed about the bill. Kelly said he would look into it. "Gen. Kelly indicated that the President is motivated to have a fix," CHC Chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham said. "He didn't say he'd sign the bill, but he definitely indicated there would be positive review." Gutierrez said he took notes on what Kelly said, quoting Kelly: "If this is the best we can do, the President will sign it." Frustration remains Still, lawmakers expressed frustration with the lack of progress. Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva said the meeting was a "rehash" of old meetings, with the same talking points and positions. New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez said it was a "regurgitation" of both sides and the administration is too fixated on the border. "We had a cordial conversation but we don't need a cordial conversation, we need a substantive one," he said. Part of the group that negotiated the Senate compromise, Menendez said the administration's position on a deal is a "continuously moving" target and "it continuously expands." Both men said DACA recipients were being "held hostage" to extract concessions. Two emotional moments Two moments in the Kelly meeting that were more emotional than the rest of the cordial conversation, a source in the room said. At one point, things got a bit tense when Kelly used the term "chain migration" and Rep. Linda Sanchez confronted him, saying that's a term considered offensive and the issue is actually family reunification. "Please don't use that term," she said. Kelly didn't apologize or discuss it further but took it in, and later in the meeting acknowledged the term is disputed when discussing the issue. Apology from Gutierrez The source also said Gutierrez took a moment to say, noting he wanted to say it in front of colleagues, that he wanted to acknowledge in the past he got heated and used words he shouldn't have, a reference to past comments he made about Kelly and his military service. Kelly made a joke about having done so as well and it was positive, the source said. On the House floor in September, Gutierrez said: "General Kelly, when he was the head of Homeland Security, lied straight to the faces of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about preventing the mass deportation of (DACA recipients). ... General Kelly is a hypocrite who is a disgrace to the uniform he used to wear." This story has been updated to included additional developments. ||||| White House chief of staff John Kelly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Kelly says Trump has evolved on many issues since the campaign. Kelly... (Associated Press) White House chief of staff John Kelly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018. Kelly says Trump has evolved on many issues since the campaign. Kelly says in an interview with Baier that "there's been an evolutionary process that this president's... (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House chief of staff says President Donald Trump's views on immigration are evolving — giving some people hope for a compromise while perplexing others. John Kelly's comments come amid a shaky effort to craft an accord protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation — a push the White House and Republicans say they would back if it's coupled with tough border security measures and other restrictions. Kelly made the remarks Wednesday at a closed-door meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, participants say, and he made similar remarks later on Fox News Channel. Kelly said on Fox that he told the caucus that "they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed." He said Trump has "very definitely changed his attitude" toward protecting the young immigrants, "and even the wall, once we briefed him." "So he has evolved in the way he's looked at things," Kelly said. "Campaign to governing are two different things and this president has been very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realms of the possible." Kelly's comments were noteworthy because they openly acknowledged the difference between campaign promises and governing, and even suggested that Trump needed to be educated on the subject. They also come as lawmakers struggle to reach a bipartisan deal protecting "Dreamers" — around 800,000 people who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children and could be deported without legal protections. Part of negotiators' problem has been uncertainty over what Trump would accept. "He's not yet indicated what measure he's willing to sign," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Wednesday. "As soon as we figure out what he is for, then I will be convinced that we would not just be spinning our wheels going to this issue on the floor." Some lawmakers who met with Kelly Wednesday recalled his remarks differently. "He specifically said that there's some areas of the border that didn't needs the wall, and that the president didn't know that when he was making his campaign promises," Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a brief interview. Another lawmaker, Rep. Luis, Gutierrez, D-Ill., said Kelly told them that "there were statements made about the wall that were not informed statements. In other words, I've informed the president of what it takes to build a wall, so here's how we're going to do it. That's what I understood, and all of that was helpful." Many Democrats have said that without an immigration deal in sight, they'll vote against a Republican bill preventing a weekend government shutdown. Congressional passage must come by Friday to prevent an election-year shuttering of federal agencies that could be damaging to both parties. During his presidential campaign, Trump made it a mantra to promise to build a "beautiful" wall that would be paid for by Mexico. Since then, White House officials have repeatedly said it doesn't have to be a concrete wall from coast to coast but could include large stretches of fencing, technology or other systems. Trump also now wants Congress to provide taxpayer money to finance it. One White House official said Wednesday that Kelly's suggestion that Trump's positions had evolved was inartful, and maintained Trump is still committed to his immigration priorities. Trump ended the legal shields on "Dreamers" last year and gave Congress until March to renew them. Last week, he rejected a compromise by three Democratic and three Republican senators to restore those protections, a deal that included money to begin building the wall and other security steps. Trump's rejection angered the bargainers, and partisan feelings worsened after participants in a White House meeting last week said Trump had referred to African nations as "shitholes." Another group of high-level lawmakers has also started talks aimed at brokering an immigration deal, adding an additional level of uncertainty. Kelly said on Fox that "there's no doubt in my mind there's going to be a deal" protecting the Dreamers. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said there's "very, very strong" sentiment among Democrats in the chamber to oppose GOP-drafted legislation to keep the government's doors open. His comments underscored the problems GOP leaders face in winning congressional passage of that legislation. The bill would keep agencies open until mid-February and finance a popular children's health insurance program for a year. Democrats' votes are needed to advance the stopgap measure through the Senate. It's even unclear whether GOP leaders have nailed down enough votes to prevail in the House, where conservatives and strong boosters of the Pentagon have been unhappy. Conservative leader Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said he wants GOP leaders to add additional defense money. But he said he was pessimistic leaders would grant other conservative-backed ideas, such as the promise of a vote on a more conservative immigration bill authored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Zeke Miller, Kevin Freking and Marcy Gordon contributed to this report.

– After a year in office, President Trump's views on immigration are still "evolving," and some of the promises he made during his campaign were "uninformed," according to White House chief of staff John Kelly. Insiders tell the Washington Post that during a closed-door meeting with Democrats and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Wednesday, Kelly said a physical wall along the entire border with Mexico will never be built and Mexico won't pay for it. Kelly "specifically said that there's some areas of the border that didn't need the wall, and that the president didn't know that when he was making his campaign promise," Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego tells the AP. Kelly told the lawmakers he had helped Trump "evolve" on issues including the wall and DACA. New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez tells CNN that the meeting was "cordial," though it was mostly just a "regurgitation" of the positions of both sides. On Fox later Wednesday, Kelly explained his remarks, saying Trump "has evolved in the way he looks at things." He said: "Campaign to governing are two different things, and this president has been very flexible in terms of what’s in the realm of the possible." Kelly added that there is "no doubt" in his mind that a permanent deal to protect around 700,000 people covered by DACA will be reached soon, as long as both sides are willing to talk. Democrats are seeking a deal on DACA before they vote for a bill to avoid a government shutdown. Government funding is set to run out Friday and the two sides are still far apart, Politico notes

According to a Times analysis conducted in July, in a single stroke, the 2016 class of invitees took the academy 52% of the way toward its goal of doubling the number of nonwhites in its ranks. As for boosting the representation of women, however, the academy slightly lagged behind pace; the 2016 class brought the academy only about a fifth of the way toward its 2020 target. For the academy to meet its own 2020 goals, The Times has estimated that in the next three years the organization will have to invite 85 people of color to become members each year – a seemingly manageable number given that there were some 280 nonwhites in last year’s class alone. Hitting the target in terms of female members, however, may prove a higher hurdle. The Times estimates that the academy will need to add 395 women to its ranks per year to reach its target – significantly more than the 314 it invited in 2016. Given the persistent lack of diversity in the film industry as a whole, some think that the challenge of diversifying the academy’s membership could grow more difficult, not easier. A 2016 report by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism starkly outlined an “inclusion crisis” at the major studios, where directors are 97% male and 87% white, while women hold 21% of top executive positions and nonwhite actors earn just 27% of speaking roles. As the study’s authors bluntly put it, "The film industry still functions as a straight, white boys’ club.” 3. A number of relatively fresh faces and people best known from TV are likely to make the cut. Still, the academy insists it isn’t changing its standards for membership. Along with many longtime industry vets, last year’s class included a number of younger people who have only come onto the scene in the last few years, like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” star John Boyega, as well as some who may be better known for their work in television than in film, such as Tina Fey and America Ferrera. The academy prides itself on representing the cream of the crop in the film industry. While membership requirements vary among the individual branches, the academy’s overarching mandate states that candidates must have “demonstrated exceptional achievement in the field of theatrical motion pictures.” Given the historic underrepresentation of women and minorities in Hollywood, however, some have expressed doubt that the academy’s diversity goals can be met without the risk of changing these membership requirements. In an interview with The Times in 2016, former academy President Hawk Koch called the targets “impossible” to reach, saying, “There aren’t that many qualified people, period, of any race or gender, to invite each year.” But even as the boundary between film and television continues to blur, the academy leadership has consistently maintained it will not alter the criteria for membership. Hudson says she is confident that there are still many highly qualified film industry professionals out there who have yet to be brought into the fold. “There are so many artists who were not admitted in the past because we had a limit on how many new members we invited each year,” she told The Times last month. “So with the elimination of those [quotas] and the aggressive pursuit of excellence by all of our members, I think we will be able to expand in a more inclusive way for several years.” 4. Much of that expansion will continue to come from outside of the United States. In recent years, as part of its effort to transform itself into a more international organization, the academy has supplemented its traditional membership process with a global recruitment campaign. Of last year’s class, more than 40% of the new members came from abroad – both established filmmakers and actors like J.A. Bayona and Alicia Vikander as well as many people far less well known to American moviegoers – representing 59 countries around the globe. Not only does such a global expansion broaden the academy’s pool of potential members, bringing its diversity goals closer within reach, but it furthers the group’s mission to become the preeminent organization representing the film community around the world, not just in Los Angeles. For foreign invitees, such as Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Mansour, who was invited to join last year, being brought into Hollywood’s most exclusive club can be a life-changing experience. “Sometimes as a woman, and especially one from a foreign country, it gets hard for them to find a project that fits you as a director,” Mansour told The Times last year. “[The academy] is the most prestigious organization in the world. It anchors you in. It makes me more relevant. People actually take you seriously.” But, as the academy extends its reach across the globe, it remains to be seen to what extent this more international membership may or may not be reflected in the kinds of films and performances that earn Oscar recognition. ||||| The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is a time where the world’s foremost creatives get together to celebrate progress, innovation, and excellence in creative communications. During the weeklong festival, there are panels and talks given by people from Alexander Wang , to Sheryl Sandberg, to Pussy Riot — it's an amazing time to hear about what's changing in the world of media. This year, our very own Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth took the stage to interview iconic trailblazer Halle Berry, as part of a series by Interpublic Group that aimed to bring intersectional feminism to the festival by elevating the voices of women of color. Halle was the first black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, and is still the only only black woman to have done so, 15 years later. She helped redefined American beauty standards, and continues to drive the dialogue about what it means to be a black woman in Hollywood. Now, with a multi-decade acting career under her belt, Halle is focused on using her voice and her platform to speak out about the issues that really matter to her. Halle opened up about being a mom to a black son in the age of Black Lives Matter , the strides we still need to make for diversity in Hollywood, and the mic-drop-worthy advice she'd give to her 18-year-old self. You can watch the best moments from their conversation below. On Breaking Boundaries On Black Lives Matter On True Diversity in the Film Industry On Race and Identity Halle Berry isn't the only celeb Elaine Welteroth has caught up with recently. Check this out: A Teen Vogue Intern Is Back on Television, and It's Not Lauren Conrad ||||| The impetus for the talent agency's Motion Picture Diversity Index came following the release of the Motion Picture Assn. of America's Theatrical Market Statistics report, which found that non-white moviegoers made up 49% of tickets sold in 2016, and 45% in 2015. Because the numbers outpace the 38% of the U.S. population who are non-white, CAA became interested in the audience makeup of the top-grossing films of the year. With additional data from comScore/Screen Engine's PostTrak and Gracenote's Studio System, the goal was to determine the correlative factors of diverse casting, diverse audiences and box office success. ||||| In 2002, when Halle Berry became the first black woman to win the best-actress Oscar, she dedicated the award to “every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.” It felt like an important, emotionally charged moment of change in Hollywood history. Fifteen years later, though, Berry remains the only woman of color to have received that prestigious award. And in a new interview, Berry confessed how hurt she is by the Academy’s lack of diversity progress—highlighting the 2016 Oscar nominations, which inspired the #OscarsSoWhite backlash, as “probably one of my lowest professional moments.” Remembering the moment in 2016 when she heard that the Oscar nominations that year did not feature a single actor of color, Berry told Teen Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth that she sat there, remembering the emotional Oscar speech she gave in 2002. “I don’t even remember where that speech came from, because I didn’t have a speech [planned],” Berry said, speaking at a panel at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. “I was pretty sure Sissy Spacek was going to win. That [sentiment] just was what was ruminating in my spirit during that whole process.” When she heard about the 2016 nominations, though, she was struck with a sickening realization about her historic Oscar win. “I sat there and I really thought, ‘Wow, that moment really meant nothing. It meant nothing. I thought it meant something, but I think it meant nothing.’” “I was profoundly hurt by that, and saddened by that,” Berry continued. “It inspired me to try to get involved in other ways, which is why I want to start directing. I want to start producing more. I want to start making more opportunities for people of color. I have conversations more deeply with Academy members, and I’m trying to figure out how to help and add more diversity to the Academy.” “These kinds of groups have to start changing and have to become more conscious and more inclusive,” Berry added. “I think black people . . . people of color . . . only have a chance to win based on how much we’re allowed to put out. That says to me that we need more people of color writing, directing, producing—not just starring. We have to start telling stories that include us.” Since Berry’s win, eight women of color have been nominated in the best-actress category—Ruth Negga, of Loving, being the most recent.

– In her off-the-cuff acceptance speech, Halle Berry dedicated her 2002 Oscar for best actress to "every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened." But 15 years later, the opportunities are not at all like she imagined they would be. In fact, Berry says her win essentially did nothing to promote diversity in Hollywood. When only white actors scored Oscar nominations for acting roles in 2016, "I really thought, 'Wow, that moment really meant nothing. It meant nothing,'" Berry tells Teen Vogue, per Vanity Fair. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has since made strides to include more women and minorities—it's expected to reveal its "most diverse" class of new members Wednesday, reports the Los Angeles Times—but Berry is still the only black woman to have won the best-actress Oscar. To change that, "I want to start producing more. I want to start making more opportunities for people of color," who "only have a chance to win based on how much we're allowed to put out," she says. "We have to start telling stories that include us." This should help convince studios: A new study finds films with diverse casts pull in the most money, per the LA Times.

That's one way of protesting Andrew McCabe's firing as deputy FBI director, roughly a day before he was set to retire: At least one Democratic congressman has offered McCabe a temporary job so he can get full retirement benefits — and McCabe appears to be considering. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) announced Saturday afternoon that he has offered McCabe a job to work on election security in his office, “so that he can reach the needed length of service” to retire. “My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security,” Pocan said in a statement. “Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of American democracy and both Republicans and Democrats should be concerned about election integrity.” A spokeswoman for McCabe, Melissa Schwartz, didn't immediately rule out a job with one of the most liberal members of Congress, which might only need to last for a day or so for him to get his full retirement benefits: “We are considering all options.” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) tweeted that he'd consider hiring McCabe, too. One suggestion from a McCabe supporter: if a friendly member of Congress hired him for a week he could possibly qualify for pension benefits by extending his service the extra days — Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) March 17, 2018 Would be happy to consider this. The Sixth District of MA would benefit from the wisdom and talent of such an experienced public servant. https://t.co/ynQWhdzQpC — Seth Moulton (@sethmoulton) March 17, 2018 It's not immediately clear if getting fired from the FBI on a Friday and going to work on Capitol Hill on a Monday would solve McCabe's problems for certain, though at least one former federal official with knowledge of retirement rules says it probably would. McCabe's team is confident that he had at least 20 years of law enforcement work under his belt — defined as carrying a weapon or supervising people who do — which made him eligible to retire on his 50th birthday on Sunday, with full retirement benefits. With those 20 years, he would need to just go to work with the federal government for another day or so in any job he pleases, whether that's as a election security analyst for a Wisconsin congressman or a typist for a day, to get full benefits, said the former official who spoke to The Fix. The job doesn't matter so much as the fact that he's working within the federal government with the same retirement benefits until or after his 50th birthday. (Though this former official stressed that it would probably look more ethical if McCabe worked for at least a pay period rather than just one day.) McCabe began working at the FBI's New York field office in 1996, was promoted to a supervisor position at the FBI's headquarters in 2006, and held various jobs at the bureau until 2016, when he was named deputy director. His final job at the FBI was an executive perch that likely doesn't count toward his law enforcement job, said the former retirement official. McCabe stepped down from his FBI job in January amid attacks from President Trump, but he had been using up accumulated leave to get to his birthday to receive full retirement benefits — a move Trump attacked him for on Twitter after The Washington Post reported his plans. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go?!!! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2017 Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe late Friday night, about 26 hours before McCabe's retirement, citing an inspector general report from the Justice Department that had found “that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor — including under oath — on multiple occasions.” McCabe spent hours at the FBI on Thursday pleading with officials to let him keep his job until he hit full retirement benefits. On Saturday evening, a spokesman for Pocan said they hadn’t yet heard from McCabe on his job offer. Matt Zapotowsky contributed to this report. ||||| U.S. Representative Mark Pocan extended an offer of employment to former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe Saturday morning. The offer would get McCabe the needed length of service to qualify for pension benefits after President Trump fired him just days before he was set to retire. "My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security. Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of American democracy and both Republicans and Democrats should be concerned about election integrity,” Pocan said. “I’d like to thank Mr. McCabe for his years of service to the FBI and our country. He deserves the full retirement that he has been promised, not to have it taken away as a result of the President’s political games.” NBC News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell tweeted, "One suggestion from a McCabe supporter: if a friendly member of Congress hired him for a week he could possibly qualify for pension benefits by extending his service the extra days." One suggestion from a McCabe supporter: if a friendly member of Congress hired him for a week he could possibly qualify for pension benefits by extending his service the extra days — Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) March 17, 2018 Pocan replied to the tweet, "Andrew call me. I could use a good two-day report on the biggest crime families in Washington, D.C." Andrew call me. I could use a good two-day report on the biggest crime families in Washington, D.C. https://t.co/DYVP00Em0x — Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) March 17, 2018 Last year, Pocan introduced the Securing America’s Future Elections Act (SAFE Act), which would safeguard U.S. elections from future foreign cyber-attacks and interference by permanently classifying the integrity and security of U.S. elections as a key component of critical infrastructure.

– When Jeff Sessions fired Andrew McCabe, one of the points that drew attention is that the move came just two days before McCabe's retirement took effect, thus putting McCabe's federal pension in jeopardy. Now, however, a Democratic congressman is suggesting a work-around. Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin has offered the former FBI deputy director a temporary job to allow McCabe to "reach the needed length of service" and qualify for his full benefits, reports NBC15. It just might happen, notes the Washington Post, because a McCabe spokesperson says he is considering all his options. “My offer of employment to Mr. McCabe is a legitimate offer to work on election security,” said Pocan in a statement. Other Democrats, including Rep. Seth Moulton, also have said they would consider hiring McCabe. The retirement rules were a little murky, but one former federal official familiar with them tells the Post that a temporary job would probably do the trick. It's possible that McCabe, who turned 50 on Sunday, would have to work only a day or two to qualify. (The president is criticizing "fake memos" reportedly kept by McCabe.)

The Israeli company that built the wall around Gaza saw a spike in shares when it became clear Donald Trump would become the next President of the United States – making the possibility of a wall at the Mexico border more tangible. Magal Security Systems Ltd had already been salivating at the prospect of a Trump win and what that would mean for the barrier-building business. The company experienced gains over the years, as they expanded their work from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, Somalia, and other countries in Africa. President Trump protests 20 show all President Trump protests 1/20 Patrons hold a sign as people march by while protesting the election of Republican Donald Trump as the president of the United States in downtown Los Angeles, California Reuters 2/20 Demonstrators rally following the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, in Oakland, California Reuters 3/20 Demonstrators march following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters 4/20 Thousands of protesters rallied across the United States expressing shock and anger over Donald Trump's election, vowing to oppose divisive views they say helped the Republican billionaire win the presidency AFP/Getty Images 5/20 Demonstrators protest outside the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois Getty 6/20 A police officer aims a launcher after demonstrators threw projectiles toward a line of officers during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters 7/20 An officer examines a vandalized police vehicle as demonstrators riot in Oakland, California Reuters 8/20 Demonstrators take over the Hollywood 101 Freeway just north of Los Angeles City Hall in protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters 9/20 A woman holds up a sign reading 'Trump you are an Idiot' as demonstrators gather during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump outside the City Hall building in Los Angeles, California EPA 10/20 A masked demonstrator gestures toward a police line during a demonstration in Oakland, California Reuters 11/20 Demonstrators protest against the election of Republican Donald Trump as President of the United States, near the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Las Vegas, Nevada Reuters 12/20 Musician Lagy Gaga stages a protest against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on a sanitation truck outside Trump Tower in New York City Getty 13/20 A woman yells as she takes part in a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP 14/20 A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP 15/20 A protester sets off fireworks during a protest against President-elect Donald Trumpin Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood AP 16/20 University of California, Davis students protest on campus in Davis, California, U.S. following the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States Reuters 17/20 An Oakland police officer checks out damage after a window was broken by protesters at a car dealership in downtown Oakland, Calif AP 18/20 A protester faces a police line in downtown Oakland, Calif AP 19/20 President-elect Donald Trumpís victory set off multiple protests AP 20/20 A fire burns during protests in Oakland, Calif AP Mr Trump launched his campaign on the promise of building the wall to keep out undocumented immigrants – whom he called rapists, drug traffickers, and criminals. It remains unclear if Mr Trump’s wall would supplement the existing barriers in urban areas along the 1,900 mile border, constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers in the mid-1990s, or simply replace it. Bloomberg’s Thomas Penny pointed out that Magal saw an increase of six per cent on Wednesday. Sharp rise in shares of Israeli border wall building companyhttps://t.co/e1JsEkt3an pic.twitter.com/HX4bweBa1l — Thomas Penny (@ThomasWPenny) November 9, 2016 “We would join forces with a major US defence company that has experience with such projects worldwide,” Magal CEO Saar Koursh told Bloomberg in August. “We’ve done it in the past and we would definitely want to do it.” The company had previously seen a surge in business with the rise in global anxieties over Isis amid the Syrian refugee crisis. USA: Donald Trump will build the BIGGEST anti-Mexico wall... apparently “The border business was down, but then came Isis and the Syrian conflict,” he said. “The world is changing and borders are coming back big-time.” Another sector apparently benefitting from Mr Trump’s election win is the private prison industry. Two companies, Corrections Corp and GEO Group, saw significant gains, recouping losses they suffered after the Department of Justice announced it would discontinue the use of federal private prisons. It is likely that a President Trump would reverse that decision. “Private prisons would likely be a clear winner under Trump,” analysts for Height Securities LLC wrote, “as his administration will likely rescind the DOJ’s contract phase-out and [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] capacity to house detainees will come under stress.” ||||| Guns stocks are tumbling and prison stocks are soaring after Donald Trump won the presidential election. Corrections Corp. of America CXW, -1.40% was the biggest percentage gainer listed on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, with shares closing up 43%. Shares of Geo Group GEO, -0.08% which has corrections and other facilities in North America and abroad, closed up 21%. The gain Wednesday marked the biggest one-day percentage gain for the company since June 2000. The Obama administration in August announced plans to phase out some private prison use, which potentially could be reversed in a Trump administration. By comparison, the S&P 500 SPX, +0.46% was 1% Wednesday, and it has gained 3.5% so far this week. Meanwhile, shares of gun maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. RGR, -1.78% closed down 14.5% . Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation US:SWHC shares closed down 15%. Gun sales ticked up after of President Obama’s elections on concerns that laws around gun control would become more restrictive, said Chris Krueger, senior research analyst at Lake Street Capital. Now he believes gun buyers are more confident that Trump will protect gun-carry laws, so they’re not rushing out to buy them, leading to a drop in the stock, he said. In California, voters passed a ballot measure that tightened gun-control laws in the state. Washington state residents voted to restrict access to firearms for people that have been deemed by a court to be a threat. Nevada residents voted to expand background checks for gun purchases. Krueger said these initiatives were somewhat expected, which is why the stocks don’t seem to be reacting much to them. Additionally, he said gun enthusiasts are bullied by the prospect of a pro-gun nominee appointed to the Supreme Court by Trump. “I think today it’s more about the presidential election than the gun-control initiatives,” Krueger said.

– This is a good time to be in the wall-building business: Shares in Israeli firm Magal Security System, which helped build the wall around Gaza and many other barriers around the world, jumped around 6% Wednesday in the wake of Donald Trump's surprise election victory, the Independent reports. Trump has promised to build a wall along the border with Mexico and make Mexico pay for it, though Mexico says the latter part of that promise isn't going to happen. In August, Magal chief Saar Koursh made it clear he was hoping to get the Trump contract. "The border business was down, but then came ISIS and the Syrian conflict," he told Bloomberg. "The world is changing and borders are coming back big-time." MarketWatch reports that prison stocks were another big winner Wednesday, with Corrections Corp. of America up 43%, possibly because investors believe Trump will scrap Obama's plan to phase out private federal prisons. Gun shares, however, were down, which analysts say was because Trump isn't expected to tighten gun control laws, meaning nobody is in a big hurry to stock up on firearms.

It may have only begun as a demand for a humble bag of nibbles, but the threatening behaviour of one unruly passenger could have gone on to cost an airline £350,000 a court has heard. The full cost of diverting a packed transatlantic airliner emerged as a judge heard how a plane had to make an unscheduled stop when a passenger repeatedly demanded bags of nuts. Alarmed by the passenger’s allegedly aggressive behaviour, the pilot decided to touch down in Belfast, after first dumping 50,000 litres of aviation fuel to make the stop. Once on the ground, the 282 passengers had to wait almost 24 hours to take off again because getting under way immediately would have broken the crew’s legal flying hours limit. Almost all the passengers had to sleep on the terminal floor. Jeremiah Mathis Thede, from California, appeared at Coleraine Magistrates' Court on Monday charged with endangering the safety of the aircraft, disruptive behaviour on board and common assault against a stewardess. The court heard the United Airlines plane was en route from Rome to Chicago on Saturday evening when crew and other passengers raised concerns about the defendant. A constable with the airport constabulary told the court the trouble began when Mr Thede allegedly got up 15 minutes after take-off, with the seat belt lights still on, and demanded "nuts or crackers". He said Mr Thede, from The Alameda in Berkeley, California, refused to sit back down again until he obtained a snack. A member of crew managed to "appease" the passenger by giving him some nuts and Mr Thede then retook his seat. But ten minutes later he got up and demanded more. Crew replied he would only get another snack if there were packets left over when other travellers had been served. The policeman said Thede retorted: "I can have as much nuts and crackers as I f****** want." Fellow passengers were also concerned by his behaviour, claiming he kept getting up and down from his seat, repeatedly opened the overhead baggage lockers, blocked the aisles and made numerous trips to the lavatories. The captain asked a number of men to sit around the passenger in case he became violent. However, the constable acknowledged that "no one was struck" during the flight. Mr Thede's "erratic" behaviour prompted the captain to turn round when he was already over the Atlantic, and head back to land Belfast International Airport, around 20 miles from the city centre. Asked by a prosecution barrister to assess the cost of the incident, the constable replied: "It would be upwards of 300,000 to 350,000 pounds. There is compensation for passengers. There were 269 passengers lying sleeping on the floor of the terminal because there were no hotel rooms found for them." Mr Thede, denies the offences and told police the pilot had overreacted. The constable said: "He said it wasn't him, there was a conspiracy theory against him, people were picking on him," he said. His solicitor said alcohol was not a factor, as a police doctor had examined him upon arrest and deemed him "fit to be interviewed". "His position is he's done nothing wrong and effectively this is an overreaction by staff in the plane, those in charge," said the lawyer. The airport police constable objected to the granting of bail, on the ground that the accused could abscond the jurisdiction. The defendant was remanded in custody to appear before magistrates’ next week. Judge Christopher Holmes also ordered a psychiatric examination. ||||| Police: Berkeley man went berserk on plane over nuts Video: Man charged with endangering the safety of an aircraft on Chicago bound flight A Berkeley man was arrested after he allegedly grew irate while demanding nuts and crackers while on board a United Airlines flight bound for Chicago, forcing the plane to divert to Belfast, Ireland, according to media reports. Jeremiah Mathias Thede, 42, appeared before a magistrate on charges of endangering the safety of an aircraft, being disorderly and assaulting a member of the cabin crew. About 15 minutes into the flight from Rome to Chicago on Saturday, Thede allegedly got out of his seat while the seat-belt light was still on and refused a flight attendant’s request to sit down. Thede said he wouldn’t return to his seat until he was given nuts and crackers, authorities said. He sat back down after being given the snacks but got back up again 10 minutes later and asked for more, according to media reports. Flight attendants said Thede became abusive, blocked the aisle and grabbed bags from the overhead bins, frightening passengers, authorities said. The captain decided to divert the plane to Belfast because of the man’s behavior, but before landing, the plane had to dump fuel as a precautionary measure because of the shortened flight. Many passengers were forced to spend the night at the airport, investigators said. A message left for Thede on Tuesday was not immediately returned. Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.com Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 10: A United Airlines plane sits on the...

– Now in the running for worst air traveler of the year: A middle-aged Berkeley man accused of wigging out over nuts and crackers. Authorities say Jeremiah Thede, 42, was on a United flight from Rome to Chicago Saturday when he got out of his seat just 15 minutes into the flight—despite the "Fasten Seat Belt" sign being lit—and demanded the snacks, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. He got them, sat back down, then allegedly stood up and demanded more about 10 minutes later. Told no, he reportedly said, "I can have as much nuts and crackers as I f------ want." The crew says he was acting dangerously belligerent, and the pilot diverted the flight to Belfast—but to do so cost the airline an estimated $550,000 thanks to the fuel he had to jettison to make a safe landing, plus costs related to the approximately 270 other passengers who had to wait 24 hours at the airport before getting another flight, reports the Telegraph. Thede, who accuses the pilot of overreacting, is charged with endangering the safety of the aircraft, disruptive behavior, and assault against a stewardess. "He said it wasn't him, there was a conspiracy theory against him, people were picking on him," says a police constable. (This is not the only nut-related air rage case to make headlines recently.)

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says he's "absolutely" sure that Congress will raise the debt limit in time to prevent a default by the federal government. "Congress will raise the debt ceiling," Geithner predicted in an interview aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "You sure about that?" host Christiane Amanpour asked. "Absolutely," Geithner replied. Geithner said the consequences of failing to raise the debt limit, and an ensuing default, would be worse than the deep recession the country is still climbing out of. "We’d tip the U.S. economy and the world economy back into recession, depression," he said. "It would make the last crisis look like a tame, modest crisis. It would have a permanent devastating damage on our creditworthiness as a country." Geithner said "no responsible person" would court that kind of "tragedy," but in what may have been an allusion to President Barack Obama's 2006 vote as an Illinois senator against increasing the debt limit, the Treasury secretary added: "There's been a little bit of a tradition that people play politics with this." Last week, Obama said his opposition to a debt limit raise in 2006 was a mistake. ||||| Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said on Sunday the "Gang of Six" senators is "very close" to a deal on deficit reduction, suggesting the plan would affect Social Security in way most Democrats have said is off limits. "We're going to make everybody mad with our approach," Warner said on CBS's "Face the Nation," "because we're touching every part of the problem." Warner, who is part of the three Democrats negotiating with three Republicans to reach a bipartisan deal, said the group is "looking at making Social Security more sustainable." Asked by host Bob Schieffer to clarify that the group will take on Social Security, Warner said, "Part of this is just math: Sixteen workers for every one retiree 50 years ago, three workers for every retiree now." With President Barack Obama proposing new talks after laying out his vision on the issue last week, and House Republicans passing their own plan, Warner said he hopes the "Gang of Six" will stake out the middle ground. Warner said "everything" was on the table, including tax increases, spending cuts and entitlement reforms. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), however, has repeatedly said Social Security must be left alone, and Republicans have flatly refused to back any tax increases. So, it's unclear whether any plan the group agrees on will gain much traction. "What I hope is that this doesn't devolve into a Democrats versus Republicans again," Warner said, adding that Congress should start with a "bipartisan plan and build out." Still, he warned Republicans not to "roll the dice" on the $14.3 trillion debt limit, saying failing to do increase the limit would "literally be lighting the match that can burn down the house." ||||| Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Sunday he would be ticked off if one of his grandchildren got the kind of pat-down search a 6-year-old girl was subjected to earlier this month at an airport security checkpoint in New Orleans. "I have nine grandchildren and I wouldn’t want my granddaughter treated like that," LaHood said on "Fox News Sunday." The video of the New Orleans search has provoked outrage from some in Congress and in the public, but others have warned that failing to search children thoroughly would give terrorists an easy opening to try to attack an aircraft. LaHood said he would leave a detailed discussion of the episode to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its administrator, John Pistole. LaHood later elaborated on his position: "Of course, I support everything Administrator Pistole is doing to ensure our air passengers' safety," LeHood said in a statement. "We know terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection, so I appreciate the fact that TSA officers are working with parents to ensure a respectful screening process for the entire family." The TSA has said that less than 3 percent of the traveling public require a patdown as part of its secondary screening process

– Congress is "absolutely" going to raise the debt ceiling, says Tim Geithner, because to do otherwise would be "catastrophic" and "the responsible people understand." "We’d tip the US economy and the world economy back into recession, depression," he said. "It would make the last crisis look like a tame, modest crisis." He says Republicans are quietly signaling that they'll vote for the hike. As for a certain boss of his who voted against raising the debt ceiling in 2006: "There's been a little bit of a tradition that people play politics with this." Elsewhere on the Sunday dial, as per Politico: Paul Ryan told Face the Nation he wants "financial controls ... in conjunction with raising the national debt limit." Asked to clarify, Ryan said, "We're not really interested in negotiating with the media." "Gang of 6" members Mark Warner and Tom Coburn say their group is "very close" to a deficit deal. "We're going to make everybody mad with our approach," Warner said. "Because we're touching every part of the problem." Congress has to put its money where its mouth is, says Coburn: "What the country needs to hear is that we understand how big this problem is and that we’re wiling to lose elections to do what’s best for the country." Ray LaHood says the patdown of a 6-year-old was unacceptable: "I have nine grandchildren and I wouldn’t want my granddaughter treated like that."

Prince George’s County Police on Sunday identified the letter carrier who was shot and killed Saturday night as Tyson Jerome Barnette, 26, of Upper Marlboro, and postal officials are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. Barnette was delivering mail in a Landover neighborhood not far from the Cheverly Metro station when he was killed. Police said that around 7:20 p.m. officers were called to the 1600 block of Reed Street for reports of a shooting. When they arrived, they found Barnette suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials said detectives are working to identify the suspect or suspects and a motive in this case. George T. Maffett Jr., a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, said that Barnette had been a letter carrier for six years and had been on this particular Landover route three times in the last month. On Sunday, union officials also expressed their sympathy. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the letter carrier and his family during this very difficult time,’’ said Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, adding that: “The nation’s letter carriers deliver the mail in every community throughout the country. This tragic incident highlights the need in all operational decisions about how and when mail is delivered to give priority consideration to the safety of these dedicated public servants.” One resident of the street said he was returning home just as the carrier had finished placing mail into the letter box at his house. He said the worker was not the regular carrier, and when he called to him, he did not respond. The man took his mail and went into his house. Within minutes, the man said, he heard two or three gunshots. When he looked out, he said, he noted that a Postal Service truck was near the corner of the street, but he did not see a carrier. Officer Harry Bond, Prince George’s County Police spokesman, said the neighborhood is in an area about a half-mile south of the Cheverly Metrorail station. Shootings of mail carriers in uniform and on their rounds are extremely unusual. Anyone with information is asked to call the Prince George’s County Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925. Callers who don’t want to reveal their identity may call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477), text “PGPD plus your message” to CRIMES (274637) using a cellphone or go to www.pgcrimesolvers.com to submit a tip online. A reward of up to $25,000 is offered to anyone who provides information leading to an arrest and indictment in this case. ||||| CLOSE 26-year-old Tyson Barnette was on his assigned route in Landover, Maryland Saturday evening when police say he was shot multiple times. VPC Story Highlights 26-year-old Tyson Barnette was shot multiple times while delivering mail The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is offering a $100,000 award for information Concerns have been rising about the safety of postal workers on the street after dark LANDOVER, Md. (WUSA9) -- Police have identified a 26-year-old postal worker who was gunned down while delivering mail as Tyson Barnette of Upper Marlboro. Barnette was on his assigned route in the 1600 block of Reed Street in Landover, around 7:30 p.m. Saturday when police say he was shot multiple times. Prince George's County police are offering a $25,000 reward for help in identifying suspects. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is putting up a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and a conviction. Resident Paulette Richardson said she "knew they were gunshots because I know what gunshots sound like. I started running." Kenneth Lerch is President of the Rockville branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers, and although he didn't represent Barnette or the area where he was killed, Lerch has been the loudest voice in trying to get postal workers off the streets before it gets dark. "I'm outraged. I'm more than angry. It didn't have to happen," Lerch said. He's been outspoken about the dangers for years and brought it up again just last week in a meeting with the Post Master. Last year in a meeting with the District manager Lerch made a grim prediction. "I said something, someone is seriously going to be injured or worse, or worse, and it happened." Union members say their routes are longer, they're understaffed and they say after this tragedy something must change. "It's bound to happen again if something is not done about it, it is inherently dangerous to deliver mail in the dark," Lerch said. "It gets dark at 5 [p.m.], at 7 [p.m.] it's pitch dark out here, Richardson said. "Nobody should be out here delivering mail. I think it's wrong." Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/IcvtKV

– Postal officials are offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the murder of a Maryland letter carrier gunned down as he delivered the mail. Police say Tyson Barnette, 26, was shot multiple times while on duty Saturday evening in Landover, and they have yet to identify a suspect or motive, reports the Washington Post. He was delivering mail after sunset on a street with few lights and union officials say they have long warned about understaffing forcing letter carriers to work after dark. "I'm outraged. I'm more than angry. It didn't have to happen," the chief of a nearby branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers tells USA Today. "It's bound to happen again if something is not done about it; it is inherently dangerous to deliver mail in the dark." At a vigil for Barnette last night, fellow letter carriers described him as a wonderful person and said what happened to him could have happened to any of them.

Amazon.com Inc. is working on a new subscription service that would deliver TV shows and movies over the Internet, ramping up the battle among Web companies to control entertainment in the living room. The Internet retailer has in recent weeks pitched a Web-based subscription service to several major media companies, including General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, Time Warner Inc., News Corp. and Viacom Inc., among others, according to people with knowledge of the proposal. Associated Press Amazon.com CEO and founder Jeff Bezos Amazon's subscription push is a challenge to rivals such as Netflix Inc. and Google Inc. as they race to dominate digital delivery of TV shows and films, encroaching on turf traditionally controlled by cable- and satellite-television providers. Apple Inc. is also pushing more deeply into TV, and plans to announce 99-cent rentals of television shows through its iTunes store from News Corp.'s Fox and Walt Disney Co.'s ABC as early as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple wants to offer rentals of new shows, available after they air, these people said. Apple is also working on a new device that streams Internet video directly to television sets, according to one person with knowledge of the matter. Amazon appears to be targeting a similar model to Netflix, focusing on older, "catalogue" content, according to people briefed on the meetings. Executives at media companies often view the availability of older content on the Web as less of a threat to their existing business. Amazon's new subscription service would be viewable on a Web browser, or through devices such as Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 videogame console. Amazon currently sells individual episodes of TV shows on those devices, often for $1.99 apiece. It also sells and rents digital movie downloads. The Battle for the Living Room Enlarge Image Close Alamy Amazon.com: Sells on-demand videos playable on set-top boxes and TVs; wants to offer unlimited viewing of older TV shows and movies for subscribers. Netflix: Online streaming service lets subscribers play older TV shows and movies on media players and game consoles. Apple: Apple TV box currently plays videos purchased with iTunes on a TV set; wants to offer 99-cent rentals of new TV shows. Google: Google TV software seeks to merge TV and Web programming on TVs using various hardware. Hulu: A paid subscription service will offer new episodes of many TV shows on Internet-connected TVs and other devices. Media companies have been reluctant to put too much of their best content on the Internet for too little money. None want to be left behind as the Web merges with television. But they are also wary of encouraging a shift to Web-based viewing, which could lead consumers to cut off cable and satellite subscriptions. For instance, Hulu LLC, owned by three media companies including Wall Street Journal parent News Corp., announced in June that it would make its Internet versions of new TV shows available on TVs and other devices—but only for subscribers who pay $10 a month. Media companies will pull in more than $30 billion in 2010 from their cut of monthly TV bills, according to estimates from SNL Kagan. Amazon has said it would like to launch its new service in time for the holiday season, one person with knowledge of the proposal said. Executives for two media companies described Amazon deals as possibilities. But it is possible the subscription service could be delayed or shelved if not enough companies sign on, these people and others said. An Amazon spokesman said he couldn't "speculate about the future." Spokespeople for NBC Universal, News Corp., Viacom and Time Warner declined to comment. Amazon could face an uphill battle matching Netflix. Some people familiar with the matter said Amazon executives had initially balked at what it would cost to license movies at rates paid by Netflix. The DVD-by-mail pioneer has been increasing its spending to secure programming for its Web-based service. Netflix recently committed about $200 million a year for movies on cable channel Epix, according to people with knowledge of the deal. Epix is owned by three Hollywood studios. Netflix has found a growing niche with online streaming. More than 61% of its 15 million subscribers watched for at least 15 minutes in the second quarter, up from 37% a year earlier, the company said in July. Amazon, which began as an online retailer of physical media such as books and DVDs, is trying to shift those businesses to digital to keep up with shifting consumer habits. It has had most success with digital books, where its Kindle e-book reader helped to create a market for e-books by making it easy to buy and read them away from a computer. Amazon brings some advantages to the television fight. In at least one version of its proposal, subscriptions could be bundled for no additional charge with its existing Amazon Prime service—immediately giving the service millions of built-in subscribers. Prime offers members cheaper shipping rates for many products in exchange for $79 a year. Amazon's existing video-purchase and rental service, meanwhile, is already built into scores of devices. And the company's role as a major retailer of physical DVDs also could give it leverage to wrangle digital-licensing deals. —Ethan Smith contributed to this article. Write to Sam Schechner at sam.schechner@wsj.com and Geoffrey A. Fowler at geoffrey.fowler@wsj.com ||||| Apple Inc., preparing to announce a new set-top box that delivers video to consumers’ TVs, will include programming from Netflix Inc., according to three people with knowledge of the plans. The streaming service would be available on the revamped version of Apple TV, due to be introduced tomorrow in San Francisco, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. Users would pay a subscription fee to Netflix for the service, the people said. Programming from Netflix may enhance the appeal of a product that has been called a “hobby” by Apple executives and hasn’t resonated widely with consumers. The Cupertino, California-based company is due to release a $99 version of Apple TV, $130 less than the current model, people familiar with the plans said last week. Netflix, which distributes TV shows and movies by mail and online to subscribers starting at $8.99 a month, has provided a free downloadable application to users of Apple’s Macintosh and iPad computers. On Aug. 26, it released new apps that let subscribers stream shows to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Netflix, based in Los Gatos, California, rose 2 percent in extended trading. It had gained $2.42 to $125.52 by 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Apple gained 60 cents to $243.10. Apple, at tomorrow’s annual event devoted to music and media, will also introduce a revamped iTunes site and an upgraded iPod Touch that boasts a higher resolution screen, people said last week. Netflix Adds Movies Netflix, whose movie streaming service is available via TiVo Inc. players, video-game players and other Internet- connected devices, this month reached a deal to add movies and TV shows from the new pay-television channel Epix, starting Sept. 1. Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings will pay $900 million over five years for online rights to films from Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. That made available more than 3,000 titles from the three studios. More than 61 percent of Netflix’s 15 million subscribers streamed movies and TV shows, the company said last month. The company also streams films and TV shows from Liberty Media Corp.’s Starz pay-channel service, and select TV programs from CBS Corp.’s Showtime channel. Time Warner Inc.’s HBO, which airs shows like “True Blood” and “Entourage,” has said it won’t provide its TV shows to Netflix. HBO also controls the online rights to movies from Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures. To contact the reporters on this story: Ronald Grover in Los Angeles at rgrover5@bloomberg.net; Peter Burrows in San Francisco at pburrows@bloomberg.net.

– Amazon and Apple are both planning major pushes into the online TV business, insiders say. Apple will announce today a new set-top box that will deliver TV to consumers and include movies from Netflix, reports Bloomberg. Apple will offer 99-cent rentals of TV shows through its revamped, $99 version of AppleTV, the sources say. Amazon is also working on an Internet-based TV subscription service that it aims to have up and running before Christmas, sources tell the Wall Street Journal. The company has been in talks with media firms including Viacom, News Corp, NBC Universal, and Time Warner over plans to offer TV shows for rental soon after they air, the insiders say.

People News Ryan O'Neal has prostate cancer Ryan O\'Neal Ryan O'Neal is suffering from prostate cancer. The 70-year-old actor - who has previously battled leukemia - admits he was shocked to discover he had the disease but is expecting to make a full recovery as it was discovered early. He said in a statement to People.com: 'Recently I was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer. Although I was shocked and stunned by the news, I feel fortunate that it was detected early and according to my extraordinary team of doctors the prognosis is positive for a full recovery' Ryan - who lost his partner Farrah Fawcett to anal cancer in 2009 - added he was grateful to his family for their support and urged people to go and get tested for the disease. He said: 'I am deeply grateful for the support of my friends and family during this time, and I urge everyone to get regular check-ups, as early detection is the best defence against this horrible disease that has afflicted so many.' Ryan was treated in the late 1990s for leukemia. He is soon to release a memoir about his life with Farrah entitled 'Both of Us', which is due for release in early May. ||||| Ryan O'Neal Diagnosed with Prostate Cancer Ryan O'Neal, who successfully battled leukemia, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. "Recently I was diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer," O'Neal says in a statement released by his rep exclusively to PEOPLE."Although I was shocked and stunned by the news, I feel fortunate that it was detected early and according to my extraordinary team of doctors the prognosis is positive for a full recovery," the statement adds."I am deeply grateful for the support of my friends and family during this time, and I urge everyone to get regular check-ups, as early detection is the best defense against this horrible disease that has afflicted so many."O'Neal initially said he had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, but issued a new statement correcting it to stage 2.The Love Story actor, 70, was treated in the late 1990s for myelogenous leukemia, which causes the bone marrow to produce too many white blood cells.The latest diagnosis comes about three years after he lost his longtime love Farrah Fawcett, who died at age 62 of anal cancer. Ryan has a memoir about his life with Fawcett called Both of Us coming out May 1.

– Seventies icon Ryan O'Neal has been diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, reports People. "Although I was shocked and stunned by the news, I feel fortunate that it was detected early, and according to my extraordinary team of doctors the prognosis is positive for a full recovery," O'Neal, 70, wrote in a statement, despite his cancer being at the most serious stage. O'Neal has battled with cancer before, overcoming myelogenous leukemia in the late 1990s. His late partner Farrah Fawcett died of anal cancer nearly three years ago, and O'Neal's memoir of life with Fawcett is due out next month, notes Monsters & Critics.

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| A husband and wife have died of thirst after losing their way in Saudi Arabia's vast southern desert, known as the Empty Quarter. Security forces had mounted a major operation to try to find the couple, who were from Qatar, after a relative raised the alert. The woman was found near the couple's overturned vehicle and a helicopter found her husband 10km (6 miles) away. Temperatures in the region can rise well above 50C. It seems the husband made a desperate attempt to find help - or simply water - in the desert's vast, inhospitable expanse. Vast waste The desert is known as the Empty Quarter because its bone-dry surface discourages anyone from living there, except a few Bedouin who use it seasonally. The largest uninterrupted desert in the world, stretching 1,000km across the lower third of the Arabian peninsula, it has exerted a spell on explorers trying to unveil its mysteries. Its sand dunes can rise as tall as high-rise buildings. Lost oasis cities are believed to lie beneath the sand, which feels only a few centimetres of rainfall a year. More prosaically, it contains some of the richest oil fields in the world. There are roads that skirt its outer edges but special permits are needed to explore it more deeply. Reports suggest that the Qatari couple were driving from an estate they owned in the desert, so they would have been well aware that help would be hard to find if - as seems to have happened - anything went wrong with their vehicle.

– A Qatari couple trying to drive across the biggest desert in the world has been found dead, reports the BBC. The couple apparently had car trouble in the middle of what's aptly called the Empty Quarter, a desolate stretch of sand more than 600 miles wide where temperatures top 120 degrees and dunes rise to the height of city buildings. The woman was found in or near their SUV and the husband about 6 miles away in an apparently desperate attempt to get help, reports the Telegraph. Police say they had run out of water.

MINGORA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say that eight out of 10 militants charged with involvement in the 2012 attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai were actually acquitted in April — not sentenced to life in prison as reported at the time. Friday's stunning announcement by deputy police chief, Azad Khan, offered no explanation as to why authorities had remained silent for so long or why they had failed to correct the facts earlier. In April, public prosecutor Sayed Naeem said 10 militants charged over the attack were all convicted by an anti-terrorism court and sentenced to life imprisonment. Naeem says only two of them were imprisoned for life while the others were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The prosecutor claims reporters misquoted him at the time, refusing to further discuss the case. ||||| Image copyright PA Image caption Malala Yousafzai was seriously injured in a 2012 assassination attempt Eight of the 10 men reportedly jailed for the attempted assassination of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai were acquitted, it has emerged. In April, officials in Pakistan said that 10 Taliban fighters had been found guilty and received 25-year jail terms. But sources have now confirmed to the BBC that only two of the men who stood trial were convicted. The secrecy surrounding the trial, which was held behind closed doors, raised suspicions over its validity. The court judgement - seen for the first time on Friday more than a month after the trial - claims that the two men convicted were those who shot Ms Yousafzai in 2012. It was previously thought that both the gunmen and the man who ordered the attack had fled to Afghanistan. Muneer Ahmed, a spokesman for the Pakistani High Commission in London, said on Friday that the eight men were acquitted because of a lack of evidence. Saleem Marwat, the district police chief in Swat, Pakistan, separately confirmed that only two men had been convicted. Mr Ahmed claimed that the original court judgement made it clear only two men had been convicted and blamed the confusion on misreporting. But Sayed Naeem, a public prosecutor in Swat, told the Associated Press news agency after the trial: "Each militant got 25 years in jail. It is life in prison for the 10 militants who were tried by an anti-terrorist court." In Pakistan, a life sentence is 25 years. The acquittals emerged after reporters from the London-based Daily Mirror attempted to locate the 10 convicted men in prisons in Pakistan. The whereabouts of the eight acquitted men is not known. Image copyright EPA Image caption Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Prize in December, adding to pressure on Pakistan to bring her attackers to justice Secret trial The trial was held at a military facility rather than a court and was shrouded in secrecy, a Pakistani security source told the BBC. Pakistani authorities did not make the judgement available at any stage, nor did they correct the reports over the past two months that 10 men had been convicted. The announcement of the convictions in April took many by surprise. No journalists had been made aware that the trial was taking place. The authorities did not say when and where the men had been arrested or how they were linked to the attack, or explain the charges against them. Analysis by the BBC's Ilyas Khan, Islamabad It didn't take long for the news to spread around Pakistan's fiercely competitive media, and then the world: 10 men had been convicted over the attempted murder of Malala Yusafzai and sentenced to life. The only problem? It wasn't true. Only two of the 10 were found guilty. Was it a calculated leak? Or did officials simply neglect to correct an error that made good PR? When the news first broke, an army spokesman told journalists he would be issuing a statement, but later he changed his mind. By then the news had been on TV for several hours. The Associated Press quoted a public prosecutor as saying 10 men had been sentenced to life. The prosecutor said nothing for more than a month - only now he denies speaking to the reporter. Amid the confusion over how the false information spread and why, what we do know is that Pakistan was under pressure. Malala had been awarded the Nobel prize but no-one had been brought to justice, and Pakistan was keen to improve troubled ties with the US, UK and Afghanistan. And we know that, even if Pakistani officials did not purposefully spread misinformation, they allowed it to stand. 'Secret' acquittals raise further doubts Ms Yousafzai, who is now 17, was targeted by Taliban gunmen while she was travelling home from school in the town of Mingora. The gunmen boarded a bus and asked for her by name before shooting her in the head. She was treated for her injuries in the UK and currently lives in Birmingham with her family. They are unable to return to Pakistan because of death threats from the Taliban. Ms Yousafzai was targeted after campaigning for education rights for girls. She also wrote an anonymous blog for the BBC's Urdu service, describing life under the Taliban. Pakistan's mountainous Swat valley, where she lived with her family, was overrun by the Taliban between 2007 and 2009.

– The secretive trial of Malala Yousafzai's alleged attackers now has another surprise to reveal: Even though it was widely reported at the end of April that 10 Taliban militants had been convicted and sentenced to Pakistan's equivalent of a life sentence for trying to kill her, Pakistani officials are now admitting only two of the men were convicted, reports the AP. Today's announcement by a Pakistani deputy police chief didn't explain why no one publicly corrected the so-called mistake for more than a month. A spokesman for the High Commission for Pakistan in London said today that the eight were acquitted due to lack of evidence, per the BBC. He's blaming the confusion on "misreporting." No one knows where the eight acquitted men are now.

The study found no link between consuming butter and an increased risk of heart disease or stroke, instead finding that butter might actually be slightly protective against type 2 diabetes. And although consuming butter was linked with an increased risk of early death, the increase in risk was extremely small, the researchers said. "Overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered 'back' as a route to good health," study co-author Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in Massachusetts, said in a statement. The findings "do not support a need for major emphasis in dietary guidelines on either increasing or decreasing butter consumption," the researchers wrote in their study. [7 Foods Your Heart Will Hate] Butter is relatively high in saturated fat, which is generally considered a "bad" fat. But, increasingly, researchers are looking at the overall effects of eating certain foods, rather than focusing on specific nutrients by themselves, the researchers said. That's because the combination of nutrients in a food, like butter, may have a different effect on people's health than any single nutrient alone. In the new study, the researchers analyzed information from nine earlier studies that together included more than 636,000 people in 15 countries who were followed for 10 to 23 years, on average. During that time, 28,271 people died; 9,783 were diagnosed with heart disease; and 23,954 were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The average amount of butter that the people in the studies consumed ranged from one-third of a tablespoon daily to 3 tablespoons daily. A daily serving of butter (14 grams or about 1 tablespoon) was linked with a 1 percent higher risk of death during the study period. On the other hand, a daily serving of butter was linked with a 4 percent reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. There was no relationship found between eating butter and being diagnosed with heart disease, the researchers said. The findings suggested butter may be a "middle-of-the-road" food, said study co-author Laura Pimpin, also of Tufts University. For example, butter may be healthier for you than foods high in sugar or starch, which have been linked with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, Pimpin said. However, butter may be a worse for you than other spreads and cooking oils that are richer in "healthy fats," she said. These alternatives include soybean, canola, flaxseed and extra-virgin olive oil, along with some types of margarine. Such spreads and oils contain more unsaturated fats, which are generally considered healthier than saturated fats. More research is needed to understand why consuming butter is linked with a slightly lower risk of type 2 diabetes, Mozaffarian said. Some previous studies have also found a link between consuming dairy fat from yogurt and cheese and a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. The new study looked only at the association between people's butter consumption and their risk of heart disease, early death and types 2 diabetes, so it cannot prove for certain that butter does or does not cause these conditions. There may be factors that the study did not take into account, such as people's physical activity levels or their genetic risk factors, which could affect the results, the researchers said. The study is published today (June 29) in the journal PLOS ONE. Original article on Live Science. ||||| This systematic review and meta-analysis suggests relatively small or neutral overall associations of butter with mortality, CVD, and diabetes. These findings do not support a need for major emphasis in dietary guidelines on either increasing or decreasing butter consumption, in comparison to other better established dietary priorities; while also highlighting the need for additional investigation of health and metabolic effects of butter and dairy fat. We searched 9 databases from inception to May 2015 without restriction on setting, or language, using keywords related to butter consumption and cardiometabolic outcomes. Prospective cohorts or randomized clinical trials providing estimates of effects of butter intake on mortality, cardiovascular disease including coronary heart disease and stroke, or diabetes in adult populations were included. One investigator screened titles and abstracts; and two reviewed full-text articles independently in duplicate, and extracted study and participant characteristics, exposure and outcome definitions and assessment methods, analysis methods, and adjusted effects and associated uncertainty, all independently in duplicate. Study quality was evaluated by a modified Newcastle-Ottawa score. Random and fixed effects meta-analysis pooled findings, with heterogeneity assessed using the I 2 statistic and publication bias by Egger’s test and visual inspection of funnel plots. We identified 9 publications including 15 country-specific cohorts, together reporting on 636,151 unique participants with 6.5 million person-years of follow-up and including 28,271 total deaths, 9,783 cases of incident cardiovascular disease, and 23,954 cases of incident diabetes. No RCTs were identified. Butter consumption was weakly associated with all-cause mortality (N = 9 country-specific cohorts; per 14g(1 tablespoon)/day: RR = 1.01, 95%CI = 1.00, 1.03, P = 0.045); was not significantly associated with any cardiovascular disease (N = 4; RR = 1.00, 95%CI = 0.98, 1.02; P = 0.704), coronary heart disease (N = 3; RR = 0.99, 95%CI = 0.96, 1.03; P = 0.537), or stroke (N = 3; RR = 1.01, 95%CI = 0.98, 1.03; P = 0.737), and was inversely associated with incidence of diabetes (N = 11; RR = 0.96, 95%CI = 0.93, 0.99; P = 0.021). We did not identify evidence for heterogeneity nor publication bias. Competing interests: The authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and Dr. Mozaffarian reports ad hoc honoraria or consulting from Boston Heart Diagnostics, Haas Avocado Board, Astra Zeneca, GOED, and Life Sciences Research Organization; chapter royalties from UpToDate; and scientific advisory board Elysium Health. Harvard University has been assigned patent US8889739 B2, listing Dr. Mozaffarian as one of three co-inventors, for “Use of transpalmitoleic acid in identifying and treating metabolic disease”. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. A systematic review of the evidence for of the relationship between butter consumption and long-term health is of considerable importance, both for understanding food-based health as well as informing dietary recommendations for clinicians and policy makers. The US Department of Agriculture has documented a 40-year record high in US butter consumption in 2014 [ 13 ], making a synthesis of the evidence on butter and major chronic diseases highly relevant and timely. For example, growing evidence supports potential metabolic benefits of certain dairy products, such as yogurt and possibly cheese, on risk of type 2 diabetes [ 5 , 6 ], which may even relate to benefits of dairy fat. [ 7 – 9 ] However, the relationship of butter, which is highest in dairy fat, with diabetes remains unclear. The long-term effects of butter consumption on other major endpoints, such as all-cause mortality and CVD, are also not well-established. Previous reviews have evaluated only some of these outcomes, included butter as part of a wider investigation into dairy foods or types of fats [ 10 – 12 ], and utilized methods that provided imprecise estimates of effect, precluded dose-response evaluation, or may have introduced unintended bias (e.g., due to inclusion of crude, unadjusted effect estimates). Growing uncertainty and changing views on the role of butter in cardiovascular disease (CVD) have been prominently discussed, including in the New York Times and Time Magazine. [ 1 , 2 ] This has partly arisen from increasing controversy on the utility of focusing on isolated macronutrients, such as saturated fat, for determining risk of chronic diseases. Mounting evidence indicates a need to shift away from isolated macronutrients toward food-based paradigms for investigating dietary priorities for chronic diseases. [ 3 , 4 ] The 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) recommended replacing animal fats, including butter, with non-hydrogenated vegetable oils high in unsaturated fats and relatively low in saturated fatty acids. [ 4 ] Yet, the DGAC also concluded that further research was needed on the effects of saturated fat from different food sources, including animal products, on cardiovascular risk, because different food sources contain varying specific fatty acid profiles as well as other constituents that may result in distinct lipid and metabolic effects. [ 4 ] Heterogeneity between studies was quantified using the I 2 statistic, with statistical significance (P<0.05) evaluated by the Q statistic. [ 21 ] We considered I2 values between 25% and 50%, between 50% and 75% and above75% as upper thresholds for low, moderate, and high heterogeneity, respectively. We planned pre-specified subgroup analyses to further explore potential heterogeneity in results by gender, population mean age and body mass index, duration of follow-up, and study quality score. Restricted cubic spline models [ 22 ] with knots at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles were used to examine potential nonlinear relations. Reported hazard ratios were assumed to approximate relative risks (RRs). We used the two-stage generalized least-squares trend estimation method described by Greenland and Longnecker [ 17 , 18 ] to perform dose-response analysis and compute study-specific linear estimates and 95% CIs across categories of butter intake. Butter intakes across studies were standardized at the study level to 14 g/d, corresponding to one United Stated Department of Agriculture-defined serving. [ 19 ] Study-specific dose-response estimates were then pooled to derive an overall estimate using inverse-variance weighted DerSimonian and Laird meta-analysis with random effects. [ 20 ] Because random effects can result in larger weights for small outlier studies, we also conducted fixed effects meta-analysis for comparison. For reports presenting results only by study subgroups (e.g., men, women), we first pooled the study-specific subgroups using fixed-effect meta-analysis to obtain a single estimate per study. We adapted the Newcastle-Ottawa quality scale(NOS) [ 16 ] to assess study quality, based on five criteria evaluating the reporting and appropriateness/representativeness of participant inclusion and exclusion criteria (combining the first two items of the NOS Selection scale), participant attrition (NOS adequacy of follow-up item), control for confounding (NOS Comparability scale), assessment of exposure (NOS ascertainment of exposure item), and assessment of outcome (combining the first two items of the NOS Outcome scale). One point was allocated per criterion met, the sum of which provided an overall quality score. A score between 0 and 3 was considered low-quality; and 4 to 5, high-quality. Quality scores were assessed independently and in duplicate by two investigators, with any differences resolved by consensus. When more than one multivariable model was reported, we used the risk estimate including the greatest number of potential confounders but not potential mediators (e.g., blood cholesterol). If the main multivariable model included covariates which could either be confounders or intermediates, this was utilized rather than a model with crude or minimal covariate adjustment. When energy intake was included as a covariate, body mass index was not considered to be an intermediate variable, so models adjusting for body mass index were extracted (this only arose in one study, by Buijsse et al. [ 14 ]). The effect results from the Guasch-Ferre et al. [ 15 ] study were estimated using the models of risk of diabetes associated with substitution of olive oil for equivalent amounts of butter, and our results were confirmed and validated by contact with the authors. Data from the included studies were independently extracted in duplicate by two investigators using a standardized and piloted electronic form (Microsoft Excel). Any differences in extraction were resolved by consensus. Information was extracted on the publication (first author name, contact information, publication year), study details (name, location, design), population (age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, body mass index), sample size, dates of recruitment, duration of follow-up, dietary assessment (dates, method, definition, categories), outcome(s) (assessment method, definition), covariates and analysis methods, and multivariate-adjusted effect estimates and associated uncertainty. To evaluate dose-response, we extracted continuous effect estimates when available; and for categorical analyses, collected additional information on median exposure, number of participants or person-years, and number of events in each category. Missing information in any category was obtained by direct author contact or, if necessary, estimated using a standard approach (see S5 File ). Studies were also excluded if evaluating only children or populations with major end-stage diseases such as cancer; if duration of intervention or follow-up was less than 3 months; if consumption of butter was not separately distinguishable from other dairy product or fats; if evaluating only soft endpoints (e.g. angina pectoris, coronary insufficiency); or, for observational studies, if providing only unadjusted (crude) effect estimates. When duplicate publications were identified, the report including the largest number of cases for each endpoint of interest was selected. If references were only available in abstract form (e.g. from meeting proceedings or conference presentations), data were extracted if sufficient detail was available; if not, a relevant publication was searched for in PubMed. In addition, among studies excluded by title and abstract screening, several were identified evaluating overall dietary patterns (e.g., Mediterranean, Western, etc.) To ensure that we were not missing effect estimates for butter contained within these reports (e.g., in supplementary tables on the individual components of these dietary patterns), we also reviewed the full texts of the first 15 identified studies of dietary patterns. None of these studies reported individual effect estimates for butter, so further diet pattern studies lacking any information on butter in the title or abstract were excluded We performed a systematic search for all prospective cohort studies and randomized clinical trials examining butter consumption and all-cause mortality, CVD including CHD and stroke, or type 2 diabetes. Electronic searches were performed using PubMed ( www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed ), EMBASE ( www.scopus.com ), The Cochrane Library ( www.cochranelibrary.com ), Web of Knowledge ( www.webofscience.com ), CAB Abstracts and Global Health ( www.ovid.com ), CINAHL ( www.ebscohost.com ) and grey literature searches of SIGLE ( www.opengrey.eu ) and ZETOC ( www.zetoc.mimas.ac.uk/ ) from the earliest indexing year of each database through May 2015, without language or other restrictions. Search terms included butter, margarine, dairy, dairy products, yogurt, cheese, ghee, animal fat, solid fat, cardiovascular diseases, heart disease, stroke, myocardial infarction, heart attack, cerebrovascular disease, cerebrovascular accident, sudden death, diabetes, mortality and deaths; see S3 File for a full listing. For all final included articles, we further performed hand-searches of citation lists and a review of the first 20 related references on PubMed for additional eligible reports. Visual inspection of funnel plots and Egger’s test suggested little evidence for asymmetry or presence of small-study effects for any CVD (p = 0.866), stroke (p = 0.913), CHD (p = 0.769), or diabetes (p = 0.369), although the relatively small number of studies limited statistical power of Egger’s test ( S1 Fig ). Egger’s test could not estimate small-study effects for all-cause mortality (N = 2 studies). No trimming was identified for all-cause mortality or CVD using Duval and Tweedie’s “Trim and Fill” method ( S2 Fig ). For diabetes, this approach did estimate one missing study, the addition of which resulted in a theoretical corrected pooled estimate of RR = 0.95 (95%CI = 0.93, 0.98; P = 0.001). While total numbers of subjects and cases were large, the relatively low number of separate studies precluded meaningful subgroup analyses by study or participant characteristics, which were therefore not performed. Similarly, potential nonlinearity in dose-response could not be meaningfully evaluated for total mortality. Evidence for nonlinearity was not identified for butter intake and CVD or diabetes (by cubic spline regression, P for nonlinearity = 0.364 and 0.160, respectively). Diet was generally assessed by detailed, semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaires; one cohort utilized a structured diet history interview ( Table 1 ). The median butter consumption across studies ranged from 4.5g/d (0.3 servings/d) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) studies to 46 g/d (3.2 servings/d) in Finland. Mean participant age ranged from 44 to 71 years. All studies were published between 2005 and 2015, and included 1 in the Netherlands, 2 in the US, 2 in Finland, 2 in Sweden, and 2 from the multi-country, multi-cohort EPIC study which included 8 country-specific cohorts from Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Five of the studies presented results from models with optimal covariate adjustment including demographics, clinical risk factors, and other dietary habits; the remainder provided results with moderate covariate adjustment. Discussion In this systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies, we found a small positive association between butter consumption and all-cause mortality, no significant association with incident CVD or CVD subtypes, and a modest inverse association with type 2 diabetesNo RCTs of butter intake were identified in our literature search. Because several of the identified reports included multiple country-specific cohorts, the total numbers of nation-specific cohorts, participants, and clinical events appear reasonably robust. Indeed, together these studies included more than 28,000 total deaths, nearly 10,000 cases of incident CVD, and nearly 24,000 cases of incident diabetes. We found limited formal evidence for between-study heterogeneity or publication bias, and all reports had high quality scores. Together, these findings suggest relatively small or neutral associations of butter consumption with long-term health. Current dietary recommendations on butter and dairy fat are largely based upon predicted effects of specific individual nutrients (e.g., total saturated fat, calcium), rather than actual observed health effects. Our findings add to a growing body of evidence on long-term health effects of specific foods and types of fats. [12, 32, 33] Conventional guidelines on dietary fats have not accounted for their diverse food sources nor the specific individual fatty acid profiles in such foods. [4] Different foods represent complex matrices of nutrients, processing, and food structure, which together influence net health effects. [3, 34] Thus, studying intakes of foods, as in the present investigation, is crucial to elucidate health impact. Our novel results, together with other prior research described below, indicate a need for further funding, evaluation, and reporting on health effects of butter and dairy fat on mechanistic pathways and long-term health outcomes. While prior meta-analyses have evaluated total dairy or some dairy subtypes and incident diabetes, to our knowledge none have evaluated butter and type 2 diabetes. [6, 12] A meta-analysis of butter and all-cause mortality identified no significant association (highest category vs. lowest: RR = 0.96; 95%CI = 0.95, 1.08) [10], but did not include the more recent large report from Sluik et al. [30](258,911 participants, 12,135 deaths) and also included two smaller studies not meeting our inclusion criteria: one having only crude (unadjusted) estimates, [35] and another evaluating polyunsaturated fats or margarine in comparison to butter, rather than butter separately. [36] A meta-analysis evaluating dairy consumption and CVD found no association between butter consumption and stroke (2 cohorts: RR = 0.94; 95%CI = 0.84, 1.06) or CHD (3 cohorts: RR = 1.02, 95%CI = 0.88, 1.20), but only evaluated high vs. low categories of intake rather than conducting dose-response analyses utilizing all available data. [5] Another meta-analysis included dose-response findings on butter consumption and stroke, but not CHD, CVD, diabetes, or all-cause mortality, and arrived at similar findings for stroke as seen in the present study. [11] In comparison to these prior reports, we evaluated up-to-date reports and full dose-response analyses for all-cause mortality, CVD including CHD and stroke, and type 2 diabetes; providing the most comprehensive investigation to-date of butter consumption and risk of long-term major health endpoints. Our investigation also adds to and expands upon prior studies evaluating other dairy foods and dairy fat biomarkers in relation to cardiometabolic outcomes. In a multi-ethnic US population, serum levels of pentadecanoic acid (15:0), the odd-chain saturated fat most strongly associated with self-reported butter intakes (r = 0.13), were associated with lower CVD and CHD risk. [37] This is consistent with a meta-analysis of odd-chain saturated fat biomarkers demonstrating inverse associations with CHD [33]. A prior meta-analysis of dairy consumption and CVD suggested protective associations with total CVD (for highest vs lowest category of intake: 12% lower risk) and stroke (13% lower risk), with conflicting results for major subtypes of dairy. [5] Dairy fat has also been linked to lower risk of diabetes, based on studies of circulating fatty acid biomarkers [8, 9] and studies of self-reported consumption of dairy products, which have seen protective associations for yogurt and perhaps cheese, and null associations for both low-fat and whole-fat milk. [12, 27] Given adverse effects of certain dairy fats (e.g. 16:0) on cardiometabolic risk factors such as LDL-cholesterol and fasting glucose [38, 39], our findings suggest potential presence of other mechanistic benefits of butter that might at least partly offset these harms. For instance, saturated fats also increase HDL-C, lower VLDL-C and chylomicron remnants, and lower lipoprotein(a) [40, 41]; while potential cardiometabolic benefits have been identified for calcium, fat-soluble vitamin D, medium-chain saturated fats, branched-chain fats, trace ruminant trans fats, or other processes related to fermentation (e.g. cheese) or active bacterial cultures (e.g. in yogurt). For example, dietary calcium may decrease fatty acid synthase and increase lipolytic activity in adipocytes, [42] reduce blood pressure by modulation of smooth muscle reactivity, [43, 44] and reduce weight gain. [45] Vitamin D may reduce dyslipidemia and improve blood pressure through maintenance of calcium homeostasis, stimulation of insulin production and release, and regulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. Higher dairy fat consumption has been linked to lower liver fat and greater hepatic and systemic insulin sensitivity [46] which could relate to inhibition of hepatic de novo lipogenesis by specific dairy fatty acids. [8] Branched-chain fatty acids in dairy fat may promote healthier bacterial microbiome composition and function. Dairy fat also contains monounsaturated fats which might improve glycemic responses and insulin sensitivity. [47, 48] Other dairy-related factors, such as probiotic bacteria in yogurt and menaquinones in fermented milk and cheeses, may improve insulin sensitivity, reduce weight gain, and reduce inflammation through microbiome and vitamin-K related pathways; [49, 50] such pathways would be less relevant for butter, which has been linked to greater weight gain. [51, 52] Clearly, additional mechanistic studies on health effects of butter, dairy fat, and dairy foods are warranted. Our results suggest relatively small or neutral overall associations of butter with mortality, CVD, and diabetes. These findings should be considered against clear harmful effects of refined grains, starches, and sugars on CVD and diabetes; [53–55] and corresponding benefits of fruits, nuts, legumes, n-6 rich vegetable oils, and possibly other foods such as fish on these endpoints. In sum, these results suggest that health effects of butter should be considered against the alternative choice. For instance, butter may be a more healthful choice than the white bread or potato on which it is commonly spread. In contrast, margarines, spreads, and cooking oils rich in healthful oils, such as soybean, canola, flaxseed, and extra-virgin olive oil, appear to be healthier choices than either butter or refined grains, starches, and sugars. [15, 56, 57] In Guasch-Ferre’s analysis of the Nurses Health Study, substitution of 8 g olive oil for an equivalent amount of butter was associated with an 8% reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes (RR = 0.92 (95%CI = 0.87, 0.97). [15] Thus, even with an absence of major health associations in the present investigation, healthier (and less healthy) alternatives may be available. Our findings suggest a major focus on eating more or less butter, by itself, may not be linked to large differences in mortality, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes. In sum, our findings do not support a need for major emphasis in dietary guidelines on butter consumption, in comparison to other better established dietary priorities. In any meta-analysis, the effects of potential publication bias should be considered. Such bias increases the probability that large, positive associations, rather than small or null findings, will be published. In this case, the identified studies each reported generally modest or null findings. Considering the number of large prospective studies globally having data on dietary habits (including butter consumption) and these outcomes, it is evident that many additional cohort studies have collected such data but not analyzed or reported their findings. Such “missing,” unpublished studies may be more likely to have null effects. This may be particularly relevant for total mortality, with only 2 identified publications: additional publications might plausibly move findings toward the null. For diabetes, where a larger count of publications allowed better assessment for bias, the “trim and fill” method identified one theoretical missing study, with a protective point estimate. Our investigation has several strengths. We followed stringent eligibility criteria that maximized inclusion of high quality, comparable studies. Our comprehensive literature search of multiple databases together with author contacts for clarification and missing data maximized statistical power and minimized the possibility of missed reports. While relatively few publications reported on certain outcomes, the identified studies were large, included multiple nation-specific cohorts and thousands of cases, and were of high quality; and as described above, it would be unlikely that publication bias would explain small or null (as opposed to large) associations. The inclusion of generally healthy participants followed since the 1980s and 1990s to the present provided populations generally free of lipid-lowering medications, which might otherwise mask full effects of butter on CVD. The identified cohorts provided a wide range of butter intakes, increasing power to detect an effect, if present. The dose-response analyses maximized use of all reported data, increasing precision. Potential limitations should be considered. The health effect of any food could be modified by a person’s background diet, genetics, or risk factor profile. This is true for any lifestyle, pharmacologic, or other health intervention—effects may be modified by other treatments or underlying characteristics—but this does not lessen the relevance of evaluating the average population effect. We did not observe any obvious differences in associations based on country or region, where background dietary patterns might differ; but the number of identified studies precluded robust investigation of potential sources of heterogeneity. While the majority of studies adjusted for major demographic, clinical, and dietary covariates, residual confounding may be present. Because butter consumption is associated with generally worse diet patterns and lifestyle habits [58, 59], such residual confounding may overestimate potential harms of butter for mortality, and underestimate potential benefits of butter for CVD or diabetes. Error or bias in measurement of dietary intake from self-reports, as well as the long periods between dietary assessment and follow-up in several studies (10 years or more), may attenuate findings. On the other hand, even with such limitations, many other dietary factors in these and other cohorts have identified significant associations with mortality, CVD, and diabetes, so this is unlikely to be the sole explanation for the null findings. We did not identify any randomized clinical trials of our hard endpoints, although such a long-term trial focused on butter alone might be prohibitively expensive and impractical. Our results are based on best available observational findings, and long-term interventional studies were not found, limiting inference on causality. In conclusion, the available evidence indicates small or neutral associations of butter consumption with all-cause mortality, CVD, and type 2 diabetes. ||||| An analysis by Tufts University researchers has failed to find a link between butter consumption and cardiovascular disease. And hallelujah to that—the ongoing hysteria against butter can now finally come to an end. For years we’ve been told to reduce the amount of butter in our diets. Health guidelines, many of which have been around since the 1970s, have warned us about the dangers of eating food high in saturated fats, claiming—and often without merit—that they contribute to heart problems and other health issues. Increasingly, however, scientists are learning that saturated fats aren’t the demons they’ve been made out to be. Advertisement A new study published in PLOS ONE is now bolstering this changing tide of opinion, showing there’s no link between butter and chronic disease. This gigantic analysis—a meta-study that included a total of 636,151 individuals across 15 countries, and involving 6.5 million person-years of follow-up—showed no association between the consumption of butter and cardiovascular disease. What the researchers did find, however, was that butter could be linked to a decrease—yes, a decrease—in a person’s chance of developing diabetes. Each daily tablespoon of butter was linked to a four percent lower risk of diabetes. The downside is that researchers did connect butter with all-cause mortality, however. For each tablespoon of butter consumed each day, the researchers observed a one percent increase in all-cause mortality risk, that is, death from any cause. The researchers suspect this connection is due to other factors; people who eat butter, for example, tend to have generally worse diets and lifestyles. Advertisement So does this mean we can start slathering butter on our toast and waffles with reckless abandon, and douse our popcorn in this golden syrup of deliciousness? Well, not quite. This study shows that butter on its own isn’t a pure evil. But it shouldn’t be considered a health food, either. As the researchers put it, butter is a kind of “middle-of-the-road” food. And as is often the case, it’s the foods we put the butter on that’s the problem. Indeed, butter is healthier than sugar or starches like bread, which have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. On the other hand, butter is worse than many margarines and cooking oils, such as those rich in healthy fats, like soybean, canola, flaxseed, and extra virgin olive oils. Importantly, margarine made from trans fats should be avoided like the plague. As study co-author Dariush Mozaffarian succinctly put it: “Overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered ‘back’ as a route to good health.” Advertisement Mozaffarian and his colleagues said further research is still required to understand why butter is connected to a lower risk of diabetes, but similar things have been observed in studies of dairy fat. This could imply that other factors are at play. As the researchers concede, ‘[Our] study does not prove cause-and-effect.” [PLOS ONE] ||||| BOSTON (Embargoed until 2 PM EDT, June 29, 2016)--Butter consumption was only weakly associated with total mortality, not associated with cardiovascular disease, and slightly inversely associated (protective) with diabetes, according to a new epidemiological study which analyzed the association of butter consumption with chronic disease and all-cause mortality. This systematic review and meta-analysis, published in PLOS ONE, was led by Tufts scientists including Laura Pimpin, Ph.D., former postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts in Boston, and senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, M.D., Dr.P.H., dean of the School. Based on a systematic review and search of multiple online academic and medical databases, the researchers identified nine eligible research studies including 15 country-specific cohorts representing 636,151 unique individuals with a total of 6.5 million person-years of follow-up. Over the total follow-up period, the combined group of studies included 28,271 deaths, 9,783 cases of cardiovascular disease, and 23,954 cases of new-onset type 2 diabetes. The researchers combined the nine studies into a meta-analysis of relative risk. Butter consumption was standardized across all nine studies to 14 grams/day, which corresponds to one U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated serving of butter (or roughly one tablespoon). Overall, the average butter consumption across the nine studies ranged from roughly one-third of a serving per day to 3.2 servings per day. The study found mostly small or insignificant associations of each daily serving of butter with total mortality, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. "Even though people who eat more butter generally have worse diets and lifestyles, it seemed to be pretty neutral overall," said Pimpin, now a data analyst in public health modelling for the UK Health Forum. "This suggests that butter may be a "middle-of-the-road" food: a more healthful choice than sugar or starch, such as the white bread or potato on which butter is commonly spread and which have been linked to higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease; and a worse choice than many margarines and cooking oils - those rich in healthy fats such as soybean, canola, flaxseed, and extra virgin olive oils - which would likely lower risk compared with either butter or refined grains, starches, and sugars." "Overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered "back" as a route to good health," said Mozaffarian. "More research is needed to better understand the observed potential lower risk of diabetes, which has also been suggested in some other studies of dairy fat. This could be real, or due to other factors linked to eating butter - our study does not prove cause-and-effect." ### Additional authors of this study are Jason HY Wu, M.Sc., Ph.D., and Hila Haskelberg, Ph.D., both of The George Institute for Global Health, University of Sydney, Australia; and Liana Del Gobbo, Ph.D., formerly a postdoctoral fellow at the Friedman School and currently a research fellow in cardiovascular medicine at Stanford School of Medicine. This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, under award number 5R01HL085710. For conflicts of interest disclosure, please see the study. Pimpin L, Wu JHY, Haskelberg H, Del Gobbo L, Mozaffarian D (2016) Is Butter Back? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Butter Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, and Total Mortality. PLoS ONE 11(6): e0158118. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0158118 About the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University is the only independent school of nutrition in the United States. The school's eight degree programs - which focus on questions relating to nutrition and chronic diseases, molecular nutrition, agriculture and sustainability, food security, humanitarian assistance, public health nutrition, and food policy and economics - are renowned for the application of scientific research to national and international policy.

– We might all owe Paula Deen an apology. A study published this week in PLOS ONE finds no connection between eating butter and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. On the contrary, researchers found eating butter might actually make people slightly healthier by reducing the risk of diabetes. Researchers from Tufts University looked at nine previous studies of more than 636,000 people who ate between one-third a tablespoon of butter and three tablespoons of butter per day, Live Science reports. For the purposes of the study, they called one tablespoon of butter a daily serving. Researchers found that eating butter was in no way associated with a risk of stroke or heart disease and reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 4%. "Hallelujah," Gizmodo responds to the study, pointing out that warnings about the dangers of butter have been around since the 1970s. But that doesn't mean it's time to eat an entire butter sculpture. Researchers say that while butter may actually be healthier than sugars and starches, it's probably still worse for you than olive oil or some margarines. "Overall, our results suggest that butter should neither be demonized nor considered 'back' as a route to good health," researcher Dariush Mozaffarian says in a press release. Researchers did find that eating butter led to a 1% higher risk of death, though they chalk that up to the fact that "people who eat more butter generally have worse diets and lifestyles." (This guy found edible butter dating back to Jesus.)

India's foreign minister demanded Thursday that the United States drop a case against an Indian diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched after being arrested in New York City for alleged visa fraud. Indian policemen detain a left party activist during a protest against the alleged mistreatment of New York based Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, near the U.S Consulate in Hyderabad, India, Thursday,... (Associated Press) Left Party activists hold placard and shout slogans during a protest against the alleged mistreatment of New York based Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, near the U.S Consulate in Hyderabad, India,... (Associated Press) A left party activist holds a placard during a protest against the alleged mistreatment of New York based Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, near the U.S Consulate in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Dec.... (Associated Press) This Dec. 8, 2013 photo shows Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general, during the India Studies Stony Brook University fund raiser event at Long Island, New York. The Indian diplomat said U.S.... (Associated Press) Left party activists shout slogans during a protest against the alleged mistreatment of New York based Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade, near the U.S Consulate in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Dec. 19,... (Associated Press) This Dec. 8, 2013 photo shows Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general, during the India Studies Stony Brook University fund raiser event at Long Island, New York. The Indian diplomat said U.S.... (Associated Press) The case has sparked a diplomatic furor between the United States and India, which is incensed over what its officials describe as degrading treatment of Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general in New York. Khobragade was arrested last week and charged with paying her Indian housekeeper far less than she had claimed on a visa application. Indian officials said Khobragade had earlier accused the housekeeper of blackmailing her last summer over the salary amount. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters on Thursday that Khobragade should never have been arrested, and that the housekeeper should have been arrested instead. Khurshid told reporters that the housekeeper had offered Khobragade a "settlement," demanding that the diplomat arrange for a new passport, a work visa and a large sum of money for the maid, in exchange for which she would not report the diplomat. Khurshid said he would speak to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry later Thursday. "This is an extremely distressing and hurtful incident that needs to be addressed," he said. The case has sparked outrage across India, where the idea of an educated, middle-class woman facing a strip-search is almost unimaginable, except in the most brutal crimes. In an unusual step, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan publicly defended Khobragade's treatment, and questioned why there was more outrage for Khobragade than for the housekeeper. Khobragade's case has chilled U.S.-Indian relations, and India has revoked privileges for U.S. diplomats in protest. Kerry earlier called a top Indian official to express his regret over what happened. ||||| Mohammed Jaffer / AP Devyani Khobragade, India's deputy consul general, during a fundraiser on Dec. 8. Secretary of State John Kerry called India's national security adviser on Wednesday to express his regret after one of India's top diplomats was arrested on fraud charges and strip-searched in New York City, creating a rift between the two countries. Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade is accused of submitting false documents to get a work visa for her Manhattan housekeeper, an Indian national she allegedly paid less than $3 per hour. In an email to Indian newspapers published on Wednesday, Khobragade said American police did cavity searches on her after she was arrested and imprisoned on Dec. 12. Lawmakers in New Delhi called her alleged treatment "despicable" and "barbaric," and responded by taking amenities away from the U.S. Embassy there. On Wednesday afternoon, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement that Kerry had called Indian National Security Adviser Shivshanker Menon to "express his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India." "The secretary understands very deeply the importance of enforcing our laws and protecting victims, and, like all officials in positions of responsibility inside the U.S. government, expects that laws will be followed by everyone here in our country," the statement said. "It is also particularly important to Secretary Kerry that foreign diplomats serving in the United States are accorded respect and dignity just as we expect our own diplomats should receive overseas." Khobragade, 39, was arrested and handcuffed while dropping her daughter off at school, then held in a cell with drug addicts until she posted $250,000 bail, according to Indian officials. She wrote of her arrest, "I broke down many times as the indignities of repeated handcuffing, stripping and cavity searches, swabbing, in a holdup with common criminals and drug addicts, were all being imposed upon me, despite my incessant assertions of immunity." U.S. Marshals confirmed in a statement that she was strip-searched following "standard arrestee intake procedures." Khobragade is accused of visa fraud — lying to the State Department about the terms under which she sponsored a visa for a woman from India to come to the U.S. and work for her as a babysitter and housekeeper. Foreign diplomats and dconsular officials are allowed to get visas for people from their home countries to work for them in the U.S., but the employees must be paid the U.S. minimum age and can't be forced to work excessively. According to the criminal complaint filed against her, Khobragade told the U.S. Embassy in India that her housekeeper would receive $4,500 a month and would work normal hours, at a rate of $9.75 an hour (which does not add up). But, after the woman was given a visa to come to the U.S., prosecutors say Khobragade told the woman to sign a second contract — which the U.S. was not told about — paying her $3.31 an hour. The housekeeper told U.S. authorities Khobragade subjected her to verbal abuse, paid her less than $3.31 an hour, took her passport away, and told her she had no choice but to continue working under those conditions, prosecutors say. Khobragade was arrested by U.S. State Department diplomatic security personnel. As a consular employee, she has no immunity from prosecution for ordinary crimes. Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara issued a lengthy statement Wednesday to “correct inaccuracies” he said were reported about the charges against Khobragade involving the maid and enumerated various ways the consular employee allegedly took advantage of the victim. “And one wonders why there is so much outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian national accused of perpetrating these acts, but precious little outrage about the alleged treatment of the Indian victim and her spouse,” Bharara wrote. “Finally, this Office’s sole motivation in this case, as in all cases, is to uphold the rule of law, protect victims, and hold accountable anyone who breaks the law – no matter what their societal status and no matter how powerful, rich or connected they are,” Bharara wrote. On Tuesday, as tensions escalated between the U.S. and India, India decided to block perks at the U.S. Embassy such as inexpensive alcohol and food imports. A small group of demonstrators held a protest close to the U.S. Embassy in Delhi on Wednesday, demanding an apology while wearing makeshift Obama masks and sarongs made from the American flag. NBC's Alexander Smith contributed to this report. ||||| US Attorney Preet Bharara took to the internet today to clarify a few things about Devyani Khobragade, the Indian diplomat who got arrested and strip searched last week for lying about paying her nanny only $3.31 an hour. Diplomatic tensions erupted this week with the news of the strip search, prompting India to remove concrete security barriers that had been protecting the American embassy from speeding vehicles and suicide bombers. American diplomatic status was also downgraded. International critics seemed particularly incensed over the fact that Khobragade was strip searched, a standard operating procedure for anyone being arrested and booked. In fact, according to Bharara, Khobragade was actually given special treatment not typically afforded to other defendants. Ms. Khobragade was accorded courtesies well beyond what other defendants, most of whom are American citizens, are accorded. She was not, as has been incorrectly reported, arrested in front of her children. The agents arrested her in the most discreet way possible, and unlike most defendants, she was not then handcuffed or restrained. In fact, the arresting officers did not even seize her phone as they normally would have. Instead, they offered her the opportunity to make numerous calls to arrange personal matters and contact whomever she needed, including allowing her to arrange for child care. This lasted approximately two hours. Because it was cold outside, the agents let her make those calls from their car and even brought her coffee and offered to get her food. It is true that she was fully searched by a female Deputy Marshal — in a private setting — when she was brought into the U.S. Marshals’ custody, but this is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not, in order to make sure that no prisoner keeps anything on his person that could harm anyone, including himself. This is in the interests of everyone’s safety. Khobragade was arrested, Bharara says, because she "clearly tried to evade U.S. law designed to protect from exploitation the domestic employees of diplomats and consular officers." Furthermore, Bharara alleges, Khobragade created a second secret contract where she "deleted the required language protecting the victim from other forms of exploitation and abuse." Bharara also sheds some light on the actual victim in the case — Khobragade's nanny. Apparently Indian officials didn't limit their retaliation to American diplomats. As also has been reported, legal process was started in India against the victim, attempting to silence her, and attempts were made to compel her to return to India. Further, the Victim’s family reportedly was confronted in numerous ways regarding this case. Speculation about why the family was brought here has been rampant and incorrect. Some focus should perhaps be put on why it was necessary to evacuate the family and what actions were taken in India vis-à-vis them. [image via AP]

– The Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip-search has sparked a major international ruckus actually received treatment better than most American citizens could expect, US Attorney Preet Baharara says. He says that contrary to some reports, Devyani Khobragade wasn't busted in front of her children, but was arrested in the most discreet way possible and was allowed to spend two hours making phone calls while agents brought her coffee, Gawker finds. "It is true that she was fully searched by a female Deputy Marshal—in a private setting—when she was brought into the US Marshals’ custody, but this is standard practice for every defendant, rich or poor, American or not," he says. That's precious little consolation for India's foreign minister, who today demanded that the US drop the case, reports the AP. Khobragade was charged with visa fraud for allegedly bringing a maid to the US from India and paying her below minimum wage. In an effort to defuse tensions, John Kerry has spoken to India's national security adviser, who denounced the diplomat's treatment as "despicable and barbaric," NBC reports. Kerry called to "express his regret, as well as his concern that we not allow this unfortunate public issue to hurt our close and vital relationship with India," a State Department spokeswoman says, adding that Kerry, "like all officials in positions of responsibility inside the US government, expects that laws will be followed by everyone here in our country."

- A mother wrestled her own daughter from the arms of a would-be kidnapper inside a Citrus County Dollar General Store Tuesday morning, moments before an off-duty deputy arrested the fleeing suspect at gunpoint. It all started just before noon at the Dollar General in Hernando. Deputies said a man -- whom they later identified as Craig Bonello -- tried to snatch a 13-year-old girl who was shopping with her mother. Surveillance video released to deputies by the store shows he tried to run towards the exit with the girl in his arms, but the teen's mother caught up and a "tug of war" ensued. Bonello, 30, finally let go of the girl and ran out the front door just as an off-duty deputy was getting out of his patrol car to enter the store. The store manager yelled to Deputy Jonathan Behnen, who pulled his car around to block Bonello in the parking lot. Deputy Behnen pulled out his service weapon and ordered Bonello from his car. Bonello hesitated, but complied and was taken into custody. "In my 10 years on the road I have never seen anything like this," Sgt. Craig Callahan said at the scene. "He truly intended to abduct this child right in front of everyone in the store." The sheriff's office said deputies have arrested Bonello several times before, most recently in February for trespassing. His other charges were misdemeanors, except for an aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer back in 2009. He is not a registered sex offender. WATCH: Mom stops man trying to abduct teen in Dollar General He now faces charges of kidnapping and child abuse. "We are very fortunate our deputy was there as quickly as he was. We are very fortunate that the mother had that motherly instinct and did what she did." Sgt. Callahan said. "She may have saved her daughter's life today. I don't exactly know a motive, but I know it wasn't a good one." Deputies said the mother and her daughter were uninjured, although both very rattled. The victim is being offered counseling services. "Behnen is a bona fide hero today," said Capt. Ricky Grant, who was also on scene. "If it weren't for him, this guy would have gotten away." ||||| HERNANDO, Fla. (WFLA) — A store clerk, a mother, and a quick-thinking deputy are being credited with saving a girl from a potential abduction in Citrus County. Deputies responded to the Dollar General at 2560 N Trucks Ave. at 11: 42 a.m. on Tuesday after receiving a 911 call about something happening inside the store. The initial call indicated the caller heard screaming, but dispatchers then learned that an attempted child abduction was in process. Investigators say the suspect, Craig Bonello, age 30, entered the store and at some point grabbed a 13-year-old girl who was shopping with her mother. As he ran toward the exit of the store with the girl in his arms, the mother was able to catch up to him and grab her daughter. Screaming could be heard throughout the store as the suspect and the mother got into a tug-of-war over the girl. Bonello finally let go of the girl and ran out the front door of the Dollar General. Off-duty Citrus County Sheriff’s Office deputy Jonathan Behnen happened to be getting out of his patrol car to enter the store. Behnen had been to court earlier in the morning and had stopped at the store to grab supplies when he encountered the running suspect. The store manager, who is known to Dep. Behnen, then yelled to him that the man running away had just tried to kidnap a child. Behnen pulled his patrol car in front of the suspect’s vehicle as he tried to leave the parking lot. He ordered the man out of the car with his weapon in hand. After initially not complying, the man was taken into custody. “In my 10 years on the road I have never seen anything like this,” Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Craig Callahan said from the scene. “He truly intended to abduct this child right in front of everyone in the store.” “It actually was violent enough to tear the girl’s shirt up pretty badly that she was wearing,” Sgt. Callahan added. “We’re very fortunate that the mother had the motherly instinct and did what she did. She may have saved her daughter’s life.” The mother and her daughter, although both very rattled, are uninjured. “Behnen is a bona fide hero today,” said said Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Ricky Grant, who was also on scene. “If it weren’t for him, this guy would have gotten away.” “This was a chaotic scene with a lot at stake,” said Commander Buddy Grant. “Thank goodness the girl’s mother jumped into action to prevent this man from kidnapping her daughter. And, thank goodness Dep. Behnen used his training and experience to stop this man from escaping,” said Grant. Because charges are forthcoming for the suspect, the sheriff’s office said it is not releasing the names of those involved at this time. The intentions of Bonello as of yet are not known. Detectives will be investigating the incident thoroughly and will be charging Bonello in the near future. Bonello is not listed as a sexual offender or predator. He lives in Inverness. Deputies responded to the Dollar General at 2560 N Trucks Ave. at 11: 42 a.m. on Tuesday after receiving a 911 call about something happening inside the store. The initial call indicated the caller heard screaming, but dispatchers then learned that an attempted child abduction was in process. Investigators say the suspect, Craig Bonello, age 30, entered the store and at some point grabbed a 13-year-old girl who was shopping with her mother. As he ran toward the exit of the store with the girl in his arms, the mother was able to catch up to him and grab her daughter. Screaming could be heard throughout the store as the suspect and the mother got into a tug-of-war over the girl. Bonello finally let go of the girl and ran out the front door of the Dollar General. Off-duty Citrus County Sheriff’s Office deputy Jonathan Behnen happened to be getting out of his patrol car to enter the store. Behnen had been to court earlier in the morning and had stopped at the store to grab supplies when he encountered the running suspect. The store manager, who is known to Dep. Behnen, then yelled to him that the man running away had just tried to kidnap a child. Behnen pulled his patrol car in front of the suspect’s vehicle as he tried to leave the parking lot. He ordered the man out of the car with his weapon in hand. After initially not complying, the man was taken into custody. “In my ten years on the road I have never seen anything like this,” said Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Craig Callahan from the scene. “He truly intended to abduct this child right in front of everyone in the store.” The mother and her daughter, although both very rattled, are uninjured. “Behnen is a bona fide hero today,” said said Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Ricky Grant, who was also on scene. “If it weren’t for him, this guy would have gotten away.” “This was a chaotic scene with a lot at stake,” said Commander Buddy Grant. “Thank goodness the girl’s mother jumped into action to prevent this man from kidnapping her daughter. And, thank goodness Dep. Behnen used his training and experience to stop this man from escaping,” said Grant. Because charges are forthcoming for the suspect, the sheriff’s office said it is not releasing the names of those involved at this time. The intentions of Bonello as of yet are not known. Detectives will be investigating the incident thoroughly and will be charging Bonello in the near future. Bonello is not listed as a sexual offender or predator. He lives in Inverness. The incident has parents and Dollar General customers rethinking their safety. “They’re a little older now, so I let ’em do more. And I don’t even know if I can do that. I mean, it’s scary,” mom Ashley Harper told News Channel 8. Harper, who is not the victim’s mother, had two of her three kids with her when she talked to 8 On Your Side. Nobody answered at Bonello’s residence Tuesday. A neighbor said the suspect is known for leaving trash bags at the curb. “He didn’t want to be seen by anybody. When he came out put the garbage, I think he peaked around, is anybody out?” James Mussleman said. WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON ||||| A Florida mother is being praised after she thwarted a kidnapping suspect who allegedly grabbed the woman’s 13-year-old daughter and tried to run out of a store Tuesday, the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office said. The sheriff’s office was called about the attempted abduction at a Dollar General store in Hernando at 11:42 a.m., but an off-duty sheriff’s deputy was outside the business and arrested Craig Bonello as he tried to flee in a vehicle, the sheriff’s office said. Bonello, 30, of Hernando, allegedly grabbed the teen and tried to drag her out of the store, but the girl’s mother caught up to him and freed her after a "tug of war," the sheriff’s office said in a statement. The incident was caught on a shocking video that was posted to the sheriff's office's Facebook page. "In my 10 years on the road I have never seen anything like this," Sgt. Craig Callahan said in a statement from the sheriff’s office. "He truly intended to abduct this child right in front of everyone in the store." The off-duty deputy, Jonathan Behnen, was stopping by a Dollar General store after spending the morning in court, and the store manager yelled that the fleeing man had tried to abduct a child, the sheriff’s office said. Behnen used his patrol car to block Bonello’s vehicle and arrested him, according to the sheriff’s office. Detectives are still investigating why Bonello allegedly grabbed the girl, the sheriff’s office said. No one was hurt in the incident, the sheriff’s office said. Abduction suspect Craig Bonello, 30, is seen in this booking photo from an unrelated arrest from February. Bonello will be charged with one count each of kidnapping and child abuse, the sheriff's office said. Bonello was most recently arrested for trespassing at an Inverness Walmart store in February, according to sheriff’s office records, and he has several other arrests for misdemeanors since 2009, according to court records. None of the other cases involve abduction, according to court records. An attorney for Bonello in Tuesday’s arrest was not listed, and a message left at his listed address was not immediately returned. Tony Bonello, the suspect's uncle, said his nephew has had some problems over the years and needs help. "It’s just sad that this has happened, because this is not the kid that grew up with my kids,” Tony Bonello, who lives in Vermont, said in a phone interview. "He needs to talk to some psychiatrists and find out what the issue is," Tony Bonello said. In the February trespassing case, an expert for a competency evaluation was appointed but a hearing has not yet been scheduled, according to court records. An attorney listed as representing Bonello in the trespassing case did not immediately return an email Tuesday evening. Deputy Jonathan Behnen Citrus County Sheriff "Thank goodness the girl's mother jumped into action to prevent this man from kidnapping her daughter,” sheriff’s office Commander Buddy Grant said in the statement. “And thank goodness Dep. Behnen used his training and experience to stop this man from escaping." Hernando is a community of around 9,000 people about 30 miles southwest of Ocala.

– Police in Florida are praising a woman whose "motherly instinct … may have saved her daughter's life." Surveillance video from a Dollar General store in Hernando on Tuesday shows a man police are identifying as 30-year-old Craig Bonello pushing a cart full of items. He then wanders into an aisle and grabs a 13-year-old girl who was shopping with her mother, dragging the teen by the arm along the floor toward the exit. The girl's mother catches up and eventually succeeds in freeing her daughter after a "tug of war," per NBC News. Police say Bonello then ran outside, followed by the store manager, who yelled that he had tried to abduct a child. That alerted off-duty sheriff's deputy Jonathan Behnen, who was about to enter the store and used his patrol car to block Bonello's vehicle as he tried to escape, the sheriff's office says. Bonello was arrested and charged with kidnapping and child abuse. The teen was uninjured, though the attack "was violent enough to tear the girl's shirt up pretty badly," Sgt. Craig Callahan tells WFLA. "Thank goodness the girl's mother jumped into action to prevent this man from kidnapping her daughter," an officer adds. "And thank goodness Dep. Behnen used his training and experience to stop this man from escaping." Officers still aren't clear on a motive, but "I know it wasn't a good one," Callahan says, per Fox 13. "In my 10 years on the road I have never seen anything like this. He truly intended to abduct this child right in front of everyone in the store." Court records show Bonello has been arrested several times since 2009, including for trespassing at a Walmart in February, but that case didn't involve an abduction.

FILE - In this June 5, 2007 file photo, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive at the premiere of "Ocean's Thirteen" in Los Angeles, Calif. Angelina Jolie Pitt has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, bringing... (Associated Press) FILE - In this June 5, 2007 file photo, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt arrive at the premiere of "Ocean's Thirteen" in Los Angeles, Calif. Angelina Jolie Pitt has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, bringing an end to one of the world's most star-studded, tabloid-generating romances. An attorney for Jolie... (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — Brangelina is no more. Angelina Jolie Pitt has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt, bringing an end to one of the world's most star-studded, tabloid headline-generating romances. An attorney for Jolie Pitt, Robert Offer, said Tuesday in a statement that she has filed for the dissolution of the marriage. Offer said the decision to divorce was made "for the health of the family." Offer refused to answer questions about the divorce. The couple has six children together: Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne. Though together for 12 years, Pitt and Jolie Pitt only wed in August 2014. They married privately in the French hamlet of Correns in Provence with their children serving as ring bearers and throwing flower petals. They announced the ceremony days later. This is the second marriage for Pitt, who previously wed Jennifer Aniston. It's the third for Jolie Pitt, who was previously married to Billy Bob Thornton and Jonny Lee Miller. Though their initial romance — begun after the pair starred together in 2005's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" — sparked an avalanche of tabloid interest, Jolie Pitt and Pitt settled into their own unique kind of globe-trotting domesticity. The pair adopted children from Cambodia, Vietnam and Ethiopia. And they sought to direct the glare of their celebrity toward other causes. Jolie Pitt, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, became an outspoken voice for refugees and various causes in Africa, as well as for breast cancer treatment after undergoing a double mastectomy. Jolie Pitt also launched herself as a film director. Last year, the couple starred together in her "By the Sea," playing a glamorous couple vacationing together in France while their marriage was on the rocks. It made a mere $538,000 at the box office. In a 2014 interview with The Associated Press, Jolie Pitt said playing a couple with marital problems was cathartic. "It almost makes you get past those issues because you can laugh at them," Jolie Pitt said. "You do a film about bad marriage and you witness that behavior. You study it, you let it out, you attack each other and then you just want to hold each other and make sure you never behave that way." ||||| Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie were “dumped at the same time,” reveals In Touch. The magazine reports Aniston “laid into” Justin Theroux after their disappointing at-home one-year anniversary celebration. A source says, “She called him out for being a grump all week and for ruining what should have been a blissful time together,” prompting Theroux to call it quits and leaving Aniston “devastated.” As for Jolie, the publication reveals Brad Pitt “walked out” on her when she “went nuclear” after watching his love scenes with Marion Cotillard in the trailer for Allied. A source says the trailer “sent Jolie over the edge,” and an argument ensued, during which she was also furious that Pitt was back in touch with Aniston. Now, notes In Touch, Pitt is “done” with his marriage. While all very dramatic, neither Jolie nor Aniston have been “dumped” by their respective spouses. A rep for Aniston exclusively tells Gossip Cop, “They are insane at In Touch.” And a Pitt-Jolie insider also says the report is untrue. Sadly, Gossip Cop is not surprised by the falsity of the tabloid’s latest tale. In the last few months, Aniston’s rep denied the magazine’s June cover story that wrongly alleged she was pregnant, and a spokesperson for Pitt exclusively told Gossip Cop the outlet’s claim in July that he and Jolie were adopting a seventh child from Africa was also inaccurate. Keeping Up With The Kardashians” is being canceled, according to the new edition of Star magazine. The publication reports that while Kris Jenner is “scrambling” to save the show from the chopping block, “not everyone in the fame-obsessed family is upset” about the cancelation. An insider tells the magazine, “Kris is absolutely desperate to save the show. But she can’t do that without her kids, and hardly anyone in the family wants to keep doing it.” “The show has turned into a grind for the kids,” explains the outlet’s source. Kim Kardashian’s husband Kanye West, notes Star as an example, is “encouraging the mom of two to move on” from the series. So, when’s the last episode of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” going to air? Not for a long time. The show is not being canceled, Gossip Cop has learned. A rep for Kim Kardashian exclusively tells us the tabloid’s story about the E! show being canned is 100 percent “false.” Interestingly, the magazine made this same inaccurate claim in a March 2014 cover story that read, “Kardashians Canceled.” The allegation wasn’t true then, and it remains wrong today. Jennifer Garner’s going to divorce Ben Affleck out of “revenge”? That’s what Life & Style reveals in its latest issue. The publication reports that after Affleck recently let her and the kids down again, Garner’s been “pushed over the edge” and will leave him for good. So, what happened that’s causing Garner to take “steps to wipe him from her life once and for all”? The magazine says after their three kids spent all day decorating the backyard of the family’s L.A. mansion for his birthday, Affleck was a no-show and only returned home the next day, blaming work for keeping him away. Now, Garner is “getting the ultimate revenge,” reports the magazine. An insider says Garner “wants Ben out of the house,” and has “decided to finally file divorce papers.” “She’s absolutely done with giving him any more chances…. She’s getting revenge on Ben by going through with the divorce,” adds the outlet’s source. There are a few problems with the Life & Style story, Gossip Cop can report. For starters, there were never plans for a birthday party in California, and Affleck never flaked on his kids. The family actually celebrated his birthday all together on a vacation in Montana. A source close to the situation exclusively tells Gossip Cop, “They just spent a lovely birthday weekend together with family and friends.” Our impeccable insider mockingly adds that the same publication reported earlier in the year that “they were pregnant; so can we really trust them?” © FRANCIS SPECKER/Press Asscociation Sofia Richie, left, and Nicole Richie at the taping of the CBS television special "ACM Presents: Lionel Richie and Friends in Concert" at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 2, 2012. Nicole Richie told her little sister Sofia to “ditch” Justin Bieber because he’s a “bad influence,” reveals OK!. In fact, the magazine notes Nicole is “begging” Sofia to “cut things off” with Bieber. According to a source, Nicole “sees through Justin,” and knows he likes to “bounce around from girl to girl.” “Nicole is really worried [Sofia’s] going to get hurt,” because the younger Richie is “sweet and young,” says the insider. The publication’s source adds, “Nicole thinks that Justin will be a bad influence or just end up breaking her heart.” Gossip Cop looked into the magazine’s claims, and we’ve learned that Nicole does not believe Bieber is a “bad influence” on Sofia, who recently turned 18. While Nicole is protective of her kid sister, she also knows Sofia is capable of handling herself. A Richie family insider exclusively assures Gossip Cop that Nicole never told Sofia to “ditch” Bieber. Our source says the tabloid’s claim is “not true” and a conversation like that “did not happen.” Of course, OK! hasn’t exactly been known for having accurate Richie sources. Gossip Cop busted the tabloid nearly a year ago when it wrongly reported Nicole and her husband Joel Madden were on the verge of divorcing. Much like that story, the current claim about Nicole warning her sister Sofia about Bieber is similarly false. ||||| Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt after learning he was cheating on her with his sexy co-star, a well-placed source told The Post on Tuesday. “She hired a private eye because she felt that he was fooling around with her on the set, and it turns out, he was. And that was the final straw,’’ the source said. Pitt, 52, had been rumored to have been cozying up to his “Allied’’ co-star Marion Cotillard, 40, for months during the pair’s filming of the World War II drama in London. The PI discovered that Pitt was cheating on his wife of two years with Cotillard — while also partying like a single guy on a mission, the source said. “The atmosphere [off-set] was full of hard drugs and Russian hookers, and Angie was told Brad got caught up in it,’’ the source said. “He’s in the throes of some insane midlife crisis, and Angie is fed up.” But a source close to Cotillard denied the Pitt affair rumors and insisted she is still with her long-term partner, French actor and director Guillaume Canet. “They are still very much together. They have been a couple since 2007 and have one child but have never married,’’ the source said of Cotillard and Canet. The source could not confirm French reports that Cotillard is pregnant with her second child with Canet. That's hot: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were rumored to first connect on the set of their hit movie "Mrs. and Mrs. Smith" in 2005. Everett Collection Jolie and Pitt make a point to stand separately at the Los Angeles premiere of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" on June 7, 2005. Getty Pitt and Jolie go public for the first time on a motorcycle ride in Edmonton, Canada, on Sept. 25, 2005. Splash Jolie, Pitt and kids Maddox and Zahara Jolie-Pitt land at Narita Airport in Tokyo on Nov. 27, 2005. Getty Pitt and a pregnant Jolie go on a U.N. goodwill trip to a school in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 13, 2006. Splash The jet-setting Jolie-Pitt clan touches down in Roissy Airport in Paris on March 4, 2006. Splash Pitt and Jolie attend a press conference in a Swakopmund, Namibia, hotel on June 7, 2006. Getty Jolie and Pitt escort Maddox and Zahara around Mumbai, India, on Nov. 12, 2006. Getty Pitt, Jolie, Maddox and Zahara Jolie-Pitt take a boat ride in Mumbai, India, on Nov. 18, 2006. Getty Pitt and Jolie ride motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Nov. 23, 2006. Getty Pitt and Jolie arrive at the Golden Globes on Jan. 15, 2007 in Beverly Hills. Getty Pitt and Jolie leave the "Ocean's Thirteen" premiere in Cannes on May 24, 2007. Getty Jolie supports Pitt at the premiere of "Ocean's Thirteen" in Hollywood on June 5, 2007. Getty Pitt and Jolie look as loved up as ever at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 2, 2007. Getty Pitt and Jolie get close at the "Beowulf" London premiere on Nov. 11, 2007. Getty Jolie and Pitt are joyous at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 27, 2008. Getty Jolie and Pitt leave the Independent Spirit Awards on Feb. 23, 2008. Splash Pitt and Jolie arrive at the "Kung Fu Panda" premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2008. Getty Pitt holds a pregnant Jolie at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2008. Getty Jolie and Pitt chuckle at the Los Angeles premiere of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" on Dec. 8, 2008. Getty Jolie and Pitt stay close at the Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on Jan. 8, 2009. Getty Pitt and Jolie shine at the Golden Globes on Jan. 11, 2009 in Beverly Hills. Getty The couple coordinates at the Paris premiere of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" on Jan. 22, 2009. Getty Jolie and Pitt laugh at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 22, 2009. Pitt and Jolie pose at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2009. Getty Pitt and Jolie take their kids to see "Mary Poppins" on Broadway on Jan. 3, 2010. Splash Jolie clutches Pitt at the Hollywood premiere of "Salt" on July 19, 2010. Getty Pitt and Jolie attend the Rome premiere of "The Tourist" on Dec. 15, 2010. Getty Pitt and Jolie arrive at the Golden Globes on Jan. 16, 2011 in Beverly Hills. Getty Jolie and Pitt laugh at the Los Angeles premiere of "Kung Fu Panda 2" on May 22, 2011. Getty Pitt holds Jolie close at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2011. Getty Pitt, Jolie and their brood arrive in Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Nov. 7, 2011. Splash Jolie, Pitt and the tykes land in Con Dao, Vietnam, on Nov. 11, 2011. Getty Jolie poses with Pitt and his parents at the New York premiere of "In the Land of Blood and Honey" on Dec. 5, 2011. Getty Pitt beams at Jolie at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on Jan. 7, 2012. Getty Jolie and Pitt arrive at the Golden Globes on Jan. 15, 2012 in Beverly Hills. Getty Pitt and Jolie joke at the Berlin premiere of "In the Land of Blood and Honey" on Feb. 11, 2012. Getty Pitt keeps his arm around his lady at the Cinema for Peace Gala on Feb. 13, 2012 in Berlin. Getty Pitt, Jolie and that infamous leg arrive at the Oscars on Feb. 26, 2012. Getty Jolie and Pitt attend the London premiere of "World War Z" on June 2, 2013. Getty Jolie supports Pitt at the Berlin premiere of "World War Z" on June 4, 2013. Getty Jolie and Pitt have a special guest at the Governors Awards on Nov. 16, 2013 in Hollywood: son Maddox. Getty Jolie and Pitt attend the British Academy Film Awards on Feb. 16 in London. Getty Jolie and Pitt attend the Academy Awards on March 2 in Hollywood. Getty Pitt and Jolie beam at one another at the "Maleficent" London premiere on May 8. Getty Pitt and Jolie share a smile at the Hollywood premiere of "Maleficent" on May 28. Getty Jolie, Pitt and their brood go for a stroll in the New Orleans French Quarter on March 20, 2011. Splash Jolie and Pitt attend the Global Summit To End Sexual Violence In Conflict in London on June 13, 2014. Getty Images Jolie and Pitt arrive at LAX with Zahara on June 14. Splash The pair attend the 15th Annual AFI Awards Luncheon on Jan. 9, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. Getty Images The duo attend a screening of "By the Sea" on Nov. 3, 2015 in New York City. Getty Images Pitt, Jolie and Anna Wintour chat at the WSJ. Magazine 2015 Innovator Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on Nov. 4, 2015. Getty Images Jolie and Pitt attend the premiere of "By the Sea" during the AFI Fest on Nov. 5, 2015. Getty Images Jolie and Pitt attend a party for "By the Sea" on Nov. 5, 2015. Getty Images Ad Up Next Close Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to divorce The Oscar winner cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for their... 54 View Slideshow Back Continue Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Flipboard WhatsApp Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Click to copy URL Advertisement Jolie’s manager, Geyer Kosinski, said Tuesday, “Angelina will always do what’s in the best interest to protect her children. “She appreciates everyone’s understanding of their need for privacy at this time,’’ he told E! News. Pitt added in a statement to People magazine, “I am very saddened by this, but what matters most now is the well-being of our kids. “I kindly ask the press to give them the space they deserve during this challenging time.” In addition to her husband’s alleged affair, Jolie, 41, was sick and tired of constantly sparring over their lifestyle, another source told The Post. She has increasingly wanted to quit Hollywood in favor of devoting herself full-time to traveling the globe for her humanitarian work, while Pitt prefers Tinseltown and its parties, the source said. Jolie spoke before the United Nations in Manhattan just this past Friday to ask them to help millions of Syrian refugees. “The older she gets, the more serious she becomes, and she is sick of the Hollywood thing,’’ the second source said. “He wants to make movies. She doesn’t. It’s a fundamental difference. It’s how you live your life.’’ Making matters worse, Pitt is closer to Jolie’s famous actor dad, Jon Voight, than she is, the source said. “Jon’s a Hollywood guy, and she’s been estranged. Brad hangs out with her father more than she does,’’ the source said. Another source told TMZ that Jolie believes that her hubby’s drinking and pot-smoking is affecting their kids. Add to that his “anger problem,” and the mom of six said enough is enough, the source told the website. Jolie filed for divorce Monday, citing “irreconcilable differences.” She is seeking physical custody of the couple’s kids, TMZ said. She doesn’t want Pitt to have joint physical custody, just joint legal custody. He would get visitation, according to her filing. Jolie is not seeking spousal support, the website said. Brangelina’s French chateau, Miraval — where the couple married in August 2014 — has been quietly on the market for a few months, and locals were told they were selling it because they are breaking up, a source told The Post. Jolie has hired top gun Laura Wasser as her lawyer. The court documents list the couple’s date of separation as Sept. 15, 2016. The couple have been together since 2004. A rep for Cotillard did not immediately get back to The Post. ||||| It certainly seems like no Hollywood relationship can last without at least one accusation of cheating. Angelina Jolie has reportedly filed for divorce from Brad Pitt after 2 years of marriage (and 10 years together), citing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split. According to TMZ, Jolie couldn’t handle the way that Pitt parented their six children and asked for physical custody of the kids, only granting Pitt visitation. RELATED: Pippa Middleton shoots down claims that her life is all about looks and wealth But, rumors of an affair have been swirling around the couple for a while. Basically every tabloid at the checkout line of any grocery store is littered with scandal about celebrities. Jolie and Pitt have been the victims of countless bogus news stories throughout the year. Pitt’s ex-wife Jennifer Aniston is often the target of pregnancy rumors too. There’s no escaping it. Most of us ignore it. But what if they get it right? In May, Hollywood Life, a noted gossip rag, ran a story that claimed Pitt was stepping out of his marriage and having an affair with his “Five Seconds of Silence” costar Marion Cotillard. “For a while, the excitement of getting married masked their troubles,” Hollywood Life reported of Jolie and Pitt at the time, “but lately, they’ve been having explosive fights. Neither of them is sure that they can or should, hang on anymore.” The tabloid claimed that a friend of the couple said that Jolie’s behavior was driving Pitt away. The insider claimed that Jolie “barely eats, she guzzles wine every night and she smokes constantly,” adding that for Pitt, “it’s been hard to watch the woman he loves waste away.” RELATED: Twitter pulls Jennifer Aniston into the Brad and Angie breakup news with the most hilarious memes The story reported that Pitt denied any relationship with Cotillard other than a professional one. Shortly after the news of the divorce broke, Page Six reported that an affair is exactly what pushed Jolie to her breaking point. “She hired a private eye because she felt that he was fooling around with her on the set, and it turns out, he was. And that was the final straw,” a source claimed. Pitt and Cotillard were reportedly spotted canoodling all over London for the last few months. The couple has been somewhat rocky lately since Jolie reportedly dreams of leaving Hollywood to focus on her humanitarian work, but Pitt longs for the spotlight. “The older she gets, the more serious she becomes, and she is sick of the Hollywood thing,” the source said. “He wants to make movies. She doesn’t. It’s a fundamental difference. It’s how you live your life.” No word if this rumored affair is real, but it sure seems suspicious.

– Those rumors you may have seen recently in the supermarket tabloids were true: Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt. TMZ confirms the news, and says Jolie filed Monday and lists the date of separation as Sept. 15. TMZ reports that there was no cheating involved (though Page Six claims Jolie busted Pitt having an affair with co-star Marion Cotillard), just a fight over how Pitt parents the couple's six children. Jolie is seeking sole physical custody of the kids, with Pitt being granted only visitation, a request TMZ calls "significant." An attorney for Jolie Pitt, Robert Offer, said the decision to divorce was made "for the health of the family," per AP. TMZ sources say that Jolie was "fed up" with Pitt's substance abuse, including pot and booze, combined with what she saw as anger issues. This tweet from BuzzFeed writer Anne Helen Petersen pretty much sums up general response: "I haven't heard a gasp go through the newsroom like the news of Jolie Pitt Divorce THIS ENTIRE ELECTION." (Click for 11 other great reactions to the split or more on the Cotillard rumors.)

These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Speaking on the Senate floor before a vote to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) made no apologies for trying to defund and delay Obamacare. "This is not over," he said. Speaking on the Senate floor before a vote to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown last week, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) made no apologies for trying to defund and delay Obamacare. "This is not over," he said. When Mike Lee toppled longtime Republican Sen. Robert F. Bennett here in 2010, it was the tea party’s first big triumph. But now, after a 16-day government shutdown, it’s Lee who faces a revolt within his own party. Utah, one of the most Republican states in the nation, has a long tradition of being represented by pragmatic, business-minded conservatives in the U.S. Senate. Lee broke that pattern by governing as an ideological firebrand — standing alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in the push for a shutdown in a failed bid to undermine President Obama’s health-care law. As a result, Lee’s approval ratings in Utah have cratered, and prominent Republicans and local business executives are openly discussing the possibility of mounting a primary challenge against him. Top Republicans are also maneuvering to redesign the party’s nomination system in a way that would likely make it more difficult for Lee to win reelection in 2016. To hear grievances with Lee’s no-compromise, no-apology governing style, just head to the executive floor of Zions Bank, founded by Mormon settler Brigham Young. Bank President A. Scott Anderson, who raised money for Lee three years ago, sat in his corner office this week harboring second thoughts. “I think people admire him for sticking to his guns and principles, but I think there are growing frustrations,” Anderson said. “If things are to happen, you can’t just stick to your principles. You have to make things work. . . . You’ve got to be practical.” Five Republican senators facing a challenge from the right flank of the GOP. Spencer Zwick, a Utah native and national finance chairman for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, was more direct, calling Lee a “show horse” who “just wants to be a spectacle.” “Business leaders that I talk to, many of whom supported him, would never support his reelection and in fact will work against him, myself included,” Zwick said. If Lee is worried, he isn’t showing it. The freshman senator strongly defended the strategy of demanding that Democrats agree to defund the new health-care law, commonly known as Obamacare, or see the government shut down. “This fight was worth fighting,” said Lee, 42, a lawyer whose father served as U.S. solicitor general during the Reagan administration. “The country wasn’t built by fighting only those battles where victory was certain.” This battle has taken a toll on his popularity, however. A Brigham Young University survey conducted during the shutdown found that 57 percent of Utahans wanted Lee to be more willing to compromise. The senator’s approval rating dropped to 40 percent — down from 50 percent in June — with 51 percent disapproving. At the same time, the online poll found, the vast majority of Utah residents identifying with the tea party still backed Lee. Lee waved off the findings. “The only number I worry about is how many people are being hurt by Obamacare,” he said. But Lee acknowledged that voters disapproved of the shutdown — especially in Utah, where the federal government is the largest employer. Shuttered national parks hurt the tourism industry and thousands of workers at military installations were furloughed. “I understand that people in Utah — and people in America, for that matter — don’t like fighting in Washington,” Lee said. “But if we don’t have these fights, nothing changes.” Lee came to office as part of the 2010 tea party wave, benefiting from Utah’s unique nomination system in which delegates chosen at neighborhood caucuses pick the party’s candidates at a state convention rather than in a primary. Establishment figures in Utah have long loathed the convention system and are launching a well-funded effort to change it. A bipartisan group including former governor Michael O. Leavitt (R), a George W. Bush Cabinet official and close Romney adviser, has launched Count My Vote, a ballot initiative to overhaul Utah’s nominating process. The group has raised more than $500,000, most from major GOP donors. A shift to an open primary could hurt Lee, who supports the convention system because his most passionate supporters are the conservative activists who become delegates. Rich McKeown, a longtime Leavitt aide and chairman of the effort, insisted that Count My Vote is designed not to target the senator, but rather to enlarge the voting population over the long term. One beneficiary could be Thomas Wright, who stepped down this spring as chairman of the Utah Republican Party. Wright said he is considering running against Lee in 2016 because he has grown “exasperated” with the junior senator’s governing style. “We can’t keep going on like this,” Wright said. “I want to work with people to get things done. I want to go be a leader and build bridges, not burn them down.” Former state senator Dan Liljenquist and Josh Romney, one of Mitt’s sons, have also been mentioned as possible challengers, Utah Republicans say. Liljenquist enjoyed tea party backing when he ran unsuccessfully against Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R) in last year’s primary. Liljenquist criticized Lee’s handling of the shutdown. “I’m struggling to see what was gained from it for Utah,” he said. “An all-or-nothing approach makes people uncomfortable here.” Although Cruz attracts more attention, Lee is one of the main intellectual forces behind the tea party in Washington. His Utah supporters say they’re proud that he is uncompromising. “He’s done everything he said he was going to do — one of the rare politicians, I might add, who has kept all of his promises,” said David Kirkham, a tea party organizer who unsuccessfully challenged Utah Gov. Gary R. Herbert (R) last year. But Lee has not cultivated the party’s business and establishment wings. Consider John Price, a businessman who once sat on the Republican National Committee and later served in Africa as an ambassador under Bush. “With Mike Lee, no matter how many times I see him, he still doesn’t know who I am,” Price said. “He treats me like I don’t exist.” Former Republican governor Jon Huntsman Jr., a 2012 presidential candidate who once employed Lee as counsel in the governor’s office, said Lee has bucked a trend of senators who work to grow this small state in a way that makes people proud. “You don’t have ideological wack-jobs,” Huntsman said. “For all of its labeling as a red state, underneath it all Utah is a pretty pragmatic Western state, a just-get-it-done ethos.” Many business leaders here said they wish Lee were more like Hatch, a conservative with a penchant for working across the aisle. In a statement, Hatch said the two “might not always agree,” but he did not criticize Lee. “There’s a unity of purpose amongst all Republicans that Obamacare is a dog of a law,” Hatch said. In the budget debate, Lee championed repealing a medical-device tax that is part of the health-care law. So, one might imagine the senator would find support at Merit Medical, an international device manufacturer based in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan. In an interview at Merit’s headquarters, chief executive Fred Lampropoulos called the tax “egregious” and “unfair.” But he also said Lee’s crusade went too far. “I’m an Army officer and I’m a businessman,” said Lampropoulos, a major GOP fundraiser. “Tactics and strategy are very important. You’ve got to pick your fights.” Asked whether he would back Lee’s reelection, Lampropoulos leaned back in his leather chair and sat silent for about 20 seconds. “He has to convince me to vote for him again,” he said.

– Mike Lee may have plenty of Tea Party pals on Capitol Hill, but back in his home state of Utah, the GOP senator is growing decidedly less popular. Since the government shutdown, approval ratings for Ted Cruz's strongest ally have fallen, and his fellow Republicans are some of his strongest critics. "Among the Tea Party, Mike Lee is a rock star," says a former Republican state lawmaker, per the Wall Street Journal. "Among everyone else, not so much. There's real unhappiness about what he has done to Utah and to the image of the Republican Party." (One complaint: That Utah's economy suffered with the shutdown-fueled closure of its national parks.) Utah may be conservative, but it's business-minded and doesn't suffer "ideological wack-jobs," former governor Jon Huntsman Jr. tells the Washington Post. "For all of its labeling as a red state, underneath it all Utah is a pretty pragmatic Western state, a just-get-it-done ethos," he says. Now the party is considering running a primary challenge against Lee, and altering the party's nomination system (from a caucus to a direct primary) so it will be harder for him to get re-elected in 2016. Thomas Wright, a former Utah Republican Party chairman, says he's so "exasperated" with Lee's actions he's considering running against him. "I want to work with people to get things done," he says. "I want to go be a leader and build bridges, not burn them down."

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The government here cemented its grip on power on Friday with strong gains in Senate elections that represented a psychological victory for the beleaguered president, Asif Ali Zardari , and should ensure his party’s influence for another three years. By late evening, the governing Pakistan Peoples Party and its coalition allies had won 32 of 49 possible seats; another 5 seats were to be announced, but the result could not prevent the government from taking control of the upper house of Parliament. It was an important milestone for Mr. Zardari and his supporters, who only a few months ago were dogged by sporadic speculation of a military coup and threats from assertive judges and lurid political scandals. Those dangers have not entirely abated, but the Senate victory showed that Mr. Zardari’s party — whose supporters not long ago warned of a “soft coup” — has greater staying power than its critics ever imagined. “This is a huge boost for the P.P.P.,” said Cyril Almeida, a senior columnist with Dawn, Pakistan’s biggest English-language newspaper. “At a time when few people believed this government would survive, they have managed to pull it off.” Now Mr. Zardari’s party will dominate the upper house until March 2015, giving it the power to block legislation — even if it is defeated in general elections, which are scheduled for February 2013, but which analysts expect this fall. “This election is the result of political maturity, from all the parties,” said Senator Raza Rabbani of the Pakistan Peoples Party, one of the winners, on Friday evening. The government is not in the clear yet. The prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, faces contempt charges as part of a Supreme Court corruption investigation. He could also be jailed for six months and barred from public office. The economy is in a chronic state of disrepair and, in the northwest, Islamist militants are pressing their violent campaign. Two bloody clashes on Friday in the Khyber tribal agency, along the Afghan border, underscored the challenge facing Pakistan’s leaders. A predawn assault by dozens of fighters from Lashkar-e-Islam, a local militant group, on a government security post killed 10 soldiers and 23 militants, said a local security official who spoke anonymously. Hours later, Lashkar-e-Islam itself came under attack when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the group’s base in the Tirah Valley, killing another 23 people, the local administrator, Mutahirzeb Khan, said. Officials speculated that the bomber had been sent by a rival Islamist militia, possibly the main Pakistani Taliban group. Mr. Zardari’s Senate triumph arrived as the theatrical scandal that gripped the political system just a few months ago appeared to be fizzling out. Last fall, Mansoor Ijaz, an American businessman of Pakistani origin, caused a sensation with claims that he had written a private memo to the United States government last May, on behalf of Mr. Zardari, requesting American assistance in the event of a military coup. Mr. Ijaz said the government had offered to neuter the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate in return for American help — a claim that set off fury inside the military, whose leaders have long distrusted Mr. Zardari, and which led to the formation of a judicial commission of inquiry that started work in January. But although the scandal cost the job of Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington whom Mr. Ijaz accused of complicity in the memo, it failed to produce the promised fireworks that would damage the government. After initially refusing to travel to Pakistan to testify, citing security concerns, Mr. Ijaz finally gave evidence via video link from London this week. But he failed to produce hard evidence to back up his earlier allegations, although he did make fresh attacks on the president. Citing “intelligence sources,” Mr. Ijaz told the commission on Friday that Mr. Zardari had prior knowledge of the American Special Forces raid in May that killed Osama bin Laden. ||||| A Pakistani official says a suicide bomber has killed 23 people, many of them believed to be militants, in an attack on the base of a rival insurgent group. An aged man drags a cart carrying disposable containers to earn his living in Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, March 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) (Associated Press) Friday's bombing took place in the Tirah Valley region close to the border with Afghanistan. Political administration official Iqbal Khan says the target of the bombing was the base of the Lashkar-e-Islam group. He didn't immediately know how many of those killed were militants and how many were civilians. A commander of the Pakistani Taliban, which is a rival of Lashkar-e-Islam, claimed responsibility for the attack in a call to an Associated Press reporter. The commander gave his name as Mohammed. Both groups have been fighting for control of the Tirah Valley. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. ISLAMABAD (AP) _ Pakistani intelligence officials say clashes between the military and Islamist militants have killed seven troops and 20 insurgents in a northwest region close to the border with Afghanistan. The clashes broke out Friday in the Khyber region. The militants and the army have been battling for control there for several years in on-and-off skirmishes. Intelligence officials say Friday's fighting was taking place in the Tirah Valley area. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media. It was not possible to independently confirm the figures because the region is off-limits to journalists. Pakistani security forces are battling militants in several parts of the border region with Afghanistan.

– The Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Islam is sometimes described as part of the broader Taliban movement, but if so there's trouble in paradise. A Taliban suicide bomber reportedly attacked a Lashkar-e-Islam base in the Tirah Valley today, killing 23 people, Pakistani officials tell the AP. It's unknown how many of those killed were civilians. It was a bloody day for Lashkar-e-Islam, which also launched a major attack on a Pakistani military hilltop security post. That attack resulted in a pitched battle that left 10 soldiers and 23 militants dead, the New York Times reports. The Pakistani military is in the midst of an offensive into the Khyber region, in an attempt to push Lashkar-e-Islam out of the Bara subdistrict that is uncomfortably close to Peshawar. Officials say they were expecting the hilltop post to be attacked, because it is strategically located between Bara and the Tirah Valley, Lashkar-e-Islam's traditional stomping grounds.

Footage has emerged showing the London Bridge terrorists being shot dead by police. The video shows the extraordinary speed of armed officers in killing the three jihadists, bringing an end to their rampage through Borough Market. The footage begins with the trio - now identified as Khuram Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba - trying to gain entry to the Wheatsheaf pub at 10.15pm on Saturday night in the hunt for new victims. The doors had been barred from inside and as the men turn away they spot an innocent pedestrian walking down Stoney Street in Borough market. One of the terrorists turns and launches an attack on the bystander. The two other terrorists join in and the victim collapses to the ground. ||||| Armed police officers open fire and shoot dead the three attackers in video footage of chaotic scenes in Borough Market. Warning: the video contains graphic images that some viewers may find distressing The armed police officers who stopped an attack by three men in London on Saturday night came close to being stabbed themselves, dramatic new footage shows. A video shows the attackers rushing towards the police marksmen and trying to kill them, with armed officers opening fire and shooting them dead in defence of their own lives and the lives of others. Eight officers shot the attackers dead, minutes after the three drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and then stabbed people in Borough Market, leaving eight dead. The video surfaced on social media and shows the end of Saturday’s atrocity. It was filmed in Borough Market, a place popular with Londoners and tourists for an evening out, surrounded by restaurants and pubs. Sources have confirmed it is genuine. It shows the three attackers: Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22. First, they try to enter a pub, but its doors have been barricaded as the jihadis have already stabbed others. They then set upon a young man passing by. Another passerby throws a chair to try to stop the attack, and then a City of London police armed response vehicle (ARV) screeches into frame, with three armed officers rushing out of their vehicles in an attempt to save the man. If the armed officers showed any hesitation, it is not visible in the video: they rush at such speed that one physically clashes with one of the attackers and both fall to the floor. The officer gets up and raises his weapon. Just feet away, another attacker is rushing at an officer, trying to stab him. The officer moves back in order to aim his weapon, firing and nearly falling over. The video shows chaotic scenes and the extent of danger the officers faced, as well as the callousness of the attackers as they set upon their victims. No more than 20 seconds elapse from the officers leaving their ARV to the attackers lying still on the floor. In that time, as well as firing more than three dozen shots, the officers saw canisters draped around the upper body of the three attackers and assessed them to be suicide vests. Two Met ARVs also arrived. Armed officers from the City of London and the Met regularly train together and the Guardian understands that the marksmen involved soon returned to duty despite their ordeal, joining a manhunt as police believed there could still be attackers on the loose. By law, the police shooting of suspects has to be independently investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. In a statement, the IPCC said: “We can confirm that 46 shots in total were fired by eight police officers – three officers from City of London police and five from the Metropolitan police service. We are examining CCTV footage from within Borough Market which we believe shows the majority of the incident relevant to our investigation.” In a statement, the Met said: “We are aware of images that are circulating on social media.”

– Two videos of note have emerged about the three men who staged the London terror attack, one showing them together outside a gym less than a week before the violence and the other showing their fatal clash with police: The meeting: The Times of London obtained CCTV footage of Khuram Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Youssef Zaghba, 22, outside a Muslim gym in east London on May 29. All seems lighthearted as the men laugh and talk before leaving. See it at the Times. The shooting: Warning: the clip is grainy but graphic. It shows police taking down the assailants in Borough Market, near the London Bridge. The video first emerged on social media. See it at the Guardian. A longer, more disturbing version shows more clearly that the attackers set upon a victim just before police arrived. It's at the Telegraph.

Director Gavin Hood's sci-fi epic Ender's Game opened to a solid $28 million in North America, but it will need strong legs in order to make back its pricey $110 million budget -- a potentially difficult task considering that Thor: The Dark World enters the domestic marketplace next weekend. Ender's Game, receiving a B+ CinemaScore, is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card, whose anti-gay comments have riled a lot of people. Many consider Ender's Game to be a YA property, although Card said he wrote it for adults. He seems to have a point: 58 percent of those going to see the movie were over the age of 25. VIDEO: Harrison Ford on Bringing 'Ender's Game' to the Big Screen A co-production between Summit Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment and Digital Domain, Ender's Game hopes to launch a franchise. It stars Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin. Set in the near future, the story revolves around a young boy (Butterfield) who is recruited by the military to stop an alien race from destroying the world. Ender's Game is a sizeable gamble for Gigi Pritzker's OddLot, which financed much of the movie and dispatched sister company Sierra/Affinity to sell it internationally. The film is off to a nice start overseas, grossing $9.1 million so far from 15 markets. (The book was never as popular internationally.) The movie opened in a raft of markets this weekend but saw subdued results because of Thor 2, which launched to a massive $109.4 million as it opened in 70 percent of the foreign marketplace this weekend. Thor 2 opens next weekend in North America. Outside of The Hunger Games and Twilight film franchises, YA film properties have struggled, with The Host, Beautiful Creatures and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones all flopping this year. Elsewhere at the box office, Paramount's Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa has quickly turned into a box office hit, falling less than 38 percent in its second weekend. The R-rated comedy grossed $20.5 million to end the weekend with $62.1 million in domestic grosses. It came in No. 2 and had no trouble beating sexagenarian comedy Last Vegas and Free Birds. Bad Grandpa, costing a mere $15 million to make, is also impressing internationally, where it earned $6 million from 19 markets this weekend for an early foreign total of $17.6 million and a worldwide total of $79.7 million. From CBS Films and Good Universe, Last Vegas, starring Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline as four friends in their 60s who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party, came in No. 3 Friday with a better-than-expected $16.5 million. The $28 million film should have an especially strong multiple since it is being fueled by older adults, who don't rush out to see a film opening weekend. CBS Films believes Last Vegas will serve as strong counterprogramming throughout the month. In August 2012, Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, opened to a modest $14.7 million on its way to earning $63.5 million domestically and a hearty $114.3 million globally. OVERSEAS BOX OFFICE: 'Thor: The Dark World' Opens to Huge $109.4 Million Free Birds, costing $55 million to produce, performed on the low end of expectations, grossing $16.2 million. The family film marks the first animated 3D pic from Relativity Media, who partnered with Reel FX in making the movie. The Thanksgiving-themed movie, marking Relativity's first foray into the animation business, is about a pair of turkeys who travel back in time to prevent their kind from becoming the traditional holiday meal. The voice cast is led by Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler. Both Free Birds and Last Vegas earned A- CinemaScores. Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave continued to build momentum, moving up the chart to No. 7 as it expanded into a total of 410 theaters in its third weekend, grossing $4.6 million for a North American total of $8.8 million for Fox Searchlight. Twitter: @PamelaDayM ||||| Hailee Steinfeld, left, and Asa Butterfield star in "Ender's Game," which was No. 1 at the box office this weekend. (Summit Entertainment) This weekend Hollywood was again unable to lure teens to the multiplex in droves, as "Ender's Game" became the latest young adult adaptation to open with modest ticket sales. The pricey sci-fi flick debuted with a so-so $28 million, according to an estimate from Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment, which distributed the movie. While the opening is far from disastrous -- it's actually $5 million more than industry predictions suggested -- it still isn't great given that the studio was likely hoping "Ender's Game" would launch a successful Y.A. franchise. Meanwhile, in somewhat of a surprise, Johnny Knoxville's hidden-camera prank flick "Bad Grandpa" was the weekend's runner-up. After debuting at No. 1, the film saw its ticket sales tumble only 36% this weekend to $20.5 million, raising the picture's 10-day tally to $62.1 million. PHOTOS: 'Ender's Game' premiere in Los Angeles Heading into the weekend, pre-release audience surveys indicated the 3-D animated movie "Free Birds" would easily top the comedy "Last Vegas." Instead, the latter film starring Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro, Kevin Kline and Michael Douglas came in just ahead of the family film with $16.5 million -- a healthy start given its modest $28-million budget. "Free Birds," which cost $55 million to make, opened with $16.2 million. Based on Orson Scott Card's bestselling 1985 novel, "Ender's Game" stars 16-year-old newcomer Asa Butterfield as a boy attempting to protect mankind from aliens. Though the movie is aimed at teenagers, it attracted an older crowd this weekend as 54% of the audience was over the age of 25. Those who saw the film assigned it an average grade of B+, according to market research firm CinemaScore. Even if the movie generates positive word-of-mouth, it will still have to contend next weekend with the sequel "Thor: The Dark World," which is expected to be a big hit. "The real key to the success of the movie is going to be how we hold next weekend," acknowledged Richie Fay, Lionsgate's president of domestic distribution. "But if we can survive against 'Thor,' I think we’ll be in good shape." The movie is the latest in a series of films made for the under-18 crowd that have failed to connect at the box office. In the wake of the massively popular "Twilight" and "Harry Potter" franchises, "The Hunger Games" has been one of the only young adult novel adaptations to work at the multiplex. (The next entry in the "Hunger Games" series, "Catching Fire," is set to hit theaters with a possible $150 million opening on Nov. 22.) This summer, the second installment in the "Percy Jackson" series grossed just $67.3 million in the U.S. and Canada -- roughly $20 million less than the first film collected domestically in 2010. Other Y.A. casualties have included "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," "The Host" and "Beautiful Creatures," none of which ultimately made it above $32 million. PHOTOS: Scene from 'Ender's Game,' and director Gavin Hood on battle scenes "Ender's Game" cost a pretty penny to produce -- about $110 million, co-financed by OddLot Entertainment, the visual effects company Digital Domain and Summit. However, the financiers insist that international pre-sales took care of the majority of the film's production costs, meaning they would not have much on the line financially. While "Ender's Game" played to an older-than-expected demographic, "Last Vegas" resonated with exactly the crowd distributor CBS Films anticipated: the AARP set. About 83% of moviegoers were over the age of 25, and 47% were over 50. Though critics loathed the movie, filmgoers enjoyed it, giving the film an average A- grade. Financed by CBS and Good Universe, "Last Vegas" follows four older gentlemen who travel to Sin City for a bachelor's party. The movie played best in the South -- where Freeman’s movies are often popular -- and the Midwest: On Saturday, the movie sold more tickets at a theater in Oklahoma City than any other venue in the country. “We always thought this would be a fly-over movie because movies about Vegas -- which is a destination holiday location -- tend to do better in middle America,” said Steven Friedlander, executive vice president of theatrical distribution for CBS Films. As for "Free Birds," the movie is the first partnership between Relativity Media and Reel FX Animation Studios. The movie is the first in a slate of planned low-budget animated films to come from the two companies. The movie follows two turkeys (voiced by Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson) who are attempting to save their kind from ending up as Thanksgiving dinner. Given the film's subject matter, Relativity is hopeful the movie will play well over Turkey Day. Though the movie didn't get off to a fantastic start, it earned an average grade of A- from moviegoers, and no other films for little kids are slated to be released until Nov. 27. ALSO: 'Last Vegas' is not necessarily about the city of old 'Ender's Game' to top 'Free Birds,' 'Last Vegas' at box office ‘Ender’s Game’ director Gavin Hood on sci-fi battle sequences, integrity ||||| It’s taken over two decades for Orson Scott Card’s classic sci-fi novel Ender’s Game to make it to the big screen, but all the built-up anticipation didn’t lead to out-of-this-world box office numbers. The film adaptation debuted with $28 million from 3,407 theaters on its first weekend — a start in the same range as Will Smith’s misfire After Earth, which opened with $27.5 million earlier this year. Summit and OddLot Entertainment spent $110 million on the space adventure starring Asa Butterfield and Harrison Ford, but Ender’s Game will need great legs domestically and strong returns overseas to justify its cost (and any potential sequels). Of course, the film didn’t bomb the way other YA-adaptations like The Host, Beautiful Creatures, or The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones have recently, but its opening was nowhere near the debuts of Twilight or Hunger Games, both of which had less expensive first editions than Ender’s Game. Notably, both of those films targeted young women primarily, while Ender’s Game‘s audience was 58 percent male and 54 percent above the age of 25. Crowds issued the film an average “B+” CinemaScore grade. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa held up very nicely in second place, dropping just 36 percent to $20.5 million. That is by far the smallest second-weekend drop for any of the Jackass films, and it gives Paramount’s $15 million prank comedy $62.1 million total after ten days. If Bad Grandpa continues to maintain great holds at the box office, it could exceed $100 million total. Take that, Oscar season! Third place belonged to CBS Films’ Last Vegas, which opened with $16.5 million in 3,065 theaters. The film, which stars Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, and Michael Douglas, opened ahead of last year’s Hope Springs, another film targeting the oft-ignored 45+ demographic, which started with $14.7 million on the way to $63.5 million total. Thanks strong word-of-mouth and an “A-” CinemaScore grade, older audiences may flock to the theater gradually over the next few weeks and push Vegas‘ total as high as $60 million. For a humble $28 million comedy, that’s a lot like hitting the jackpot. Free Birds started in fourth place with $16.2 million, and though the film wasn’t a total turkey, its box office left a lot to be desired. Relativity’s $55 million animated entry, which features the voice of Amy Poehler, opened in an ultra-wide 3,736 theaters with virtually no family competition (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 arrived six weeks ago), but it could only muster a $4,336 per theater average. On the bright side, Free Birds did spike 82 percent from Friday to Saturday, which suggests that it is playing well with young tots during matinee shows, and it should hold up well as Thanksgiving approaches — especially with an “A-” CinemaScore. It may earn back its budget yet. Rounding out the Top 5 was Gravity, which pulled in another $13.1 million in its fifth weekend. Warner Bros.’ $100 million space drama starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney has now earned $219.1 million total and, with a little awards attention, should ultimately hit about $250 million domestically. 1. Ender’s Game – $28 million 2. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – $20.5 million 3. Last Vegas – $16.5 million 4. Free Birds – $16.2 million 5. Gravity – $13.1 million Outside the Top 5, 12 Years A Slave continued its successful expansion this weekend. The Oscar contender jumped from 123 theaters into 410 locations and pulled in $4.6 million as a result. That gave the film an excellent $11,220 venue average, thus assuring it will continue to expand into more markets in the near future. Fox Searchlight could have a sleeper hit on their hands. On the international front, Thor: The Dark World hammered up a great debut this weekend. The film pulled in $109.4 million from 36 territories, which represents about 70 percent of the international market. The film performed best in the United Kingdom ($13.4 million), France ($9.4 million), and Mexico ($8.2 million), and it still has openings in China and Japan to look forward to. The original Thor grossed $268.3 million internationally in 2011, but after a major exposure-boost from The Avengers, The Dark World seems poised to easily outdo that film’s overall performance. It opens in the U.S. on Friday.

– Futuristic flick Ender's Game played its way to the top this weekend, though its $28 million isn't much to cheer about for Summit Entertainment, the Los Angeles Times reports; Ender aims to lead a new teen franchise, the Hollywood Reporter notes. In second place was the still-sprightly Bad Grandpa from prankster Johnny Knoxville, with $20.5 million, just a 36% drop from opening last week. Last Vegas, which sees the likes of Morgan Freeman and Robert DeNiro headed to a bachelor party, rolled a three with $16.5 million. And flying into fourth place was the 3D-animated Thanksgiving feature Free Birds. Gravity, meanwhile, landed in fifth, with $13.1 million, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Published on Apr 20, 2014 PLEASE READ: Note that there was a lot of swell that rocked the boat so the shakiness of the video is out of my control. A very unexpected and wild encounter in the bay on Easter: at least 20 transient killer whales participated in a coordinated attack on a gray whale calf and its mother. The entire attack lasted about 2 hours culminating with the calf tiring out, being separated from its mother, and drowned. There was enough time for me to try to get both pictures and videos and I figured videos would be valuable for observing whale behavior. Transient Killer Whales and Gray Whales at Monterey Bay on 4/20/14. Do not use without permission. ||||| A group of boaters watched in horror last week as a horde of killer whales attacked a mother gray whale and its young calf off the coast of California. The hunt lasted for nearly two hours in the Monterey Bay on April 20 and whale watchers say about 20 transient orcas worked to separate the little whale as it clung desperately to its mom. "They came in waves, like attack swarms of hockey players," said Bart Selby, a field scout, to the San Francisco Gate newspaper. The watchers could see the baby on top of its mom as she "fought valiantly," Selby said. The orcas would rotate a small group in and out for the attack. The mother gray whale is shown keeping her calf above the water as a horde of killer whales attack. (Leo Lin) “We could see a lot of struggling going on,” whale watcher Leo Lin told the Daily News. He saw blood on the flippers of the calf where the predators had been biting him. The orcas eventually knocked the calf off its mom and drowned it as a patch of fog rolled into the bay. The killer whales fought for nearly two hours to separate the gray whale calf from its mother in the waters of the Monterey Bay on April 20. (Courtesy of Leo Lin) The mother tried desperately to protect her calf, but lost the fight. The killer whales drowned her baby. (Courtesy of Leo Lin) The mother quickly fled the area as the orcas fed on the calf and celebrated by breaching and slapping their tails on the water, Selby added. The attacks by transient orcas on gray whales are considered a normal part of marine life along the coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean. They prey on porpoises, sea lions and other whales, according to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's website. This differs from resident orcas of the Washington and British Columbia waters, which rely on salmon. nhensley@nydailynews.com Follow me on Twitter: @nkhensley ||||| window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-5', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 5', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-10', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 10', target_type: 'mix' }); window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-13', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 13', target_type: 'mix' }); Photo: Bart Selby Image 1 of / 14 Caption Close Image 2 of 14 Orcas circle around kill of baby gray whale, taking turns to dive and feast Orcas circle around kill of baby gray whale, taking turns to dive and feast Photo: Bart Selby Image 3 of 14 Orcas attacked whales like a swarm of charging hockey players Orcas attacked whales like a swarm of charging hockey players Photo: Bart Selby Image 4 of 14 Gray whale tries to fend off orca Gray whale tries to fend off orca Photo: Bart Selby Image 5 of 14 Image 6 of 14 Attacke mode in full view of whale watchers Attacke mode in full view of whale watchers Photo: Bart Selby Image 7 of 14 Gray whale calf tries to climb on back of mother gray whale to escape Gray whale calf tries to climb on back of mother gray whale to escape Photo: Bart Selby Image 8 of 14 Orcas separate calf from mother Orcas separate calf from mother Photo: Bart Selby Image 9 of 14 Orcas working in tandem Orcas working in tandem Photo: Bart Selby Image 10 of 14 Image 11 of 14 Tory Kallman of Corte Madera photographs the post-kill scene Tory Kallman of Corte Madera photographs the post-kill scene Photo: Bart Selby Image 12 of 14 An orca in full breach to celebrate kill and feast of baby gray whale An orca in full breach to celebrate kill and feast of baby gray whale Photo: Bart Selby Image 13 of 14 Black-footed albatross skims surface for leftovers after whale attack Black-footed albatross skims surface for leftovers after whale attack Photo: Bart Selby Image 14 of 14 Orcas attack gray whales in Monterey Bay (11 pics) 1 / 14 Back to Gallery Nature’s truth and tragedy unfolded in a dramatic scene on Monterey Bay last week when a pack of 20 orcas attacked a mother gray whale and its calf. The fight lasted more than two hours, witnessed and photographed by field scout Bart Selby, and dozens aboard whale watching boats that cruised at top speeds to the periphery of the scene and cut their engines. In the past year, Monterey Bay has become the richest marine region on the Pacific Coast. In the past three weeks, it has reached a new peak with unbelievable hordes of anchovies, along with other baitfish, and with it, the highest numbers of salmon, marine birds, sea lions, gray whales, humpback whales and orcas anywhere. The bay ignited with life again in early April after the howling winds out of the north in late March set off upwelling in the underwater canyon and jump-started the marine food chain. At deepwater marine ledges, such as the Continental Shelf west of the Bay Area coast and the Monterey Underwater Canyon, strong north winds will push surface waters to the side, which allows cold, nutrient-rich water to rise up from the depths to the shallows. When sunlight penetrates that nutrient-rich water, it triggers plankton growth, and in turn, the building blocks of the marine food chain. Monterey’s marine paradise Although the salmon forecast for the coming year is excellent in many areas on the Pacific Coast, best offshore southern Washington and San Francisco, it is Monterey Bay that has had the fish, the best catches, and on top of it, a spectacular sightings of whales and other marine wildlife. “The biomass of anchovies out there, just billions of tons of feed, is incredible,” said Todd Arcoleo at Chris’s Fishing Trips in Monterey. “It’s brought in the salmon, humpback whales, sea lions, orcas. It’s incredible, just an incredible year.” A week ago Monday, the humpbacks and killer whales arrived. Tony Lorenz on the Sea Wolf sent me an alert, that he saw 50 humpback whales between Point Joe and Point Lobos. “Six were real friendly, and swam right up to us,” Lorenz said. “For a prolonged period, we saw them breaching, lunge feeding, pec slapping and plenty of tail throws.” A school of Pacific white-sided dolphin, numbering over a thousand, has also been sighted, Lorenz and others reported. Selby, a kayaker, wildlife expert and photographer, heard about the whales and headed straight to Monterey. In 2011, Selby paddled a kayak solo 25 miles from Santa Cruz to Monterey, and two weeks ago, reported sighting a mother gray whale and its calf lounging on the inshore waters at Whaler’s Cove at Pigeon Point near Pescadero. Selby boarded the Point Sur Clipper with Monterey’s champion whale specialist, Nancy Black, and they quickly found the orcas, more than 20 in all, on the hunt. Orcas find gray whales At mid-afternoon, the orcas found a mother gray whale with a calf. “They came in waves, like attacking swarms of hockey players,” Selby said. “When one group got tired, then the entire line would rotate out and orbit the center ring while a new swarm of orcas pressed the attack.” Just as a pack of coyotes will try to separate a fawn from its protective mother, the orcas tried to pry the calf away from its mother as well. “The fight lasted over two hours,” Selby said. “The orcas came in in groups of four or five and tried to separate the whales and drown the baby. They would pulse forward in an attacking line four or five abreast and dive under and on top of the whales. “The mother fought valiantly. The whales rolled and flailed at their assailants. “The calf tried to stay on the back of her mom, hooking her tail over mom’s spine, tucking in her flipper so the orcas could not grab them, and even draping her body on top of mom,” Selby said. “Mom fought and fought. We could just see the baby on top of her, often out of the water. The orcas tried to swim between them and dove under and rushed to the surface, pummeling her from below.” It took a series of prolonged assaults, coming in wave after wave, but they finally succeeded. With the calf pushed to the side of its mother, the orcas then dragged the baby whale below the surface and drowned it, Selby said. “I’ve been around enough to know that nature is cruel, but it was hard to watch,” he said. A feeding spectacle The orcas then took turns feeding, where they dove down in small groups to take their turns. All the while, the orcas put on a show where they breached, tail slapped. “It was like they were celebrating their victory,” Selby said. The mother gray whale abandoned the area quickly. Four big humpbacks showed up to see what was going on, Selby said, and were then harassed by the orcas. Hundreds of gulls and a half-dozen albatross grabbed the leftovers that floated to the surface. As dusk arrived, the boats returned to port, and by the time they reached land, word had already circulated up and down the coast of the spectacle. In the past few days, Lorenz reported another attack, where the orcas dragged a carcass of a baby whale around for hours, and then when a sea lion showed up to see what was going on, it got nailed, too. Sighting killer whales in Monterey Bay is likely through May, he said. Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicle’s outdoors writer. E-mail: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com. Daily twitter at: @StienstraTom If you want to go

– Whale watchers witnessed quite a grueling battle this week when a group of twenty orcas attacked a female gray whale and its calf off the California coast, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Like a pack of coyotes, the orcas tried separating the child from its mother—who fought back valiantly for more than two hours. The orcas "came in waves, like attacking swarms of hockey players," said Bart Selby, who photographed the whole fight in Monterey Bay (the Chronicle has eleven pics). When one orca group grew weary, it would move out and orbit "while a new swarm of orcas pressed the attack," he said. The calf tried to survive by hiding behind her mom, hiding her tail on mom's spine, tucking in her flipper, and even lying on top of her. "We could see a lot of struggling going on," a whale watcher told the Daily News. Finally the orcas grabbed the baby and pulled it under the surface to drown it. "I’ve been around enough to know that nature is cruel, but it was hard to watch," said Selby. At feeding time, the orcas jumped from the water and slapped their tales in apparent celebration—as the mother gray quickly swam off, and gulls dived by the hundreds to feed on remains floating to the surface. Such attacks aren't uncommon, the Chronicle notes—an orca group killed a baby whale and a curious sea lion a few days before. You can see the latest fight on YouTube.

Indirectly referencing Clippers owner Donald Sterling and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder said that “hateful rants” and “intolerant public statements” that have filled recent headlines are not the most pressing issue in the ongoing fight for equal opportunity. Instead, in a commencement address Saturday, Holder challenged 850 graduates at Baltimore’s Morgan State University to fight against disciplinary, voting and other policies that quietly and gradually harm minorities. “This is the work that truly matters – because policies that disenfranchise specific groups are more pernicious than hateful rants,” Holder said, according to prepared remarks. “Proposals that feed uncertainty, question the desire of a people to work, and relegate particular Americans to economic despair are more malignant than intolerant public statements, no matter how many eyebrows the outbursts might raise.” He cited the criminal courts as an example, referencing a federal study released last year that found black men and Native Americans endure prison sentences far longer than white men for similar crimes. “A criminal justice system that treats groups of people differently – and punishes them unequally – has a much more negative impact than misguided words that we can reject out of hand,” he said. The comments delivered Saturday on a school football field before seated graduates have been cast as Holder's most significant remarks on race since early in his tenure when he derided Americans as "cowards" who segregated themselves on weekends, including by going to the "race-protected cocoons" known as malls. On Saturday, he again said discussion about civil rights should not be something avoided. Holder didn’t mention Sterling or Bundy by name but instead cited “jarring reminders of the discrimination,” “outbursts of bigotry” and “isolated, repugnant, racist views” that have been in the news during the past few weeks and months. The NBA has said Sterling was recorded telling a friend not to associate with black people. Bundy, a cattle rancher who has refused to recognize the federal government’s authority, recently told a reporter that blacks were perhaps better off as slaves than as poor people reliant on government subsidies today. After criticism nationwide, both white men said they were not racist. Holder said swift condemnation and apologies were not enough. “Because if we focus solely on these incidents – on outlandish statements that capture national attention and spark outrage on Facebook and Twitter – we are likely to miss the more hidden, and more troubling, reality behind the headlines," Holder said. “The greatest threats,” he said, “do not announce themselves in screaming headlines.” Holder also pointed to school punishments as an example. Zero-tolerance policies affect black children at a rate three times higher than white students, he said. Another example: Laws that limit access to voting also affect minorities more than white people. He expressed frustration that Americans were fighting for people in Afghanistan to vote while making it harder for people to vote within the U.S. These policies that stand in the way of equal opportunity cause a “terrible impact” that “endures long after the headlines have faded and obvious, ignorant expressions of hatred have been marginalized,” Holder said. The impact includes perpetuating cycles of “poverty, crime and incarceration that trap individuals, destroy communities and decimate minority neighborhoods.” Holder also criticized Chief Justice John Roberts for his decision in a case that maintained Michigan’s ban on considering race in college admissions. Holder said giving less consideration to race was the exact opposite of what needed to happen. Open, and frank, discussion is needed, he said. To take on this “critical work,” he told graduates that “wherever you go and whatever you do, you must find your own unique ways to contribute; to blaze a path for the next generation of Morgan graduates; and to keep challenging this nation to become even greater, even fairer, and even more committed to its founding ideals.” He used himself as an example as he spoke on the 60th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision at the U.S. Supreme Court. It brought black children and white children into the same classrooms. “After all, 60 years and one day ago, schools and other public accommodations could legally refuse entry to men like my father,” Holder said. "Today, that devoted soldier’s son stands before you as the 82nd attorney general of the United States of America – proudly serving in the administration of the first African American president to lead this nation. “That’s a powerful illustration of the greatness and possibility that is America – and the debt we owe to all who have dedicated their lives to building the more just and more perfect union that remains our common pursuit.” ||||| The following is the text of remarks as prepared for delivery by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Morgan State University commencement ceremony in Baltimore on Saturday, May 17, 2014. The transcript was provided by the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs. Thank you, President [David] Wilson, for those kind words – and thank you all for such a warm welcome. It’s a pleasure to join you on this beautiful campus. And it’s a privilege to stand with so many distinguished faculty, staff, and administrators; members of the Board of Regents; and proud parents, family members, friends, and alumni – in congratulating the Morgan State University Class of 2014. I’d like to thank Calvin Butler for his thoughtful remarks. And I want to thank Chairman – and former Congressman and NAACP President – Kweisi Mfume for his inspiring words and his service to our nation over the course of his exemplary career. I’d also like to recognize every member of Morgan State’s renowned choir and band for sharing their talents with us. Thank you for making today’s ceremony so special. And thank you, most of all, to the Class of 2014 for inviting me to share in this moment – as we mark the end of one chapter of your lives and celebrate the beginning of the next. I know each of you walked a difficult path to be here today – a path beset by challenges; some prescribed by your professors to test your knowledge and skills, others by outside circumstances – and some by societal factors beyond your control. Every obstacle – every paper and project; every midterm and final exam – had to be confronted and overcome before you could take your seat among this crowd. And while we applaud your individual achievements today, celebrate your collective victories, and commemorate what is truly a significant milestone – the fact is that, for all the work, the studying, and the sleepless nights – none of you made this journey alone. In so many ways, the path that led you to this moment was forged by men and women who came before you – many seemingly ordinary, but all extraordinary – from those who pioneered the establishment of this great school more than 140 years ago, to those who first opened its doors to women and, later, to students of all races and backgrounds. Each of their journeys was less certain. They had no set courses to guide them. And they must have found, at times, that there was no obvious way forward – and nothing but darkness and difficulty stretching out ahead – their path lit only by the flame of America’s founding promise. They were courageous individuals – from Reverend Joseph Albert DeLaine, to Sarah Bolling, to Oliver Brown – who stood up and spoke out, often at great personal cost, for what they knew to be right. They were civil rights advocates and attorneys – like Robert Carter, Jack Greenberg, and Baltimore’s own Thurgood Marshall – who translated a growing, restless movement into a focused fight for legal change. And they were eminent jurists like Chief Justice Earl Warren and his eight colleagues on the United States Supreme Court – who, exactly sixty years ago today, unanimously declared, in Brown v. Board of Education, that separate was inherently unequal – and that racial segregation ran contrary to the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under law. At the time of this revolutionary ruling, I was just three years old and still a few years away from starting school. My generation was the first to come of age in a post-Brown America. And although the vestiges of state-sanctioned discrimination affected many aspects of our lives – and continue to reverberate across the country even today – thanks to Brown and those who made it possible, your generation will never know a world in which “separate but equal” was the law of the land. Of course, if that era seems like ancient history to you, that’s only because your forebears – including members of the Class of 1964 who are with us today – came together to make it ancient history. In the wake of Brown v. Board, people of all ages – and from every corner of our nation – were inspired and emboldened by the courage, the conviction, and the persistence of those who risked so much in the fight for freedom and justice. Today, as you walk across this stage, each of you will take your rightful place as heirs of these pioneers – from the Freedom Riders who defied prejudice to travel through the segregated South, to the marchers in Selma and Birmingham who risked their lives for a dream they knew they might not live to see; from the hundreds of students right here at Morgan who helped initiate the national sit-in movement, to a young man named Robert Bell, who would go on to graduate from Morgan State, and who – in 1960, at just 16 years old – was arrested for participating in a sit-in at a Baltimore restaurant that served only white customers. Following his arrest, Robert Bell became the lead appellant in a landmark civil rights case known as Bell v. Maryland, which ultimately pushed this state – and the entire country – closer to desegregation. He and his fellow students were represented by legendary lawyers like Thurgood Marshall and Constance Baker Motley. And after that victory – and his graduation from “Fair Morgan” – Robert went on to attend Harvard Law School. And he eventually became the first African-American Chief Judge to serve on the highest court in Maryland, retiring just last year. Chief Judge Bell’s journey started right here in Baltimore, when he was not much younger than many of you. Despite their age, he and his classmates rose to the greatest moral challenge of their time. They devoted themselves to the cause of justice in the face of adversity that – to us – would be unthinkable. And in so doing, they not only overcame obstacles – they transcended history. They helped to pull this nation closer to its founding ideals. And many of them once sat where you do today. To the Class of 2014, Chief Judge Bell’s achievements – and his extraordinary life story – should be more than just an inspiration. They stand as a challenge to every young woman and young man who walks in his footsteps. They should drive you to question that which is accepted truth. Dare to reach beyond yourselves. Aim, as he did, not merely to witness history, but to make it. And strive to live up to the singular legacy that belongs to each Morgan graduate by virtue of the history you now inherit, the milestone anniversary we observe today, and the profound sacrifices endured by the trailblazers on whose shoulders you now stand. When I think of these sacrifices, I think of – and thank – both of my parents, whom I love, admire – and who I miss each and every day. I think in particular of my father – who immigrated to this country as a young boy many years ago from Barbados; who enlisted in the military during World War Two when he was close to 40 years old; and who proudly wore the uniform of the United States Army during his service in that war. When I reflect on the power of individual determination, I think of the same great man – who was denied service at a lunch counter and told to leave a whites-only train car even though he was wearing the uniform of his country – a uniform of which he was proud, and which he treasured, throughout his life. And when I think of the duties, the rights, and the weighty responsibilities of American citizenship – responsibilities that are now entrusted to each of you – I think of that man, my father – for whom I am named, who never lost faith in the greatness of his country even when it did not reciprocate his devotion. A man who never stopped believing in the promise of this nation, even when that promise was obscured by injustice. And a man whose dedication to preserving the American Dream ran so deep that he put his life on the line to defend that dream the moment it was threatened; who worked hard, along with my mother, to give my brother and me every opportunity to succeed; and who taught us, by word and by deed, that this country’s true greatness lives in its highest aspirations – and in the power of every citizen to chart our nation’s course, and build a brighter future, together. Today, as we celebrate an inflection point in American history and mark the commencement of over 850 new leaders – each of you blessed by a sense of opportunity and possibility that would have been unimaginable just a few short generations ago – I urge you to be mindful of this history we share. I implore you to remember – as you work to “grow the future and lead the world” – that you are part of something, and heirs to a legacy, much larger than yourselves. You owe a tremendous debt to all who came before – your grandparents, your parents and mine – to those who built this nation while it held them in chains; to those who served their country even when its businesses and schools refused to serve them; to those who marched for the ideals we’ve always held sacred; to those who carried this fight from our city streets all the way to the highest court in the land. As you move forward from this moment, you must resolve to be both serious about your life choices and respectful of your proud, singular past. Wherever you go and whatever you do, you must find your own unique ways to contribute; to blaze a path for the next generation of Morgan graduates; and to keep challenging this nation to become even greater, even fairer, and even more committed to its founding ideals. After all, there can be no question – as I look over this crowd – that our country has come a long way on the road to equality and opportunity. But there’s also no denying that this struggle is far from over. Critical work remains unfinished. And the expansion of this progress constitutes a sacred charge that tomorrow’s leaders must strive to fulfill. That you must fulfill. Over the last few weeks and months, we’ve seen occasional, jarring reminders of the discrimination – and the isolated, repugnant, racist views – that in some places have yet to be overcome. These incidents have received substantial media coverage. And they have rightly been condemned by leaders, commentators, and citizens from all backgrounds and walks of life. But we ought not find contentment in the fact that these high-profile expressions of outright bigotry seem atypical and were met with such swift condemnation. Because if we focus solely on these incidents – on outlandish statements that capture national attention and spark outrage on Facebook and Twitter – we are likely to miss the more hidden, and more troubling, reality behind the headlines. These outbursts of bigotry, while deplorable, are not the true markers of the struggle that still must be waged, or the work that still needs to be done – because the greatest threats do not announce themselves in screaming headlines. They are more subtle. They cut deeper. And their terrible impact endures long after the headlines have faded and obvious, ignorant expressions of hatred have been marginalized. Nor does the greatest threat to equal opportunity any longer reside in overtly discriminatory statutes like the “separate but equal” laws of 60 years ago. Since the era of Brown, laws making classifications based on race have been subjected to a legal standard known as “strict scrutiny.” Almost invariably, these statutes, when tested, fail to pass constitutional muster. But there are other policies that too easily escape such scrutiny because they have the appearance of being race-neutral. Their impacts, however, are anything but. This is the concern we must contend with today: policies that impede equal opportunity in fact, if not in form. Codified segregation of public schools has been barred since Brown. But in too many of our school districts, significant divisions persist and segregation has reoccurred – including zero-tolerance school discipline practices that, while well-intentioned and aimed at promoting school safety, affect black males at a rate three times higher than their white peers. There are other examples. For instance, in our criminal justice system, systemic and unwarranted racial disparities remain disturbingly common. One study released last year by the U.S. Sentencing Commission indicated that – in recent years – African-American men have received sentences that are nearly 20 percent longer than those imposed on white males convicted of similar crimes. Another report showed that American Indians are often sentenced even more harshly. The Justice Department is examining these and other disparities as we speak – and taking a variety of steps to ensure fair sentences that match the conduct at issue in individual cases. Like a growing chorus of lawmakers across the political spectrum, we recognize that disparate outcomes are not only shameful and unacceptable – they impede our ability to see that justice is done. And they perpetuate cycles of poverty, crime, and incarceration that trap individuals, destroy communities, and decimate minority neighborhoods. And until the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, African Americans’ right to the franchise was aggressively restricted based solely on race. Today, such overt measures cannot survive. Yet in too many jurisdictions, new types of restrictions are justified as attempts to curb an epidemic of voter fraud that – in reality – has never been shown to exist. Rather than addressing a supposedly widespread problem, these policies disproportionately disenfranchise African Americans, Hispanics, other communities of color, and vulnerable populations such as the elderly. But interfering with or depriving a person of the right to vote should never be a political aim. It is a moral failing. In recent years, thousands of Americans, the pride of our nation, have given their lives – and deal even today with the scars of war – so that hopeful, striving people who live continents away could proudly hold up their purple fingers after voting in a truly democratic process. America is now 50 years from Freedom Summer. And we must not countenance, within our own borders, practices that would make it difficult or impossible to exercise the right for which so many have given so much. Our country is stronger when all Americans are treated equally. Yet we know that boys and young men of color have historically and consistently faced some of the most severe challenges to success. Through the President’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, agencies across the federal government are identifying ways to help. This initiative is a call to action that includes foundations, corporations, community leaders, and you – because we must all work together to broaden horizons for younger generations, just as our predecessors did. This is the work that truly matters – because policies that disenfranchise specific groups are more pernicious than hateful rants. Proposals that feed uncertainty, question the desire of a people to work, and relegate particular Americans to economic despair are more malignant than intolerant public statements, no matter how many eyebrows the outbursts might raise. And a criminal justice system that treats groups of people differently – and punishes them unequally – has a much more negative impact than misguided words that we can reject out of hand. Chief Justice John Roberts has argued that the path to ending racial discrimination is to give less consideration to the issue of race altogether. This presupposes that racial discrimination is at a sufficiently low ebb that it doesn’t need to be actively confronted. In its most obvious forms, it might be. But discrimination does not always come in the form of a hateful epithet or a Jim Crow-like statute. And so we must continue to take account of racial inequality, especially in its less obvious forms, and actively discuss ways to combat it. As Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote recently in an insightful dissent in the Michigan college admissions case – we must not “wish away, rather than confront, the racial inequality that exists in our society. … The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race.” Of course, talking forthrightly about these difficult issues – and building a constructive and inclusive national dialogue – will not by itself be sufficient to address them. But it’s a necessary first step that must lead to action. Our most serious and systemic challenges are too often dismissed, or oversimplified, or blamed on politics. But we do ourselves and our great nation a grave disservice whenever we reach for easy answers or revert to stale talking points; whenever we fall victim to old paradigms and traditional habits of thought; and whenever we trade the noisy discord of honest, tough, and vigorous debate for the quiet prejudice of inaction – and the cold silence of consent. Indeed – if our history is any guide – fostering a positive national dialogue is the best possible way to keep building on the achievements of our past as we look to the future. From Brown to the Civil Rights Act of 1964; from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to sweeping reforms like Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act – which is already helping millions of young people like you get quality, affordable health insurance – the last half-century has witnessed extraordinary steps forward. And each of these achievements was made possible by driven, determined individuals, many of whom were no more and no less qualified than each of you. Progress can be achingly slow – but in this country, as a courtroom full of men and women was reminded six decades ago, our destiny is of our own design. Your futures, and your children’s futures, will be shaped by what you do today, tomorrow, and every day after that. And history will be written by the graduates before me – by the stands you take and the challenges you accept. After all, 60 years and one day ago, schools and other public accommodations could legally refuse entry to men like my father. Today, that devoted soldier’s son stands before you as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States of America – proudly serving in the Administration of the first African-American president to lead this nation. That’s a powerful illustration of the greatness and possibility that is America – and the debt we owe to all who have dedicated their lives to building the more just and more perfect Union that remains our common pursuit. As graduates of Morgan State University, you’ve been given a rare chance to follow in the footsteps of giants – no matter what degree you’ve attained, or what direction your life and career will take when you leave this campus. So as you fan out across Maryland and all around the country, I urge you to find ways to serve your communities and give back to our nation. Never hesitate to ask difficult questions and call attention to uncomfortable truths. And work, above all, to promote understanding, to foster inclusion, and to push our nation forward. Class of 2014: I look forward to all that you will do, and achieve, from this moment on. Know that your opportunities are constrained only by the power of your imaginations and the strength of your collective will. And always remember that – so long as you stay true to the principles that define us and the history that’s now yours to shape – your potential is truly without limit. Our proud past stretches behind you. And a boundless future awaits – a future we can and must build together. Congratulations, once again, on this considerable achievement – and good luck to you all.

– Eric Holder dismissed the likes of Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy and their very public brouhahas, and focused on "policies that disenfranchise specific groups" as "more pernicious than hateful rants." His commencement speech yesterday at Baltimore's Morgan State University marked his most pointed commentary on race since early in his tenure when he controversially derided the US as a "nation of cowards," reports the LA Times. "A criminal justice system that treats groups of people differently—and punishes them unequally—has a much more negative impact than misguided words that we can reject out of hand." Holder hammered the point over and over again, contending that "the greatest threats do not announce themselves in screaming headlines." He also swiped at the Supreme Court's recent decision on affirmative action, citing Sonia Sotomayor's dissent that we must not "wish away, rather than confront" racism. His comments came on the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. The Washington Post has a complete transcript.

Transcript: Illinois Senate Candidate Barack Obama FDCH E-Media Tuesday, July 27, 2004; 11:09 PM Candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, Barack Obama, delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Boston Tuesday night. Here is a transcript of his remarks. OBAMA: Thank you so much. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. (APPLAUSE) Thank you, Dick Durbin. You make us all proud. On behalf of the great state of Illinois... (APPLAUSE) ... crossroads of a nation, land of Lincoln, let me express my deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention. Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya. He grew up herding goats, went to school in a tin- roof shack. His father, my grandfather, was a cook, a domestic servant to the British. OBAMA: But my grandfather had larger dreams for his son. Through hard work and perseverance my father got a scholarship to study in a magical place, America, that's shown as a beacon of freedom and opportunity to so many who had come before him. (APPLAUSE) While studying here my father met my mother. She was born in a town on the other side of the world, in Kansas. (APPLAUSE) Her father worked on oil rigs and farms through most of the Depression. The day after Pearl Harbor, my grandfather signed up for duty, joined Patton's army, marched across Europe. Back home my grandmother raised a baby and went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the GI Bill, bought a house through FHA and later moved west, all the way to Hawaii, in search of opportunity. (APPLAUSE) And they too had big dreams for their daughter, a common dream born of two continents. OBAMA: My parents shared not only an improbable love; they shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would give me an African name, Barack, or "blessed," believing that in a tolerant America, your name is no barrier to success. (APPLAUSE) They imagined me going to the best schools in the land, even though they weren't rich, because in a generous America you don't have to be rich to achieve your potential. (APPLAUSE) They're both passed away now. And yet I know that, on this night, they look down on me with great pride. And I stand here today grateful for the diversity of my heritage, aware that my parents' dreams live on in my two precious daughters. I stand here knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible. (APPLAUSE) OBAMA: Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy; our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal... (APPLAUSE) ... that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." That is the true genius of America, a faith... (APPLAUSE) ... a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles; that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm; that we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door; that we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe; that we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution; and that our votes will be counted -- or at least, most of the time. (APPLAUSE) This year, in this election, we are called to reaffirm our values and our commitments, to hold them against a hard reality and see how we are measuring up, to the legacy of our forbearers and the promise of future generations. OBAMA: And fellow Americans, Democrats, Republicans, independents, I say to you, tonight, we have more work to do... (APPLAUSE) ... more work to do, for the workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their union jobs at the Maytag plant that's moving to Mexico, and now they're having to compete with their own children for jobs that pay 7 bucks an hour; more to do for the father I met who was losing his job and chocking back the tears wondering how he would pay $4,500 a months for the drugs his son needs without the health benefits that he counted on; more to do for the young woman in East St. Louis, and thousands more like her who have the grades, have the drive, have the will, but doesn't have the money to go to college. Now, don't get me wrong, the people I meet in small towns and big cities and diners and office parks, they don't expect government to solves all of their problems. They know they have to work hard to get a head. And they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you: They don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon. (APPLAUSE) Go into any inner-city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. OBAMA: They know that parents have to teach, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. They know those things. (APPLAUSE) People don't expect -- people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice. In this election, we offer that choice. Our party has chosen a man to lead us who embodies the best this country has to offer. And that man is John Kerry. (APPLAUSE) John Kerry understands the ideals of community, faith and service because they've defined his life. From his heroic service to Vietnam to his years as prosecutor and lieutenant governor, through two decades in the United States Senate, he has devoted himself to this country. Again and again, we've seen him make tough choices when easier ones were available. His values and his record affirm what is best in us. John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded. So instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, he offers them to companies creating jobs here at home. (APPLAUSE) OBAMA: John Kerry believes in an America where all Americans can afford the same health coverage our politicians in Washington have for themselves. (APPLAUSE) John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren't held hostage to the profits of oil companies or the sabotage of foreign oil fields. (APPLAUSE) John Kerry believes in the constitutional freedoms that have made our country the envy of the world, and he will never sacrifice our basic liberties nor use faith as a wedge to divide us. (APPLAUSE) And John Kerry believes that in a dangerous world, war must be an option sometimes, but it should never be the first option. (APPLAUSE) You know, a while back, I met a young man named Seamus (ph) in a VFW hall in East Moline, Illinois. He was a good-looking kid, 6'2", 6'3", clear eyed, with an easy smile. He told me he'd joined the Marines and was heading to Iraq the following week. OBAMA: And as I listened to him explain why he had enlisted -- the absolute faith he had in our country and its leaders, his devotion to duty and service -- I thought, this young man was all that any of us might ever hope for in a child. But then I asked myself: Are we serving Seamus (ph) as well as he's serving us? I thought of the 900 men and women, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors who won't be returning to their own hometowns. I thought of the families I had met who were struggling to get by without a loved one's full income or whose loved ones had returned with a limb missing or nerves shattered, but still lacked long-term health benefits because they were Reservists. (APPLAUSE) When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they are going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return and to never, ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace and earn the respect of the world. (APPLAUSE) OBAMA: Now, let me be clear. Let me be clear. We have real enemies in the world. These enemies must be found. They must be pursued. And they must be defeated. John Kerry knows this. And just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate to risk his life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use our military might to keep America safe and secure. (APPLAUSE) John Kerry believes in America. And he knows that it's not enough for just some of us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga, a belief that we are all connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. (APPLAUSE) If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. (APPLAUSE) If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. (APPLAUSE) It is that fundamental belief -- it is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work. (APPLAUSE) OBAMA: It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family: "E pluribus unum," out of many, one. Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. (APPLAUSE) There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. (APPLAUSE) The pundits, the pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue States: red states for Republicans, blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we've got some gay friends in the red states. (APPLAUSE) There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. (APPLAUSE) OBAMA: In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism here, the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't think about it, or health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. That's not what I'm talking. I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. (APPLAUSE) OBAMA: Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead. I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs for the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs, and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us. America, tonight, if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do, if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president. And John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president. And this country will reclaim it's promise. And out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come. Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. Thank you. END © 2004 FDCH E-Media ||||| In an exit interview published Monday, President Obama said he could have gotten most American voters behind him if he had been able to run again. Speaking with his former senior adviser and current CNN contributor David Axelrod, Obama said the vision of “one America” he first vocalized in a famous 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention still holds true. “The problem is, it doesn't always manifest itself in politics, right?” the president said. “You know, I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I — if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it.” ADVERTISEMENT Naming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTrump’s debt deal puts an end to politics as usual in Washington Trump's deal with Schumer, Pelosi should dismay conservatives Congress grapples with disaster aid MORE (R-Ky.) and former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, Obama said Republicans “specifically mobilized a backlash to this vision” of an America united around causes of common good. Obama accused McConnell of acting “very cynically” in rejecting the United States the president tried to bring out. Republicans, he said in the lengthy interview produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, “can just just throw sand in the gears” and prove disunity through their own actions. “That if we just say no, then that will puncture the balloon, that all this talk about hope and change and no red state and blue state is — is proven to be a mirage, a fantasy.” Obama, then a state senator in Illinois, seized the spotlight at the 2004 convention in Boston with a brief but sweeping speech outlining his own biography and his optimism even "in the face of difficulty.” Speaking with Axelrod in the White House, Obama said the victory of Republican President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpFeinstein expects public hearing with Donald Trump Jr. 'come hell or high water' Hope Hicks to become Trump’s third White House communications director: report Strange struggles for Trump support in Ala. race MORE does not mean those dreams have failed. “Obviously in the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have — have suggested that somehow, it really was a fantasy,” said Obama, who leaves office in less than a month. “What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and — and full of energy and dynamism.” Trump, who won with an “America first” platform, has repeatedly accused Obama of apologizing for U.S. policy. An early promoter of the “birther” movement, which questioned Obama’s citizenship, Trump has pledged to crack down on illegal immigration and reduce government regulation as part of his campaign pledge to “make America great again.” But Obama said most Americans still subscribe to his own 2008 campaign vision of hope and change. “Now, I would argue that during the entire eight years that I've been president, that spirit of America has still been there in all sorts of ways,” he said. It manifests itself in communities all across the country. "We see it in this younger generation that is smarter, more tolerant, more innovative, more creative, more entrepreneurial, would not even think about, you know, discriminating somebody against, for example, because of their sexual orientation." ||||| (CNN) Arguing that Americans still subscribe to his vision of progressive change, President Barack Obama asserted in an interview recently he could have succeeded in this year's election if he was eligible to run. "I am confident in this vision because I'm confident that if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it," Obama told his former senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview for the "The Axe Files" podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. "I know that in conversations that I've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards is the right one," Obama said in the interview, which aired Monday. "In the wake of the election and Trump winning, a lot of people have suggested that somehow, it really was a fantasy," Obama said of the hope-and-change vision he heralded in 2008. "What I would argue is, is that the culture actually did shift, that the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism." Photos: Obama and Axelrod David Axelrod sits backstage with then-US Sen. Barack Obama during a 2007 campaign rally for Obama's presidential run. Axelrod, a senior political commentator for CNN, was a senior adviser for Obama during his presidency. Hide Caption 1 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama huddles with his campaign staff, including Robert Gibbs, right, before a town-hall meeting in Erie, Pennsylvania, in April 2008. Gibbs would later be Obama's press secretary. Hide Caption 2 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod, trailed by aide Reggie Love, talk backstage before a town-hall meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina, in April 2008. Hide Caption 3 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama talks on the phone aboard his plane as members of the campaign travel to St. Paul, Minnesota, in June 2008. Hide Caption 4 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod sit on an airport tarmac in Washington in June 2008. Hide Caption 5 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod hug at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, where Obama had officially received the party's nomination for president. Hide Caption 6 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Axelrod and White House Chief of Staff designate Rahm Emanuel listen to Obama speak at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. Hide Caption 7 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama speaks with aides in the White House Oval Office in February 2009. From left are Senior Advisor Pete Rouse, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Phil Schiliro, Axelrod, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Emanuel. Hide Caption 8 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama, Axelrod and Gibs tour the Great Pyramids of Giza during a trip to Egypt in 2009. Hide Caption 9 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama laughs with aides aboard Air Force One in November 2009. Hide Caption 10 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Axelrod and Obama attend a meeting with congressional leadership in July 2010. Hide Caption 11 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama works on an acceptance speech with Axelrod and Director of Speechwriting Jon Favreau, center, on the night of the 2012 election. Hide Caption 12 of 13 Photos: Obama and Axelrod Obama and Axelrod sit together in the White House as they tape a podcast for the "Axe Files" in December 2016. Hide Caption 13 of 13 Neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton won a majority of the vote in the 2016 contest. Clinton beat Trump in the popular vote by almost 2.9 million ballots, though Trump won more electoral votes and thus the presidency. Read More

– In 2004, Barack Obama delivered the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention and spoke of a united America. Now, in an exit interview published Monday, the president told one of his former advisers that had he been allowed to run for a third term in 2016, he would have harnessed that same message—and he believes he could have won with that message, the Hill reports. "I am confident in this vision [and] confident that … if I had run again and articulated it, I think I could've mobilized a majority of the American people to rally behind it," Obama told David Axelrod for the latter's "Axe Files" podcast, per CNN. "I know that in conversations that I've had with people around the country, even some people who disagreed with me, they would say the vision, the direction that you point towards, is the right one." Although Obama said Hillary Clinton "performed wonderfully under really tough circumstances" in her run against Donald Trump, he added that her camp missed an entire segment of the population that it needed to speak to—notably, Americans still hurting from the recession. He also dug into Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOPers for instituting "a backlash" to Obama's vision, though he conceded McConnell's strategy was "pretty smart and well executed." But despite what he points out as missteps, as well as the contentious nature of Election 2016, Obama stuck by the assertion he made 12 years ago. "What I would argue is … the majority does buy into the notion of a one America that is tolerant and diverse and open and full of energy and dynamism," he said. (Ta-Nehisi Coates' take on Obama's presidency: "one of the greatest.")

A man with an assault rifle and other weapons exchanged gunfire with officers Tuesday at an Atlanta-area elementary school before surrendering, a police chief said, with dramatic overhead television footage capturing the young students racing out of the building, being escorted by teachers and police to safety. No one was injured. Just a week into the new school year, more than 800 students in pre-kindergarten to fifth grade were evacuated from Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, a few miles east of Atlanta. They sat outside along a fence in a field for a time until school buses came to take them to their waiting parents and other relatives at a nearby Wal-Mart. When the first bus arrived about three hours after the shooting, cheers erupted in the store parking lot from relieved relatives, several of them sobbing. The suspect, identified later as 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill, fired at least a half-dozen shots from the rifle from inside McNair at officers who were swarming the campus outside, the chief said. Officers returned fire when the man was alone and they had a clear shot, DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric L. Alexander said at a news conference. Hill surrendered shortly after and several weapons were found, though it wasn't clear how many, Alexander said. Police had no motive. Though the school has a system where visitors must be buzzed in by staff, the gunman may have slipped inside behind someone authorized to be there, Alexander said. The suspect, who had no clear ties to the school, never got past the front office, where he held one or two employees captive for a time, the chief said. Hill is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. A woman in the office called WSB-TV to say the gunman asked her to contact the Atlanta station and police. WSB said during the call, shots were heard in the background. Assignment editor Lacey Lecroy said she spoke with the woman who said she was alone with the man and his gun was visible. "It didn't take long to know that this woman was serious," Lecroy said. "Shots were one of the last things I heard. I was so worried for her." School clerk Antoinette Tuff in an interview on ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer" said she worked to convince the gunman to put down his weapons and ammunition. "He told me he was sorry for what he was doing. He was willing to die," Tuff told ABC. She told him her life story, about how her marriage fell apart after 33 years and the "roller coaster" of opening her own business. "I told him, `OK, we all have situations in our lives," she said. "It was going to be OK. If I could recover, he could, too." Then Tuff said she asked the suspect to put his weapons down, empty his pockets and backpack on the floor. "I told the police he was giving himself up. I just talked him through it," she said. DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Michael Thurmond praised faculty and authorities who got the young students to safety, staying calm and following plans in place. All teachers and students made it out of the school unharmed. "It's a blessed day, all of our children are safe," Thurmond said at the news conference. "This was a highly professional response on the ground by DeKalb County employees assisted by law enforcement." Complicating the rescue, bomb-sniffing dogs alerted officers to something in the suspect's trunk and investigators believe the man may have been carrying explosives, Alexander said. Officials cut a hole in a fence to make sure students running from the building could get even farther away to a nearby street, he said. SWAT teams then went from classroom to classroom to make sure people were out. Police had strung yellow tape up blocking intersections near the school while children waited to be taken to Wal-Mart where hundreds of people were anticipating their arrival. The crowd waved from behind yellow police tape as buses packed with children started pulling up along the road at the store. The smiling children waved back. The school has about 870 children enrolled. The academy is named after McNair, an astronaut who died when the space shuttle Challenger exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, according to the school's website. Jonessia White, the mother of a kindergartner, said the school's doors are normally locked. "I took (my son) to school this morning and had to be buzzed in," she said. "So I'm wondering how the guy got in the door." ___ Associated Press writers Christina A. Cassidy and Phillip Lucas in Atlanta contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights Suspect was arrested in March on suspicion of "terrorist threats and acts" Police say Michael Brandon Hill, 20, faces aggravated assault charges Witness to CNN affiliate WSB: Shooter said "he was not afraid to die" Shooter was armed with an AK-47 "and a number of other weapons," police say A man who opened fire at a Georgia elementary school Tuesday was armed with an AK-47 "and a number of other weapons," police said. The shooter barricaded himself in the school's front office with employees before eventually surrendering to police, DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander told reporters. No one was injured, authorities said. Suspected shooter Michael Brandon Hill, 20, faces charges including aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said. The shooter fired about six shots from inside the school toward officers as they approached outside, Alexander said, and police returned fire. Michael Brandon Hill is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, police said. Police said it is unclear whether the suspect had any connection with the school, the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, which is about seven miles east of downtown Atlanta. Investigators think the gunman entered the school behind someone, Alexander said. As the standoff unfolded, a caller told CNN affiliate WSB's assignment desk that she was in the school office with a gunman. The man had a message he wanted the woman to share with the local television station, assignment editor Lacey LeCroy said, describing the conversation during WSB's newscast Tuesday evening. "She said he told her to tell me he was not afraid to die," LeCroy said. The gunman also threatened to harm police, the woman said, according to LeCroy. Later, LeCroy heard gunshots crack over the television station's phone line. The woman in the school office wasn't sure who had fired, LeCroy said. JUST WATCHED Police: Gunman carried AK-47 into school Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Police: Gunman carried AK-47 into school 03:11 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – A policeman walks in front of Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy after a shooting incident in Decatur, Georgia, on Tuesday, August 20. Michael Brandon Hill, 20, opened fire at the school armed with an AK-47 "and a number of other weapons," police said. There were no reports of injuries. Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – A police officer interacts with students as they board school buses to take them to reunite with their parents. Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – A child peers out the window of a school bus as the children are returned to their parents at a nearby shopping center Tuesday afternoon. Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – Dekalb County Police SWAT officers run though the front yard of a home toward the elementary school on Tuesday. Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – A police officer stands at the scene after the shooting. The school is located about seven miles east of downtown Atlanta. Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – Nicole Webb gets emotional while waiting for her 9-year-old son. Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – Parents cheer as buses arrive with students on board. Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: Photos: Shots fired at Georgia school Shots fired at Georgia school – Five-year-old Skyler Worthey, center, is reunited with his family. "Everybody's safe," said DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Michael Thurmond. Hide Caption 8 of 8 JUST WATCHED Suspected school shooter in custody Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Suspected school shooter in custody 01:00 Investigators initially suspected there could be explosives in a vehicle the shooter parked outside the school, but police found no explosives inside, Parish said. Teachers and administrators guided students out to a lawn outside the school's gym, where they remained while investigators combed the school to ensure there was no other threat. Concerns about explosives forced SWAT teams to cut a hole in a fence by the school and evacuate students through the yard of a neighboring home, Alexander said. On a nearby street, school buses waited to take them to safety. "This was a very unusual situation where we had to get the kids away from any possible explosives," Alexander said. This was the second arrest in six months for Hill, of DeKalb County. In March, he was arrested in neighboring Henry County on suspicion of "terrorist threats and acts," according to a record in the county sheriff's office. He was released on bail five days later. Information on what led to that arrest or whether the case is resolved wasn't immediately available. Students were reunited with their parents at a nearby shopping center Tuesday afternoon. The children smiled and waved, and parents cheered, as each school bus arrived with students aboard. "Everybody's safe," DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Michael Thurmond said. "This thing came out for the best," said Dale Holmes, DeKalb County's assistant police chief. "Thank God no one was hurt -- not even the suspect." ||||| Just One More Thing... We have sent you a verification email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your profile. If you do not receive the verification message within a few minutes of signing up, please check your Spam or Junk folder. Close ||||| Michael Brandon Hill, may have slipped in behind an employee at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy before confronting office staff about 1 p.m., officials said. Police detained a gunman who they say walked into a DeKalb County elementary school on Tuesday armed with multiple guns. The suspect, who has been identified as Michael Brandon Hill, may have slipped in behind an employee at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy before confronting office staff about 1 p.m., officials said. Channel 2 Action News broke the story on Twitter minutes later. UPDATE: DeKalb School chairman says shots fired at McNair Elementary, gunman may still be in school. #wsbtvhttp://t.co/chQsM3AAI9 — WSB-TV (@wsbtv) August 20, 2013 DeKalb County Police Chief Cedric Alexander said the 20-year-old suspect fired on officers as they arrived and officers returned fire. “When we received the call and we engaged, he started to fire from inside the school at our officers. He had one or two of the staff members inside the main office. He was holding them captive,” Alexander said. Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne confirmed that the suspect was peacefully apprehended by DeKalb County sheriff's deputies and U.S. Marshals inside the school “without incident, without resistance.” Winne spoke to the arresting deputies. “When I arrived at the scene I saw the male subject standing outside, shooting a couple of rounds off,” one of deputies said. No injuries were reported. News Chopper 2 showed video of children running from the school and huddling near a fence in a field behind the building. Alexander said that officers feared the man had explosives in the car or the building. Alexander also said the alleged gunman had multiple guns, including an AK-47. Alexander told Channel 2’s Ryan Young firefighters cut a hole in a nearby residence so children could evacuate the school grounds through the back of that home. “We could not bring the children around to the front of the school because we didn’t know if explosives were in the vehicle,” Alexander said. “Now, this deviates from our typical plan, but this was a very unusual situation, where we had to get the kids away from any possible explosives.” Investigators said Hill will be charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon Students gathered behind school #McNairShooting. No injuries. Live updates now on Ch2 pic.twitter.com/jWhVruySqn — WSB-TV (@wsbtv) August 20, 2013 One of the women held captive in the school office called Channel 2 Action News to report that there was a shooter in the school. She told a Channel 2 assignment desk editor that the gunman asked her to call WSB-TV and police. "All the time of doing this I never experienced anything like this," LeCroy said. "It didn't take long to know that this was serious." The McNair elementary office worker told LeCroy that the gunman wanted Channel 2 Action News to "start filming as police die." The gunman then told the woman that he wanted "police to back up." Shots could be heard over the call. Eventually the woman told LeCroy "they got him." Parents were asked to go to the Walmart near Gresham Road and Interstate 20 to get their children. Hundreds of McNair elementary school parents flooded the parking lot to be reunited with the students, who were bused from the school. Parents were required to have a photo ID to pick up their child. "When I first heard about the incident I had to rush to leave work, about an hour away to the school to see if everything is all right. When I got here they'd caught the guy and that's a good thing. Man I just heard all the kids are fine. Just good to have your little one back with you," parent Antonio Johnson said. News Chopper 2 flying over buses being loaded to take #McNair students to their parents: pic.twitter.com/viWtthdgQE — WSB-TV (@wsbtv) August 20, 2013 Parents at Walmart spoke to Channel 2's Lori Geary about their fears for their childrens' safety. “My daughter called me on the telephone while I was at home and she said ‘Mom, are you listening to the news? There’s something going on at Nadia’s school. And so, she was on her way to Walmart and I came behind her,” Anna, the grandmother told Geary. Nadia’s mother, Kimberly, said she now fears sending her little girl to school. “It makes me want to home school my daughter,” Kimberly said. Channel 2’s Erica Byfield spoke to woman who lives down the street from the school. The neighbor, who did not want to give her name, said she was in her kitchen when her dog started barking frantically. After hearing about five shots, she was compelled to run outside and check her surroundings, knowing a school was nearby. “At first, I heard some little small shots. Then, I heard ‘bang, bang, bang!’ Then, I heard, ‘doom, doom, doom shots, so I knew something was wrong,” she told Byfield. The neighbor said she hopes the gunman pays for what he’s done. “I hope they get him and prosecute him for what he’s done, because these are innocent kids,” she said. Students will have school on Wednesday, but classes will be held at McNair High School. The students will maintain the same bus schedule. Channel 2 Action News crews remain at the scene. Check back with WSBTV.com for updates and watch continuing coverage on Channel 2 Action News.

– Welcome news after reports of shots fired today at a Georgia elementary school: “Shooter apprehended; all kids safe and accounted for,” the interim superintendent tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Police say a 20-year-old suspect is in custody. "He started to fire from inside the school at our officers," said DeKalb County Police Chief William O'Brien, per CNN. He said the gunman, who had an AK-47 and other weapons, barricaded himself in the school's front office before surrendering. He apparently got into the building by following someone who had authorization, reports AP. Before the arrest, a female worker in the office had called WSB-TV to report the incident and said the gunman himself had ordered her to do so. The gunman left the office briefly when police arrived, apparently to go outside and fire at officers, then returned to the office before eventually surrendering. Police have offered no clues as to a possible motive. TV footage showed students fleeing the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in DeKalb County, while others later evacuated the building in an orderly fashion. They all were being reunited with their parents at a local shopping plaza.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington, commander of U.S. Army Africa, center, at a peacekeeping demonstration at the African Land Forces Summit in Lilongwe, Malawi, on May 9, 2017. Harrington was suspended Friday pending an investigation into flirtatious text messages he is suspected of sending to another man’s wife. VICENZA, Italy — The 30-year career of U.S. Army Africa’s commander was in jeopardy Friday after he was suspended from command in the wake of flirtatious messages he is suspected of sending to another man’s wife. Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington is suspected of sending private Facebook messages such as “U can be my nurse” and “How often does your devil vixen come out?” to the woman, an enlisted man’s wife, from March through June. The woman gave the messages to an advocacy group, which then shared them with Stars and Stripes. An Inspector General probe began just as USA Today reported the story late Thursday. “MG Harrington has been suspended from his duties as the Commander of United States Army Africa’s Southern European Task Force pending the completion of an investigation by the Army’s inspector general,” the Army’s chief of public affairs office said in a statement Friday. Harrington issued his own statement in an email to Stars and Stripes: “I look forward to the completion of the investigation.” Don Christensen, president of Protect Our Defenders, which advocates for military sexual assault and harassment victims, said any such messages between a general and the enlisted servicemember’s wife would violate military law. “I would say they clearly violated Article 133 — conduct unbecoming an officer,” said Christensen, a former Air Force judge and top prosecutor. “That’s based on upon his rank, command status, the fact that he was married and the fact that this spouse was married to a junior enlisted under his command.” Christensen, who reviewed messages provided by the woman, said that Harrington would have trouble successfully claiming that he’d had no bad intentions, because of messages purportedly sent by him that ask the woman to delete them. “There’s no way in hell this guy should be texting some junior enlisted’s wife in the middle of the night, and he knew it,” Christensen said. Christensen said that Harrington also phoned the woman often and once contacted her from the shower. In one conversation, while Harrington was in Malawi, the woman asked if it was dangerous. “Africa! Dangerous? That’s you silly,” he responded. The messages began after Harrington met the woman, who was not identified, at the gym on Caserma Ederle, Christensen said. He often messaged late at night, Christensen said. When the woman asked why he didn’t message her during the day he responded, “Work!!!!!” Once he asked her, “So what should I dream about tonight? Work or play?” In another purported message, the woman mentioned that it was cold in Vicenza. “You know how to increase the temp!” he replied. When in one exchange the woman mentioned that she’d argued with her husband, Harrington is alleged to have responded: “I’m sorry! Make up se…x is fun.” A New Jersey native who became an Army officer through ROTC and was commissioned in 1987, Harrington has been considered a rising star. He served as executive officer to retired Gen. Martin Dempsey when Dempsey was Army chief of staff and when he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Harrington said in a May interview with Stars and Stripes that he regarded Dempsey as the epitome of a military leader. For instance, Dempsey had routinely written letters not only to families of troops hurt or killed in action, but also to personally commend deployed soldiers to their families. Harrington decided to do that, too, he told Stars and Stripes. “Every night at the end of the night, I’d write a letter,” he said. “It made going to sleep every night easier.” Harrington took command of USARAF last year after a posting with NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in Gloucestershire, England. He’s spent a third of his career in European postings. Married with a young son, he frequently discussed the importance of trust. “Trust is the cornerstone of relationships,” he said, “and it is not possible to surge trust.” Christensen said that the Army could not have left Harrington in command while the investigation proceeded. “Unless they removed him he’s still the convening authority, he’s still acting on military justice issues,” he said. montgomery.nancy@stripes.com ||||| The Pentagon (Photo: STAFF, AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The Army has launched an investigation of the major general in charge of its forces in Africa for sending dozens of messages, some of them suggestive, to the wife of an enlisted soldier under his command, USA TODAY has learned. The Facebook messages sent by Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington range from flattering to flirty and suggestive and include a request to the woman that she delete them. Harrington is the two-star in charge of U.S. Army Africa and is based in Italy. The woman was born in Europe and is married to an American soldier. An expert on military law who reviewed the texts said they seem in clear violation of military law, including conduct unbecoming an officer. “With all the attention we have paid to improper relationships in the military, he just didn’t care,” said Don Christensen, a former chief prosecutor for the Air Force and president of Protect our Defenders, an advocacy group for victims of sexual assault in the military. “He should lose his command over this. It’s probably time for him to retire.” Harrington’s name is the latest to be added to the growing list of generals and admirals mired in scandal. Among them are top officers found to have been carousing at strip clubs, swinging with multiple partners and frequenting prostitutes in Asia. CLOSE Here are the five generals and the commander who wiped confirmed allegations of adultery from another's record USA TODAY The Army Inspector General initiated its probe after USA TODAY revealed a series of messages Harrington wrote this spring. “As it is under investigation, as a matter of practice, I cannot provide any additional details on that at this time,” said Col. Pat Seiber, an Army spokesman. Likewise, Lt. Col. Armando Hernandez, a spokesman for U.S. Army Africa, said Harrington would not comment while he is the focus of the investigation. The woman who received the messages — who spoke on condition of anonymity because she fears retaliation against her husband — told USA TODAY the texting began as friendly and related to business. She said she had met Harrington at the gym. She became concerned with the texts, she said, after Harrington’s messages became suggestive. The relationship did not become physical. Harrington is married, and adultery is a violation of military law. The messages, many sent late at night, veer from the mundane to the personal. Harrington oversees the Army’s activities in Africa from a post in northern Italy. In some texts, he complained about travel and getting sick on local food. In others, he doted on the woman’s appearance, referring to her as “HOTTIE,” and “looking good for sure.” In another series he wrote: "You seem to have a great modeling resume! Truly! Though I hadn’t noticed! Where is your hubby tonight? Work?” When she replied that she’d fought with her husband, and that he was asleep, Harrington responded: “I’m sorry! Make up se…x is fun” Harrington suggested “U can be my nurse,” and added, “I’d enjoy being in a tent with U.” Of particular concern to investigators, Christensen said, will be texts in which Harrington acknowledged that their relationship is inappropriate, others in which he suggested the two could meet and finally his request that she delete their online chats. In one exchange, Harrington noted that, “I don’t think your husband would be happy if he knew you chatted with another man.” In another, he said “A married man giving a gift to another man’s wife.” After her reply about “friendly” gifts, he wrote: “I’d enjoy giving u a gift one day.” Harrington also urged her at times to erase records of their chats. "I hope u delete this exchange!" he wrote at one point. At another: "Why not delete after communicating?" Covering up the messages indicates Harrington knew he'd crossed lines, Christensen said. "By asking her to delete the exchanges, he seems to know it wasn’t appropriate to be involved with the wife of an enlisted man in his command," Christensen said. Harrington's case is less spectacular than that of Maj. Gen. David Haight, the "swinging general" who lost his job and three ranks when his secret life was revealed. Or that of Lt. Gen. Ron Lewis, the former top aide to then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter, whose strip club visits while on official travel earned him censure. Nor does it rise to the level of Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, who was indicted by federal authorities in a wide-ranging Navy bribery scandal in which he was found to have swilled expensive champagne and indulged in prostitutes, according to a federal indictment. Read more: Army general fired after 'inappropriate' relationship with young woman on staff Air Force busts retired four-star general down two ranks for coerced sex Army demotes 'swinging general' after investigation into affairs, lifestyle The texts and investigation are black marks for one of the Army's rising stars. A decorated combat veteran, Harrington had been a top aide to Gen. Martin Dempsey when Dempsey was Army chief of staff, and again when Dempsey became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But Christensen said Harrington's actions nonetheless strike at the heart of the good order and discipline that the military prides itself on. Moreover, Harrington has the authority to order cases to go to court martial, including those involving sexual assault and harassment. "The message he's sending is that the rules don’t apply to him," Christensen said. "It erodes confidence in the junior officers and enlisted soldiers who serve under him. It's a message that this guy thinks he's above the law." Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2gmFZ58 ||||| The Pentagon (Photo: STAFF, AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The Army has suspended the two-star commander of its forces in Africa after revelations about suggestive texts he sent to the wife of an enlisted soldier. USA TODAY reported on Thursday that the flirty messages, which the paper had obtained, prompted the Army to launch an inspector general's investigation into Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington's activities. Harrington is based in Italy, where U.S. Army Africa is posted. "Harrington has been suspended from his duties as the Commander of United States Army Africa's Southern European Task Force pending the completion of an investigation by the Army's inspector general," Army Col. Pat Seiber said in a statement. "Given that the matter is under investigation, we can provide no further comment at this time." Through a spokesman, Harrington released a brief statement: "I look forward to the completion of the investigation." The soldier is not under Harrington's command, but they serve at the same military installation in Europe, according to Lt. Col. Armando Hernandez, a spokesman for Harrington. The flirty Facebook messages include Harrington's referring to the woman as a "HOTTIE," inquiring about the whereabouts of the woman's husband and asking her to delete the messages. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Friday said the case involving Harrington shows the Pentagon's talk about rooting out sexual assault and harassment in the ranks is belied by the actions of its leaders. “This is unfortunately just another example of an utter lack of good order and discipline from a top general who is supposed to be in charge of stemming the tide of this boorish behavior in the first place," said Gillibrand, the New York Democrat and member of the Armed Services Committee. "For over 20 years, top brass has been pledging zero tolerance for this type of inappropriate behavior -- yet on an all too often basis we see these are empty promises." Harrington's actions, according to experts, could violate military law about the proper conduct of officers and also undermine discipline essential in the ranks. "It's disturbing that it took a report in USA TODAY for the Army to suspend Harrington," said Don Christensen, a former top prosecutor for the Air Force and president of Protect our Defenders, a group that advocates for victims of sexual assault in the military. "I hope now that the Army knows it's being watched they will do a thorough and complete investigation of the general." The woman, who has requested anonymity because she fears retaliation against her husband, provided USA TODAY with dozens of the messages. Her relationship with Harrington began as friendly and related to business, but crossed the line into the personal and intimate, she said. Harrington, in a series of messages, appeared smitten with the woman, who described herself as far younger than the general. "I knew u were worth worshipping!" he wrote in one exchange. When she replied that the weather was cold in Italy, he responded: "I heard but you know how to raise the temp!" The Army and the other armed services have been compiling a roster of senior officers found to have engaged in inappropriate relationships. In June, the Army has stripped a disgraced former division commander of one star and forced him to retire for having an inappropriate relationship with a female captain on his staff. Wayne Grigsby was demoted to brigadier general after being fired as commander of the First Infantry Division in September 2016. Grigsby had been weeks from deploying to Iraq when the Army recalled him to Washington. He became the first division commander to be relieved in more than 45 years. The Navy, meanwhile, has been dealing with a sprawling scandal in Asia named for contractor “Fat Leonard” Francis, the former chief of Glenn Defense Marine Asia. Francis bribed sailors with cash, prostitutes and opulent dinners and drinks in exchange for information he used to gouge the Navy for servicing its ships, federal prosecutors say. Read more: Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2evp97c

– The Army has suspended the head of its forces in Africa after he was caught flirting with the wife of an enlisted soldier in private Facebook messages, USA Today reports. "I knew u were worth worshiping!" Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington writes in one message. "How often does your devil vixen come out?" Stars and Stripes quotes Harrington as asking in another message. Harrington, considered a "rising star" in the Army, met the unnamed woman at the gym. She says their conversations started friendly but she got concerned when they turned suggestive, according to USA Today. In his messages, Harrington suggested they meet and asked the woman to delete their conversations afterward. The woman turned over dozens of messages sent between March and June to an advocacy group. Harrington, the commander of the US Army Africa's Southern European Task Force, was suspended while the Army investigates. Harrington is married, and adultery is a violation of military law—though the woman says their relationship never turned physical. Regardless, Don Christensen, the head of an advocacy group for military sexual assault and harassment victims, says Harrington "should lose his command over this." “I would say they clearly violated Article 133—conduct unbecoming an officer,” the former Air Force prosecutor tells Stars and Stripes. The woman's husband serves at the same military installation in Italy as Harrington but isn't under Harrington's command. In a statement, Harrington says he looks "forward to the completion of the investigation."

With cases of diabetes growing each year, many adults are getting caught in a potentially dangerous situation: they are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes when they actually have Type 1 diabetes, a substantially different condition. Enlarge Image Close Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal Alissa Kaplan Michaels, who has Type 1 diabetes, struggled for 3½ years before her disease was diagnosed correctly. Both types of diabetes make it difficult for patients to control blood-sugar levels, which can lead to complications that include blindness, kidney failure and death. But Type 1 and Type 2 require different forms of treatment. Alissa Kaplan Michaels, who has Type 1 diabetes, lived for 3½ years with the wrong diagnosis. The New York public-relations consultant says she complained to her doctor in 2008 of blurry vision and was told she had Type 2 diabetes after a blood test showed high sugar levels. She changed her diet and exercised more, but her blood-sugar levels kept rising. She started taking several oral diabetes medications. She stopped eating bread and pasta. She changed doctors—three times. And she still felt terrible. Don't Confuse These Despite the similar sounding names, Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are substantially different conditions. Type 1 is an autoimmune disorder that attacks the body's ability to make insulin. In Type 2, brought on by inactivity and obesity, the body can't make efficient use of insulin to control blood sugar. Type 1 Diabetes The condition begins mainly in childhood and adolescence, but increasingly in adults. People with Type 1 are often thin or normal weight. Patients are prone to ketoacidosis, a dangerous buildup of acids in the blood. Regular insulin injections are required treatment. Source: National Institutes of Health Type 2 Diabetes Onset is primarily in people over 40 years old, but increasingly in younger patients. People with Type 2 are often obese. There is no ketoacidosis. Treatment involves healthy diet and exercise, diabetes medications, and sometimes insulin injections. Last fall, a covering doctor at her endocrinologist's practice started asking about her health history, childhood weight patterns, her recent struggles with her blood sugar and family history of Type 2 diabetes, of which there was none. That day, Ms. Kaplan Michaels got a new diagnosis. She didn't have Type 2 diabetes, she had Type 1. Ms. Kaplan Michaels, 44 years old, immediately dropped the oral medications that had upset her stomach. Instead, she increased her daily insulin injections. She also resumed eating carbohydrates. Within weeks, her energy was back. "At first I was relieved and then I was very angry," she says. "Nobody should have to go to four doctors to get a diagnosis for something that isn't that difficult to diagnose." Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disorder that attacks the body's ability to make insulin, which allows the body to properly process glucose. The disorder, once called juvenile diabetes, begins mainly in children and adolescents, but is increasingly occurring in adults. Type 1 diabetics need daily insulin injections to survive. If patients manage their blood-sugar levels well, they can live for decades without encountering the dangerous complications associated with the disease. Type 2 diabetes, by contrast, is brought on by inactivity and obesity, mainly in adults, and is characterized by the body's inability to make efficient use of insulin. Type 2 diabetes, which is beginning to occur in teenagers, can be kept at bay in some cases with lifestyle changes and is widely treated with oral medications to improve insulin absorption. Type 2 diabetics also can require insulin injections. "Most of my [adult Type 1 patients] have been misdiagnosed as having Type 2," says Robin Goland, co-director of the Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "Once the right diagnosis is made the patient feels much, much better, but they are distrustful of doctors and who could blame them?" Enlarge Image Close Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal Ms. Kaplan Michaels, pictured with her son, Leo, was able to resume an active life after her Type 1 diabetes was correctly diagnosed and she began proper treatment. Estimates of the number of people with Type 1 diabetes in the U.S. range from 1.3 million to 2.6 million people, accounting for 5% to 10% of the total diabetic population. Incidence of Type 1 has been rising in the U.S. and in parts of Europe by about 2.5% to 4% a year for reasons scientists can't explain, according to several large-scale studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals. Scientists say Type 1 diabetes is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors but they don't know what the trigger is. An incorrect diagnosis usually occurs in the offices of primary-care doctors, many of whom haven't received adequate education in medical school about rising rates of Type 1 in adults and how to diagnose it. "It is not on their radar because they see so much diabetes and it is by far mostly Type 2," said Irl B. Hirsch, professor of medicine at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. After elevated blood sugars are detected, diagnosing which diabetes a person has usually is done by looking at the patient, assessing family history, weight and age, doctors say. "It's not a good way to make a diagnosis. You'd like to measure something that represents the disease process," says Jerry Palmer, director of endocrinology at VA Puget Sound Health Care System. To properly diagnose Type 1, doctors need to test for antibodies that indicate the presence of the autoimmune disorder. But few order such tests. Cherie Serota, 48, was told by her primary-care doctor in early 2009 that she was on the brink of having Type 2 diabetes. Weighing just 120 pounds, Ms. Serota, of Brookville, N.Y., didn't fit the profile of a typical Type 2 patient. She revved up her exercise regime and watched her diet. One night after Chinese takeout sent her blood-sugar levels high, she called her doctor who told her this was normal and not to eat Chinese food anymore. Eventually she stopped eating carbohydrates. "That really did me in," says the mother of three. "I had no energy." Six months later, feeling drained and now down to 113 pounds, the former fashion executive sought out an endocrinologist at New York University who told her she had Type 1. When she told her primary-care doctor, he was so surprised she made him call the specialist, she says. "I understand why I was misdiagnosed; it is a very small amount of people who are diagnosed as an adult," Ms. Serota says. In some adults with Type 1, the loss of insulin-producing cells, located in the pancreas, is much slower than for children, making the onset of the disease more gradual. Some researchers consider the slow onset a distinct form of Type 1 called latent autoimmune diabetes in adults, or Lada. Because the disease progresses more slowly, it can be more easily confused with Type 2, researchers say. Benjamin Jones, a 63-year-old retired probation officer, likely had the slow-onset form of the disease. For six years, Mr. Jones treated what had been diagnosed as Type 2 diabetes. He changed his diet and took three oral medications daily. An avid exerciser, Mr. Jones says for several years he was able to keep his blood-sugar levels in check in part by Rollerblading, swimming, playing tennis and basketball, and cycling. Still, rarely did his blood-sugar level dip below 120, which is high for a non-diabetic person. After a bad reaction to a flu shot earlier this year, Mr. Jones says his sugar levels surged to 500. He says he asked to be put on insulin, but his primary-care doctor refused, fearing that Mr. Jones could risk hypoglycemia, a condition in which blood sugars go too low. That was when Mr. Jones sought out a specialist at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. He was immediately put on insulin, given an antibody test and told he had Type 1. "When your sugar is high you don't feel right. You feel on edge," Mr. Jones says. "I feel like a new person, like I should feel." Write to Kate Linebaugh at kate.linebaugh@wsj.com ||||| A tuberculosis vaccine in use for 90 years may help reverse Type 1 diabetes and eliminate the life- long need for insulin injections, say Harvard University researchers raising money to conduct large, human studies. Patients with Type 1 diabetes must inject insulin daily to control their blood sugar because their bodies don’t produce the hormone, the result of an errant immune system that destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The vaccine, called bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, stimulated production of a protein that killed the insulin-attacking cells, according to the findings of an early-stage study published yesterday in the journal PLOS One. Insulin injections help control Type 1 diabetes for the 3 million Americans with the disease, though there is no cure for the condition usually diagnosed in childhood. Results of the trial showed that two of the three patients given BCG had signs of renewed insulin production. The researchers now plan a larger study that could yield results in three to five years. “We think this can be taken all the way to the market and that is what we are trying to do.” said Denise Faustman, director of Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital’s immunobiology laboratory, who led the study. The vaccine, a weakened form of the tuberculosis bacteria, stimulates production of TNF, a cell-signaling protein that plays a role in cell death. With more TNF, the body can attack those harmful immune cells while leaving the rest of the body’s defenses intact. The vaccine is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for tuberculosis though it isn’t generally recommended for use in the U.S. The vaccine also is approved to fight bladder cancer. Study Results In the study, researchers administered two doses of the BCG vaccine to three patients who had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The patients were followed for 20 weeks and two of the three were found to have an increase in the death of the insulin-harming cells and a rise in elevation in C-peptide levels, suggesting the production of insulin. “These patients have been told their pancreases were dead,” Faustman said. “We can take those people, give them a very low dose twice and see their pancreases kick in and start to make small amounts of insulin.” To Market Faustman and her colleagues at Massachusetts General in Boston are working to get the vaccine to market. After their early findings in studies with mice, she said they tried to interest every major drugmaker in developing the vaccine as a possible cure for diabetes. All told her there wasn’t enough money to be made in a cure that used an inexpensive, generically available vaccine, Faustman said. So now, she is trying to raise money to pay for the expensive larger human trials. Her lab so far has received $11 million of the $25 million needed to pay for the next stage of testing. All of the money is coming from private donors, the largest of which is the Iacocca Family Foundation. “It’s a cheap man’s approach in how to get in the clinic,” she said. The vaccine’s ability to raise levels of cell-killing TNF also is being studied as a way to treat multiple sclerosis. In a study in Italy, researchers found the vaccine may prevent progressions of brain lesions in patients with advanced stages of MS, Faustman said. To contact the reporter on this story: Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net; To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net

– A potentially life-changing development for those who suffer from type 1 diabetes, the more serious form of the disease: A vaccine used for decades to treat tuberculosis might not only reduce the need for daily insulin shots but actually reverse the disease itself, reports Bloomberg. Type 1 diabetics need daily injections because their own immune system goes haywire and kills pancreatic cells that produce insulin. The TB vaccine, it turns out, kills those insulin-attacking cells, according to a small-scale study. “These patients have been told their pancreases were dead,” says the chief of Mass General's immunobiology lab. “We can take those people, give them a very low dose twice and see their pancreases kick in and start to make small amounts of insulin.” The first study of the BCG vaccine involved only three patients, but researchers are planning a bigger one that could take up to five years. An estimated 3 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, though the Wall Street Journal reports that more and more patients with type 1 are being misdiagnosed with the more common type 2.

An Alabama high school junior has been charged with manslaughter in a shooting on campus Wednesday afternoon that left a female classmate dead. Michael Jerome Barber, 17, of Birmingham, is also charged with one count of certain persons forbidden to possess a pistol, according to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office. The second charge stems from allegations that Barber brought the pistol that killed Courtlin La’shawn Arrington, also 17, onto the campus of Huffman High School, the DA’s office reported in a news release. Arrington, a senior and aspiring nurse, was pronounced dead at UAB Hospital about 30 minutes after the shooting, which took place around 3:45 p.m. during student dismissal. District Attorney Mike Anderton’s office reported for the first time Friday that the shooting took place in a classroom. “The District Attorney’s Office has examined the investigation of the Birmingham Police Department and the evidence collected by BPD,” Anderton said in a statement. “They have talked with many of the students in the school, in the classroom where the shooting took place and collected evidence from the scene.” Based on that evidence, warrants were issued for Barber’s arrest, Anderton said. “Our hearts go out to the family of Ms. Arrington, all of her friends and those whose lives would have been changed through her nursing dreams had this event not occurred,” Anderton said. “This is a parent’s worst nightmare. We expect the charges will be heard through the court system and justice meted out to the person responsible.” No motive for the shooting has been released. Anderton said on Friday, however, that his office “stands strong with the Huffman High School Vikings, the Birmingham school board and the Birmingham Police Department in denouncing the continued use of firearms by anyone to settle disputes.” “This is especially true for the students of our county, where they should be and feel safe in the learning environment of a school,” Anderton said. It was unclear if there was a dispute between Barber, a junior and wide receiver for the Huffman High Vikings, and Arrington. >> Read more trending news AL.com reported that Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring acknowledged Thursday that Huffman High has two working metal detectors, but that the devices were not in use the day of the shooting. Herring said she has already requested additional metal detectors for the school district. The school also had three school resource officers on campus Wednesday, but their whereabouts when the shots were fired have not been made public, AL.com said. Police investigators initially believed the shooting to possibly have been accidental since Barber was also injured, but they began to question that idea after viewing video recorded of the incident. The source of that video has not been made public. As the investigation progressed, detectives took Barber, who suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg, into custody as a person of interest. Barber, who had been held in the Birmingham City Jail since being released from the hospital, was moved Friday to the Jefferson County Jail, where his bail had been set at $75,300. He was apparently bailed out of the county jail Friday afternoon. A woman named Makiya Barber, who identified herself as Michael Barber’s sister, posted a photo on Facebook that showed him in street clothes, sitting in the backseat of a car. A photo filter put flower crowns on the siblings’ heads as they mugged for the camera. “Out the big ole gate!” Makiya Barber wrote. “Y’all can stop the fake friend request(s) now. God still gotta plan for the kid!” [The social media post was made private after the publication of this article.] In previous posts, Makiya Barber argued that the shooting that killed Arrington was an accident. “And what y'all NOT about to do is make my brother out to be this horrible unparented child,” she wrote in one post. “All the he say, she say ... we have the facts! “Rest in peace, baby girl, and my brother is gonna come out stronger and wiser.” Another post pointed out the fact that detectives have footage of the shooting. “The police have footage and facts, so the countdown to see my brother is on! Mike Mike, I know you hungry!” The post included several hashtags, including one offering prayers for the Arrington family and one that stated, “Everything for a reason.” Arrington, who was due to graduate in two months, had already been accepted into college, where she planned to study nursing. Her Facebook page, which has since been turned into a memorial page, includes an introduction that reads, “SEN18R. Dream come true, gotta chase it. Future RN.” Her last photo that she posted of herself appeared to be taken in the hallway of the school. It was posted the day before she was killed. Her photos also include images of her wearing scrubs. During a news conference held inside the school Wednesday night, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin spoke of the grief of losing a girl with a bright future. “I know that there’s an active investigation going on, but I just want to remind all of us we lost a person today, and not just a person, a student,” Woodfin said. “But I’m quickly reminded this is not just a student, this is someone’s daughter. Someone’s niece. Someone’s best friend. Someone’s granddaughter we lost. “This is a 17-year-old who, 30 days from now, would be 18. A graduating senior who had been accepted into college already, who had aspirations and dreams to be a nurse. So, we’re not just talking about some person. We’re talking about losing a part of our future. And our hearts are heavy.” Herring kept Huffman High closed on Thursday, but the school’s doors reopened to students, faculty and staff Friday. The night of the shooting, she described Arrington as “one of (the district’s) brightest and best scholars.” She told AL.com that Birmingham students will honor Arrington during the National School Walkout next Wednesday. They will stand outside for 18 minutes instead of 17, adding Arrington to the 17 students killed on Valentine’s Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. ||||| Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale has no upper bound, on paper. But in theory, winds from a powerful hurricane could blow the scale out of the water, scientists say. There is no such thing as a Category 6 storm, in part because once winds reach Category 5 status, it doesn't matter what you call it, it's really, really, bad. The scale starts with a Category 1, which ranges from 74 to 95 mph (119 to 153 km/h). A Category 5 storm has winds of 156 mph (251 km/h) or stronger. An extrapolation of the scale suggests that if a Category 6 were created, it would be in the range of 176-196 mph. Hurricane Wilma, in 2005, had top winds of 175 mph (280 km/h). And as of Tuesday morning (Sept. 5, 2017), Hurricane Irma's winds were raging at a whopping 175 mph (280 km/h) as well, with the potential to strengthen, according to the National Hurricane Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Irma is churning about 270 miles (440 kilometers) east of Antigua and 280 miles (445 km) east-southeast of Barbuda, the NHC says. [A History of Destruction: 8 Great Hurricanes] How much faster could hurricane winds blow? A hurricane gains strength by using warm water as fuel. With Earth's climate warming, oceans may grow warmer, too. And so, some scientists predict, hurricanes might become stronger. Particularly, researchers have found the strongest storms should become even more intense as the planet warms, Live Science previously reported. By the end of the 21st century, human-caused global warming will likely increase hurricane intensity, on average, by 2 to 11 percent, according to a review by NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, revised on Aug. 30, 2017. But physics dictates there must be a limit. Based on ocean and atmospheric conditions on Earth nowadays, the estimated maximum potential for hurricanes is about 190 mph (305 km/h), according to a 1998 calculation by Kerry Emanuel, a climatologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This upper limit is not absolute, however. It can change due to changes in climate. Scientists predict that as global warming continues, the maximum potential hurricane intensity will go up. They disagree, however, on what the increase will be. Emanuel and other scientists have predicted that wind speeds — including maximum wind speeds — should increase by about 5 percent for every 1 degree Celsius increase in tropical ocean temperatures. [A Guide to Hurricane Season 2017] Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, disagrees. After Wilma, Landsea said that even in the worst-case global warming scenarios, where global temperatures ratchet up by an additional 1.8 degrees to 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 6 degrees Celsius), there would be about a 5 percent change, total, by the end of the 21st century. That means that hurricane-force winds are unlikely to exceed 200 mph (322 km/h), Landsea said. However, Typhoon Nancy in 1961, in the Northwest Pacific Ocean, was said to have maximum sustained winds of 215 mph (346 km/h), according to the World Meteorological Organization's Commission on Climatology, a clearinghouse for climate records set up at Arizona State University to settle the many disputes on weather and climate extremes. (A typhoon is the same thing as a hurricane, just in a different part of the world.) There are known records for wind speeds that outstrip anything ever measured in a hurricane. The fastest "regular" (or non-storm) wind that's widely agreed upon as the record-holder — 231 mph (372 km/h), recorded at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934. During a tornado in May of 1999 in Oklahoma, researchers clocked the wind at 318 mph (512 km/h). Shortly after Wilma topped out in 2005, Emanuel called the Saffir-Simpson scale irrational, in part, because it deals only with wind, ignoring factors such as a storm's size, rainfall potential and forward speed. For instance, Tropical Storm Harvey, which made landfall in Texas as a hurricane on Aug. 25, 2017, dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on areas of the state, causing devastation in the Houston area. One rain gauge picked up more than 51 inches of rainfall, according to NOAA. "I think the whole category system needs serious rethinking," Emanuel told Live Science after Wilma. But Herbert Saffir, co-creator of the scale, countered that his scale was useful because it was simple. "As simple as it is, I like the scale," Saffir said in a post-Wilma telephone interview. "I don't like to see it too complex." Here's why no Category 6 was included: The scale was designed to measure the amount of damage inflicted by winds, and beyond 156 mph, the damage begins to look about the same, according to Simpson. Editor's Note: This article was first published on Oct. 16, 2012, and then updated in 2017 with more recent hurricane information. ||||| Hurricane Irma has begun to devastate the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean as one of the most intense Atlantic cyclones on record, but whether and where it reaches the United States mainland depends on its speed and interactions with two other weather systems. Irma had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph — the equivalent of an EF-4 tornado — as the eye made its first landfall in the islands of the northeast Caribbean early today, passing over Barbuda around 1:47 a.m., the National Weather Service said. Residents said over local radio that phone lines went down. Heavy rain and howling winds raked the neighboring island of Antigua, sending debris flying as people huddled in their homes or government shelters. Officials warned people to seek protection from Irma's "onslaught" in a statement that closed with: "May God protect us all." Irma, which is churning along a path pointing to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba before possibly heading for Florida over the weekend, is the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record outside of the Gulf of Mexico or Caribbean Sea, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its intensity is on par with those of hurricanes Andrew, Katrina and Rita, and behind only Hurricane Allen in 1980, which had 190 mph winds. The hurricane center called Irma “potentially catastrophic.” Carlos Anselmi, a National Weather Service meteorologist in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said the U.S. territory has not seen a storm of Irma’s magnitude in a century. Phil Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University, said, "The Leeward Islands are going to get destroyed." "I just pray that this thing wobbles and misses them,” he said. “This is a serious storm." Forecasters expect Irma will continue to move northwestward toward the Bahamas and Cuba, and eventually Florida. Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency Monday and urged preparations for the worst. Evacuations from Miami Beach and the Keys were expected to begin Wednesday. National Hurricane Center (National Hurricane Center) Predictions for where the storm might hit the U.S. mainland this weekend remain tentative. Models suggest landfall anywhere from Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico to the Carolinas on the Atlantic Coast. An area of high pressure that covers the Atlantic from Bermuda to the Azores is expected to steer Irma. Such zones have clockwise circulation, so tropical systems are often pulled around them, up the coast. If the so-called “Bermuda high” is expansive and strong, it could push Irma into the Gulf of Mexico or up the Atlantic coast, the Weather Channel noted. A weaker Bermuda high could allow Irma to remain offshore as it curves around the pressure system and into colder Atlantic waters. Irma could be blocked from moving into the Gulf by a separate system that could itself strengthen to a tropical storm in the coming days. “That could kind of act as a wall,” said Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.com. The hurricane center estimates a 70 percent chance the low-pressure area over Mexico’s Bay of Campeche will become Tropical Storm Katia in the next two days. Tropical Storm Jose formed in the middle of the Atlantic on Tuesday, and was expected to become a hurricane Thursday. If Irma does make landfall in Florida, it likely wouldn’t be until Sunday. The National Hurricane Center predicts it will remain a major hurricane until then, potentially making it just the second major storm to strike the U.S. in a dozen years. Hurricane Harvey was the first since Wilma in 2005. "This hurricane has the potential to be a major event for the East Coast,” said Evan Myers, AccuWeather’s chief operating officer. “It also has the potential to significantly strain FEMA and other governmental resources occurring so quickly on the heels of Harvey.” Hurricane-force winds extend 60 miles out in all directions from Irma’s 30-mile-wide eye, making it a large storm that threatens virtually all of Florida. If Irma is going to reach Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic, that wouldn’t be until some time around next Tuesday — a week away. The Associated Press contributed to this article. Photos of weather in Maryland in 2017. sdance@baltsun.com twitter.com/ssdance

– On Tuesday, Hurricane Irma—currently the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded outside the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico—hit wind speeds of 185mph, the Baltimore Sun reports. And scientists are split on whether it's even possible for a hurricane to get much stronger. According to Live Science, warm water makes hurricanes stronger, and warming oceans due to climate change could theoretically create ever-stronger hurricanes. For example, NOAA states human-caused global warming could increase hurricane strength by 2% to 11% by the end of the 21st century. And some scientists say wind speeds will increase by about 5% for every degree Celsius increase in ocean temperature. Others disagree; a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center says hurricane winds are unlikely ever to top 200mph. In 1998, scientists calculated maximum hurricane wind speeds of 190mph based on current environmental conditions. But regardless of how strong their winds can or will get, no hurricane will ever be stronger than a Category 5. That's because the Saffir-Simpson scale has no Category 6. A Category 5 hurricane is one that has wind speeds of 156mph or more. Robert Simpson says he didn't go higher than Category 5 when creating the scale because at that point potential damage is all the same. “At 5 ... you already have catastrophic damage,” Dennis Feltgen at the National Hurricane Center tells WDBO. “It’s done.”

Do we actually want Shakespearean drama, or a simulacrum thereof, in comic-book movies? I think the only reasonable answer is "sort of," and that's exactly what Kenneth Branagh delivers in the massive but middling "Thor," an edge-of-summer tentpole production that delivers the goods, albeit in laborious fashion and at enormous expense. A whole lot of "sort of," dressed up in faintly fascistic regalia. I've got no problem with the continuing viability of the classic Marvel and DC Comics heroes, per se, although it's a little surprising. But their hegemonic control over the many-branched Yggdrasil of pop entertainment is starting to bug me. A movie like "Thor" isn't just trying to be a popcorn flick for teenagers; in an era where "youth culture" reaches deep into middle age, that's not good enough anymore. It has to evoke the Pop Art colors and muscle-bound iconography of 1960s comics its younger viewers have never seen, incorporate a few plausible pop-science theories and suggest a passing familiarity with both the genuine Norse legends behind the Stan Lee-Jack Kirby comics and the design history of fantasy cinema stretching back to "Metropolis." Its cast features a plural number of Oscar winners and an elevated Anglo-drama sheen; even Aussie hunk Chris Hemsworth, whose resemblance to the 'roid-rage Aryan Thunder God is startling, turns out to be a decent actor. It's supposed to have mind-blowing action scenes, a heart-rending father-son story, a compelling love affair and a Cain vs. Abel fraternal standoff. Branagh's "Thor" does most of those things fairly well, in fact, and a few of them better than that. I've never felt sure that Branagh was a natural filmmaker, although he's been doing it for quite a while now, but all his projects, on stage or on screen, have a natural bravado about them that's endearing. It simply wouldn't occur to him to treat a fundamentally goofy movie about a Norse god filtered through half a century's worth of American comic books with condescension, any more than he would treat "Coriolanus" that way. But all the brio and high spirits in the world can't conceal the fact that "Thor" is an archetypal Hollywood-franchise mishmash, an "up-converted" 3-D monstrosity with five credited screenwriters and an unbridled ambition to move us along from one episode of the Marvel-Paramount multiverse to the next, siphoning cash from our pockets along the way. (There's still a "Captain America" movie, God help us, before we get to the grand reunion of "The Avengers.") I never felt swept up in "Thor," or lost sight of the fact that I was watching a prepackaged entertainment product meant to be all things to all people. "Iron Man" this ain't. It'll probably work, or work well enough, despite the fact that Branagh can't direct an action sequence to save his Shakespearean-swordfightin' life and the fact that he begins with a great, gray, greasy lump of expository back story. (On-screen title: "Norway, 956 A.D.") See, before Hemsworth's Thor can arrive on earth to charm the figurative pants off scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) -- their relationship is entirely chaste -- we have to hear all about multiple wars between the gods of Asgard and the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, big blue bruisers led by Colm Feore as the sinister Laufey. There's a thicket of other semi-divine characters too dense to navigate, along with the brutalist CGI architecture of Asgard itself, and how the filmmakers could have spent so much time and money and care on this design and still wound up with something that looks so much like the Albert Speer sketches Hitler jerked off to at night is somewhat mysterious. But the central dynamic of "Thor" is the relationship between the hot-headed, hot-bodied God of Thunder, his fading but imperious father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and second son Loki (British TV and stage actor Tom Hiddleston), the shape-shifting trickster who turns out to be -- oh, that's right, I'm not supposed to tell you. Branagh's completely at home in this kind of inflated family drama, of course, and the three guys yell, sulk and brood in their ridiculous costumes to fine effect. Playing the dying All-Father -- at least in the Marvel Comics version, the Norse gods are not exactly immortal -- sparks Hopkins to his most focused performance in several years, and the slyly enjoyable Hiddleston will not remain unknown on this side of the Atlantic for long. After leading an ill-fated raid on Jotunheim and breaking the precarious peace with the Frost Giants, Thor is stripped of his mighty hammer and banished to earth, and more specifically to the New Mexico desert, where Jane and her professor (ever-enjoyable Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, who doesn't get quite enough to do) are investigating exactly the kind of fringe-physics anomalies that scientists in movies must specialize in. You know: "Could this be the Heisenberg-Kobler conundrum? A hypothetical doorway into another dimension?" Hemsworth is at his best playing Thor as a comic fish out of water, joyously smashing coffee cups on the floor of a diner ("I like this! Bring me another!") or marching into a Main Street pet store and demanding a horse. For all the ass-kicking he administers (and endures), he comes off as a good-natured doofus with an amazing physique. Audiences aren't getting ripped off here: "Thor" has decent to fine acting, superb production values and a feeling of general bonhomie. But they may feel just slightly diminished; you get the feeling that Branagh is moving through the film cheerfully ticking off boxes: Thor kisses Natalie, check. (But no ass-grabbing!) Thor fights a big black dude and then a giant robot, check. Gag involving Thor and modern conveniences, check. Whooshy high-speed journey over the Las Vegas-looking Rainbow Bridge, check. Scene in Asgard with Loki looking duplicitous and Odin looking dead, check. Semi-sinister government men-in-black types who can do nothing with Thor's hammer, check. Little teaser with Samuel L. Jackson, pimping the next Marvel movie, all the way at the end of the closing credits, check. Saying that "Thor" is half-assed would be too mean to everybody involved; it's three-quarter-assed. It'll be a big hit and it's slightly disappointing. Welcome to summer! ||||| Can a blockbuster be momentous and lighthearted at the same time? Thor, Kenneth Branagh's rousing popcorn adventure about the Norse-blond, hammer-wielding god of thunder who made his Marvel Comics debut in 1962, pulls off something I wouldn't have thought possible: It restores the innocence to big-budget superhero mythmaking. Thor, played by the Australian newcomer Chris Hemsworth with a bulked-up swagger, absurdly noble eyes, and a killer grin, is a stud-muffin Viking Hercules who is born to royalty in the realm of Asgard. After crossing his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), in a fit of youthful pique, he gets stripped of his powers and is sent through a wormhole, which crash-lands him in the New Mexico desert. On Earth, Thor is rescued by a team of scientists (led by Natalie Portman and Stellan Skarsgðrd), and he is almost childlike in his ability to cause trouble without trying. He speaks in incongruously formal King's English (''I need sustenance!''). Yet the movie, though it's often a very funny god-out-of-water origin comedy, has a stirring emotional core as well. It keeps returning to Asgard, where Branagh stages the political-familial infighting — centered on Thor's treacherous brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) — like an intergalactic Gladiator. The director also proves an unexpected maestro of digital effects (a crystal bridge, a race of scaly blue gargoyles who can turn anyone they touch into ice). On our planet, the film doesn't have much of a plot: Thor must retrieve his weighty hammer (the focus of a government security crackdown), and he does battle with a grand, fire-shooting metal monster. Yet Thor turns its hero's confusion — about who he is, where he belongs, and why he has these..feelings for Portman's feisty Jane Foster — into touchingly overscaled coming-of-age kicks. It's not art, but it's mighty fun. A–

– Critics are mostly quite pleased with Thor, the new Marvel superhero flick about a Norse god fallen to Earth, directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film currently sports an 81% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though its positive reviews seem to be more three-star than four-star. Here's a taste of what they're saying: Thor “pulls off something I wouldn’t have thought possible: It restores the innocence to big-budget superhero mythmaking,” writes Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. “The movie, though it’s often a very funny god-out-of-water origin comedy, has a stirring emotional core.” Girlfriends will enjoy this one too, writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone: “Thor, for all its digital sound and 3D fury, is a guy movie unafraid of showing its feminine side.” When romance gives way to fighting, Branagh displays “a class-act grasp of how action works best when it defines character instead of obliterating it.” Andrew O’Hehir of Salon, however, wasn’t totally won over. “Audiences aren’t getting ripped off here,” he writes, but the movie is slightly disappointing. “Saying that Thor is half-assed would be too mean to everybody involved; it's three-quarter-assed.” But that’s kind compared to AO Scott's reaction. “As I stumbled out of the IMAX … I thought of seeking shelter: in a nearby bar; under a passing bus; in the velvet shadows of an art house,” he writes in the New York Times. It's so soul-crushing because “nothing, at the level of execution, really has gone wrong.” The movie set out for “absolute and unbroken mediocrity,” and achieved it. “And that is depressing.”

For a day at least, Arnold Schwarzenegger could forget about his messy divorce and bask in the adulation of a sympathetic crowd. During heavy rainfalls , former Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger waits during an inauguration ceremony of the Arnold Schwarzenegger museum in the house where he was born in Thal near Graz, Austria,... (Associated Press) Austrians in traditional clothes pass a sculpture of Austrian-born actor and former Californian governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger during the inauguration of a museum in the house of Schwarzenegger's birth... (Associated Press) Austrian-born actor and former Californian governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, is welcomed by Austrian chancellor Werner Faymann, left, while German actor Ralf Moeller, center, applauds prior to the... (Associated Press) In this picture taken Thursday Oct. 6, 2011 Austrian born actor and former Californian governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, drinks a glas of wine during a stroll through Graz, Austria. Schwarzenegger came... (Associated Press) In this photo taken Thursday evening Oct. 6, 2011 Austrian-born actor and former Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger , left, and his son Patrick sit in a coffee bar in Graz, Austria . Schwarzenegger... (Associated Press) Austrian-born actor and former Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is surrounded by journalists prior to an inauguration ceremony of the Arnold Schwarzenegger museum in the house where he was... (Associated Press) Former Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger looks out of a window during an inauguration ceremony of the Arnold Schwarzenegger museum in the house where he was born in Thal near Graz, Austria, on... (Associated Press) As an oom-pah band played, the action star-turned-politician inaugurated a museum dedicated to him in his native Austria, setting off cheers Friday as he pulled a string to unveil a bronze statue of a young Arnie flexing in the skintight trunks of his Mr. Universe days. It's a far cry from the kind of reception he's getting in the United States. Schwarzenegger is under fire back home since acknowledging this year that he fathered a child with a woman who worked as his family's housekeeper. The revelation led Maria Shriver, his wife of 25 years, to file for divorce. He's now in the headlines these days more for his personal problems than his professional exploits as body builder, Hollywood star and California governor. There was little criticism Friday, however, as he returned to the village of Thal, near the southern city Graz, to formally open the Schwarzenegger museum in the more than two-century-old house of his birth. In words and actions, it was clear that Austria's most famous living son preferred to dwell on the accomplishments of the past rather than deal with the painful present _ and that his adoring fans were ready to play the game. Those close enough to see him among the hundreds who braved driving rain and an autumn chill cheered and whistled in appreciation as he uncovered the 2 1/2 meter (8-foot) Schwarzenegger bronze, set up close to the museum entrance. The statue is one of seven commissioned by Schwarzenegger this year and cast by an Oregon company, perhaps a prelude to plans for similar sites elsewhere. Even if some in the crowd knew that the Schwarzenegger likeness was not unique, they didn't seem to care. Bodyguards had to pry a path through people holding an umbrella in one hand and trying to touch their idol with the other, cheering and calling out "Arnie," as he passed by. The museum also avoids reference to Schwarzenegger's out-of-wedlock child and his pending divorce, with displays that end at his terms as California governor. Open since July, it is a repository of items that include his first barbell, photos of a young Arnie with his parents and siblings, the metal bed that he slept on as a youth, several life-size "Terminator" models and the polished dark wooden desk he sat behind while California's governor. In an inaugural speech, Schwarzenegger made only passing reference to the unwelcome media attention focused on him back home because of his affair and its subsequent complications, urging young people seeking success to view him as a role model. It was a message that would likely have flopped in the United States because of the unflattering publicity in the wake of his affair. But it worked in Thal. His Austrian fans, some soaking after standing in the rain for four hours to get a glimpse of their hero, applauded eagerly as an oom-pah band bedecked in local Styrian garb played its dying chords and Schwarzenegger began to speak. Shielded by an umbrella, Schwarzenegger invoked the title of one of his early films, telling young people in his audience that anything was possible as long as they "stay hungry." He said he wishes that every person who visits the museum "understands that everyone can be successful in his own way." "My personal success has less to do with millions of dollars or with the headlines in the media that are not always positive and also not with being clapped on the shoulder by Barack Obama and other world names," he said. "Personal success is the result of determination, hard work and stubbornness. "For me, this is not only a museum," he added, gesturing to the yellow-stuccoed house behind him. "It is also a symbol of will ... everyone has a chance." With Schwarzenegger was Patrick, one of his sons from his marriage with Shriver, and in fleeting reference to happier times, Schwarzenegger described "the wedding with Maria" as one of the days "that I remember with great fondness." Even before his private life came up for criticism, however, Schwarzenegger's cult status in Austria took some knocks because of his support of the Iraq war and the death penalty as California's governor. Criticism grew after he refused to pardon two convicted murderers in a row in 2005. He was so upset by the disapproval that he sent back the ring of honor he received from Graz _ the Austrian city where he spent his youth _ and demanded officials strip his name from the city's soccer stadium. Since then, the mood has swung back to adulation _ and Friday's speeches reflected that. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, who opened the ceremonies, described Schwarzenegger as "one Austrian known by everyone in the world," adding: "We as Austrians are proud of you." But not all in the crowd were totally uncritical. "We Austrians are proud of him and what he accomplished," said Gottfried Karner, from the Upper Austrian city of Steyr. "But there are certain things he did that one does not agree with." ___ George Jahn can be reached under: http://twitter.com/georgejahn

– Arnold Schwarzenegger may be tabloid fodder in the US, but he's still a hometown hero in Thal, Austria. He unveiled a hulking statue of himself there today outside the home where he was born, which is now a museum dedicated to all things Arnold, reports the Telegraph. "For me, this is not only a museum," he said, according to the AP. "It is also a symbol of will ... everyone has a chance." Can't get to Austria? Don't worry, there's plenty more statues on the way elsewhere.

(CNN) "I hate that beaner," one text reads, "but I think the nig is worse." "Indian ppl are disgusting," proclaims another. "Burn down walgreens and kill the bums," a third message states. These and other racist and homophobic text messages were allegedly sent by a San Francisco police officer at the center of an ongoing scandal that is the most recent disturbing revelation for the beleaguered San Francisco Police Department. CNN has exclusively obtained a list of dozens of offensive texts sent to and from Officer Jason Lai. The content has not been previously disclosed. The list is not a full history of his texts. Lai resigned from the department this month, according to a police spokesman. Don Nobles, Lai's attorney, said the texts were "not reflective of who he is" and that "there is no evidence he carried out any of those sentiments as an officer." "He was well-liked and well-loved on his beat," he said of the six-year-veteran. The texts were seized from Officer Jason Lai's personal phone. He's resigned from the department. Second scandal in as many years Nobles said the texts were seized from Lai's personal phone and had been exchanged with some of his closest friends on the police force as well as with people he had befriended on his beat. "It's hard to say any of those things in context," the lawyer said, "but there is context to it." It marks the second time in as many years the department has been the subject of a racist texting scandal and could undermine Chief Greg Suhr's assertion that the problem is limited to a relative handful of officers and not part a broader cultural problem within the ranks, as critics contend. At a press conference Tuesday, an emotional Suhr said reading the text messages sent by Lai and other SFPD officers "literally makes me sick to my stomach." "I apologize to the public," he said. "We are better than this." Suhr said texts sent by three other officers implicated in the scandal were "no less reprehensible" than those sent by Lai and detailed in a CNN report published Tuesday. The chief reiterated he has "no tolerance for officers who hold such reprehensible views." "The message is clear to both the officers in the department and the public: We will not have this in the San Francisco Police Department," he said. "The culture of this police department is, you demonstrate yourself to be a racist and a homophobe, and you're not going to be a police officer in San Francisco." By years end, the chief said, he plans to have the entire department undergo "bias training" to help ensure every officer understands and embraces that message. "I have already taken that training as has the entire command staff," he said. Asked by a reporter whether he planned to step down, Suhr replied: "I don't have any plans to resign. I plan to move the department forward in the fashion I'm discussing with you right now." Lai allegedly sent dozens of racist and homophobic texts. Texts reference President Obama, LeBron James In addition to disparaging blacks, Hispanics and Indians, Lai used coded language to talk about gay officers, according to a source, and made a blanket statement impugning residents of the city's largely minority and low-income Tenderloin district. "They're all drug dealers in the TL," his text stated. The officer also referred to a draft of an official incident report as "a story I wrote today." The messages, sent in 2014 and 2015, were discovered as part of a police department probe into a sexual assault allegation against Lai by a woman last year. Prosecutors declined to file rape charges in the case, citing insufficient evidence. Lai has since been charged with multiple misdemeanor counts of illegally accessing Department of Motor Vehicles computers for a nonofficial purpose. He is scheduled to be arraigned May 3. Prosecutors recently turned over the text messages to the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, which is representing a defendant in a case in which Lai was involved. Evidence of biased attitudes could be used to undermine the officer's credibility and result in cases being dismissed. San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi provided the texts to CNN at the request of reporters. In the messages, Lai makes a disparaging joke about President Barack Obama and says he hates basketball player LeBron James. "F--- that nig," he says. Such language could add to ongoing tension between the police and members of San Francisco's African-American community, some of whom have called for Suhr to resign in the wake of the controversial police killing of a black man armed with a knife in December. The shooting remains under investigation. Lai, whom his attorney identified as Chinese, makes several references to "hock gwai," apparently a misspelled reference to the Cantonese "hak gwai," a derogatory phrase for African-Americans. In a series of texts sent in June he describes an incident involving a "bunch of hock gwais shooting each other." "Sprained my ankle over these barbarians," he says. One of the suspects "went to the hospital after he got shot lol," the officer texted. "Too bad none of them died," he added. "One less to worry about." The texts disparaged against blacks, Hispanics, Indians, gays and poor people. More than one officer involved In another exchange referring to African-Americans, Lai wrote: "They're like a pack (of) wild animals on the loose." The exchange happened during a night of civil unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray last year. Gray, an African-American, died after suffering head and neck injuries in the back of a police van. Lai used coded language to describe an encounter with a sergeant at the department's Taraval Station. "Passive aggressive 528," he wrote, using the numeric code for a fire call. The number is used to describe gay officers as "flames or flaming," according to the source. The names of most of the people trading texts with Lai are blacked out or listed as "unknown" in the documents that CNN obtained. At least two exchanges appear to involve one or more police officers. In one, Lai and a fellow texter discuss running into one another at a police station and dealing with a "528" sergeant. In another, a person texting Lai described being in an "on-duty" accident that occurred in 2015. "Some dumb Asian chick driving for Uber didn't look and changed lanes right into my car," the texter said. Three of four officers implicated in the texting scandal with Lai are no longer with the department, said Officer Albie Esparza, a police spokesman. A fourth officer is facing disciplinary charges, Esparza said. "We're going to be better served without them," Suhr said. Texts discovered by accident The San Francisco Police Department's first texting scandal occurred last year when a federal prosecutor filed court papers detailing racist and homophobic texts made by former Sgt. Ian Furminger, one of three officers convicted of stealing money and drugs from residents of low-rent Tenderloin hotels. The texts were made public in support of a motion to put Furminger in jail in advance of his then-impending prison sentence. They were discovered as part of a federal corruption probe into the officers. Fourteen officers, including a captain, were implicated in sending or receiving such texts. Suhr attempted to fire eight of those officers, but was barred from doing so after a judge determined he waited too long to initiate disciplinary proceedings. The city has appealed the judge's decision. Adachi, the public defender, whose office released hotel surveillance footage of Furminger and other officers' alleged crimes on YouTube, prompting the federal investigation, noted that text messages discovered in that case -- and in Lai's -- were discovered by accident. Adachi said it made him wonder what other police officers are texting that hasn't come to light because they haven't been accused of a crime. "What are the chances of two officers being arrested ... and there's racists texts on (their phones)?" he asked. "I don't know what the odds would be in Vegas." Singled-out officer 'extremely hurt' Yulanda Williams, an African-American sergeant who was singled out by name and called a racial slur in the first texting scandal, said she was "extremely hurt" by what happened. "It made me wonder what must I do as a black woman to prove that I'm worthy of wearing the same blue uniform" as her fellow officers, she said. Williams, president of a minority police officers' association called Officers for Justice, said she was concerned for others as well. "I was also concerned that it could hinder our ability to be able to hire officers of color when they see and hear of others being treated that way," she told CNN in a recent interview. Without revealing the contents of the texts, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced last month that a new round of racist and homophobic messages had been discovered as part of the sexual assault probe of Lai. The first texting scandal prompted a review of some 1,600 cases for evidence of biased policing by the 14 officers implicated, Gascon said. Ultimately, 13 cases were dismissed due to concerns about the officers. 'A good old boys network' The current texting investigation stemming from Lai's case involves several other officers, including a lieutenant. It could result in hundreds of more cases being reviewed, Gascon said. Like Adachi, Gascon stressed the accidental nature of the discovery of the texts in both cases. He also accused the police department of being slow to address the problem in both instances. In an interview with CNN last week, Gascon said he has concluded two things about the police department he once ran. "No. 1: There's a substantial number of people within the organization that are racist," he said. "And No. 2: There's a culture that has allowed those people to thrive and survive and even promote within that environment." Suhr said he did not want to "get into it" with Gascon, whom he succeeded as chief, but he noted that "every one of these officers I've contended with were there when he was the chief of police." Gascon likened the leadership of the department's union to police in Alabama and Mississippi in the 1950s. "They would probably feel right at home," he said. "It's a good old boys network that does everything they can to protect the status quo." Martin Halloran, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, did not return a call or email seeking comment. Gascon, who in addition to serving as the San Francisco police chief for more than a year, spent most of his career at the Los Angeles Police Department, which has seen its own share of scandal. Even after decades in law enforcement, Gascon said, he was stunned by the contents of the text messages he's read. "I never in a million years would have dreamt that those kind of conversations would go on between San Francisco police officers," he said. He said officers should not be allowed to engage in such talk, even in private. "I would say OK if you're a plumber, if you're a carpenter," he said. "But if you're somebody that actually gets to put people in jail or in worst-case conditions actually take somebody's life from them, and do so lawfully, you don't get to be a racist." Adachi, the public defender, said he was concerned that a perceived lack of accountability could lead officers to believe there are no consequences for misconduct in the department. Attorney: Don't read too much into texts But First Amendment attorney Marc Randazza said Lai's texts don't prove he was unworthy of the badge. "What matters is what he does while on the force. I am not interested in policing his private conversations with his friends," said Randazza, who was not directly involved in Lai's case. "If he shows bias in his work, then we have a problem. I am not comfortable with the concept of 'thought crime.' " Randazza said a probe into anyone's personal cell phone will likely reveal unsavory texts that would make them look bad if publicized. "Everybody who's sitting there cheering, 'Yeah, we got to expose a racist,' I want to see their text messages," he said. 'R U READING THIS IA?' Lai sent some of his texts after the first scandal had made headlines. He discussed what investigators would be able to find with a search warrant and suggested that deleting an app could cover his tracks. At one point he made what appeared to be a joking reference to being the subject of an internal affairs investigation. "R U READING THIS IA?" he texted. Then, in August 2015, as investigators obtained search warrants in pursuit of the sexual assault investigation, Lai sent this message to an unknown recipient: "This is my drop phone," Lai wrote, borrowing a term drug dealers used to describe disposable phones for conducting illicit business. "Don't contact me or answer any calls/texts from my normal cell until further," the text said. ||||| San Francisco officer arrested for accessing private records SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco Police officer has been arrested and charged with illegally accessing criminal and driving records. San Francisco Police announced Wednesday that officer Jason Lai was charged with six misdemeanor counts and placed on unpaid administrative leave. Lai was originally the focus of a sexual assault investigation after a woman he dated while off duty accused him of raping her last summer. The district attorney declined to file rape charges citing a lack of evidence, but investigators believe Lai illegally accessed records. Lai's lawyer Don Noble declined comment. A former colleague who is no longer with the department is under investigation for interfering with the investigation, police said.

– An ex-San Francisco cop described by his attorney as "well loved on his beat" is at the center of a text-messaging scandal over offensive texts sent to and from his personal phone, per documents obtained by CNN. The texts, exchanged in 2014 and 2015 between Jason Lai and friends on the force, as well as people he met through work, were uncovered during an investigation into a rape accusation against Lai by a woman he dated, reports the AP. The texts denigrate African-Americans, Hispanics, Indians, gay cops, residents in one of the city's poorer districts—even President Obama and LeBron James. "F--- that n--," one of Lai's texts says of the NBA star. Another reads, "Indian ppl are disgusting," while multiple texts from Lai, whose attorney IDs him as Chinese, refer to "hock gwais," an apparent misspelling of a Cantonese slur for black people. The texts add a troublesome layer to what some have said is a broader racism issue within the SFPD, despite Chief Greg Suhr insisting the problems are limited to a few bad apples. A texting scandal also slammed the department last year, with ex-Sgt. Ian Furminger accused of sending similarly offensive texts. The chief says that he's trying to get the department to a "better place" and that he takes "swift and severe" action against bias, while the attorney for Lai, who resigned earlier in April, says the texts are "not reflective of who [Lai] is" and that "there is context to it." But city DA George Gascon, who served as the SFPD chief from 2009 to 2011, tells CNN the department has "a culture that has allowed those people to thrive and survive and even promote." (An AT&T exec was fired for racist texts.)

Chris Christie and John Kasich are in. Rick Perry is out. And Donald Trump will be center stage. The jockeying to win a ticket to the first Republican presidential debate in Cleveland ended Tuesday afternoon, when Fox News announced the roster of 10 candidates who will be on the stage Thursday evening. Story Continued Below The candidates, drawn from an average of the five most recent national polls, ranked from first to 10th: Trump, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Christie and Kasich. Perry, the former governor of Texas whose performance in the debates four years ago helped doom his campaign, finished in 11th place, eight-tenths of a point behind Kasich. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore and former New York Gov. George Pataki are farther behind. The top 10 candidates will debate in a two-hour event at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday. The also-rans will be invited to appear at a separate, one-hour debate, which airs at 5 p.m. Eastern. Much about the debate criteria remained unclear right up until the 5 p.m. deadline Fox News set back in May. The network hadn’t revealed precisely which polls would be used to calculate its average. And when the network unveiled its criteria, it also raised the possibility of expanding beyond 10 participants in the event of a tie. Ultimately, the most controversial decision Fox News made in choosing the polls that would be used was dismissing an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted from July 26-30 and using a Quinnipiac University survey conducted July 23-28. The change would not have altered the composition of the top 10, however. Fox said it dismissed the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll “because it did not meet our criterion that the poll read the names of each Republican candidate in the vote question.” Interviewers instead read the name of each candidate and asked respondents if they had a positive or negative opinion of that candidate. Following that battery of questions, respondents were asked which candidate they would favor, given a choice of 10 candidates (the 10 who made the final cut, except substituting Perry for Kasich), “or would you vote for one of the other candidates that were mentioned in the previous question?” Fox News’ decision to limit the field has shaped much of the race on the Republican side in recent weeks. Super PACs and other groups supporting Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Christie and Perry spent more than $4 million combined on national cable television advertising in an effort to boost the candidates’ name recognition. The candidates themselves eschewed trips to Iowa and New Hampshire for appearances on Fox News and other television networks. Some candidates sought other ways to earn free media coverage, either with funny, viral Internet videos or by attacking Trump, who has dominated headlines since declaring his candidacy in June. Kasich timed the declaration of his candidacy almost perfectly, using a post-announcement bounce to vault into the top 10. The Ohio governor staged his announcement rally on July 21, two days before the first of the decisive polls entered the field — the Quinnipiac survey, which showed Kasich at 5 percent, his high-water mark. By qualifying for the debate, Kasich avoids the embarrassment of being sidelined in his home state. But the 5 p.m. forum will also have a number of accomplished candidates: the former governors of three big states (Texas, Virginia and New York), a sitting senator, a former senator and a former Fortune 500 CEO who is also the field’s only female candidate. Some of the also-rans accepted the assignment in stride. Santorum was alone in taking aim at Fox News — and the Republican National Committee — for relegating him to the earlier debate. “The senator will be taking part in the earlier debate; however, the process employed by both Fox News and the RNC is incredibly flawed,” said Santorum spokesman Matthew Beynon. “The idea that they have left out the runner-up for the 2012 nomination, the former … governor of Texas, the governor of Louisiana, the first female Fortune [500] CEO, and the three-term senator from South Carolina due to polling seven months before a single vote is cast is preposterous. While Fox is taking a lot of heat, the RNC deserves as much blame for sanctioning this process. They should not be picking winners and losers. That’s the job of the voters, particularly those in Iowa and New Hampshire who have the role of voting first.” Jindal will also attend the earlier debate, but his campaign made clear that it is focused on Iowa. “The crowds are growing and the governor is rising in the Iowa polls,” said Jindal spokeswoman Shannon Dirmann. “That’s where our time will be spent.” Dylan Byers and Katie Glueck contributed to this report. ||||| That's according to a new study out with some interesting findings: Trump dominates the conversation in social media and traditional news sources. He's done little to leverage that into support. "Trump is making a lot of noise, but he's not necessarily doing the work" that would be needed "to turn that share of voice into actual votes," said Lara Brown, associate professor at George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, a co-author of the study. Hillary Rodham Clinton is a pro on social media, using it to bring in supporters. And perhaps most surprising at all, at least for those of us inside newsrooms: The public is even more focused than the media are on Trump. Details on the study from The Times' David Lauter:

– Fox has announced the 10 candidates who have qualified for Thursday's prime-time debate, and it's bad new for Rick Perry and some other familiar names, reports the Los Angeles Times. Fox averaged five recent polls, and Perry finished eight-tenths of a point behind No. 10 John Kasich, notes Politico. Those in: Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, and John Kasich. Those out: Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Jim Gilmore, and George Pataki.

The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds) The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public. ||||| Loveland theater accidentally starts R-rated movie in place of kids' flick This image released by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies shows characters, from left, Squidward Tentacles, SpongeBob SquarePants, Sandy Cheeks, and Mr. Krabs in a scene from "The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water." ( Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies via Associated Press ) WATCH DPTV: Molly Hughes with today's top stories "SpongeBob GreyPants." Or maybe "Fifty Shades of SpongeBob." Joe Jaramillo of Johnstown sat in the MetroLux 14 theater Monday morning with his granddaughter waiting for "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water" film to start. He noticed that the previews all seemed to have a romantic flavor but didn't think much of it until the movie started and the words "Fifty Shades of Grey" appeared on screen. "People ran out of there," Jaramillo said with a laugh. "You could hear little kids going, 'SpongeBob! SpongeBob!' as the parents were dragging them out." He said after a few seconds, the screen abruptly went blank. Then new trailers started rolling, this time with children's themes. While "SpongeBob SquarePants" is about an underwater sea creature and all his silly antics, "Fifty Shades of Grey" is an R-rated erotic romance movie based on a book by the same name. Jaramillo said he was thankful that from what he has heard, the adult themes in "Fifty Shades" don't begin until later in the movie. "What was interesting is they have the policy you can't take a kid into an R-rated movie," Jaramillo said. "Some of the trailers were coming up R-rated." David Corwin, president of Metropolitan Theatres, said that there was a chip problem with the server and somehow the wrong movie started playing. Advertisement "It stopped pretty quickly. Someone came out to tell the staff and they stopped it," Corwin said. "Fortunately, the beginning (of 'Fifty Shades') is pretty scenic. It was obviously not intended." He said that both movies are played in that auditorium at different times; "SpongeBob" during the day and "50 Shades" at night, which means the films are on the same computer server. Digital theaters project digital files onto a screen, unlike older film projectors. Corwin added that the theater managers handle every situation differently. In this case, no free passes were issued because the situation was resolved quickly and without undue harm to the children. Jessica Benes: 970-669-5050 ext. 530, jbenes@reporter-herald.com or twitter.com/jessicabenes

– Human beings can only see around 30 shades of gray, according to a bit of trivia Popular Science says it found in a research paper and has decided to share "for no particular reason whatsoever." The exact number of shades of gray we can distinguish will vary a little depending on things like lighting conditions, the magazine says. Meanwhile, in Fifty Shades of Grey news, a theater in Loveland, Colo., accidentally showed the beginning of the erotic thriller to an audience expecting the SpongeBob SquarePants movie earlier this week. "People ran out of there," a moviegoer tells the Denver Post. "You could hear little kids going, 'SpongeBob! SpongeBob!' as the parents were dragging them out."

A baby koala has been found in a woman's backpack after police in Australia arrested her during a routine traffic stop. Officers were searching the suspect and asked if she had anything to declare. The woman handed over a zipped green canvas bag and said it had a joey inside it that she'd found. She claimed she was looking after it. The baby koala, thought to be about six months old, was taken to a police station in Brisbane to be looked after. It'll then be given to an official carer. "He's been on fluids but is doing well and will shortly be going out to a carer," said RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty. "He weighs 1.5kg and we've called him Alfred." The RSPCA in Queensland, where the animal was found, says anyone who finds a koala shouldn't try to hold it. "Please call our animal emergency hotline on 1300 ANIMAL," said Michael Beatty. "Often the animal may have no obvious signs of injury but it can have internal injuries that need immediate attention." An RSPCA ambulance was called to the Brisbane City Watch house to collect the joey - which is protected under Australia's Nature Conservation Act. The 50-year-old woman arrested by police in Wishart, Brisbane, with the koala was arrested "on outstanding matters". Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat ||||| A woman taken into custody by Queensland police has stunned officers by handing over a baby koala she had been secretly carrying inside a zipped canvas bag. The East Brisbane woman, 50, was asked if she had anything to declare after her arrest on unrelated matters by officers on patrol in the city’s south on Sunday night. She produced the bag, saying it contained a joey. Face oddity: 'David Bowie of koalas' rescued by Australia Zoo staff Read more “Not quite believing their ears, the officers cautiously unzipped the bag and found this gorgeous boy,” police said in a media statement. “There are many firsts in our job and last night was one of those for officers from the Upper Mount Gravatt tactical crime squad.” The woman’s claims that she was caring for the joey after finding it on a main road in the southern Brisbane suburb of Nathan the previous evening were being examined, police said. Koalas are protected under Queensland’s Nature Conservation Act and cannot be held as pets but the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection gives members of the public 72 hours to hand in wildlife species they find. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alfred is believed to be about six months old. He was slightly dehydrated but otherwise in good health. Photograph: Robyn Taylor-Ward/AFP/Getty Images The woman and koala were taken to the Brisbane city watch house, where the RSPCA took the joey into its care. The 1.5kg koala, believed to be about six months old and slightly dehydrated but otherwise in good health, has been named Alfred, an RSPCA Queensland spokesman said. “He’s been on fluids but is doing well and will shortly be going out to a carer,” Michael Beatty said.

– A woman was arrested "on outstanding matters" during a traffic stop in Brisbane on Sunday with a rather cute companion. Asked if she had anything to declare, the 50-year-old woman handed officers a canvas backpack, claiming a baby koala was inside, reports the BBC. "Not quite believing their ears, the officers cautiously unzipped the bag and found this gorgeous boy," police say, per the Guardian. The woman told police she had found the joey on a road in a Brisbane suburb on Saturday and was looking after it. Koalas, however, are protected in Australia and can't be kept as pets; anyone who finds one has 72 hours to give it to the proper officials. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has taken custody of the 6-month-old joey, now dubbed Alfred, who "will shortly be going out to a carer," a rep says. The koala, a little over 3 pounds, was slightly dehydrated but is otherwise in good health. "He's been on fluids but is doing well," the rep says. Police are investigating the woman's story and have not yet pressed charges related to the joey.

Family and friends are stepping up efforts to find a 29-year-old man who went missing a week ago while working as a rideshare driver near downtown Los Angeles. Vikki Vargas reports for the NBC4 News at 11 on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Published Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018) Family and friends Sunday stepped up efforts to find a 29-year-old man who went missing a week ago while working as a rideshare driver near downtown Los Angeles. Joshua Thiede was last seen driving a black 2014 Nissan Altima in the 1000 block of Wilshire Boulevard at 11 a.m. last Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The car has a California license plate, 7CSD450, police said. His friends returned to the area Sunday to pass out fliers and look for clues. Thiede worked as a driver for both Uber and Lyft to earn extra money while planning a line of organic shoes, relatives explained on Facebook. They said his last fare was a 15 minute trip for Lyft on Sunday, Feb. 11. 29-Year-Old Ride-Share Driver Still Missing Friends are still searching for 29-year-old Joshua Thiede who went missing a week ago. Jane Yamamoto reports for the NBC4 News at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Published Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018) Yokeena Jamar, Thiede's close friend, said Lyft has not given them any information about the last passenger Thiede may have driven. His mother, Janet Thiede, said her son, or someone using his phone, made a 911 call at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 12, but hung up without saying anything. The phone was later traced to Venice Boulevard and Burlington Avenue, but is no longer active. Kevin Young, another of Thiede's friends, said he hasn't heard from him since receiving a text message last Sunday, Feb. 11. "The last message I got from him was him saying he was sick with the flu, so he couldn't get together over the weekend," Young said. Thiede is white, with brown hair and blue eyes, police said. He stands about 6-feet tall and weighs about 170 pounds. Anyone with information on his whereabouts was asked to call the LAPD's Missing Persons unit at (213) 996-1800 or (877) 527-3247 or 911. Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS. ||||| LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A local Lyft and Uber driver from the Westlake District appears to have vanished without a trace. Friends and family have not heard or seen Joshua Thiede for nearly a week. The 29 –year-old was last seen on Wilshire Boulevard just north of the 110 Freeway in the area where he resides last Monday. Originally from Ohio, Thiede moved to Los Angeles to start a business and had been driving for Uber and Lyft to help make ends meet. Thiede’s mother says his last phone call was to 911 last Monday around 11 a.m., but the call disconnected before a dispatcher picked up. No one has heard from Thiede since and all of his social media accounts have been deleted. CBS2’s Greg Mills spoke to Thiede;s friends and family and they said they are hoping that someone has seen him. “We’re really getting concerned now,” said Kevin Young, a friend. “Right now a week has gone by.” Today, friends like Yokeena Jamar, handed out flyers at Burlington and Venice to help raise awareness. “We’re all extremely concerned,” she said. A homeowner told Mills he believe he saw Thiede’s car parked in front of his home. “I drive out,” says Danny Perez, “I notice the car. I notice it but didn’t pay attention to what it was.” He says it was parked there for “a couple of days.” Authorities said Thiede’s 2014 black Nissan Altima is also missing. The vehicle has the California license plate of 7CSD450. Anyone with information is urged to call the LAPD’s missing persons division. ||||| 7:35 p.m.: This article was updated with new information from Janet Thiede, the mother of the missing man. This article was originally posted at 6:30 p.m.

– A Los Angeles driver for Uber and Lyft has been missing for days and police have asked the public for help. Joshua Thiede was last seen Feb. 11 in Los Angeles, the LA Times reports. The 29-year-old's mother, Janet Thiede, said phone records show that somebody called 911 from her son's phone on Feb. 12, but the call was disconnected before the dispatcher picked up, reports CBS Los Angeles. The phone is no longer active, per NBC Los Angeles. Janet Thiede says her son, an Ohio native, has been driving for the ride services while working on a business plan to sell organic shoes. His car also is missing, and friends were passing out fliers Sunday hoping for leads on his whereabouts.

On a day when Brian Grazer, Michael DeLuca, Mark Johnson, Cean Chaffin and others discussed passion projects, "Battleship" director Peter Berg says his "underperforming" film was too big and impersonal "Battleship," the high-concept but underperforming action film released by Universal earlier this year, made a surprise appearance in discussions about risky movies and passion projects at the Produced By Conference on Sunday morning. Peter Berg, the director of that film, was taking part in a discussion entitled "Passion Projects: Making Films Everyone Says Will Never Get Made" when he addressed the elephant in the room: that his last film, based on the board game, was the kind of movie generally seen as the antithesis of a passion project. "I have a movie in theaters right now which has obviously underperformed in many ways," he said. "When [a movie] doesn't work, it's an … interesting opportunity to look at what went wrong and how it went wrong." Also read: Christopher Nolan Says Digital Is All About Money, Not Quality With "Battleship," he said, the scale of the movie simply overwhelmed everything else. "It was a movie that I tried as hard as I could to get inside of. But the concept is so big and powerful, and the money is so big and so powerful, that the movie is going to run away with itself." In the end, he said, he failed to find a personal connection that would make him passionate about the movie. "I want to get inside the movie's world and feel like I know it better than anyone, and I couldn't do that … It was an interesting eye-opener." His comments about "Battleship" came on a morning when a couple of the biggest panels at the Producers Guild's Produced By Conference dealt with the problems of getting risky movies made in an increasingly conservative studio system. Also read: Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns: 'We Don't Want to Be The New Major' Grazer shared his story about launching "Splash" in the face of a competing mermaid movie that would have starred Warren Beatty and Jessica Lange, and about reviving "American Gangster," which Universal killed after already spending $28 million. The studio told him to never mention the words "American Gangster" again, he said – but he ignored them and immediately repackaged the Denzel Washington film with a new director, Ridley Scott, and co-star, Russell Crowe, in place of original players Antoine Fuqua and Benicio del Toro. Also read: Shonda Rhimes, Bill Lawrence, Nigel Lythgoe: Our Worst Pitches Led to Hit Shows Grazer and Berg also talked about their experiences together making "Friday Night Lights," and about the night Berg tried to get the studio excited about making the film by flying a batch of executives to Odessa, Texas for a Friday night high-school football game. None of them wanted to go, he said – but they reluctantly agreed while stipulating that they'd leave at halftime. Instead, they stayed until the end and fell in love with the world of high-school football. Then, on the way home, the engines failed and the power went out on their airplane. "I was like, 'Fuck!'" said Berg. "I knew I had the green light, and instead we were going to crash." But the power came back on, they made it home "and by the time we got off that plane, we had had the communal experience that ignited the particular passion necessary to get that movie made." Earlier on the same soundstage on the Sony lot, another group of producers spent an hour talking about their own passion projects, and about the future of film production in an era where, as moderator Michael Shamberg pointed out, the annual chart of top-grossers is dominated by sequels and nearly 70 percent of box-office revenue comes from international. "The audience is causing the change," said Ceán Chaffin, director David Fincher's producing partner. "The audience that we want [for serious dramas] is harder and harder to find." "We have to be more inventive and resourceful than we ever had to in the past," added Mark Johnson, who began his career with "Diner" 30 years ago. The session was titled "Game Changers: Where Movies Should Be Going," but most of the producers admitted that they don't really know where movies should be going – they just know that it's difficult to make quality films and difficult to find an audience. "The most elusive thing is always good," said Doug Wick, producer of "Gladiator" and the upcoming Baz Luhrmann version of "The Great Gatsby." "Making something that turns out good is the hardest part." The panel, which also included "Moneyball" producer Michael DeLuca, talked about dream projects that took years to get off the ground. For DeLuca, it was "Moneyball": "It took eight years," he said of the film, which would have died if Sony's Amy Pascal hadn't been a big supporter. "I've sworn off dream projects since then." Johnson, though, admitted he has a dream project he's currently hoping to get off the ground: a script from "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan called "Two Face." "I still think it's the best script I've ever come across," said Johnson, one of the producers on "Breaking Bad." "It's a comedy about racism, and it’s a very hard sell, but I'm convinced it's going to get made." In a discussion of future projects, Chaffin said that she and Fincher (who was watching from the back of the soundstage) are considering a movie that would partially be shot in 3D. "We think 3D should be applied very specifically," she said. "We're actually thinking of mixing 3D and 2D in one film." Again and again, the conversation circled back to dealing with studios in an uncertain era in which even the old standbys are no longer safe bets. "If you just get a mediocre director and a superhero, it's not a particularly good equation for a studio anymore," said Wick. And when a film doesn't work, the producers agreed that the results can be devastating. Johnson talked about going into a months-long depression after the commercial failure of Alfonso Cuaron's "A Little Princess," which he said was "the closest thing to a perfect movie I've ever made." And Chaffin said she and Fincher were badly shaken by the commercial failure of "Fight Club," which Fox executives hated and which couldn't find its market until it was released on home video. "'Fight Club' was devastating," Chaffin said. "All of us who worked on the film thought we had something great." Throughout the session, Sony's Pascal received so much praise from the panelists that eventually Shamberg stepped in. "Everybody here loves Amy," he said, "but we also like the others." "All except one," said Chaffin, who declined to specify the one. ||||| And you thought "John Carter" was a bust. After four weeks of release, "Battleship" has grossed just $59.8 million in North America, nearly $7 million less than "John Carter" had earned after its fourth weekend earlier this year. That puts the Peter Berg film on the unfortunate track of grossing less domestically than the derided "Carter," an ignominy that director sees as a learning experience. "I have a movie in theaters right now which has obviously underperformed in many ways," Berg said at the Produced By conference on Sunday. "When [a movie] doesn't work, it's an ... interesting opportunity to look at what went wrong and how it went wrong." Produced By, which is hosted by the Producers Guild of America, is an event where some of the biggest players in Hollywood get together to discuss the temperature of the industry. Per TheWrap, Berg was speaking at a panel titled "Passion Projects: Making Films Everyone Says Will Never Get Made." "It was a movie that I tried as hard as I could to get inside of," Berg said. "But the concept is so big and powerful, and the money is so big and so powerful, that the movie is going to run away with itself." Berg, who called working on "Battleship" an "eye-opener," has a close connection to the film. HIs father was a naval historian and he made sure to use real military veterans in key roles. "I wanted to do a Navy film and I'm thinking, right now, in our business, there are these huge movies that are getting made -- I wanted to make one of these big 'super movies,'" he told Moviefone earlier this year about his decision to direct "Battleship." "I thought, 'What if I create an adventure story around something as simple as 'Battleship'?'" If only it ended up being that simple. "Battleship," which is actually closing in on $300 million in total ticket sales worldwide despite indifference in America, is out in theaters now. [via TheWrap] Also on HuffPost:

– It's not often that directors publicly admit that a movie was a mess, but that's what Peter Berg did yesterday at a Producers Guild conference. Speaking at a panel called "Passion Projects: Making Films Everyone Says Will Never Get Made," Berg took a moment to acknowledge Battleship's grisly box-office take. "I have a movie in theaters right now which has obviously underperformed in many ways," he said, according to the Wrap. "When [a movie] doesn't work it's … an interesting opportunity to look at what went wrong." Berg said he hadn't been able to make the movie personal enough. "It was a movie that I tried as hard as I could to get inside of. But the concept is so big and powerful, and the money is so big and so powerful, that the movie is going to run away with itself. … It was an interesting eye-opener." Battleship sunk badly at the box office, grossing just $59.8 million domestically—which, the Huffington Post points out, is $7 million less than John Carter.

These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| The final piece is in place for the presidential race on "Saturday Night Live." (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) ADVERTISEMENT (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.) FILE - Taran Killam attends a screening of "Friends with Kids" hosted by the Cinema Society in New York, in this March 5, 2012 file photo. Killam appeared in a sketch Saturday Sept. 15, 2012 as Ryan,... (Associated Press) "SNL" cast member Taran Killam will be playing GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. The question of who had won this key role was answered Saturday when the NBC comedy show returned for its season premiere. Killam appeared in a sketch as Ryan, attempting to clarify his past athletic achievements. Killam is beginning his third season. Earlier, "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels said Jay Pharoah would take over the role of President Barack Obama from Fred Armisen. Pharoah made several appearances as Obama on Saturday's show. Michaels also said Jason Sudeikis will remain with the show, continuing to play both Obama's Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, as well as Vice President Joe Biden.

– Saturday Night Live kicked off its 38th season last night, reports Mediaite, with Seth MacFarlane in the co-host slot and castmember Jay Pharoah debuting his impersonation of Barack Obama in the episode's Cold Open. Taran Killam also debuted as the show's choice to portray Paul Ryan, and Jason Sudeikis, who is in fact remaining with the show, continued in his role as Mitt Romney. He'll also play Joe Biden, notes the AP, rounding out the presidential tickets. Spoofs included Clint Eastwood and his chair, Honey Boo Boo, and a little Gangnam Style at Lids.

Story highlights Bryan Pagliano was retained separately from his job at State to manage the server, two aides said The arrangement insured that no taxpayer money was spent on the server (CNN) Hillary and Bill Clinton personally paid the State Department staffer who managed their private email server, a spokesman for Clinton's campaign confirmed on Saturday. Bryan Pagliano was retained separately from his job at State to manage the server, two campaign aides said. The arrangement insured that no taxpayer money was spent on the server that was used by the Clinton family and some of their closest advisers, the aides added. Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill tweeted a statement early Saturday afternoon that said Pagliano was hired to "periodically" manage the server. "Bryan was hired by the Clinton family as a consultant in order to help out periodically with the management of the system in Chappaqua that hosted the family's emails," Merrill said. The aides initially said Saturday that Pagliano was retained to install the server. A campaign aide said Saturday afternoon that Pagliano is no longer paid by the Clintons. Read More ||||| The FBI is investigating the security of Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server. Here's what we know about the server, who kept it secure and how that's changed. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) The FBI is investigating the security of Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server. Here's what we know about the server, who kept it secure and how that's changed. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) Hillary Rodham Clinton and her family personally paid a State Department staffer to maintain the private e-mail server she used while heading the agency, according to an official from Clinton’s presidential campaign. The unusual arrangement helped Clinton retain personal control over the system that she used for her public and private duties and that has emerged as an issue for her campaign. But, according to the campaign official, it also ensured that taxpayer dollars were not spent on a private server that was shared by Clinton, her husband and their daughter as well as aides to the former president. That State Department staffer, Bryan Pagliano, told a congressional committee this week that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination instead of testifying about the setup. [Clinton: We obviously paid for those services] The private employment of Pagliano provides a new example of the ways that Clinton — who occupied a unique role as a Cabinet secretary who was also a former and potentially future presidential candidate — hired staff to work simultaneously for her in public and private capacities. Cheryl Mills, Clinton’s chief of staff, and Huma Abedin, a close confidant who served as deputy chief of staff, both spent time working for the State Department, the Clinton Foundation or the Clintons personally. [How Huma Abedin operated at the center of the Clinton universe] Pagliano’s employment by the Clintons was confirmed by a campaign official in response to questions from The Washington Post. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. A campaign spokesman declined to provide a statement. Pagliano had served as the IT director of Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and then worked for her political action committee. The Clintons paid Pagliano $5,000 for “computer services” prior to his joining the State Department, according to a financial disclosure form he filed in April 2009. But even after arriving at State in May 2009, Pagliano continued to be paid by the Clintons to maintain the server, which was in their Chappaqua, N.Y., home, according to the campaign official and another person familiar with the arrangement. That person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation. The private pay arrangement has not previously been reported. The State Department has declined to answer questions about whether the private system was widely known within the agency or officially approved. 1 of 9 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Takeaways from Hillary Clinton’s e-mails View Photos Clinton has come under fire for using a private e-mail address during her time as secretary of state. The e-mails are being screened and released in batches. Here are some things we’ve learned from them. Caption Clinton has come under fire for using a private email address during her time as secretary of state. The emails are being screened and released in batches. Here are some things we’ve learned from them. Top-secret information in e-mails Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has previously stated that classified information never traveled across her private server. However, the State Department has acknowledged that "top secret" information was in seven email chains sent or received by her. Richard Drew/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. Asked in early August about whether Pagliano had been paid privately to maintain the server, a State Department official said that the agency had “found no evidence that he ever informed the department that he had outside income.” This week, a different State Department official said he could not clarify Pagliano’s pay situation, citing “ongoing reviews and investigations” of Clinton’s e-mail setup. Pagliano did not list the outside income in the required personal financial disclosures he filed each year. The State Department has said Pagliano concluded his full-time service in February 2013, which coincides with Clinton’s departure as secretary. He remains a State Department contractor doing work on “mobile and remote computing functions,” according to a State Department spokesman. [Staffer who worked on Clinton’s private e-mail server faces subpoena] Pagliano’s attorney, Mark MacDougall, declined to comment. MacDougall sent a letter Monday to the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which had subpoenaed Pagliano, informing the panel that his client would invoke his constitutional rights not to answer questions. There are multiple congressional inquiries into Clinton’s e-mail use, and the FBI is looking into the security of the setup. [Clinton, using private server, wrote and sent e-mails now deemed classified] A spokeswoman for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was inquiring about Pagliano’s outside employment, said that Pagliano’s lawyer informed the committee that his client would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights. Lawmakers interested in hearing Pagliano’s account of the server’s setup and security protocols are considering whether to offer him immunity in exchange for his testimony. If they take the step, Pagliano would be compelled to appear. State Department officials have declined to explain which agency officials knew about Clinton’s server and whether any had raised questions or concerns about how it was being handled. “My unsatisfactory but necessary answer to that is, again, that’s not our role in this process to really answer that question publicly; that there are reviews and investigations underway that will look at possibly some of these issues is for other entities to speak to,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters this week. Asked by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Friday whether anyone in her inner circle ever expressed concern about the setup, Clinton responded, “I was not thinking a lot when I got in.” “There was so much work to be done,” Clinton continued. “We had so many problems around the world. I didn’t really stop and think — what — what kind of e-mail system will there be?” E-mails released this week show that members of the State Department IT department’s help desk were unaware of the setup and sought information about why a correspondent was getting a “fatal error” when sending messages to Clinton’s address. The tech support team “didn’t know it was you,” an aide e-mailed Clinton. Federal regulations allow employees at Pagliano’s level to have outside employment but require that the extra income not exceed 15 percent of their government salary. Employees must also ensure that their outside work not create a conflict of interest with their government job. By early 2013, as Clinton was preparing to conclude her time as secretary of state, she was looking to upgrade the system’s security and durability, people briefed on the server have said. The system had crashed for days during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, disrupting her e-mail abilities. To find a company to take over for Pagliano, the Clintons turned to Tania Neild, a technology broker whose company, InfoGrate, is in Bronxville, N.Y., about 20 miles from their home. In January 2013, weeks before Clinton’s departure from Foggy Bottom, Neild alerted a small Denver-based technology firm, Platte River Networks, to a possible contract, according to Andy Boian, a spokesman for the tech firm. Boian said Neild’s notice included no reference to the Clintons and the company submitted a proposal for the work without knowing the identity of the famous potential client. Boian said the company learned that it might be working for the former president and former secretary of state in mid- February of 2013, when executives were told that they were finalists for the work. The Clintons hired Platte River that June. The company has said it moved the Clintons’ server at that time from the couple’s home to a data storage facility in New Jersey, where it sat until it was turned over to the FBI last month. Neild said in an interview with The Post that she could not confirm that she worked for the Clintons because all of her clients have nondisclosure agreements about their work. But she said her business is helping wealthy families manage private servers and e-mail systems, and she confirmed that she works regularly with Platte River Networks. “They are a company with the utmost integrity,” Neild said. This story has been updated. Tom Hamburger, Karen Tumulty and Alice Crites contributed to this report.

– The Washington Post today sheds a little more light on how Hillary Clinton's infamous email operation worked while she was at the State Department. As you might expect, the word "unusual" is involved. It turns out that the Clintons paid a department staffer out of their own pocket to maintain the server, in addition to his official State Department duties. A Clinton campaign official depicts this is a good thing because it "ensured that taxpayer dollars were not spent on a private server that was shared by Clinton, her husband and their daughter as well as aides to the former president," in the words of the newspaper. The staffer, Bryan Pagliano, also got $5,000 from the Clintons to set up the server, but that was before he joined the State Department. He had previously worked as Clinton's IT chief during her 2008 run for president. State Department employees at Pagliano's level are allowed to take outside work, though they're supposed to report the income, which he does not appear to have done, reports the Post. It's not clear how much maintenance work was required or how much additional income he got. "Bryan was hired by the Clinton family as a consultant in order to help out periodically with the management of the system in Chappaqua that hosted the family's emails," campaign spokesperson Nick Merrill said today, per CNN. At least three congressional panels are interested in having Pagliano testify, though he's pledged to take the Fifth if he appears. That could change if lawmakers guarantee him immunity from any potential legal trouble that arises, notes the Post. (Clinton, meanwhile, is sorry about all this email confusion.)

It was a tragic Tuesday in Charlotte County. A man and wife in their 80s were found dead just after midnight from gunshot wounds at a Solaris Healthcare facility in Port Charlotte, leaving sheriff's deputies to believe it was a murder-suicide. Friends and neighbors said Barbara Kavanaugh, 88, was a patient at the home and was suffering from dementia. Her husband, Frank, 81, was a part of the Final Exit Network, a right-to-die organization. Nevertheless, the scenario startled those who knew the couple, who'd last lived on Antigua Drive in Punta Gorda. "He was in good shape, good health. I can't imagine why this horrible thing happened," said Gale Petrillo. "I'm stunned. It's horrific. Sometimes we could hear him say, 'Barbara, but I'm only trying to help. I'm only trying to help.'" Another friend, Ted Goodwin, said the organization's mission may have played a role in the couple's demise. He said Frank Kavanaugh was also beginning to heave health issues, which may have led to a mutual decision. "They were with each other constantly over a lifetime. My guess is they had determined to go together," Goodwin said. "While my heart is breaking on one hand, I have to honor the fact they went on their terms." A statement from F. Stan Weye, an administrator for Solaris Healthcare, said, "We would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of the husband and wife involved in a tragic event that occurred at our facility last night." ||||| A Florida right-to-die advocate fatally shot his wife and himself in her nursing home room in a murder-suicide early Tuesday, police said. Medical staff found Frank Kavanaugh, 88, and his wife Barbara Kavanaugh, 81, dead at 1:17 a.m. at Solaris HealthCare in Port Charlotte, about 100 miles south of Tampa on Florida's western coast, said Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Skip Conroy. Frank Kavanaugh, a retired George Washington University public policy professor, served on the national advisory board of the Final Exit Network. Leaders of the group, devoted to “supporting the human right to a death with dignity,” said the Kavanaughs' deaths demonstrate need for widespread reforms to end-of-life care. CANADA INTRODUCES NEW ASSISTED SUICIDE LAW FOR ADULTS “It’s shocking to everyone that he felt compelled to use a gun, but apparently that was necessary because he didn’t know how to get her out of the nursing home,” said Robert Rivas, the group’s general counsel. “Frank may have felt there was no other way to help his wife and didn’t want to live with the consequences of what he felt he had to do.” Police said Frank Kavanaugh, 88, killed his wife Barbara and himself in her nursing home room early Tuesday. (Final Exit Network) Barbara Kavanaugh had been living in the facility after being diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease, Rivas said. Conroy declined to discuss any details about the investigation ahead of pending autopsy results, and Solaris administrator F. Stan Weyer also said in a statement to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that he could not release details. “We would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of the husband and wife involved in a tragic event that occurred at our facility,” Weyer said. Rivas and Final Exit Network President Janis Landis described Frank Kavanaugh as a gentleman who had scaled back his efforts on behalf of the organization while caring for his wife. He had recently written an essay about the importance of family discussions and research about the end of life. “He was very interested in how public policies are dealt with. This was one that particularly resonated with him because of the mismatch in our society between what people want and what people get,” Landis said. “In retrospect, he must have been speaking from his heart about what he felt he needed to do.” Members of the Final Exit Network said the couple's deaths show the need for reforms around end-of-life issues. (WINK) Four states — Oregon, Washington, Vermont and California — allow for a right to die, and advocates don’t use the term “physician-assisted suicide,” according to Rivas, a Tallahassee attorney. He estimated at least one older Florida couple dies each year in a murder-suicide. Friends who had spoken to Barbara Kavanaugh in recent weeks noted she was still able to think and talk competently despite her condition, he said. “Barbara Kavanaugh would have clearly qualified for physician aid in dying,” Rivas said. “He wouldn’t have had to commit a felony.” No information was immediately available about any public memorial for the Kavanaughs. A neighbor of the couple in nearby Punta Gorda, Gale Petrillo, told WINK-TV that Frank Kavanaugh had provided “absolutely phenomenal care for her” before their deaths. Staff at Solaris HealthCare in Port Charlotte, Fla., found the couple dead in her room at 1:17 a.m. Tuesday, police said. (WINK) “He was there for her all the time, did everything, held her hand, and when we did see them walking, she would be a little stooped,” Petrillo said. “And you know, you could just see he did really care.” Follow on Twitter @tobysalkc ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH THE VIDEO HERE. ||||| Right-to-die advocate, wife found dead at Port Charlotte healthcare facility in murder-suicide PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – A right-to-die advocate and his wife were found dead inside a healthcare facility early Tuesday morning in what investigators believe is a murder-suicide, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said. Frank D. Kavanaugh, 81, and Barbara A. Kavanaugh, 88, both of 3306 Antigua Dr. in Punta Gorda, were found dead at about 1:17 a.m. inside a patient room at the Solaris Healthcare facility on Kings Highway in Port Charlotte, authorities said. They were found dead on the floor as someone was checking on a patient, investigators said. Both died from gunshot wounds, authorities said. Barbara Kavanaugh, who suffered from dementia, was admitted to Solaris earlier this year, said Gale Petrillo, who lived near the couple and admired how Frank Kavanaugh looked after his wife. “He took absolutely phenomenal care for her,” she said. “He was there for her all the time, did everything, held her hand, and when we did see them walking, she would be a little stooped..and you know, you could just see he did really care.” In a statement, the facility expressed their condolences and said there is no safety risk to residents or visitors to the nursing home. Frank Kavanaugh is listed as an advisory board member for the Final Exit Network, a national organization that supports “the human right to a death with dignity.” “We prefer to talk about aid to dying, rather than suicide,” he said in a 2011 article in Florida Weekly about the right-to-die. “Suicide implies something psychotic, a psychiatric condition. We are not here to help depressed people end their lives. We would be glad to help them to get treatment for their depression, but that is not what we are all about.” Final Exit Network President Janis Landis described Frank Kavanaugh as someone who was committed to the right-to-die cause. “We know nothing about the circumstances of his death but we have the highest regard and admiration for Frank,” she said. “He was a true gentlemen and devoted to causes to enhance human dignity and end needless suffering.” ||||| PUNTA GORDA - An articulate and dedicated advocate for choice in dying appears to have ended his own life, and taken his wife’s, in a violent act that people who know him say may have felt like his only recourse. Frank Kavanaugh, who served on the national advisory board of Final Exit Network and gave public talks about end-of-life issues, was found dead with his wife early Tuesday at the Charlotte County nursing home where she was a resident. According to a release from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, officers responded at 1:17 a.m. to the Solaris HealthCare Charlotte Harbor center in Port Charlotte, where Kavanaugh, 81, and his wife Barbara, 88, had died as a result of gunshot wounds. Autopsy results are pending, a spokesman said, but the deaths are under investigation as a murder-suicide. Solaris administrator F. Stan Weyer said in a statement that he could not disclose details. “We would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of the husband and wife involved in a tragic event that occurred at our facility,” the statement said. Kavanaugh was a former professor of health care information science at George Washington University School of Medicine, and taught online in his retirement. His most recent appearance on behalf of Final Exit — a national group of volunteers who support people seeking a peaceful death instead of a medically extended life — was in December at Temple Beth Israel on Longboat Key. He had given up all public commitments recently to care for his wife, who suffered from a degenerative brain disease, said Janis Landis, president of Final Exit. She described Kavanaugh as “a true gentleman” and the news of their deaths as “devastating.” “I know that Frank was completely devoted to her, and really disengaged from everything to be with her over the last few months,” Landis said. “Most people in our organization did not know exactly what was going on. His interest was always in helping others, and he very rarely talked about the pain going on in his own life.” While Landis emphasized that she knew nothing about the manner of their deaths, she acknowledged that a murder-suicide by gunfire is in dramatic contrast to the quiet and efficient methods endorsed by Final Exit. “For people who wish to end their lives together, society does not give many choices if one of those partners is under the care of a third party,” she said. “In cases like this, the means become very limited. Most people would choose a peaceful death if they could.” Jim Chastain of Sarasota, another nationally active Final Exit member who worked with Kavanaugh for the last decade, was even more blunt about the lack of end-of-life options for elders in a long-term care facility. “It’s not surprising that he did what he felt he had to do,” Chastain said. “It’s sad that the law leaves it that way. I’m sure he would have preferred the inert gas or helium method, but that would be almost impossible in a nursing home.” Final Exit, an outgrowth of the former Hemlock Society, educates and assists people who have decided to terminate their own lives. This is in contrast to Compassion & Choices, another spinoff from the original group, which works mainly through courts and legislatures to change the law. Chastain said he last spoke with Kavanaugh about two weeks ago. He remembered his colleague as “a highly ethical person” who moved his wife to a facility when her dementia worsened, after years of home care. “He was spending all of his time with Barbara,” Chastain said. “He could never be away from home for a speech overnight. Probably for the last three or four years, he hasn’t spent a night away from her.” Kavanaugh also served as a commodore in the Punta Gorda division of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary in the 1990s, and was active in civic issues. But helping others try to avoid a lingering death was a central focus of his later retirement years. “It’s really about thinking through what it is you do or do not want at the end of your life,” he said in a Herald-Tribune interview a year ago. “Tell your family, ‘I want you to know what I want, and I want you to honor my wishes,’ and be as clear as you can.”

– An 81-year-old man who had long fought for people's right to die a dignified, peaceful death died violently along with his wife early Tuesday, police say. Frank Kavanaugh, a member of the Final Exit Network's national advisory board, was found dead from gunshot wounds along with his 88-year-old wife, Barbara, at a Florida nursing home she had been admitted to earlier this year, reports the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Police in Charlotte County believe it was a murder-suicide. Neighbors and fellow members of the right-to-die organization say Kavanaugh was completely devoted to his wife, who had dementia, and may have felt that this was the only way out, WINK reports. "It's shocking to everyone that he felt compelled to use a gun, but apparently that was necessary because he didn't know how to get her out of the nursing home," Robert Rivas, the group's general counsel, tells the New York Daily News. "Frank may have felt there was no other way to help his wife and didn't want to live with the consequences of what he felt he had to do." A friend tells ABC7 that a mutual decision may have been made after Kavanaugh began to have health issues of his own. "They were with each other constantly over a lifetime. My guess is they had determined to go together," he says. "While my heart is breaking on one hand, I have to honor the fact they went on their terms." (An advocacy group says it has found an inexpensive drug cocktail for suicide.)

(Reuters) - Two vacationing lesbians who accused a Honolulu police officer of harassing them for kissing at a grocery store have won an $80,000 settlement from the city, their attorney said on Friday. Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero in a federal lawsuit filed in October 2015 in Hawaii alleged their constitutional rights were violated when officer Bobby Harrison told them to “take it somewhere else” and encouraged the store manager to issue trespass warnings. Harrison, during the March 2015 fracas at the store, also confronted Wilson and Guerrero at a checkout stand, telling them to get out of the line, according to their lawsuit against the officer and the city and county of Honolulu. Eric Seitz, an attorney for the two women, has said the officer initiated a physical altercation with them and that they struck back at him. The women, who were vacationing from California, were arrested for assault. The charges were later dropped. The settlement with the city and county of Honolulu was presented on Friday, Seitz said, and must still be given formal approval by Honolulu officials. Seitz said he expects that to happen. Representatives from Honolulu and the police department did not immediately return calls. The store, which had prepared a letter of trespass against the couple, had previously paid them a $10,000 settlement, Seitz said. “It’s a pretty good outcome as far as we’re concerned,” Seitz said. ||||| Two lesbians who were arrested by a Honolulu police officer after he saw them hugging and kissing in a North Shore grocery store were recently awarded $80,000 to resolve a lawsuit they filed last October. According to the Associated Press, the legal settlement was announced in U.S. District Court on Friday, although it still must be approved by the Honolulu City Council, which is expected to take up the matter July 6. Cory Lum/Civil Beat Here are the facts of the case as laid out by the AP: Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero were visiting Hawaii from Los Angeles last year when, according to the their lawsuit, they were harassed and arrested because the officer didn’t like their public displays of affection in a Foodland store on Oahu’s North Shore. They were walking through the aisles holding hands and at one point hugged and kissed, the lawsuit said. Officer Bobby Harrison, who was shopping in uniform, “observed their consensual romantic contact and, in a loud voice, ordered plaintiffs to stop and ‘take it somewhere else.'” The women complied and continued shopping, the lawsuit said. When Harrison again saw them being affectionate with each other, he threatened to have them thrown out of the store. While the women were in the check-out line, Harrison grabbed Wilson by the wrist, and she started to call 911, the women described last year. All three got into a scuffle and Harrison arrested them. They were charged with felony assault on an officer and spent three days in jail. Charges were eventually dismissed.… ||||| File-This Oct. 28, 2015, file photo shows Courtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero posing for a photo in Honolulu. Honolulu will pay $80,000 to settle a lesbian couple's lawsuit alleging a city's police... (Associated Press) File-This Oct. 28, 2015, file photo shows Courtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero posing for a photo in Honolulu. Honolulu will pay $80,000 to settle a lesbian couple's lawsuit alleging a city's police officer wrongfully arrested them after seeing them kissing in a grocery store while on vacation.... (Associated Press) File-This Oct. 28, 2015, file photo shows Courtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero posing for a photo in Honolulu. Honolulu will pay $80,000 to settle a lesbian couple's lawsuit alleging a city's police officer wrongfully arrested them after seeing them kissing in a grocery store while on vacation.... (Associated Press) File-This Oct. 28, 2015, file photo shows Courtney Wilson, left, and Taylor Guerrero posing for a photo in Honolulu. Honolulu will pay $80,000 to settle a lesbian couple's lawsuit alleging a city's police... (Associated Press) HONOLULU (AP) — Honolulu has agreed to pay $80,000 to settle a lawsuit from two gay women who allege a police officer wrongfully arrested them after seeing them kissing in a grocery store. Details of the settlement were announced Friday in federal court in Honolulu. It's still subject to City Council approval. The council is expected to consider the settlement at a July 6 meeting, said Honolulu Deputy Corporation Counsel Nicolette Winter. "The Department of the Corporation Counsel believes that the tentative settlement is in the best interests of the city," Corporation Counsel Donna Leong said in a statement. Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero were visiting Hawaii from Los Angeles last year when, according to the their lawsuit, they were harassed and arrested because the officer didn't like their public displays of affection in a Foodland store on Oahu's North Shore. They were walking through the aisles holding hands and at one point hugged and kissed, the lawsuit said. Officer Bobby Harrison, who was shopping in uniform, "observed their consensual romantic contact and, in a loud voice, ordered plaintiffs to stop and 'take it somewhere else.'" The women complied and continued shopping, the lawsuit said. When Harrison again saw them being affectionate with each other, he threatened to have them thrown out of the store. While the women were in the check-out line, Harrison grabbed Wilson by the wrist, and she started to call 911, the women described last year. All three got into a scuffle and Harrison arrested them. They were charged with felony assault on an officer and spent three days in jail. Charges were eventually dismissed. After the lawsuit was filed, the Honolulu Police Department opened an internal investigation. "The internal investigation was completed, and the allegations were not sustained," department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said in an email. Harrison retired at the end of last year, she said. The settlement dismisses Harrison from the lawsuit and isn't an admission of any wrongdoing, Winter said. Wilson said she and Guerrero are no longer a couple but remain friends. She went back to Los Angeles while Guerrero decided to stay in Honolulu. "I'm glad it's over, but at the same time we wanted the officer to suffer some sort of repercussion," Wilson said. Guerrero ended up working and living in Honolulu partly because a condition of their release from jail required them to say on the island. By the time the charges were dismissed, Guerrero found she liked living here. "I'm happy with it," Guerrero said of the settlement. "I'm just glad it's over with." After paying their attorneys, Wilson and Guerrero plan to split what's left from the settlement amount. ___ Follow Jennifer Sinco Kelleher at http://www.twitter.com/JenHapa. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jennifer-sinco-kelleher.

– Two women who say they were arrested for kissing in a grocery store during a Hawaiian vacation last year will settle their lawsuit against the City of Honolulu for $80,000, the AP reports. Los Angeles residents Courtney Wilson and Taylor Guerrero were holding hands while shopping at a Foodland grocery store. When the couple stopped to hug and kiss, they were approached by officer Bobby Harrison, who was shopping while in uniform. Their lawsuit alleges Harrison ordered them to "take it somewhere else." It also states he tried to get the store's manager to issue trespass warnings to Wilson and Guerrero, according to Reuters. The lawsuit claims Harrison later grabbed Wilson's wrist while she was in the checkout line. A scuffle ensued, and the women were arrested. Wilson and Guerrero spent three days in jail, but the felony assault charges against them were eventually dismissed. The couple, who have since broken up, filed a lawsuit against the City of Honolulu in October, the Honolulu Civil Beat reports. The $80,000 settlement was announced Friday and still must be approved by the Honolulu City Council. "It's a pretty good outcome as far as we're concerned," an attorney for Wilson and Guerrero tells Reuters. The women already settled with Foodland for $10,000. The Honolulu Police Department investigated Harrison after the lawsuit was filed and found no wrongdoing. “I’m glad it’s over, but at the same time we wanted the officer to suffer some sort of repercussion,” Wilson tells the AP. Harrison retired following the incident.

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| If you find yourself looking around the table over the holiday and thinking, “I can’t believe I’m related to these people,” just be glad you’re not a mongoose. If you were, you might be thinking, “I can’t believe I’ve mated with all of these people.” For the cat-sized mammals, native to central and east Africa, it’s safer to have sex with a close relative than risk death by venturing out into the world to find a mate, according to a study published online today in Biology Letters. Newly formed mongoose groups have a mortality rate three times higher than that of established ones, and mongooses that encroach on neighboring groups are often met with violence. Perhaps consequently, an analysis of 14 packs of mongooses in Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park finds that inbreeding is the norm: 63.6% of the pups were conceived between two members of the same natal group, the social group into which an individual is born. Twenty-seven percent of offspring were conceived by mothers that bred within their natal group and were related to their mates by a coefficient of relationship of 0.25 or higher—the equivalent genetic similarity between half siblings or a grandparent/grandchild. Additionally, 7.5% of pups were conceived by parents related by 0.5 or more—full siblings or a parent/child. Father/daughter incest occurred eight times during the study, but interestingly, mother/son breeding was not observed—perhaps due to the fact that males take longer to reach sexual maturity and their mothers are dead by the time they’re ready to mate. Researchers speculate that, at least for mongooses, the genetic problems caused by inbreeding are perceived to be less dangerous than leaving the pack in search of new mates.

– Mammals tend to avoid incest as a rule, mainly due to the resulting health issues in offspring. There are exceptions, however, and a team of researchers has discovered—for the banded mongoose, at least—incest isn't always such a bad idea. The animals have an oddly high degree of incest as they tend to live in close-knit groups of about 18 throughout their lives, according to a study in Biology Letters. Researchers studied 14 such groups of the animals in a Uganda park over 16 years and found about 64% of newborns were born to members of the same natal group who mated with each other. Why? Researchers say a mongoose would actually be risking its survival if it tried to mate with a member of another group, Phys.org reports. Loners who attempt to join a new group can be violently rejected. Plus, new groups have three times the mortality rate of established units. In observing the groups, researchers reported 27% of offspring came from mating between females and relatives like a half-sibling or grandparent, while more than 7% of pups came from parent-child or sibling relationships, Science reports. The conclusion? "The costs of inbreeding avoidance may sometimes outweigh the benefits," researchers say. As David Shultz at Science points out, "if you find yourself looking around the table over the holiday and thinking, 'I can’t believe I'm related to these people,' just be glad you’re not a mongoose." (Seals were recently spotted having sex with penguins.)

They survived a year in the wilderness of the Highlands. Now the remaining cast of a TV show have finally left their remote home – to virtual anonymity. Instead of being crowned reality TV celebrities and fought over by agents, the 10 who made it through the 12 months have learned that only four episodes have been shown – the last seven months ago. The remaining 13 contestants quit earlier in the show – with many saying they couldn’t handle the relentless Scottish midges. Eden, the ground-breaking Channel 4 project, saw 23 strangers cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves in a corner of the West Highlands. Intended as a combination of reality TV and sociology experiment, the participants were challenged to create a new model of society. But just as in the Biblical Eden, temptation proved too strong on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. With the group torn apart by sexual jealousy, hunger and feuds, more than half the cast quit. Struggling to live off the land, they resorted to smuggling in junk food and booze. Local resident Maria Macpherson said yesterday: “The last 10 have left. In the end the show was a joke. Some of the participants were even seen in the dentist at Fort William needing treatment after eating chicken feed grit. “It has not done this area any favours – it has just not lived up to expectations.” Last July and August, four episodes were broadcast, starting with the cast walking through a gate in the 7ft fence that enclosed 600 acres, five miles from Acharacle. A Channel 4 spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that Eden had “drawn to a close” and would be aired later, but no date had been confirmed. She said: “The appeal of Eden is that it was a real experiment and when filming began we had no idea what the results would be and how those taking part would react to being isolated for months in a remote part of the British Isles. “That’s why we did it and the story of their time, including the highs and the lows, will be shown later this year.” Locals in Ardnamurchan are still holding out hope that Eden will one day provide a boost to tourism. ||||| Published on Jul 8, 2016 Find out more at: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/eden What if we could start again? In a remote corner of the UK, 23 men and women try to build a new life and new society from scratch, isolated from the rest of the world ||||| Channel 4's ambitious reality show Eden has come to an end, eight months after the most recent episode was shown. In March 2016, 23 volunteers moved to the Scottish Highlands to "start again". Only four episodes of the show were ever broadcast in July and August last year, but the cast have only now come home. Participants have spent the past 12 months in Scotland but less than four hours of footage was ever shown. A spokesperson for Channel 4 could not confirm to whether participants were aware that episodes were not being broadcast but says footage will be on screens in 2017. "When filming began we had no idea what the results would be and how those taking part would react to being isolated for months in a remote part of the British Isles," a Channel 4 representative told Newsbeat. "That's why we did it and the story of their time, including the highs and the lows, will be shown later this year." Eden showed a group of people trying to build a community from next to nothing in the Highlands. They had to build their own shelter and hunt for food. The Telegraph reports that viewing figures fell from 1.7 million to 800,000 people during those first four episodes. The last update on Twitter from the show was in October. During the first four episodes of the show, contestant Tara Zieleman quit the show after rowing with fellow participants. Rumours suggest more people had also quit but Channel 4 haven't confirmed that. A report by The Press and Journal quotes a local resident called Maria Macpherson as saying participants needed to visit a local dentist after eating "chicken grit". But Channel 4 insists some of the reporting is "inaccurate". Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat

– After surviving a full year in the harsh Scottish wilderness, the 10 remaining contestants of the reality series Eden emerged from their imposed isolation to discover that no one had been watching their journey. Outside of four one-hour episodes aired in the summer of 2016, the BBC reports that no other footage from the British Channel 4 series has seen the light of day—and the Guardian adds that contestants were never informed of this. The premise of the show, which began filming in March 2016 with 23 cast members, pits humans against the elements in a return to the basics. Without modern tools and technology, the group had to band together to sustain food and shelter in the West Highlands region of Scotland. Over the course of the year, 13 cast members left the project, though the exact reasons are unclear. Along with as many as four people absconding due to an epic season of Scottish midges, pesky insects that leave irritating bites, the Press and Journal of Aberdeen reports that food in the commune may have been become scarce. One local resident tells the newspaper that after leaving isolation, participants sought care from a dentist for damage sustained after eating chicken feed grit. A Channel 4 spokesperson hasn't confirmed these rumors, but says more episodes of Eden will air eventually. “The story of their time, including the highs and the lows, will be shown later this year.” No set date, however, has been announced. When the first episodes aired, ratings fell from 1.7 million viewers for the first to 800,000 for the last, notes the Telegraph.

Abstract We identified the insect iridovirus IIV-6/CrIV as a pathogen of the cricket Gryllus texensis using electron microscopy (EM) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. Electron microscopy (EM) showed that the virus attacks the fat body, an organ important for protein production, immune function and lipid storage. During infection the fat body hypertrophied, but egg production withered, leaving the lateral oviducts empty of eggs; the females were effectively sterile. EM of the testis of infected males suggests that the testis was not invaded by the virus, although sperm taken from the spermatophores of infected males showed little or no motility. Nevertheless, males and females continued to mate when infected. In fact, infected males were quicker to court females than uninfected controls. The virus benefits from the continued sexual behaviour of its host; transmission studies show that the virus can be spread through sexual contact. Sickness behaviour, the adaptive reduction of feeding and sexual behaviour that is induced by an activated immune system, is absent in infected crickets. Total hemolymph protein is reduced, as is phenoloxidase activity, suggesting a reduction in immune protein production by the fat body. The evidence suggests that during IIV-6/CrIV infection, the immune signal(s) that induce sickness behaviour are absent. Curtailment of a host's sickness behaviour may be necessary for any pathogen that is spread by host sexual behaviour. ||||| Like sick humans, sick crickets are usually lethargic, lose their appetite and show a decline in their sexual motivation. (Shelley Adamo) It's a sexually transmitted disease worthy of a horror movie, one that renders its victims — crickets — infertile, but ramps up their desire to mate. The virus IIV-6/CrIV devastated the cricket colony in a lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Biologist Shelley Adamo said by the time she noticed a problem, her entire colony had become infected. The problem was that the crickets didn't show any of the usual signs of being sick. Like sick humans, sick crickets are usually lethargic, lose their appetite and show a decline in their sexual motivation. "What really piqued my interest was that these infected crickets seemed perfectly normal," Adamo told CBC Radio's Quirks & Quarks in an interview that airs Saturday. Well, almost normal. One normal behaviour they no longer engaged in was laying eggs. Adamo opened up a female to figure out why. Both males and females infertile "That's when I noticed they were grossly abnormal," she recalled. "Their ovaries were shrivelled up and empty and they were filled with basically their fat tissue." An analysis of the fat tissue showed it was "absolutely packed with viral particles." The males didn't get away either. While their testes were intact, the sperm inside showed "little or no" ability to move. Despite all that, the crickets showed no decline in their desire to mate. "Not only did they have no decline, but the males in particular showed increased sexual motivation," Adamo recalled, noting that they started approaching and courting females far more quickly than healthy crickets. "We're pretty confident these males are sterile, so the increase in sexual motivation can't really be benefiting them," Adamo said. "But … it can be helping the virus." Experiments showed that the virus could be transmitted from cricket to cricket during mating or even during courtship rituals. Adamo said the virus can ultimately kill its host. Interestingly, while it does infect young crickets, it doesn't normally kill them until they become sexually mature. "They are living long enough to mate, which means they're living long enough to spread that virus." All this leads to a sinister conclusion — that the virus may be altering the behaviour of its hosts in order to spread. That is something many parasites are known to do, but not in this particular way. Like this virus, many parasites also make their hosts infertile so that energy normally used for reproduction of the host can be redirected to the reproduction of the parasite, Adamo noted in a Dalhousie University news release. The virus IIV-6/CrIV ​only infects cold-blooded animals, so humans can't catch it. It has actually been known to infect crickets for about a decade, but this is the first time it has been documented to alter the behaviour of its hosts. Adamo and her colleagues published their findings in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

– A newly discovered virus boosts the libido, encouraging those infected—that would be crickets, not humans—to have sex more often and with more partners. The highly contagious iridovirus transmits itself via close contact while mating, but not via insemination; it apparently passes from one's antennae to another's mouth. It also turns the insects' guts blue and kills them in weeks, NPR reports. Infected male crickets, identified in a new study, took just three minutes to begin the mating process when introduced to a female, as opposed to the normal 10 minutes. And females, who usually cut back on mating when sick, were just as geared up for a chirping good time. It's not clear how the virus (which also sterilizes the crickets, the CBC reports) controls their behavior, researchers say, though it could influence hormone levels. It could also be that "when animals sense that they are very ill, they sometimes increase their reproductive output," says the study author. "Basically, because they are about to keel over, they might as well go for gold." So does this "cricket STD" relate to the human variety? Only in that the crickets showed none of the usual symptoms of illness, which is similar to how STDs operate in humans. (Click for another study about animals who "mate themselves to death.")

We have conducted a large and comprehensive study characterizing cancer rates among U.S. cabin crew relative to the general U.S. population, which adds to the relatively sparse literature regarding cabin crew health and has included profiling a wide range of cancers. Consistent with previous studies reporting on cancer incidence and mortality among flight attendants, we report a higher prevalence of breast, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers (comprising basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas) among this occupational group relative to the general population. This is striking given the low rates of overweight and smoking among flight attendants in our study population, which we take to be indicators of general health and healthy behaviors, as well as being independent risk factors for some cancers [1, 11]. We also report associations between job tenure as a flight attendant and several cancer outcomes, consistent with previous U.S. and European studies [7–11], though we note that our reliance on cancer prevalence rather than incidence complicates the interpretation of our findings with regard to the timing of both work exposures and cancer outcomes, and the conflation of cancer incidence and survivorship. Nevertheless, our study extends the sparse literature on this important topic, confirms previous findings, and is the first study to note an increase in non-melanoma skin cancer among U.S. cabin crew (consistent with studies of European cabin crew and pilots). Our work informs future research directions regarding the health of this understudied group of workers and highlights the question of what can be done to minimize the adverse exposures and cancers common among cabin crew. Our finding of a greater prevalence of breast and skin cancers among flight attendants is consistent with most of the epidemiologic literature on this topic to date [7–11]. As noted above, our study is the first to show an increase in non-melanoma skin cancer among U.S. cabin crew relative to the general population, which replicates findings among European flight attendants and pilots [11, 24]. We also observed that job tenure as a flight attendant was associated with the prevalence of non-melanoma skin cancer, as well as breast cancer (within parity subgroups), among females. We were also able to conduct SPR analyses among crew with in-flight secondhand smoke exposure prior to 1988 and found that some associations were strengthened among this subset of participants. Interpretation of the latter results is somewhat hampered by the fact that participants’ occupational secondhand exposures ended by 1998 at the latest, and studies regarding smoking or secondhand smoking exposures and breast and skin cancers have reported mixed results [25, 26]. However, secondhand smoke has been linked to breast and skin cancers in some studies and is certainly a potential risk factor for these cancers, and unlike for cardiovascular disease, smoking-related risk of cancer never falls to baseline, even years after cessation of the exposure [25, 26]. Our results are also consistent with cabin crews’ occupational exposures to ionizing radiation [2, 6], Circadian rhythm disruption [3], historical exposures to in-flight secondhand smoke [5], and ongoing exposures to other chemical agents [2], most of which are classified as confirmed or probable carcinogens in humans [27–29]. Ionizing radiation is a known causal factor for non-melanoma skin cancer and breast cancer [27], whereas the studies regarding melanoma in relation to ionizing radiation are more conflicted [30]. It should be noted that cabin crew have the largest annual ionizing radiation dose of all U.S. workers (e.g. 3.07 mSv vs. 0.59 mSv for U.S. Department of Energy workers) [5]. These exposures can easily exceed guidelines released by the NCRP or the International Commission on Radiological Protection [6, 31]. Although we evaluated job tenure prior to age 45 or age 40 in relation to cancer prevalence, in part to isolate the potential effects of ionizing radiation exposure at younger ages, these restrictions generally did not meaningfully alter our results. This may be because ionizing radiation exposure is also important to cancer risk at older ages, and because it is difficult to disentangle the relevant exposure years in our study population, which has a median tenure of 19 years of employment and for which cancer diagnosis date was not recorded. One possible exception is for breast cancer, for which associations were somewhat stronger when evaluating tenure prior age 45 rather than lifetime tenure. These results, while imprecise and requiring replication in a study that estimates cosmic ionizing radiation exposure directly (rather than using tenure as a proxy), may suggest that flight-related exposures are most important to breast cancer risk when occurring at earlier ages. We report associations between duration of employment as a flight attendant and breast cancer risk among women who had three or more children, with some evidence of an association among nulliparous women as well, though the latter association was imprecise. Nulliparity is a risk factor for breast cancer, and women who are parous may be less susceptible to the effects of carcinogenic exposures on the breast due to breast cell differentiation occurring after a first pregnancy [32, 33]. Hence, our findings of a somewhat stronger association between job tenure and breast cancer among nulliparous women is consistent with the current state of biologic and epidemiologic knowledge, though it should be noted that the few relevant previous studies among cabin crew did not show increased risk of breast cancer among nulliparous relative to parous participants [20, 21, 34]. Our findings of a stronger association between tenure as a flight attendant and breast cancer among women with three or more children is, interestingly, consistent with two other recent publications on this topic among cabin crew [20, 21]. The authors of the latter studies, which evaluated breast cancer in relation to calculated cosmic radiation exposure and Circadian rhythm disruption, hypothesized that these unexpected results may be due to Circadian rhythm changes from shift work and crossing time zones [21], especially since flight attendants report a much higher rate of sleep disorders and disturbances relative to the general population [11, 12] and these effects may be exacerbated among women with young children who have greater sleep disruptions from both their home and work lives [21]. Limitations of our study include its cross-sectional design, which precludes inferences about causality, as an observed association may reflect the effect of flight attendant work on a given condition, or the effect of an outcome on a factor related to employment as a flight attendant. Use of structured questionnaires, as in our study, aims to minimize this bias. We also note a further limitation that the date of cancer diagnosis was not recorded in the FAHS questionnaire. Hence, some reported cancers may have been diagnosed prior to employment as a flight attendant, and some flight attendant work (i.e. exposure) may have occurred following a cancer diagnosis, making the direction of the potential bias unclear. These limitations are counteracted in part by our analyses evaluating job tenure prior to age 40 and 45 years in relation to cancer prevalences, as many cancers, including of the skin and breast, occur later in life. Therefore, this restriction increases the probability that the exposure of interest occurred prior to the reported cancer outcome. Another potential limitation of our study involves the question of whether a population of flight attendants is sufficiently comparable to the general U.S. population with regard to cancer risk factors, and whether differences in risk factors may introduce bias to the SPRs. For example, we report substantial differences in racial profile, smoking status, overweight prevalence, and number of live births between the FAHS and NHANES cohorts, all of which are related to the risk of various cancers. We have counteracted this issue in part by restricting the NHANES comparison group to currently employed adults with at least a high school degree and above a certain income to poverty ratio, and by conducting sensitivity analyses restricting to non-Hispanic white participants that showed no meaningful differences from our main results. We also note that the FAHS includes a substantially smaller percentage of current smokers and overweight participants than the NHANES population, which would be expected to decrease the risk of several cancers, whereas we consistently observed increased cancer SPRs. At the same time, we should note that FAHS participants had fewer children than NHANES participants (which elevates the risk of breast cancer), though this is in part ameliorated by the fact that we observed associations between tenure as a flight attendant and breast cancer within parity subgroups. Even with the above reported sensitivity analyses, we acknowledge that the potential for residual confounding by cancer risk factor profile differences between the two study populations (such as for race and parity) still exists. In addition, health outcomes in our study and in the NHANES were based on self-report; validation through medical records was not possible due to the scope and cost of this endeavor. Validity of self-reported health outcomes varies by study population and the outcome of interest. Sensitivity and specificity of self-reported outcomes relative to medical records or linkage to disease registries were found to be moderate to high for common cancers (including breast cancer and melanoma), particularly among those with higher socioeconomic status, such as in our well-educated cohort [35]. However, this has not been the case for non-melanoma skin cancer. We should note that non-melanoma skin cancers are excluded from most U.S. cancer registries and may be under-reported by those that do include it [36]. This may explain why non-melanoma skin cancer assessed through the California Cancer Registry was not related to flight attendant work in a previous study [9], in contrast to many other studies conducted among cabin crew and pilots, including our own research presented here [11, 24]. A further limitation of our study is that we recruited flight attendants from a mix of company rosters, on-site airport recruitment, and an online/social media presence. Recruiting volunteer participants not recruited from employee files may have contributed to selection bias. For example, volunteer participants may differ from those recruited using a more randomized approach in terms of various factors, including their socioeconomic status, attitude toward health research, and factors related to time and ability to complete online surveys (which may also be related to health), as discussed in a recent analysis with regard to online recruitment in the Heart eHealth Study relative to NHANES [37]. However, the above analysis reported that, while selection bias was likely on a variety of factors, such as gender and marital status, it was much less likely to affect internal (rather than external) validity of exposure-outcome associations [37]. This is likely to be especially true in a relatively homogenous workforce than in a general population study recruited online. It is also important to note that an online recruitment strategy has many advantages in terms of efficiency, reliability of data collection and coding, and the ability to reach a wider range of potential study participants [37]. Our study may have attracted a disproportionate number of flight attendants with cancer, leading to detection bias, as flight attendants with worse health are likely to be more motivated to participate in an epidemiological study of flight attendant health, are likely to attend regular medical check-ups (this is true for flight attendants in general), and the question of cancer risk in relation to flight exposures is well known within the aviation community. However, it is reassuring that our results are consistent with previous studies that recruited participants from employee rosters [8–10]. Additional limitations of our study include reliance on job tenure as a surrogate for occupational exposures, lack of correction for multiple testing, insufficient power to evaluate less common cancers, and insufficient information on confounders for some cancers. In particular, we were not able to control for leisure-time UV exposure when evaluating skin cancer risk, though it should be noted that a large study found no difference in sunbathing habits between flight attendants and the general population [38]. We plan to evaluate specific exposures in future individual exposure-outcome analyses. Finally, we note that our reliance on prevalence rather than incidence of cancer confuses the issues of cancer risk and survivorship in interpreting our results. This is in part ameliorated by the fact that breast and skin cancers have relatively low mortality rates (especially for basal cell carcinoma, which is not considered fatal or disabling), and that we are comparing to prevalence rates in NHANES as well. Nevertheless, the limitation remains, and it is also important to note that flight attendants may differ from the general population of U.S. workers with regard to health insurance access, paid leave policies, and other benefits that could affect survivorship, and may be more likely to have access to an urban center with better quality health care for cancer treatment. It is reassuring that our results are consistent with previous studies that relied on cancer incidence [9, 10]. Strengths of our study include access to the resources of a large cohort of cabin crew with information on a range of cancer outcomes, work experiences, and potential confounders. In addition, online questionnaires are an increasingly popular option in epidemiologic research, including high profile studies such as the Millennium Cohort and the Nurses’ Health Study 3 [39]. This mode of data collection allows for validation checks, reduced data entry and coding errors, personalized question administration, convenience to participants, equal or better validity compared to hard copy questionnaires, and the collection of metadata, such as date, time, and time to completion, which can be used for quality control and sensitivity analyses [39]. Our study findings contribute to the sparse literature on flight attendant health, which may also be applicable to passengers, especially frequent flyers. Conducting high quality studies within this group of workers is important given that U.S. cabin crew are subject to fewer protections than most workers in this country and relative to flight attendants working in the European Union (EU). For example, the EU requires airlines to monitor radiation dose, organize schedules to reduce radiation exposure, and inform workers of current studies [40]. ||||| TIME Health For more, visit TIME Health Flight attendants are exposed to a number of known cancer-causing risks, but few studies have rigorously quantified that risk, and researchers say they are an understudied occupational group. The Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study (FAHS), begun in 2007, addresses some of the gaps in understanding health risks among flight attendants. In the latest report, published in the journal Environmental Health, researchers found that flight attendants had higher rates of many cancers, including breast cancer and melanoma, compared to the general population. The FAHS included more than 5,300 flight attendants who were recruited through online and mailed surveys, and given in person at airports. The flight attendants answered questions about their flight schedules, as well as any diagnoses of cancer. The researchers, led by Irina Mordukhovich, a research associate at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, then compared the responses to those from a matched group of people not in the airline profession from an ongoing national health survey. TIME Health Newsletter Get the latest health and science news, plus: burning questions and expert tips. View Sample Sign Up Now Mordukhovich found higher prevalence of breast, melanoma, uterine, gastrointestinal, thyroid and cervical cancers among the flight attendants compared to the general public. The study also revealed for the first time a higher rate of non-melanoma skin cancers, such as basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, among flight attendants. The prevalence of breast, melanoma and non-melanoma cancers were especially striking, says Mordukhovich. Flight attendants had a 51% higher prevalence of breast cancers, more than two-fold higher prevalence of melanoma and four-fold greater prevalence of non melanoma skin cancers, compared to people not in the profession. “Flight attendants are considered a historically understudied occupational group, so there is a lot we don’t know about their health,” says Mordukhovich. “What we do know for sure is the exposures that both pilots and flight attendants have—the main one being high radiation levels because of cosmic radiation at altitude.” That exposure may not be concerning for people taking individual flights, but for people whose jobs involve flying, that risk may have a negative effect on their health, as the study results suggest. “Little attention has been paid to job-related cancer risks for flight attendants,” says Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, a labor union group that represents 50,000 flight attendants, in a written response to TIME about the study. “The Harvard study shines light on this issue. Job-related cancer risk factors identified in the study include exposure to ionizing radiation, jet lag, pesticides, and other onboard chemicals. We will use the results to encourage airlines, airline manufacturers, and regulators to prevent exposures and change working conditions to reduce risk.” While cosmic radiation originates in outer space, small amounts reach the earth, and greater chances of exposure occur at higher altitudes. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer determined that ionizing radiation, like that found in cosmic radiation, can contribute to cancer in people. The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements reports that flight crews are exposed to the largest annual dose of radiation among U.S. radiation workers. But there are no limitations or regulations in the U.S. on how much exposure is safe for flight attendants. (Other radiation workers have certain occupational safety regulations in place to protect them from exposure and restrict risky exposure.) The European Union regulates flight attendant schedules and flying time of pregnant flight attendants to limit potentially dangerous exposures. Flight attendants also have disrupted sleep schedules, since they frequently cross time zones and aren’t able to maintain a regular circadian wake-sleep cycle. Other studies have linked shift work and disrupted circadian clocks to higher risk of breast and prostate cancers, possibly due to a reduced ability of DNA to repair itself and the way circadian rhythm processes may be connected to immune function. Mordukhovich says that the results need to be repeated by other groups to confirm the risk, but the data should raise concerns about the risk of cancer for flight attendants. (The risk for pilots may be similar, but this study focused specifically on flight attendants.) The Association of Flight Attendants did not provide comment in time for publication. The findings are particularly worrisome considering that according to data the study collected, flight attendants are in many respects healthier than the general public. They are, for example, less likely to smoke or be overweight, and have lower rates of heart disease. “The fact that we are seeing higher cancer rates in this study population is definitely striking,” she says. “We hope the study highlights issues about exposures that we know are problematic for flight attendants and pilots and aren’t currently being addressed. We have known carcinogens that flight crews are exposed to, and we’re hoping that this study allows people to start thinking about what should be done to implement protections.” ||||| Flight attendants may have a higher risk of a number of cancers, a new study finds. Researchers found that women and men on U.S. cabin crews have higher rates of many types of cancer, compared with the general population. This includes cancers of the breast, cervix, skin, thyroid and uterus, as well as gastrointestinal system cancers, which include colon, stomach, esophageal, liver and pancreatic cancers. One possible explanation for these increased rates is that flight attendants are exposed to a lot of known and potential carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents, within their work environment, said lead study author Irina Mordukhovich, a research associate at Harvard University's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. [10 Do's and Don'ts to Reduce Your Risk of Cancer] One of those carcinogens is cosmic ionizing radiation, which is elevated at higher altitudes, Mordukhovich told Live Science. This type of radiation is particularly damaging to DNA and is a known cause of breast cancer and nonmelanoma skin cancer, she said. Air cabin crews receive the highest yearly dose of ionizing radiation on the job of all U.S. workers, she added. In the new study, the researchers looked at data from more than 5,300 flight attendants from different airlines who completed an online survey as part of the Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study. The analysis looked at the cancer rates in these flight attendants compared to a group of about 2,700 people who had a similar income and educational status but were not flight attendants. The researchers found that in female flight attendants, the rates of breast cancer were about 50 percent higher than in women from the general population. In addition, melanoma rates were more than two times higher and nonmelanoma skin cancer rates were about four times higher in female flight attendants compared with women from the general population. (Nonmelanoma skin cancers include basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas.) These elevated cancer rates were observed despite indications of good-health behaviors, such as low levels of smoking and obesity, in the flight-attendant group as a whole, the study authors said. Cancer rates in male flight attendants were nearly 50 percent higher for melanoma and about 10 percent higher for nonmelanoma skin cancers compared with men from the general population group, according to the findings. The potential cancer risks for flight attendants are not limited to cosmic ionizing radiation. Cabin crew members are also regularly exposed to more UV radiation than the general population, which can make these workers more vulnerable to skin cancers, Mordukhovich said. In addition, some studies have found that circadian rhythm disruptions, such as jet lag, might be linked with an increased risk of cancer, she said. These disruptions could lead to changes in immune function and cell metabolism, which can reduce the suppression of tumors. Another possible threat to the health of cabin crew members is chemical exposure, according to the study. The women and men who worked as flight attendants prior to 1988, when smoking was first banned on some U.S. flights, were routinely exposed to secondhand smoke while on board the aircraft. Other chemical contaminants found in the cabin may include engine leakages, pesticides and flame retardants, which contain compounds that may act as hormone disruptors and increase the risk of some cancers, Mordukhovich said. Further complicating matters is that flight attendants in the U.S. don't have the same occupational protections as their counterparts in the European Union. There, exposure levels to radiation as well as work schedules are routinely monitored and adjusted to make sure flight attendants don't exceed certain guidelines for carcinogen exposure, Mordukhovich said. [5 Real Hazards of Air Travel] There has been only limited research on the health of flight attendants, but they may not be the only air travelers to experience higher rates of cancer. The rates may also be higher for pilots and people who fly often as passengers, Mordukhovich said. Studies of pilots have generally shown higher rates of skin and prostate cancers, she noted, adding that pilots also have been found to have circadian rhythm disruption, but these workers have somewhat more built-in protections around their scheduling and rest times than flight attendants do. Although the cancer risks for frequent flyers have not yet been studied, there is no reason to suspect these people would not have similar risks as those faced by cabin crews, Mordukhovich said. Some limitations of the study are that researchers were not able to take into consideration individual UV exposures, such as sunbathing habits or leisure-time activities, which could influence skin cancer risk. In addition, cancer rates were self-reported by study participants, and these diagnoses were not confirmed by a check of their medical records by the researchers, according to the study. The study was published online today (June 25) in the journal Environmental Health. Originally published on Live Science.

– Unfortunate news for flight attendants: A new study finds that they suffer from higher rates of many types of cancer than the general population. The researchers compared data from more than 5,300 flight attendants who completed a health survey to about 2,700 non-flight-attendants with similar income and educational status, LiveScience reports. Among their most striking findings: Female flight attendants had rates of breast cancer about 50% higher than women who weren't flight attendants; they also had melanoma rates more than two times higher and non-melanoma skin cancer rates about four times higher. And male flight attendants had melanoma rates of almost 50% higher than the general population of males and non-melanoma skin cancer rates of about 10% higher. Air cabin crew members were also found to have higher rates of cancers of the cervix, thyroid, and uterus, as well as gastrointestinal system cancers including colon, stomach, esophageal, liver, and pancreatic cancers. This despite the fact that the flight attendant group had, as a whole, indications of healthy behaviors including low levels of smoking and obesity. The researchers point out several possible reasons for the increased cancer risk: Flight attendants are exposed to many known and potential carcinogens, including the US' highest on-the-job dose of cosmic ionizing radiation, which is known to cause breast cancer and skin cancer. As Time explains, cosmic radiation originates in space, but small amounts make it to earth and exposure is more likely at higher altitudes. Cabin crew members are also regularly exposed to UV radiation and chemical contaminants from engine leakages, flame retardants, and more. Their circadian rhythms can be disrupted by jet lag, and such disruptions have also been linked to an increased risk of cancer. Researchers say pilots and frequent flyers may be at similar risk for the same reasons. (Here are five things airline workers would tell you if they could.)

There are several things fascinating about this Presidential election. As someone who has virtually given up on National politics, for me to say that is not an easy statement. The effect of the Donald Trump phenomenon has influenced far more than just his candidacy for the highest office in our nation. The most important aspect that I have noticed is that Christians, who have traditionally voted Republican, have been forced to deal with an identity crisis. Can they vote for a man like Donald Trump who barely pretends to hold to the true faith?[1] On the heels of this dilemma, they are questioning the basis for voting and the role their faith has in that decision. There is no doubt that Trump has said and done things that are too depraved to be repeated here, but so has Hillary Clinton, his opponent in this race for the White House. Isn’t she the greater evil and therefore Trump would be the better choice, the lesser evil? Is it acceptable for a Christian to vote for a man like Trump for President? This brings up the case of voting for the lesser of two evils. I have yet to meet anyone that actually believes Trump is an upstanding man of character. As for me personally, I have never been forced to wrestle with the ethical implications of my vote in any previous elections like I have in this one. This is in large part due to my role as being elected as a Republican Presidential Elector in the State of Texas. I have had to weigh what are the obligations of my personal vote in the ballot box and how do they differ from my representative vote as an Elector for the Electoral College. Before answering these questions we must first agree on the standard we appeal to, to decide such matters. I firmly believe that the Christian must always turn to the Bible as the revealed Word of God. If the Bible says we ought not to do something, then we ought not to do it. If it commands us to do something, then we had better well do it. This should seem like an obvious statement that doesn’t need to be written, but in the world of politics the obvious sometimes isn’t. The Bible has a lot to say about civil rulers and the standard He holds both them and us to. Qualifications What are the qualifications for someone who desires to serve in civil office in the Bible? There are many passages in scripture that have shaped my understanding of the biblical qualifications for civil office. Here is a brief glance at a few of them.[2] The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. ~ 2 Sam 23:3 These are the parting words of King David to the children of Israel. He gives them the minimum requirements, as evident by the must, for civil rulers. Dr. Phillip Kayser summarizes this passage well, “it appears that the absolute minimum is that he be male (‘he”), that he be subject to God’s law (“just”), and that he be a believer who rules in the fear of God. The ‘must’ indicates to me that this is God’s minimum standard.” God spoke through King David, a civil ruler, and gave an authoritative command (imperative) about what type of man a ruler must be. He must fear God and be just according to God’s law. We can also look to the qualifications Moses was given by Jethro for selecting judges that would help him rule on smaller cases. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. ~ Exodus 18:21 These are the same quality of men we see described in 2 Samuel. They are men who fear God and will rule justly according to God’s law. Moses repeats similar instructions to the Israelites before they are to enter the Promised Land, Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. ~ Deut 1:13 Since to be wise starts with fearing the Lord (Prov 1:7), it becomes clear that these are consistent qualifications throughout the Bible. God has given us a standard for our civil rulers. They are to be men that fear Him and are to rule justly according His law. This has implications for both the rulers and those choosing them. Interpretative Objections For those that disagree with this interpretation of scripture these are some common objections I hear most often. First, “doesn’t that only apply to Old Testament (theocratic) Israel?” It is a reasonable objection, but there are other passages that make it clear that this was not a one-time standard that only applied to one nation. Psalm 2 address all nations and kings of the earth. Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.” “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’” Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. It is obvious with references to “nations, kings of the earth, and judges of the earth” that the plain reading of this text is the calling of ALL civil leaders to submit to Christ’s law, rule justly, and serve Him or suffer the consequences. Again Dr. Kayser writes “Psalm 2 confirms this view. It prophesies concerning the New Testament era that any Gentile ruler that casts off God’s laws (v. 3), who rejects Christ’s Lordship (vv. 1-9), who fails to serve the Lord with fear (v. 11), and who refuses to ‘kiss the Son’ will have God angry with him and Christ will dash him with His rod of iron (judgment).” Christ has absolute authority over every person, church and nation. All government is upon His shoulders (Isa 9:6) and all civil authority is delegated by and from Him (John 19:11). Consider all of the pagan nations that God judged for their disobedience and it is evident that God holds all nations and their rulers to His standard of righteousness. A second objection is to reject that it applies to voting. The basic assumption in this objection is that Israel didn’t vote for their civil leaders therefore 2 Samuel can’t be an absolute binding standard upon voters. I believe the Bible presents a different picture, but before we turn to some examples we must first understand what exactly a vote is. We tend to think of voting only in terms of our personal experiences. However, a vote is simply the expression of who we desire to represent us in any elected position. To vote doesn’t require any set number of candidates or political parties. It only requires one person making a choice and expressing it in some recognizable action (Ex. ballot, raised hand, or voice). With that in mind, we find several examples of voting for civil office in the Bible. Here are a few.[3] We already looked at the passages relevant to Israel’s selection of judges under Moses. “Moreover you shall select from all the people, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens” (Exod 18:21) and “Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men…” (Deut 1:13). E.C. Wines writes, “No fact can be plainer, or more certain, than that the judges, instituted at the suggestion of Jethro, were chosen by the suffrages (voting) of all Israel. The direction of Moses to the people, upon that occasion, is very explicit.”[4] The people clearly voted verbally for Jephthan in the book of Judges: It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. Then they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon.” So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me, and expel me from my father’s house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon, and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head?” And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “The Lord will be a witness between us, if we do not do according to your words.” Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them; and Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. ~ Judges 11:4-11 Then there is the story of Israel choosing Saul to be their king as recorded from 1 Samuel in chapters 8-11. It concludes with this: So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. ~ 1 Samuel 11:15 The most famous of kings in the biblical record, David, is another example of a civil ruler being elected. It is noteworthy that David had been anointed by Samuel to be king years before he was willing to take the throne. He refused to take it himself. He waited until the men of Judah came to him. He waited until he was chosen by the people. So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. 2 Samuel 2:2-3 The last example we will look at of the people choosing their leader is King Solomon. Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.” So all the assembly blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Lord and the king. And they made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the next day: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. So they ate and drank before the Lord with great gladness on that day. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him before the Lord to be the leader, and Zadok to be priest. ~ 1 Chronicles 29:20-22 In each of these examples the people chose their leaders in some form or fashion. While the kings of Israel had certainly been anointed by God to serve in those positions that in no way discounts the role the people had in the selection process. For Daniel makes it clear that God always “removes and raises up kings.”[5] The biblical example is that the people are to choose, that is vote, for their civil leaders. The third objection to the application of these biblical qualifications for voting is that several of the kings already mentioned did not rule according this standard. In others words, they would say “we can’t look for perfectionism in our candidates because if that is the case Saul, David, and Solomon all failed the test. They were not men who feared God and ruled justly according to His law. If God raised them up to be kings than either a) God broke His own standard or b) the standard isn’t applicable.” First we have to understand the difference between the revealed will and secret will of God.[6] God can command His people to vote one way (revealed will) and hold them accountable for that vote. He can also at the same time use their disobedience to raise up an evil king according to His (secret) will. The fact that God uses people’s voting to bring both good and bad kings to power according to His will is not a contradiction and is perfectly consistent with His nature. Having said that, I do not think that Israel disobeyed these qualifications in these examples. To fear God and rule justly does not mean to be perfect. If we look at each of these men at the time they were put into office it appears they were all qualified. Saul is said to have “the Spirit of the Lord depart”[7] from him which necessarily means he had the Spirit early on in his administration. David was a “man after God’s own heart, who would do His will.”[8] When Solomon came to power it was said of him that “the Lord his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly.”[9] Each of these men sinned greatly against the Lord during their administration, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t qualified at the time they were chosen. The qualifications of being godly men who fear the Lord and are able to rule justly does not require perfection. It only requires what it states. They must have a discernable fear of God and appear to rule in light of that fear. Pragmatic Objections I now want to address the three objections to these qualifications that I consider more pragmatic in nature than interpretive. The first objection is that we don’t have anyone biblically qualified by this standard in the race for President. “If we are commanded to choose, then we must choose the least evil candidate.” There is a case to be made that we must do all that we can to stop the greatest evil. However, in that process we must still vote for qualified candidates. Remember “must” was the term scripture used. We can not use a means that God disapproves of to bring about an end that will please Him. He doesn’t honor rebellion. Furthermore, it is just not true that we don’t have anyone qualified. There are hundreds of people running for President in 2016, many of which meet these qualifications. What people generally mean when they offer this objection is that there isn’t anyone in the Republican or Democratic Parties, and therefore anyone that “has a chance at winning”, that meet these qualifications. This is absolutely correct that there isn’t anyone in either of those parties that are biblically qualified. However, I have yet to find anywhere in God’s Word a command for us to only choose men that have a path to victory. The second objection is that a 3rd party vote is a vote for the Democratic candidate. The presumption in this objection is that Republican candidate deserves our vote and therefore if we do not vote for him, we have essentially withdrawn a vote that belongs to him. If we recall that a vote is simply the expression of who we desire to represent us in any elected position, then this becomes an illogical statement. If my choice is candidate X, then my choice doesn’t magically become candidate D by virtue of the fact that I didn’t chose candidate R. If I choose candidate X, then candidate X is my choice and only candidate X. The third objection is that the righteous thing to do is to stop the greater evil. First, this assumes that the Democratic Party is the greater evil therefore we must do everything we can to stop Hillary Clinton from winning. I can understand this position for there is no doubt that Hillary Clinton would be an evil President, but would she really be more evil than Trump in policy? Rather than going to the talking points of the political parties and inside operatives let’s look at the biggest issues that actually matter. If we look at where they stand on the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve, murdering of unborn children, undeclared wars, the complete disregard for private property, or our national debt; the only difference between the two is in style and rhetoric. Where it matters most, they will both pursue the same wicked policies. Even if I am wrong about their policies, and one is slightly better than the other, it still would not make it an ethically righteous decision to suddenly throw off the qualifications in hope of possibly having a slightly less evil government. Theologians and philosophers refer to this as situational ethics. Situational ethics says the morally right and wrong thing to do change based on the situation. The Bible knows nothing of situational ethics, God and His Word do not change. If God tells us we must choose (vote for) a righteous man that fears Him, we are not free to attach an “unless” to the end of that command. May we boldly proclaim that “God be true and every man a liar” (Rom 3:4). We must fear God, not man… or woman! Conclusion If civil leaders are expected to rule according this standard and they are judged when they do not (Psalm 2), then what can we expect as voters when we dismiss these qualifications that God has given us? My biggest concern as a Christian is what God expects of me as revealed in the Bible. I have yet to have anyone address these passages in satisfactory way that convinces me otherwise. It seems clear to me that God both calls me to vote and directs me to only vote for men who fear Him and are just according to God’s law. He doesn’t expect or allow me to add to his qualifications and seek for perfection. He also doesn’t hold me accountable for all the sins that these qualified men commit once in office. He does, however, give me clear commands for who is qualified and expects me to be obedient with my calling as a voter. Therefore, I can not in good conscience vote for Donald Trump for President. The lingering question that remains is: what does that mean for my role as Republican Presidential Elector? That is the topic for another article. Art Sisneros [1] I acknowledge he claims to be a person of faith, but his denial of basic Christian tenets like the need for forgiveness make his claim laughable and believed by nobody. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=80&v=A3l0e6nS9oI [2] For a more comprehensive list see http://fortifyingthekingdom.com/scriptural-qualifications-for-civic-office/ [3] For a more complete study on this subject I recommend Roots of the American Republic by E.C. Wines [4] E.C. Wines, Roots of the American Republic, P18 [5] Daniel 2:21 [6] Theologians refer to the revealed/prescriptive will vs. the secret/descriptive will of God. For more information see Appendix I in The Sovereignty of God by Arthur Pink. https://books.google.com/books?id=p3OOU3wL9YIC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=god%27s+secret+will+vs.+revealed+will&source=bl&ots=l7WglX2zw6&sig=7lTlmHAZurEUeTT5cpU_dEYvMig&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6jLnrsZPQAhVpslQKHS–Dqo4ChDoAQhEMAc#v=onepage&q=god’s%20secret%20will%20vs.%20revealed%20will&f=false [7] 1 Samuel 16:14 [8] 1 Samuel 13:14, Act 13:22 [9] 2 Chronicles 1:1 Advertisements ||||| Texas GOP elector resigns rather than vote for Donald Trump AUSTIN – A Republican member of the Electoral College from Texas has resigned his position after writing last weekend that he could not vote for President-elect Donald Trump. Art Sisneros of Dayton, who explained his decision in a blog post, acknowledged that Trump will be president in January, but said casting his vote for the New York businessman “would bring dishonor to God.” Resigning would allow the remaining electors to fill his vacancy with someone who will vote for the president-elect during Texas electors’ Dec. 19 meeting, Sisneros added. “I do not see how Donald Trump is biblically qualified to serve in the office of the Presidency,” he wrote. “Of the hundreds of angry messages that I have received, not one has made a convincing case from scripture otherwise. If Trump is not qualified and my role, both morally and historically, as an elected official is to vote my conscience, then I cannot and will not vote for Donald Trump for President.” The Republican Party of Texas did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ||||| A Republican elector from Texas decided to resign from his position instead of voting for Donald Trump. | AP Photo Texas elector who criticized Trump says he’s resigning A Republican member of the Electoral College who had expressed reservations about supporting President-elect Donald Trump has opted instead to resign his position and turn it over to an alternate elector. Art Sisneros, a Texas Republican elector who told POLITICO in August that he was strongly weighing a vote against Trump, confirmed Monday that he would quit the position. Sisneros had said as recently as last week that he still hadn't decided how to cast his electoral vote. Story Continued Below Sisneros detailed his decision to resign in a little-noticed blog post over the weekend. In it, he argued that Trump is unqualified to be president — but also wrote that he knows he can’t prevent it from happening. “If Trump is not qualified and my role, both morally and historically, as an elected official is to vote my conscience, then I can not and will not vote for Donald Trump for President. I believe voting for Trump would bring dishonor to God,” Sisneros wrote. “The reality is Trump will be our President, no matter what my decision is.” Sisneros said his resignation is a reflection of his belief that “our republic is lost.” “Since I can’t in good conscience vote for Donald Trump, and yet have sinfully made a pledge that I would, the best option I see at this time is to resign my position as an Elector,” Sisneros wrote. “This will allow the remaining body of Electors to fill my vacancy when they convene on Dec 19 with someone that can vote for Trump. The people will get their vote … I will sleep well at night knowing I neither gave in to their demands nor caved to my convictions. I will also mourn the loss of our republic.” Texas Republican Party chairman Tom Mechler said Sisneros' replacement will be selected by the remaining Texas electors when they meet on Dec. 19. “We respect Mr. Sisneros’ decision and appreciate his willingness to step down from his position as a Presidential Elector in Texas," Mechler said in a statement. ||||| When running for the Presidential Elector Nominee some six months ago, I had no idea the conflict that would ensue both from without and within. To say that it has been an “educating experience” would be an understatement. I embarked on this journey with a basic understanding of the difference between a republic and a pure democracy. I knew the Constitutional Fathers[1] set up our government as the former and not the latter[2]. They had wisdom we lack. In my speech before the convention, I mentioned that nothing exemplified the difference between these two forms of the government more than the Electoral College. I admit, at the time, I was ignorant how deeply that held true. Republic vs Democracy The essence of a republic is that the authority rests in elected representatives, not in the people directly. Noah Webster defined a republic as, “A commonwealth; a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people. In modern usage, it differs from a democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person.”[3] The Electoral College was created with this mind. In the original design the Electors were chosen, either by an election or appointment[4], to represent the people of their district in the selection of a President. The assumption was these Electors would be 1) men most familiar with those that were capable of filling this office, 2) possess wisdom and discernment to know those who sought the office but weren’t capable, and 3) could be trusted to act in the best interest of those they represented. Alexander Hamilton said Electors would be, “A small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass, will be most likely to possess the information and discernment requisite to such complicated investigations.”[5] The Electors were to be men who were selected to make this vote based on their own discern ment. There is no indication that Electors were ever to be directed by the population at large on how to vote. Their votes were to be their own, made in the best interest of those they represented. That is the nature of true representation. Gary Alder writes in his concise of history of this system, “A presupposition that wise Electors who know how to nominate individuals of character, experience, virtue, and integrity underlies the whole process. The wisdom and integrity of the Electors is essential. The independence of the Electors is even more crucial. For the system to work, Electors must know how to choose—not be told who to choose.”[6] Today the average voter screams in opposition, “Why would they trust their Electors to make this choice on their own?” It is because the framers understood the nature of a republic. Ironically, though many of them would not have identified themselves as Christian, they understood this biblical concept of representative (covenant) heads more than most pastors do today. Representative heads act and speak on behalf of and in the best interest of those they represent. A limited analogy can be found in the family relationship. Parents are the representative heads of their kids.[7] When parents make a decision for the family, they do so on behalf of everyone they represent. Good parents act in the best interest of their children. At times this may even be contrary to the desire of the children. In most homes, kids do not have the right to vote to eat Skittles for dinner. It is not in their best interest. The parents have a delegated authority to protect those under their jurisdiction. Hamilton, in a similar way, saw the role of the body of Electors (representatives) as a protection for the nation. “The process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States. It will not be too strong to say, that there will be a constant probability of seeing the station filled by characters pre-eminent for ability and virtue.”[8] Unfortunately, we no longer operate with the same wisdom and discernment as our forefathers. Where they warned of the evils they experienced which “flow from the excess of democracy,”[9] we demand the voice of the people be heard. This difference between a republic and democracy is all but lost in public discourse by conservatives and progressives alike. Those on the left side of the aisle seem to bemoan the fact that the popular vote is ignored. Many don’t like that the representatives, Electors, even exist. They are calling for the abolishment of the Electoral College system completely. Conservatives aren’t much better. They don’t mind that the representatives in a republic exist as long as, contrary to Webster’s definition, no “power is lodged in their representatives.” They want the power in the people directly. The representatives are only there to do what the people demand. They want a democracy, not a republic. They want the power to vote for Skittles for dinner. This is evident by how they approach their legislators. They want them to do X, Y or Z because that is what “we the people” demand. The Constitutionality of it only matters when the legislators are listening to another faction of their constituency. Corrupted College The Electoral College was corrupted from its original intent once states started dictating the votes of the Electors. The two biggest aggressors to the original system were from political parties and the switch to winner-take-all states. The rise of political parties, as George Washington prophetically predicted, has had a “baneful effect”[10] on our nation. They have all but ruined our Electoral College system. Originally Electors were free from political parties and their pledges. What mattered most was the character and qualifications of the candidate, not the viability of their path to victory (primaries) or the team that any candidate represented. The Electors were also free from these statewide popular vote contests that run all but two states today.[11] “When James Madison and Hamilton, two of the most important architects of the Electoral College, saw this strategy [statewide popular vote] being taken by some states, they protested strongly. Madison and Hamilton both made it clear this approach violated the spirit of the Constitution. Hamilton considered a pre-pledged elector to violate the spirit of Article II of the Constitution insofar as such electors could make no ‘analysis’ or ‘deliberate’ concerning the candidates. Madison agreed entirely, saying that when the Constitution was written, all of its authors assumed individual electors would be elected in their districts and it was inconceivable a ‘general ticket’ of electors dictated by a state would supplant the concept. Madison wrote,[12] The district mode was mostly, if not exclusively in view when the Constitution was framed and adopted; & was exchanged for the general ticket.”[13] The current pledges most political parties make Electors sign after they are elected is contrary to the original intent of the Constitution. The fact that the pledge makes no mention of the biblical qualifications (I wrote about here) necessary for one to serve as President makes it an immoral pledge. Most will think I am just clinging to long forgotten principles that, quite frankly, no one cares about anymore. That may be true, but I would point to Principle 1 of the Republican Party of Texas 2016 Platform, which was passed at the same convention that elected me. We, the 2016 Republican Party of Texas, believe in this platform and expect our elected leaders to uphold these truths through acknowledgement and action. We believe in: “The laws of nature and nature’s God” and we support the strict adherence to the original language and intent of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions of the United States and of Texas.[14] The law of nature’s God give clear principles for electing civil leaders. The original intent of the Constitution gives a specific method that to apply those principles. The Republican party of Texas declares their #1 principle is to honor God and original intent of the Constitution. They then force Electors to make a pledge that is contrary to both. To point out this discrepancy is treasonous. Conflicted Elector I admit all of this has left me deeply troubled and conflicted as an Elector. When asking the three wisest men I know about the wisest decision I should make, I received three different answers. As an Elector, I came to conclusion I have three options under our current system. I can 1) vote for the nominee of their party under which I was elected, 2) vote for someone else and be considered a faithless elector (a term I despise), or 3) I could resign my position if the candidate turns out to be someone I can not, in good conscience, vote for. I believe under the right circumstances every option is not only valid, but can be ethically the righteous thing for a Christian to do. The question that everyone wants answered is, what will I, an Elector who is under the conviction that our nominee is not a biblically qualified candidate, do? After wavering back and forth, my conscience is finally at peace with the decision I’ve made. Voting for the nominee of our party, Mr. Trump, is certainly what the vast majority of Republicans are urging me to do. I have yet to find anyone that has biblically answered my first article. They don’t make the case that Trump is indeed biblically qualified. I have had a few people take issue with the original intent of the Electoral College and my job as an Elector. Once presented with the evidence they usually acknowledge the validity of the original intent, but claim that has changed. The biggest beef most people have with me being so “arrogant” as to publicly state “this issue is so important that I am going to think about it” is that I signed the pledge. I have already expressed my reasons why I think the pledge is an immoral, unlawful pledge that the GOP makes Electors sign. It undermines the Bible and the Constitution. But they are 100% correct. I did, in fact, sign the pledge. It was a voluntary pledge and I willingly signed it. I was wrong in signing this pledge and not communicating to the body when I ran that my conscience would not be bound by it. I honestly did not have the convictions about the original purpose of the Electoral College or the biblical qualifications until after I was an Elector. The Bible calls this a rash oath and warns against making them.[15] It clearly states, “if a person swears, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or good, whatever it is that a man may pronounce by an oath, and he is unaware of it- when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty in any of these matters. And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing.”[16] To be ignorant of all the details involved in an oath (pledge) does not excuse the sin of making that oath. One thing is clear, I have sinned in signing that pledge. I humbly confess that it was wrong for me to do so. I am grateful for the forgiveness I have in Christ for all my foolishness. The heart of this issue now is, does honoring the pledge cause me to sin? If it does, then I am obligated not to honor it.[17] If it doesn’t, then I am obligated to honor it.[18] My second option is to be a “Faithless Elector.” A Faithless Elector is an Elector that casts his vote contrary to any party pledge or state law he may be bound by.[19] On the surface this seems like it would be difficult to justify how being faithless could be a righteous act. Aren’t Electors elected to represent the people? Yes, they absolutely are. That only begs the question, what does it mean to represent the people? This is where our understanding or lack thereof of a representative form of government comes into play. As an elected representative head, I am to speak on behalf of and in the interest of the CD36. It is my conviction that the greatest danger to my district is not a Hillary or Trump Presidency, but it is the judgement of God. If we continue to disobey His clear commands, we can expect to receive His judgement. If being a “Faithless Elector” means standing alone on principle in the hopes that God would continue to grant patience on our district, then it is worth any political future, threats to my safety, and whatever else may come my way. The last option I see for me is resigning from this position. The Republican Party of Texas has an immoral pledge because that is what the people want. They want a democracy. They want their popular vote across the state counted. They do not care about the authority of the office of an Elector. As long as they have someone to do what the people demand, they don’t care who it is. Conclusion I do not see how Donald Trump is biblically qualified to serve in the office of the Presidency. Of the hundreds of angry messages that I have received, not one has made a convincing case from scripture otherwise. If Trump is not qualified and my role, both morally and historically, as an elected official is to vote my conscience, then I can not and will not vote for Donald Trump for President. I believe voting for Trump would bring dishonor to God. The reality is Trump will be our President, no matter what my decision is. Many are furious that I am willing to have this discussion publicly. Personally, I wish more civil officers would be honest about their convictions. Assuming a Trump Presidency is their ultimate goal, they will get that. The problem is, that isn’t what they want. They want a democracy. They will threaten to kill anyone who challenges their power to vote for Skittles for dinner. That is evidence alone to prove that our republic is lost. The shell may remain, but in the hearts of the people and functionality of the system our republic is gone. I also believe that a pledge is a man’s word that he will follow through on something he committed to. God’s Word is clear we should all “let our ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and our ‘no,’s ‘no.”[20] I believe to resign is to honor the intent of the pledge as it relates to the people of my district. Since I can’t in good conscience vote for Donald Trump, and yet have sinfully made a pledge that I would, the best option I see at this time is to resign my position as an Elector. This will allow the remaining body of Electors to fill my vacancy when they convene on Dec 19 with someone that can vote for Trump. The people will get their vote. They will get their Skittles for dinner. I will sleep well at night knowing I neither gave in to their demands nor caved to my convictions. I will also mourn the loss of our republic. Art Sisneros [1] The true founding fathers were those men that established the culture and law of our land some 150 years before 1776. [2] James Madison takes up this issue in Federalist# 10 http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa10.htm [3] American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 Noah Webster [4] In 1792- 9 out of 15 states appointed electors by 1836 23 out of 24 states went to elected electors- The Founders’ Constitution vol 3 pp. 552-553 [5] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp [6] The Evolution and Destruction of the Original Electoral College, Gary Alder p. 44 [7] Ephesians 5:22-6:4 [8] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed68.asp [9] United States-Formation of the Union, P 125 Elridge Gerry at Constitutional Convention [10] George Washington Collection, p 519 [11] Maine and Nebraska are currently to only states that do not have a winner take all system. [12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_(United_States)#Breakdown_and_revision [13] “Founders Online: James Madison to George Hay, 23 August 1823″. [14] https://3npv5lo075n4f1mrxbxvz8hv-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/PERM-PLATFORM-as-Amended-by-Gen-Body-5.13.16.pdf [15] 1 Samuel 14:24-52 and Judges 11:29-40 give examples of rash oaths [16] Leviticus 5:4,5 [17] 1 Samuel 14:44,45 Israel interposed on Jonathan’s behalf. Lev 27 details how to buy back (redeem) after a vow has been made. The vow was not eternally binding. For the Christian, redemption was accomplished on cross. [18] Numbers 30:2 [19] Twenty-one states do not have laws compelling their electors to vote for a pledged candidate. Twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia have laws to penalize faithless electors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector [20] Matthew 5:37 Advertisements

– There's been talk of "faithless electors" trying to overturn the Electoral College vote on Dec. 19 that presumably will fall in Donald Trump's favor, but one Texas elector has so much faith that he's taking a different route, per the Houston Chronicle: He's resigning his GOP elector's post entirely. In what Politico calls a "little noticed" blog post from the weekend titled "Conflicted Elector in a Corrupt College," Art Sisneros of Dayton explains the difference between a republic and a democracy, states that most electors are forced to make pledges that flout both the Bible and the Constitution, and proclaims he's stepping down as an elector because, although the "vast majority of Republicans" are pleading with him to vote for Trump, "they don't make the case that Trump is indeed biblically qualified." "I believe voting for Trump would bring dishonor to God," Sisneros adds, comparing electors to parents who are supposed to step in so their kids won't gorge on Skittles for dinner—but who, in what he says is the conservative view, still go by what the people say. By resigning, he says, another elector can step in, and "the people will get their vote. They will get their Skittles for dinner. I will sleep well at night knowing I neither gave in to their demands nor caved to my convictions. I will also mourn the loss of our republic." Sisneros also acknowledges that in regard to the "biblical qualifications" he thinks candidates should possess, "most will think I am just clinging to long forgotten principles that, quite frankly, no one cares about anymore." The Republican Party of Texas didn't immediately get back to the Chronicle for comment.

And Republicans in particular will be especially wary of proclamations of inevitability that come from media who do not have conservatives’ best interests at heart. Conservatives will resist declarations from a political class who have an interest in diminishing their range of choice. And wouldn’t the GOP nominee—whether Mitt Romney or someone else—end up a stronger candidate if he doesn’t coast to a supposedly inevitable nomination, but has to earn it (viz. Ronald Reagan in 1980 and George W. Bush in 2000)? For one thing, his nomination is evitable—perhaps all too evitable (see below). For another, we are a proud, self-governing people. We’re sometimes even an obstreperous bunch—and a good thing it is for the cause of liberty. We often balk at yielding meekly to claims of inevitability. Here in America, we the people rule by electing. We don’t bow to those anointed by pundits. Nor has Romney always been in the lead. In three of the four most recent polls, he’s trailed another candidate. The good news for Romney—the very good news for Romney—is that it’s been a different person each time. Rick Perry, who was at 29 percent at the end of August, has collapsed to 7 percent in the latest survey. Herman Cain, who polled at 24 percent a month ago, is now at 15 percent. If Newt Gingrich, who now edges Romney out at 23 percent, follows in the path of Perry and Cain (and Michele Bachmann, to some degree, before them), then Romney may well win as the last man standing. But that’s a big if. Gingrich may not follow the Bachmann-Perry-Cain trajectory of rapid rise and rapid fall. He is a far more experienced national politician than they. He’s a familiar figure. It’s not as if, like Bachmann, he’s making a favorable first impression that will then be qualified, or, like Perry, that the idea of the candidate will be very different from the reality, or that, like Herman Cain, he seems a breath of fresh air. Voters who have warmed to Gingrich in the last few months could still have second thoughts, and his rise may stall and reverse. It will indeed be surprising if he doesn’t now hit some bumps in the road. But he could be formidable. And the massive fact of the race so far is that, as various candidates have shed supporters, those voters have looked for someone to go to other than Romney. One could almost say they’re going out of their way not to go to Romney. That could well change, of course. Romney will have the resources and the standing to make his case forcefully to these voters. And Romney defeats President Obama in the latest Fox poll, 44-42, while Gingrich trails, 46-41. That will be an important point in Romney’s favor among GOP primary voters eager to defeat the president. Can Gingrich come close to evening the poll results in the Obama matchup? That’s something to watch for. And more generally, can he rise to the occasion as a co-frontrunner, or will he fumble the ball? Will his famous baggage just prove too heavy? Who knows? We don’t think the inevitable answer is yes. And even if Gingrich fades, let’s not assume it’s over. Bachmann and Santorum could still have a run in Iowa. If they continue to trail badly, it’s not out of the question that someone else could still present himself in mid-December to the citizens of Iowa (Hi there, Mike Huckabee! Hello, Sarah Palin!). Or, if Iowa (January 3), New Hampshire (January 10), and South Carolina (January 21) produce fragmented results, and the state of the race is disheartening to Republicans, a late January entry by another candidate isn’t out of the question, either. Couldn’t Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio win the January 31 Florida primary as a write-in candidate in such circumstances? With a splintered field in a turbulent time in the Internet age, there are more possible outcomes in today’s politics than are dreamt of in the philosophy of inevitability. ||||| Republicans figured that once voters learned of President Clinton’s White House trysts with intern Monica Lewinsky and dalliances with other women, they’d turn on him and give Republicans a big victory in the 1998 midterm elections. Instead, Clinton’s popularity held steady, and Republicans lost five House seats. A similar phenomenon occurred in 2003 when Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for California governor in a recall election. The media dredged up stories of his chronic groping of women. Voters, intent on ousting Governor Gray Davis, didn’t care. Schwarzenegger won and was reelected in 2006. They were wrong. It wasn’t that voters ignored Reagan’s offbeat comments. They just didn’t think eccentric statements he’d made over the years were important. Bigger things were at stake, like Soviet aggression and a stagnant economy. And Reagan had better answers than Carter. In 1980, when Ronald Reagan emerged as the likely Republican presidential nominee, President Carter’s advisers were thrilled. They’d done extensive opposition research. By pointing to what Reagan had said in speeches, radio commentaries, newspaper columns, and conversations, they assumed it would be easy to characterize him as a right-wing extremist. And enough voters would reject him and reelect Carter. Before you dismiss Newt Gingrich for having too much “baggage” to win the Republican presidential nomination, much less the presidency, consider this: The point is this: Gingrich probably has at least as good a chance of getting a pass on his various transgressions in 2012 as Reagan, Schwarzenegger, and Clinton did. If 2012 were an ordinary election year, Gingrich would be doomed by his gaffes, three marriages, and fleeting alliances with Hillary Clinton on health care and Nancy Pelosi on global warming. But 2012 is different. Republicans are fixated on defeating President Obama. They’re obsessed. They think about little else. And if that means choosing a candidate with a lurid past and a penchant for self-destruction to beat Obama, Republicans are likely to swallow hard and nominate Gingrich. In their hearts, Republicans have always wanted a candidate who is bold and tough, and Gingrich is. They’re not sure about Mitt Romney, who is cautious, conventional, and sounds more conciliatory than Gingrich. There’s a reason Romney’s support has been stuck for months at roughly a quarter of the Republican electorate. His blandness explains it. Gingrich is anything but bland. To rally behind Gingrich, Repub-licans wouldn’t have to forgive his past sins, just treat them as irrelevant. They already talk about how sweet it would be to see Gingrich crush Obama in presidential debates. They don’t see Romney that way. But Romney has two important traits Gingrich lacks: carefulness and self-discipline. He doesn’t shoot off his mouth recklessly, as Gingrich often has. In May, the former House speaker practically blew up his campaign by attacking Representative Paul Ryan’s Medicare reform plan as “right-wing social engineering.” He later apologized. Talk to any of Gingrich’s current or former associates and you hear about the “bad Newt.” This is the undisciplined Gingrich, prone, as one long-time friend says, “to overshoot the runway on something,” perhaps with a wild and inappropriate comment that’s ruinous to his campaign. Many of those who know him believe it’s only a matter of time before he runs amok. Believe it or not, his press secretary, R.C. Hammond, insists Gingrich has gotten a grip on himself. According to Hammond, “the only thing Newt says to himself before each debate is, ‘My goal tonight is to not screw anything up.’ ” He’s largely succeeded. True, he called Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke “corrupt” and labeled President Obama “the most effective food stamp president in American history.” And in a debate in October, Gingrich said, “If you want to put people in jail . . . you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.” In other debates, he said Congress should immediately “defund the National Labor Relations Board” and abolish the Congressional Budget Office. Amazingly enough, the press barely raised an eyebrow. Even when Gingrich made a specialty out of quarreling with questioners at the debates, the media response was tepid. In August, he asked Chris Wallace of Fox News to “put aside the gotcha questions.” Later in the same debate, Gingrich said he’d “love to see the rest of tonight’s debate asking us about what we would do to lead an America whose president has failed to lead instead of playing Mickey Mouse games.”

– Look out, Mitt. The conservative Weekly Standard thinks Newt Gingrich has a legit shot at being the nominee. In the new cover story, Fred Barnes writes that GOP voters are so "obsessed" with defeating President Obama they'd be willing to overlook Gingrich's "past sins," including his three marriages and policy forays with Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. Romney remains "bland" in the eyes of many GOP voters, and Gingrich is most definitely not bland, adds Barnes. If Gingrich can avoid his tendency to go off on reckless tangents, the race could be his. "He’s hardly a perfect candidate, but against a weak field, he can win the nomination and beat Obama in a tight race," writes Barnes. In his own column, editor William Kristol adds that it would be a mistake to consider Romney the "inevitable" nominee, just as it would be a mistake to assume that Gingrich will fade in the polls as Bachmann, Cain, and Perry have. He's a savvy politician, and "he could be formidable." (Click to read how Gingrich's website is taking the offensive against critics.)

The specimen is very well preserved in three dimensions, with the bones in natural articulation (Figs 2 and 3a; see also Supplementary Information Table S1). The limbs are splayed out sideways relative to the trunk, and the neck is curved upwards, such that the head is elevated relative to the remainder of the body. Because the specimen was collected by a farmer and construction workers, and it was not mapped in situ while being excavated, it is difficult to interpret what biological and/or taphonomic processes caused this strange posture. Judging by the fine state of preservation, the specimen probably was originally complete or nearly complete. However, some portions of the skeleton are missing, such as the distal regions of the arms, the right pelvic girdle and hind leg, and parts of the tail. This is because the specimen was collected by workers at an active construction site. The specimen was exposed after workmen blasted away some of the surrounding rocks with TNT; a drill hole where TNT was placed can be seen near the pelvic girdle. The skull is almost completely preserved. It is missing only small portions of the anterior end of the premaxilla and nasals, and a small part of the right lower jaw. The most salient feature of the skull is that the cranial roof is dome-like, with its highest point above the posterodorsal corner of the orbit. Many other oviraptorosaurs possess cranial ornaments, which in some cases are elaborate and highly pneumatic (Fig. 4). However, in other taxa these crests are usually thinner (such as in Nemegtomaia36,37,38, it is 6 mm) than the dome-like condition in Tongtianlong. Furthermore, in other taxa these crests are peaked further anteriorly relative to Tongtianlong, either at the anterior end of the snout above the external naris and antorbital fenestra (as in Banji, Citipati, Oviraptor, and Nemegtomaia), or at approximately the midpoint of the cranium above the orbit (as in Rinchenia, Huanansaurus, and caenagnathids like Anzu41) (Fig. 6). Therefore, the posteriorly-peaked dome-like crest of Tongtianlong is autapomorphic among oviraptorosaurs, and a novel type of cranial ornamentation in this highly variable clade. The fine three-dimensional preservation of the specimen ensures that the shape of the dome-like crest is not an artefact of crushing or deformation. There are five main openings in the cranium, as is standard for oviraptorosaurs and other dinosaurs. Anteriorly a large, oval-shaped external naris is positioned above a slightly smaller, triangular antorbital fenestra (Fig. 4). The anteroventral corner of the naris is located far above the level of the posterodorsal corner of the antorbital fenestra, which is also the case in Nemegtomaia and Rinchenia, but differs from the condition in most other oviraptorosaurs, in which the naris extends further ventrally so that it reaches past the posterodorsal corner of the antorbital fenestra (Fig. 6). The orbit is large and nearly circular, as is typical for oviraptorosaurs. The lateral temporal fenestra is the largest opening in the skull. It is rectangular, with a long axis that extends slightly anteroventrally, which differs from the more circular or square fenestrae of many other oviraptorosaurs. The supratemporal fenestra is positioned above the lateral temporal fenestra and is partially visible in lateral view. It is much smaller than the orbit and lateral temporal fenestra. The premaxilla is toothless like in all derived oviraptorosaurs. The left and right premaxillae appear to be unfused to each other, based on open sutures in the region of the broken dorsal surfaces of both bones, but the premaxilla and maxilla are fused together without a clear sutural trace. The anterior margin of the premaxilla is highly convex, which is an autapomorphy of Tongtianlong. Most other oviraptorosaurs have a straight anterior premaxilla (e.g., Citipati42, Khaan42), and this is also the case in the Ganzhou oviraptorid Huanasaurus29. Yulong and the Ganzhou oviraptorid Banji have a slightly rounded anterior margin of the premaxilla in lateral view, but it is not nearly as convex as in Tongtianlong. The premaxilla is divided into two branches, both of which extend posterodorsally. The upper one forms the anterodorsal margin of the external naris, whereas the much wider lower one forms most of the anterodorsal margin of the antorbital fenestra, thus separating the naris from the antorbital fenestra and completely excluding the maxilla from the narial border. The posterior end of this branch overlaps the lateral surface of the lacrimal. The divergence of the two branches defines the shape of the external naris. Anteroventral to the naris, a deeply concave fossa extends on the lateral surface of the premaxilla, as in Huanasaurus29, Yulong10, and Nemegtomaia37,38, but unlike the slightly concave surface in Citipati6. The maxilla is very small and exposed only as a tiny sliver of bone in lateral view. It forms the ventral margin of the antorbital opening and lacks teeth, but has a small triangular ‘tooth-like’ process on its ventral surface. The lacrimal is divided into three branches: a short anterior process that is covered by the premaxilla, a bulbous posterior process that extends dorsally to define the anterodorsal corner of the orbit, and a large ventral shaft. The shape of the shaft is unique: whereas in other oviraptorosaurs the lacrimal shaft is gracile (thin anteroposteriorly) and has at least a partially convex lateral surface (Fig. 6), in Tongtianlong it is robust (thick anteroposteriorly) with a flat lateral surface (Fig. 4). In effect, the lacrimal shaft of Tongtianlong is plate-like, which is considered an autapomorphy of the taxon. In the region where the three processes meet, the lateral surface of the lacrimal is penetrated by a large opening (called the nasopharyngeal canal by Balanoff and Norell43) that leads into an internal recess, which is further subdivided internally. Anteroventral to this pneumatic opening is an ovoid fossa on the lateral surface of the lacrimal, which is probably also pneumatic in origin, and which may also invade the bone internally, although poor preservation makes this difficult to confirm. Complex pneumaticity in this region is common in oviraptorosaurs6,43). However, the pneumatic openings in Tongtianlong are much larger and more elaborate than the corresponding pneumaticity in the two Ganzhou oviraptorids with well-preserved cranial material, Huanansaurus29 and Banji26. The postorbital is triradiate, with short anterior and posterior processes and a very long ventral process that projects anteroventrally, terminating at the floor of the orbit. The slender and elongate jugal is divided into three branches. The rod-like anterior process contacts the lacrimal and maxilla. The short ascending process extends posterodorsally to make up approximately half of the postorbital bar separating the orbit and lateral temporal fenestra. The posterior process contacts the quadratojugal underneath the lateral temporal fenestra. Here, the jugal overlaps the quadratojugal laterally, and the two bones are sutured but not fused. The quadratojugal is tightly appressed to the lateral surface of the quadrate, and it does not appear that the two bones could move relative to each other. There is, however, a small fenestra between the small dorsal process of the quadratojugal and the lateral margin of the quadrate. The dorsal part of quadrate is bent backwards, and there is an opening on the anterior surface of the quadrate which indicates that the bone is pneumatized. On the skull roof, the dorsal surface of the posterior portion of the nasal is smoothly convex. The left and right nasals are fused, without any sign of a suture between them. The lateral surface of the nasal is strongly concave, and although the surface is not well preserved, visible regions of original bone texture indicate extreme pneumaticity in this region, as is standard for derived oviraptorosaurs. The nasal-frontal suture is V-shaped in dorsal view. The frontals are short anteroposteriorly, and the left and right elements are not fused on the midline. The two parietals are fused to each other, but not to the frontals and there is no parietal crest (see also Supplementary Information, Fig. S1b). The frontal-parietal suture is mostly straight, but there is a distinct process extending forwards from the middle of the anterior margin of the parietal (Fig. 3d, pp). This process is wedged between the frontals. It is considered an autapomorphy of Tongtianlong, as it is absent in other oviraptorosaurs. Portions of the braincase are visible in lateral and posterior view. The supraoccipital is triangular, which a concave posterior surface. The exoccipital-opisthotic forms the dorsal margin of the foramen magnum, thus separating the supraoccipital from the foramen margin. The exoccipital tapers as it extends lateroventrally. The occipital condyle is larger than the foramen magnum, a condition that is seen in some caenagnathids (e.g., Anzu41), but differs from the proportionally smaller occipital condyles of other oviraptorids. The occipital condyle is located posterior to the articular condyles of the quadrate. The mandible is nearly complete. In lateral view, the ventral margin of the lower jaw is straight. The anterior end of the dentary is not as strongly downturned as in other derived oviraptorids. There is no depressed fossa on the lateral surface of the dentary immediately anterior to the external mandibular fenestra, and there are no articular grooves for the dentary on the ventrolateral edge of the angular and the dorsal surface of the surangular. The dentary contributes widely to the dorsal and ventral margins of the external mandibular fenestra, which is more anteroposteriorly elongated than the circular fenestrae of many other oviraptorids. The posterior part of the surangular is strongly concave laterally, and is pierced by a small opening. Postcranially, the neck is comprised of 11 cervical vertebrae. The first nine of these are preserved in natural articulation, with their dorsal surfaces exposed. In dorsal view the anterior-middle cervicals are roughly square shaped, as defined by lines drawn between the posterior margins of the postzygapophyses, the anterior margins of the prezygapophyses, and the lateral edge of the vertebra (Fig. 3e). They become more rectangular in shape, longer than wide, more posteriorly in the neck. The neural spines are very small, as they are reduced to tiny peg-like projections at the center of the neural arches. The epipophyses are well developed in the second, third and fourth cervical vertebrae, but they become smaller in the middle cervicals and then disappear posterior to the sixth vertebra. There is a pneumatic opening (=pleurocoel) visible on the slightly exposed lateral centrum surface of the second cervical, but the lateral surfaces of the remaining cervicals are covered by matrix. The isolated posterior cervical vertebra, which is not in close articulation with the rest of the neck and therefore more widely exposed than the others, has a concave anterior articular surface of the centrum and a slightly convex posterior articular surface. The dorsal vertebrae were heavily damaged during collection, so few details of their morphology can be observed. The neural spines of the posterior dorsals are tall and slightly expanded anteroposteriorly. Some dorsal ribs are present on both sides of the specimen, none of which exhibit any pneumatic openings on their proximal ends. The sacrum is not well preserved, but the anterior neural spines are clearly unfused to each other and were closely appressed to the medial surface of the ilium in dorsal view. There appears to be a pneumatic foramen (=pleurocoel) on the final sacral vertebra, and the lateral ends of the fused transverse processes and sacral ribs are strongly expanded anteroposteriorly, with rounded dorsal surfaces. Part of the distal tail is missing, but there are at least 19 caudal vertebrae. The caudals are rectangular in dorsal view, with elongate transverse processes that extend laterally and slightly posteriorly. One laterally exposed anterior caudal has a small opening that appears to be pneumatic in nature. The haemal arches are very long. Portions of the shoulder girdles and proximal forearms are present on both sides of the specimen. The scapula is slender and curved medially. Its proximal end is expanded but not fused to the coracoid, the two bones forming an angle of approximately 130 degrees when in articulation. The coracoid is quadrangular in shape and has a large distally tapering posteroventral process, which extends slightly past the glenoid and is rounded at its end. The lateral surface of the coracoid is convex, the distinct biceps tubercle is located anterior to the glenoid, and the small and elongated coracoid foramen is positioned between the dorsal margin of the bone and the biceps tubercle. The medial surface of the coracoid is deeply concave and the coracoid foramen is expressed as a much larger, more circular opening than on the lateral surface. The thin sternum is a single element consisting of fused left and right components. It lacks a lateral xiphoid process and there is no groove for the coracoids along its anterior margin. The furcula is a broadly U-shaped, with a short ventral process on the midline and flattened distal ends (Fig. 3b). The humerus has a long deltopectoral crest, which extends distally for nearly half the length of the shaft (Fig. 3c). The shaft is slightly twisted as in Heyuannia22 and Nankangia9. Part of the radius is preserved on the left side, but the ulnae and more distal forelimb elements are missing. Very few details of the pelvic girdle are apparent, due to damage that occurred during collecting. Parts of the ilium and pubis are present but little can be said of their morphology, although the preserved portions indicate that the pelvis is mesopubic and the distal ends of the left and right pubes are not fused together. The ischia are better preserved on the left side. The posterior margin of the shaft is deeply concave, the distal margin of the obturator process is straight, and the lateral surface of the bone is concave. The tibia is longer than the femur. It has a straight shaft, a well-developed cnemial crest, and an expanded distal end with a concave posterior surface. The astragalus is tightly appressed to the distal tibia. In posterior view, the ventral margin of the astragalus is concave dorsally, and in anterior view the ascending process is taller than wide. Two flattened distal tarsals are fused to each other and the proximal metatarsals. Distal tarsal III, which covers the proximal ends of metatarsals II and III, is larger than distal tarsal IV, which covers the proximal end of metatarsal IV. The left pes is partially preserved (See also Supplementary Information Fig. S2). Metatarsal III is longer than metatarsal II, which is longer than metatarsal IV. Metatarsal III remains visible along the length of the metatarsaus, with only a slight constriction near its proximal end. Metatarsal V is short and rod-like with a pointed distal end. It is approximately 35% of the length of metatarsal V. The single visible pedal ungual is slightly curved. Phylogenetic analysis Tongtianlong can clearly be assigned to Oviraptoridae based on numerous characters that are diagnostic of the clade (or proximal nodes within Oviraptorosauria), including: a pneumatic premaxilla; a medially inset subantorbital portion of the maxilla; fused nasals; a laterally projecting medial part of the lacrimal shaft that forms a flattened transverse bar in front of the eye; pneumatic skull roof bones; left and right iliac blades closely approaching or contacting each other on the midline1; and proximal caudals with pneumatized centra44. We added Tongtianlong to a modified version of the phylogenetic dataset of Lü et al.29, which itself was an updated version of the dataset of Lamanna et al.41. We changed some characters that were previously multistate characters combining absence/presence and morphological differences into two separate characters, and also ordered multistate characters that describe a progressive sequence of size or morphological change. The data matrix now includes 43 taxa scored for 237 characters (see Methods and Supplementary Information). The strict consensus of the 33,104 most parsimonious trees recovers Tongtianlong as deeply nested within Oviraptoridae (synapomorphies for Oviraptoridae and other major clades largely follow previous analyses of this dataset, and won’t be repeated here) (Fig. 7). Tongtianlong is the sister taxon to a sister-taxon pair of the Ganzhou oviraptorid Banji26 and Wulatelong from the Campanian of Inner Mongolia18. The subclade comprised of these three taxa is united by three synapomorphies: the lack of a sagittal crest along the interparietal contact (character 30), a jugal process of the postorbital that extends far ventrally (character 36), and the presence of a surangular foramen (character 94). Tongtianlong is not recovered as a particularly close relative of any of the four other Ganzhou oviraptorids. Of these, Nankangia is placed within a polytomy as one of the most basal oviraptorids, Huanansaurus is recovered as an ‘intermediate’ grade oviraptorid that is outside of the clade consisting of Tongtianlong and more derived oviraptorids, and Jiangxisaurus and Ganzhousaurus are positioned as very highly nested oviraptorids, as successive outgroups to the specialized subclade centered on Ingenia. Figure 7: Strict consensus of 33104 most parsimonious trees obtained by TNT, based on analysis of 43 taxa and 237 characters, showing the phylogenetic position of Tongtianlong limosus gen. et sp. nov. (Tree length = 566, consistency index = 0.484 and retention index = 0.676). Numbers adjacent to each node are Bremer support values. All the oviraptorid dinosaurs from southern China are in red. Full size image The phylogenetic separation between Tongtianlong and other Ganzhou oviraptorids provides further evidence for their generic separation. It is not outside of the realm of possibility, however, that future work on oviraptorosaur ontogeny may show that Tongtianlong is synonymous with another Ganzhou taxon. If this is the case, we suggest that Banji would be the most likely con-specific, as it is the most closely related to Tongtianlong and is based on a much smaller holotype that conceivably could belong to a juvenile26. With that said, we consider the phylogenetic separation of Tongtianlong and Banji, the possession of numerous autapomorphies in Tongtianlong that are not seen in Banji, and the many character differences between the holotypes of Tongtianlong and Banji to be strong evidence that the two are distinct taxa, based on our current understanding of oviraptorosaur ontogeny and morphology. ||||| View Images Artist's rendition of the last-ditch struggle of the feathered dinosaur, Tongtianlong limosus, as it was mired in mud. Illustration by Zhao Chuang Chinese construction workers excavating bedrock recently made an explosive discovery when they inadvertently unearthed an unusual new species of feathered dinosaur. The animal lived about 66 to 72 million years ago, right before a giant impact wiped out large dinosaurs in a catastrophic mass extinction. (Find out what happened on the day the dinosaurs died.) Scientists named the new species Tongtianlong limosus, or “muddy dragon on the road to heaven”—a prosaic way to describe its final moments before death, mired in mud with its limbs and head outstretched, struggling to escape. “This new dinosaur is one of the most beautiful, but saddest, fossils I’ve ever seen,” Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Geosciences, says in a press statement. “But we’re lucky that the mud dragon got stuck in the muck, because its skeleton is one of the best examples of a dinosaur that was flourishing during those final few million years before the asteroid came down and changed the world in an instant.” Dinosaurs of a Feather Tongtianlong belongs to a family of feathered dinosaurs called oviraptorosaurs, which had short, toothless heads and sharp beaks. Several species have been discovered in the last few decades in North America and Asia, ranging in size from four feet to over 22 feet long. The mud dragon, the sixth species to be found in the Ganzhou area of southern China, was about the size of a large sheep or small donkey, the researchers announced this week in Scientific Reports. In addition to size, one of the key distinguishing features among oviraptorosaurs is their crests, which were ornamental features used to attract mates and intimidate rivals. “They are similar to horns in some mammals today,” Brusatte tells National Geographic. “Often, different mammals have different types of horns, and that helps define the different species. Same with oviraptorosaurs. Tongtianlong had a domelike crest—a fairly simple, convex, helmet type of crest.” The existence of so many oviraptorosaurs species crowded together in one region of China has given scientists new insights into the twilight era of the dinosaurs. “They were diversifying during those few million years before the asteroid hit,” says Brusatte. “They are a sign that dinosaurs were still doing well at this time, still making new species, still dominating ecosystems.” (Also see “What Killed the Dinosaurs? Science Has Had Some Wild Ideas.”) Southern China back then was a “very dynamic and active environment,” he adds, describing it as a dense jungle forest with lots of rivers and lakes. In addition to the oviraptorosaurs, tyrannosaur species like Qianzhousaurus, big plant-eating sauropods, and duck-billed hadrosaurs roamed the region. Scientists suspect that the emergence of multiple oviraptorosaurs species in the same region was a case of evolutionary radiation. That’s when organisms rapidly diversify from their ancestral species, developing traits that allow them to adapt and thrive in multiple environmental niches. View Images The fossilized skeleton of the mud dragon was unearthed by Chinese construction workers clearing bedrock with dynamite. Photograph by Junchang Lu For instance, oviraptorosaurs are theropod dinosaurs that evolved from meat-eaters similar to Tyrannosaurus rex and the velociraptor. But the winged creatures lost their teeth, replacing them with beaks, which changed the types of foods they were able to pursue. “In birds today, we know that beaks can be used in many different ways to eat many different types of food,” says Brusatte. “So oviraptorosaurs probably were omnivorous, with different species targeting different types of food.” Some had a thick, horny bill paired with powerful jaw muscles, which meant they probably cracked open and ate clams. Others appeared to be herbivores. The mud dragon’s upper jaw is highly convex at the front of its snout, which implies a specialized diet. But Brusatte says that researchers are still unsure about what kind of food it ate with its uniquely shaped beak. The scientists are largely thankful that they even have a specimen to observe, given the circumstances of its discovery. ||||| The world’s unluckiest dinosaur died struggling to free itself from a muddy bog, a new fossil has shown. The bird-like species, was found lying on its front with its wings and neck outstretched. Scientists believed the creature became stuck in the mud about 66-72 million years ago as the species was evolving into a bird. It has been named Tongtianlong limosus, meaning ‘muddy dragon on the road to heaven’. Dr Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences, said: “This new dinosaur is one of the most beautiful, but saddest, fossils I’ve ever seen. “But we’re lucky that the ‘Mud Dragon’ got stuck in the muck, because its skeleton is one of the best examples of a dinosaur that was flourishing during those final few million years before the asteroid came down and changed the world in an instant.” ||||| Photo It had feathers and a beak. It was the size of a donkey, and it did not fly. It was not a bird, but a dinosaur that was a close relative of birds. In a paper published on Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports, a team of scientists described a fossil of Tongtianlong limosus, a new species in a strange group of dinosaurs that lived during the final 15 million years before dinosaurs became extinct. “They just look weird,” said Stephen L. Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and one of the authors of the paper. Dr. Brusatte described it as “alien-looking” with a pug-nose skull and a crest. Photo The first fragmentary fossils of this group of dinosaurs known as oviraptorosaurs were found nearly a century ago; newly discovered, well-preserved specimens are revealing more details about them. Tongtianlong limosus — the name means “muddy dragon on the road to heaven” — is the sixth from the region of Ganzhou. This particular fossil was unearthed four years ago by fortunate happenstance during the construction of a school. “This one was found by workmen who were blasting with dynamite,” Dr. Brusatte said. “It’s a fine line sometimes between discovery and knowing nothing.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story The fossil made its way to Junchang Lü, a paleontologist at the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in Beijing, who had earlier studied another oviraptorosaur from Ganzhou. (A construction boom there has created a fossil-discovery boom.) The fossil was found in an unusual posture, its limbs splayed and head raised. The scientists think it had become trapped in a quagmire and had died as it tried to pull itself out. “It is the first oviraptorid dinosaur preserved as struggling,” Dr. Lü wrote in an email. Photo Dr. Brusatte, who had collaborated with Dr. Lü on earlier projects, joined the study of Tongtianlong. Oviraptorosaurs are not direct ancestors of birds, but share a common theropod dinosaur ancestor with the lineage that later evolved to birds. Some features like the feathers come from the common ancestor, for display to potential mates or other creatures. “They were like advertising billboards,” Dr. Brusatte said. The common ancestor had teeth, though, not beaks. For oviraptorosaurs, the beaks were “convergent evolution,” when similar features evolve independently among different groups of animals. One of the unknowns is what Tongtianlong and other oviraptorosaurs were eating. Unlike better known theropods like velociraptors, “this guy was not a traditional meat eater,” Dr. Brusatte said. Perhaps it munched plants, nuts, insects, small animals or mollusks, Dr. Brusatte said. Or perhaps it ate a variety of foods. Or, as in birds, the beaks varied in shape among different species to feed in different ecological niches. More Reporting on Paleontology “Beaks are really good multipurpose tools,” Dr. Brusatte said. The six Ganzhou oviraptorosaur species discovered so far are also very different from each other, and the scientists argue that this shows rapid evolution of these dinosaurs. “Really blossoming” he said. That runs counter to the assertion of some paleontologists that dinosaurs were already in decline long before they became extinct 66 million years ago, most likely from the global devastation following a large asteroid impact. “This specimen is going to give us a much better idea how oviraptorosaurs are related to each other,” said Amy Balanoff, a scientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who was not involved with the research. “One of the interesting things about these specimens that are coming out of southern China is that they show this diversity of body forms.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story She was less certain about whether the rate of evolution is as fast as Dr. Brusatte argues, because the scientists lack precise dating of the layer of rock hundreds of yards thick where the fossils have been found. “You don’t know if it’s a million years or 10 million years,” she said.

– Workers were blasting through the ground of a school construction site in the Ganzhou region of China four years ago when they found what scientist Steve Brusatte is calling "one of the most beautiful, but saddest, fossils I've ever seen," reports the Telegraph. That's because the creature appears to have had some decidedly unlucky final moments, which left it with its wings splayed and head arched up. That's right, the well-preserved fossil shows a dinosaur that died stuck in a bog. "It is the first oviraptorid dinosaur preserved as struggling," one of the researchers tells the New York Times. Reporting in the journal Scientific Reports, the scientists from China and Scotland say they've named the bird-like theropod Tongtianlong limosus, or "muddy dragon on the road to heaven." It's the sixth species to be found in this part of southern China in five years, reports National Geographic, and while still fairly mysterious, a picture is beginning to emerge of the flightless, feathered dinosaur. It's about the size of a small donkey and belonged to a group of theropods called oviraptorosaurs—which "are some of the most unusual dinosaurs," the scientists write. Without teeth, it had a very sharp beak and seems to have been flourishing 70 million years ago, on the eve of the great asteroid impact that "changed the world in an instant," as Brusatte puts it. For this creature, at least, that instant came sooner, and likely didn't happen in a flash. (China is also home to a trove of 7,000-plus dino fossils.)

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Political and business leaders from the world's top economic powers start a two day meeting in Mexico on Monday. The summit comes at a crucial time for the global economy, as Michelle Fleury reports from Los Cabos in Mexico. ||||| 21.03 Europe may agree to relax the conditions of Greece's austerity measures, but there will be no major alterations to existing agreement, Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker has said. It would send the wrong signal if we made concessions without good reason. 20.43 Leaders of the world's emerging economies are willing to stump up more cash to prevent future crisies, but only in return for more clout at the negotiating table. In a statement released by India, the so-called BRICS of Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa said they had: agreed to increase resources available with the International Monetary Fund [to] promote adequate burden sharing amongst IMF creditors. These new contributions are being made in anticipation that all the reforms agreed upon in 2010 will be fully implemented in a timely manner, including a comprehensive reform of voting power and reform of quota shares. Brazilian president Dilma Roussef, Russian president Vladimir Putin, Indian PM Manmohan Singh, Chinese president Hu Jintao and South African president Jacob Zuma pose for group photo in Mexico on Monday (Photo: AFP) 20.08 Don't expect any solutions from the international junketing in Mexico, writes Jeremy Warner: Few G20 meetings are anything other than a waste of space, but this one more so than most, for the latest slowdown in the world economy is something that can only be convincingly dealt with by Europe. And as we already know, Europe is seemingly quite incapable of sorting out the hopeless muddle it has inflicted on itself. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has welcomed the outcome of the Greek election, but it must have been through gritted teeth. In fact, New Democracy's narrow victory is the worst possible outcome for Berlin. What a relief that Greece has voted to remain in the euro, German policymakers profess in public. Not, they mutter as an aside. There's virtually no politician in Greece who thinks the austerity of the bailout programme a price worth paying for membership of the euro; they all want to renegotiate the terms to some degree. The choice made by Greeks was therefore not one of in or out of the euro, but between the outright confrontation pledged by the radical left and the guerrilla warfare of renegotiation promised by the New Democracy leader, Antonis Samaras. This is scarcely going to help matters from a German perspective. 19.36 A pro-bail-out coalition government in Greece will be formed by tomorrow, according to sources cited by Reuters. A senior official with the conservative New Democracy party told the newswire that the country would also ask Europe to spread its €11.7bn austerity drive over four years instead of the current two. 19.13 Here's another chance to watch David Cameron talking about his sympathy for German concerns over Greece: 19.01 Mr Barroso has also insisted that Europe did not come to the G20 summit in Mexico to "receive lessons" on how to handle the economy. When asked by a Canadian journalist "why should North Americans risk their assets to help Europe?" He replied: Frankly, we are not coming here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy. By the way this crisis was not originated in Europe [...] Seeing as you mention North America, this crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices, from some sectors of the financial market. Oh dear... 18.37 A little more on what Jose Barroso, the European Union president, had to say earlier. He said that a mission from Greece's international lenders will be sent to Athens as soon as a government is formed there to assess how the bailout programme targets can be achieved. He added that Greece had made impressive budget savings, but failed to deliver needed structural reforms such as privatising state assets. 18.27 The prime minister urged the European Central Bank and the eurozone's strongest economies to do more to deal with the region's financial crisis. The two options are to “try to force down wages and prices at the periphery as fast as they can, or the core of the euro zone has to do more to support the periphery through greater burden sharing,” he said. 18.22 Speaking about the regulation of the banks, David Cameron said that Britain had taken steps to clean up its banks, as a "vital part of clearing up the mess inherited". He added that the UK had one of largest financial services sector in the world and wanted to make it "one of the safest". 18.09 David Cameron has also lambasted protectionism, saying there is "worrying evidence" of countries putting up trade barriers. He said that keeping trade rules fair was "absolutely vital". He also called on business to tackle poverty by campaigning on issues of trade and openness. 18.03 David Cameron is now addressing business leaders at the G20 summit. He says they have taken steps to make Britain one of the best places in the world to start and grow a business. He is advertising Britain's business opportunities, saying the country has some "huge underlying strengths", including some of the best universities in the world. The prime minister has also outlined five key threats to the global economy, including the "muddle-headed" thinking that over-indebted countries can spend their way out of trouble. He said that "bold action" was necessary to get finances back under control, adding there was an "unequivocal message that deficit reduction and growth are not alternatives, achieving the first is vital to achieving the second". Speaking about the eurozone, he said that political parties who say they want Greece to stay in the euro need to act accordingly and cannot afford to waste any time. He added that Britain did not join the eurozone because it did not want to give up sovereignty. But, he added that the eurozone's actions have a "direct impact on our economic fortunes". 17.45 Speaking at the G20 in Mexico, David Cameron has responded to Angela Merkel's comments that she does not want to see any loosening of Greece's agreed pledges to reform. He said he could quite understand German concerns that tax payers have been asked to put a lot of money into Greece and want "Greece to stick to its side of bargain". "But the truth is everyone in the Eurozone has to take difficult decisions to make the system work properly and ease crisis," he added. Asked whether he could see the crisis going on for years, he said "I very much hope that won't be the case". He added that if decisive, clear action is taken, we can see the crisis ease. "[The] alternatives are not good," he said. 17.35 Reuters has some further detail on what Herman Van Rompuy has been saying. He has apparently said that the eurozone is confident that the new Greek government will take ownership of the EU/IMF bailout programme; and that the first priority is to work on integrated bank supervision in the eurozone. 17.28 Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, has been speaking too: Twitter: Richard Blackden - Von Rumpuy says the public, investors + govts need to know that the euro project "knows its destination and that we know how to get there." 17.25 A little more detail on what Jose Barroso has been saying at this afternoon's press conference. The EC president has said that he wants a financial transaction tax globally; that Europe must work towards a banking union; and that Greece must implement necessary reforms. 17.22 Richard Blackden, the Telegraph's US Business Editor, has tweeted on the press conference with Jose Barroso, president of the European Commission: Twitter: Richard Blackden - Jose Barroso: eurobonds will not be a "licence to spend" money, though EU president says they will be considered #G20 17.15 President Barack Obama, who is due to meet Angela Merkel later today, also had this to say on the Greek election: I think the election in Greece yesterday indicates a positive prospect for not only them forming a government, but also them working constructively with their international partners in order that they can continue on the path of reform and do so in a way that also offers the prospects for the Greek people to succeed and prosper. 17.10 Standard & Poor's has issued its verdict on the Greek election, saying that it will have no immediate effect on Greece's ratings. But, the agency did add that while the short-term risk of Greece leaving the eurozone may have lessened, it still sees at least a one-in-three chance of its exit in the medium-to-long term. 17.03 Evangelos Venizelos, the leader of Greece's Socialist Pasok party, has said that the country must have a coalition by the end of tomorrow at the latest. Speaking in Athens, Venizelos said that a message of unity must be sent to the Greek people and a message of credibility sent abroad. He described comments from radical leftist leader, Alexander Tsipras, who today refused to join a coalition with the conservatives, as disappointing. He said efforts should continue to form a government with the widest possible participation, suggesting that Antonis Samaras, the New Democracy leader, use his mandate to call a meeting of party leaders under President Karolos Papoulias tomorrow. 16.51 At the close in London, the FTSE 100 has managed to sneak up 0.2pc. But Spain's IBEX has tumbled 3pc and Italy's MIB is sharply lower, down 2.9pc. 16.41 Austerity, schmausterity. Here's where Angela Merkel and Barack Obama are having their G20 chinwag later on today. It's the Esperanza resort and if you fancy a night in a beachfront luxury suite, it will set you back $3,500. 16.21 The might of Merkel: traders and market watchers point out that Spanish stocks and the euro have hit their lows of the day as the German chancellor says Greece has to stick to the terms agreed. 16.12 Some flashes coming through from Reuters on comments from Angela Merkel. She says: - Expects a common position of Europeans on sustainable growth - Does not see any reason to speak about a new aid package for Greece on top of the two already agreed - New Greek government has to fulfull the commitments Greece has made to its international lenders - Expects quick formation of new, stable government in Greece - Cannot accept any loosening on agreed reform pledges in Greece after election 16.09 As we head towards the bell in London, Ishaq Siddiqi, market strategist at ETX, had this to say on the day's movements: Although markets earlier in the morning cheered the pro-bailout Greek election win over the weekend, worries about the implementation on a workable plan with a coalition government that can agree on reforms and austerity is eating away at the market confidence at the moment. Though a global crisis has been averted for now, Greece’s underlying economic problems will continue to rattle market sentiment in the near term. There remains a long hard road full of speed bumps for Greece, and signs of collective political efforts will be the key to building optimism over the country’s future. As such, nerves will continue to build ahead of the key Eurogroup meeting at the end of June, where policy makers will be under pressure to work on solutions to tame the contagion of the debt crisis spreading to the core and work with Greece on measures to stimulate economic growth. 15.41 European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny: "Policymakers must avoid repeating "single-minded" focus on austerity that helped bring Nazis to power in 1930s German economic crisis." 15.29 Ed Conway from Sky at the G20: Twitter: Ed Conway - Widespread derision from other G20 media that UK doesn't have its own governmental jet. "You mean Cameron flew with Virgin?!" Meanwhile the G20 draft communique has been leaked, according to Reuters. It states that "Euro area countries agree to take all necessary measures to safeguard region’s integrity and stability. The eurozone is urged to find ways to break feedback loop between banks and sovereigns, and the eurozone to work closely with Greek government to ensure Greece remains on reform path and inside eurozone." Top priority for G20 remains "strong, sustainable and balanced growth" that reduces unemployment. 15.19 Fitch has released a report entitled Greece and Europe: Back from the Brink, Crisis Unresolved. The narrow victory of New Democracy in the Greek parliamentary elections means the near-term risk of a Greek disorderly debt default and exit from the euro has fallen. A new government that is supportive of the EU-IMF programme is likely to be in place prior to the EU Leaders Summit on June 28-29. Consequently, Fitch will not place all eurozone sovereigns on Rating Watch Negative as it had indicated would be the case if a Greek euro exit were a probable near-term event. The crisis in Greece and the eurozone remains intense. Fiscal austerity and painful structural reform combined with a strong parliamentary opposition led by Sryzia means that the new Greek government is likely to be fragile. The pace of economic contraction is almost certainly accelerating. The country's liquidity position is fast deteriorating, underscoring the urgency of forming a new government and the resumption of disbursements under the EU-IMF programme. It will be challenging to significantly ease the austerity programme without receiving additional funds, although there is some room for manoeuvre on the financing profile of the existing programme. While the risks from Greece have fallen for now, the severity of the systemic crisis engulfing the eurozone is unlikely to diminish until European leaders articulate a credible roadmap that would complete monetary union with much greater fiscal and financial integration. Downward pressure on the sovereign credit profile and ratings of eurozone sovereign governments will intensify so long as a credible path to closer union and a more coherent and united policy response are absent. This includes further boosting the financial backstops against contagion. 15.12 Italian PM Mario Monti says markets have not been convinced by Greek election. Bit late isn't he? 15.07 Richard Blackden, the Telegraph's US Business Editor, is at the G20 Summit in Mexico: German chancellor Angela Merkel will be making her first statement on the Greek elections at about 4pm UK time. The ranks of the German press are waiting to be ferried to her hotel in the Mexcian resort of Los Cabos for the statement. Merkel - who is the pivotal figure at this summit - then has meetings with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President Barack Obama. 15.02 US homebuilder sentiment up from 28 to 29. Highest since April 2007. 14.55 European Central Bank Executive Board member Joerg Asmussen says ECB cannot be lender of last resort for governments. Greek election result means yes to reforms, but painful way ahead for Greek government. 14.49 PIMCO founder Bill Gross: Twitter: PIMCO - Gross: Investors! Wake up and smell the ouzo! Elections which ratify more and more debt cannot cure a debt crisis. 14.43 Citigroup chief Vikram Pandit says Greek elections positive for keeping euro together. Emerging markets are still growing but not immune to European impact. Meanwhile, Citigroup chief economist Willem Buiter believes Spain and Italy will both need bailouts: I still think there will be a program in place that partially funds the sovereign... The domestic authorities [could continue to] lean on the domestic banks... to purchase sovereign bonds at yields lower than they would accept normally... Its' even possible that, if all else fails, the ECB might reopen its least favorite tool at the moment - the SMP programme [of sovereign bond purchases on the secondary market]. [The ECB] could basically focus SMP purchases in limited amounts around the time of sovereign auctions, [effectively rendering them] back-to-back primary market purchases, of course leaning on domestic banks. 14.33 Daniel Hannan MEP: Twitter: Daniel Hannan - Spanish govt borrows at 7% to shore up banks that borrow from the ECB at 1% to lend to Spanish govt at 7% so that it can, er, bail them out. 14.31 US markets have opened. Dow down 0.3pc, Nasdaq down 0.5pc, S&P 500 down 0.3pc. 14.25 White House says there won't be any big euro solution coming out of the G20 in Mexico: "That would happen in Brussels [EU summit on June 28-29], not Los Cabos." 14.20 Reuters is reporting that the EU is readying a plan for a 10 to 15-year bond. 14.14 Spanish 10-year yield intra-day high today is 7.28pc, Irish intra-day low 7.34pc. Meanwhile, the yield on the German one-year note has fallen to -0.004pc. 14.07 Quick update on the markets: FTSE 100 flat CAC -0.9pc DAX +0.1pc IBEX -2.5pc MIB -2.7pc Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy: There's no such thing as a "market-friendly" Greek election result. There are only varying degrees of market unfriendliness. Yesterday's result is less market-unfriendly for the simple reason that Syriza did not come out on top. Yet even if New Democracy is able to form a coalition government with Pasok and Democratic Left, its mandate for reform will be weak and it will still face considerable social and parliamentary resistance. 14.03 Leader of the New Democracy conservative party Antonis Samaras (right) greets the head of Greece's radical left-wing Syriza party Alexis Tsipras earlier today. 13.58 However, European Union competition chief Joaquin Almunia believes Spain has no need for a full-blown state bailout in addition to a rescue loan for its distressed banks. I sincerely do not expect it nor do I believe it. The doors to the markets are open to it and I am sure will carry on being so. 13.53 The Telegraph's Jeremy Warner: Twitter: jeremy warner - Second Spanish sovereign bailout now inevitable: Spanish spreads now higher than Ireland's. It's all over bar the shouting Dow Jones-WSJ sources say extending Greek budget goals to 2016 would cost creditors €16bn. 13.51 Michael Hewson of CMC Markets warns investor highs after Greek election result have worn off. 13.44 Greek archaeology students hit by state funding cuts are making an online appeal for donations to join excavations in Iraqi Kurdistan, the state-run Athens News Agency has said. In a posting on donation website indiegogo.com, the group of Athens University students have asked for help to cover the €500 plane fare. "Without wishing to sound like a cliche, everyone knows that times are tough right now," the students said in their posting. "The university cannot cover the cost of our airplane tickets. So please donate and send us there." 13.12 Spain is to sell €2bn to €3bn of 12 to 18-month bonds on tomorrow and €1bn to €2bn of unspecified bonds on Thursday. 10-year bond yields now at 7.225pc, up more than 30 basis points today. Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin: "You might have thought that the risk of a Grexit and contagion has diminished but, judging by their action, the markets are not for buying it – just yet." 13.10 Is the Ireland move the first step to changing Greece's bailout terms? Surely you couldn't change one without changing them all. 13.04 BREAKING NEWS... Irish state broadcaster RTE claims that the Troika is considering changing the terms of the Irish bailout to extend repayment schedule from 15 years to 30 years. 13.02 It might be doom and gloom in Europe but at least people at the G20 in Mexico are having "fun": Here are members of Oxfam wearing masks depicting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, US President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Roussef. Those Oxfam guys really know how to make the most of being in Mexico. 12.53 European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny says a eurozone meltdown was only avoided by ECB action. "We have been very close to meltdown," he said. 12.48 Samaras now speaking: "We must have a government of national salvation and I want many parties to join. Tsipras won't join. Greece keeps to commitments. Greece needs to have a government soon." Samaras wants to renegotiate bailout agreement 12.40 The boss of De La Rue has pulled out of the G20 Summit at the last minute due to "personal reasons". Maybe he needs to print some foreign money? 12.30 Meeting between New Democracy leader Samaras and Syriza leader Tsipras is over. Tsipras: "I will not join a coalition government. I told Samaras that it would be a catastrophe to continue with cuts to wages and pensions. Democracy must resist violent acts [two hand grenades were thrown at Skai TV building yesterday]. We have very difficult moments until June 28 [EU leaders' summit]. We now have better [bailout] negotiation opportunities. Greece must take advantage of this. We respect the election result. "A government must be formed based on New Democracy because that is what the people wanted - but they will be judged by the people. Country must have a government tonight. We will be a powerful opposition, we will control government. Role of opposition is to be critical and responsible. Whoever takes the responsibility to form a government, takes the responsibility to negotiate [bailout]. We will not use mandate if Samaras fails to form a coalition government. 12.26 Economic and Social Research Institute says Irish economy will grow 2.2pc in 2013. 12.19 RBS says ECB action won't prevent a full bailout of Spain. 12.16 Olli Rehn, EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, says financial union will be a core part of rebuilt eurozone. Meanhwhile, Portuguese Economy Minister Alvaro Santos Pereira says his country has liquidity problems. 12.13 David Cameron, in Mexico for the G20 Summit, has commented on the Greek election: The outcome of the Greek election looks clear in terms of a commitment to stay in the eurozone and to accept the terms of the memorandum. But I think those parties that want that to happen can't afford to delay and position themselves. If you are a Greek political party and want to stay in the eurozone and accept the consequences that follow you have got to get on with it and help form a government. A delay could be very dangerous. 12.09 Time for an update on the markets: FTSE 100 +0.4pc CAC +0.2pc DAX +0.7pc IBEX -1.5pc MIB -1.5pc Glenn Uniacke, senior trader at the foreign exchange specialists Moneycorp, said: Compared with the 'blink and you'll miss it' rally that followed the Spanish bailout, this rally is more worthy of the name. The markets' sense of relief is real, and profound, but doomed to be short. "Desperately uncompetitive and with scant prospects for growth, Greece's economy remains just as much of a trainwreck as before. The long-running Greek tragedy has merely reached the interval. "The new government in Athens should expect no more than the briefest of breathing spaces, while the markets' attention returns to Spain. 12.03 Samaras and Tsipras have arrived at Parliament for talks. 12.01 Here's EC President Jose Manuel Barroso and EC President Herman Van Rompuy at the G20 speaking about the Greek elections: The International Chamber of Commerce expects the summit to look at trade and investment, especially resisting protectionism. 11.54 Open Europe has updated EU countries' exposure to Greece - it's now €552bn, with the UK holding €13.5bn: Even with adjustments to the bailout programme, it still looks virtually impossible for the country to meet the various austerity targets. Missed targets will continue to be a source of disagreement and controversy, particularly inside Germany, while the continued EU/ECB/IMF Troika presence on the ground in Greece means that any delays will come to light quickly. Therefore, Greece’s future in the eurozone remains uncertain. For the single currency as a whole, should a compromise be possible in Greece, the focus of attention will shift back to Spain – whose banks remain a major liability for the euro. 11.50 The BBC's Nick Robinson has tweeted that David Cameron's plane has just landed in Los Cabos, Mexico. The PM is attending the G20. 11.43 Andrew Lilico, an economist with Europe Economics, has written a blog for the Telegraph on what happens next in Greece: The authorities are running out of hope and bereft of ideas. Every plan involves getting the Germans to pay everyone else's debts. The sheer lack of imagination, the stubborn refusal to engage with or propose any option other than more and more and more bailouts until the thing goes pop, suggests that ultimate disorderly collapse is now more likely than not. That path would destroy the euro – the French would have to withdraw because they can't afford it and the Germans would withdraw because tomorrow's Germans wouldn't be prepared to do it. There is, however, still a way out. Each country, each bank, each corporation, each household must be responsible for its own debts. If, at the last, we can still remember this fundamental principle, we can still escape. 11.36 BREAKING NEWS... Fitch revises India down to negative from stable. 11.34 Spanish Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro says the ECB should respond with "firmness" to market pressures (i.e ECB should prop up Spanish bond market). Adds that markets show doubts remain over Spanish recovery. He says Greece has voted for the euro and that Spain is at a critical moment. 11.31 Former head of the Cypriot central bank Athanasios Orphanides says the Greek election result "not the end of the crisis". 11.28 Vince Cable has said today is "more challenging" that the 1930s Depression, and called for housebuilding stimulus. On monetary policy: The right way to understand loose monetary policy is in terms of expectations: of whether future money demand will be growing fast enough to make borrowing to invest or spend worthwhile. It is not enough just to look at the base rate. Quantitative Easing can sound like a powerful instrument – but if it does not succeed in making people expect rising money spending in the economy, it is likely to be far less effective than leaving gold proved in the 1930s... First, all aspects of monetary and financial policy should be focused on ensuring that the advantages of loose monetary policy are felt everywhere, not just in low government borrowing rates. This encompasses monetary policy, liquidity policy, credit easing and banking policy to ensure that financial institutions perform the role played by building societies and banks in the 1930s but not currently being pursued by damaged and ultra-conservative banks. Second, the public sector balance sheet has to be used to leverage in private capital, particularly in housing. Demand has to be created, it does not emerge simultaneously. There is scope here to both create demand and solve a pressing supply need at the same time. Innovative approaches to public policy - making the most of the fact that our resolute action has given us a strong balance sheet - are the key to unlock this potential. 11.25 Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on the Greek agony: Year after year of "internal devaluation" will drive unemployment to catastrophic levels before it breaks the back of the labour movement sufficiently to clear the way for drastic pay cuts. It is basically a Fascist policy. Mussolini pulled it of in 1928 under the Lira Forte policy, but he had coercive advantages. The electoral settlement is not decisive enough to lance the boil either way so there will no recovery of investment or hope of return no normal life. Even big companies have lost access to routine trade credit. The pro-Memorandum chorus say Greece would face chaos if it left the euro. What do they think it is now? The agony will drag on until some dramatic event intrudes. 11.20 Spanish 10-year bond yields have hit 7.118pc, big jump today. It's probably at least partly fuelled by this: Nicholas Spiro at Spiro Sovereign Strategy: Spain's debt market is teetering on the edge of collapse, auguring badly for this week's auctions. By admitting that it is no longer capable of propping up its banks, the Rajoy government has sent a message to the markets that the sovereign is in need of external support too. In the realm of investor perceptions, Spain has crossed the Rubicon from solvency to insolvency. The markets are treating Spain's bank-focused bail-out as a pregnancy: there's no such thing as a partial one. 11.15 German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle: I am very relieved by the results of the Greek elections. It's a vote for Europe. What's imperative is that a government is quickly formed that is capable of acting ... it's about more than fiscal discipline, it's about growth and competitiveness. The result of the Greek elections is that there are no concessions because what has been agreed is now what we will implement. There can be no substantial changes to the agreement. 11.04 Robert Peston at the BBC: Twitter: Robert Peston - Spanish debt fall is market agreeing with Osborne that Greek crisis might have sparked proper eurozone reform - solution delayed, at best 11.01 The Bundesbank has warned of greater uncertainty over German growth outlook, "weaker" Q2. 10.56 A photographer tries to get an exclusive photo of Samaras as he leaves the presidential mansion: Samaras: "I will try to form a government with pro-European parties.We have to make the necessary amendments to the programme so that our people will get out of unemployment and out of the hardships that Greek households are going through. The new government has to be decisive on the issue of social cohesion. National understanding is imperative." President Papoulias: "The country cannot stay without a government for even one hour." 10.54 The Telegraph's Louise Armitstead on the market turmoil this morning: What’s up with the markets? Angela Merkel got what she wanted from the Greek electorate, didn’t she? A win for New Democracy, the mainstream, conservative and pro-bail-out party. Actually plenty of traders were gunning for a Syriza victory, hoping that Alexis Tsipras would stick to his word and tear up the €130bn bail-out agreement today. Odd for capitalists, perhaps, but their biggest wish at the moment is for the crisis to be brought to a head, even if that’s armaggedon. New Democracy is a victory for the on-going fudge: Merkel & Co can pretend that it’s fine to keep supporting Greece, there’s no need to discuss a euro break-up. But for traders, that’s completely wrong. Athens is going to breach the terms of its bail-out agreement, regardless of who’s in power. At the very least, Greece needs an extension - of perhaps two years - to meet its fiscal targets. And that requires funding. So Germany still has to decide whether to cough up for a third Greek bail-out (the second, worth €130bn, was only signed in March) or break-up the eurozone. Brussels’ refusal to face facts is almost more alarming that the facts themeselves. If she insists on putting her head in the sand over Greece, what does that mean for the far bigger problems of Spain and Italy? If you’re a trader, there’s only one thing to do: run. 10.47 The German government has said the Troika will go to Athens to check on current status. Germany says now is not the time to be giving discounts to Greece. 10.33 New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras will meet PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos at 4pm. Reuters is reporting that there is the potential for the Democratic Left to form a coalition with New Democracy and PASOK, giving them a 178 majority. Samaras tells President: "National consensus will bring us all together." 10.30 Nigel Farage, UKIP leader: Greek election solves nothing, though a referendum on their currency might. Greeks should be given a clear choice to stay in the euro or leave. 10.27 New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras has arrived to meet Greek President in order to receive exploratory mandate. 10.21 Alex Banbury of Hamilton Capital has put together a list of countries' denials of contagion: "Spain is not Greece" - Elena Salgado, Spanish Finance minister, February 2010. "Portugal is not Greece" - The Economist, April 2010. "Greece is not Ireland" - George Papaconstantinou, Greek Finance minister, November 2010. "Spain is neither Ireland nor Portugal" - Elena Salgado, Spanish Finance minister, November 2010. "Ireland is not in ‘Greek Territory’" - Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan. November 2010. "Neither Spain nor Portugal is Ireland" - Angel Gurria, Secretary-general OECD, November 2010. "Italy is not Spain” - Ed Parker, Fitch MD, June 12, 2012 "Spain is not Uganda" - Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy, June 2012 "Uganda does not want to be Spain" - Ugandan foreign minister, June 13, 2012 10.14 Robert Peston, business editor at the BBC, has suggested that the Greek exit from the euro might simply be delayed: What Greece needs is equity, not credit... And there is a fear that debt forgiveness for Greece would be the thin end of a very thick wedge, such that Ireland - for example - might argue that if Greece were getting what would in effect be a large transfer from the rest of the eurozone, it would like a bit of that too, thank you very much. All of which suggests that the eurozone will continue to expect Greece to honour all its massive debts. But even before the latest worsening in the eurozone's more general crisis, the IMF was projecting that Greece's economy would shrink by 4.7pc this year and stagnate in 2013. Unless there is some kind of miraculous recovery, the question will continue to loom large for Greek people and leaders whether they should try to escape a crushing debt burden by leaving the eurozone. 10.12 Reuters is reporting that New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras will meet Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras at midday (UK time). 10.06 El Confidencial is reporting that Spanish banks need to increase provisioning for bad residential mortgages to almost €150bn. 10.03 Quick update on the markets: FTSE 100 -0.1pc CAC -0.1pc DAX +0.4pc IBEX -1.9pc MIB -1.6pc ETX Capital's senior trader Markus Huber said: In the past, it seems like that as soon as one issue has been resolved or rather, as soon as there is less uncertainty regarding one main issue affecting markets, attention quickly turns to next one, similar to the situation after the Spanish banking rescue last week where focus shifted onto Italy and Italian banks. "Although the problems Italy is facing in the form of high debt levels and slow growth are well known, for the focus to fully shift on Italy, something else will be needed for example that implementing of urgent financial reforms is being delayed or that the budget deficit due to a bigger contraction in growth has to be revised upwards similar like seen in Spain." 09.59 Panagiotis Pikrammenos, Prime Minister of caretaker government in Greece, arrives at Presidential mansion to resign. President tells him that he must remain in his position until a government is formed. 09.52 Spain is saying it is doubtful that bad bank loans hit record high of 8.72% in April. 09.37 Bank of Ireland says ECB will apply 5.5pc discount to refinancing of Irish government bonds. 09.30 Alex Spillius, the Telegraph's Greek correspondent, on the elections: New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras is determined to form a government today, his aides tell the Greek papers. As soon as he receives the mandate from the president he will begin negotiations with Pasok and the Democratic Left. Reports said he wouldn’t insist on being prime minister, but few analysts him expect not to fulfill that role. Together the three parties would have 179 seats in the 300 seat parliament, a credible number to start a coalition with. The 17 votes of the Democratic Left would be important for anti-bailout credibility, as the party opposed the memorandum of understanding with the EU and IMF. Here is the final division in the 300-seat chamber: New Democracy 129 (including a bonus 50 for winning), Syriza 71, Pasok 33, Independent Greeks 20, Golden Dawn 18, Democratic Left 17, Communist Party of Greece 12. 09.22 Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (below) says eurobonds are a "very bad idea" and the EU deposit guarantee scheme is the "wrong way". 09.10 Italian PM Mario Monti calls PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos to discuss Greek election. Monti arrives at the G20 celebrating the Greek vote. "This allows us to have a more serene vision for the future of the European Union and for the eurozone," he said. Italian MIB and Spanish IBEX now down more than 1pc. Euro turns negative against dollar, falls to $1.2628. 09.05 BREAKING NEWS... Spanish 10-year bond yields hit 7.1pc (euro-era high), spread to bunds at 555 basis points. Italian yields pass 6pc. Spanish banks' bad loans ratio rises to 8.72pc in April from 8.37pc in March (highest since April 1994). Lending declines 3.5pc in April from last year, deposits fall 5.39pc. Mortgage default ratio was 3.01pc in March, up from 2.74pc in December. 08.53 Citigroup says the probability of a Greek exit from the eurozone over the next 12-18 months remains unchanged at between 50pc and 75pc. Chris Beauchamp at IG Index: Twitter: Chris Beauchamp - So glad that Greece is now fixed. Oh, what's that - it isn't? Ah, in that case I suppose we're almost exactly where we were last Friday... 08.51 Bojan Pancevski, Sunday Times EU correspondent: Twitter: Bojan Pancevski - And Ilias Kasidiaris, the fascist Golden Dawn spokesman who assaulted two female rivals on live TV, voted into Greek parliament #Greece2012 In case you missed the attack, here it is again: 08.44 Spanish 10-year bond yields hit 6.96pc, reversing earlier rally. Italy at 5.958pc. 08.38 EU will go ahead with Iran oil embargo in July. 08.23 London Mayor Boris Johnson has warned European leaders against “dither” in his Telegraph column today: By any standards we are seeing a whole nation undergo a protracted economic and political humiliation; and whatever the result of yesterday’s election, we seem determined to make matters worse. There is no plan for Greece to leave the euro, or none that I can discover. No European leader dares suggest that this might be possible, since that would be to profane the religion of Ever Closer Union. Instead we are all meant to be conniving in a plan to create a fiscal union which (if it were to mean anything) would mean undermining the fundamentals of Western democracy... And now look at what is being proposed in Greece. For the sake of bubble-gumming the euro together, we are willing to slaughter democracy in the very place where it was born. What is the point of a Greek elector voting for an economic programme, if that programme is decided in Brussels or – in reality – in Germany? What is the meaning of Greek freedom, the freedom Byron fought for, if Greece is returned to a kind of Ottoman dependency, but with the Sublime Porte now based in Berlin? It won’t work. If things go on as they are, we will see more misery, more resentment, and an ever greater chance that the whole damn kebab van will go up in flames. Greece will one day be free again – in the sense that I still think it marginally more likely than not that whoever takes charge in Athens will eventually find a way to restore competitiveness through devaluation and leaving the euro – for this simple reason: that market confidence in Greek membership is like a burst paper bag of rice – hard to restore. Without a resolution, without clarity, I am afraid the suffering will go on. The best way forward would be an orderly bisection into an old eurozone and a New Eurozone for the periphery. With every month of dither, we delay the prospect of a global recovery; while the approved solution – fiscal and political union – will consign the continent to a democratic dark ages. 08.17 The Telegraph's US Business Editor Richard Blackden is at the G20 in Mexico: The momentus nature of the decisions now facing countries in the euro will dominate this G20 summit. Cameron, Obama and others will urge German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande to take decisive action. But behind the exhortations, there will surely be a weary acknowledgement by governments in the UK and the US that this is a crisis that may not be solved in the next two to three years, let alone a matter of months. And in different ways it is shaping the domestic agendas of both leaders. Alongside the Bank of England, the UK government last week introduced a fresh set of measures to encourage bank lending as fears about the headwinds from Europe intensified. While for Obama, Europe's debt crisis has a paradoxical effect. On the one hand, it increases the political pressure to address America's own debt. But at the same time, it eases the pressure coming from financial markets to do so because no one wants America sliding back into recession. 08.03 Finland's Parliament will vote on the ESM on Thursday. 08.00 European markets are open: FTSE 100 +1.4pc (banking shares leading the way) CAC +1.1pc DAX +1.3pc IBEX +1.7pc (Spanish banks rise strongly) MIB +1pc Greek stock market is up 3.2pc. 07.59 New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras is to meet the Greek president at 10.30am (UK time). 07.52 Following his election win last night, Antonis Samaras says the Greek people are "staying with the euro" (video). Stephen Pope, managing partner at Spotlight Ideas, said: We will see in the course of the next hours/days if the Pasok leader, Evangelos Venizelos will stick to his demand that the 2nd placed party Syriza join the coalition...but that has to be seen as unlikely. Mr Venizelos is a poltician and he will covet a cabinet post and enjoy the opportunity to court the press. So what has actually changed? Frankly...nothing. For in power we are likely to see the same group of leaders that signed up to the February deal. If it is too tough now, why did they accept it in February? 07.44 Joerg Kraemer, chief economist at Commerzbank, says he still sees a Greek exit from the euro. 07.42 A look at a possible Greek parliament: Interesting to note that more than 37pc of Greek people did not vote yesterday. 07.34 In the bond markets this morning, Spanish and Italian 10-year yields have fallen seven basis points. Italy now at 5.827pc, Spain still very high at 6.729pc. Greek yields have fallen 138 basis points to 25.38pc. 07.28 France has sent European leaders a proposal for a €120bn (£97bn) “growth pact”. The Telegraph's Bruno Waterfield reveals what is wrong with the plan: Twitter: Bruno Waterfield - #eurozone: 1) #Hollande's €120bn only €10.2 billion in new money - less than a tenth real cash, an easy "victory" at #euco next week Twitter: Bruno Waterfield - #eurozone: 2) #Hollande's €120bn, €10bn new EIB cash is magicked/leveraged into 60bn - so half of total is bankers maths Twitter: Bruno Waterfield - #eurozone: 3) #Hollande's €120bn, pilot "project bonds" more magic bankers maths, €230m EU budget funding is magicked/leveraged to €4.5bn Twitter: Bruno Waterfield - #eurozone: 4) #Hollande's €120bn, €55bn of unspent regional funds - but EC claims EU needs a 7% 2013 budget rise for regional fund shortfall Twitter: Bruno Waterfield - #eurozone: 5) #Hollande's €120bn, new money €10bn for EIB + 230m for project bonds = €10.2bn or just 0.08% EU GDP spending increase 07.22 EC spokesman says Commission sees positive market reaction for Spain and Italy after Greek election. 07.17 The Nikkei has closed up 1.8pc as investors cheered a weekend election victory for Greece's two main pro-bailout parties, easing fears Athens may drop out of the eurozone. 07.12 The White House has released a statement on the Greek election: We congratulate the Greek people on conducting their election in this difficult time. We hope this election will lead quickly to the formation of a new government that can make timely progress on the economic challenges facing the Greek people. As President Obama and other world leaders have said, we believe that it is in all our interests for Greece to remain in the euro area while respecting its commitment to reform. Going forward, we will engage Greece in the spirit of partnership that has guided our alliance and the friendship between our people. 06.57 Mark Lowen, BBC Athens correspondent: Twitter: Mark Lowen - Wrangling starts.NewDemocracy will want DemLeft in coalition,but that party tells me condition is "gradual disengagement" from bailout terms 06.50 Want to hear what key financial leaders had to say about today's G20 Summit? Well, we've put together a round-up of the best quotes. Robert Zoellick, World Bank president: Everybody knows that this meeting is coming at an absolutely critical time. We're waiting for Europe to tell us what it is going to do. Markets can manage and hedge risks that they are generally aware of. The danger we're creating is that the pattern of policymaking is increasing uncertainty. 06.38 The Financial Times has published an interesting opinion piece by Wolfgang Munchau on the continuing woes of the eurozone. In the case of Greece, the best moment to default would not be now, but next year. The country stills runs a primary deficit - before the payment of interest. A default would make more sense for Spain, but not quite yet. It would be easiest for Italy. It has a large pile of debt, but a low deficit. With an interest rate of more than 6pc and a loss of competitiveness, Italy cannot simultaneously remain solvent and inside the eurozone. 06.24 Germany's deputy finance minister Steffen Kampeter has echoed Chancellor Angela Merkel by saying that his country expects the new Greek government to honour its commitments to the bailout deal. He says the Troika must first check the situation in Greece as further aid hinges on reforms. However, it is clear Greece must not be pushed too much on these reforms. 06.20 World leaders are in Mexico today and tomorrow for the G20 Summit. The event is sure to be overshadowed by the Greek election yesterday and continuing concerns over the financial health of Spain and Italy. World leaders are set to boost the $430bn (£273.6bn) fund being used as a firewall to support struggling eurozone economies. 06.00 ROUND-UP... New Democracy has won a closely-fought Greek election with anti-bailout pary Syriza. With almost all votes counted, New Democracy controlled 129 seats in the 300-seat parliament and the socialist Pasok party - a likely coalition candidate - secured 33 seats, enough for a workable majority. Syriza came second, electing 71 deputies. Its leader Alexis Tsipras has ruled out joining a coalition, arguing that the harsh conditions for the bailout deal should be scrapped altogether. Antonis Samaras (centre), arrived to vote at a polling station in his hometown of Pylos Talks on forming a government are expected to start today, with head of state Carolos Papoulias set to task New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras with piecing together a coalition. However, some investors are far from confident that the crisis is over. Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at the investment bank VTB Capital, said: "I think investors should treat any sort of knee-jerk rally with caution." "How long is it going to take for people to worry about Spain again?" wondered Peter Schiff of the brokerage Euro Pacific Capital. "This crisis is not over," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. "The crisis will wax and wane for years. Maybe it will wane for the time being." 05.52 European markets are expected to open strongly at 8am today. The FTSE 100 is predicted to open up 1.2pc, the CAC 1.7pc and the DAX 2.2pc. 05.46 China, Japan and Australia have all called for Greece to quickly form a government. "The Greek parties must work together to form a new government quickly and convince the Greek voters of the need for painful austerity," China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary. "They must understand a Greek exit from the eurozone is out of the question," it added, adding that ditching the euro would open a "Pandora's box", leading to "years of painful economic and social adjustments". Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said: "Our country hopes that a stable government will be launched early and make progress towards stabilising markets... We hope that European countries will urgently take measures to strengthen its financial sector." Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said: "It is important that Greece's political parties quickly undertake coalition discussions and form a stable government... I accept that there will be continuing volatility from Europe for some time yet, but I do not accept that the pace and scale of action to address it has been adequate." 05.42 Asian markets have surged this morning and the euro has risen after Greek pro-austerity parties won enough votes to form a government, but optimism it will stay in the eurozone was tempered with warnings that the future remains uncertain. Tokyo stocks jumped 1.89pc, Hong Kong surged 1.55pc by the break, Sydney was 1.90pc higher, Seoul climbed 2.01pc and Shanghai added 0.69pc. The election news boosted the euro, which surged to morning highs of $1.2727 before easing slightly to $1.2701. 04.45 For those who are waking up to news of anti-austerity party Syriza's defeat in the Greek elections, here is an overview of the result which has caused a gains in the Asian markets this morning. 04.18 The New York Times has written an interesting piece, looking at Greece as a victim of the euro rather than the villain. Paul Krugman writes in an op-ed: Ever since Greece hit the skids, we’ve heard a lot about what’s wrong with everything Greek. Some of the accusations are true, some are false — but all of them are beside the point. Yes, there are big failings in Greece’s economy, its politics and no doubt its society. But those failings aren’t what caused the crisis that is tearing Greece apart, and threatens to spread across Europe. No, the origins of this disaster lie farther north, in Brussels, Frankfurt and Berlin, where officials created a deeply — perhaps fatally — flawed monetary system, then compounded the problems of that system by substituting moralizing for analysis. And the solution to the crisis, if there is one, will have to come from the same places. 03.25 Oil prices have advanced in Asian trade, mirroring the gains in broader asset markets. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for July delivery advanced 90 cents to $84.93 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for August delivery surged $1.48 to $99.09 in morning trade. 02.45 EU leaders heading to Monday's G20 summit in Mexico have agreed on a message to reassure financial markets. After talks with his British, French, German, Italian counterparts and top European Union officials, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters in Los Cabos: I think that what we are going to transmit is a message of confidence in the euro. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told reporters in Los Cabos, after talks with his British, French, German, Italian counterparts and top European Union officials. 02.30 Hong Kong stocks have risen, with the benchmark index headed for its biggest two-day gain in six months. The Hang Seng Index climbed 1.6 percent to 19,548.40 as of the 9:39 am in Hong Kong. The gauge was headed for a two-day gain of 5.8 percent, the biggest since Dec 2. All but one of the 49 companies on the gauge advanced, with volume 56 percent above the 30-day average. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland stocks rose 1.8 percent to 9,921.37. 01.34 Market watch -Tokyo stocks have jumped more than two percent. The Nikkei 225 index was trading 2.23 percent higher - 190.77 points - at 8,760.09 in the first minutes of trading. The results in Greece also sent the euro higher in early Asian trade. The single currency was buying $1.2715 and 100.75 yen, up from $1.2644 and 99.47 yen in New York trade on Friday. 00.30 Market watch -The Australian and New Zealand dollars have risen following the result in Greece. Both currencies strengthened - the Australia dollar climbed 0.6 per cent to a one-month high of $1.0115 and the New Zealand dollar hit its strongest point in six weeks, up 0.5 per cent to $0.7918 having earlier peaked at $0.7937. Mike Jones, a Wellington-based currency strategist at Bank of New Zealand Ltd, said: The easing of fears for a Greek euro exit have spurred a relief rally across global markets. Markets seem to have got the result they wanted from the elections over the weekend. In the short term, risk currencies such as the kiwi and Aussie are biased to strengthen. 23.12 German Chancellor Angela Merkel has telephoned Antonis Samaras to congratulate him on his victory, saying that she was confident Athens would abide by its bailout pledges. "She stated that she would work on the basis that Greece will meet its European commitments," said a government statement recounting the conversation. 23.05 An update from Alex Spillius in Greece, who says negotiations are already underway in Athens: Greek TV reports that Greek PM-in-waiting Antonis Samaras has already begun late night coalition talks with potential partners, while Francois Hollande has called Pasok leader and fellow socialist Evangelos Venizelos to discuss the results, suggesting the Frenchman wants to know what concessions the new likely Greek coalition will seek from Europe. 22.51 And another update on the Greek count, which has processed 91.41pc of votes: New Democracy is at 29.83pc, Syriza 26.78pc and Pasok 12.4pc. 22.51 The Eurogroup has issued a statement on the Greek elections, which it says "should allow for the formation of a government that will carry the support of the electorate to bring Greece back on a path of sustainable growth". The Eurogroup acknowledges the considerable efforts already made by the Greek citizens and is convinced that continued fiscal and structural reforms are Greece’s best guarantee to overcome the current economic and social challenges and for a more prosperous future of Greece in the euro area. The Eurogroup reiterates its commitment to assist Greece in its adjustment effort in order to address the many challenges the economy is facing. The Eurogroup therefore looks forward to the swift formation of a new Greek government that will take ownership of the adjustment programme to which Greece and the Eurogroup earlier this year committed themselves. The Eurogroup expects the Troika institutions to return to Athens as soon as a new government is in place to exchange views with the new government on the way forward and prepare the first review under the second adjustment programme. 22.40 We have another update on the Greek election count, although the exact figures will alter nothing about the political stalemate that needs to be untangled in the morning. After taking into account 88pc of the votes, New Democracy has 29.93pc, Syriza 26.7pc and Pasok 12.43pc. 22.25 Former Chancellor Lord Lamont has spoken to Sky News, claiming that markets will likely be relieved initially that what some saw as the worst scenario - a Syriza win - has been avoided. But "very few people believe that greece is in a tenable position for the long term", he warned: I don't think there will be very much movement on the part of the eurozone, after all this is the second bailout. People are not going to start proposing revising the terms in any substantive way. I don't expect the eurozone to change its position significantly. I think tonight's election result means that there won't be immediate contagion from Greece. I don't want to sound too gloomy, but one has to be realistic about this, there is a very serious situation in Spain already. 22.21 Tomorrow's front pages are starting to emerge. The FT has gone with the headline: "Samaras leads in Greece poll", which will likely change for the final edition, while The Daily Telegraph has opted for: "Greek vote leaves euro in balance". 22.11 We have a graphic, due to appear in tomorrow morning's paper, showing the difference in results six weeks ago and today. Syriza has seen its vote rise from 16.8pc to 27.1pc - so it's understandable that they see it as a victory of sorts. 22.09 Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso have issued a joint statement on the Greek election: The Greek people have spoken. We fully respect its democratic choice. We are hopeful that the election results will allow a government to be formed quickly. Today, we salute the courage and resilience of the Greek citizens, fully aware of the sacrifices which are demanded from them to redress the Greek economy and build new, sustainable growth for the country. We will continue to stand by Greece as a member of the EU family and of the Euro area. We look forward to work with the new government and to support the continued efforts of Greece to put its economy on a sustainable path. The second economic adjustment programme agreed between Greece and the Eurogroup is the basis upon which to build to foster growth, prosperity and jobs for the Greek people. We stand ready to continue assisting Greece in achieving these goals. 21.52 The White House has congratulated Greece on its election and urged it to quickly form a government. Spokesman Jay Carney said: As President (Barack) Obama and other world leaders have said, we believe that it is in all our interests for Greece to remain in the euro area while respecting its commitment to reform. We congratulate the Greek people on conducting their election in this difficult time. We hope this election will lead quickly to the formation of a new government that can make timely progress on the economic challenges facing the Greek people. Back in Europe, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that the outcome shows that Greeks are in favour of the deep economic and fiscal reforms. 21.50 Alexis Tsipras has given another speech this evening, very optimistic in tone, almost sounding like a victory rally at times. Democracy will return to the country where it was born. 21.43 French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has welcomed the victory of his Socialist Party in legislative elections, saying: "The goal is to shift Europe towards growth and protect the euro zone from speculation. The task before us is immense". 21.13 Reacting to the French and Greek electoral results, Pierre Moscovici, the French finance minister said: "Europe's future is at stake in the coming weeks." Europeans must accompany the Greeks towards growth. It requires discipline but it also requires hope. Mr Moscovici also said that France's state finance commitments would be "respected without a politics of austerity". 21.05 Simon Smith, chief economist at FxPro, comments on tonight's result: The fact that New Democracy came ahead of Syriza, who were looking to drastically re-negotiate the current bailout with the troika, means that markets are likely to breathe a collective sigh of relief, although it could well be brief. Given what is at stake, all parties are likely to negotiate in great detail in order to secure their mandate for a coalition. 21.01 Daniel Hannan, Conservative MEP for South East England and a Telegraph blogger, asks how much longer the inaction in Greece can go on for. No one wanted this outcome. Greece has repeated itself, only more emphatically, declining to give any party a majority. If no coalition is possible, what then? A third election? A fourth? Or will ND struggle on with a minority administration, unable to make any of the promised budgetary reductions? Greece is in denial. It rejects austerity, but insists on keeping the euro. All the main parties duly parroted what the voters wanted to hear, making for a fantasy election, a make-believe election, a fingers-in-my-ears-I-can't-hear-you election. The only list which was honest about the necessary cuts – a coalition of three liberal parties – failed to gain a single seat. 20.45 The head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, says the Spanish bailout was a wasted opportunity, which is worrying, because nobody in Europe can afford to waste €100bn at the moment: Look, everyone knows this meeting is coming at an absolutely critical time - and we're waiting for Europe to tell us what it is going to do. Markets can manage risks that they're well aware of. The danger we're creating is that the pattern of policy-making is increasing uncertainty and making markets more nervous, which has a negative feedback. To take your Spanish example... The execution was extremely poor. So they took a very big bullet and they wasted it. 20.34 And now Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, is making his concession speech: We are proud that we lifted this weight and we carried this responsibility. We are happy for the tolerance and the support of such a large portion of the country that multiplied our participation in just a month and a half. I did call Mr Samaras a little while ago and I congratulated him for his success. He has the possibility of forming a government on the basis of his mandate. We will be present in the developments from the position of the opposition. We will not sacrifice our position. The rejection of the bailout is a popular mandate. From Monday we will continue in our struggle. 20.25 An update now on the official count in Greece, based on 49.3pc of votes: New Democracy has 30.3pc, Syriza has 26.3pc and Pasok trails with 12.7pc. 20.20 Antonis Samaras, leader of New Democracy, has offered a coalition deal to any parties that will continue to abide by the bailout agreement. His party didn't offer "populist promises", and still won the backing of the Greek people, he says: The Greek people have voted today for the European direction of the country and for us to remain in the euro, and it voted for those policies which will bring jobs... we will not have new adventures. We will not doubt the position of Greece in Europe. We will not be reigned by fear, and espcially the sacrifices the Greek people have made will be realised significantly. We do invite all of those political parties that do take into account all of these objectives to participate in a coalition of national unity. We do not have any time to waste.. the country must be governed. New Democracy was is, is and will continue to be a strength of responsibility. 20.17 Samaras is about to give a speech in Athens. But the microphone is broken so we're waiting... 20.11 Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza, has telephoned Antonis Samaras, leader of New Democracy leader, to congratulate him on his victory. Unofficial and official polls suggest that New Democracy will take the lead, and Tsipras has conceded. 20.04 Syriza has said tonight's result is a victory of sorts as it will allow the party to play the role of a strong opposition. But it has also ruled out the prospect of joining a coalition (it was itself a coalition until a few weeks ago, when it registered as a single party to be eligible for the 50-seat bonus should it win the election). Pasok has already said that it won't join a coalition unless Syriza is involved. So a lengthy period of talks and negotiation looks set to start. New Democracy, if they win, as looks likely, will have three days to attempt to form a government. 19.33 Official exit numbers are in, and New Democracy are on course to win. The numbers: ND 29.5pc, Syriza 27.1pc, Pasok 12.3pc, Independent Greeks 7.6pc, Golden Dawn 7pc, Democratic Left 6.2pc, Communist Party of Greece 4.5pc. These are numbers from Singular Logic, commissioned for the job by the Greek government. 19.30 Reports suggest that Pasok will be unwilling to join a coalition that doesn't involve Syriza. Twitter: zerohedge - Pasok's Diamantopoulou announces it would not join coalition government with ND if Syriza is not in 19.17 German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle says Germany could be flexible on the timing of the reforms that Greece has to make as part of its bailout package - but not the meat of the deal: There can't be substantial changes in the engagements. But I can imagine we discuss again a delay. 19.05 It's become a sideshow to the Greek election, but France's Socialists have won control of parliament. That gives Francois Hollande a convincing majority with which he can push through his tax-and-spend agenda. The Socialists' bloc obtained between 312 and 326 seats - an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly. 19.02 AFP reports that Germany is ready to discuss giving Greece more time to carry out reform. 19.01 This tweet sums up the Greek election polls pretty well. The only certainty is that it will be close. Twitter: Yannis Koutsomitis - My prediction: ND wins by ±2%. #Greece #Greece2012 #ekloges 18.54 Some official figures are starting to emerge from the Greek Interior Ministry. With 15pc of the votes counted, New Democracy has 31.1pc, while Syriza has 25.4pc. But it should be noted that these are rural votes, and the electorate in Athens will bring the average back towards the left. Meanwhile, an unofficial poll suggests that a New Democracy/Pasok coalition would have a majority of 159 seats. 18.44 Alex Spillius in Athens reports: Greek state TV estimates that on those exit numbers New Democracy and Pasok could form a coalition. The 300 seats would be distributed thus: New Democracy 127 (including the bonus 50 for winning), Syriza 72, Pasok 32, Independent Greeks 21, Golden Dawn 19, Democratic Left 16, Communist Party of Greece 13. 18.37 Despite that last update, the full, unofficial exit polls are in, and we could be heading for a very narrow New Democracy win in Greece. New Democracy has between 28.6pc and 30pc, and radical left group Syriza has between 27.5pc and 28.4pc. We've got an updated chart below. The official exit poll comes at 9.30pm local time, 7.30pm in London, but it could be the early hours before we have a final result. Interactive chart: Full unofficial Greek exit poll 18.36 Skai TV in Greece is predicting that Syriza will edge just ahead to take 28pc of votes, while New Democracy will trail slightly with 27.5pc. But the winning party gets 50 bonus seats, so Syriza would end up with 124 and New Democracy just 73. 18.29 Meanwhile, in France, AFP reports the Socialists have won an absolute parliamentary majority. More on that soon. 18.24 Ed Conway reports that there's no G20 response on the way following the Greek election. The question now is how markets will react to yet more uncertainty while politicians scrabble to form a coalition. Twitter: Ed Conway - G20 officials say there's currently no plan for grand response to Greek elections & crisis. But cld be action if market chaos ensues on mon 18.14 Greek economist Yanis Varufakis is speaking on Sky News now, and says that the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party winning seats today is the "serpents egg hatching again in Europe as the result of a depression". Within a year we don't know if the eurozone will still exist. Look at Spain. Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos 18.00 A quick chart showing the first exit poll, which includes 80pc of voters. The blue bar represents the lower end of the estimate and the red the upper. We'll have the full unofficial exit poll data in around 15 minutes, then the official poll at 7.30pm. Interactive chart: First Greek exit poll 17.52 The exit poll we already have from Greece is based on just 80pc of voters. Very soon we'll have data from the remaining fifth, which will help clear up the final result. Twitter: Nick Malkoutzis - First exit polls based on 80% of info collected. Second in around an hour will have 100% of data. #Greece 2012 17.43 This is the crowd at the Syriza campaign kiosk in Athens as the first exit poll results were announced on TV. The mood looks good, as well it should: they won just 17pc of the vote six weeks ago, and now look likely to almost double that. 17.38 The BBC's Tim Weber suggests Greece needs a change of electorate, not elected. Twitter: Tim Weber - Greece votes for yet more stalemate. Maybe Greek politicians need to dissolve the people & vote in a new electorate (apols to Brecht) 17.34 Channel 4's Faisal Islam tweets that the late rush of voters could have worked in Syriza's favour: Twitter: Faisal Islam - Skai TV show 30pc of late deciders falling for Tsipras versus 25pc for Samaras 17.19 As we mentioned earlier, the party that gains the most votes in Greece will win an extra 50 seats. So while the election looks far too close to call at the moment, the party which eventually ends up ahead will be bumped even further forward automatically. Despite this, there could still be trouble forming a majority, leading to yet more uncertainty over the country's future. We'll bring you more news as it comes in. Twitter: Robert Nisbet - Roughly, a single party would need between 36 and 38 percent to have an overall majority. Exit polls show ND and Syriza well below that. 17.08 We have more detail on the first exit poll from Alex Spillius in Greece: First exit polls from Greek state TV show it is neck and neck. With 75pc of polling stations accounted for, New Democracy is forecast to win between 27.5pc and 30.5pc, and Syriza 27pc to 30pc. In other words, this a cliffhanger that could drag into the wee hours. Pasok is third with between 10pc and 12pc, the neo-fascist Golden Dawn will definitely sit in parliament for the first time with 6pc-7.5pc. Democratic Left of Fotis Kouvelis is on 5.5pc-6.5pc and the Communist Party vote has sunk even further to 5pc-6pc. 17.02 The first exit poll is out, and it's far too close to call, with New Democracy ahead of anti-austerity Syriza by just half a percent: New Democracy 27.5pc to 30.5pc Syriza 27pc to 30pc Twitter: Louise Armitstead - BREAKING New Democracy has got it by a whisker - 27.5pc vs Syriza’s 27pc. Half a % between them; too tight to trust the exit polls. 17.01 And that's it: polls are closed in Greece. Twitter: Angela Merkel (not) - * Fastens seat belt * 16.59 Over in the French elections, voter turnout at 5pm local time (3pm GMT) fell to 46.16pc, from 49.58pc at the previous election in 2007, according to Interior Ministry data. The turnout dropped more than two percentage points from last week’s first-round level. The last polling station closes at 8pm local time tonight in France’s largest cities including Paris and Lyon. 16.57 One man and his dog cast their vote earlier today in Greece. We're now in the final few minutes of voting and await the first exit poll. 16.45 Greek state-run NET TV is reporting an abstention rate higher than in the May 6 poll. Remember that voting is officially mandatory in Greece, although no longer enforced. The first exit polls will be out in 15 minutes - giving us a hint of what to expect from the final count. 16.38 Mehran Khalili, a photojournalist from Greece, writes on his Twitter profile: "I live in a beautiful country that's having a tough time." He's currently in a polling station in Corinth and says that voter numbers have picked up in the last hour before closing. There are just 22 minutes left to vote for the people of Greece... Twitter: Mehran Khalili - Voting really picking up here in Corinth. Ppl of all ages. Queues spilling onto pavement. #rbnews #Greece2012 16.31 Channel 4's Jon Snow is in Athens covering the election and was strolling through the city last night, when the national team was expected to have been beaten by Russia in the Euro 2012 football tournament. He writes: Instead their team beat Putin’s boys. Uncertainty turned very fast to celebration and then soured to name calling as it dawned upon them that the Euro Championships in Ukraine could contort in such a way that Greece would play who but even mightier Germany. Germany, God of the other Euro - the cash, the curse, the undoing of Greece’s traditional modes of wayward governance and corruption. The chanting was amongst the most obscene I’ve ever heard. In short, Angela Merkel was being invited to put the entire Euro crisis up her posterior. 16.21 Europe's leaders are doing too little, too late, says World Bank chief Robert Zoellick. Speaking in the latest issue of Der Spiegel he said: European politicians always act a day late and promise one euro too little. Then, when it gets tight, they add new liquidity. It's no longer so much about which model the Europeans choose. They should just decide on one. Quickly. World Bank chief Robert Zoellick 16.14 We're expecting exit polls from Greece very soon, but indidications so far point towards a photo finish - we may not have a clear resolution. And if there's one thing that markets don't like, it's uncertainty. Twitter: Megan Greene - I imagine exit polls won't be definitive in Greece given how close ND and Syriza have been in opinion polls. Twitter: Megan Greene - The markets are going to be very disappointed when we don't have much more clarity on Greece despite the elections having come and gone. 15.46 Just 74 minutes until Greek polls close, and I'm handing over the live blog to Matthew Sparkes. 15.45 Tourism is a huge money generator in Greece, but this could come under huge pressure if the country left the euro, according to Andrew Dunn, founder of luxury travel company Scott Dunn: Greece’s exit from the euro would usher in a difficult time for the country’s tourism industry. With the return of the Drachma would come the likelihood of hyperinflation and loss of guest confidence in the destination. Uncertainty about the Greek economy had already impacted our guests’ bookings for the country, and I fear things would get worse before they improved. A family holiday is sacrosanct to most people, so travellers would not want to gamble with their precious time in the sun. Greece’s loss would be the gain of destinations such as Italy and Portugal, which are already firm favourites with our guests. "Greek hoteliers would be caught between a rock and a hard place: they would face currency devaluation and probable inflation at home, but have to continue dealing in euros with international tour operators and travel firms, who would prefer the safety of Europe’s main currency. Currency losses could compound an already parlous position for many Greek holiday businesses. 15.40 Bradley Davis, from the Wall Street Journal, is in Greece: Twitter: Bradley Davis - 53-yr-old Syriza voter, general store owner to WSJ: "I can't accept blackmail from abroad..What gives them the right to terrify the Greeks?" 15.35 National parliaments should provide democratic oversight if Europe adopts more integrated economic governance, France's prime minister has said, warning that the European Central Bank should not dictate countries' policies. "If we are going to work more closely together on what is called economic governance, there also has to be democratic control, which in my view cannot be confined to the European Parliament alone," Jean-Marc Ayrault said. "There has to be a role for national parliaments: Europe remains and will remain a federation of nation states." 15.30 Bruno Waterfield in Brussels: After euro bonds there's now talk of eurobills, with shorter maturities and issued in smaller amounts. According to Der Spiegel, the "eurobonds-lite" plan means crisis hit countries would be allowed new financing via a scheme of eurobills, with issuance limited to a fixed percentage of economic output. Those who do not comply with stringent rules and conditions for issuing the bills, likely to be linked to EU intrusion on tax revenue policy, will be banned from trading in them the following year. The proposals to be discussed at a Brussels summit on June 28 are seen as being in line with the EU treaty, and the German constitution, because they will be so limited in amount and duration for exceptional circumstances. 15.25 Henry Samuel, the Telegraph's French correspondent: "Voter turnout for French parliament election 21.41pc at midday, slightly down on 2007 but not bad given it's the fourth election in two months." 15.19 Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker has reportedly told Austrian newspaper Kurier that there is no room for renegotiating the substance of the Greek bailout package. 15.04 Two hours until polling stations close in Greece. 15.02 The EU-Mexico summit is ready to begin. It is taking place on the margins of the G20 Summit , which starts tomorrow: Twitter: Herman Van Rompuy - About to start #EU #Mexico Summit in Los #Cabos And Van Rompuy has tweeted this picture of him and EC President Jose Manuel Barroso. 14.54 Robert Nisbet from Sky has quoted the head of the Bar Association in Athens as saying the constitutionality of this election could be challenged as share of MPs is based on 2001 census. The 2011 census was carried out but the results are still being "analysed" and applied by government ministry. 14.43 More from Labour MP Peter Hain: Twitter: Peter Hain - Critics on greek election in denial. Syriza wants stay in EU and Euro but knows right wing austerity will encourage fascism not stability 14.38 Remember that woman who interrupted a live Sky News report earlier? (see 12.01) Here's the video: 14.33 In Greece, the threshold a party has to cross to enter parliament is 3pc of the popular vote. The electoral system is a so-called “reinforced proportional representation” system. The “reinforced” bit means that the party with the most votes automatically gets a bonus of 50 seats. In practical terms, the party with the most votes needs to get between 36.4pc and 42.69pc of the popular vote to control an absolute majority in parliament on its own, something that is looking unlikely today. 14.06 Nathalie, a freelance journalist in Greece, has tweeted: Twitter: Nathalie - Disillusioned worker at soup kitchen on €150/month wont vote. "what change will it bring?" #Abstention #greece2012 #ekloges12 Interestingly, voting in Greece is mandatory, according to the constitution, although sanctions are no longer imposed on those who abstain. 14.04 Syriza has asked the Interior Ministry to keep the polls open for an additional two hours on the islands of Lesvos and Hios, as high winds and a ferry crash on Saturday have meant that many constituents met with delays in trying to reach the islands. 13.51 Quick word on Germany, where activists calling for a tax on financial transactions have erected a wall of sandbags outside the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The anti-globalization group Attac said that about 200 people participated in Sunday's action, with the wall meant to symbolize a rampart against financial speculation. Carrying placards with slogans such as "Stem Speculation" and "Financial transaction tax now", they built the wall of sandbags around the statues of a bull and a bear - symbols of optimistic and pessimistic markets - that stand in front of the exchange building. 13.44 Google's Greek homepage features an election doodle today: 13.40 Morgan Stanley has said a joint central bank statement declaring a readiness to act on the eurozone crisis could come before markets open tomorrow. 13.35 The Telegraph's Alex Spillius is at a polling station in northern Athens. Turnout looks as high as last time. Both New Democracy and Syriza volunteers are confident about increasing their share of the vote as pro and anti-bailout sentiment consolidates around each party. Even Syriza supporters think ND will win. People wait to cast their vote at a polling station in Athens Yiorgos Vrassidis, 55, said he wasn’t a big fan of Syriza but voted for them as “an expression of anger”. “I hope they can lighten the pressure of the memorandum a little but it feels there is no light at the end of the tunnel for not only Greeks but all of southern Europe.” There are a lot of different opinions among Athens voters today, as you would expect with 21 parties running. But one common thread is that no one expects the coalition government that will be formed in the next couple of days to last long. I just met a man named Theodore Bouzas whom I interviewed at the same polling station last month. "I hope I don't see you again soon," he said, without much confidence. 13.34 We are hearing reports that a second hand grenade HAS been found at Skai TV. Specailist military unit on the way to the scene. 13.31 David Song, currency analyst at DailyFX, on rates: Beyond the Greek elections, the conference [G20 meet on Monday and Tuesday] in Mexico may prop up the single currency as the G20 plans to tackle the heightening risk for contagion, but the meeting may do little to restore investor confidence should the group struggle to meet on common ground. Meanwhile, European Central Bank board member Ewald Nowotny continued to voice his support for a zero-interest rate policy in order to combat the downside risks for the region, but went onto say that it is too early to speculate on a third Long-Term Refinancing Operation, according to an interview with a German newspaper. Indeed, it seems as though the Governing Council is leaning towards a rate cut amid the heightening risk for a prolonged recession, but the ECB may have little choice but to implement a range of tools to shore up the ailing economy amid the ongoing turmoil in the financial system. 13.26 Here's that Radio Four interview with Tony Blair on the eurozone (see 12.45pm): He also confirmed he'd have taken the EU Presidency had it been offered to him and wouldn't rule out taking it in the future. 13.24 Just a reminder. The results of exit surveys in Greece are expected at the close of polling stations at 5pm (UK time), and the first official projections were expected at around 7.30pm (UK time). 12.55 Athens Chamber of Commerce talking to Sky News: "This is not a Greek crisis, it never was - it's a pan-European crisis. If Germany believes in a European vision, she should start behaving more as a European Germany and less as a Germanic Europe." 12.52 Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece's Syriza party, arrives to cast his vote at a polling station in Athens this morning. Followed (from left) by leader of Socialist party PASOK Evangelos Venizelos, leader of the right-wing LAOS party George Karatzaferis and leader of the conservative New Democracy party Antonis Samaras. 12.45 Tony Blair has told BBC Radio 4 that "for the single currency to survive, Germany has got to come fully behind it... There is an urgent need to recapitalise the banks... the difficulties are not confined to Spain." 12.41 Skai TV has said there is no second grenade. 12.30 In today's French elections, voter turnout has fallen to a record low of 21.41pc, the Interior Ministry said. That compares with 22.89pc at the previous election in 2007. The ministry will provide an update on voter participation at 5pm. 12.20 A policeman with a sniffer dog enters the courtyard of Skai TV in Greece after reports of a second suspected hand grenade. Police set up a cordon around Skai TV Reporter for Skai claiming that an anonymous caller said "they should search well for another hand grenade". 12.01 A Greek citizen has burst in on a live Sky News interview yelling "Merkel is a female Hitler, she is trying to destroy all of Europe but we will win". The woman has to be dragged away. 12.00 Joseph Weisenthal, deputy editor of Business Insider, has taken a photo of the Greek police carrying riot shields: 11.54 Former Chancellor Lord Lawson has described the euro crisis as a "Doomsday machine". 11.46 BREAKING NEWS... Sky News is reporting that a suspected hand grenade has been thrown outside Greek TV station Skai, but did not explode. A police official said: "According to the guard of the station it was thrown by two persons riding a motorbike, it did not go off. It is not known if it is a real grenade or a fake but no one is going near." Bomb disposal experts are on their way to the scene. 11.45 The Telegraph's Bruno Waterfield says EU finance ministers are to hold a teleconference when Greek exit polls come out tonight (5pm UK time) - if Syriza leading then "proxy drachma" and capital control plans are ready. 11.38 Damian Mac Con Uladh, journalist with Athens News: Twitter: Damian Mac Con Uladh - Polling station, Corinth: #GoldenDawn muscle men in quasi-uniform at school gates. Intimidation in itself. Next to melon seller. #greece2012 11.32 We've got a great video of several youngsters who are desperate to beat Germany - and Angela Merkel - in the quarter finals of Euro 2012. 11.04 Fiona Govan, the Telegraph's Spanish correspondent, has looked at the government's handling of the crisis there: Spain's right-leaning El Mundo newspaper this morning publishes a poll that provides a good indication of how Spaniards feel about their government’s handling of the economic crisis. The ruling conservative Popular Party has been in power since December but already their popularity has dropped 5.5pc, according to the recent poll by Sigma Dos. That’s not to say the Socialists, in power for seven years and widely blamed for mishandling the economy when crisis began in 2008, are winning back support - it’s the smaller parties like the left coalition Izquierda Unida who are seeing the biggest rise. Interestingly an overwhelming 92pc of those asked said they want a parliamentary commission into the Bankia debacle, something that the government itself has so far rejected. Reports suggest that stricken Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has ruled out raising VAT for the time being. That news may come as a relief to Spaniards already complaining of a hike in everyday prices and bills while wages are static or even cut but it defies recommendations by the IMF for the nation. 11.00 Business Insider is in an Athenian polling station: 10.53 Enrico Letta, deputy leader of the Democratic Party in Italy, has told Sky News: "We dont want Greece out of the euro, we want Greece inside of the euro... The European problem is a political one, not a financial one. We need to take steps towards a more integrated Europe, if not then the euro will collapse" On contagion from Greece spreading to Italy: "I share the [contagion] fear of Mr Monti, we are supporting him and his government. Growth for us is main problem in the last decade, two points of growth for one decade - too low" On Germany's stance: "The main argument is the future and strength of euro and EU is in their own interests. Germany without a large euro and EU will not be able to be the strongest country as Germany is today... They profited very much from the euro. Points out that on June 22 in Rome, Mario Monti will be hosting a summit with Hollande, Rajoy and Merkel - the four main economies in the euro area - it will be the first time they will meet to try to find solutions before European Council; it will be a very important step. 10.52 Economist Nouriel Roubini: Twitter: Nouriel Roubini - EZ loss of market access & bailout domino: Greece, Ireland, Portugal. Soon Cyprus. Next Spain. Then Italy if Spain goes. Finally France...? 10.34 Former Greek PM George Papandreou told the Andrew Marr Show that Greece leaving the euro would be "catastrophic" for the country and warned there will be a “run” on the banks. "Leaving the euro would be catastrophic for Greece.There would be a bank run...we are still a high import country, we depend on oil, for example. Also we will have deep cuts and at the same time there will be most likely a cut in our GDP growth by 20pc, so this will be a major catastrophe that will have not only social but political consequences, which I believe will make it much more difficult for Greece to reform." 10.31 Former Greek finance minister Yiannos Papantoniou says today's election is a "referendum about the euro". Greeks understand they are voting to stay in or out of the euro, he said on the Sky's Murnaghan show. "New context is being shaped in Europe to loosen up the austerity stance. Greece can achieve honourable compromise." 10.30 The Telegraph's Bruno Waterfield from Brussels on this "Greekend": There’s trouble on the home front, too, for Angela Merkel. The German Chancellor is facing call from within her own coalition for a referendum in Germany as the price for any further eurozone bailouts. Horst Seehofer, the head of Bavaria’s Christian Democrats, told Spiegel magazine that he would demand during elections next year that Germany’s constitution needed to be changed to allow popular votes to ratify major EU decisions. “If the extent of Germany's financial commitment is widened, then we should ask people for their opinion. The referendum in Ireland has shown that people can handle European issues responsibly. Those who wish Europe well must not be afraid of the population,” he said. “We should change the constitution so that referendums will in future be made mandatory in three cases: if additional powers are transferred to Brussels; if the EU wants to include new members, and if new aid programmes in the euro crisis are launched.” 10.27 Great look at the Greek parties' different programmes can be found on the Ekathimerini website. 10.22 Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered, has told Sky News that the euro has been driven by poilitics, and the economics underpinning it are poor. The euro has to be a political union to survive. He adds that Greece is only 2pc of the euro economy, the country needs growth to make changes and Germany should help Greece. Lyons says Greece lost the confidence of the markets some time ago. Markets less focused on the Greek economy and more on the issue of contagion. He continues: "Greece needs to make changes and collect taxes. Germany does not want to give it a free rise. But key issue is Greece needs growth. The key is Germany and the ECB have the ability to pull Greece and the euro back from the brink. But Germany is prepared to let Greece go. Italy is in a very different and better position to Greece. It has large domestic savings and northern Italy is a dynamic economy. Europe needs a two-speed euro - hard euro for the north, soft for the south. France is politically in the north, economically in the south. 10.08 Lizzy Davies from The Guardian is in Greece for the elections as well: Twitter: lizzy davies - Lovely encounter with well-dressed neo-nazis in exarchia. One a civil engineer, one an accountant. Kasidiaris is their 'best boy' #scary And Labour MP Peter Hain as tweeted: Twitter: Peter Hain - I'd be voting for Syriza in Greece today. Got to stop this devastating austerity programme sweeping Europe and UK. Faisal Islam at Channel Four News: Twitter: Faisal Islam - My exit poll of one Athenian mum. She wanted to vote Syriza, but admitted that "fear won" and she voted ND instead. Lots of undecided here 10.04 Yiannis Mouzakis at Thompson-Reuters: "Athens polling station, quite busy, majority young crowd." 09.54 Just a little ironic piece of history. The Greeks are voting 49 years to the day since East Germans revolted against socialist-imposed austerity. 09.51 Faisal Islam, economics editor at Channel Four News, is in Greece and getting a bit cocky: Twitter: Faisal Islam - Just walked down the stairs with Tsipras... He smirked when I pointed at him saying: "mrs Merkel doesn't want Greeks to vote for this man" 09.46 Mark Lowen, BBC Athens correspondent: Twitter: Mark Lowen - 1st guy I speak to at polling stn says voting #GoldenDawn as "immigration is main issue- all immigrants out". Surely more pressing matters? We have a great video that revals voters in Greece believe the election result is too close to call. 09.44 France began voting in a parliamentary run-off on Sunday morning that is expected to hand President Francois Hollande's Socialist party a majority and bolster his position in legislative battles over eurozone crisis policy. Opinion polls and projections from last Sunday's first-round vote suggest the Socialist bloc could achieve the 289 seats needed for a majority in the 577-member National Assembly even without adding seats from its Green Party allies. Added to its control of the Senate and the presidency, that would give the Socialist Party more power than it has ever held and should leave Hollande's largely social democratic and pro-Europe cabinet broadly intact. The possible entry of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front into parliament for the first time since the mid-1980s with up to three seats would be uncomfortable but would not pose any threat to Hollande's power to govern. 09.37 Alex Spillius in Greece: Both Antonis Samaras, leader of New Democracy, and Alexis Tsipras, Syriza leader, have voted. Their quotes and demeanour demonstrated that the young Syriza leader has rocketed to prominence. Surrounded by cameras at an Athens polling station, he said: "We have beaten fear. Today we are opening the gates to hope and a better tomorrow, with our people united, dignified and an equal partner in a Europe which is changing. We are optimistic the future belongs to the bearers of hope." Samaras voted in Pilos, his small home town in the Peleponnese. All he said was: "Today the Greek people are speaking and tomorrow a new era is beginning for Greece." Saving his best for strong-arming Angela Merkel, we can only presume. 09.30 Joseph Weisenthal, deputy editor of Business Insider, is in Greece and has tweeted that little media crews are everywhere: 09.20 Here's Alexis Tsipras casting his vote amid a media scrum: 09.17 Former Greek PM Kostas Karamanlis has voted. But what is strange is that he licked the voting envelope four times when they are self-sealing. 09.15 Robert Nisbet, Sky News Europe Correspondent: Twitter: Robert Nisbet - Police confirm to #skynews that KKE communist party's twitter feed has been hacked. Tweets were urging supporters to vote for rival Syriza 09.13 France wants the European Union to agree before the end of 2012 on growth-boosting measures worth €120bn, the weekly Journal du Dimanche has said, citing a proposal circulated by France ahead of an end-June summit. The €120bn is to come from a combination of short-term growth instruments such as project bonds, reallocated EU structural funds and fresh investment capital from the European Investment Bank. Hollande said the measures should be enlarged upon before the end of 2012 with the creation of a financial transaction tax and measures to create jobs, especially for young people. French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel 09.06 Syriza's Alexis Tsipras is voting. A supporter shouts: "Nothing the same from now on. The time has come for the people to speak." There is a key difference in this election. The Greek constitution says that if elections are held within 18 months of the previous ones, the voting method changes. Voters this time around will not be able to pick candidates from their party of choice by putting a cross next to their names. Instead, they will only vote for their party of choice. The parties have allocated the places to their candidates hierarchically, putting the candidates they prefer at the top of their so-called “list”. The candidates elected from each party will be determined as a function of what share of the vote their party gets, in the order they were ranked by their leaders. Ballots where voters have put a cross next to candidates’ names will be considered invalid. 09.05 Joseph Weisenthal, deputy editor of Business Insider: Twitter: Joseph Weisenthal - The gossip I've heard is that all of the "secret polls" have trended slightly towards Samaras. But big block still undecided. #Greece2012 Twitter: Joseph Weisenthal - And undecideds thought to lean slightly towards Tsipras. #Greece2012 09.03 After his side beat Russia to advance in Euro 2012, Greek national football manager Fernando Santos was asked how much modern European civilisation has strayed away from its ancient Greek roots. He replied: "We are inspired by Greek history, not Merkel." 08.54 Alex Spillius, our diplomatic correspondent reporting from Greece, says the country has at last found some euro-joy, though unfortunately it was limited to the sporting arena. Its football team last night unexpectedly and improbably advanced to the knock-out stages of Euro 2012, beating Russia 1-0. Its next match will probably be against Germany, a fixture that so rich in symbolism it hardly needs mentioning. Today’s election could of course determine if Greece is later knocked out of the single currency. Polls opened at 7am and close at 7pm (5pm BST). Unofficial exit polls will follow shortly afterwards, with official exit polls at 9.30pm. So by this evening we should know if the next government will be led by centre-Right New Democracy or the radical Leftist coalition Syriza. 08.48 Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece's main conservative party New Democracy, says a "new era" is starting in the country. 08.35 Economist Nouriel Roubini: Twitter: Nouriel Roubini - Regardless of Greece elections, if spread remain elevated & rising in Spain and Italy, both may lose market access & need a full bailout 08.32 Meanwhile, Greece has appealed to the EU for help... with a fire. A major fire south of the Greek capital raged for the second day on Sunday, as gale-force winds were rekindling the flames and three new fronts broke out. Local officials said several homes had been burned, while three firefighters were injured in the blaze on Saturday. More than 250 firefighters and soldiers using more than 60 vehicles were battling the flames in a sparsely populated area south of Athens, along with four water-dropping planes and a helicopter, the fire department said. Another 45 firefighters and 15 vehicles were being sent from other areas. Greece appealed to the European Union for help. Italy was sending another two water-dropping planes on Sunday morning, Citizens' Protection Minister Eleftherios Economou said. Athens was also awaiting a response from France and Croatia. 08.28 The Telegraph's Alex Spillius, who is reporting from Greece says some headlines from this morning's newspapers in Athens show that the Greeks are not underestimating the significance of today's vote. To Vima's front page declares: "The salvation election: Greeks are voting with an exit from the euro a distinct possibility" Kathemirini says: "With baited breath, the eyes of the whole planet are turned Greece" Real News, a Sunday-only paper, has a poorly sourced report from Brussels claiming that senior EU officials have already agreed ways to ease the terms of Greece's bailout. It reads like a bit of a New Democracy wish-list, but could be true in part. Things like extending the memorandum by a year or two and raising the lowest pension rates - which were slashed - will be on the table. 08.23 Commenting on the elections in Greece, Tristan Cooper, Sovereign Debt Analyst at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said: Views on the Greek election depend on whether you are playing the short or the long game in the eurozone crisis. A short-term player favours an New Democracy (ND) win as it reduces the chances of an immediate breakdown with the Troika. A long-term player will worry that an ND victory would take the pressure off and lead to continued policy drift at the European level. Although a Syriza win may be more scary for markets and would raise the spectre of a euro exit, it would hold policy-makers’ feet to the fire and would improve the prospects for an eventual fiscal union. "Whoever wins, the March Troika program will have to be revisited as it is already off-track. The Greek economy contracted by 6.2pc in Q1 and youth unemployment topped 50pc. Indeed, European leaders indicated today that they would offer program concessions to an ND-led government. Further comfort was provided by the ECB and other central banks, which have pledged to cushion shocks emanating from Greece with extra liquidity.” 08.13 Meanwhile, French voters are choosing a new parliament today that will determine how far Socialist President Francois Hollande can go with his push for government-sponsored stimulus around Europe. 08.08 Voting is already under way in Greece, in an election that could ultimately decide if the country remains in the euro. New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, left, and Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras New Democracy, led by Antonis Samaras, and anti-bailout party Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, are the frontrunners, but polls suggest the result is too close to call. 08.00 Good morning and welcome to a special Live Blog on the Greek elections. Debt crisis live: archive ||||| * Germany says timeframe flexible if Greece sticks to programme * EU/IMF want to see serious reform implementation first * G20 to urge euro zone to break government/banks "doom loop" * Market rally limited as euro zone doubts linger * Italy, Spain bond yields continue to rise By Stephen Brown and Dina Kyriakidou BERLIN/ATHENS, June 18 (Reuters) - Euro zone paymaster Germany, relieved at a narrow election victory for Greece's pro-bailout parties, signalled on Monday it may be willing to grant Athens more time to meet its fiscal targets to avert a catastrophic euro exit. But financial markets' relief that the 17-nation European currency area had avoided plunging deeper into crisis was quickly overtaken by concern about unresolved problems in Greece, the lack of a comprehensive plan for the euro zone as a whole and weakness in the world economy. As leaders of the G20 major global economies began a summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, a G20 source told Reuters their draft communique would say that Europe will take "all necessary policy measures" to ensure that the euro zone is stable and intact. It also urged the Europeans to find ways to break the dangerous "feedback loop" between indebted governments and weak banks. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the substance of Greece's austerity and economic reform programme, agreed in exchange for a second EU/IMF rescue, was non-negotiable, but the timing of its deficit reduction goals might be adjusted. "We're ready to talk about the timeframe as we can't ignore the lost weeks and we don't want people to suffer because of that," Westerwelle said in a radio interview. Government officials said his comments did not reflect Berlin's official position, and a government spokesman said now was not the time to give Greece "a discount". However, Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter, who is closer to Chancellor Angela Merkel and normally a stickler for strict adherence to fiscal orthodoxy, told ARD television: "It is clear to us that Greece should not be over-strained." Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said Greece needed both a sustainable course of fiscal consolidation and a return to economic growth after four years of recession. "The conditions that were negotiated have to be observed but we also need to give the Greeks room to breathe," Faymann said in a statement. Under the current rules, Athens must cut its budget deficit to below 3 percent of Greek GDP in 2014. The hints at leniency should help Greek conservative leader Antonis Samaras, whose New Democracy party narrowly beat the radical leftist anti-austerity SYRIZA movement in Sunday's election, to form a mainstream coalition with the PASOK Socialists. He will face fierce pressure from European and International Monetary Fund lenders to start implementing seriously an economic reform programme agreed earlier this year, which has largely remained a dead letter so far. European Central Bank executive board member Joerg Asmussen noted that giving Greece more time to meet its fiscal targets would require additional European funding for Athens, and the current situation should be reassessed first. "I can only generally point out that if one is pressing to shift fiscal targets, one should be so honest to also say that as long as a country is running a primary deficit, extending the fiscal targets will automatically mean that there will be an additional external financing need," Asmussen said. TRUST BUST With trust in Greek politicians at a low ebb, a senior EU official said the new government would find a 100-day action plan on its desk including privatisations, axing public sector jobs and closing loss-making enterprises to prove it was serious. "There will be a very clear 100-day plan for a new government. If it's not implemented in full then the game is over," the German EU official told Reuters before the election. Procedurally, the next step after the formation of a government will be for the "troika" of European Commission, IMF and ECB inspectors to return to Athens to review Greek implementation of the bailout agreement. They are almost certain to say it has again veered off track. The euro and shares rallied briefly after the Greek vote but fell back by mid-afternoon on Monday and there was no let-up for the borrowing costs of euro zone strugglers Spain and Italy. The Italian and Spanish prime ministers, Mario Monti and Mariano Rajoy, in Mexico for a G20 summit, both welcomed the Greek election result as good news for the euro zone. But Spanish and Italian 10-year government bond yields continued to rise, with Madrid's hitting a fresh euro era record of 7.15 percent, close to levels that drove Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek international rescues. Analysts at Citi said the election had changed nothing fundamental and they still forecast a 50 to 75 percent likelihood of Greece leaving the euro within 12 to 18 months. But Fitch Ratings said it now saw a lower risk of a disorderly Greek debt default and exit from the euro area. Others said that regardless of whether Greece stays or goes, the main issues driving markets are whether the world's central banks will do more to revive global growth, and whether euro zone leaders can sketch out a roadmap for closer fiscal and banking union at a summit next week to convince investors that the euro will survive. "It remains vital that euro zone governments take profound steps forward in terms of fiscal union and restoring confidence in the banking sector," said Nick Kounis of Dutch bank ABN AMRO. "Judging by past form, European politicians tend to take their foot off the gas when the pressure is off." AUSTERITY ISN'T WORKING Samaras has promised to renegotiate elements of the 130 billion euro ($165 billion) bailout programme to soften the economic impact. Giving Athens an additional year to achieve its deficit reduction goals would mean increasing the size of the euro zone's bailout, raising the commitment by countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Finland where voters are deeply reluctant to approve further funding. Greece is in the fifth year of a crippling recession that has driven unemployment to a record 22 percent - including one in two young people - and caused widespread hardship. Although sufficient voters cast their ballots out of fear of a disastrous euro exit to give mainstream parties a working majority, a majority angry over austerity and corruption voted for a range of anti-bailout groups. That raises the prospect of a renewal of violent street protests if a Samaras-led administration moves ahead with the unpopular cuts and closures demanded by international lenders. There is little sign so far that austerity is working in Greece. Public wage, pension and spending cuts have exacerbated economic contraction, shrinking state revenue, while bureaucracy, corruption and a lack of confidence have held back private sector investment. Many citizens in a fractured society have responded by refusing to pay bills and taxes out of disgust with their political leaders and fury at seeing the rich evading tax and parking money abroad. Even if the economy began to recover, economists argue the demands being made of Greece to reduce its public debt to a sustainable trajectory are unrealistic. If the "troika" finds that Greece is off course, pressure among non-European states for the IMF to pull out of the programme is bound to rise, diplomats said. The euro zone may end up carrying the whole cost of the bailout, which in turn could fuel public opposition in northern European creditor countries, they said. ||||| MILAN/MADRID (Reuters) - Spain called on Monday for the European Central Bank to step in to fight financial market pressure after any hopes that the Greek election result might ease the strain on vulnerable Spanish and Italian debt were dashed. The cost of borrowing rose for both Spain and Italy, the two big euro zone economies under fire for poor finances, widening the gap between what they have to pay and what Germany pays. The yield on Spain's 10-year bond went above the 7 percent widely viewed as unsustainable. Italy's was just above 6 percent. "The financial markets ... aren't relaxing their pressure on Spain. Doubts continue regarding the construction of Europe, about the present and the future of the euro," Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro told the Spanish Senate during a budget hearing. "The ECB must respond firmly, with reliability, to these market pressures that are still trying to derail the joint euro project." Within a few hours of the election result - a narrow win for Greek parties committed to the terms of a European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout - financial markets reacted as if nothing had changed. The response underlined the essential problem facing the euro zone; short-term improvements to the climate do not address the root problem that finances are perilously tight in the middle of an economic downturn. "While Greek euro exit fears have ... eased, this (election) outcome does little to alleviate the weak fundamentals that currently weigh on Spain and Italy," Michala Marcussen, an economist at Societe Generale, said in a research note. Even so, a meltdown at the prospect of a Greek government pledged to reneging on its commitments and possibly forcing Greece out of the euro zone was averted, so leaders of Italy and Spain welcomed the narrow victory for Greek mainstream parties. "This allows us to have a more serene vision for the future of the European Union and for the euro zone," Italian Prime Minster Mario Monti told reporters in Mexico upon arriving for a G-20 summit. Also speaking before the same meeting, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy greeted the election outcome as "good news for Greece, very good news for the European Union, for the euro and also for Spain". Rajoy, like Montoro on Monday, has repeatedly called for the ECB to act to defend the euro zone, implicitly wanting it to resume a massive bond-buying programme that held down yields of government debt in recent months. The ECB is reluctant to fire up the programme again. COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION For Italy and Spain, the bond market reaction to the Greek vote suggested that the euro zone crisis needs a comprehensive solution before markets can start to build confidence. The share and currency markets were also underwhelmed by the Greek results. After an initial spike, Europe's top shares and the euro were flat within a couple of hours of opening on Monday. Sceptics don't have to look far to see why: Spanish banks' bad loans rose to the highest percentage of their outstanding portfolios since April 1994, according to the Bank of Spain. An audit later this week is expected to show Spanish banks needing between 60 billion and 70 billion euros (47.90- 56.2 billion pounds) in capital. There were mixed signals from Germany about whether it would tolerate a slight easing of demands on Greece. It is also unclear how deep the divisions will be between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande over easing back on austerity programmes in favour of growth. These questions are the kind that keep markets on edge and drive investors away from what they see as riskier assets. "Our concern remains that little will be delivered in terms of additional risk-sharing measures, leaving markets, and as such the economies, vulnerable to renewed stress," said Marcussen of Societe General. (Written by Jeremy Gaunt; Editing by Peter Graff)

– Germany signaled that it may give Greece some much-needed breathing room in its bailout timetable today, as European leaders cheered the victory of Greece's pro-bailout leaders this weekend. "We're ready to talk about the time frame as we can't ignore the lost weeks and we don't want people to suffer because of that," says Germany's foreign minister. Reuters notes that Greece's bailout amount would have to rise should the country be given an extra year to hit its targets. But controversy continues as world leaders meet at a euro-focused G20 summit in Mexico. Greek leaders are working to organize a coalition government, which the radical SYRIZA party says it won't join—though it acknowledges the "country must have a government tonight," according to the Telegraph's live blog. Meanwhile, despite the Greek election, Spain and Italy continue to struggle, with borrowing costs climbing for both countries, Reuters notes.

Guinness World Records (GWR), the global authority in record breaking achievements, is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Mr Chandra Dangi, who held the title of shortest man in the world. GWR would like to express its sincere and heartfelt condolences to Mr Dangi’s family in this difficult time. He will be remembered forever as an iconic and extraordinary record holder. ||||| The shortest man in recorded history has died, three years after entering the Guinness world records and before which he had never left his village. Chandra Bahadur Dangi, a Nepalese man who stood 1ft 9" tall (54.6 cm), has passed away on the Polynesian island of Samoa after being ill with pneumonia. The 75-year-old won his place in the record books on February 26 in 2012 after being found to be half an inch shorter than the previous holder, Gul Mohammed from India. Mr Dangi then travelled to London two years later to meet Sultan Kosen from Turkey, the world's tallest man at 8ft 2" (2.48 metres). Guinness World Records said in a statement it was “deeply saddened” to hear of his passing. "GWR would like to express its sincere and heartfelt condolences to Mr Dangi’s family in this difficult time. He will be remembered forever as an iconic and extraordinary record holder." Before winning his title, Mr Dangi had never left his remote village of Reemkholi in Dang district, more than 500 kilometres from the capital Kathmandu, according to ABC news.

– Three years after being declared the world's shortest man, Chandra Dangi died Thursday at the age of 75. Standing just 21.5 inches tall, Dangi was named the world's shortest man by Guinness World Records in 2012, the Wall Street Journal of India reports. According to the Kathmandu Post, Dangi beat out the previous record holder by less than an inch. In addition to being the shortest living man, he was also the shortest man ever measured. Prior to being named the world's shortest man, Dangi had never left the remote village of Reemkholi in Nepal, the Independent reports. In the past three years, he moved more than 300 miles to Kathmandu, met the world's tallest man in London, saw the ocean for the first time in Australia, and toured the Pacific with Samoa's Magic Circus. After Dangi's death from illness in a hospital in American Samoa, Guinness World Records offered condolences to his family: "He will be remembered forever as an iconic and extraordinary record holder." The Wall Street Journal has a photo tribute to Dangi here.

A federal judge in Tucson has refused to block some of the strictest rules in the nation on the use of abortion drugs. The rules, which were approved by the Arizona Legislature in 2012 and will take effect on Tuesday, restrict the use of a medication to induce abortions during the early stages of pregnancy to the first seven weeks. The rules also restrict the use of the drug, mifepristone, to protocols approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000. That early approval called for the drug to be given in higher doses than is customary today, and only in doctors’ offices in the first seven weeks of pregnancy. Since those rules were first approved, doctors have found that a lower dose of the drug is effective, and that it can be safely taken outside doctors’ offices through the ninth week of pregnancy. The new restrictions, argued Planned Parenthood, one of the plaintiffs in the case, would force many women to undergo unnecessary surgical abortions, and would prevent some women from getting an abortion at all — especially in Northern Arizona, where the only abortion provider offers only the medication route. The plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order to block the rules while a legal challenge could work its way through the courts. In denying the request on Monday, the judge, David C. Bury of United States District Court, wrote that Arizona’s rules will not unduly burden a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, since the alternative of surgical abortions remains available. The fact that some women may have to travel hundreds of miles to clinics, twice, under the restrictions, and that the process will cost more, he wrote, “do not qualify as irreparable harm.” Judge Bury, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote that it is “unlikely that plaintiffs will prevail on the merits of the constitutional claims.” In seeking an injunction, he wrote, the plaintiffs “have not established serious questions going to the merits nor that the hardship balance tips sharply towards them.” Attempts to require the narrow F.D.A. standards have been passed in several Republican-led states, and lawmakers have argued they are protecting women’s health from unauthorized, “off-label” use of drugs. Similar laws have been overturned in North Dakota and annulled by Oklahoma’s Supreme Court. Courts in Ohio and Texas let the laws stand with some exceptions, including considerations of the health of patients who might face risks from surgical abortion. Arizona’s attorney general, Tom Horne, said in a telephone interview that the state needed to prove only that it had a rational basis for the law, and that the F.D.A. rule provided that. He said that Judge Bury’s finding that the plaintiffs were unlikely to win the case on the merits “would be an indication that we’re likely to win.” Planned Parenthood said it would continue to press its legal challenge to the law. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement, “It is outrageous that politicians are interfering in a doctor’s ability to provide the highest quality medical care for women in Arizona.” She added, “This is not over — we will continue to fight for Arizona women with everything we’ve got.” ||||| PHOENIX — New restrictions on drug-induced abortions will take effect this morning as had been scheduled. U.S. District Judge David Bury issued an order Monday afternoon rejecting a bid to block the restrictions while the legality of the 2012 law is litigated. Bury rejected the arguments by attorneys for Planned Parenthood and the Tucson Women’s Center that the burdens on them and their clients of having to live within the law in the interim outweighed the state’s interest in imposing the regulations. Monday’s order is far from the last word. Attorneys for the challengers, Planned Parenthood and the Tucson Women’s Center, still have an opportunity to prove to Bury the restrictions violate the liberty and privacy rights of patients by imposing “an unconstitutional burden on their right to choose an abortion.” Challengers also contend that denying some women the right to terminate a pregnancy through a pill rather than through a surgical procedure violates patients’ “rights to bodily integrity.” But in refusing to issue the injunction, Bury had to conclude the challengers are not likely to win their case. Attorney David Brown of the Center for Reproductive Rights called the ruling “disappointing.” But the decision is a victory for the anti-abortion Center for Arizona Policy, which pushed for the law’s adoption. The fight is over the two medical organizations’ use of mifepristone, an abortion-inducing drug known as RU-486, and misoprostol, a drug taken at home 24 to 48 hours later to ensure that the fetus is expelled. Attorneys for challengers said their doctors have determined that combination is effective in terminating a pregnancy through the ninth week. But HB 2036, the 2012 law that will now take effect, says any medication used to induce abortion must be administered “in compliance with the protocol authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” The FDA has approved RU-486 only for the first seven weeks, and only when given in two doses, each one administered by a physician. The ruling is expected to affect more than 800 women a year who, based on abortion records from last year, would be candidates for the more simple procedure. In Northern Arizona, Planned Parenthood says the new state-mandated procedure will eliminate the option for all abortions at its Flagstaff clinic because the rules require a doctor to be available more than the one day a week she is now. Bury acknowledged the government cannot ban abortions prior to viability. And he said it also cannot place an “undue burden” on that right or place a “substantial obstacle” in the path of women seeking to exercise that right. But Bury, in his 14-page ruling, said he does not believe this legislation does either. He said the law reflects the legitimate goals of the Legislature to protect women from “dangerous and potentially deadly off-label use of abortion-inducing drugs” and requires that doctors abide by the procedures tested and approved by the FDA. “In other words, the primary, if not the sole, purpose of the statute is maternal health,” the judge wrote. “The government has a legitimate interest in advancing the state of medical knowledge concerning maternal health and prenatal life.” He said surgical abortions, which have a record of being “extremely safe” when performed through 13 weeks of pregnancy, remain an alternative. Brown said that choice should belong to the woman, not the Legislature. Bury also rejected the contention by challengers that there is a “clear advantage” to allowing drug-induced abortions through the ninth week because many women do not discover they are pregnant until after the seventh week. None of the arguments overcomes the conclusion that state legislators had a “rational basis” for the regulations. Brown, however, said Bury is using the wrong legal standard. He said the only question should be whether the new regulations advance the cause of women’s health. Brown said that is quite different from the fact that there may be equally safe options available that some women may find less desirable. ||||| PHOENIX (AP) — The most stringent restrictions in the nation on the use of abortion drugs were allowed to take effect Tuesday by a federal judge's ruling in the latest in a series of court fights over Arizona abortion laws. U.S. District Judge David C. Bury on Monday refused to stop the new rules just hours before they were to take effect. Opponents of the rules said they would continue to challenge the restrictions in court. Bury made his ruling in response to a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood Arizona and the private abortion clinic Tucson Women's Center, who say the rules severely infringe on a woman's ability to have an abortion. He was asked to grant an injunction that would have blocked the rules from taking effect. The rules were released in January by the Arizona Department of Health Services. They ban women from taking the most common abortion-inducing drug — RU-486 — after the seventh week of pregnancy. Existing rules allow women to take the abortion pill through nine weeks of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood estimates that 800 women would have had to get surgical abortions in 2012 if the rules were in effect then. An attorney for the organization also told the judge last week that the new rules could force its Flagstaff abortion clinic to suspend operations. In his ruling, the judge acknowledged that the new rules will make it more difficult for some women in Arizona, especially those in the northern part of the state, to get abortions as they have to travel farther and make more trips to clinics. But he said they aren't obstacles big enough to show that the rules should be blocked. "The court finds that the injunction is not in the public interest," Bury said. Attorney Mike Tyron, arguing the case for the state, described the rules as a simple shift in abortion regulations that amount to a minor inconvenience for women — and are not the heavy-handed change that opponents make them out to be. The Arizona Legislature in the past few years has approved a number of aggressive anti-abortion measures. A House of Representatives-approved bill that is being considered by the Senate would allow for surprise, warrantless inspections of abortion clinics. Proponents of the bill say it protects women from clinics that are not up to health standards. Opponents say it puts women at risk and violates their privacy. The Arizona rules limit RU-486 to use under the Food and Drug Administration drug label approved in 2000, which uses a much higher dosage. That dosage is no longer routinely followed because doctors have found much lower dosages are just as effective when combined with a second drug. The rules require that the drug be administered only at the FDA-approved dosage no later than seven weeks into a pregnancy instead of nine weeks, and that both doses be taken at the clinic. The usual dose is lower and now usually taken at home, decreasing the cost and chance of complications. Ohio and Texas have similar laws requiring the use of only FDA-approved protocols for drug-abortions that have been upheld by federal courts, although those states have exemptions for women whose life is endangered, who have severe health problems or for whom surgical abortion would not be appropriate. Arizona's law doesn't allow for exemptions, making them the most stringent in the country. State courts in Oklahoma and North Dakota have blocked similar rules. The Center for Arizona Policy, a powerful anti-abortion group that pushed the 2012 law, has pushed a series of anti-abortion bills. Two of those, a ban on Medicaid money for any of Planned Parenthood non-abortion services and a ban on abortion after 20 weeks, have been blocked by federal courts. "When Planned Parenthood loses, women win," said Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy. "It's common-sense regulations protecting the health and safety of women considering an abortion." The Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Planned Parenthood, says it will not drop its fight despite the ruling. "This law serves no purpose other than to prevent Arizona women from using a safe alternative to surgical abortion and force their doctors to follow an outdated, riskier and less effective method. This is what happens when politicians, not doctors, practice medicine," attorney David Brown said.

– As of today, women in Arizona face the strictest rules in the nation regarding the use of the abortion drug RU-486, reports AP. A federal judge declined to block the rules from taking effect while a legal fight over them makes its way through the courts. The upshot is that women in the state will be able to use the drug only through the first seven weeks of pregnancy, two weeks fewer than women elsewhere. Arizona's legislature approved the change in 2012, and Planned Parenthood sued, arguing that the move will create undue hardships for women and force hundreds to have surgical abortions instead. In northern Arizona, for example, the lone abortion provider offers only the drug option, reports the New York Times. Federal Judge David C. Bury disagreed, saying that while the stricter rules will make it tougher for women, they won't create obstacles that violate their right to an abortion on constitutional grounds. He added that he thinks Planned Parenthood is going lose the larger court fight anyway. About 800 women a year are expected to be affected by the ruling, reports the Arizona Daily Star.

Enlarge Tesla associates work on the Model S electric car at its Fremont factory in 2012. Tesla this week fired the female engineer who alleged the company paid her less than her male colleagues, and ignored her complaints of sexual harassment in the workplace, The Guardian reports. AJ Vandermeyden sued the company and went public with her allegations in February. In the lawsuit, she claims she was catcalled and taunted at work, and that the company failed to address her complaints around harassment and pay. Enlarge Tesla associates work on the Model S electric car at its Fremont factory in 2012. Palo Alto-based Tesla fired Vandermeyden this week. It said it brought in a “neutral, third party expert” to look into her claims, and fired her after finding they were false. In a statement, the company said Vandermeyden was hired in 2013 in a sales role, and “despite having no engineering degree, she sought and was given successive engineering roles over more qualified candidates.” “Despite repeatedly receiving special treatment at the expense of others, Ms. Vandermeyden nonetheless chose to pursue a miscarriage of justice by suing Tesla and falsely attacking our company in the press,” Tesla said. “After we carefully considered the facts on multiple occasions and were absolutely convinced that Ms. Vandermeyden’s claims were illegitimate, we had no choice but to end her employment at Tesla.” Vandermeyden’s lawyer told The Guardian the firing is “clear retaliation.” The news comes amid increasing scrutiny of Tesla’s work environment. In 2014 and 2015, Tesla’s factory in Fremont had a higher-than-average number of injuries(the company chalked that up to growing pains, saying its factory is now safer than the industry average). Three human resources executives have left Tesla this year, as the company is aggressively ramping up production at its Fremont factory to launch its Model 3 vehicle. The company's Fremont factory headcount has swelled to about 10,000. The company’s long work hours and demanding culture is well documented. CEO Elon Musk says he slept on the factory floor during Tesla’s earliest days. In a new memo to employees, first obtained by Electrek, Musk defended the company’s frenetic pace. “Tesla has to be hardcore and demanding, not for the hell of it, but because we are fighting for a good cause against giant, entrenched competitors who just want the status quo to continue,” Musk wrote. “The list of companies that want to kill Tesla is so long, I’ve lost track — a week doesn’t go by without some ‘Tesla Killer’ article. The only way for a little company to prevail against those much larger companies is to work faster, smarter and harder.” ||||| Lawyer for AJ Vandermeyden says termination was retaliatory after she took lawsuit public, accusing the company of discrimination A female engineer at Tesla who accused the car manufacturer of ignoring her complaints of sexual harassment and paying her less than her male counterparts has been fired in what her lawyer alleges was an act of retaliation. AJ Vandermeyden, who went public with her discrimination lawsuit against Elon Musk’s car company in an interview with the Guardian in February, was dismissed from the company this week. Vandermeyden had claimed she was taunted and catcalled by male employees and that Tesla failed to address her complaints about the harassment, unequal pay and discrimination. “It’s shocking in this day and age that this is still a fight we have to have,” she said at the time. Tesla factory workers reveal pain, injury and stress: 'Everything feels like the future but us' Read more In a statement to the Guardian, Tesla confirmed the company had fired Vandermeyden, saying it had thoroughly investigated the employee’s allegations with the help of a “a neutral, third-party expert” and concluded her complaints were unmerited. “Despite repeatedly receiving special treatment at the expense of others, Ms Vandermeyden nonetheless chose to pursue a miscarriage of justice by suing Tesla and falsely attacking our company in the press,” a Tesla spokesperson said. “After we carefully considered the facts on multiple occasions and were absolutely convinced that Ms Vandermeyden’s claims were illegitimate, we had no choice but to end her employment at Tesla.” “This was absolutely shocking for AJ. She is devastated,” Therese Lawless, Vandermeyden’s attorney, said by phone. “She brought the lawsuit in an attempt to make the workplace at Tesla more equitable and fair and to have Tesla comply with the law.” Asked about Tesla’s justification for the firing, Lawless said: “They’ve just proven our case. It’s clear retaliation.” She added: “Somebody is trying to instill in employees that when they speak out about matters they are legally allowed to speak out about, they too will be fired.” Vandermeyden’s firing is likely to reignite debate over employment standards in Silicon Valley, where startups and major tech corporations are grappling with complaints of systemic wage disparities, gender discrimination and sexual misconduct. An account of alleged sexism at Uber went viral earlier this year, fueling debate about harassment in the industry, while a recent federal lawsuit against Google has placed a spotlight on concerns about tech firms underpaying women. Lawless, who represented the former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao in her high-profile discrimination lawsuit, against the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, said she intended to file a formal retaliation complaint on behalf of Vandermeyden. “It is illegal in the state of California for an employer to retaliate against an employee who asserts her rights, including her rights to receive equal pay as her male colleagues.” Vandermeyden, who started working at Tesla in 2013, claims in her lawsuit that she was paid less than male engineers whose work she directly took over as a manufacturing engineer in the general assembly department. Her complaint further alleged that she raised issues about flaws in the quality testing of cars that her supervisors and male engineers had missed. Although she came up with a solution, men were granted positions over her, she alleged. The complaint said that she and other female engineers were denied promotions despite the fact that they were “equally or more qualified” than the men. Vandermeyden also alleged that she experienced “unwelcome and pervasive harassment by men on the factory floor including but not limited to inappropriate language, whistling, and catcalls”. Further, the lawsuit accused Tesla of retaliating against her for speaking up. Management allegedly told her that in order to advance her position, she would need to achieve a performance standard in the factory that was not expected of male engineers and was unattainable. Although she had positive performance evaluations, she felt she had to transfer out of general assembly to the purchasing department, according to the lawsuit, which also said that Tesla retaliated against her for being a “whistleblower”. Tesla has continued to strongly reject Vandermeyden’s claims. A spokesperson said the company had “conducted a thorough internal investigation” and “extensively re-reviewed all the facts”, repeatedly concluding that her allegations were false. Tesla added that Vandermeyden had been granted numerous positions “over other more qualified candidates” and was “given special treatment and opportunities for advancement that were unwarranted based on her qualifications”. “The termination was based on Ms Vandermeyden behaving in what the evidence indicates is a fundamentally false and misleading manner, not as a result of retaliation for the lawsuit,” the spokesperson added. “It is impossible to trust anyone after they have behaved in such a manner and therefore continued employment is also impossible.” The Vandermeyden case is one of several labor issues that have dogged Tesla, which is facing growing scrutiny over its practices in California. Earlier this month, the Guardian published an investigation into working conditions at Tesla’s “factory of the future” in Fremont, California, where several factory workers complained about their treatment at the plant. Incident reports revealed that ambulances have been called more than 100 times since 2014 for workers experiencing fainting spells, seizures, dizziness, abnormal breathing and chest pains. A recent report from a worker safety organization found that Tesla workers were injured at a rate 31% higher than the industry average in 2015. Contact the Guardian securely Read more The company has said it has significantly improved safety standards in recent months at the factory, and Musk told the Guardian he cared deeply about the health and wellbeing of his employees. Vandermeyden, in her interview with the Guardian in February, emphasized that she believed Tesla was a “revolutionary and innovative company” and said she took out a hefty loan to buy the cheapest version of the Model S car. “Until somebody stands up, nothing is going to change,” she added. “I’m an advocate of Tesla. I really do believe they are doing great things. That said, I can’t turn a blind eye if there’s something fundamentally wrong going on.” At the time, Vandermeyden said she was hopeful her lawsuit and public comments would not end her career at the company. But she expressed some concern that her decision to speak out could result in retaliation. “Half the time when I walk into work,” she said, “I wonder if my badge is going to work.” Contact the author: sam.levin@theguardian.com ||||| Tesla has fired AJ Vandermeyden, the female engineer suing the company over claims she experienced "pervasive harassment," a Tesla spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. Vandermeyden's lawyer, Therese Lawless, is alleging the firing is an act of retaliation, according to The Guardian, which was the first to report the news. The lawsuit claims Vandermeyden experienced "unwelcome and pervasive harassment" by men on the factory floor, such as cat calls and inappropriate language. The suit says Vandermeyden was denied promotions over men who were "equally or less qualified" than her. Tesla said it launched an independent investigation into Vandermeyden's claims and found them to be unsubstantiated. "After we carefully considered the facts on multiple occasions and were absolutely convinced that Ms. Vandermeyden's claims were illegitimate, we had no choice but to end her employment at Tesla," a Tesla spokesperson told Business Insider. The investigation was conducted in 2016 by Anne Hilbert, a partner at Employment Matters Counseling & Consulting, a law firm in Palo Alto, California. Tesla said Vandermeyden was promoted to different engineering roles at the company despite lacking an engineering degree. "The termination was based on Ms. Vandermeyden behaving in what the evidence indicates is a fundamentally false and misleading manner, not as a result of retaliation for the lawsuit," the Tesla spokesperson said. Allegations of sexism in the workplace are continuing to crop up at Silicon Valley companys. Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler said she experienced sexual harassment and gender bias at the ride-hailing company in a personal blog post in February, prompting an internal investigation. The Department of Labor is currently suing Google over claims it underpays female employees. Get the latest Tesla stock price here.

– A female engineer who said she endured sexual discrimination and harassment at Tesla is out of a job. The company has fired AJ Vandermeyden over the complaints, reports the Guardian. Tesla hired an outside attorney to investigate Vandermeyden's accusations, per Business Insider, and concluded that she was lying and thus unfit to work at the company. Vandermeyden's attorney, however, says the firing is blatant retaliation and plans to file a formal complaint with the state to that effect. Vandermeyden started working at Tesla in 2013 and says she was paid less than her male counterparts and unjustly passed over for promotions. She also alleges the company tolerated catcalls and abusive language. She filed suit and went public with the allegations in an interview with the Guardian in February. "After we carefully considered the facts on multiple occasions and were absolutely convinced that Ms. Vandermeyden's claims were illegitimate, we had no choice but to end her employment at Tesla," says a company spokesperson. "They've just proven our case," fires back Vandermeyden attorney Therese Lawless. The development comes amid a backdrop of similar allegations in Silicon Valley, including Uber, and as Tesla's working conditions in particular have come under scrutiny, notes the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Three HR execs have left this year, and CEO Elon Musk issued a memo to employees defending the "hardcore and demanding" pace as a necessity to compete with "giant, entrenched competitors." (Meanwhile, Tesla just earned some serious bragging rights against those competitors.)

From Sydney to Hong Kong to London, crowds lined up to buy Apple's newest iPad, Julia Angwin reports on the News Hub. Photo: AFP /Getty Images. Shoppers began purchasing Apple Inc.'s third-generation iPad on Friday, as the technology giant tries to widen its lead in the fast-growing tablet market. Crowds showed up at Apple retail stores around the world. The tablet computer, priced starting at $499 in the U.S., has a higher-resolution screen and faster networking capabilities than its predecessor, which has dominated the market to date. Snapping Up New iPads View Slideshow Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters A man in a mask celebrated with Apple store's staff after buying a new iPad in Tokyo Friday. Inside the New iPad View Slideshow iFixit/Reuters Apple Inc.'s latest iPad includes chips made by Broadcom Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and Elpida Memory Inc., the gadget-repair site iFixit reported after taking one apart. More photos and interactive graphics Apple stores in 10 countries, including Japan, France and the U.S., were opening at 8 a.m. local time Friday--in some cases, hours before usual. Certain retailers like Best Buy Co., RadioShack Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are selling the device as well. The scene at many Apple stores resembled a rock concert, with large crowds, barricades and Apple employees cheering customers as they bought the iPad. Those waiting included a mix of Apple devotees, first-time buyers and foreigners who couldn't wait for the product to arrive in their countries. In New York, a line of more than 250 people stretched through an underground passage of Grand Central Terminal as they waited for the new Apple store there to open. In front was Goerg Bokelmann, 37, a firefighter from Germany who came to the U.S. for the week to specifically get the iPad. "It's new, it's good, at least I hope," said Mr. Bokelmann, who also travelled to the U.S. for the iPhone 4. Campo E. Osorio from Afghanistan went to Paris to buy the iPad because it isn't available in his home country. "It's a fantastic product for my situation because in Afghanistan it allows me to keep in contact with my family," Mr. Osorio said. He then opened a video link on his new iPad that allowed the reporter to talk to a friend of his in Afghanistan. In London, 23-year-old student Cindy He waited with more than 300 others outside the Apple Store in Covent Garden. "I'm here to help my friend get an iPad. He's not in the U.K., he's in China," Ms. He said. Shoppers began purchasing Apple Inc.'s third-generation iPad on Friday, as the technology giant tries to widen its lead in the fast-growing tablet market, Tomi Kilgore reports on Markets Hub. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images) The anticipation for the latest iPad has built since it was announced last week by Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook at an event in San Francisco. The device is the first major product launch for Apple since the latest iPhone went on sale in October, and the company needs very strong sales for each new device it sells to meet Wall Street's lofty expectations. This time, Apple is trying to hold on to its roughly 60% share of the tablet market with a product that is considered a refinement of last year's iPad 2, with a speedier graphics processor and voice dictation capabilities. Overall, Apple said it has sold more than 55 million iPads as of December. Piper Jaffray forecasts Apple will sell more than a million new iPads on Friday, up from around 300,000 when the original iPad went on sale in April 2010. Several financial analysts are predicting sales of multiple millions over the first weekend. Outside Apple's Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan, about 250 people endured a rainy night and a misty, 40-degree morning. Then, after purchasing the iPad, buyers got swarmed by the awaiting media. Some held the box over their heads; others looked liked they wanted to go home, a scene played out elsewhere, including Frankfurt, Germany. "I'm happy, but now I have to go back home, take a couple of hours of sleep, and then take a close look at my new toy," said 22-year-old Michael, who declined to give his surname. Michael, his girlfriend and about 350 others waited on the high-end shopping street in Frankfurt where the Apple store is located, although bystanders said the line was shorter than when the previous iPad version was released. Sales first got under way in Australia, where about 200 people stretched around the block outside Apple's flagship store in Sydney. Albert Chu, a 56-year-old bus driver from Sydney, bought two—a 64 gigabyte version for his daughter and a 16 gigabyte model for himself. "I will use it to trade stocks back in Hong Kong," said Mr. Chu. In Tokyo, more than 450 people stood in a line when the doors of the Apple store in the upscale Ginza neighborhood opened. Most had started to line up once the early-morning commuter trains started running, according to 19-year-old college student Ryo Watanabe, who was first in line. Mr. Watanabe had taken turns waiting in line for 37 hours with his 20-year-old friend, Kento Inoue. Already an owner of the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, for which he had been around 14th in line to buy at its launch, Mr. Watanabe was determined to be first this time. "The fact that the display has gotten better is a big enough reason for me to get it," he said. The iPad's new screen also attracted 11-year-old Xander Gansman, who sold his iPad 2 on eBay to raise money for the new device. The improved screen, faster cellular connection and voice recognition is "really all that I want," Gansman said at New York's Fifth Avenue store. The fifth grader is a budding developer working on games and building websites for friends and clients. At many locations world-wide, coffee, cake and other refreshments were available to those who waited. Some people went to the stores just to soak in the atmosphere and not to buy anything. Brad Pizzimenti, a student from the U.S. studying in Paris, said, "It's an exciting place to be. Apple has made a computer launch into a rock concert." The mood, though, was more subdued in Hong Kong and Singapore. In Hong Kong, Apple implemented an "iReserve" system that required customers to place reservations online. Demand overwhelmed the number of reservations available Thursday, and only those with email confirmations were allowed to purchase the device Friday. IPad Exposed The components inside the new iPad are estimated to cost about $30 more than those of its predecessors. View Interactive Interactive: Exploring the New iPad Explore features and specifications View Interactive Photos: The Apple Evolution Take a look back at Apple's innovations over the years. View Slideshow Chris Hondros/Getty Images Meanwhile, tech-obsessed Singapore lacks an Apple store. Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. alone was selling it in about 24 stores and partner outlets, and further diffused the rush by selling the device online starting at midnight, using couriers to deliver the units at 3 a.m. "It is unpleasant for our customers to stand for hours in the dark after midnight," said a SingTel spokesman. Alan Lim, a teacher at Singapore's Republic Polytechnic, arrived at a popular outlet of Apple reseller Starhub Ltd. at 6:50 a.m. and found himself first in line. "It's a bit weird," said Mr. Lim, who had never before tried to buy an Apple product on launch day. Meanwhile, other European countries--like Poland--have to wait until March 23, when the new iPad goes on sale there. "We see strong interest in the new iPad in the amount of email we get from consumers," said Agnieszka Slusarz, marketing manager at iSource, Apple's authorized distributor in Poland. By early afternoon, the lines at most stores had dissipated, such as the one in central Zurich. Meanwhile, the line at the Grand Central store was expected to ease by 1 p.m. Analysts have said the lack of a dramatic design change in the new iPad could cause some customers to pass on purchasing--though other Apple products, such as the iPhone 4S, have thrived despite their physical similarities to previous generation products. If customers do decide to skip the newest iPad, Apple's sales could still be buoyed by the existing iPad 2, which the company will continue to offer at a lower cost. The Cupertino, Calif., company said in recent days that it had sold out of its allotment of iPad preorders, saying that interest among its customers was "off the charts." The company has since said new preorders would take about two to three weeks to ship to customers. Apple's stock has climbed on the expectations and ensuing price upgrades. Apple shares have risen more than 40% since the start of the year and have touched $600 a share. —Ian Sherr in San Francisco, Andrew Critchlow in Sydney, Sarah Berlow in Tokyo, Matthew Allen in Singapore, Te-Ping Chen and Shibani Mahtani in Hong Kong, Tom DiFonzo in London, William Horobin in Paris, Peter Hein in Frankfurt, Sean Carney in Prague, and Matt Jarzemsky and Joan E. Solsman contributed to this article. Write to Jessica E. Vascellaro at jessica.vascellaro@wsj.com ||||| It's iPad launch day. And that means... Well, you know what that means. It means that the semi-annual ritual for thousands upon thousands of Apple fans has begun. We'd like to be able to offer some special insight into what compels people to stand in line for hours for a product they don't need that they can buy in seconds online. But we're afraid we don't have any special insight into that. Fanaticism? Desire to follow the herd? Adrenalin? Whatever it is, it's powerful. And infectious. So, as ever, we'll just sit back and be amazed and inspired by...

– The new iPad is here, and once again, Steve Wozniak is first in line for the latest Apple gadget. Sure, the Apple co-founder could get his hands on one without waiting in line, notes Mashable, but "it's become a ritual," he says in Los Angeles. "I wanna be one of the real people, who line up and wait all night. ... Apple’s just that important to us." The company's stores are opening at 8am across 10 countries today; for some stores, that's much earlier than usual. Some 200 people were in line in Sydney; a Tokyo Apple store drew 450; several hundred waited for the device in London. Dozens gathered days ago in Hong Kong, prompting a special reservation system, the Wall Street Journal reports. Who knows "what compels people to stand in line for hours for a product they don't need that they can buy in seconds online," wonders Henry Blodget at Business Insider. "Fanaticism? Desire to follow the herd? Adrenalin? Whatever it is, it's powerful. And infectious."

When Philadelphia Police detective Jim Sloan made a promise to Carlesha Freeland-Gaither's mother to bring her daughter home. He said he meant it. Now he is giving more details about the investigation. (Published Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014) Detective Who Promised to Bring Home Carlesha Speaks of Meeting Her, Details in Search A 22-year-old woman kidnapped along a Philadelphia street and held hostage for three days is recovering in private one day after an emotional reunion with her family. Nursing aide Carlesha Freeland-Gaither returned to Philadelphia early Thursday morning, her family and police in tow, after being rescued from the grips of her accused captor, Delvin Barnes, in Maryland. A criminal complaint detailing federal charges against Barnes, a man authorities described as a “vicious predator,” says he has confessed to the crimes. Thursday marked Freeland-Gaither's first return to the city after she was abducted in Germantown Sunday night. The entire violent encounter was caught on surveillance video. She has since been moved to an undisclosed location where she will be able to begin to process the violent experience and heal, Philadelphia police said. How Bad Credit May Have Saved Abduction Victim NBC10 Investigator Mitch Blacher looked into what some call a shady car lot tactic that seems to have saved Carlesha Freeland-Gaither. (Published Friday, Nov. 7, 2014) Detective Jim Sloan, the lead local investigator on the case, recounted meeting Freeland-Gaither at a Maryland hospital Wednesday night. “I entered the room. She was upset. I just told her ‘I’ve been looking for you.’ She started to cry and hugged her mother,” he said, describing the moment as “touching.” The police department is providing the Freeland-Gaither and her family with counseling and other victim assistance resources, according to officials. Sloan praised the efforts of witness Dwayne Fletcher, who the detective said helped investigators get a jump start on the abduction case. Video Philly Abduction Suspect to Be Extradited to Virginia “He witnessed it. He watched. He called the police twice. He waited for me. This man is a hero,” Sloan said. He added that Fletcher should be given the $47,000 reward that was being offered in the case. As Freeland-Gaither rested, her alleged abductor was in a Maryland courtroom for an extradition hearing. The judge presiding over the hearing approved Barnes’ extradition to Virginia, where he is wanted on attempted capital murder and rape charges. Barnes donned an orange jumpsuit and appeared in court through closed circuit television. He only gave "yes" and "no" answers to the judge. Meanwhile, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed federal kidnapping charges against Barnes Thursday evening. Barnes admitted he abducted Freeland-Gaither and that he chose her at random, according to the federal criminal complaint. He was extradited to Virginia late Thursday so that prosecutors there can move forward with their attempted murder case. Federal officials are expected to proceed later. Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter. ||||| Keisha Gaither looks up at Det. James Sloan after locating her daughter alive in Maryland. Wednesday, November 5, 2014. ( Steven M. Falk / Staff Photographer ) Detective James Sloan wouldn't make a promise he couldn't keep. That's what he and Northwest Police Division Inspector James Kelly stressed Thursday afternoon when the team of detectives and officers from Northwest Detectives gathered to talk about the recovery of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither. "I won't say something if I don't believe it," Sloan, a 22-year veteran, said. He said Carlesha's mother, Keisha Gaither, didn't seem to believe him when he first told her he'd bring her daughter home safe. "When I first said it, no, but when she looked me in the eye" she did, the detective said. Sloan and his partner of 17 years, Detective John Geliebter, a 21-year veteran, along with a team of others from the division, had worked tirelessly on the case since Carlesha was violently abducted from Greene and Coulter streets about 9:30 Sunday night, Kelly said. All of the veteran law-enforcement officers involved in the case said they hadn't seen anything like the chilling abduction before in their careers. Sloan also credited Carlesha, saying that police believe she dropped her cellphone on purpose when her captor attacked her so that police would have a clue. "She's an intelligent girl," Sloan said. Detectives also credited witness Dwayne Fletcher, who Sloan said called police and waited at the scene for them to arrive, with being instrumental in helping them to save Carlesha. "He watched, he called police two times, he waited for me," Sloan said. "He's a hero." Police said Carlesha is home recovering with her family. Full list of all the detectives and officers who appeared during today’s news conference: Detective James Sloan Detective John Geliebter Detective Tim Hartman Detective Brian Boos Detective Adam McGuigan Sgt. Paul Brown Lt. Robert Otto Lt. Cliff Lyghts Capt. Jack Fleming (14th District commanding officer – district where the kidnapping happened) Inspector James Kelly (Northwest Police Division inspector) ||||| The woman who was kidnapped on Sunday off a desolate Philadelphia street -- a harrowing crime that was caught on surveillance camera -- was found alive Wednesday in Maryland, while her abductor was arrested, authorities said. Interested in ? Add as an interest to stay up to date on the latest news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, was found by Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents inside a parked car in Jessup, Maryland, law enforcement sources said. Her alleged abductor, Delvin Barnes, 37, was arrested at the scene, authorities said. Ed Hanko, the special agent in charge of the Philadelphia FBI field office, said that because of tips called in from the public, investigators were "able to identify this individual, identify his car and track it into Maryland." Law enforcement officials told ABC News that authorities tracked Barnes' car because he had GPS installed in it. Freeland-Gaither was found inside the car and was treated at a local hospital before being released, police said. Philadelphia Police Department Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, in a Thursday interview with ABC News, said the video of the kidnapping "added a sense of urgency" to the case. He credited Freeland-Gaither's spirit in the face of her circumstances. "My understanding is that even after she was in the car and she was bound she continued to fight and struggle with this guy, so she’s got a lot of fight in her, and that probably helped keep her alive," Ramsey said. Hanko said that she is "in good shape," but police still have not had a chance to interview her. Freeland-Gaither's mother, Keisha Gaither, attended Wednesday's news conference and said that her daughter was emotional in a phone call. "She was very upset. She was crying," Gaither said of her daughter. "Thank you for keeping me up. Thank you for being there for us. I'm taking my baby home," she added. Barnes is being held as a result of an outstanding attempted capital murder warrant that was issued for him in Virginia, though he is expected to face federal charges once the ongoing investigation into Freeland-Gaither's case is complete. Courtesy WPVI Investigators said that they have no reason to believe Barnes knew his victim before the abduction. The Charles City County Sheriff's Office told ABC News that a 16-year-old female was abducted off the street on Oct. 1 -- similar to what happened to Freeland-Gaither -- and was also missing for nearly two days. Captain Jason Crawley said the victim in that case also did not know Barnes. "He's a thug and this is what he does apparently," Ramsey told reporters. "People like this, there's nothing that makes sense." In the surveillance video released Monday, Freeland-Gaither can be seen fighting to get away from her attacker during Sunday's abduction. Freeland-Gaither was pulled down the street in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia toward the man’s car, which police believed to be a 2000 or 2002 gray Ford Taurus. At one point, she even fell to the ground to try and get away before she was pushed into the car. Get real-time updates as this story unfolds. To start, just "star" this story in ABC News' phone app. Download ABC News for iPhone here or ABC News for Android here. To be notified about our live weekend digital reports, tap here. ||||| PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A woman snatched off the streets of Philadelphia was rescued with the help of a GPS device that had been installed on the suspect's car by the dealer in case the vehicle needed to be repossessed, authorities said Thursday. Friends and family of Philadelphia abduction victim Carlesha Freeland-Gaither are escorted by police into Howard County General Hospital to meet Freeland-Gaither Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014 in Columbia, Md.... (Associated Press) This photo provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Delvin Barnes, 37. Barnes was arrested Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014, in reference to the abduction of Carlesha Freeland Gaither. (AP Photo/Philadelphia... (Associated Press) Dereck Alston, second from left, grandfather of kidnapping victim Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, smiles while participating in a news conference, in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014. Investigators... (Associated Press) Police officials surround Keisha Gaither, second from right, mother of kidnapping victim Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, following a news conference in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014. Investigators... (Associated Press) Family members surround Keisha Gaither, second from left, mother of kidnapping victim Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, as they celebrate following a news conference in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014,... (Associated Press) Friends and family of Philadelphia abduction victim Carlesha Freeland-Gaither are escorted by police into Howard County General Hospital to meet Freeland-Gaither Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014 in Columbia, Md.... (Associated Press) Capt. Jayson Crawley, of the Charles City County Sheriff's Office, speaks during a news conference in the county courthouse in Charles City, Va., Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014. Crawley is the lead investigator... (Associated Press) ATF Special agent Timothy Jones speaks during a news conference about the arrest of the kidnapper of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither at the parking lot of the Jessup shopping center, in Jessup, Md., on Wednesday,... (Associated Press) This undated photo provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Carlesha Freeland-Gaither. A bank card belonging to Freeland-Gaither, a woman abducted Sunday night from a Philadelphia street,... (Associated Press) Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, second from left, is escorted from Howard County General Hospital in Columbia, Md. early Thursday morning, Nov. 6, 2014, by Philadelphia Detectives James Sloan, left, and John... (Associated Press) It was just the latest arrest made possible by the surveillance technology that is seemingly everywhere nowadays. And it involved not just GPS but surveillance video, traffic-camera imagery and a left-behind cellphone. Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, was resting at her mother's home in Philadelphia after a three-day ordeal that ended in Jessup, Maryland, on Wednesday when federal agents surrounded the car and seized her alleged kidnapper. Delvin Barnes, 37, was jailed on unrelated charges he abducted and attempted to kill a 16-year-old Virginia girl. "My understanding is, even after she was in the car and bound, she continued to struggle with this guy," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey told ABC. He added: "She's got a lot of fight in her." Police did not disclose a motive for the kidnapping. Authorities said there was no indication the two knew each other. Police Inspector James Kelly said Freeland-Gaither's family told police she is doing well but "needs some time and space to heal." Her rescue came after law enforcement officials spotted the used-car dealer's name on a traffic-camera photo of Barnes' vehicle and asked the dealership to turn on the GPS, said sheriff's Capt. Jayson Crawley of Charles City County, Virginia. "We called the dealership, and within five minutes they had the location," he said. He said the dealership sells to customers with poor credit and routinely puts GPS devices on its cars so they can be easily located and repossessed if the owners fall behind on the payments. GPS devices are commonly used by law enforcement authorities around the U.S. to track suspects and make arrests. But often those cases involve devices secretly planted by police. Though aided by technology, the Philadelphia kidnapping investigation began in a decidedly old-fashioned way: with a witness who saw it happen Sunday night and immediately called police. Police quickly discovered the abduction had been caught on video. Also, Freeland-Gaither left her cellphone behind, giving authorities a quick ID. "We believe she left it for us to find," said Detective James Sloan. The surveillance video showed Freeland-Gaither being grabbed by a man and pulled toward a car as she struggled to get away in Philadelphia's Germantown neighborhood. In the days afterward, police and federal authorities released a stream of images from surveillance cameras of a man using Freeland-Gaither's ATM card and walking through a gas station minimart in Maryland. Barnes served eight years in prison for a 2005 assault on his estranged wife and her family in Philadelphia. Barnes beat and choked her, punched her mother in the face and hit her father in the head with a glass bowl, court records show. He is also charged with abducting a teenage girl in Richmond, Virginia, last month. The girl told police she was hit in the head with a shovel, put in the trunk of a car and taken to Barnes' home. Barnes then doused her with gasoline, asked her how she wanted to die and began digging a hole, according to Crawley. She managed to escape. On Thursday, a Maryland judge ordered Barnes sent to Virginia following a hearing in which he answered yes-and-no questions and did not have an attorney with him. No immediate charges were filed in the Philadelphia case. Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents found his vehicle, its rear window kicked out, on a road in Jessup, with Barnes and Freeland-Gaither inside. A witness to her abduction had said the young woman kicked out some of the car's windows before it sped off. After her rescue, she was taken to a hospital but was soon reunited with her family. "She was very upset. She was crying. She just was asking for me, to tell me she loved me, she missed me, to come get her," said her mother, Keisha Gaither. ___ O'Dell contributed from Charles City, Virginia. Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Natalie Pompilio and Ron Todt in Philadelphia and Kasey Jones and Juliet Linderman in Baltimore contributed to this story.

– The lead detective in the kidnapping of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither in Philadelphia credits two people for last night's rescue: the witness who called police and the 22-year-old victim herself. "She's an intelligent person," Detective Jim Sloan tells the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sloan thinks Freeland-Gaither intentionally dropped her phone during the abduction to give police a clue. He also calls the man who witnessed the attack and phoned police twice a "hero" who deserves the $47,000 reward that was being offered. (No decision on that yet.) Freeland-Gaither isn't available to confirm the detective's hunch about the phone, because she has left her home for an undisclosed location to recover in private, reports NBC Philadelphia. "My understanding is, even after she was in the car and bound, she continued to struggle with this guy," Philadelphia police chief Charles Ramsey tells ABC News. "She's got a lot of fight in her." The big break in the case? Police spotted the name of a used-car dealer on suspect Delvin Barnes' vehicle from a traffic camera image, reports AP. They called the dealer, and he turned on the car's GPS system—it had been installed because the dealership was leery of Barnes' lousy credit and figured it might have to repossess the car someday. Within minutes, police knew the vehicle's exact location in Maryland.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland has banned the common culinary practice of throwing fresh lobsters into boiling water as part of an overhaul of its animal protection rules. “Live crustaceans, including the lobster, may no longer be transported on ice or in ice water. Aquatic species must always be kept in their natural environment. Crustaceans must now be stunned before killing them,” say the rules adopted by the government on Wednesday that will take effect in March. The regulations also aim to crack down on illegal puppy farms, outlaw automatic devices that punish dogs for barking, spell out conditions for putting down sick or injured animals, and make organizers responsible for animal welfare at public events. The Swiss are not alone in trying to protect lobsters from what activists call cruel treatment in the kitchen. Neighboring Italy’s highest court ruled in June that lobsters must not be kept on ice in restaurants because it causes them unjustifiable suffering before they head for death by fine dining. ||||| A new animal protection law in Switzerland requires that lobsters be stunned before being cooked. Animal rights activists and some scientists argue that lobsters' central nervous systems are complex enough that they can feel pain. There is no conclusive evidence about whether lobsters can feel pain. People are more sensitive about killing lobsters than other animals. Few diners cringe at the thought of a fish slowly suffocating to death, for instance, but there is considerable more stress associated with dropping Maine's icon into a pot of boiling water. In Switzerland, a new animal protection law that will take effect in March requires that lobsters be stunned before they are killed. But the research on whether or not these creatures feel pain is still inconclusive. The Lobster Institute in Maine argues that the lobster's primitive nervous system is most similar to the nervous system of an insect. And while lobsters react to sudden stimulus, like twitching their tails when placed in boiling water, the institute suggests that they do not have complex brains that allow them to process pain like humans and other animals do. "Cooking a lobster is like cooking a big bug," said Robert Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute. He added: "Do you have the same concern when you kill a fly or a mosquito?" In 2014, a scientist from Queen's University in Belfast argued that lobsters and other crustaceans probably do feel pain, on the grounds that crabs in a study learned to avoid a hideaway where they were repeatedly given an electric shock. A Norwegian study from 2005 concluded the opposite: lobsters do not have brains, so they do not feel pain. However, most consumers still don't see it that way. Lobsters inspire more compassion than chicken, pigs, or other fish because it is one of the few foods that urbanites have to kill themselves when cooking. In 2006, Whole Foods banned the sale of live lobsters and crabs in its stores — with the exception of those in Maine — citing that transporting, storing, and cooking live animals was inhumane. In 2013, a video released by PETA that showed live lobsters being ripped apart by hand at a Maine processor again struck a chord with animal rights groups. We will never know how the lobster feels. That's why the Lobster Institute focuses on ways to cook lobster so that "it minimizes our own trauma," said Bayer. He suggested putting the lobster in either fresh cold water or chilling it in the freezer (without freezing it) before cooking. Both methods, according to Bayer, will "put the lobster to sleep." One Maine processor uses an 80,000-pound machine called the "Big Mother Shucker" to kill lobsters in just six seconds using high water pressure. Another option is the CrustaStun, a device that home chefs can purchase for several thousand dollars to "zap lobster's nervous system in one jolt," said Trevor Corson, author of "The Secret Life of Lobsters." A large kitchen knife will also make for a quick death when cooks hold the lobster upside down and slice it in half from the tail to the head. Corson provides step-by-step instructions for this method on his blog. As for the most humane way to kill a lobster, "there's no absolute answer," said Bayer. It's based on what we perceive as pain or perhaps hear as "screams," even if those sounds are just the steam escaping the lobster's shell. ||||| It’s commendable that people do not want to inflict pain on animals, but this one is definitely false on the first account (screaming) and probably false on the second (pain). As for the “scream,” there’s the problem that lobsters have no throat, no vocal cords, no lungs, so how could they scream at all? The fact is that the noise is caused by air trapped in the shell. When heated it expands and forces itself out through small gaps, causing the sound – sort of like when you force air out between your tightly clenched lips to make a rude sound. What about pain? No one can know for sure what a lobster or similar critter feels, but we can make educated guesses based on what we know about pain in other animals, specifically humans. And I am talking specifically about pain, not discomfort or unpleasantness. Pain doesn’t just happen automatically—it is the result of specific receptors, nerve pathways, and brain regions all cooperating to convert certain physical stimuli into the perception of pain. This has all been thoroughly worked out in humans and other vertebrates. But guess what—lobsters and other crustaceans are not vertebrates and simply do not have these nerve pathways and brain regions (they don’t have a real brain at all, for that matter). In other words, no brain, no pain (sorry, I couldn’t resist that one!). This does not mean that lobsters and similar animals do not feel anything, and it does not mean that there some stimuli they would rather avoid. These aspects of lobster and crab behavior are well established. But, that’s very different from feeling pain. Can we know for absolutely positively 100% sure that lobsters don’t feel pain? No, because there’s no way for us to directly experience what they do and do not feel. That should not stop us from making educated guesses. I feel pretty sure that eyeless cave fish cannot see, and I have no doubt that you would feel pretty much the same pain that I would if you touch a hot stove, even though I cannot directly experience what the cave fish or you experience. I don’t have proof that the cave fish does not see or that you feel pain, but I am pretty confident that these things are true. So, if you are worried about lobsters feeling pain, don’t eat ’em—but please, don’t nag the rest of us. Advertisements ||||| This article is over 10 months old Government bans the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water amid fears the animals can feel pain The Swiss government has ordered an end to the common culinary practice of throwing lobsters into boiling water while they are still alive, ruling that they must be knocked out before they are killed. As part of a wider overhaul of Swiss animal protection laws, Bern said that as of 1 March, “the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water, which is common in restaurants, is no longer permitted”. Shock lobster: ghostly, translucent crustacean caught off Maine coast Read more Lobsters “will now have to be stunned before they are put to death,” the government order read. According to Swiss public broadcaster RTS, only electric shock or the “mechanical destruction” of the lobster’s brain will be accepted methods of stunning the animals once the new rule takes affect. Animal rights advocates and some scientists argue that lobsters and other crustaceans have sophisticated nervous systems and likely feel significant pain when boiled alive. The Swiss government also said it would no longer be permitted to transport live marine crustaceans like lobsters on ice or in icy water, ruling instead that they should “always be held in their natural environment”. The government order also aims to crack down on illegal puppy farms and imports, and ban devices that automatically punish dogs when they bark. Organisers of public events featuring animals will also be directly responsible for their welfare when the new rules take effect, the government order said.

– Lobsters may not actually scream when they're placed live into pots of boiling water (they don't have vocal cords), but the jury's still out on whether they feel pain. Switzerland isn't taking chances, issuing a government decree that "the practice of plunging live lobsters into boiling water, which is common in restaurants, is no longer permitted," the AFP reports. The crustaceans will have to be "stunned" first, either via electric shock or the "mechanical destruction" of the lobster's brain, per Radio Television Suisse. Transporters of live lobsters will also be required to carry them around "in their natural environment," not on ice or in super-cold water. Reuters notes the new rules, adopted Wednesday, will take effect in March. Animal rights activists have long argued that lobsters, crabs, and other shellfish are able to feel pain, and there's been some evidence to back that claim up. In a 2013 study in the Journal of Experimental Biology cited by US News, for example, crabs stayed away from areas of their tanks that delivered electric shocks. The research is still deemed "inconclusive," though many scientists say it's "highly likely" the creatures feel pain, even if it's yet to be conclusively proven. The new Swiss lobster laws are part of an overall overhaul of the country's animal protection rules. Also included in the revamp are new regulations going after illegal puppy farms, detailing how to humanely euthanize sick or hurt animals, and putting the onus for animal welfare at public events on the event's organizers. (A century-old lobster was saved from the pot at the last minute.)

CLOSE The international response to the refugee crisis has been shaken by the terrorist attacks in Paris. Video provided by Newsy Newslook Many in state are outraged, but governor says safety is a key concern after attacks in Paris. Gov. Rick Snyder (Photo: Carlos Osorio, Associated Press) LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder's decision to suspend efforts to bring Syrian refugees to Michigan in light of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday has sparked controversy and launched the state into the national debate of how to protect U.S. citizens while providing a haven for those who desperately need help. Snyder's office released a statement Sunday saying the state would not be accepting any Syrian refugees until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security fully reviewed its procedures. "Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration," Snyder said in the statement. "But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents." More than 120 people were killed in Paris on Friday night, and hundreds more injured, in a series of suicide bombings and attacks that officials say were orchestrated by the Islamic State, a terrorist group with a stronghold in Syria. News agencies have reported that a Syrian passport found at the scene of one of the attacks matches a refugee who traveled through Greece. Now in its fifth year, the war in Syria has devastated the country, sending millions of people abroad in search of a new life. Snyder's announcement Sunday is a step backward from recent efforts and comments from his administration offering to aid refugees. In September, Snyder said he was working with the federal government to determine the process for accepting refugees from the ongoing crisis in Syria and the Middle East. "Isn't that part of being a good Michigander?" he asked at the time, while stressing that the refugees would have to be carefully screened to assure they were not security threats. His reversal drew immediate and divisive reactions across the nation on Sunday, but especially in metro Detroit, home to one of the largest Middle Eastern populations in the nation. "Good decision," state Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Township, posted on his Facebook page. "We expect more from you," and "this sends the wrong message," Rashida Tlaib, a former state representative from southwest Detroit, countered on her Twitter account. Local Arab-American leaders and refugee advocates said Sunday they understand the governor's concern about security, but argued the Department of Homeland Security already does extensive security checks before allowing any refugees into the U.S. "The United States should be a safe haven," said Dr. Yahya Basha, a Syrian-American advocate from West Bloomfield who has family members who are refugees. He was at the White House recently to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis with U.S. officials: "We should welcome them." Basha said he doesn't mind the scrutiny before allowing refugees in but doesn't think their arrival should be prevented. Majed Moughni, a Dearborn attorney and Arab-American advocate, agreed, saying "it's uncalled for ... I think it's really unfair." "It's doing what ISIS wants. ... He's just basically buying into what ISIS wants: Muslims against the West ... Gov. Snyder is buying into the rhetoric." "I can understand being cautious, but to suspend it is wrong," Moughni said. A spokesman for the Michigan and Ohio branch of the Department of Homeland Security referred questions about Snyder's move to the national office, which did not return an e-mail seeking comment late Sunday. Sean de Four, vice president of child and family services with Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, said the U.S. has a moral obligation to help with what he called "a humanitarian crisis the world has not seen since World War II." The agency has helped resettle about 1,800 to 2,000 refugees in Michigan over the past year; about 200 of them are from Syria and many others are from Iraq, another war-torn country. "I certainly understand and appreciate Gov. Snyder's desire to be cautious and put the safety of Michiganders first," de Four said. But "the State Department already uses an overabundance of caution in its screening of refugees before they gained entry into the United States. In fact, refugees spend an average of five to seven years in refugee camps being screened and background checks before access to any country." More Syrian refugees were expected in coming months, but Snyder's decision could bring an end to that. "He could make it very difficult, next to impossible for refugees to come here," de Four said, pointing out that two-thirds of Syrian refugees are women and children. "It's really unfortunate." Snyder has been known for his pro-immigrant views, in contrast to strong anti-immigrant sentiment heard on the national level in the Republican Party during the presidential race. Two weeks ago, Snyder visited Hamtramck, which has the highest percentage of immigrants among all cities in the state, telling a crowd of Bangladeshi Americans: "I believe I'm the most pro-immigration governor in the country." Amid criticism from some conservatives over city voters electing a Muslim-majority city council, Snyder praised the city. Then came Friday's attack, prompting state Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, to issue a statement Saturday night calling on Snyder to "reverse his call to relocate Syrian refugees in the state." "We should not rush to offer an open door to the high-risk importation of individuals from a known hotbed of Islamic extremism," Glenn said, disputing assertions that the refugees can be safely vetted. Snyder decided to halt the refugee program on Saturday, after consultation with legislative leaders, prior to Glenn's statement, spokesman Dave Murray said. It's true that earlier efforts to bring Syrian refugees to Michigan "were contingent on proper security vetting, which is an extensive process that takes up to a year or more," Murray said. However, "in light of the terrible situation in Paris, Gov. Snyder has asked that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security complete a full review of those security procedures and clearances." Asked whether Syrian refugees who have been through the current vetting process and want to settle in Michigan should be prevented from doing so, Murray said he's not aware of any refugees who fit those criteria, but would check. On Sunday, U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, issued a statement applauding Snyder: "I support Governor Snyder's decision to suspend efforts to relocate Syrian refugees to Michigan, and have cautioned against the Administration's decision to increase the number being admitted into the U.S. ... The fact is, as evidenced by Friday's horrific attack in Paris, terrorist organizations like ISIS are looking for any and every opportunity to exploit a nation's hospitality to carry out their barbaric attacks against the innocent. Anyone who says we can adequately and safely vet these refugees is wrong because there is no database in Syria and no way to identify who's who." "America has a long, proud history of helping refugees from across the globe, and we will continue to help. However, in doing so, we must make certain that we are not jeopardizing the safety of our citizens." Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report. Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/1NUAAxP ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Nov. 16, 2015, 4:16 AM GMT / Updated Nov. 16, 2015, 4:10 PM GMT By Alex Johnson No Syrian refugees have entered Alabama under federal refugee assistance rules, and Gov. Robert Bentley declared Sunday night that they never will on his watch. Bentley cited Friday night's "attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris" in promising that he would "oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama." "I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way," he said. Earlier Sunday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said his state was halting efforts to accept refugees from Syria. Snyder said Michigan is "proud of our rich history of immigration" but that the state's "priority is protecting the safety of our residents," NBC Chicago reported. The Obama administration said in September that it was willing to take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year as Europe grapples with the surge of migrants from war-torn regions in the Middle East and Africa. One of the State Department's nine domestic refugee processing centers is in Mobile, and Bentley didn't say Sunday how he would stop the federal government from relocating Syrians in his state. Related: Officials Searching for Man Involved in Deadly Massacre Bentley's defiant statement came only a few hours after Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the attacks Friday night in Paris wouldn't change U.S. policy toward patriating refugees from the bloody civil war in Syria. Related: Follow Live: Latest Updates on Paris Attacks "We have very expansive screening procedures for all Syrian refugees who have come to the United States," Rhodes said. "There's a very careful vetting process that includes our intelligence community, our national Counterterrorism Center [and] the Department of Homeland Security, so we can make sure that we're carefully screening anybody who comes to the United States." Related: Rhodes: ISIS Is a 'Different Type of Terrorist Enemy' Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, echoed Bentley's view in a separate appearance Sunday on "Meet the Press." "There are a lot of holes, gaping holes" in the State Department's Refugee Assistance Program, said McCaul, who spoke before Bentley made his announcement. "We don't want to be complicit with a program that could bring terrorists into the United States," he said. But Rhodes said U.S. authorities should be more compassionate. "We're also dealing with people who've suffered the horrors of war — women and children, orphans," Rhodes said. "We can't just shut our doors to those people." Rhodes agreed that "we need to sort out how to focus on the terrorists that we need to keep out of the country." But he added: "I think we do need to do our part to take those refugees who are in need." ||||| More than 20 U.S. states’ governors have announced they will refuse to take in Syrian refugees following Friday evening’s deadly terrorist attacks in Paris. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley said Sunday he planned to refuse the relocation. “I will not place Alabamians at even the slightest possible risk of an attack on our people,” the governor said in a statement. Earlier Sunday, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he would suspend the acceptance of new refugees until the Department of Homeland Security “completes a full review of security clearances and procedures.” On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wrote that his state will not participate in refugee relocation and urged that the president halt the U.S. program of accepting Syrian refugees. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted that he will also refuse to take refugees into his state. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, Kentucky Gov.-elect Matt Bevin, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also joined the chorus. And as The Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff reported, New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan became the first Democratic governor to say no to refugees. ||||| Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. (Danielle Duval/Jackson Citizen Patriot via AP) UPDATE: By Monday afternoon, seven governors across the country said they would refuse Syrian refugees. Head here for more. The terrorist attacks in Paris have prompted two governors to announce that Syrian refugees will not be allowed to resettle in their states. Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan and Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama, both Republicans, issued individual statements Sunday declaring that their states would not be open to refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria. Snyder’s statement noted Michigan’s “rich history of immigration” and said, “but our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents.” “It’s also important to remember that these attacks are the efforts of extremists and do not reflect the peaceful ways of people of Middle Eastern descent here and around the world,” he said. [Obama: Screening refugees based on religion is ‘shameful’] Snyder had previously been working with the federal government to determine a process for accepting refugees. “Isn’t that part of being a good Michigander?” he told the Detroit Free Press in late September, pointing out the economic and humanitarian benefits of welcoming Syrians. Snyder said those efforts would now be suspended until further evidence of more rigid security measures. His reversal follows a statement from Michigan state Rep. Gary Glenn, also a Republican, who said Saturday that the state “should not rush to offer an open door to the high-risk importation of individuals from a known hotbed of Islamic extremism.” [Aaron Rodgers praised for criticizing fan’s anti-Muslim comments] Michigan is home to a sizable Middle Eastern population, and the Detroit metro area has one of the largest in the country. Earlier this month, the city of Hamtramck, Mich., elected America’s first Muslim-majority city council. According to the Free Press, many Syrians have already settled in Michigan, where 200 have been relocated by one agency in the past year. In Alabama, no Syrian refugees have been relocated — and none will be allowed to settle there in the future, Bentley said in his statement. “As your Governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way,” he declared. “The acts of terror committed over the weekend are a tragic reminder to the world that evil exists and takes the form of terrorists who seek to destroy the basic freedoms we will always fight to preserve.” Legally, the states have limited power to control the flow of foreigners into their states; that authority is reserved largely to the federal government under the Constitution. In early September, the Obama administration said it would at least accept 10,000 Syrian refugees during the federal government’s 2016 fiscal year. President Obama decried the calls from some to stop accepting Syrian refugees after the attacks in Paris, saying it would be "a betrayal of our values." (AP) At the same time, leaders in Canada and Australia have so far stood their ground on promises to welcome refugees, though they acknowledge the situation has been complicated by the Paris attacks. An official from the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that the administration will move forward with its plans to accept 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of the year. The announcement defies growing concern over the security risks of meeting such an early deadline. Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, also denied a request from a member of Parliament to renege on a plan to accept 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq. “Australia does not need Middle Eastern refugees or Islamic boat people!” MP Andrew Fraser wrote in a public Facebook message to Dutton, the BBC reports. “Close our borders we have enough anarchists already resident in Australia.” Dutton told Australia’s Seven Network that while additional security checks may be implemented in light of the attacks, “Australia obviously faces a very different situation than in countries in Europe that have land borders.” Police are investigating a Syrian passport found near the spot where suicide bombers blew themselves up outside France’s national stadium. Greek authorities have traced the passport to a refugee who was among the 198 that arrived at Leros, an Aegean island, by way of a migrant boat on Oct. 3. More from Morning Mix ‘Mosque of Peace’ set ablaze in Canada, two others in Florida threatened as discussion of Islam heats up Organizer: At mass resignation event, 1,500 Mormons quit church over new anti-gay-marriage policy Outrage and little clarity in Minneapolis after black man is shot by police

– The attacks in Paris have prompted the governors of several US states to declare that Syrian refugees aren't welcome. The governors of Alabama and Michigan each issued statements Sunday to that effect, reports the Washington Post. And on Monday, the governors of Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas, Arizona, Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia, and New Hampshire said the same, notes the Daily Beast. The issue is resonating particularly strongly in Michigan, which already has accepted about 200 and is home to what the Detroit Free Press calls one of the biggest Mideast populations in the nation. "Michigan is a welcoming state and we are proud of our rich history of immigration," said Gov. Rick Snyder. "But our first priority is protecting the safety of our residents." He said the state would suspend its push to bring in refugees until the Homeland Security department conducts a review of procedures in the wake of the Paris attacks. In Alabama, Gov. Robert Bentley said he intends to keep the number of Syrian refugees to zero. "After full consideration of this weekend's attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the US Refugee Admissions Program," he said. "As your Governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm's way." One of the State Department's refugee processing centers is in Alabama, and it isn't clear how Bentley plans to stop Syrians from being resettled in the state, NBC News reports. Indeed, the Post notes that states have "limited power" when it comes to the relocation of refugees, and President Obama has said the US plans to take at least 10,000 from Syria.

Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. Republican state legislators in Pennsylvania are pushing a scheme that, if GOPers in other states follow their lead, could cause President Barack Obama to lose the 2012 election—not because of the vote count, but because of new rules. That’s not all: There’s no legal way for Democrats to stop them. The problem for Obama, and the opportunity for Republicans, is the electoral college. Every political junkie knows that the presidential election isn’t a truly national contest; it’s a state-by-state fight, and each state is worth a number of electoral votes equal to the size of the state’s congressional delegation. (The District of Columbia also gets three votes.) There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs; win 270, and you’re the president. Here’s the rub, though: Each state gets to determine how its electoral votes are allocated. Currently, 48 states and DC use a winner-take-all system in which the candidate who wins the popular vote in the state gets all of its electoral votes. Under the Republican plan—which has been endorsed by top GOPers in both houses of the state Legislature, as well as the governor, Tom Corbett—Pennsylvania would change from this system to one where each congressional district gets its own electoral vote. (Two electoral votes—one for each of the state’s two senators—would go to the statewide winner.) This could cost Obama dearly. The GOP controls both houses of the state Legislature plus the governor’s mansion—the so-called “redistricting trifecta“—in Pennsylvania. Congressional district maps are adjusted after every census, and the last one just finished up. That means Pennsylvania Republicans get to draw the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts without any input from Democrats. Some of the early maps have leaked to the press, and Democrats expect that the Pennsylvania congressional map for the 2012 elections will have 12 safe GOP seats compared to just 6 safe Democratic seats. Under the Republican plan, if the GOP presidential nominee carries the GOP-leaning districts but Obama carries the state, the GOP nominee would get 12 electoral votes out of Pennsylvania, but Obama would only get eight—six for winning the blue districts, and two (representing the state’s two senators) for winning the state. Since Obama would lose 12 electoral votes relative to the winner-take-all baseline, this would have an effect equivalent to flipping a medium-size winner-take-all state—say, Washington, which has 12 electoral votes—from blue to red.* And Republicans wouldn’t even have to do any extra campaigning or spend any extra advertising dollars to do it. Nebraska and Maine already have the system the Pennsylvania GOP is pushing. But the two states’ small electoral vote values mean it’s actually mathematically impossible for a candidate to win the popular vote there but lose the electoral vote, says Akhil Reed Amar, a constitutional law professor at Yale University. Pennsylvania, however, is a different story: “It might be very likely to happen in [Pennsylvania], and that’s what makes this something completely new under the sun,” Amar says. “It’s something that no previous legislature in America since the Civil War has ever had the audacity to impose.” If Obama has another landslide win, the GOP rule-tinkering might not change the outcome. But given the state of the economy and Obama’s low approval ratings, the election is likely to be close. If the president wins the states John Kerry won in 2004 plus Ohio—otherwise enough to give him a narrow win—changing the electoral vote rules in Pennsylvania alone would swing the election to the Republican nominee. “This would effectively extend the effect of gerrymandering beyond Congress and to the Electoral College.” It doesn’t necessarily end there. After their epic sweep of state legislative and gubernatorial races in 2010, Republicans also have total political control of Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, three other big states that traditionally go Democratic and went for Obama in 2008.* Implementing a Pennsylvania-style system in those three places—in Ohio, for example, Democrats anticipate controlling just 4 or 5 of the state’s 16 congressional districts—could offset Obama wins in states where he has expanded the electoral map, like Colorado, New Mexico, North Carolina, or Virginia. “If all these Rust Belt folks get together and make this happen, that could be really dramatic,” says Carolyn Fiddler, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which coordinates state political races for the Dems. Democrats would not be able to retaliate. The only states that John McCain won where Dems control both houses of the state legislature are Arkansas and West Virginia.* West Virginia is too small for splitting the electoral votes to have much effect. That leaves Arkansas, another small state—and one where McCain won every district handily in 2008. Nor is there anything obviously illegal or unconstitutional about the GOP plan. “The Constitution is pretty silent on how the electors are chosen in each state,” says Karl Manheim, a law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles. The GOP plan “would certainly increase the political advantage of politically gerrymandering your districts,” he adds. Says Fiddler, the DLCC spokeswoman: “This would effectively extend the effect of gerrymandering beyond Congress and to the Electoral College. State legislatures could gerrymander the Electoral College.” So far, Democrats have been fighting back with the argument that switching to allocating electoral votes by congressional district would reduce Pennsylvania’s importance in the presidential race. “Presidential elections are decided by ‘basically Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and Florida,’ because each is a swing state with a large block of electoral votes up for grabs,” former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. That, Rendell said, gives Pennsylvania more pull with presidents of both parties. But that argument “doesn’t hold much sway with state legislators,” Fiddler says. And if rule changes in Pennsylvania or other Rust Belt states put a Republican in the White House, the president might be more indebted to party leadership there, not less. For now, the Democrats’—and Obama’s—only real way of fighting back is political. “The political solution, if there is one, is going to have to come from getting people outraged about this,” Amar says. “This is not American fair play; it’s a partisan steamroller changing the fundamental rules of the small-d democratic game for purely party advantage. Trying to structure the world so that even the person who wins the state loses the state’s electoral vote: That is new under the sun.” He adds, “This is big.” UPDATE, September 14, 4:15 p.m. EST: The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has come up a lot in the comments as a potential way to blunt the impact of the proposed Pennsylvania rule changes. Under the compact, which is an idea Akhil Reed Amar (quoted above) helped develop, states pledge to give all of their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote, regardless of the outcome in the state. It could work—if enough states adopted it. But so far, only nine states (including DC) representing just 132 electoral votes have signed on—and they’re all solidly blue. Bills to join the compact are at various stages in a number of other states, but the problem is this: if Republican legislators are seriously considering the Pennsylvania plan, why would they turn around and embrace a proposal that has essentially the opposite effect? NPV is a powerful idea. But right now, it doesn’t have the bipartisan support to counteract the Pennsylvania plan. *Correction: This sentence previously referred to Nevada and then New Hampshire. Those were both wrong. It’s actually much, much worse for Obama than I originally thought. I also said 2012 where I meant 2008 and said both houses of the legislature in Mississippi were controlled by Dems. That was wrong too. I’m really sorry about the mistakes. (Return to the first corrected sentence.) ||||| Change proposed for state's electoral vote process HARRISBURG -- A new proposal is pushing the often-forgotten Electoral College into the spotlight as Pennsylvania officials ponder the state's role in next year's presidential race. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi is trying to gather support to change the state's "winner-takes-all" approach for awarding electoral votes. Instead, he's suggesting that Pennsylvania dole them out based on which candidate wins each of the 18 congressional districts, with the final two going to the contender with the most votes statewide. So far, the idea has received support from colleagues of the Delaware County Republican in the state House and from Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. But Democrats, who have carried the state in presidential contests since 1992, said the shift would erode Pennsylvania's clout. Only two states -- Nebraska and Maine -- divide their electoral votes instead of giving the whole bloc to the candidate that wins the state's popular vote. Even for those two states, the piecemeal approach has been a rarity, with Nebraska historically dividing its five votes in the 2008 election, when one went to President Barack Obama. An analysis by the online news service Capitolwire noted that had the proposed distribution process been in place in Pennsylvania in 2008 before the state lost one congressional district due to a population decline in the 2010 census, Mr. Obama would have won only 11 of the state's 21 votes. Blasting the idea as "a disturbing effort to put their self interests and party interests ahead of the people," Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, said the plan would dangerously link the presidential vote to redistricting. In a written statement, Mr. Costa asked: "Will we now be looking at state gerrymandering that serves a larger, national agenda?" Mr. Pileggi and others disagreed, saying congressional districts that are more competitive would receive more attention and would not be overshadowed when the state leans one way or another politically. "It would not only change the type of attention that Pennsylvania would receive in a presidential election, but it would also choose where in Pennsylvania that attention occurs," he said. Franklin & Marshall College political scientist G. Terry Madonna echoed that sentiment, noting that the influx of presidential funds and manpower to vulnerable congressional districts could impact local races as well. "While I don't think it's likely to influence the outcome of the presidential election, it may spur turnout in some congressional districts with perhaps some unpredictable results," Mr. Madonna said. First published on September 13, 2011 at 12:00 am

– Pennsylvania Republicans are proposing a radical change in how the state divvies up its electoral votes that could have a huge impact on the 2012 election. The plan, which is being championed by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi and already has the governor’s support, would switch Pennsylvania from a winner-take-all system to one that divvied the state’s electoral votes up by district, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. And those districts are set to be redrawn this year—by a Republican legislature and governor. The likely result: Instead of taking all the state’s electoral votes, Obama would take eight to the GOP’s 12. Maine and Nebraska already have this system, but each is too small for the popular and electoral votes to split like that. “It's something that no previous legislature in America since the Civil War has ever had the audacity to impose,” one constitutional law professor tells Mother Jones. And it might not stop there—the GOP could try the same thing in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin, all traditional Democratic states currently in its sway.

Fashion and music legend Celine Dion can work any look for the camera—including, well, nothing. The 49-year-old singer was photographed during an outfit change between Paris Couture Week shows as part of a Vogue series documenting her life during one of Paris's most extravagant fashion weeks. Regal, gorgeous, and being very strategic with her limbs, Dion truly is the picture of a woman living life to the fullest: ||||| Céline Dion is no stranger to couture. In fact, did you know that for the past five years, she has worn haute couture almost exclusively for her performances? You would if you’ve been following Vogue’s #CelineTakesCouture hashtag on Instagram. On the last lap of the Fall 2017 Couture season, we followed the Grammy Award–winning singer, who took a break from her current mini-tour of Europe for a high note of high fashion. It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours, and we’ve captured every moment, from a stripped-down look to microflorals made for taking in the Giambattista Valli show, naturally. Come for the visual fodder, stay for the rich captions—which are filled with lesser-known trivia that may come as a surprise to even the most devoted of Dion’s followers. As she says herself: “The clothes follow me; I do not follow the clothes.” Advertisement 1 / 7 Céline Dion’s First Met Gala Included a Musical Number:

– Celine Dion is 49 and, in case you were wondering, she's still got it. The singer posed nude for Vogue for a series the magazine is doing on her during Paris Couture Week, Elle reports. "Here's a little naked fact to ponder while Celine Dion changes looks between shows," reads the Instagram post from Vogue, which goes on to discuss the haute couture Dion wears during her shows—almost all of her shows, which means five to six nights per week. Click to see the full Instagram series.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - A 10-year-old boy has died after an accident on the Verrückt at Schlitterbahn Waterpark, according to Winter Prosapio, corporate director of communications. The accident happened Sunday afternoon at the water park in Kansas City, Kansas. The child who died is Caleb Schwab, the son of Kansas Rep. Scott Schwab, R-Olathe. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help a Kansas lawmaker's family cover funeral expenses for a 10-year-old son who died at a water park in Kansas City, Kansas. The campaign set up for state Rep. Scott Schwab's family had raised more than $15,000 by late Monday morning. Representative Scott Schwab and his wife Michele released the following statement on Sunday: "Michele and I want to thank the Olathe and Kansas City, Kansas communities and all of our friends and family for their outpouring of support and compassion as it relates to the sudden loss of our son, Caleb Thomas Schwab. Since the day he was born, he brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came in contact with. As we try to mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in our Savior Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day. Your continued prayers are welcome and appreciated. We appreciate your understanding of our family's need for privacy during this difficult time of grieving." Speaker Ray Merrick’s office sent out an email to state lawmakers this afternoon and many were at the water park for Elected Official Day. The email from Merrick stated: "House Members, It is with an absolutely broken heart we have to ask for prayers for the Schwab family who suddenly and tragically lost their sweet and energetic son in an accident today. No words can express the pain we all feel for this terrible tragedy. We will share remembrance details when we receive them." More than one water park guest told 41 Action News that the harness on the ride was not working earlier in the day. "A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today, the Verrückt, and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it,” said Jessica Lundquist, park guest. The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department said they are investigating the death. Police said on Tuesday that Caleb suffered a fatal neck injury. Officers working an apparent accident death investigation at Schlitterbahn. No other details at this time. — Terry Zeigler (@KCKPDChief) August 7, 2016 “We honestly don’t know what’s happened. That’s why an investigation, a full investigation is necessary. We have to understand what’s happened,” said Winter Prosapio. The water park will be closed until Wednesday. Guests were refunded via gift card or cash. “Right now our focus is on that family. And I understand the feeling that you want a lot of information right now and we will get that information and find out what happened,” said Prosapio. Here's the Kansas law that requires @Schlitterbahn to shut down #Verruckt immediately after Sunday's death. pic.twitter.com/TdsdU7kDxk — Andres Gutierrez (@AFGutierrez) August 7, 2016 Schlitterbahn also released a statement after the incident on their Facebook page. It reads: “We are saddened to share that a young boy died on Verrückt this afternoon. Given that safety is our first priority, we have closed the Kansas City park today and Monday and have closed the ride pending a full investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.” Verrückt’s history Verrückt is the world’s tallest water slide and has faced a lot of controversy. There were concerns about the safety of Verrückt before it was even finished. In fact, the park delayed opening the slide at least four times. At 17 stories high and over 168 feet tall, the ride had issues from testing. Schlitterbahn admitted problems with the conveyor system, gearbox, and shafts. The angle of the slide was altered and the company denies it was because rafts were flying off the slide. Riders have to be at least 54 inches tall and the weight of the four-person raft needs to be between 400 and 550 pounds. Jeff Henry, the co-owner of Schlitterbahn was quoted in the past talking about Verrückt saying, “It’s dangerous, but it’s safe dangerous now.” Editor's Note: A previous version of this story stated the incorrect age for Caleb Schwab, the story has been updated to reflect his accurate age of 10 years old. ----------- Follow 41 Action News on Twitter: Follow @41ActionNews Like 41 Action News on Facebook: ||||| FILE - In this Wednesday, March 18, 2015 file photo, Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab speaks at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The young son of a Kansas state lawmaker died on a water slide that is billed... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Wednesday, March 18, 2015 file photo, Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab speaks at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. The young son of a Kansas state lawmaker died on a water slide that is billed as the world's largest, according to officials and the boy's family. Authorities did not immediately... (Associated Press) KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas waterslide billed as the world's tallest remained off-limits Monday as authorities pressed to figure out how a state lawmaker's 10-year-old son died of a neck injury while riding it. Details remained murky about what happened Sunday to Caleb Thomas Schwab on the 168-foot-tall "Verruckt" — German for "insane" — that since its debut two years ago has been the top draw at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas City, Kansas, police issued a statement late Monday afternoon saying that Caleb suffered a fatal neck injury around 2:30 p.m. while he was riding the slide with two women, neither of whom was related to him. They suffered minor facial injuries and were treated at an area hospital, police said. Emergency responders arrived to find the boy dead in a pool at the end of the ride, according to the statement, which offered no further details. In a statement Monday afternoon, Schlitterbahn said it was "deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family and all who were impacted by the tragic accident." The park was tentatively scheduled to reopen Wednesday, but "Verruckt is closed," according to the statement. Officer Cameron Morgan, a police spokesman, said no police report about the incident was available. He said investigators were treating Caleb's death as a "civil matter" rather than a criminal one and referred additional questions to the park. Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio declined interview requests Monday but told reporters a day earlier that Caleb had been at the park with family members, adding that "we honestly don't know what's happened." It wasn't immediately clear whether results of an autopsy Monday on Caleb would be publicly released or, if so, how soon, said Margaret Studyvin with the Wyandotte County coroner's office. Leslie Castaneda, who was at Schlitterbahn on Sunday, told The Kansas City Star that she saw Caleb's crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the ride, along with blood on the slide's white descending flume. "I'm really having a tough time with it. I really am," said Castaneda, of Kansas City, Kansas. "I saw his (Caleb's) brother. He was screaming." On the waterslide certified by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest, riders sit in multi-person rafts during "the ultimate in water slide thrills," subjecting "adventure seekers" to a "jaw dropping" 17-story drop, the park's website says. Passengers then are "blasted back up a second massive hill and then sent down yet another gut wrenching 50 foot drop," the website adds. Each rider must be at least 54 inches tall, and the group's weight is limited to a total of 400 to 550 pounds. Authorities didn't release information about Caleb's height or the combined weight of his group of riders. According to rules sent to the media in 2014, riders had to be at least 14 years old, but that requirement is no longer listed on the park's website. Caleb's parents — Republican state Rep. Scott Schwab and his wife, Michele — have requested privacy as the family grieves, saying in a statement Sunday that "since the day he was born, (Caleb) brought abundant joy to our family and all those he came in contact with." "As we try to mend our home with him no longer with us, we are comforted knowing he believed in our Savior Jesus, and they are forever together now. We will see him another day," the statement added. The tragedy happened on a day the park offered lawmakers and other elected officials a buffet lunch, hot dogs and hamburgers. Verruckt's 2014 opening repeatedly was delayed, though the operators didn't explain why. Two media sneak preview days in 2014 were canceled because of problems with a conveyor system that hauls 100-pound rafts to the top of the slide. In a news article linked to the news release announcing a 2014 delay, Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry told USA Today that he and senior designer John Schooley had based their calculations when designing the slide on roller coasters, but that didn't translate well to a waterslide like Verruckt. In early tests, rafts carrying sandbags flew off the slide, prompting engineers to tear down half of the ride and reconfigure some angles at a cost of $1 million, Henry said. A promotional video about building the slide includes footage of two men riding a raft down a half-size test model and going slightly airborne as it crests the top of the first big hill. The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kansas, and Wyandotte County said it does not inspect the operations of such rides and is responsible only for ensuring they've adhered to local building codes. Without specifically mentioning waterslides, Kansas statutes define an "amusement ride" as any mechanical or electrical conveyance "for the purpose of giving its passengers amusement, pleasure, thrills or excitement." Such rides, by statute, commonly are Ferris wheels, carousels, parachute towers, bungee jumps and roller coasters. State law leaves it to the Kansas Department of Labor to adopt rules and regulations relating to certification and inspection of rides, adding that a permanent amusement ride must be scrutinized by "a qualified inspector" at least every 12 months. Kansas' Labor Department didn't return messages Monday. Prosapio said Sunday the park's rides are inspected daily and by an "outside party" before the start of each season. Kansas state Sen. Greg Smith, an Overland Park Republican, said that although state law doesn't specifically address waterslides, it's clear they "would fall into that category." He called any potential legislative response to Sunday's tragedy premature, saying the investigation should be given time to play out. ___ Associated Press writers Maria Sudekum, Bill Draper and Margaret Stafford in Kansas City, John Hanna in Topeka and Roxana Hegeman in Wichita contributed to this report. ||||| Caleb Thomas Schwab, killed Sunday afternoon while riding the world’s tallest water slide at Schlitterbahn Kansas City Water Park, was found dead with what police on Monday evening termed a “fatal neck injury.” Numerous questions still remain over the death of 10-year-old Caleb, who is the second oldest son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab and Michele Schwab of Olathe. Kansas City, Kan., police on Monday evening released a statement saying that when police and fire personnel arrived at the park about 2:30 p.m., the boy was found dead in the pool at the end of the water ride. Caleb, police noted, had been in the ride’s three-person raft with two adult women who were unrelated to him. The women sustained minor facial injuries and were treated at area hospitals. Never miss a local story. Sign up today for a free 30 day free trial of unlimited digital access. SUBSCRIBE NOW “The family will be in our thoughts,” the statement said. Their investigation continues. One day after the tragic death, the family has been left in grief. Neighbors and friends are in shock, as are those who were at the park. Leslie Castaneda of Kansas City, Kan., can’t get the aftermath image of Caleb’s death out of her head. She said she witnessed what she thought to be the boy’s crumpled shorts or bathing suit at the bottom of the 168-foot-tall Verrückt ride, blood on the white descending flume of the world’s tallest water slide. “I’m really having a tough time with it. I really am,” said Casteneda, who came upon the scene inside Schlitterbahn shortly after it occurred. “I saw his (Caleb’s) brother. He was screaming.” Many are left wondering how the events of Sunday came to pass. In Wyandotte County, the medical examiner conducted an autopsy, but the office said it was not yet ready to release preliminary results. The family’s friend and spokesman, the Rev. Clint Sprague, held a news conference Monday evening announcing that a funeral for Caleb is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at LifeMission Church, 16111 S. Lone Elm Road in Olathe. A GoFundMe fundraising web page for funeral and other expenses was set up and has exceeded its $15,000 goal. “It’s just been amazing the people who have come together praying for them, encouraging them and supporting them,” said Sprague, the lead pastor at the church. “They feel it.” Sprague said he has spent the last 24-plus hours with Scott and Michele Schwab and their three other children. “As you can imagine, it’s been devastating,” Sprague said. “It’s been devastating at every level. You know, you leave church, you go to a water park to be with family and to enjoy. And then you hit tragedy. There is just no way to prepare for this.” Sprague described Caleb as a boy who loved Jesus — and not just a “going to church” kind of love. “He loved Jesus,” he said. “He loved to talk about Jesus. He loved to pray.” Michele Schwab told Sprague that anytime someone had a need or something like this happened to someone else, Caleb was the one to say that they had to pray. “Caleb was a 10-year-old child, but in many ways he was a man of God,” Sprague said. “He’s going to be missed for his energy, for his life, for his smile, for the way he lit up a room.” Sprague said he didn’t have details about the accident that took Caleb’s life. “What I can tell you is that this family is coming together and grieving together,” he said. “We are asking everybody to give us space to do that.” The Schwabs have hired Michael Rader and Edward Robertson Jr. from the Leawood law firm Bartimus Frickleton Robertson. The firm said neither the family nor its lawyers would make public statements about the incident until an investigation was concluded. Although the Verrückt remains closed, Schlitterbahn on Monday afternoon said the park would reopen Wednesday and that grief counselors were being provided at Schlitterbahn Kansas City for employees and guests. Many of the details of the events of Sunday remain unclear. According to those close to the family, the Schwabs attended church Sunday morning and debated whether go to the water park, given the cool weather, early clouds and forecast for possible rain. When the sun came out, Scott and Michele Schwab took their four boys to the water park for a day in which admission was free to families of area elected officials. Soon after arriving, Caleb and his brother Nathan, 12, set off into the park with friends. Scott and Michele Schwab tended to their two younger boys. Kansas City, Kan., police are investigating the Caleb’s death as a criminal matter. “It is a death investigation,” said Officer Cameron Morgan, a Police Department spokesman. “Every death is technically a criminal matter until we clear it or categorize it as an accident. We are still investigating it and trying to figure out what happened.” Among the many questions yet to be answered: ▪ How exactly did Caleb die? Pending an investigation, Schlitterbahn has released no information about the death, including at what point Caleb was injured — whether it was at the top of the ride, along its descending path, or somewhere along the ride’s second and much lower rise and fall. Investigators on Sunday removed a section of the netting attached to the final descending portion of the ride just before the ride ends in a pool. ▪ Was he ejected from the raft, did he come loose from the raft or was he injured while still inside the craft? Police said responders found Caleb in the pool at the end of the ride, but no one knows how his body got there. ▪ Did the ride somehow fail or malfunction? ▪ Did the raft containing Caleb meet the required weight and/or height requirement? According to Schlitterbahn’s website, the ride holds two or three riders per raft with a required combined weight of at least 400 pounds. Riders have to be at least 54 inches tall. ▪ Was Caleb properly secured into the raft? Or did he somehow come loose or somehow unfasten his restraint? The rafts use a Velcro lap belt and a single shoulder restraint. The belts are made of heavy fabric, secured with Velcro. Before opening to the public in 2014, Verrückt did not have netting covering the flume. Mike Taylor, a spokesman for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kan., said it insisted on adding the netting to the top. “We raised that issue,” Taylor said Monday. The sides of Verrückt aren’t tall, designed that way so riders can see out of the chute. “I think they realized we need to put that extra safety precaution,” Taylor said. “The sides on that thing are really low.” The design was changed so that netting is attached above the flume with a series of semicircular supports. The Unified Government’s Development Review Committee examined plans for Verrückt before the attraction opened. That committee includes representatives from the the Kansas City, Kan., Fire Department, the Board of Public Utilities, the city’s building inspection and engineering departments, and the Public Health Department. The review process did not evaluate the how the ride worked or was supposed to operate, nor is there any state or local law that compels the city to carry out such an inspection. Since 2014, Schlitterbahn has been sued three times in Kansas City, Kan., for personal injury claims, although none were related to the Verrückt water slide. Linda Stomboly filed suit in 2014 after suffering injuries to her leg as she rode King Kaw, a 3,000-foot river ride where visitors travel on rafts. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing. The case was settled for undisclosed terms in the case in which Stomboly said she was injured after a collision with another rider in front of her. The collision allegedly threw her from her raft. As she tried to get back on her raft, she fell over a waterfall on the ride and suffered spiral fractures to her leg. Her lawsuit contended that Schlitterbahn failed to test and determine the appropriate intervals for releasing visitors onto the ride, and that riders were not warned of potential dangers arising from collisions with other riders. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing in its response to Stomboly’s lawsuit and charged that her negligence contributed to her injuries. Stomboly sought $223,934 in damages in that case, a sum that included lost wages, past and future medical expenses, and non-economic damages. Schlitterbahn offered $20,000. The case later settled on terms that were not disclosed. Frances Logan sued the water park the same year for injuries suffered on the same ride. Logan’s lawsuit said that her inner tube flipped over and that her left foot hit a concrete wall. Her lawsuit added that no lifeguards were on duty to assist her, leaving other patrons to pull her off the ride. Schlitterbahn denied her claims, and the case settled last year. Robert Boepple also sued Schlitterbahn in 2014 for injuries he suffered in 2012. Boepple contended that he injured his head, neck, arm and spine when he tripped over a protrusion on the Boogie Bahn ride. Schlitterbahn denied wrongdoing in that case, too. Boepple sought $500,000 in damages in that case. The lawsuit settled in 2015. Caleb’s death is not the first at a Schlitterbahn facility. In 2013, lifeguard Nico Benavides, 20, was killed at the company’s park on South Padre Island, Texas, when a mechanical door related to a wave generator slammed on his head. Benavides was pronounced brain dead. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the park a half-dozen citations with penalties exceeding $96,000. By 2015, the park’s parent company had settled for $66,000. In Texas, where Schlitterbahn runs four water parks, the company has reported 61 instances of injuries since 2011 to the Texas Department of Insurance. That department requires amusement parks to report injuries that require the attention of a licensed physician. Schlitterbahn’s 61 injury reports at four parks are more than the 41 reported by Great Wolf Lodge’s location in Grapevine, Texas, but fewer than the 72 reported by Six Flags in Arlington, Texas. When the Verrückt water slide opened at Schlitterbahn in 2014, the rules for riding included a minimum age of 14, a minimum height of 54 inches and a combined weight of all riders in the raft of between 400 and 550 pounds. Park officials told USA Today at the time, however, that the age requirement was being removed because the height requirement was deemed sufficient. In the hours after the incident Sunday, Schlitterbahn removed references to the Verrückt from its Kansas City water park’s website. The company later tweeted that it had restored the page “for those who are interested in rider requirements.” In its statement Monday, the company referred readers to its Verrückt Fact Sheet. Guinness World Records affirmed the Verrückt is the tallest water slide in the world at 168 feet, 7 inches. It surpassed the previous record holder, which was the Kilimanjaro water slide in Brazil at 163 feet, 9 inches. The Brazilian slide has higher walls on the chute and is not covered by a net. Participants lie on their backs without a raft. The rest of the list can be seen here. A YouTube video summarizes 10 water park tragedies around the world. Casteneda said the death in Kansas City, Kan., sent visitors at the park into disbelieving shock. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know happened,” she said. “There was a lot of looks of, ‘What’s going on?’ It was just a blur.”

– The death of 10-year-old Caleb Thomas Schwab on the world's tallest waterslide Sunday was the result of a "fatal neck injury," police said Monday—but they have not disclosed what caused the injury. As the investigation into the boy's death at the Schlitterbahn Kansas City Water Park continues, many details remain unclear, including whether the ride somehow malfunctioned and whether Caleb was properly secured in the raft before he went down the 168-foot slide, the Kansas City Star reports. Police say Caleb, whose body was found in a pool at the bottom of the slide, had been in a three-person raft with two adult women he was not related to, who both suffered minor facial injuries. People close to the family tell the Star that Caleb, son of Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab, went off with his 12-year-old brother and friends after arriving at the park, while his parents stayed with their two younger sons. Several people who were at the park that day told KSHB that there had been problems with the Verruckt waterslide. "A lady in front of me said that multiple times she rode the ride today, the Verruckt, and that the front harness did not work any of the times that she rode it," says park guest Jessica Lundquist. The AP reports that the park—which issued a statement Monday saying it was "deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family"—plans to reopen Wednesday, but the Verruckt will remain closed.

Barack Obama sure knows how to make a grand gesture. The former president sent wife Michelle Obama a sweet video message on their 25th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, surprising her during her talk with Shonda Rhimes at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women in Philadelphia. Appearing on a big screen, Obama first apologized for “crashing” the conference before launching into a loving tribute that brought tears to his wife’s eyes — and color to her cheeks. “I had to crash this party because today we have been married for 25 years,” Obama said. “The idea that you would put up with me for a quarter of a century is a remarkable testament to what a saintly, wonderful, patient person you are.” “It was a lot easier for me to do it,” he added with a smile, “because the fact of the matter is that not only have you been an extraordinary partner, not only have you been a great friend, somebody who could always make me laugh, somebody who would always make sure that I was following what I thought was right, but you have also been an example to our daughters and to the entire country.” The former first lady teared up as her husband praised her “strength, grace, determination and honesty.” “It’s no wonder that as people got to know you the way that I got to know you, they fell in love,” he added. Keith Bedford/The Boston Globe via Getty The former president also said he appreciated “the fact that you look so good” doing all of this. “It is truly the best decision that I ever made to be persistent enough in asking you out for a date,” he said. Mrs. Obama was blushing by the time her husband concluded the lengthy tribute. Marla Aufmuth/Getty She turned to Rhimes and the crowd and joked: “I better get home.” The former president later posted his video on Facebook, captioning it: “Asking you to go out with me is the best decision I ever made. I love you, Michelle.” RELATED VIDEO: The Bid for Barack and Michelle Obama’s Memoirs Has Reached A Whopping $60 Million Earlier on Tuesday, Mrs. Obama sent her husband and “best friend” a happy anniversary message on Instagram, sharing a photo from their Chicago wedding on Oct. 3, 1992. “Happy 25th anniversary @barackobama,” she wrote alongside the shot. “A quarter of a century later, you’re still my best friend & the most extraordinary man I know. I (heart) you.” ||||| Cue the anniversary cuteness. On their milestone silver anniversary, Michelle Obama took to Instagram to share a throwback photo of herself and “best friend” Barack Obama from their Chicago wedding on Oct. 3, 1992. “Happy 25th anniversary @barackobama,” she wrote alongside the shot. “A quarter of a century later, you’re still my best friend & the most extraordinary man I know. I (heart) you.” Not only does this year mark the couple’s 25th anniversary, it also is the first anniversary they’re celebrating post-presidency. Since leaving the White House, the Obamas have been hopping around the globe —from Indonesia to Italy — as well as tearfully dropping daughter Malia Obama off at college. The former president has also been hanging with some of the couple’s more famous pals, like Prince Harry, Joe and Jill Biden, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. And Barack Obama made quite the grand romantic gesture to wish his wife a happy anniversary himself: He surprised her with a sweet video message on stage during her talk at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women in Philadelphia.

– “A quarter of a century later, you’re still my best friend & the most extraordinary man I know," Michelle Obama posted on Instagram along with a photo of her and Barack at their Oct. 3, 1992 wedding. People reports the Obamas celebrated their silver wedding anniversary and first since leaving the White House on Tuesday. Barack responded to Michelle's post by "crashing" the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, where Michelle was speaking to Shonda Rhimes. "Not only have you been an extraordinary partner, not only have you been a great friend, somebody who could always make me laugh, somebody who would always make sure that I was following what I thought was right, but you have also been an example to our daughters and to the entire country," People quotes Barack as saying in a video message that played at the conference. A teary-eyed Michelle joked to the crowd: "I better get home."

UPCOMING EVENTS NEWS Graduation and Prom Information Parents, please see Parent Portal for important information regarding Prom and Graduation. Open House, Saturday, November 10, 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM Main presentation starts at 1:00 PM ​ High School Students Show Up Early to Prepare for Professional Work World Today we welcome our incoming students to our Prep for Success program! Read about what our students are doing to get ready for the year ahead... ​ Meet 2016 graduate Mason Douglas and watch our newly released video about the Cristo Rey opportunity. Click here. ​

– An unusual smell prompted an evacuation and a hazardous materials response at a Baltimore high school Thursday afternoon, the AP reports. But after five people were taken to the hospital complaining of upset stomachs, fire officials discovered the source of the smell: a pumpkin spice air freshener. Cristo Rey Jesuit High School was evacuated after students and teachers detected a strong smell on the third floor. "It was a smell that they certainly weren't used to [and] it appeared to be getting stronger," the school's president, who wasn't at the school at the time, tells the Baltimore Sun. Several people reported difficulty breathing, and the principal got everyone out of the building. The fire department and a hazardous materials team were called, and multiple tests for hazardous materials came back negative. Firefighters simply opened the windows in the school to let fresh air in. Then, firefighters located a pumpkin spice air aerosol plugged into an outlet in a classroom. A fire department spokesman tells the AP two students and three adults were taken to the hospital for stomach ailments. Classes at the school resumed Friday. Per the Sun, a notice on the school's website noted that "our school counselor will be available to meet with any students that may need to talk about today's events."

Actor Johnny Depp, left, stands with former Arkansas death row inmate Damien Echols, before speaking at a rally opposing Arkansas' upcoming executions, which are set to begin next week, on the front steps... (Associated Press) Actor Johnny Depp, left, stands with former Arkansas death row inmate Damien Echols, before speaking at a rally opposing Arkansas' upcoming executions, which are set to begin next week, on the front steps of the Capitol Friday, April 14, 2017, in Little Rock, Ark. (Stephen B. Thornton /The Arkansas... (Associated Press) LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' push to resume executions after nearly 12 years with an already compromised plan to put eight men to death over 11 days is in limbo after a judge blocked the use of a lethal injection drug a supplier says officials misleadingly obtained and the state's highest court halted the execution of one of the first inmates who had been scheduled to die. A federal judge could further upend the plans, with a possible ruling on Saturday on whether to halt the executions over the inmates' complaints about the compressed timetable and the use of a controversial sedative in the lethal injections. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order Friday blocking the state from using its supply of vecuronium bromide after a company said it had sold the drug to the state for medical purposes, not capital punishment. Griffen scheduled a hearing Tuesday, the day after the first execution was scheduled. Griffen's order effectively halts the executions, which had dropped to six after the state Supreme Court blocked one execution Friday and a federal judge halting another last week, unless it's reversed or the state finds a new supply of the drug. Arkansas, which has not executed an inmate since 2005 because of drug shortages and legal challenges, had initially planned to execute eight before the end of April, when its supply of midazolam expires. That plan, if carried out, would have marked the most inmates executed by a state in such a short period since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. "The rulings today are just part of the process and not unexpected," J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson, said in a statement. "The Governor will meet with the Attorney General next week to discuss the appropriate action." Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office said she planned to file an emergency request with the state Supreme Court to vacate Griffen's order, saying Griffen shouldn't handle the case. Local media outlets had tweeted photos and video of Griffen appearing to mimic an inmate strapped to a gurney at an anti-death penalty demonstration outside the Governor's Mansion Friday afternoon. "As a public opponent of capital punishment, Judge Griffen should have recused himself from this case," Rutledge spokesman Judd Deere said. The order came the same day justices issued a stay for Bruce Ward, who was scheduled to be put to death on Monday night for the 1989 death of a woman found strangled in the men's room of the Little Rock convenience store where she worked. Attorneys asked for the stay after a Jefferson County judge said she didn't have the authority to halt Ward's execution. Ward's attorneys have argued he is a diagnosed schizophrenic with no rational understanding of his impending execution. "We are grateful that the Arkansas Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for Bruce Ward so that they may consider the serious questions presented about his sanity," Scott Braden, an assistant federal public defender representing Ward, said in a statement. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker is also considering the inmates' arguments that such a compressed schedule could lead to undue pain and suffering. Baker had not ruled by Friday evening. McKesson said it had requested Arkansas return its supply of vecuronium bromide after the San Francisco-based company learned it would be used in executions. The firm said Thursday night the state had assured it would return the drug and the company had even issued a refund, but it never was given back. The company accused the Department of Correction of misleadingly using its medical director's license, which was to be used only to order products for "legitimate medical uses," to buy the drug. "Without the medical license, and the associated tacit representation that the controlled drug would only be used for a legitimate medical purpose, McKesson would not have sold the vecuronium to ADC," the company said in its lawsuit. Under Arkansas' protocol, midazolam is used to sedate the inmate, vecuronium bromide then stops the inmate's breathing and potassium chloride stops the heart. Baker is also considering a request from two pharmaceutical companies that their products not be used for capital punishment. Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals Corp. have asked the court to prohibit Arkansas from using their drugs. ___ Associated Press writers Tafi Mukunyadzi and Kelly P. Kissel contributed to this report. ___ Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo ||||| A crowd of several hundred people gathers Friday at the state Capitol to rally against the death penalty and the planned executions of Arkansas death-row inmates. - Photo by Stephen B. Thornton SATURDAY UPDATE: Federal judge issues order blocking Arkansas executions A Pulaski County circuit judge on Friday halted six scheduled executions -- the first of which was scheduled for Monday -- by ordering the state's Department of Correction not to use the second drug in the three-drug cocktail. RELATED ARTICLE At rally, Echols tells of death row Judge Wendell Griffen, who protested the executions outside the Governor's Mansion on Friday, issued a temporary restraining order within an hour of the filing of a lawsuit by the pharmaceutical company McKesson Medical-Surgical Inc. and set a hearing for 9 a.m. Tuesday. The order came as the condemned inmates awaited a federal judge's ruling on their request to temporarily stop the executions and after the state Supreme Court granted an emergency stay in the case of one inmate, Bruce Earl Ward, amid his lawsuit claiming mental incompetence. McKesson's suit claims that the state Department of Correction circumvented the Delaware corporation's controls by placing an order for 100 vials of vecuronium bromide "through a familiar customer sales representative" and failing to disclose it would be used for executions, a breach of McKesson's agreement with the drug manufacturer. The company asked for a temporary stay. [DOCUMENT: Click here to read Judge Wendell Griffen's full order 📄 ] [DOCUMENT: Click here to read the full complaint filed by Medical supplier McKesson 📄 ] Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen on Friday issued a temporary restraining order blocking Arkanas' scheduled executions. Photo by Arkansas Department of Correction via AP, File Bruce Ward The state attorney general's office will immediately appeal the decision with the state's high court, spokesman Judd Deere said. "As a public opponent of capital punishment, Judge Griffen should have recused himself from this case," Deere said in a statement. "Attorney General [Leslie] Rutledge intends to file an emergency request with the Arkansas Supreme Court to vacate the order as soon as possible." Also Friday, Ward received a temporary reprieve after his attorneys in the federal public defender's office sought to block the killing on grounds that Ward cannot understand his punishment. Ward is the second inmate whom courts have granted an individual stay. A federal judge granted a stay for Jason McGehee after the state Board of Parole recommended his sentence be changed to life in prison. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has not yet decided whether to grant McGehee clemency. Ward and McGehee are two of nine Arkansas inmates seeking to temporarily delay the executions to allow arguments on whether the pace of lethal injections and execution protocol violate inmates' right to counsel and constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker had not issued a ruling in that lawsuit as of Friday night. Arkansas' planned executions -- which would be the state's first since November 2005 -- have generated international media attention. The state initially planned to kill eight men on consecutive Mondays and Thursdays starting Monday after the state Supreme Court removed a prohibition on Arkansas executions in late February. Hutchinson has said he scheduled the executions so closely together to beat the April 30 expiration date on the state's supply of midazolam, the contentious sedative at the center of legal challenges brought nationally by death-row inmates, and the first drug administered during lethal injections. The state plans to use midazolam in lethal injections for the first time. That drug would be followed by a paralytic, the vecuronium bromide, before heart-stopping potassium chloride is intravenously administered. Arkansas in March acquired 100 vials of potassium chloride. Lacking individual stays, the six Arkansas inmates scheduled for execution are Don Davis, Stacey Johnson, Ledell Lee, Jack Jones, Marcel Williams and Kenneth Williams. In total, 34 inmates, all men, live on death row at the state's Varner prison unit in Grady. Arkansas, one of 27 states where the death penalty remains legal or is not under a ban by a governor, has killed 27 people since 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the form of punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. More than 10 years have passed since the last Arkansas execution because of legal challenges and difficulty obtaining the drugs. DRUG COMPANIES INTERVENE McKesson is the third drug company seeking to stop the executions by claiming that the Department of Correction bypassed its controls. West-Ward, a subsidiary of London-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals, and Fresenius Kabi USA, a subsidiary of a German-based company with a similar name, made similar allegations in a joint "friend of the court brief" in the federal Eastern District of Arkansas. West-Ward produces midazolam, Fresenius Kabi makes potassium chloride, and McKesson distributes vecuronium bromide from Pfizer Inc., which prohibits its drug from being used in capital punishment. According to McKesson's lawsuit, the Department of Correction "leveraged its medical director's license" by placing an order for the drug by phone July 11, 2016, "at the request of or for the benefit of the physician and ... for a legitimate medical purpose." Under Arkansas Code Annotated 17-95-704(e)(3) and (4)(A), capital punishment is not a "legitimate medical purpose." The drugs were shipped to the department's administrative building, where previous orders for the prison health care facility had been sent, McKesson said. After hearing from the manufacturer, McKesson asked the Department of Correction to return the vecuronium bromide July 21, 2016. Rory Griffin, a deputy director at the department, told the company that the state agency set aside the drugs for return, and McKesson began issuing a refund and credit for the product, along with a prepaid shipping label, on July 27, 2016, the lawsuit states. A week later, Griffin told McKesson that Department of Correction Director Wendy Kelley would return the drugs only "if McKesson provided an alternative drug to be used in executions." A month afterward, McKesson sent its final plea, through a letter from its vice president of prescription category and programs, to Kelley and department attorneys demanding the return of the drug. The company has not received them, it said in the lawsuit. Griffin testified earlier this week in Baker's court that he knew that manufacturers -- and McKesson -- ban the sale of the drug to state and federal correctional facilities wanting to use it for executions, that he made the order through a McKesson sales representative whom he had used before "in traditional health care settings" and that he "knew the employee ... was making a mistake, i.e., that he was not authorized to sell this product to ADC for their undisclosed purpose." Griffin also testified that the prison system was keeping the drug even though it received a full refund. In Griffen's Circuit Court, McKesson asked for a temporary halt to the executions, saying the company would suffer "irreparable harm" for being associated with capital punishment and that it would affect its relationship with drug manufacturers. "ADC bears no corresponding risk," the lawsuit in that court states. "A temporary restraining order and injunction here would not bar ADC's effort to put its inmates to death. ADC can find other means to complete these executions. The lawsuit continues: "Further, ADC's interest bears no urgency. It has taken ADC decades to schedule the inmates for the death chamber, and ADC has not conducted an execution since 2005. It can wait longer to identify a method to put inmates to death without using deceit to illegally obtain pharmaceuticals." The company also wants the Department of Correction to return the drugs immediately and for the court to impound the drugs until it holds a hearing. The other two companies also have asked the judge in the federal case, Baker, to stop the Department of Correction from using its drugs. Baker, who is not required to consider the brief in her ruling, told attorneys that she would read it. Spokesmen for the two companies have not revealed how or when they learned Arkansas may be in possession of their drugs. WARD RECEIVES STAY The Arkansas Supreme Court granted a stay Ward's execution Friday afternoon after requesting earlier in the day that the Jefferson County circuit clerk submit a certified copy of the Jefferson County Circuit Court's decision dismissing Ward's claim. That order was not immediately fulfilled, further shortening the amount of time the Supreme Court would have to hear Ward's case before his execution, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Monday, Ward's attorney Scott Braden said. Ward's attorneys asked for time to argue that Ward was incompetent to be executed. The Supreme Court granted the stay in a one-sentence order that did not explain why. "We are grateful that the Arkansas Supreme Court has issued a stay of execution for Bruce Ward so that they may consider the serious questions presented about his sanity," Braden said. Deere, the spokesman for Attorney General Rutledge, said Rutledge is evaluating options on how to proceed in the Ward case. A Pulaski County jury in 1990 sentenced Ward to death for the murder of an 18-year-old convenience-store clerk Rebecca Lynn Doss on Aug. 11, 1989. Ward was diagnosed in 2006 as a paranoid schizophrenic. FEDERAL CASES PENDING As of late Friday evening Baker had not ruled after a four-day hearing over whether Arkansas' plans to execute the inmates constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." The hearing, aside from representing the most recent joint bid by the condemned inmates to postpone the executions, is the latest federal challenge in the United States that targets the use of midazolam as the first of three drugs administered in lethal injections across several states. Medical experts called by the inmates and by state attorneys shared different views on whether the drug at its administered dosage can be expected to render inmates unconscious so that they do not experience severe pain. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision April 6 upheld an order by a federal district judge in Ohio that granted temporary halt to the execution of three inmates. The inmates won the injunction after a hearing that closely overlapped with the Arkansas case. The appellate court ruling did not take up what it called the "ultimate question" -- whether the use of midazolam "entails a substantial risk of severe pain" compared with an available alternative -- but said the district court did not abuse its discretion by granting the injunction to allow more litigation before the executions take place. Also Friday, attorneys for the federal public defender's office in Arkansas asked U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. to reconsider his refusal last week to stay the execution of Marcel Williams. Williams was among six death-row prisoners who said they were denied due process under a hurried clemency process designed to accommodate the expedited execution schedule. After a two-day hearing, Marshall denied all the requests except for that of prisoner Jason McGehee. In an amended request for a stay filed Friday, assistant federal defenders Jamie Giani and Julie Vandiver cited Marshall's April 6 ruling that he hadn't seen enough evidence that "the deviations from procedure" stemming from the accelerated clemency proceedings "made a real difference." The attorneys argued that by being limited to one hour before the Parole Board, "Marcel Williams was uniquely prejudiced ... because additional time to present evidence ... likely would have swayed two additional members of the Board to recommend clemency." They cited U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes' 2007 decision to grant Williams' petition for a new sentence on the basis that had his jury been able to hear the "compelling testimony of neglect, abuse and privation" that he suffered growing up, they wouldn't have sentenced him to death. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later vacated the order. Giani and Vandiver argued that because they were told they would be limited to one hour before the board, they limited the number of witnesses, omitting one whose testimony in 2007 led Holmes to recommend that Williams be resentenced to life in prison without parole. Attaching an affidavit from that witness and others, the attorneys argued that "the live testimony from these additional witnesses would likely have made a great difference in the board's consideration, and this court should now consider this evidence." Information for this article was contributed by John Moritz, Jeannie Roberts and Linda Satter of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A Section on 04/15/2017

– Arkansas' goal of executing seven inmates in 11 days before its supply of lethal injection drugs expires may be a dead plan walking after two court rulings Friday. In the first ruling, the state Supreme Court temporarily stayed the execution of convicted killer Bruce Earl Ward, NPR reports. Attorneys for Ward, who was due to be executed Monday night, argued that he is a diagnosed schizophrenic who doesn't understand the punishment or the reason why. A second ruling, from Pulaski County Judge Wendell Griffen, put the remaining six executions on hold by blocking the state's use of its supply of the execution drug vercomium bromide, the AP reports. The drug's maker, McKesson Medical Surgical, said it had been misled by the state. In its lawsuit, McKesson said Arkansas ordered the drug using a license that only allowed it to obtain drugs for legitimate medical purposes. The company said it asked for the drug back when it learned it would be used for executions, but though Arkansas agreed to return its supply and was granted a refund, it never returned the drug, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. The makers of the other two drugs in the state's three-drug lethal injection cocktail have also gone to court. On Friday, Johnny Depp joined former death row inmate Damien Echols in a rally against the executions at the Capitol in Little Rock, KTHV reports. Echols was freed in 2011 after spending 18 years on death row,

Football News More>> Team of the Year: Creekside Seminoles Team of the Year: Creekside Seminoles First they won the AAAAA state high school football championship, now the Creekside Seminoles have been named the High 5 Sports "Team of the Year"!The team went undefeated en route to becoming the first First they won the AAAAA state high school football championship, now the Creekside Seminoles have been named the High 5 Sports "Team of the Year"! High 5 Sports: December 6 highlights High 5 Sports: December 6 highlights Semifinals. One more win, and you're going to the Dome. Do we need to say more? Don't miss the highlights we brought you on High 5 Sports this week! Semifinals. One more win, and you're going to the Dome. Do we need to say more? Don't miss the highlights we brought you on High 5 Sports this week! High 5 Sports: November 29 highlights High 5 Sports: November 29 highlights Wake up out of that turkey coma.... you've got work to do. How could anyone sleep through quarterfinal Friday? Just in case you did, here are the highlights we brought you this week! Wake up out of that turkey coma.... you've got work to do. How could anyone sleep through quarterfinal Friday? Just in case you did, here are the highlights we brought you this week! High 5 Sports: November 22 highlights High 5 Sports: November 15 highlights What would week two of the playoffs be without these highlights? You'll never know! Here's a look at the games we brought you on the last OFFICIAL High 5 Sports of the season! What would week two of the playoffs be without these highlights? You'll never know! Here's a look at the games we brought you on the last OFFICIAL High 5 Sports of the season! Don't cry because it's over---get IN YOUR FACE because it happened! Calhoun to face surprising GAC Calhoun to face surprising GAC The Calhoun Yellow Jackets are preparing to face Greater Atlanta Christian in the second round of the state AA high school football playoffs this Friday. The Calhoun Yellow Jackets are preparing to face Greater Atlanta Christian in the second round of the state AA high school football playoffs this Friday. High 5 Sports: November 15 highlights High 5 Sports: November 15 highlights The first week of the playoffs are so IN YOUR FACE--- right here! Check out all the highlights we brought you on Friday night. The first week of the playoffs are so IN YOUR FACE--- right here! Check out all the highlights we brought you on Friday night. VIDEO: Tift Co. QB gets surprise visit from deployed brother VIDEO: Tift Co. QB gets surprise visit from deployed brother You might need a tissue for this one. Senior night was extra special for one Tift County High School player on Friday. You might need a tissue for this one. Senior night was extra special for one Tift County High School player on Friday. Blue Devils quarterback Ryan Wedgeworth was being honored on the field with his parents when he got a surprise visit from someone he wasn't expecting. Mic'd Up: Coach Flowe's last game at Parkview Mic'd Up: Coach Flowe's last game at Parkview Parkview head coach Cecil Flowe is a legend-- and we couldn't let him retire without one last special moment. Parkview head coach Cecil Flowe is a legend-- and we couldn't let him retire without one last special moment. Coach Flowe graciously agreed to let us mic him up when the Panthers hosted South Gwinnett in the Big Orange Jungle to end the season. ||||| Adrienne Leon, WSBTV.com A local cheerleader has a lot to cheer about this week after breaking a category in the Guinness World Records at her high school homecoming game. Westlake High School junior Mikayla Clark broke the record of most consecutive back handsprings. She did a total of 44 back handsprings, breaking the previous Guinness record of 36. The 16-year-old cheer squad leader had been pursuing this goal since the beginning of football season, said her coach, Ashley Clark. Mikayla, who's been cheering since age 4, is also a cheerleader for the Georgia All Stars Competition Squad. On Mikayla's record achievement, coach Clark said, "I'm very proud of her." Coach Clark expects Mikayla's official certificate from Guinness World Records to arrive this week. Click here to congratulate Mikayla on Facebook.

– Flutter those spirit fingers for Atlanta-area teen Mikayla Clark, who recently broke the Guinness world record for the most consecutive back handsprings. The 16-year-old flipped 44 times last Friday, beating out the previous record of 36, reports WSB-TV. "I was looking at world records and I just happened to see the most consecutive back handsprings," she tells Fox Atlanta. "I clicked on the link and I was like, 'Oh, she did 36,' and I said, 'I think I can beat that.'" The high school junior thinks she can do better than 44, too. "My senior year, I'm going to flip field goal to field goal and try to break my record," she says.

The U.S. military launched 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield early Friday in the first direct American assault on the government of President Bashar al-Assad since that country’s civil war began nearly six years ago. The operation, which the Trump administration authorized in retaliation for a chemical attack killing scores of civilians this week, dramatically expands U.S. military involvement in Syria and exposes the United States to heightened risk of direct confrontation with Russia and Iran, both backing Assad in his attempt to crush his opposition. Syria and Russia swiftly denounced the attack, launched at around 3:40 a.m. local time Friday (8:40 p.m. EDT Thursday) from U.S. ships in the eastern Mediterranean. [Russia condemns U.S. missile strike on Syria, suspends key air agreement] Assad called the missile strikes an “unjust and arrogant aggression” and Syrian officials said they would hamper the country’s ability to fight militant groups, Syria’s state news agency reported. Talal al-Barazi, the governor of Homs province that includes the air base, said at least 13 people were killed in the missile strikes, including five soldiers on the base and eight civilians in areas surrounding the facility. The figures could not be independently confirmed. In Moscow, Russia announced it was pulling out of a pact with Washington to share information about warplane missions over Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition is also waging airstrikes on Islamic State targets. Russian President Vladi­mir Putin called for an immediate meeting of the U.N. Security Council, and his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, called the U.S. missile strikes “violations of the norms of international law, and under a far-fetched pretext.” But President Trump said the strike was in the “vital national security interest” of the United States and called on “all civilized nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in Syria. And also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types.” “We ask for God’s wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world,” he continued. “We pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed and we hope that as long as America stands for justice then peace and harmony will in the end prevail.” [U.S. strike against Syria: How did we get here?] The missiles were launched from two Navy destroyers — the USS Ross and USS Porter — in the eastern Mediterranean. They struck an air base called Shayrat in Homs province, which is the site from which the planes that conducted the chemical attack in Idlib are believed to have originated. The targets included air defenses, aircraft, hangars and fuel. (The Washington Post) The U.S. military said initial indications were that the strike had “severely damaged or destroyed Syrian aircraft and support infrastructure.” Syrian state TV said a U.S. missile attack hit a number of military targets inside the country, according to the Associated Press. U.S. officials said the Russians, who maintain significant forces in Syria, were given advance warning of the strike. There is a Russian military area at the base that was hit, but the United States took precautions not to strike that area, according to Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman. In comparison, the start of the Iraq War in 2003 saw the use of roughly 500 cruise missiles, and 47 were fired at the opening of the anti-Islamic State campaign in Syria in 2014. [These are the missiles the U.S. used in the strike against Syria] The attack may put hundreds of American troops now stationed in Syria in greater danger. They are advising local forces in advance of a major assault on the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital. The decision to strike follows 48 hours of deliberations by U.S. officials and represents a significant break with the previous administration’s reluctance to wade militarily into the Syrian civil war and shift any focus from the campaign against the Islamic State. Senior White House officials met on the issue of Syria on Wednesday evening in a session that lasted into early Thursday, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, have communicated repeatedly since Tuesday’s chemical attack, the officials said. The U.S. Central Command has had plans for striking the Syrian government for years and has significant assets in the region, enabling a quick response once a decision was made. While the Obama White House began operations against the Islamic State in 2014, it backed away from a planned assault on Syrian government sites a year earlier after a similar chemical attack on Syrian civilians. Tuesday’s apparent nerve-agent attack in northern Idlib, with its widely circulated images of lifeless children, appears to have galvanized Trump and some of his top advisers to harden their position against the Syrian leader. The assault adds new complexity to Syria’s prolonged conflict, which includes fighters battling the Syrian government and others focused on combating the Islamic State, which despite over two years of American and allied attacks remains a potent force. [Deadly nerve agent sarin used in Syria attack, Turkish Health Ministry says] Within the administration, some officials urged immediate action against Assad, warning against what one described as “paralysis through analysis.” But others were concerned about second- and third-order effects, including the response of Russia, which also has installed sophisticated air defense systems in Syria, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The Trump administration’s position on the strongman appears to have quickly shifted in the wake of the chemical attack as senior officials voiced new criticism of the Syrian leader. On Thursday night, McMaster predicted the strikes would result in a “big shift on Assad’s calculus. It’s the first time the United States has taken direct military action.” McMaster described a deliberative process inside the White House and on the National Security Council, where three options were examined at the request of the president. He said that Trump made the final decision and that the strikes “clearly indicate the president is willing to take decisive action when called for.” He emphasized, however, that the move did not otherwise alter the U.S. military’s posture in Syria. Earlier Thursday, Tillerson suggested that the United States and other nations would consider somehow removing Assad from power, but he did not say how. Just a few days ago, the White House had said that removing Assad was not realistic, with press secretary Sean Spicer saying it was necessary to accept the “political reality” in Syria. “We are considering an appropriate response for this chemical weapons attack,” Tillerson said in Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump was meeting Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “It is a serious matter. It requires a serious response,” he said. Speaking later Thursday, Tillerson recalled a 2013 agreement with Syria to hand over its chemical stockpile and for Russia to act as a monitor to ensure Assad did not renege on that deal. “Clearly, Russia has failed in its responsibility on that commitment,” he said. “Either Russia has been complicit or has been incompetent on its ability to deliver.” The summit with the Chinese leader will continue Friday, and some U.S. officials say the strike will also serve as a warning of U.S. willingness to strike North Korea if China does not act to curtail the nuclear ambitions of the government there. [Trump condemns Syria chemical attack and suggests he will act] It was not immediately clear whether Friday’s assault marked the beginning of a broader campaign against the Assad government. While the operation was the first intentional attack on Syrian government targets, the United States accidentally struck a group of Syrian soldiers in eastern Syria last year in what officials concluded was the result of human error. The Obama administration had insisted that Assad could never remain in any postwar Syria, and it supported rebel groups that have tried unsuccessfully to oust him. The United States has a broad arsenal already in the region, including dozens of strike aircraft on the USS George H.W. Bush, an aircraft carrier that is deployed to the Middle East and accompanied by guided-missile destroyers and cruisers that can also launch Tomahawk cruise missiles. Additionally, an amphibious naval force in the region includes the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit with Harrier jets and Cobra gunships. The Pentagon also has scores of aircraft in the region flying operations every day against the Islamic State group, including from Incirlik air base to the north in Turkey. [‘Hospitals were slaughterhouses’: A journey into Syria’s secret torture wards] The attack appears to have involved only missiles. U.S. fighter planes, if used, would have had to contend with a modest web of Syrian air defenses and potentially more-advanced types of surface-to-air missiles provided by Russia. One of Assad’s more prevalent systems, the S-200, was used to target Israeli jets last month, but missiles were intercepted by Israeli defense systems. The S-200 has a range of roughly 186 miles, according to U.S. military documents, and can hit targets flying at altitudes of around 130,000 feet. Russian S-300 and S-400 missiles, located primarily around Khmeimim air base in western Syria, have a shorter range than the S-200 but have more-advanced radar systems and fly considerably faster than their older counterparts used by Syrian forces. The S-300 has a range of roughly 90 miles and could also be used to target incoming U.S. cruise missiles. In a joint statement, Sens. John McCain (R.-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said the operation “sent an important message the United States will no longer stand idly by as Assad, aided and abetted by Putin’s Russia, slaughters innocent Syrians with chemical weapons and barrel bombs.” They also called on the administration to take Assad’s air force out of the fight and follow “through with a new, comprehensive strategy in coordination with our allies and partners to end the conflict in Syria.” David Nakamura in Palm Beach, Fla., and Abby Phillip, Anne Gearan, Carol Morello, David Weigel and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: Trump and his ‘America First’ philosophy face first moral quandary in Syria Mideast divided over U.S. strikes on Syria, much the way it is over the whole war Which chemical weapon was used in Syria? Here’s what investigators know. ||||| The statement was issued hours after Syria’s foreign minister challenged accounts by witnesses, experts and world leaders that his government had carried out the attack. “I stress to you once again: The Syrian Army has not, did not and will not use this kind of weapons — not just against our own people, but even against the terrorists that attack our civilians with their mortar rounds,” the minister, Walid al-Moallem, said at a news conference in Damascus. Mr. Moallem repeated an explanation, which experts say is implausible, that the toxic substances were dispersed after the Syrian Army had conducted an 11:30 a.m. air raid on an insurgent depot that he said contained chemical weapons. His statement echoed a Russian account of what had happened that witnesses and Western leaders say is contradicted by the evidence. Mr. Moallem asserted that Al Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, commonly called Al Nusra Front, and its main jihadist rival, the Islamic State, harbor illicit chemical weapons in Syria. Asked whether Syria would present proof that it was not involved in the attack, Mr. Moallem responded, “How am I supposed to go to Khan Sheikhoun if it’s held by Al Nusra?” At least 86 people were killed in the assault including 28 children, according to a tally from the health department in rebel-held Idlib Province, but that may not include victims sent to Turkey who have died. Some officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey have said the attack killed more than 100 people. Unicef said in a statement on Thursday that 546 people were injured, “among them many children.”

– The chemical used in an attack this week that left at least 86 people—27 of them children—dead in Syria was sarin, a banned nerve agent, the New York Times report. The Turkish Health Ministry says it confirmed the chemical as sarin following an autopsy on three victims. Many of the victims of Tuesday's attack in Idlib Province were taken to Turkey afterward. President Bashar al-Assad, who is being blamed for the attack, signed a treaty banning the use of sarin less than four years ago following an earlier attack. The Syrian government promised to get rid of its chemical weapons after signing the treaty. The Syrian government is denying any responsibility for this week's assault. Rex Tillerson says "steps are underway" to plan for Assad's removal from power in response to the chemical attack, USA Today reports. It's unclear what those steps are, but the secretary of state says Assad has no future leading Syria and that Russia, which is standing behind the Syrian government's claims of innocence in the attack, should rethink its support for the Syrian president. According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration is now considering potential military action against Syria, with the Pentagon presenting possible options to the White House. Those options could include strikes on Syrian military targets or keeping the Syrian air force from flying. However, there are concerns about how Russia could react to US military action.

The night before police found Adam Hilarie dead in his kitchen, the 27-year-old Central Florida father went bowling with a woman he met through the online dating site PlentyOfFish, Auburndale police said Monday. They went back to his place, and she texted him later: I had a good time and would like to see you again. She saw him the next night, when on Friday she brought three men to rob Hilarie of TVs, an Xbox and an iPhone, and one of them shot him in the head, Deputy Chief Andy Ray said at a news conference. "In cases like this, it's easy for us to put ourselves in the shoes of the family," Ray said, as he detailed the arrest of four people in connection with the killing — including 18-year-old Hailey Bustos, who went on the date with him. Andre Warner, 26, Gary Gray, 31, and Joshua Ellington, 26, were also also arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery with a firearm and first-degree murder. Ray said he didn't know how the robbery escalated. CAPTION Announcing the solving of the Christine Franke cold case from 2001, Orlando Police chief Orlando Rolón, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, detectives and family members gather for a press conference at Orlando Police headquarters, Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Announcing the solving of the Christine Franke cold case from 2001, Orlando Police chief Orlando Rolón, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, detectives and family members gather for a press conference at Orlando Police headquarters, Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) CAPTION Announcing the solving of the Christine Franke cold case from 2001, Orlando Police chief Orlando Rolón, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, detectives and family members gather for a press conference at Orlando Police headquarters, Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) Announcing the solving of the Christine Franke cold case from 2001, Orlando Police chief Orlando Rolón, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, detectives and family members gather for a press conference at Orlando Police headquarters, Monday, Nov. 5, 2018. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel) CAPTION The discovery caused enough concern for the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to respond to the home in Lake Helen. The discovery caused enough concern for the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to respond to the home in Lake Helen. CAPTION Increase in Orlando Police Department's use of force. Increase in Orlando Police Department's use of force. CAPTION A threatening message was found on a bathroom wall at Umatilla High School, authorities said. (Video from Fox 35 Orlando) A threatening message was found on a bathroom wall at Umatilla High School, authorities said. (Video from Fox 35 Orlando) CAPTION Even if Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin is absolved in the murders of Cheryl Williams and Carol Bareis, his future remains uncertain. As an undocumented Honduran immigrant, he faces the possibility of deportation. Even if Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin is absolved in the murders of Cheryl Williams and Carol Bareis, his future remains uncertain. As an undocumented Honduran immigrant, he faces the possibility of deportation. "Hilarie was begging for his life, he was not putting up any kind of fight, and was telling them that he had a 5-year-old daughter," according to arrest reports. Social media photos show Hilarie suited up in boxing gloves and a robe. He posted multiple photos of his daughter on his Facebook page, calling her "Princess." Friends and family set up a fundraiser to help pay for funeral expenses. "Each and every one of you know he was fun to be around," Hilarie's brother said at a vigil held for him, which was videotaped and posted on Facebook. "No matter what we did, we always had a good time and he always had that smile. This isn't easy." Auburndale Police Department Adam Hilarie poses with his daughter in this photo provided by police. Adam Hilarie poses with his daughter in this photo provided by police. (Auburndale Police Department) (Auburndale Police Department) Investigators got a break in the case after a witness reported seeing Hilarie with a young woman Thursday night, and Winter Haven police picked up Bustos in a separate burglary over the weekend. Police said she was paid $50 to arrange the Hilarie robbery. She was in the car during the heist and said she didn't know the men would kill Hilarie, according to her arrest report. After the robbery, the men began "celebrating what they had just done," according to the report. They later got in a fight over payment and smashed the TVs and threw away the iPhone. They also stole alcohol, jewelry and marijuana from Hilarie, the report says. Ray warned prospective users to run internet searches on their dates before meeting up and also to retain a healthy amount of suspicion. He advised against bringing dates home after the first meet-up. "You just have to remember, you have no idea who you are talking to," he said. "They may present themselves as one thing and be someone totally different." echerney@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5735 ||||| AUBURNDALE, Fla. (WFLA) – An Auburndale man looking for love was lured to his death through an online dating site. On Friday Auburndale Police found 27-year-old Adam Hilarie shot to death in his apartment on Sunset Avenue. According to police, Hilarie met 18-year-old Haliey Rose Bustos on the online dating site “Plenty of Fish.” They went on a date Thursday evening, police said. After he dropped her off, Bustos allegedly conspired with three others. She and the other suspects returned to Hilarie’s apartment Friday to rob him, which ultimately led to his murder, police said. “Once she got home, they talked together; they worked out the details and then went back and committed the murder,” Auburndale Police Deputy Chief Andy Ray said. “I think the plan was that he get robbed and that they take his stuff.” Auburndale police detectives charged and arrested Bustos, 18, of Auburndale; Andre Warner, 26, of Auburndale; Gary Terrell Gray, 31, of Lakeland; and Joshua Ellington, 26, of Lake Alfred. Detectives believe Bustos went on the online dating site and met Hilarie with the intent of setting him up for the robbery. “Her comfort with the way this went, didn’t seem like it was her first time. If she hasn’t done it before, then she has talked to people who have done it,” Deputy Chief Ray said. Hilarie’s family, including his 5-year old daughter, is devastated. “She doesn’t even quite understand yet. I would never want anyone to be in the shoes I am in right now, or my family, or any of our close friends, anyone. I don’t want no one to feel the way we’re feeling right now,” the victim’s brother, Angel Cruz, said. Cruz hopes others will take a warning from this. “He had to sacrifice his life for it not to happen anymore,” he said. Deputy Chief Ray said this is a good reason to get to know someone before going out with them. “There’s so many places that you can check people out now on the computer. It’s probably a good idea to that first. You need to get to know them better so you can judge their character and also judge their intentions. Sometimes you can figure that out. But, also, as a first date, it’s not a good idea to take somebody to your home,” he said. The suspects’ charges include conspiracy to commit robbery, robbery with a firearm/deadly weapon and first-degree murder.

– A 27-year-old Florida father was robbed and murdered Friday after going on a date with a woman he met online, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Adam Hilarie met 18-year-old Hailey Bustos on the dating website Plenty of Fish and went out with her Thursday. They ended up going back to his place. Police say the next day, Bustos showed up at Hilarie's home with three men. They allegedly took TVs, an Xbox, alcohol, jewelry, marijuana, and an iPhone before one of the men shot Hilarie in the head. Bustos reportedly told police she was paid $50 to set Hilarie up and didn't know he was going to be killed. According to WFLA, police believe Bustos has either done this before or talked with someone who has. Bustos was arrested in connection with another burglary. Three male suspects—Gary Gray, Andrew Warner, and Joshua Ellington—were also arrested. Police say the men got in a fight about who got what after killing Hilarie and ended up smashing the TVs and throwing away the iPhone. Hilarie's family says his 5-year-old daughter doesn't really understand what happened to her dad. "She's just not going to be able to see how great of a guy he really is,” Hilarie's brother tells WTSP. Police are using Hilarie's death as an opportunity to warn against taking someone you met online home after the first date.

American soldier charged in Iraq killings of deaf, unarmed teens An Army small-kill team leader is charged by military investigators with two counts of murder in the fatal shootings of two deaf, unarmed Iraqi youths in March 2007, an incident first made public in a Tribune-Review investigative report last year. Then-Staff Sgt. Michael Barbera is accused of killing Ahmad Khalid al-Timmimi, 15, and his brother Abbas, 14, as they tended to cattle in a palm grove near As Sadah, an Iraqi village about 50 miles northeast of Baghdad. Barbera, 31, who was later promoted to sergeant first class, also is charged with lying to his commanders, directing fellow soldiers to lie to military investigators and making a threatening phone call to a civilian in an effort to keep what happened from becoming public. He was charged on Wednesday at Alaska's Fort Richardson and is in the process of being flown to Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, where he will undergo a formal arraignment — called an Article 32 hearing in the military. Defense attorneys at Lewis-McChord could not comment on the charges, which were confirmed by military officials and Maj. Barbara Junius, an Army spokeswoman. No date has been scheduled for Barbera's hearing, but it likely will convene early next year. The killings of the two Iraqi youths were the subject of a special Trib investigative report, “Rules of Engagement,” published in December. The eight-page special section, which won a national Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and other honors, can be found online with an interactive map. Barbera was a small-kill team leader in Charlie Troop, 5th Squadron of the 73rd Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment out of Fort Bragg, N.C., engaged in counterinsurgency operations in Iraq's restive Diyala province when the killings occurred. Several of the cavalry scouts on the mission said Barbera killed the brothers and then lied to his commanders about how the boys died, a moral wound of war that they could not accept. “None of us feel good about this. But I'm glad that the Army is doing the right thing,” said Ken Katter, 46, of Saginaw, Mich., the sniper assigned to Barbera's team. Katter was among the unit whistle-blowers who brought the case to the Army, in part because they believed then that the boys' deaths led to two truck bomb attacks on their forward outpost in As Sadah in the weeks after. Ten soldiers with the 82nd Airborne were killed in the attacks — the division's worst loss since the Vietnam War. A former Marine and police officer in Michigan who rejoined the military because of 9/11, Katter was later medically retired from the Army because of wounds he suffered from a roadside bomb. He and others in the team said they faced reprisals from fellow soldiers for coming forward against Barbera. Documents obtained by the Trib show investigators and prosecutors with the Army's Criminal Investigation Command who originally reviewed the allegations recommended Barbera be charged with two counts of murder and other charges. Such charges never made it to an Article 32 hearing. According to the investigative report provided to the Trib, Barbera instead received a light reprimand from Fort Bragg leaders and was promoted before he shipped to Fort Richardson. New commanders there were not informed of squad members' concerns about Barbera's actions in Iraq until contacted by the Trib. Katter and other soldiers in the team alleged that high-ranking officers and senior noncommissioned officers at Fort Bragg at that time covered up the killings by disregarding the recommendation of charges. The scouts contend higher-ups were more concerned about their careers and the honor of the 82nd Airborne, which was presented with a prestigious Presidential Unit Citation for its service in Iraq. “All we ever asked was for someone to listen to us and give what we were concerned about — a fair hearing,” Katter said. After the Trib's investigative report was published, Sen. Carl Levin, the powerful Michigan Democrat who chairs the Armed Services Committee, requested the Army reopen an investigation into the As Sadah slayings. Echoing the earlier Army findings and the Trib's story, the second probe likewise recommended two murder charges and an obstruction of justice charge. In addition, Barbera is charged with communicating a threat for allegedly making a call from his cellphone to the wife of a Trib reporter, threatening harm to keep the story from coming out. When Barbera's Article 32 hearing is convened, it will be the latest high-profile military criminal case at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. In the past three years, prosecutors there have won convictions against a string of accused war criminals, including Robert Bales, who murdered 16 Afghan villagers; John Russell, who shot to death five soldiers at a mental health clinic in Iraq; and Calvin Gibbs, the leader of another small-kill team in Afghanistan that murdered innocent Afghans and covered up the rampage. Carl Prine is a staff writer and Jim Wilhelm is investigations editor for Trib Total Media. Prine can be reached at 412-320-7826 or cprine@tribweb.com. Wilhelm can be reached at 412-320-7894 or jwilhelm@tribweb.com. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.

– A US soldier has been charged with two counts of premeditated murder following the 2007 deaths of two deaf Iraqi boys, NPR reports. The teen boys—a pair of cattle herders, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review last year reported—had no apparent connection to insurgents and were unarmed when small-kill team leader Michael Barbera allegedly shot them. He also ordered the death of a third boy, telling superiors the teens were insurgents, according to the newspaper. Squad members told Army investigators the story, and investigators said then-Staff Sgt. Barbera, later sergeant first class, should be charged. When military officials rejected the idea, the squad members went to the Tribune-Review. His arraignment is likely to come in early 2014, the paper reports.

Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter GRAND PRAIRIE (CBSDFW.COM) – Arrested on a theft charge for disciplining his daughter by taking her cell phone away, a North Texas father said “justice” was finally served. Ronald Jackson was arrested by Grand Prairie police after investigators attempted to retrieve the phone, but were never successful in their efforts. A judge at the Dallas County Courthouse found Jackson not guilty on Tuesday, citing a lack of evidence to move forward with the case. Jackson said in 2013 when his daughter was 12, he discovered a text that he found rude on her phone regarding another woman. He took the phone away to teach her a lesson. “I was being a parent. You know, a child does something wrong, you teach them what’s right,” said Jackson. “You tell them what they did wrong and you give them a punishment to show that they shouldn’t be doing that.” But when Jackson’s ex-wife found out, whose spouse is a Grand Prairie police officer, the cops were called to get the phone from Jackson. He refused. Around 2 a.m., Jackson got a knock on his door, and soon he found himself in handcuffs, heading to jail. “I didn’t want the police department telling me how to parent my child. It made no sense to me for them to show up and make a big deal out of something that was a small thing,” said Jackson. “I couldn’t believe they would go to this extent for a cell phone. It didn’t seem right.” Jackson was release from jail after posting $1,500 bail. A year-and-a-half later though, a warrant was issued and Jackson was charged with misdemeanor theft. The North Texas father said he couldn’t believe it. “Why would you need to go arrest somebody for something like that? Don’t you have better things to do as a police officer? Aren’t there bigger crimes in the city to go take care of?” But a Dallas County judge would have the final say. Judge Lisa Green ruled that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove theft had occurred and found Jackson not guilty. Jackson’s ex-wife said the phone was not his property to take in the first place. If he had just returned the phone from the beginning, his ex-wife said none of this would have happened. But apparently the judge disagreed, because Jackson also got to keep the confiscated phone. (©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) ||||| Share This Story Share Email DALLAS – A Dallas County jury found a father not guilty Tuesday of theft for taking away his daughter’s cell phone as punishment. Ronald Jackson, 36, was charged with theft of property of at least $50 but under $500, a Class B misdemeanor. Dallas County Criminal Court Judge Lisa Green ordered the jury to find Jackson not guilty after ruling the state failed to present sufficient evidence to continue the case. Jackson said he took his 12-year-old daughter’s cell phone as punishment after finding inappropriate texts in September 2013. A few hours later, officers from the Grand Prairie Police Department showed up at his front door, asking for the iPhone 4 back. "At that point, I decided the police don't interfere with my ability to parent my daughter," Jackson said. Michelle Steppe, the child's mother, sees it differently. "As a mom, I'm upset because — number one — the property belongs to me," she said. Steppe told jurors on Monday she called police the day her daughter lost the use of her phone for disciplinary reasons. "You can't take someone's property, regardless if you're a parent or not," Steppe said. Family dispute over cell phone leads to jury trial. Ronald Jackson and Michelle Steppe readily admit they are not a couple anymore. Jackson said they were never married but had a child together. Steppe said Jackson didn't become a part of his daughter's life until she was seven. Three months after the phone incident, Jackson received a citation in the mail for theft of property less than $50 in value, a Class C misdemeanor. According to court documents, the city attorney's office offered a plea deal in January 2014 if Jackson returned the phone. Jackson hired an attorney and requested a jury trial in municipal court. Court filings indicate the city attorney's office requested the case be dismissed that same month and refiled with the Dallas County District Attorney's office as a more stringent Class B misdemeanor, punishable by six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Cameron Gray, a defense attorney representing Jackson, said a warrant was issued, and his client was arrested at his home in the middle of the night in April 2015. Jackson posted a cash bail of $1,500 to get out of jail. On Wednesday, Detective Lyle Gensler with Grand Prairie police told News8 officers made several unsuccessful attempts to return the property to its owner. "We do not like these kinds of instances to go into the criminal justice system," Gensler says. "We prefer to keep it out and the phone be returned and let the parents, the two adults, and let them work it out among themselves." Michelle Steppe is married to a Grand Prairie police officer. "In the entire investigation that never came into play," Gensler says. During the two-day trial, Jackson's daughter, now 15, took the stand and testified about her father taking her phone. "It was the last thing as a mother I wanted my daughter to go through," Steppe says. "I'm always here for my kids." Steppe said she was confused by the verdict because she purchased the phone and maintained cell phone plans under her name. "Even if you purchase something with your own money and have a receipt, it's not yours," Steppe says. "Someone can take it from you." Jackson says the ordeal has permanently ended any chances to have a relationship with his daughter. "I have to separate myself from them," Jackson says. "I can't ever have a relationship with them again." Gray says the case is not over. He says he plans to file a federal complaint for civil rights violations for the way his client was treated by the Grand Prairie Police Department and the city attorney's office. Detective Lyle Gensler with Grand Prairie police told News8 officers made several unsuccessful attempts to return the property to its owner. Jackson still has the phone.

– A Texas father arrested for taking away his daughter's cell phone as a punishment will avoid jail but may suffer an even worse fate. In 2013, Ronald Jackson viewed a text he thought was "rude" on his 12-year-old daughter's iPhone 4, so he confiscated it, CBS DFW reports. "I was being a parent," Jackson says. "You tell them what they did wrong and you give them a punishment to show that they shouldn’t be doing that." Unfortunately, Jackson's ex, who is married to a Grand Prairie Police Department officer, disagreed. He was initially handed a citation, but things escalated to the point where police showed up in April 2015 and hauled Jackson to jail. "I'm upset because—number one—the property belongs to me," the girl's mother, Michelle Steppe, tells WFAA. Jackson, who was charged with theft, refused to cave. "I didn’t want the police department telling me how to parent my child," Jackson tells CBS. "I couldn’t believe they would go to this extent for a cell phone." WFAA reports Jackson was facing six months in jail and a $2,000 fine, but on Tuesday, the judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence to keep the case open and ordered the jury to file a not-guilty verdict. But Jackson tells WFAA the trial completely ended his relationship with his now 15-year-old daughter, who took the stand to testify against him. Meanwhile, Jackson's attorney plans to file a complaint alleging the Grand Prairie PD violated Jackson's civil rights. CBS reports Jackson never did give his daughter her cell phone back. (This NFL star's headline-grabbing parenting move got mixed reviews.)

Story highlights Politicians, activists and citizens nationwide in Kenya have condemned the attack Kenyan lawmaker: "It is really sad that something of this nature would happen in this time and age" Nairobi, Kenya (CNN) A Kenyan woman's hands were butchered and she was left with injuries to her head after she was brutally attacked by her husband, who blamed her for not being able to conceive any children during their seven-year marriage. Jackline Mwende's husband, Stephen Ngila, allegedly attacked her in their home with a machete on July 23, which also left her deaf in one ear. Her father told CNN that Ngila "threatened to shut her mouth for good before attacking her with a machete." Police and members of the community began looking for Ngila the night the attack took place. He was arrested the following day after appearing at the hospital where Mwende was being treated. Husband, not wife, had reproductive issues While Ngila allegedly attacked her because they weren't able to have children, a hospital in Nairobi said Mwende was fertile and it was her husband who had reproductive issues, Daily Nation reported. "..the doctors had said he was the one with issues, which could be corrected.."#JacklineMwende#domesticabuse pic.twitter.com/KxKxPx0X8Q — MilangoWazi (@MilangoWazi) August 2, 2016 ||||| While attention is riveted on the Machakos woman whose husband allegedly hacked off her hands, two other narratives have emerged. A meeting with the man's sister on the day of the attack and a business deal gone bad. The victim, 27-year-old Jackline Mwende, has been offered help including money for a year and a Sh10 million set of prosthetic arms. Her husband Stephen Ngila, 34, has been charged with attempting to murder her on July 23 in Ilinge village. He denied the charges and is in remand for his own safety, and that of witnesses, the judge ruled. The case will be mentioned on August 23 while the hearing will begin on September 20. Two relatives, Ngila’s sister and relative Justus (Nzele Ntheu) Muthama defended Ngila in interviews with the Star and proposed other scenarios. Ngila’s sister Agnes Nthenge said by phone on Tuesday that he was with her on the fateful day at her rural home in Utithini village when news broke about the gruesome attack. “All I can say is we were with Ngila in my house planning a function for our elder brother when he was called and told that his wife had been attacked," said Nthenge. Mwende accuses her husband, who lives in Masii, of attacking her with a panga because the couple was childless during their seven-year marriage. She suffered serious head injuries and is deaf in one ear. But Nthenge said the family was surprised that Ngila was arrested when he visited his estranged wife at Machakos Level 5 Hospital the following day. Asked why she did not reveal this earlier, Nthenge said, “Because Mwende said Ngila attacked her, we decided not to say much but leave the matter to God.” She referred to the Bible story of Joseph. Nthenge also said doctors told the couple Mwende was fertile but Ngila had a treatable fertility issue. She expressed surprise that Ngila would attack her over fertility. Another relative, Justus Muthama (called Nzele Ntheu), told the Star by phone on Wednesday that Mwende had been attacked before. “Before the attack (on July 23), Mwende did not open her shop in Ilinge market for three consecutive days. We were told that for those three days she had gone into hiding in Wetaa market," he said. “There was another time a gang woke her up and hurled stones at her house after she refused to open the door." Muthama said the couple had been living apart but said their relations appeared to be on the mend. “According to our clan, I refer to Mwende as my mother but even with that, I am not convinced her husband Ngila was the one who attacked her," he said. Muthama said residents suspected business problems or a deal gone sour. “She had other male friends who came visiting and whom we believe helped her stock her shop. We suspect one might have felt shortchanged and planned revenge," he said. A police officer acknowledged hearing the different accounts but maintained Ngila attacked Mwende. “A lot of people are peddling all sorts of lies but the truth of the matter is that it is Ngila who attacked his wife and left thinking that he had killed her,” said Mwala DCIO Joseph Muguna. Muguna said Ngila and Mwende had marital problems but were still a couple as they were not separated as alleged. He said fingerprints were retrieved from the scene but that his officers were yet to find the panga the woman's attacker used. The DCIO also termed Ngila’s hospital visit suspicious. Mwende's horrifying case sparked public outrage, encouraged other women who have suffered domestic violence to speak out and saw help come from different quarters. LG electronics promised prosthetic limbs worth Sh10 million while the Machakos government offered Sh30,000 monthly stipend for a year, a one-off Sh100,000 donation and a house help. More on this: Battered Jackline Mwende gets Sh30,000 monthly stipend from Machakos The woman and Ngila have been in the full glare of the camera - she is being treated at PCEA Kikuyu Hospital while Ngila is being held ahead of the start of the hearing on September 20. He denied the attempted murder charge and will remain in custody until the case is heard and determined. Read: Jackline Mwende’s husband denied bond in attempted murder case

– Domestic violence is a troubling issue in Kenya, and Jackline Mwende has recently become the very public face of it. The 27-year-old from Machakos, a village not far from Nairobi, says her husband came at her in a rage on July 23 with a machete and not only slashed her head and face, but also cut off her hands—all because their seven years together hadn't resulted in any kids, the Los Angeles Times reports. Mwende says her marriage to Stephen Ngila, who's said to be either 34 or 35, started out well but soon soured after they were unable to conceive. Those ill feelings only worsened when the couple visited a fertility clinic in 2014 and discovered the reproductive problem rested with Ngila, not Mwende. It's then, Mwende says, that Ngila started drinking to excess and physically abusing her. Ngila, arrested the day after the attack and in police custody until his Sept. 20 trial on attempted murder charges, per Kenya's Star, allegedly "threatened to shut [Mwende's] mouth for good" right before attacking her, her father told CNN earlier this month. The Times notes Kenyan women in physically or sexually abusive relationships are often victims of impoverished lifestyles and an extreme traditional culture where everyone looks the other way if men get physical with their wives. Meanwhile, Ngila's sister has rushed to his defense, insisting he was with her the day of the attack, while another relative says Mwende may have been attacked by unhappy customers of her shop; local cops side with Mwende. "He thought he had killed me, but God is great," she says. (This abused wife won a $21.5 million judgment against her husband.)

Donald Trump’s promise to sue the women who have recently come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct has led several prominent First Amendment attorneys to step forward and offer to defend the lawsuits, pro bono (without payment). Ted Boutrous, a top attorney at the law firm Gibson Dunn, appears to be the first high-profile lawyer to promise to take on a potential Trump lawsuit. On October 13, Boutrous sent out a tweet promising to a pro bono defense to the Palm Beach Post newspaper after it published a story from one of Trump’s alleged accusers. I vow to take this case pro bono if @realDonaldTrump brings it https://t.co/3u57eyis56 — Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) October 14, 2016 Boutrous’s promise received renewed attention on Saturday after Trump again promised to file lawsuits over the claims. I repeat: I will represent pro bono anyone #Trump sues for exercising their free speech rights. Many other lawyers have offered to join me. https://t.co/LJf6TtmGZU — Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) October 22, 2016 One of those lawyers offering to join Boutrous’ effort appears to be Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe. [image via screengrab] ||||| Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images Two lawyers representing some of the women who have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct are telling the presidential candidate they are not afraid of his lawsuit threats. In not-so-subtle terms, the lawyers are even saying that Trump should be careful, because any lawsuit could actually end up causing him even more problems. Jill Harth, the first woman who publicly accused Trump of sexual misconduct, released a statement on Sunday in which she explained that she only chose to speak up after he called her a liar. “Trump’s calling me a liar again yesterday only strengthens my resolve to speak the truth about what he did to me.” Advertisement Lisa Bloom, Harth’s attorney, said she would “continue to proudly represent” her client through any lawsuits. And then she goes for the jugular: “In that lawsuit I would take the deposition of Trump and all of his enablers, and subpoena his business and personal records as well as any recordings that may exist in which he brags about sexual assault, such as the Access Hollywood recording and potentially, the Apprentice raw footage.” BREAKING: my client Jill Harth and I respond to Trump's insults and threats yesterday. Spoiler: not backing down. pic.twitter.com/iHhUdD3ZsU — Lisa Bloom (@LisaBloom) October 23, 2016 Bloom put out the statement a day after attorney Gloria Allred accompanied adult film star Jessica Drake at a press conference in which she became the 11th woman to come forward and accuse Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior. “Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Trump,” said Allred. “If you sue the accusers, the lawyers who represent these women will have the opportunity to depose you. In plain English, you will be required to testify under oath and the women’s lawyers will welcome the opportunity to question you under oath. You may find the questions may include all the women with whom you have had sexual interaction.” Allred was speaking at a news conference in which Drake said that in 2006, Trump hugged and kissed her and two female friends in his hotel room without permission. She also said Trump offered her $10,000 plus the use of his private jet to sleep with her, which she declined. “I am choosing to share my personal exchange in light of the recently released tapes in order to lend my voice, my strength, and my support to the other women who are coming forward. Collectively, his words and his actions are a huge testament to his character—that of uncontrollable misogyny, entitlement, and being a sexual assault apologist,” Drake said. “This is not acceptable behavior for anyone, much less a presidential candidate.” The Trump campaign released a statement Saturday night denying the claims as “totally false and ridiculous.” Trump “does not know this person, does not remember this person and would have no interest in ever knowing her,” notes the statement. “This is just another attempt by the Clinton campaign to defame a candidate who just today is number one in three different polls. … Just another example of the Clinton campaign trying to rig the election.” ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Zachary Roth and Elizabeth Chuck An eleventh woman came forward Saturday to publicly accuse Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual behavior. Adult film star Jessica Drake alleged at a Los Angeles press conference that in 2006 Trump hugged and kissed her and two female companions in his hotel room without permission. She also charged that after she left the room, Trump or someone acting on his behalf called her and offered her $10,000 to return. "Collectively, his words and his actions are a huge testament to his character: That of uncontrollable misogyny, entitlement and being a sexual assault apologist," said Drake. Drake said she wasn't seeking monetary compensation and doesn't need the fame or attention. "I understand that I may be called a liar or an opportunist," she said. "But I will risk that in order to stand in solidarity with women who share similar accounts that span many, many years." The Trump campaign in a statement Saturday afternoon denied Drake's claims. "This story is totally false and ridiculous," the statement said. "Mr. Trump does not know this person, does not remember this person and would have no interest in ever knowing her," it said. Earlier Saturday, before Drake made her claims, Trump said at a rally that he plans to sue all of the women who had accused him of inappropriate sexual conduct. "All of these liars will be sued after the election," he said. Drake was joined by women's rights attorney Gloria Allred, a longtime Hillary Clinton supporter who has represented other women with sexual misconduct claims against Trump. Allred served as an elected delegate for Clinton during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. Allred told told AM Joy on MSNBC that she has not been in contact with the Clinton campaign about these allegations. Drake said she met Trump at a celebrity golf tournament, which she attended while working for Wicked Pictures, an adult film company. She said Trump flirted with her and asked her to walk along the golf course with him, where he asked for her phone number. He later called and invited her to his hotel room. Not wanting to go alone, Drake said she brought two other women along. She said that Trump was in his pajamas, with a bodyguard present. "He grabbed each of us tightly in a hug and kissed each one of us without asking permission," Drake said. Drake said Trump then asked the women about the details of shooting adult films, and about their personal relationships. "It felt like an interview," she said. Jessica Drake, right, speaks beside attorney Gloria Allred, left, about allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior against Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump during a press conference in Los Angeles, on Oct. 22, 2016. MARK RALSTON / AFP - Getty Images After she returned to her room, Drake said she received a call from a man saying Trump wanted her to return to his room. She said she declined. Drake said she then received a call from Trump himself, asking her to return to his suite and have dinner with him and to go to a party. Drake said she declined. Drake said Trump then asked: "What do you want? How much?" Drake told Trump she had to return to Los Angeles for work, she said, adding that this was "an excuse because I didn't want him to continue asking me, and I didn't want to be with him." Drake said she then received a third call, either from Trump or from another man calling on his behalf. She said the caller offered her $10,000 to return to Trump's room. She said she declined this offer, too. Drake claimed she had told friends about the episode not long after, but declined to name them, "out of respect for them and their families." Drake added that she's involved in sex education, in which she stresses the importance of consent in all sexual activity. She said her decision to come forward was prompted by the Access Hollywood tape released earlier this month in which Trump brags about kissing and grabbing women without their permission. Related: Karena Virginia Becomes 10th Woman to Accuse Trump of Sexual Misconduct Earlier this week, Allred held a news conference with another woman who lobbed allegations against Trump. Karena Virginia, a yoga instructor and lifestyle coach, claimed Trump made inappropriate comments and touched her breast while she was waiting for a car service in New York in 1998. "He said, 'Hey, look at this one, we haven't seen her before. Look at those legs.' As though I was an object, rather than a person," Virginia said Thursday. "He then walked up to me and reached his right arm and grabbed my right arm, then his hand touched the right inside of my breast. I was in shock. I flinched." A string of accusers have spoken out against Trump, who has fervently denied the accusations, in some cases going so far as to joke that the women accusing him aren't attractive enough for his taste. Related: The Allegations Women Have Made Against Donald Trump Allred slammed Trump earlier Saturday, and said his accusers had no ulterior motive other than getting the truth out. "These women could have sold their story. They didn't do it. They didn't do it for money. They didn't do it for fame," Allred told MSNBC.

– Jessica Drake is the latest woman (No. 11, by Variety and NBC News' count) to accuse Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, claiming that the GOP nominee hugged her tightly and kissed her after a 2006 golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Calif., then tried to offer her $10,000 to return to his suite (she says she declined). "Collectively, his words and his actions are a huge testament to his character: that of uncontrollable misogyny, entitlement, and being a sexual assault apologist," Drake said at a Saturday press conference in Los Angeles. But while Trump lashed out the same day during his so-called Gettysburg Address and promised to sue Drake and "all of these liars" who've come forward with claims against him, the attorneys for at least two of the women are already sending a message right back: "Bring it on," as Slate puts it. Gloria Allred, representing Drake and two other accusers, warned at Drake's presser: "Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Trump," noting if he sues, he'll be subjected to intense questioning under oath from all the women's lawyers. And Lisa Bloom, attorney for Jill Harth, Trump's first accuser, tweeted dual statements from herself and her client Sunday with the comment "Spoiler: not backing down." Harth's statement noted, "Trump's calling me a liar again … only strengthens my resolve to speak the truth about what he did to me." Meanwhile, per LawNewz.com, an LA law firm partner has offered to represent the women pro bono should Trump sue. Ted Boutrous first made his offer in an Oct. 13 tweet, then again Saturday, adding, "Many other lawyers have offered to join me." Another commenter tweets: "And so begins the launch of the largest crowd-sourced legal defense fund in history."

Story highlights George H.W. Bush will celebrate 90th birthday with 200 family and friends A year and a half ago, the 41st president was emerging from a lengthy hospitalization In the years since he left office, George H.W. Bush's presidency is seen in a different light On January 14, 2013, George H.W. Bush was released from a Houston hospital after seven weeks of treatment for bronchitis, an infection and a persistent cough. A year and a half ago, Bush was already suffering from a form of Parkinson's disease, and some people weren't sure how much he would be able to bounce back after his lengthy hospitalization. But not only has he been able to travel -- and now sky-dive -- he has also seen a political resurgence. In April of last year, he attended the opening of his son's presidential library, telling the audience, "It's a great pleasure to be here to honor our oldest son." In July, he visited the White House, where President Barack Obama recognized him for his commitment to volunteerism through his " Points of Light " initiative. JUST WATCHED CNN Films: '41 on 41' trailer Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH CNN Films: '41 on 41' trailer 00:29 JUST WATCHED George H. W. Bush greets Obamas Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH George H. W. Bush greets Obamas 00:44 JUST WATCHED Bush shaves head for child with cancer Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Bush shaves head for child with cancer 00:45 JUST WATCHED George H.W. Bush: Clinton is 'de man!' Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH George H.W. Bush: Clinton is 'de man!' 02:51 JUST WATCHED George H.W. Bush reveals letters to son Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH George H.W. Bush reveals letters to son 02:48 "We are surely a kinder and gentler nation because of you," Obama told Bush. Just in the past month, he received several prestigious honors recognizing his decades of public service and his presidency. The proud Yale '48 graduate received an honorary degree from archrival Harvard , even attending the ceremony, and he also was given a Profile in Courage award by the JFK Library for the 1990 budget deal, which included the politically toxic tax hikes. He admitted at the time that cutting the deal would probably cost him politically, and it did. He lost his re-election bid in 1992. He and his presidency are now seen in a much better light than they were then. Bush's earthbound celebration will be a dinner with 200 friends and family and a performance by Irish tenor Ronan Tynan. His jump was a tandem one from a helicopter with Mike Elliott and members of the All Veteran Group, former members of the U. S. Army Golden Knights parachute team. Bush also celebrated his 75th, 80th and 85th birthdays with jumps. A just-released CNN/ORC International poll shows 58% of Americans now have a favorable opinion of Bush, compared with 47% in 1992. His poll numbers jumped to near 70% during the early days of his son George W. Bush's presidency. His approval rating is second only to Bill Clinton's 66% rate among living presidents. The 41st president marked the 25th anniversary of his inauguration this year. He and his wife, Barbara, attended a celebration event in April featuring hundreds of former administration officials, family and friends, who gathered at his presidential library in College Station, Texas. The Bushes attended some of the seminars examining his presidency and its effects and talked to many of the attendees. "They just relished it," former Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming, a friend since the 1960s, said of the Bushes' reaction to the event. Bush was especially touched, Simpson said, by the attendance of Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa at the event that spotlighted their work together pushing the Americans with Disabilities Act, which Bush signed into law. "History is sorting" through Bush's presidency now, and he is receiving more credit than while he was in office, Simpson said. "Wait a minute -- the (Berlin) Wall came down ... this guy did things," he said. "25 years ago this hour, the people placed their hopes and trust in our team. Still hard to believe I had the honor to serve as President," the former president posted on his Twitter account in January on the actual anniversary of his inauguration. Ron Kaufman, a longtime friend and former Bush White House official, said, "History is going to be very, very kind to 41 for many reasons. ... Clearly there's a resurgence of people looking at 41, his lifetime and his presidency and after his presidency. ... Respect grows for him and for his family." The former president, who had mostly stayed away from politics in recent years, now finds himself a big financial draw for Republicans thanks to his fascination with colorful socks. As of last week, the Republican National Committee said it had raised around $1 million selling pairs of striped yellow, orange, green and blue socks it created under Bush's name. As for Bush's birthday and the attention it will bring, Simpson said, "I think he will say. 'I don't deserve this.' (But) the fact is, you (celebrate) the big 7-0, big 8-0, big 9-0 -- he'd be tickled to death." Kaufman said Bush doesn't want people "puffing him up" and will leave it to history to judge his legacy. "He really enjoys life to the fullest," he said. Kaufman added that after Bush's illness, he is "less worried about death ... more enjoying his life as it is." That includes shaving his head to show solidarity with the son of a member of his Secret Service detail who has cancer, and traveling to Duke University to honor Coach Mike Krzyzewski for his work supporting cancer research. As for how the nation views him today, Simpson said Bush "is quite touched" by an outpouring of love and affection he receives from people across the nation. "Wherever he goes, people love him," Kaufman said. ||||| KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) — Former President George H.W. Bush celebrated his 90th birthday on Thursday by making a tandem parachute jump near his summer home in coastal Maine, delivering on a vow he made five years ago even though he can no longer use his legs. FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2012 file photo, former president George H.W. Bush pauses for a photo before an NFL football game in Houston between the Buffalo Bills and the Houston Texans. Former President George... (Associated Press) The nation's 41st president jumped from a helicopter harnessed to Sgt. 1st Class Mike Elliott, a retired member of the Golden Knights, the Army's parachute team, near Kennebunkport. Elliott guided Bush to a gentle landing five years ago. On Thursday morning, the helicopter picked up Bush outside his home, known as Walker's Point. His family transported him from wheelchair to the chopper, then sang "Happy Birthday" before it took off. Bush could later be seen floating to the ground using a red, white and blue parachute. He landed safely and softly near St. Ann's Church, according to a spokesman, out of the sight of reporters. Witnesses said he was greeted with a hug and a kiss from his wife, Barbara, and a hug from his son George. The family then left the landing zone without talking to reporters stationed nearby. Hundreds of people gathered on the rocky coast near the church to get a glimpse of the jump. "He has a lot of courage. We need more like him," said David Morris, 79, of Melrose, Massachusetts. He's one of several onlookers gathered on rocky coast outside church to watch. "I think it's wonderful. I hope I can jump out of a plane at 90," said Carol Schierl, 75, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, The jump was kept secret partly to give Bush himself the option of bagging it. Thursday's forecast called for clouds and scattered showers across southern Maine. Spokesman Jim McGrath said Bush likes both a surprise and an adrenaline rush. "It's vintage George Bush," McGrath said. "It's that passion for life. It's wanting to set a goal, wanting to achieve it. I'm sure part of it is sending a message to others that even in your retirement years you can still find challenges." The first time Bush jumped from an airplane was when his plane was shot down in World War II over the Pacific. Later, he decided to jump from a plane of his own accord and marked his 75th, 80th and 85th birthdays by skydiving. He said on his 85th birthday that he'd like to do it again on his 90th. Other birthday festivities included a private dinner with more than 200 relatives and friends, including some from his White House days: press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, White House counsel Boyden Gray and political director Ron Kaufman, McGrath said. His children, including former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will be there, McGrath said. Kennebunkport is a special place for the president. As a boy, he visited the family home at Walker's Point every summer, except during World War II. The retreat was later dubbed his "summer White House." During his presidential years, Bush was known for jogging, tennis and fast-paced golf but now uses a wheelchair or scooter because of a form of parkinsonism that has robbed him of use of his legs. He signed the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. "He's lost his mobility, but he hasn't lost his heart. He's still the genuine person that we've come to cherish," said Ken Raynor, a friend and pro at the Cape Arundel Golf Club. While his activities are now limited, Bush still fulfills his need for speed on his boat, Fidelity. "He's always loved going fast. He loves the speed. He loves the adrenaline," McGrath said. Jon Meacham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and history who is writing a book about Bush, said the former president is used to being in motion, so it isn't easy for him to slow down. The president feels lucky nonetheless, Meacham said. "He had a remarkable great run of good health and good family and good friends," he said. "So I know his chief view of life at 90 is one of immense gratitude. He's very grateful for his parents, he's grateful for Barbara, he's grateful for his kids. He knows he's one of the luckiest guys who ever lived, really."

– It wasn't that long ago that George HW Bush was thought to be on death's door at the hospital. Today, though, he marked his 90th birthday in style—by skydiving, reports CNN. Bush jumped out of a helicopter tethered to a retired member of the Army's Golden Knights parachute team and floated back down to Earth near Kennebunkport, Maine, with a red, white, and blue parachute. Bush can no longer use his legs because he has a form of Parkinson's, notes AP, but he made good on a promise from five years ago, after a jump on his 85th birthday. His first jump? That came during WWII when his plane got shot down.

Double car bomb explosion killed four and injured at least 46 as blasts struck outside the headquarters of the court bailiffs' service in the capital of Russia’s Dagestan Republic, Makhachkala. The first car with the explosive placed underneath reportedly went off causing no fatalities or injuries. Once law enforcement arrived at the scene, the second bomb detonated, Interfax reported citing the local Investigative Committee. “As far as I know there are three people dead. One of them is our employee,” spokesperson of the Court Bailiffs' Service Magomed Buttaev told RT. The death toll rose to four people after another man, an employee of the court bailiffs' service, died of his injuries in hospital, according an Interior Ministry spokesman. Initial reports suggested eight people died at the scene, Interfax news agency reported. “Two cars were detonated within several minutes. At least eight people have been killed, while the number of injured is being clarified. More than 20 cars have been damaged,” the agency quoted the representative of Dagestan’s Investigative Committee. However, the chief physician in Dagestan, Kazanfar Kurbanov, has later confirmed that three people died and 24 were injured. “There have been 46 people hospitalized,” Interfax reported citing its source. As said, the blasts occurred approximately 15 minutes apart from each other with the two bombs were detonated remotely. Interfax quotes a source who said that an explosive was also found in a trash can. “It has already been established that the first explosive was placed under the car,” one of the spokesman told media. The force of the second blast was the equivalent of up to 50 kg of TNT, Rasul Temirbekov from the local Investigative committee told ITAR-TASS, adding that the first blast was less powerful, nearly causing damage to nearby parked cars. According to law enforcement officials, perpetrators clearly used a tactic which is quite common in Dagestan, when the first blast is bait to attract more people and the second explosion goes off when people are at the scene, thus injuring and killing law enforcement members. “The majority of injured are police officers who arrived at the scene after the first blast. There are at least 15 of them now,” ITAR-TASS quotes the local Interior Ministry. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry has sent doctors and psychologists from Moscow to Makhachkala. The IL-76 jet will deliver 26 specialists to Dagestan, and then return with victims of the blast to Moscow hospitals if needed. No one has claimed responsibility for the double blast, with no suspects yet identified. Investigators have said they will use the registration plates of one of the vehicles involved, in a bid to track down the culprits. “We plan to ID the owner of the exploded car and unravel the case trough this information,” an investigative committee spokesperson said. There's a belief that the car was stolen. In a recent incident near a shopping center on May 1, two teenagers were killed and another two injured as they tried to uncover the dangerous object, wrapped up either in a box or a bag. ||||| Police and investigators work at the scene of a blast in Makhachkala May 20, 2013. Police and investigators work at the site of a blast in Makhachkala May 20, 2013. Police and investigators work at the site of a blast in Makhachkala May 20, 2013. MAKHACHKALA, Russia Two car bombs killed at least four people and wounded dozens of others on Monday in one of the bloodiest attacks this year in Dagestan, a turbulent province in Russia's North Caucasus region where armed groups are waging an Islamist insurgency. Car bombs, suicide bombings and firefights are common in Dagestan, at the center of an insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet wars against separatist rebels in neighboring Chechnya. Such attacks are rare in other parts of Russia, but in a separate incident in a suburb of Moscow on Monday, security forces killed two suspected militants alleged to have been plotting an attack in the capital and arrested a third suspect after a gunbattle. One elite police officer was lightly wounded in the exchange of gunfire with the suspects - Russian citizens but trained in Afghanistan or Pakistan - who had holed up in a home in the town of Orekhovo-Zuyevo east of Moscow, authorities said. Investigators initially said eight people had been killed by the successive blasts in Dagestan's provincial capital Makhachkala, but law enforcement and health officials later put the death toll at four and said about 40 people were wounded. The explosions occurred with the space of a few minutes near the headquarters of the court bailiffs' service and appeared to have been detonated by remote control, said the federal Investigative Committee, a Russian state agency. Twisted wreckage of a car could be seen near the building, which was cordoned off by police, and blackened chunks of metal lay in the street. The Health Ministry said 35 people remained in hospital, including one child, a few hours after the blasts, which the Investigative Committee called a "terrorist act". The main suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in the United States, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, lived in Dagestan with his family about a decade ago and visited the region last year. The visit by Tsarnaev, who was shot dead by U.S. police after the April 15 bombings that killed three people and wounded 264 others, is being scrutinized by U.S. investigators for signs of ties with insurgents. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered law enforcement authorities to ensure insurgents do not attack the 2014 Winter Olympics next February in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, which is close to the North Caucasus. All those wounded or killed were apparently caught by the second of Monday's explosions, a few minutes after the first, the investigators said. Insurgents in the North Caucasus have often sought to increase casualties by setting off an initial blast to attract law enforcement officers and then detonating a second bomb. Dagestan, an ethnically mixed, mostly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, has become the most violent province in the North Caucasus, where insurgents say they are fighting to carve out an Islamic state out of southern Russia. At least 405 people were killed in Dagestan in violence linked to the insurgency last year, according to the Caucasian Knot website, which tracks developments in the region. Putin launched the second war in Chechnya as prime minister in 1999 and likes to take credit for preventing the region from splitting from Russia. But his 13 years in power have been marred by deadly attacks claimed by or blamed on the insurgents. (Writing by Steve Gutterman; editing by Timothy Heritage and Jon Hemming) ||||| Makhachkala, Dagestan (CNN) -- At least four people are dead and 44 are injured after two bombs exploded Monday in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region, the Ministry of Health's website says. Thirty-one of the injured were hospitalized, it says. The incident -- which occurred in Makhachkala, capital of the semi-autonomous republic of Dagestan -- also caused significant damage. Security officials say they believe law enforcement officers may have been the target because the explosion occurred outside a local marshal's building. One car bomb was discovered by a police patrol, who called in a unit to defuse it. Before that could be done, the bomb went off, but the explosion was minor, security officials said. Then, as a crowd of people gathered, a second, more powerful device detonated, causing the casualties. An Islamic insurgency has taken hold in the North Caucasus and there is a strong presence of Islamic militants fighting Moscow's rule. READ MORE: Dagestan violence kills at least 5 Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -- the suspects in the Boston Marathon terror attack last month -- had ties with the region. The brothers are ethnic Chechens who lived in Kyrgyzstan and Dagestan. Authorities who've been investigating how the brothers became radicalized are interested in a trip Tamerlan Tsarnaev took to Dagestan last year. Russian authorities asked U.S. officials to investigate Tsarnaev before the trip, saying they believed he was becoming increasingly involved with radical Islam. The FBI investigated, but found no evidence of extremist activity, FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Senate committee. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in custody. His older brother died after a shootout with police just outside Boston days after the bombing. READ MORE: Keys to Boston attack could lie half a world away in restive region of Russia Russia has been on edge over militant activity and its security forces announced on Monday that they foiled a terror attack planned for Moscow. A spokesman at the National Anti-Terror Committee said security forces killed two militants and detained another. All three are described as Russian citizens trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. Security forces conducted their operation in the Orekhovo-Zuevo region of the Moscow suburbs. "They were planning a terror attack in Moscow," the spokesman said. No civilians were injured during the operation, but one Federal Security Service officer was wounded, state news agency Ria Novosti reported, citing an unnamed security source. The source said the attack was planned for central Moscow. Former Chechen rebel: 'I have nothing to do with' Boston bombings CNN's Alla Eschenko contributed to this report

– A powerful explosion killed three people and wounded 40 more today in Dagestan, the region that was once home to Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, reports Reuters. Police had found a bomb in a car outside a law enforcement building in the region's capital city of Makhachkala, and were in the process of disarming it when a second one blew up, CNN reports. Russia Today has a slightly different account, saying the first bomb blew up, but didn't hurt anyone. It wasn't Russia's only brush with terrorism today either; authorities today announced that they'd foiled an attack on Moscow, killing two Russian citizens that they alleged were militants "trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan." The two were reportedly killed in a shootout at a home in a suburb east of Moscow.

Story highlights Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was seen on campus, at party after marathon bombings Younger brother was found hiding in boat after manhunt Authorities sought brothers after analyzing photos from scene Older brother died in shootout, was run over by Tsarnaev, police say As the world hunted him, the younger brother suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings acted like any other college sophomore. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was on the campus of University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth every day after the attack until late Thursday, a university official told CNN. Tsarnaev attended classes and dorm parties and went to the gym while the rest of Boston came to a tense standstill. A student at the school told The Boston Globe that she saw Tsarnaev at a party Wednesday night that was attended by some of his friends from intramural soccer. "He was just relaxed," she said, asking the paper not to print her name. Another UMass Dartmouth student said he talked about the bombing with Tsarnaev for several minutes Tuesday while they were working out at the gym. Tsarnaev seemed normal, perhaps a little tired, Zach Bettencourt told CNN. Bettencourt said he told Tsarnaev something about the bombing, to the effect of, "You hear about this kind of thing happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, but not here." "He was like, 'Yeah, tragedies happen like this all the time and it's sad,' " Bettencourt said, adding he had no inkling about anything suspicious with Tsarnaev, whom he described as a nice guy. The days-long drama that gripped Boston -- and the world -- began when two homemade bombs made from pressure cookers exploded 12 seconds apart near the finish line of Monday's Boston Marathon. Three people were killed, and more than 170 wounded as nails, ball bearings, BBs and shards of broken glass were blasted through the viewing area. Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is detained by officers on Friday, April 19. After a car chase and shootout with police, one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was shot and killed by police early Friday, and his brother and second suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was taken into custody Friday night. The two men are suspects in the bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 15, that killed three people and wounded at least 170. See all photography related to the Boston bombings. Hide Caption 1 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Special imaging techniques employed by Massachusetts State Police reveal Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev hiding in a boat in a backyard in Watertown on April 19. Hide Caption 2 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Dzhokhar Tsarnaev gets out of the boat he was hiding in outside of a home in Watertown, as seen in a surveillance video still. Hide Caption 3 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – An ambulance carries Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, from the scene after he was apprehended in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19. Hide Caption 4 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police SWAT teams leave the area after apprehending the suspect in a yard where he was hiding in a dry-docked boat on April 19. Hide Caption 5 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Residents flee from an area where a suspect was hiding on Franklin Street on April 19. Hide Caption 6 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT team members run toward a police assault on a house as gunfire erupts on April 19. Hide Caption 7 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – People react while watching police respond to reported gunfire on April 19. Hide Caption 8 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT team members move down residential streets as they perform door-to-door searches in Watertown, Massachusetts, on April 19. Hide Caption 9 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A U.S. military helicopter lands behind Watertown Mall as law enforcement agencies continue to search for the 19-year-old bombing suspect on Friday. Hide Caption 10 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT teams prepare to enter a home as they continue the door-to-door search. Hide Caption 11 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – U.S. President Barack Obama meets with members of his national security team in the Situation Room of the White House on April 19 to discuss developments in the Boston bombings investigation. Hide Caption 12 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT team members line a residential street in Watertown, Massachusetts, as the manhunt continues on Friday. Hide Caption 13 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A man watches from the window of a home as a SWAT team member keeps watch on Friday, in Watertown, Massachusetts. Hide Caption 14 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police to continue to the door-to-door search on Francis Street in Watertown, Massachusetts, on Friday. Hide Caption 15 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Law enforcement officers place themselves in an overhead position on Arsenal Street as the search continues on April 19. Hide Caption 16 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Law enforcement officers react to what was initially thought to be a threatening suspect on Arsenal Street on April 19. Hide Caption 17 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A police SWAT team searches houses on April 19 for the second suspect. Hide Caption 18 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT teams searches homes along Winsor Avenue in Watertown on April 19. Hide Caption 19 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A Massachusetts state trooper watches other troopers line up at Watertown Mall as the manhunt for the second suspect continues in Watertown on Friday. Hide Caption 20 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police continue the ongoing manhunt for the second suspect on Williow Avenue in Watertown on Friday. Hide Caption 21 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A Watertown police vehicle with bullet holes in its body and a shattered windshield is towed out of the search area on April 19 in Watertown, Massachusetts. Hide Caption 22 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A Massachusetts State Police officer checks the bag of a cyclist amid heightened security on Friday in Watertown. Hide Caption 23 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Katia Costa looks out her window as police continue the manhunt on Nichols Avenue in Watertown on Friday. Hide Caption 24 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Ruslan Tsarni, uncle of the Boston terror suspects, told CNN affiliate WBZ that Tamerlan "got what he deserved" in an interview outside his home in Montgomery Village, Maryland, on Friday. Hide Caption 25 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A woman is questioned by Cambridge police and other law enforcement agencies Friday near the home of the second suspect in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and killed late Thursday night at the school's campus in Cambridge. A short time later, police reported exchanging gunfire with alleged carjackers in nearby Watertown. Hide Caption 26 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT teams move into position at the intersection of Nichols and Melendy avenues in Watertown, Massachusetts, on Friday. Hide Caption 27 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT teams gather at the intersection of Nichols and Melendy avenues in Watertown while searching for the remaining suspect on Friday. Hide Caption 28 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Onlookers take pictures while SWAT team members look around on Friday. Hide Caption 29 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, left, speaks to the media at a shopping mall on the perimeter of a locked-down area during the search on Friday. Hide Caption 30 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Metro SWAT members hang off the back of a truck during the search on Friday. Hide Caption 31 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – SWAT officers check a door with guns ready on Friday. Hide Caption 32 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Officers patrol Watertown on Friday. Hide Caption 33 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers – The aftermath of the shootout that police said involved the two suspects in Watertown early Friday. Hide Caption 34 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police with guns drawn search for a suspect on Friday in Watertown, Massachusetts. Hide Caption 35 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A police officer runs with his gun drawn on Friday. Hide Caption 36 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Boston Police gather in the parking lot in front of a Best Buy store near the Watertown Mall on Friday. Hide Caption 37 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis speaks during a media briefing in the parking lot of the Watertown Mall on Friday. Hide Caption 38 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Boston police gather in front of a Best Buy on Friday. Hide Caption 39 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police stop cars at School and Walnut streets on Friday. Hide Caption 40 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A Massachusetts state trooper checks a building along Mount Auburn Street as police search neighborhoods in Watertown. Hide Caption 41 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police search neighborhoods yard by yard on Friday. Hide Caption 42 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police convene on School and Walnut streets on Friday. Hide Caption 43 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – A police officer talks to a driver at a checkpoint in Watertown, Massachusetts. Hide Caption 44 of 45 Photos: Photos: Manhunt for Boston bombers Manhunt for Boston bombers – Police officers keep a man on the ground in Watertown on Friday. See all photography related to the Boston bombings. Hide Caption 45 of 45 JUST WATCHED Thermal images of Boston suspect Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Thermal images of Boston suspect 02:54 JUST WATCHED Suspects' father plans to come to U.S. Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Suspects' father plans to come to U.S. 03:06 JUST WATCHED Bombing suspects' uncle speaks to CNN Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Bombing suspects' uncle speaks to CNN 04:29 Law enforcement officials combed through photos and surveillance videos, searching for clues to who detonated the bombs. The FBI released photos showing two men they were seeking and asked for the public's help. At the dorm where Tsarnaev lived, students joked Thursday as they viewed the FBI photos on television, a senior who lived in the suspect's dorm told The Boston Globe. "We made a joke like, that could be Dzhokhar," said Pamala Rolon. "But then we thought it just couldn't be him. Dzhokhar? Never." A tense scene began to unfold Thursday night -- complete with wailing sirens, flashes of blue and red lights, a hail of bullets and explosions from homemade bombs. By early Friday morning, Tsarnaev's older brother, Tamerlan, 26, was dead. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was bleeding as he stole away into the night. On campus nobody was joking. The school posted a message on its website: "UMass Dartmouth has learned that a person being sought in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at UMass Dartmouth. The campus is closed. Individuals on campus should shelter in place unless instructed otherwise." The manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev lasted all day Friday and left Boston streets deserted as police asked everyone to stay indoors. Then after the request was lifted, authorities got a tip: A Watertown man told police someone was hiding in his boat in the backyard, bleeding. It was their suspect, Watertown police Chief Edward Deveau said. Officers spotted Tsarnaev poking through the tarp covering the boat, and a shootout erupted, Deveau said. Police used "flash-bangs," devices meant to stun people with a loud noise, and negotiated with Tsarnaev for about half an hour. "We used a robot to pull the tarp off the boat," David Procopio of the Massachusetts State Police said. "We were also watching him with a thermal imaging camera in our helicopter. He was weakened by blood loss -- injured last night, most likely." A thermal image photograph, released Saturday by the state police, showed what authorities say was Tsarnaev lying in the middle of the boat. Police had no idea whether he had weapons or explosives with him, so they repeatedly told him to stand up and lift his shirt to show he wasn't wearing a device, Deveau said. Eventually Tsarnaev stood up and lifted his shirt for the officers. "Once we saw that, we felt comfortable enough to send some officer tactical equipment to grab him and pull him away from the boat," Deveau said. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital. Police are confident there are no other suspects, Deveau said. "These two acted together and alone," he said. "As far as this little cell and this little group, I think we got our guys." ||||| DARTMOUTH — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev spent an apparently normal day Wednesday at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where he was a sophomore, according to a school official, working out in the gym, then sleeping in his dorm room that night, while law enforcement officials frantically scanned photos trying to identify the men who planted deadly bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday. Card swipes told officials that Tsarnaev, described as a good and typical student who played intramural soccer, was on campus Wednesday, but it was not clear if he had been there earlier in the week. A student, who did not want to be identified, also said she saw Tsarnaev at a party on Wednesday night that was attended by some of his soccer friends. Advertisement “He was just relaxed,” she said. Get Fast Forward in your inbox: Forget yesterday's news. Get what you need today in this early-morning email. Sign Up Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here Tsarnaev, 19, was the subject of an intense manhunt until he was cornered and captured in a backyard in Watertown on Friday evening. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed early Friday morning in a shootout with police. In a phone interview Friday morning, Pamala Rolon, 22, a UMass Dartmouth senior and a resident assistant at the Pine Dale Hall dorms, where Tsarnaev lived, said she has known him for a year and finds the notion that he played any role in the bombing incredible. “He studied. He hung out with me and my friends,” she said. “I’m in shock.” Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had done well academically in high school, but The New York Times reported that he was failing many of his courses at UMass Dartmouth. The Times said a school transcript showed seven failing grades over two semesters in 2012 and 2013, including Fs in Principles of Modern Chemistry, Intro American Politics, and Chemistry and the Environment. According to the transcript, Tsarnaev got a B in Critical Writing and a D and D-plus in two other courses. Advertisement The UMass Dartmouth campus in the southeastern part of the state closed early Friday morning after school officials realized the younger of the two men authorities said were responsible for the Monday bombing was a student there. The campus remained on lockdown throughout the day, with armed police blocking the main entrance. The shutdown was staggered — first the suspect’s dorm, and then the entire campus. Students living on campus were evacuated to Dartmouth High School. On its website Friday, the school posted a stark message: “UMass Dartmouth has learned that a person being sought in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing has been identified as a student registered at UMass Dartmouth. The campus is closed. Individuals on campus should shelter in place unless instructed otherwise.” During the lockdown, three black helicopters landed at the main entrance early in the afternoon, carrying about a dozen armed police officers who ran onto campus. Two U-Haul trucks arrived a short time later and drove onto campus; three U-Hauls had arrived earlier. Around 3:30 p.m., 11 State Police cruisers with lights flashing raced through the main campus entrance, followed by SUVs carrying personnel wearing military fatigues. A handful of students milled about the front entrance, watching police come and go. Advertisement Rolon said when she returned from class Thursday afternoon, she and her friends watched a television news broadcast showing the images of the suspects, including one she thought looked faintly like Tsarnaev. “We made a joke like — that could be Dzhokhar,” she said. “But then we thought it just couldn’t be him. Dzhokhar? Never.” Tsarnaev was quite studious, she said. He had not been seen on campus during the past two weeks, she said, but she did not think much about it because everyone was busy with tests and studying. Rolon said she finds it impossible to believe he was involved in any zealous religious or political cause, or would turn to violence. “I think he’s Muslim, but not so religious,” she said. “He’s a normal city kid.” She also said that Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen who came to the United States with his family from Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, did not talk about Russian or international politics. “He never said anything about Russia versus the United States,” she said. She said Tsarnaev dressed typically in sweaters and jeans and fit in easily on campus. He spoke English with barely a trace of an accent. He had a roommate, she said, but she declined to give the student’s name. Rolon said she never met his family. Chris Baratta, 22, a senior nursing student from Acton, lives across the street from campus. He played intramural soccer against Tsarnaev last year, but said nothing unusual stood out about him. “You just sign up and make your own team, and whoever plays, plays,” he said. He said friends of his smoked marijuana with Tsarnaev, but nothing stood out about the student. Katie Horan, a sophomore at UMass Dartmouth who lives in Tsarnaev’s dorm, said the alarm went off around 7:45 a.m. telling everyone in the building to evacuate. “What’s going on?” she said as the students emptied the building, unsure of why they had to leave. She said two hours later, school officials announced a total campus evacuation; they learned officially that it was because a student was linked to the Marathon bombing. Another student, Raja Nageswaran, 25, said Tsarnaev attended a gathering last fall at his home. No one who lived at the home had invited Tsarnaev and three friends who came to the gathering, he said. “He was pretty social,” Nageswaran said. “He was pretty liked by most of the people.” Nageswaran’s roommate, Emily DeInnocentis, 23, said Tsarnaev stood out to her because of some odd behavior, like spreading messy string cheese all over her couch, and picking up her cat and carrying it upstairs for no reason. “We just didn’t invite him over after that. How many people just pick up your cat and go upstairs?” she said. Globe Correspondent Zachary T. Sampson contributed to this report. Sarah Coffey can be reached at srmcoffey@yahoo.com . Patricia Wen can be reached at wen@globe.com . Matt Carroll can be reached at mcarroll@globe.com

– As the rest of the country tensely waited for word of who the Boston Marathon bomber or bombers might be, one of the suspects was having what appears to have been a very typical Wednesday. A school official at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a sophomore who played intramural soccer, says the 19-year-old worked out at the gym and slept in his dorm room that night. Officials got the information about his whereabouts thanks to card swipes, the Boston Globe reports. (CNN says Tsarnaev was on campus every day after the attack, and even attended classes.) But before going to sleep, Tsarnaev apparently went to a party with some of his soccer buddies, according to a student who saw him there. "He was just relaxed," she says. Another student, who says she and her friends used to study and hang out with Tsarnaev, says he hadn't been around campus for the two weeks leading up to the bombing, but adds that she found his involvement in the attack hard to believe. But a third student says Tsarnaev acted oddly at a party he showed up to, uninvited, last fall, and says she and her roommates "didn't invite him over after that."

NTSB More details about the fatal Tesla Autopilot crash in May 2016 were released on Monday. The National Transportation Safety Board began its investigation into the crash last July. While the probe is still underway, the agency has published about 500 pages of the data it had collected about the crash, including technical reports, transcripts, and images. Here are some of the new details included in the report: There was no evidence that Joshua Brown, the driver of the Model S, was using his mobile phone or another electronic device when the crash occurred, as some initial reports suggested. During the last 41 minutes of Brown's trip, the Model S was in Autopilot for 37.5 minutes. Brown had his hands off the wheel for a total of 37 minutes during the time the car was in Autopilot. The Model S displayed the visual warning "hold steering wheel" seven times during the trip. Six of those were followed by auditory warnings. The Model S was driving 74 mph on the highway when it was struck by a semitruck. ||||| Page Content WASHINGTON (June 19, 2017) – As part of its ongoing investigation into the fatal 2016 highway crash involving a Tesla Model S and a tractor-semitrailer truck near Williston, Florida, the National Transportation Safety Board on Monday opened the accident docket, releasing more than 500 pages of information. System performance data downloaded from the Tesla revealed that the driver was operating the car using automated vehicle control systems: Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer lane keeping systems. In this photo, the Tesla Model S following its recovery from the crash scene near Williston, Florida. (Photo by Florida Highway Patrol investigators) The docket includes reports that cover various aspects of the investigation, including highway design, vehicle performance, human performance, and motor carrier factors. The crash reconstruction report, also included in the docket, provides a description of the crash sequence. The docket also includes interview transcripts and summaries, photographs, and other investigative material. The docket contains only factual information collected by NTSB investigators; it does not provide analysis, findings, recommendations, or probable cause determinations. No conclusions about how or why the crash occurred should be drawn from the docket. Analysis, findings, recommendations, and probable cause determinations related to the crash will be issued by the Board at a later date. On Saturday, May 7, 2016, a 2015 Tesla Model S 70D, traveling eastbound on US Highway 27A (US-27A) west of Williston, Florida, struck and passed beneath a refrigerated semitrailer powered by a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia truck-tractor. At the time of the collision, the truck was making a left turn from westbound US-27A across the two eastbound travel lanes. Impact with the right side of the semitrailer sheared off the roof of the Tesla. The driver and sole occupant of the Tesla died in the crash; the commercial truck driver was not injured. The NTSB released the preliminary report for this crash on July 26, 2016. The docket material is available at: https://go.usa.gov/xNvaE Additional material may be added to the docket as it becomes available.

– The government has released its report on the first-ever fatal self-driving car accident, and it shows that human involvement is required even when using the technology of the future. Last May, Joshua Brown collided with a left-turning truck on a divided highway near Williston, Fla., while his Tesla Model S sedan was in Autopilot. On Monday, the National Transportation Safety Board released 500 pages of findings about the accident, including a big one: During his trip, Brown ignored seven visual warnings to put his hands on the wheel, six of which were followed by a chime, reports Reuters. During a 37-minute stretch when he was supposed to be controlling the wheel, he did so for only 25 seconds. The report exonerated Brown on one thing: It found that he didn't seem to be watching a movie when the crash happened, as some reports had suggested. "Unequivocally false," says the family lawyer, saying the movie theory should be laid to rest. At the time of the accident, Tesla released a statement saying neither the autopilot system nor Brown “noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.” According to the report, the truck should have been visible to Brown for at least seven seconds, but the driver "took no braking, steering or other actions to avoid the collision." Less than two minutes before the accident, Brown had set the cruise control to 74 mph, nine miles per hour over the speed limit. Since the accident, Tesla has upgraded its Autopilot feature, which will now shut down if a driver fails to respond to audible warnings. For a diagram of the how the accident occurred, see Business Insider.

Is “Thor” getting dumber, or am I? I’m not referring to the Marvel superhero (Chris Hemsworth), a muscle-bound blond himbo whom no one has ever called a deep thinker, but to the movie franchise itself. With the release of “The Dark World,” the second film in the series about the hammer-wielding Norse god — or the third if you count “The Avengers” — I’m left with way more questions than I can answer. For example, if Thor’s homeland of Asgard has the technology to defend itself from space invaders with long-range artillery and jet fighters, as we see in the film, why do Asgardian foot soldiers still run around with medieval swords and daggers? And exactly how and when did the Bifrost get repaired? That magical bridge between Asgard and Earth was, as everyone knows, destroyed utterly at the end of the first film. It was still out of commission in “The Avengers,” leading the screenwriters to offer a bogus explanation for Thor’s appearance in New York City as the result of his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), pulling some strings. Huh? In the new film, the rainbow highway is suddenly good to go again, with no explanation. Are Thor and his family divine or aren’t they? “We’re not gods,” Odin says to his son Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in what may be the biggest bombshell ever to drop in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Oh really? Someone might want to tell creator Stan Lee, who has specifically referred to the Asgardians as divine beings. But most important, why do the Dark Elves — the bad guys in “The Dark World” — look so much like angry Teletubbies? Ow, my head. “The Dark World” opens with Thor’s villainous brother, Loki, defeated and in chains; with Thor’s human girlfriend, Jane (Natalie Portman), pining for her absent lover; and with Thor preoccupied with stamping out uprisings on various of the nine realms that he and his kind rule over. So far so good. But when Jane stumbles upon something called the Aether — a long-hidden source of destructive energy, which takes over her body like a virus — Thor must drop everything and return to Earth in order to protect her from Malekith (Christopher Eccleston). The evil leader of the Dark Elves, Malekith wants to use the Aether to — well, what exactly? Control the nine realms? Destroy them? Plunge them into darkness so he can harvest mushrooms? Whatever it is, it isn’t good. To be fair, there’s stuff to like in “The Dark World.” Loki, for example — whom Thor must reluctantly team with in his fight against the Dark Elves — is simply fabulous. Hiddleston steals the show here, making wickedness and treachery look a heck of a lot more fun than virtue. Cinematically, there’s also a great scene in which a flotilla of Asgardian funeral barges are lit afire with flaming arrows as they approach a waterfall. Sure, it’s probably entirely CGI, but it’s gorgeous all the same, especially in 3-D, and surprisingly moving. In general, though, the action scenes are only okay. There is, however, one genuinely jaw-dropping bit of violence that startled me, especially for a comic-book movie. Oh, and let’s not forget Odin’s facial hair. His white beard is magnificent, particularly the mustache, which wriggles down along the sides of his mouth in sinuous testimony to the skill of his Asgardian barber — or the film’s makeup department, which numbered 67 people. Odin may not be a god, but he has divine whiskers. See? That’s the problem with “The Dark World.” If I’m spending that much time studying Odin’s grooming, there’s something wrong with the story, which is kind of slow to get going and features too many undeveloped threads. What’s up with the jealousy, for instance, between the warrior Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and Jane? After Thor brings Jane to Asgard, the two women shoot each other a couple of nasty looks. But otherwise the dynamic goes nowhere. Do something with it, or drop it. There’s some humor, too, but far too little for my taste. This is especially disappointing after the first film, which made much of the culture shock experienced by contemporary earthlings who encounter a dude who drops out of the sky looking and talking like a Rennfest staffer who takes his job a little too seriously. And that’s the real flaw with “The Dark World,” which seems to have inhaled a bit too much of its own noxious Aether. The only one who seems to have gotten the memo that the whole thing is a gas is the bad guy. ★ ★ PG-13. At area theaters. Contains action violence. In English and some Elvish, with subtitles. 112 minutes. ||||| Lance Armstrong Sony Pictures Classics When Alex Gibney started production on "The Armstrong Lie," his grimly fascinating documentary about Lance Armstrong, his working title was "The Road Back." That was in 2008, after Armstrong had announced he was ending a three-year retirement to return to professional cycling. The road map for the film seemed clear. It would follow the unexpected comeback, while exploring the question of what was driving the man who had recovered from a near-fatal illness, stonewalled ceaseless accusations of doping and, against all odds—and logic—won the Tour de France seven times in a row. But the work in progress changed when, early this year, Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he had been doping all along. The filmmaker retooled his film accordingly, and retitled it "The Armstrong Lie." He might also have called it "The Tooth Fairy," since part of the fascination is why we ever believed the story the pedaler was peddling. Watch a clip from the documentary film "The Armstrong Lie," chronicling sports legend Lance Armstrong's improbable rise and ultimate fall from grace. (Photo/Video: Sony Pictures Classics) Watching the final version of the documentary means seeing elements of the earlier version in a new light, with the supposed hero as a peerless liar who insisted on his spotlessness even as professional cycling as a whole proved to be a dirty sport. Some of those elements will be familiar to those who have followed Armstrong's doubt-shadowed triumphs and shattering disgrace—the fury he unleashed against his perceived enemies ("He was an immensely intimidating person," one interview subject recalls); the evolution of doping techniques from drugs to transfusions in order to avoid detection; the greedy hypocrisy of cycling officials; the long-standing code of silence among teammates and associates who finally turned on their team's leader. Still, "The Armstrong Lie" is truly singular, a tale of ambition that's almost mad enough to be mythic. "The Armstrong Lie" is a grimly fascinating tale of ambition that's almost mad enough to be mythic, says WSJ Film Critic Joe Morgenstern. Photo: Sony Pictures Classics. Lance Armstrong, the movie notes, came out of Plano, Texas as an angry, competitive kid: "I love beatin' people," the kid says, putting it plainly, if mildly. Yet the figurative beatings he inflicted were no greater than the punishments he endured almost two decades ago from testicular cancer that spread to his abdomen, lungs and brain. Film clips from that time remind us of how Armstrong's illness, his remarkable recovery and the philanthropic foundation he created all served to inoculate him against suspicions of doping that were already swirling around him. We believed, or at least half-believed, his protestations of purity because we didn't want to believe that someone who'd been through such medical tortures would endanger his health yet again, much less lie about it. And because, as the film shows vividly, his ambition to win—to punish, to crush, to prevail—transcended ordinary comprehension. Was he nothing more than a compulsive liar? Mr. Gibney's footage suggests otherwise. One of the most interesting parts of the film turns on the evident sincerity of Armstrong's postretirement attempt to win the 2009 Tour de France by riding clean. He failed, though his third-place finish was, as the filmmaker puts it, "the perfect ending for the film I wanted to make." In the film he did make, his subject tells the truth only after the evidence against him has become so overwhelming as to make him a pariah in the sport he managed to dominate for 10 years. "The Armstrong Lie" wears thin before it's over; the wafer-thin nature of the cyclist's personality can't sustain a two-hour running time. Toward the end, though, there's a revelatory moment that requires close attention. It's in one of the clips from the Winfrey interview, after Armstrong has confessed. "Did you feel in any way that you were cheating?" Oprah asks. He nods his head almost imperceptibly, meaning yes, and says "No." At least one of his reflexes is still sharp. Watch a clip from the film "Thor: The Dark World." Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet. (Photo: Marvel) 'Thor: The Dark World' Under a photo of Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman on the Facebook site for "Thor: The Dark World," a fan has posted the comment "They're so beautiful, it hurts." Well, they really are beautiful, these two—Mr. Hemsworth's Thor, the God of Thunder who goes after bad guys with his trusty hammer, and Ms. Portman's Jane, Thor's across-the-universe girlfriend. In the previous episode, Jane, an astrophysicist, was much concerned about resolving her particle data. In this one she's worried that "physics is going to go ballistic, the very walls of reality will be torn apart," because the nine realms of the physical world are in convergence and a race of baddies called Dark Elves have a weapon called the Aether that can destroy every corner of creation, including our own. That's a problem, to be sure, but the larger problem, transcending all realms, is that this action-adventure sequel from Marvel soon turns so dumb and 3-D-murky that it hurts. Chris Hemsworth in Marvel's 'Thor: The Dark World' Marvel Most of the action is generic, though sufficiently straightforward to provide relief from the incoherent storytelling. Which realm are we in now? Where were we a moment ago, and how did everyone get here? Such questions seem not to have troubled the writers or producers. As for the director, Alan Taylor, he has done a lot of top-drawer television, including episodes of "Game of Thrones," but there's no sign he has a feel for feature films; his emphasis is entirely on big set pieces at the expense of narrative flow. Tom Hiddleston is entertaining once again as Loki, Thor's evil brother. Anthony Hopkins is orotund once again as Thor's father, King Odin. Idris Elba has returned as Heimdall, the omnipotent sentry who, for lack of much else to do, gives new meaning to the notion of watchful waiting. And in a film that's often sillier than it wants to be, Stellan Skarsgård is back with intentional silliness as the physicist Erik Selvig, who turns up this time as a flasher at Stonehenge. Watch a clip from the film "How I Live Now." An American girl (Saoirse Ronan) sent to the English countryside finds herself fighting for her survival as the UK turns into a violent military state. (Photo/Video: Magnolia Pictures) 'How I Live Now' Kevin Macdonald's screen version of the young-adult novel by Meg Rosoff gets off on the wrong foot as soon as its teenage American heroine arrives at Heathrow and plants her own two feet and torn tights on English soil. Saoirse Ronan's Daisy, who's been sent by her father to stay with relatives in the countryside, is a spoiled brat and an offputting pain who is tense, obviously troubled and on some sort of medication. Then Europe gets off on a much wronger foot by engaging in a spasm of nuclear war, after which Daisy and her cousins must struggle to survive in a sylvan setting suddenly showered with radioactive snow, and beset by violence from unnamed and mostly unseen terrorists. Enlarge Image Close Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay in 'How I Live Now' Magnolia Pictures Ms. Ronan grows in screen presence, and grace, as her character opens up—the movie's central notion is that Daisy will be healed by her grueling trials—and the story profits, somewhat, from its outward resemblance to the "Hunger Games" saga. Yet the production feels tentative and underpopulated: I thought not only of Katniss Everdeen but of the marvelous pandemonium in Danny Boyle's zombie epic "28 Days Later." Short on events and surprises, "How I Live Now" concocts a mystical bond between Daisy and her handsome cousin Eddie (George MacKay), with whom she ambiguously but still provocatively falls in love. The things kids will do when the power grid fails. Watch a clip from the film "The Motel Life." A pair of working-class brothers flee their Reno Motel after getting involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident. Starring Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, and Kris Kristofferson. (Photo/Video: Polsky Films) 'The Motel Life' Actor Stephen Dorff speaks with WSJ's Alexandra Wolfe about his new film, "The Motel Life," which opens in theaters Friday, Nov. 8, and stars Emile Hirsch, Dakota Fanning, and Kris Kristofferson. Photo: AP. No one will accuse the Polsky brothers, Gabe and Alan, of dressing up their directorial debut with the trappings of popular success. This tale of down-and-out brothers living on the edge in Nevada has all the crowd-pleasing potential of a dirge. (It was adapted, by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, from a novel by the writer-musician Willy Vlautin.) All the same, it's admirable and even memorable, in its moody fashion, thanks to Roman Vasyanov's richly textured cinematography—he's a shooter to keep our eyes on—and three affecting performances. Enlarge Image Close Stephen Dorff and Emile Hirsch in 'The Motel Life' Polsky Films Frank and Jerry Lee Flannigan, played respectively by Emile Hirsch and Stephen Dorff, flee their seedy motel in Reno for a similar dump in Elko after Jerry Lee accidentally hits a kid on a bike and kills him. The brothers are hardly a fun couple, but they're full of buried talent—Frank is a born storyteller, Jerry Lee covers motel walls with vibrant drawings—and their devotion to one another shapes the plot; indeed, it pretty much is the plot. Dakota Fanning plays Annie, a troubled young woman and Frank's former girlfriend. Whenever she smiles, a world that's woefully wrong seems briefly right. Rewind DVD // Streaming // Download 'The Triplets of Belleville' (2003) The Tour de France in the 1960s, rendered by Sylvain Chomet in an animated feature with a visual language all its own. The absence of conventional dialogue helps draw us into the mysteriously moving world of a spoke-thin bicycle-racer; his indomitable, club-footed grandmother, their supersniffer of a family dog and the three old crones of the title, superannuated vaudevillians who turn up when the action moves from bicycle racing in France to bicyclist-chasing in Belleville, a city that's an amalgam of New York, Montreal, the Mont Saint Michel and the metropolis from "Metropolis." 'Good Will Hunting' (1997) Stellan Skarsgård is Gerald Lambeau, an MIT math professor who first spots the towering talent of Will Hunting, the angry young blue-collar hero played by Matt Damon. Will has mayhem on his mind and a brain that resonates with the deepest mysteries of mathematics. When asked how he's able to prove theorems that have stumped the world's intellectual elite, this semitough kid from South Boston compares himself matter of factly to Mozart. Mr. Damon wrote the script with his friend and co-star Ben Affleck. Robin Williams is Will's therapist. The director was Gus Van Sant. 'Atonement' (2007) Saoirse Ronan's Briony, a precocious 13-year-old in 1930s England, jumps to a conclusion that isn't just wrong but perverse in this screen version of Ian McEwan's novel, which Joe Wright directed from an adaptation by Christopher Hampton. Briony lacks any understanding of adult behavior that might put what she thinks she's seen in sensible context. And the girl's inflamed imagination leads her to a fateful decision for which she lacks any clear motive. Yet that decision changes the course of three lives: her own and those of the star-crossed lovers played by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. Write to Joe Morgenstern at joe.morgenstern@wsj.com and follow him on Twitter: @JoeMorgenstern

– The nine realms are about to converge in Thor: The Dark World—but don't expect to keep them all straight. The jumping from world to world in director Alan Taylor's film, starring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, appears to have left critics scattered. (It's got a 69% rating from them at Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences are at 86%.) For Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street Journal, watching it was painful. "Most of the action is generic, though sufficiently straightforward to provide relief from the incoherent storytelling," he writes. But "this action-adventure sequel from Marvel soon turns so dumb and 3D-murky that it hurts." Ian Buckwalter at NPR is in the opposite camp. "Taylor allows the film to hurtle with the force of Thor's hammer into pure popcorn-spectacle territory," he writes. Plus, it "contains some of the most gorgeously rendered images in the Avengers films." While praising Tom Hiddleston, who plays Thor's adopted brother Loki, Chris Knight at the National Post writes that you need a "Field Guide to Superheroes" to keep it all straight. Still, Taylor "manages to keep the action light on its feet despite numerous locations and a host of minor characters." Michael O'Sullivan at the Washington Post likes the "gorgeous" cinematography and says Hiddleston "steals the show." But "I'm left with way more questions than I can answer," he writes. Like "Is Thor getting dumber, or am I?" It's slow to start "and features too many undeveloped threads."

Shirlene Quigley, a professional dancer featured in Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" video, disappeared after last being seen early Sunday morning, according to New Jersey's North Bergen Police. Quigley -- who teaches a high-heel dance class at Peridance Capezio Center and Broadway Dance Center in Manhattan -- was last seen at New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal. The 32-year-old dancer's cell phone was discovered at a bridal shop in Chelsea. Her father told NBC News that she may have been there to pick up something for a show. In addition to her work with Beyonce, Quigley -- who originally hails from Los Angeles -- performed with Rihanna, Jamie Foxx and Missy Elliott. She also appeared on the Grammys, MTV Video Music Awards, America's Got Talent, Saturday Night Live and a national commercial for Pepsi. She most recently participated in a Facebook Live dance video with Nigel Lythgoe for Billboard from Broadway Dance. Since news of her disappearance broke, the dance community has launched an online campaign for her safe return. Anyone with information is asked to contact the North Bergen Police at (201) 392-2100. Quigley can be seen at the 1:15 mark in the "Crazy in Love" video below: ||||| Police are looking for 32-year-old Shirlene Quigley, a dancer from North Bergen. She has danced with Beyonce and Rihanna, among others. Missy Elliott posted photos of Quigley on her Instagram account and called her a "sweet, caring spirit." Quigley's father, who last spoke to her on Friday, said "she's everything to me, she's why I live." (Published Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016) What to Know Shirlene Quigley's father says she was last seen at Port Authority Bus Terminal early Sunday The father, who lives in California, says his daughter always calls him at 6 p.m. each day; he was concerned when he hadn't heard from her Quigley's phone was found at a bridal store in Manhattan UPDATE: Rihanna, Missy Elliott Join Surging Call to Help Find Missing Dancer Police are investigating the disappearance of a 32-year-old celebrity backup dancer from New Jersey who has performed behind the likes of Beyonce and Rihanna. Shirlene Quigley, who lives alone in North Bergen and teaches dance at Peridance Capezio Center and Broadway Dance Center in Manhattan, according to her Facebook page, was last seen getting on a bus at Port Authority around 1 a.m. Sunday, her father said. Her father, who lives in California, said Quigley normally calls him every day around 6 p.m., and he became concerned when he hadn't heard from her. "I just want her to come home, or if someone has her to let her be," the father said. "She's everything to me. She's why I live." Police Investigate Disappearance of Beyonce Backup Dancer Police are investigating the disappearance of a 32-year-old celebrity backup dancer from New Jersey, who was reported missing after sending a cryptic message to friends. (Published Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016) Rihanna called Quigley a "beautiful soul" in an Instagram post that included a video of the missing 32-year-old contemplating peace and love. "Imagine if we treated each other like we all came from the same family," Quigley says in the video. "If you are in my life, I love you, whether it be 10 seconds or forever, because we're all family." Missy Elliott posted a collage of Quigley to Instagram, urging people to call police if they have information. Police say Quigley's phone was found at a bridal store in Chelsea; her father says she could've been there to pick up something for a show. Quigley's father said his daughter made a strange comment to her friend recently along the lines of "Get ready, it's about to happen and I'm going to need you to sub for me." Quigley attended Liberty Church in Brooklyn; her father says that she is very religious, and that lately she has seemed "euphoric." Her landlord saw her leave her New Jersey home Saturday afternoon and later called a friend to say Quigley did not seem well, the friend said. According to her personal website, Quigley's dance career launched when she was 18 and earned a role as one of the "uhh ohh girls" on Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" music video. She has performed on an array of awards shows, including the VMA's, Grammy's and ESPY Awards. Quigley created the first high heel dance class at a studio in her hometown of Los Angeles and later brought the workshop to New York City. She has also taught at dance studios around the world, her website says. ||||| NORTH BERGEN — North Bergen Police are investigating the disappearance of a Beyonce backup dancer and township resident who has been missing since early Sunday, a department spokesman said. Police are looking for 32-year-old Shirlene Quigley, a dancer and dance instructor whose resume includes performances with Beyonce, Rihanna and other pop luminaries, and on numerous television award shows. "The North Bergen Police Department is actively investigating and has received a Missing Person report," Phil Swibinski, a spokesman for the North Bergen Police, said in an email. A facebook page pleads with friends and fans to "Please help us find Shirlene Amber Quigley." North Bergen Police also posted a notice of Quigley's disappearance on the department's own facebook page, where it mentioned sightings of her on Saturday afternoon and early Sunday morning. The department said Quigley's car and her cell phone had also been recovered by the NYPD. "Ms. Quigley was last seen by her landlord on October 22, 2016 at approximately 3:00 pm, leaving her residence. She was wearing a pink top, blue jeans and high heels," the department stated. "An individual has also reported seeing Ms. Quigley in the area of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan on October 23, 2016 at approximately 12:55 am. She was still wearing the same clothing described by her landlord." "Our Detectives are currently in Manhattan following all current leads in the case," North Bergen Police said on Facebook. A friend had posted on Quigley's facebook page that, "she was last seen at Port Authority in #NYC around 12:55am and the police now have her phone. She usually doesn't go more than 12 hours without contacting her dad." News 4 quotes Quigley's father in Los Angeles as saying she had left a message advising colleagues: "Get ready, it's about to happen and I'm going to need you to sub for me." Just what was "about to happen" was not clear, however. Quigley's faculty bio at the dance center says Quigley she was born and raised in Los Angeles, and had "recently moved to the New York City." North Bergen is directly across the Hudson River from midtown Manhattan. "She has performed all over the world at arenas world wide touring with some of the biggest stars of our generation," the dance center bio states, "dancing on television, commercial, film, and Music videos with artists such as Beyonce, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Destiny's Child, Missy Elliot, Mary J Blige, Jamie Foxx, Ray J, PorcelainBlack, Lil Romeo, Ashanti, Fantasia, Jaheim and many more." This beautiful soul, and former dancer of mine is MISSING!!! My heart aches thinking of how heavy this is on all who love her! If anyone has seen or has any information on @shirlenequigley's whereabouts ..... PLEASE CONTACT the North Bergen Police Department 201 392 2100 !!!! A video posted by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Oct 24, 2016 at 5:37pm PDT Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. ||||| NEW YORK — A 32-year-old professional dancer from New Jersey, who has performed as a backup dancer for Beyonce and teaches dance in New York City, has been reported missing, her family confirmed Monday. Shirlene Amber Quigley was last seen around 1 a.m. Sunday, at Port Authority Bus Terminal. The North Bergen resident is described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, 150 pounds with black curly hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a pink top, jeans and heels. She may be disoriented and in need of medical attention. Quigley’s phone was found in a retail store in Manhattan and turned over to the police. According to her family, Quigley’s vehicle, a 2006 Silver Mercedes C230 was found Monday at 126 W. 55th St. and towed by the NYPD. Shortly after her vehicle was found, Quigley’s Facebook page was deactivated, prompting her frantic family to contact authorities a second time. Her father, who lives in California, told PIX11 sources that she has never gone more than 12 hours without contacting him. Quigley created the first High Heel Dance class in her hometown of Los angeles and brought it with her to New York City where she teaches at the Broadway Dance Center. According to her personal webpage, Quigley’s dance career began at 18, when she danced as one of the original “uhh ohh girls” on Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” music video. Since then, she has performed all over the world with artists such as Rihanna, Chris Brown, Destiny’s Child, Missy Elliot, Mary J Blige, Jamie Foxx, Ray J, and more. If you have any tips on the whereabouts of Quigley, call North Bergen Police Department with TIPS ONLY at (201) 392-2092.

– A professional dancer who's busted moves with Beyonce and Rihanna is missing after making an odd comment to a friend. According to her landlord, Shirlene Quigley, 32, seemed unwell while leaving her New Jersey home around 3pm Saturday, reports NBC New York. She was last seen boarding a bus at Manhattan's Port Authority around 1am Sunday wearing a pink shirt, jeans, and heels, per NJ.com. Her father, who lives in California, hasn't heard from Quigley since, though she usually calls him every day. Oddly, he says Quigley left a message with a friend and colleague that said, "Get ready, it's about to happen and I'm going to need you to sub for me." It isn't clear what the message means. Her car was found at a NYC dance studio where she works as an instructor. Her phone was found at a bridal store where she might have picked up something for a performance, her father says. "I just want her to come home, or if someone has her to let her be," he adds, noting his daughter is deeply religious and was "euphoric" as of late. "She's everything to me. She's why I live." Quigley—who has also performed with Chris Brown and Missy Elliot and on award shows, America's Got Talent, and Saturday Night Live, per Billboard—is described as 5 feet 10 inches and 150 pounds, with curly black hair and brown eyes. Police say she may be disoriented and in need of medical help, reports PIX 11.

Revealing full-body scans and genital-touching pat-downs are poised to become a regular fixture of airline travel in the U.S., and people are hopping mad about it.There have been accusations on both sides of fear mongering, insider profiting scandals and abuse Some of the effects of this two month-old change in the way airline passengers are screened are already being felt: CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg warns that the most immediate effect of these new security procedures will be longer lines and even travel delays, perhaps in no small part because even airline pilots have come out vehemently against them.• There are several reports, some disputed , of dust-ups with Transportation and Security Administration agents not really offering promised alternatives to the scans.• Some reports claim TSA agents are simply booting passengers and pilots from airports for refusing to take part, something the TSA notes is its right to do after a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.A surprising effect of the scans may eventually be a decline in air travel, according to an online Reuters poll . Reuters' readers were asked whether or not they would change their travel plans to avoid the invasive scans and pat-downs, and a whopping 96 percent (65,708 of 68,513) have thus far said yes.Those numbers could be skewed because one of the plethora of online opponents to the new scanning procedures may have asked readers to go to the site and vote.In contrast, a new CBS News Poll released Monday found 81 percent of Americans think airports should use these new machines -- including a majority of both men and women, Americans of all age groups, and Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Fifteen percent said airports should not use them.For her part, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says in a USA Today opinion piece that body scanners used at many airports are safe and the images viewed in private. Health Blog: Should John Tyner Should Worry about More Than His Junk? ||||| Flying somewhere Nov. 24? You could be walking into the midst of a large-scale protest aimed at getting passengers to turn down full-body scans at airports. National Opt-Out Day is planned for the day before Thanksgiving, one of the busiest days of the year for airports. A group of activists is calling on passengers to exercise their Transportation Security Administration-given rights and decline full-body scans that allow technicians to see through their clothes. The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are up in arms about the scans, saying they violate privacy rights. But some, including pilots unions, say the slower pat-downs aren't much better. Allegations of improper groping have surfaced recently, causing some to demand new security-screening methods at airports. "This country needs security measures in place that not only keep us safe but also do not grossly violate privacy or constitute an unreasonable search, like the current protocol," opt-out organizers wrote in a statement on optoutday.com. A recent CBS poll found that 81 percent of Americans are OK with full-body scanners being used at airports. The opt-out protest is hoping to motivate Congress to pass harsher laws to protect privacy at airports. "It's the day ordinary citizens stand up for their rights, stand up for liberty, and protest the federal government's desire to virtually strip us naked or submit to an 'enhanced pat down' that touches people's breasts and genitals in an aggressive manner," organizers said. They added: "You should never have to explain to your children, 'Remember that no stranger can touch or see your private area, unless it's a government employee, then it's OK.'" Scanners were installed at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport earlier this fall.

– A group of organizers angry about full-body scans is sticking with its plan to snarl airport congestion on one of the busiest travel days of the year—the day before Thanksgiving. National Opt-Out Day encourages passengers to opt out of the scans and choose the more time-consuming pat-downs instead. The idea is to pressure Congress into better protecting passenger privacy, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Despite all the recent hubbub, a recent CBS poll found 81% of Americans have no issue with the use of full-body scanners at airports. Still, if you're interested in joining in on the protest, Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic offers this advice to send an especially pointed message: Wear a kilt, sans underwear. "If nothing else, this will cause TSA employees to throw up their hands in disgust."

Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| The latest (and likely last) bit of Andrew Breitbart's investigative work has been released, billed as "exclusive tape of an Occupy Strategy Session at New York University, billed as a group talk on 'The Abolition of Capitalism.'" And though Breitbart, who passed away last week, introduces it as "not the story of the year, the story of the decade," but a few minutes of Googling shows that it was not exactly an investigative triumph. The video consists mostly of raw footage from a Feb. 11 panel discussion put on by the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU and the The New School, which, as a flyer that was promoted online notes, was "Free & Open to the Public." Three days later, videos of the three sessions were posted on YouTube by The New School for Social Research. The event itself was not called the "Abolition of Capitalism" but rather "The Winter of Our Discontent," and the portion about abolishing capitalism came with a long list of question marks in the second session's description: ULTIMATE GOALS: The abolition of the state in favor of something more directly participatory – or rather the strengthening of a state in which elected representatives insure universal health care, equal educational opportunity, environmental norms, and so forth? The abolition of capitalism – or else the elaboration of new forms of mixed economy (regulation of markets and financial institutions in order to promote social justice and reverse the polarization of wealth; forging new attitudes towards growth, productivity and consumption in the context of climate change; etc.)? The way Breitbart saw the event, it proves the Service Employees International Union and Occupy were working together to abolish capitalism. In a video, Breitbart somehow connects the group of "anarchists, socialists... unions, [and] young kids who have nothing better to do" to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. When Andrew Breitbart died last week, he was rumored to be working on some hot stories that would embarrass Barack Obama and the left so badly some suggested darkly that the right-wing muckraker might have been assassinated. The other bit of posthumous work to be posted has been Breitbart's final written piece, about Barack Obama participating in a panel discussion on Saul Alinsky in 1998, also doesn't exactly break ground since nobody tried to keep Obama's participation in that event a secret. But at least the piece gives Breitbart a chance to indulge in the kind of insinuations that made him such a hero to his fans. "That’s The Love Song of Saul Alinsky," Breitbart wrote of the play Obama attended and discussed. "It’s radical leftist stuff, and it revels in its radical leftism. And that’s Barack Obama, our president, on the poster." Sure, Breitbart made a career out of this kind of thing, but it's hard to believe this is the "story of the decade" that conspiracy theorists think got him assassinated. Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at amartin at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire. Adam Martin

– The story that is likely Andrew Breitbart's final piece of investigative work is out, and in the video, Breitbart himself calls his "exclusive" the "story of the decade." But it was neither an exclusive nor the story of the decade, the Atlantic Wire notes after doing what Adam Martin describes as "a few minutes of Googling." The video shows an "Occupy Strategy Session" at NYU that, Breitbart claims, was billed as "a group talk on 'The Abolition of Capitalism.'" But the Feb. 11 panel discussion was actually called "The Winter of Our Discontent"—and it was open to the public, and videos had already been posted online days after the event. Though Breitbart claimed the event proves that the Occupy movement teamed up with the Service Employees International Union to abolish capitalism, it turns out that the part about abolishing capitalism wasn't exactly a call to … abolish capitalism. As a portion of the description reads: "The abolition of capitalism—or else the elaboration of new forms of mixed economy…?" Meanwhile, Breitbart's last written piece, which centers on Barack Obama's participation in a 1998 panel discussion on Saul Alinsky, also "doesn't exactly break ground," Martin writes. "It's hard to believe this is the 'story of the decade' that conspiracy theorists think got him assassinated."

Much like the rest of us, Hollywood's hottest celebrities spent their formative years stuffing their faces with flame-broiled beef, Enchiritos, and double-cheeseburger pizza. READ: 10 Things You Didn't Know About McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Other Fast Fooderies Unlike us, however, those celebrities were stuffing their soon-to-be-recognizable faces for the good of their careers. Before they hit it big, beloved actors such as Michael J. Fox and Ben Affleck were starring in fast food commercials for places like McDonald's and Burger King. And while their roles were arguably less meaty than the hamburgers they were endorsing, they used those roles as stepping stones on their journey toward fame, fortune and a fulfilling life in the spotlight. READ: The 15 Best Movie Boyfriends In Film History The rest of us were just hungry for Whoppers, probably. Anyway, here's those commercials we mentioned earlier: Michael J. Fox Michael J. Fox desperately wants his date's affections, but he's also interested in her mouthwatering french fries. Luckily, he escapes this McDonald's commercial with both. Steve Carell When Brown's chicken switched to a cholesterol-free recipe, Steve Carell was extremely excited to share the news. In fact, he was so excited that he completely disregarded the white sedan that almost ran over a motorcyclist at the 20 second mark. Meg Ryan In 1982, Meg Ryan interrupted our regularly scheduled Burger King commercials to plug the restaurant's "Aren't You Hungry?" promotion, which offered diners the chance to win a million dollars. READ: Burger King's $1 'French Fry Burger' is Exactly What It Sounds Like Jason Alexander Judging by this McDonald's commercial, the #1 problem in the '80s was hamburgers with warm lettuce. The short-lived McDLT arrived to solve all of this, complete with its own song and dance routine starring "Seinfeld" alum Jason Alexander. Ben Affleck If you're a woman with a sultry voice, don't dial Ben Affleck's car phone by mistake. He has no qualms about fraudulently posing as a Burger King delivery man in order to get your address, drive to your house, and seduce you. Julianna Margulies For Julianna Margulies of "ER" and "The Good Wife," a McDonald's Big Mac is too much food for its reasonable price tag. What she wants is slightly less food for a slightly more reasonable price tag. READ: The Most Envy-Inducing McDonald’s Items From Around the World James Franco When Elvis finally comes back from the dead, he's going to want one thing and one thing only: Pizza Hut. At least that's the sentiment of this Pizza Hut ad featuring James Franco as a skeptic who wrongly assumes otherwise. Andrew McCarthy and Elisabeth Shue Before they hit it big, Andrew McCarthy and Elisabeth Shue were just two crazy kids in love … with the taste of Pepsi and Whoppers. Here, they inform us of said love with the anxiousness of underage teenagers on the verge of eloping. Megan Mullally and John Goodman Not only did this McDonald's commercial showcase the talents of actors Megan Mullally and John Goodman, but it also introduced us to a catchy Egg McMuffin jingle that we never knew existed. READ: McDonald's Japan Introduces 'Quarter Pounder Jewelry' Burgers Sarah Michelle Gellar At only 5 years old, future "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actress Sarah Michelle Gellar was already unhappy with the size of the burger patties at McDonald's, so she went to Burger King instead. (Interestingly enough, this commercial got Gellar banned from McDonald's for a short time.) Patrick Duffy Does Taco Bell offer its employees a commission on every order? Because that would explain why future "Dallas" star Patrick Duffy feels the need to upsell an innocent Taco Bell customer in this ad from the '70s. READ: Mary McCartney's Black Bean Feta Tacos Jodie Foster If the following commercial is to be believed, Jodie Foster used to live in McDonaldland and survive solely on milkshakes. So when all the drinking vessels in McDonaldland disappeared one day (leaving Jodie without any milkshakes), her and friend Ronald McDonald hatched a convoluted plan to get them back. This is that story. Elijah Wood Elijah Wood is lucky that his dad is god-awful at planning a backyard barbecue. Otherwise, little Elijah and his family would never have gotten their fill of delicious double-cheeseburger pizza from Pizza Hut. READ: The Top 10 Pizza Cities in America Corey Feldman On Christmas Eve, Santa gets more cookies than he knows what to do with. Luckily, little Corey Feldman knew what Santa really wanted: a coupon for 50¢ off his next McDonald's Value Meal. ||||| Most of us turn a blind eye to the preparation methods or sanitary conditions at our favorite fast food restaurants. In the back of our minds, we occasionally question whether something sketchy is going on in the kitchen, but we'd rather enjoy our food in blissful ignorance. Let's ruin that right now. READ: 8 Fast Food Fiascos That Grossed Out the Nation Last Thursday, a Reddit user by the name of ohisthename posed the following question to any fast food workers within the Reddit community: "What should we NOT order at your restaurant? Why not?" The responses were plentiful, with thousands of users chiming in. And their answers were intriguing, informative, and in many cases, downright gross. Here are some of the more insightful things they had to say: #1. Avoid Lemons and Ice at All Costs From Reddit user hardshell1919: "I've worked at 4 restaurants in my life and lemons and ice are by far the most disgusting things you can get." From Reddit user littlebosheep: "Even with regular cleaning ice machines are disgusting." READ: 10 Things You Didn't Know About McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Other Fast Food Restaurants From Reddit user velleux: "But really though, those lemons have been sitting out all day. Stop ordering them." #2. Don't Order the Chili From Reddit user doopercrooper: "Don't eat the chili at fast food places. It's usually the old meat chopped up into pieces and thrown into a chili." #3. Steer Clear of the Hot Food at a Movie Theater From Reddit user lizardmon: "I worked at a movie theater for a year. Never buy anything that came out of a warmer. Unless you are there at 7 p.m. on a Friday or Saturday night chances are it was made between 2 and 4 hours ago." #4. … And Sometimes the Popcorn, Too From Reddit user 318daily: "I used to work at a movie theater. Don't get popcorn if you're watching the first showing of the day. At night we would make popcorn and bag it up which is what we would serve in the morning the following day." WATCH: The Unbelievably Gross Thing a Pizza Hut Employee Did From Reddit user juandurfel: "Be careful if you order popcorn for the first show time of the day at your theater. Some [theaters] take the popcorn left over in the popper from the night before and store it in a trashbag in the break room. They then dump the popcorn back into the popper the next day and sell it first." #5: Inspect Your Sandwich Meats From Reddit user hey-you-pikachu: "The roast beef is so full of preservatives its iridescent (super shiny and rainbow). The cold cuts are in a nasty syrup that smells like [expletive deleted], and the black forest ham has little piggy hairs on them if you look close enough." From Reddit user ChipCrumbMassacre: "I work at a local sub-place … Do not order ham or turkey subs. When we microwave the ham, it sparks, and sometimes when we cut the turkey with the slicer, you can hear a little clink because there was something solid that was cut through." #6. You Shouldn't Be Ordering a Taco Pizza From Reddit user grdctrl2mjrtom: "Don't order the taco pizza then. Never in my 3 years of off and on working at 3 different [pizza chain locations] have I seen anyone use gloves to put the lettuce, tomatoes, or cheddar cheese on one of those suckers." READ: The Top 10 Pizza Cities In The U.S. #7. Your Fish Sandwich Might Be Iffy From Reddit user Recede: "We had to make them at 11 when lunch started and had the same ones in the tray until the elderly people came to get their supper at 3 P.M. ... Never order them." From Reddit user phillipssyndrome: "I would never trust ANYONE cooking ANY fish." #8. Stop Ordering From the Non-Existent 'Secret Menu' From Reddit user bwat4ou: "Current Starbucks employee here. To expand on this, one person's "secret menu recipe" for a drink they got off Pinterest or some crap site might vary from another persons recipe from the same 'drink' from some stupid other website.... So we never really 'know' the exact recipes..." From Reddit user Ssutuanjoe: "Every redditor who works at Chipotle has the same consensus; Don't order the quesorito. I've never ordered it and it never seemed appealing to me to begin with, but apparently when customers order them, every employee in the restaurant hates you." #9: There's a Reason They're Called Dirty-Water Hot Dogs From Reddit user FreakyCheeseMan: "Do not. Buy. The Hot Dogs. They made it out of the package okay, and might even have been edible after we finished grilling them — and then they went into the water. We kept three pans of water at the back of the grill that held the hot dogs. Any hot dogs left at the end of the day went back into the fridge, and came out again the next day. Me and the other cook put our feet down on throwing out the water and old hotdogs after two full days, but the management didn't want to let us." READ: Teach an Old Dog New Tricks With These 8 Wild Hot Dog Recipes #10: Demand Decaf From Reddit user fishkybuns: "Our coffee has to be made on certain times. It can't be too old. However not many people order decaf. So we don't make it too often during slower hours (our busy times are early and later morning. Afternoon, evening, and night is what I'm taking about) So if you order it drive thru, and there isn't any, you'll likely get regular." READ: How Gross is Your Coffee Maker? Despite the negative responses, several Reddit commenters, were quick to point out that not all of these franchise stores operate the same way, some even saying that their local locations are "spotless" and serve completely safe, fresh food. Just hope you like near one of those the next time you're downing an icy drink with a lemon wedge. ||||| Steakhouses aren't just about the beef. WATCH: Steakhouse Secrets For Making a Perfect Steak at Home It's those delicious side dishes that complete the meal. Del Frisco's steakhouse (where Taylor Swift recently dropped by for a bite) also is known for its mouth-watering sides, including the ever-popular lettuce wedge. This popular menu item is served up with a dollop of homemade blue cheese dressing and apple smoked bacon ... topped with more blue cheese crumbles, of course! WATCH: The Waldorf Astoria's Official Recipe for Their Waldorf Salad Their executive chef Elvis Inniss shows us how it's made. While it may seem like a no-brainer, the secret's in the blue cheese dressing. Watch the video above and make your own tonight! RECIPE: Beer-Battered Onion Rings ||||| Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| Even if you don't love fast food, you probably still know a lot about it. Who among us can't tell the difference between a Whopper and a Big Mac, for instance? READ: Fast Food Items You Won't Find in America But what about more obscure minutiae, like where Taco Bell's newest logo came from, or what Colonel Sanders did before he became a household name? Sure, the answers to these trivial questions may not net you any points on SAT or IQ tests, but they're interesting just the same. And who knows? Some of this info might come in handy in other ways, like during a spirited round of pub trivia at your local bar. Eh, probably not. But here's ten fun facts anyway: 1. In 1989, two employees at a Domino's Pizza in Chamblee, Georgia, were held at gunpoint by a man named Kenneth Lamar Noid. According to a police detective, Noid was "having an ongoing feud in his mind with the owner of Domino's Pizza" over the Domino's mascot, called The Noid. Noid agreed to release his hostages in exchange for $100,000 (along with a library book, a getaway car and a pizza), but both employees managed to escape unharmed after about five hours. Noid only got the pizza before giving himself up. 2. Despite eating food from the McDonald's menu "every single day," the company's CEO claims to have slimmed down over the last year. Don Thompson credits his 20-pound weight loss to picking his "butt up" and "working out again." 3. Taco Bell is named after its founder, Glen Bell. His earlier burger joint was called Bell's Burgers. 4. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actress Sarah Michelle Gellar appeared in a Burger King commercial when she was only five years old, and in it, she criticized the size of McDonald's hamburger patties. As a result, McDonald's brought a lawsuit against Burger King, during which time Gellar was prohibited from eating at any McDonald's locations. "It was tough because, when you're a little kid, McDonald's is where all your friends have their birthday parties. So I missed out on a lot of apple pies." 5. Depending on the source, Taco Bell's current pink and purple logo either debuted in the 1993 film "Demolition Man" or it was modeled after the version that appeared on-screen. (In the movie, Taco Bell is the only restaurant left in the futuristic city of San Angeles after some sort of "franchise war.") 6. Before founding KFC, Colonel Sanders shot a guy in a gun fight. While operating a fledgling gas station in Corbin, Kentucky, he (along with two representatives from Shell Oil) got into a heated shoot-out with the owner of a Standard Oil station across the road. Sanders wasn't charged with the crime, seeing as someone else started the altercation. 7. Clara Peller, the actress who played the "Where's the Beef?" lady in Wendy's 1984 ad campaigns, was fired in 1985 after uttering her famous phrase in another company's commercial — specifically, an ad for Prego spaghetti sauce. Wendy's claimed that the commercial "infers that Clara found the beef at somewhere other than Wendy's restaurants.'' 8. In 1962, McDonald's franchise owner Lou Groen was looking for ways to cater to the Roman Catholic population that lived in his Cincinnati neighborhood, because they tended to abstain from meat on Fridays. He brought his idea for a fish sandwich to McDonald's headquarters, where McDonald's chief Ray Kroc issued him a challenge: If Groen's Filet-O-Fish sold better at a specific McDonald's location than Kroc's own idea for a Hula Burger (containing only a bun and a slice of pineapple), Kroc would add it to the national menu. "I won hands-down," claimed Groen. 9. The McDonald's Big Mac was originally slated to be called the "Blue Ribbon Burger." It was 21-year-old Esther (Some sources say that the name "Aristocrat" was also a front-runner, and that the burger itself was modeled after the Bob's Big Boy.) 10. Most In-N-Out Burger locations have palm trees growing on the premises, with two planted specifically to form an X. In-N-Out founder Harry Snyder was reportedly a huge fan of the film "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," in which a host of characters race to uncover a buried treasure located beneath criss-crossing palm trees.

– Much like the rest of us, Hollywood's hottest celebrities spent their formative years stuffing their faces with flame-broiled beef, Enchiritos, and double-cheeseburger pizza. Unlike us, however, those celebrities were stuffing their soon-to-be-recognizable faces for the good of their careers. Before they hit it big, beloved actors such as Michael J. Fox and Ben Affleck were starring in fast food commercials for places like McDonald's and Burger King. Here are 16 big names to do so: James Franco: When Elvis finally comes back from the dead, he's going to want one thing and one thing only: Pizza Hut. At least that's the sentiment of this Pizza Hut ad featuring James Franco as a skeptic who wrongly assumes otherwise. Michael J. Fox: Michael J. Fox desperately wants his date's affections, but he's also interested in her mouthwatering French fries. Luckily, he escapes this McDonald's commercial with both. Steve Carell: When Brown's chicken switched to a cholesterol-free recipe, Steve Carell was extremely excited to share the news. In fact, he was so excited that he completely disregarded the white sedan that almost ran over a motorcyclist at the 20 second mark. See the 13 other fast-food A-listers and watch all 16 commercials at FOX News Magazine. More From FOX News Magazine: 10 Things You Didn't Know About McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Other Fast Food Restaurants Steakhouse Secrets For Making a Perfect Wedge Salad at Home Fast Food Employees Name The Items You Should Never Order

37 2311 S 35th St Fort Pierce , FL 34981 (772) 466-8303 I used to frequent the Big Apple pizza in North Palm Beach, so when we were looking for a midpoint place to meet family, we chose this Big Apple Pizza location. When we arrived, it was empty, but there is ample seating available. Their tv's are tuned to sports, and many pictures are on the walls, including one of President Obama visiting there. We got garlic knots which are good, but there are the harder ones, I prefer soft, but they were still good. The salad and dressing was also good. We got a loaded pizza and a plain cheese pizza, both were huge and very good. While this location is off the beaten path, it is worth the drive. Great service and a great lunch for a good price. For $9 I got two slices of pizza, a drink, and a large salad. It's about five to ten minutes off the turnpike. They've also got a nice draft beer selection if that's something you're interested in. I got to this one because it's close to home. I like the owners and the employees there are very hospitable. No complaints here! We ordered takeout from here last night When I placed my order we were disappointed because we were told they did not have any soups at that location nor did they have the wedge salad Both were on their internet menu ... We got the sampler dinner... It was very good Spaghetti and sausage.... Not much sauce kind of plain tasting however the sausage was good but nothing exceptional Two slices of pizza... Was ok again not much sauce and the crust was very tough and chewy Their garlic knots were tasty but again very tough and chewy... Fed them to the dogs Side salads were good Canoili was good and the cheesecake was average Maybe it would have been much better at the restaurant but not so much delivery If in the area again I know we would not order takeout again but might give it a second chance and eat dine in Was disappointed but will give a second try My husband and I were new to the area and were looking for a good sandwich and pizza restaurant. And we found Big Apple..... great subs and great pizza. Fresh ingredients. Clean. Definitely will go again!!! Yes! It is worth it! So a funny thing happened while on another Ocala to Miami drive - Yup, I got hungry!! Was in a rush but just not in the mood for crappy food. -- Yelp-- Benchmarks -- I honestly did not remember why I tagged this pizza shop. I'm not a aficionado, heck, I don't even eat pizza that often. But trusting there had to be a good reason I took a sizable detour from the Turnpike. And IT WAS WORTH IT! Yep. I was very happy with my 2 slices mushrooms, roasted peppers and sausage. Plus a draft of 312 (don't judge me) So while waiting for the order, I went back through the reviews and quickly remember why I wanted to make a visit here. The social brouhaha after the POTUS hugged the owner, the subsequent dirty responses from (XXXXXX) people who have issue with the POTUS, and the noble response from the owner really demonstrated the depth of character of this man. As I pondered the reason why POTUS would "randomly" select here (did the secret service rely on Yelp also?), I also started to notice many of the pictures, T-shirts and letters of Thank you. Very near and dear to my heart, was the letter of from the Local Fire Chief asking patrons to consider supporting MDA and the "Fill the Boot" drive. What is clear, is the person who owns this restaurant has deep relationship with his community from what appears to be a generous heart. The pizza arrived, with these thoughts contemplating in my head. The first bite in and I was rewarded. Of special note, the crust has a special springy lightness, that I have found in only one other pizza shop, who owner comes from Philly. Coincidence? Not sure, but I suspect that when I finally get to Philly, I will be seeking out this special type of crust. In short - just go and enjoy!! Wonderful pizza tastes like home! Meatballs were awesome too. Little pricy but wonderful and worth the stop. Came in and sat down and waited. Never been here before and I was the only person in here. It took some type before someone asked if I needed something. Wasn't the best pizza just ok. This is a great place to go for a quick bite while at the school or in the area. Awesome decor, the employees are very friendly. Food is great and easy . Highly recommend this place It's pizza - no pizazz - pizza maker was yelling and using profanity to another person in the kitchen about another worker. Not very professional. Garlic knots gave the worst indigestion that I have had in years. We stopped by yesterday, on Labor Day, and were pleased to learn that the Monday-Tuesday special (a large pie for $8.49) was in effect even on a holiday. We added artichokes as a topping for $1.75, and between the two of us we very nearly finished the 16-inch pie. That's especially impressive considering that my wife doesn't usually like pizza. This one she liked. She remembered the place from the early 2000s, back when the restaurant's most famous guest was still in the Illinois State Senate, when she was going to IRCC. (Kids, that's what your mother called IRSC back in the day. She pronounced it 'irk'.) Since then, the Big Apple has gotten bigger, and has completely redecorated. We weren't quite sure whether to expect table service or counter service, since there was an 'order here' sign above the register but we were invited to choose a table and our server brought menus and took our order. Later, I refilled my own diet Pepsi from the fountain, but we also had refills brought to us. Maybe that's because it was dinnertime; maybe it's because my wife was using her crutches. When the pizza arrived, we dug in. The crust was thin and crackled a little bit, like you'd expect from a New York style pie. Artichokes were scattered lightly around, but as my wife pointed out, the amount of artichokes you'd hope for is charged in most other places as a double topping -- so we got a reasonable value for the money. If you want lots of artichoke, you can always order your 16" pizza with double artichokes for an extra $3.50 instead of $1.75. Easy enough. We were saddened that there was no lemon for the freshly brewed iced tea, not even packets of lemon juice. And when it was time to pile back into our car (which we just bought this weekend, and have not yet ruined), we hoped to have a plastic grocery sack to put our clamshell of leftovers into. A place that serves garlic knots really should have a leakproof takeout solution. But even missing those two things, we enjoyed ourselves and heard a great retelling of Big Apple's big day. Our server told the story well for someone who had just barely missed coming in on the day the Secret Service arrived to secure the place. She says the owner himself had even scolded the employee for interrupting his golf game, until he realized he really *did* need to get back to the store within an hour for the photo op of his life. I might not come in off the links just for Big Apple Pizza, especially if I was only shooting 10 above par (per hole -- hey, everyone starts somewhere). But I sure would return the next time I'm hungry in Fort Pierce. I have been traveling a lot, so I have been eating out a lot. Usually I am looking for something simple, quick and tasty. This place was recommended by a person at the place I was auditing and they were not wrong. Coming from Chicago, my expectations are high and I was not disappointed. Lovely, lovely food. Got the Big Apple White Pizza...very nice balance of cheeses and tomatoes. Also ordered some Sicilian slices with sausage that was amazing. I love a good sauce and this place does it right. My co-worker got the Big Apple Sampler Meatball Sliders. Sliders and wings were nice but the garlic knots were too much for me but I am not big on mega garlic. Co-worker thought they were great. What I will say though they were tasty with a nice buttery flavor. Will be my go to place when I return in 4 months for a follow up audit. Coming back from a weekend road trip Fort Pierce was the right distance in which to stop to get some grub. Kinda of in the mood for some tasty pizza, we launched Yelp and it pointed us to Big Apple Pizza. It was just ok. Here's the run down... We ordered a large pizza, 1/2 mushroom and 1/2 sausage. We ordered a small Antipasto salad. 1) 2 garlic rolls came with the salad. They weren't fully baked and in fact almost cold. 2) Salad was decent, and we ordered the house dressing (which was good). What threw me for a bit was that it was a pre packaged (ie commercial type) dressing, but it had big apple pizza's name on it. This made sense now that I remember seeing on the menu that you could take a bottle of dressing home. The impression it left me however was that stuff was made a long time ago, not fresh in the kitchen today or yesterday. Just my perception, but not a good one however. 3) They used canned mushrooms. We are a bit of stickler on this. Mushrooms shouldn't be green'ish. 4) I liked the sauce on the pizza. Sauce to me is the most important factor. 5) The cleanliness and upkeep of the restaurant was so so. Bathroom was decently clean, yet no soap. The soda machine was a bit broken. The buffet serving center looked a little run down. Good enough for the pass through. The wings here are amazing. Pizza is fantastic. Screw these negative reviewers. Yelp is not the place for political BS. Really liked this spot...the server was the owners daughter, not sure if she is always there, but I like when family works together at a restaurant. We had just got done moving to PSL, and after a week of hell, we were hungry and stumbled into this pizza joint... Very friendly server, and after ordering, the owner came and introduced himself, asking if we would like to try the vodka sauce over some penne...umm, cha...and so happy we did...best I have ever had. Then, the food came...wedding soup was top notch...garlic knots were right on...spag and meatball were very good, might have been a box pasta but very good sauce and meatball...and the cheese pizza was tasty as hell, very thin and foldable, just like a New York pie should be... Then, the owner came over and invited us to meet up and ride sometimes, I think because he knew we were new in town, and it was a very genuine offer...which we are going to take him up on... Our one regret, is that we did not save room for the cannolli...this time...I mean, since we will be back! Pizza was absolutely delicious. Just like I get in NY. Great antipasto salad and calzone was delicious. Highly recommend. I have been here several times. The canoles and strombolis are very good. The pizza is okay. One of the young ladies (I am not the best at descriptions) that works there has a bad attitude and seems indifferent, like she could care less whether you were there or not. When I go there, I always hope she isn't there so I will have a better dining experience. The owner seems to have the opposite attitude, I wish he could see she is not good for business. I stopped by on my summer family vacation this year. I was surprised to find a pizza joint that actually has the new york flavor and being from the Bronx, I know what am taking about... Pizza was good, staff equally and prices were affordable. A family of 4 bill came to $25 and we were all stuff... Will definitely recommend it and return next time am in town.. Decent food with a typical pizza shoppe look. Maybe it's because of the time we came to eat or the dishes that we ordered, but it wasn't exactly what we expected when going by the yelp reviews. The egg plant was definitely fresh but it was not cooked all the way through and my girlfriends chicken was somewhat chewy. Aside from the food, I respect what the owner is doing for his local community! I give him two thumbs up for that! ||||| A pizza shop owner lifted President Obama about a foot off the ground in a giant bearhug. Obama arrived at the Big Apple Pizza & Pasta Restaurant in Fort Pierce, Fla., at 2:55 p.m. There were only 10 customers at the time, but the owner, Scott Van Duzer, made up for the relatively empty shop. "Scott, what's going on man?" Obama shouted as he came through the door. "Scott, let me tell you, you are like the biggest pizza shop owner I've ever seen." He approached Van Duzer, 46, of Port St. Lucie, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 260 pounds. "Everybody look at these guns," Obama said, pointing to Van Duzer's monstrous pectoral muscles. "If I eat your pizza, will I look like that?" The two men laughed. They embraced. Van Duzer lifted the president a good foot off the ground. "Look at that!" Obama exclaimed once back on firm ground. "Man, are you a powerlifter or what?" Indeed, Van Duzer said later that he can bench-press 350 pounds. Van Duzer then gave Obama a tour of the restaurant. After their brief tour, Obama approached reporters and told why we stopped at Van Duzer's shop. "One of the reasons that we wanted to stop by is that Scott has been doing unbelievable work out of this pizza shop in promoting the importance of donating blood," Potus said. "And so he has set some records here in Florida. He has received commendations from the White House, the surgeon general, he has galvanized and mobilized the local community and he's educating kids and folks all across the country on this issue. "So here's an example of somebody who is doing well but he's also giving back. So, we just want to say how proud we are of him. I still wonder how he got these biceps, but what we know is that the guy's just got a big heart along with big pecs. So, we're very proud of him and we just want to say thank you for all the great work." Van Duzer, who said he played basketball, football and baseball in high school, said he is a registered Republican, yet voted for Obama in 2008 and plans to do so again in November. "I don't vote party line, I vote who I feel comfortable with, and I do feel extremely comfortable with him," Van Duzer said. Of the Secret Service agents possibly flipping out over Van Duzer lifting the president of the United States, he said: "He said I was all right as long as I didn’t take him away." Read more about: Barack Obama, Florida 2012, Scott Van Duzer ||||| Vice President Joe Biden was looking to cozy up with voters as he toured Ohio this weekend, but he did not imagine that an Ohio woman would nearly end up in his lap. Vice President Joe Biden's talks to customers during a stop at Cruisers Diner, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012, in Seaman, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) Vice President Joe Biden visits with patrons over lunch at Cruisers Diner, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012, in Seaman, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Associated Press) Biden was chatting up customers in the Cruisers Diner in southern Ohio Sunday when he met a group of motorcycle riders in black leather vests and bandanas. A female group member was watching, and Biden waved her over, telling her, "I know who runs the show." The woman had no place to sit, so Biden pulled a chair in front of himself and pulled her nearly into his lap. He put his hands on her shoulders and leaned in for a conversation as photographers snapped away.

– In a weird day on the trail, President Obama was picked up and Joe Biden nearly picked up a biker gal—at least judging by the photographs. Obama visited a pizza joint in Florida yesterday where owner Scott Van Duzer hugged him so hard that the president was lifted right off his feet, Politico reports. Even weirder: Van Duzer is a registered Republican who voted for Obama in 2008 and plans to vote for him again. Sadly, Obama's airlift triggered a war of comments on the restaurant's Yelp page, with reviewers trading politically charged one-star and five-star reviews, CBS News reports. As for Biden, he was pressing the flesh at a diner in southern Ohio when he encountered a group of motorbike riders. Saying “I know who runs the show," he called over a female biker and pulled up a chair so close that the two practically snuggled, reports the AP. Note how nervous her biker buddies are watching her have fun with the VP.

The index cards appear to just be a random series of letters, and had confounded the poster's family for years. But it only took Metafilter 15 minutes to at least partially decipher them. User harperpitt quickly realized she was using the first letters of words, and that she was, in fact, writing prayers: ||||| MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When a brain tumor took away Dorothy Holm's ability to speak, she picked up index cards and began filling them, edge to edge, with seemingly random, indecipherable sequences of letters. Her grandchildren saw her scribbling and thought she was leaving them a code — but it was one the preteens couldn't crack. This undated family photo shows the back of an index card filled with letters written by Dorothy Holm. A brain tumor took away Holm's ability to speak, she picked up index cards and began filling them... (Associated Press) This undated family photo shows Dorothy Holm. A brain tumor took away Holm's ability to speak, she picked up index cards and began filling them with seemingly random, indecipherable sequences of letters.... (Associated Press) This undated family photo shows the front of an index card filled with letters written by Dorothy Holm. A brain tumor took away Holm's ability to speak, she picked up index cards and began filling them... (Associated Press) Eighteen years later, the puzzle has been solved after one of Holm's granddaughters posted images of a card online. In just 13 minutes, a MetaFilter.com user figured out that as Dorothy Holm was dying, she was writing out prayers. "It was kind of relieving to have an answer, even if we don't know what every single word says," Janna Holm, who posted the card, said. "It's nice to know that they were prayers, and kind of gave some insight into what she was thinking and what she was focused on in her last couple weeks." Holm said Wednesday that her grandmother, who lived in Shakopee, was diagnosed with lung cancer that metastasized and formed a brain tumor. She died in 1996 when Janna was 11. In her final weeks, she wrote line after line of capital letters on roughly 20 index cards, sparking her grandkids' curiosity. Holm said she, her brother and two cousins — then ranging in age from 8 to 12 — spent a few months trying to figure out what the letters stood for, but failed. Holm's father recently found one of the cards, and Holm, who loves puzzles, decided to delve into the project once again. She asked for help Monday on MetaFilter.com, a community blog, thinking her grandmother may have been trying to remember lyrics, and that each letter stood for a word in a song. "This is a crazy long shot, but I've seen Mefites pull off some pretty impressive code-breaking before!" she posted. In the image she posted, the letters fill the front of the card top to bottom. There is some repetition, strokes that look like backward commas and lines that look like stanza breaks. The back of the card contains fewer lines, marked with the numerals 1 and 2. In minutes, MetaFilter members were on the case. One user — looking at the back of the card — thought about religion and realized that each letter stood for a word in the Lord's Prayer. "AGH, YES! ..... OFWAIHHBTN ... Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name," the user wrote. With that, more MetaFilter members worked on the front of the card. Holm guessed it might be a personal prayer. Using her own deductions and comments from the website, Holm compiled a prayer in which her grandmother was giving thanks, and praying that her loved ones would be safe, happy and healthy. Holm said she's not sure why her grandmother used a code, but perhaps, as her memory was fading, she used it as a "cheat sheet" to help recall prayers. Holm, of Baltimore, Md., said the experience has shown her the power of crowd sourcing (she posted that her dad was amazed at the skills of "the internet people") and it's been fascinating to learn more about her grandmother. And after a couple whirlwind days, Janna Holm says she has all the answers she needs. "I don't care if a little bit of it never gets solved," she said. "It's OK to have a little bit of mystery." ___ Follow Amy Forliti on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/amyforliti

– A cryptic mystery left by a dying grandmother puzzled a Maryland family for nearly 20 years before her granddaughter turned to an Internet forum for help. "My grandmother passed away in 1996 of a fast-spreading cancer. She was non-communicative her last two weeks, but in that time, she left at least 20 index cards with scribbled letters on them," Janna Holm wrote in a MetaFilter thread, Slate reports, explaining that family members had spent months trying to crack the code using substitution ciphers. Within 15 minutes, a user figured out that Dorothy Holm had been writing prayers. "AGH, YES! ..... OFWAIHHBTN ... Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name," the user wrote after examining a sample card Janna Holm had posted. More Metafilter users figured out that the grandmother had written a personal prayer for her loved ones to be safe and happy. Holm says the code-breaking has left family members amazed at the power of crowdsourcing. "It was kind of relieving to have an answer, even if we don't know what every single word says," she tells the AP. "It's nice to know that they were prayers, and kind of gave some insight into what she was thinking and what she was focused on in her last couple weeks."

At sunrise and sunset, only ROY shows up for rainbow duty—G and BIV don’t appear for the earliest and latest color shows in the sky. Rainbows, it seems, are far more complex than the simple mnemonic for the colors of the rainbow that we all learned as children. Inspired by the rainbow of rainbows, atmospheric scientist Jean Ricard has created a new rainbow classification scheme, which he presents Friday at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union. While creating such a system may seem like a frivolous endeavor, it could help people to look beyond what they expect to find and “challenge our understanding of rainbows,” said Ricard, of France's National Centre for Meteorological Research, at a press conference on Thursday. All the Rainbows Draw a rainbow, and you’ll probably include lines of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Maybe you’ll throw in indigo, though scientists don’t consider it to be a rainbow flavor. But rainbows can easily get more complicated: A second bow—creating what is usually called a “double rainbow”—can appear more faintly above the first, with the colors in reverse order. There can be a dark band between the arcs and sometimes even bright fringes, called supernumerary bows, on the top and bottom of the bands. Then again, some rainbows have none of those features, and entire colors can be absent. Since the 1950s, rainbow classification has been based on the size of the raindrops that create them. The bigger the drops, the more vivid the colors. Another attempt organized them by the height of the sun above the horizon. At about 70 degrees, a rainbow is dominated by blues and greens. Closer to the horizon, there are mostly reds and yellows. “At sunset or sunrise, the color of the sun and the intensity of the incoming light change dramatically,” Ricard said. When the sun is low in the horizon, rays of light must pass through more of the Earth’s atmosphere. “The red manages to go through,” he explained. “Other wavelengths are completely gone.” Catch the Rainbows To capture this rainbow diversity, Ricard and his colleagues gathered hundreds of pictures of rainbows, sorting them into 12 categories based on the visibility of the six colors, the strength of the dark band, and whether any supernumerary bands can be seen. One type lacks a band of green, for instance, another is missing blue and violet, and a third type has only red and blue. The system is so simple that most anyone could look at a picture of a rainbow, put it in a class, and understand what's going on, he said. A misty red rainbow, for instance, could only be created near sunrise or sunset with tiny raindrops. “The public continues to be fascinated by rainbow sightings, and I’m often asked to interpret folks’ photographs of rainbows,” said Raymond Lee, a meteorologist at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. “Thus, any agreed-upon scientific principles that help explain how colors vary from one rainbow to the next is a real plus.” Studying rainbows could even help in the search for extraterrestrial life. If rainbows or glories—rainbows often spotted around the shadows of airplanes—were sighted on exoplanets, Ricard noted, it could be a sign that they are host to water—and even life. ||||| SAN FRANCISCO — Why are there so many songs about rainbows? Perhaps because there are so many different types, each with its own distinctive features, new research suggests. There are 12 types of rainbows, distinguished by various characteristics, the study suggests. Fat droplets of water or tiny sprays of mist will affect them, along with the angle of the sun. Rainbows can even appear as twins, triplets or quadruplets, Jean Ricard, a researcher at the National Meteorological Research Center, in France, said here yesterday (Dec. 17) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. And even a single rainbow is always changing, he said. "They don't look alike because when we look at a rainbow, one second later, the drops which form the primary bow and the secondary bow are not the same, because they are falling," Ricard said here in a news briefing. "If you look carefully after a few minutes you will start to see some changes in each rainbow." [Infographic: Earth's Atmosphere – Top to Bottom] Classification scheme Scientists have understood the basics of rainbow formation since at least Descartes' time: Sunlight interacts with water droplets in the sky, and the light is both reflected and refracted as it enters and leaves the raindrop. Because different wavelengths of light — which correspond to different colors — slow down by different speeds when they hit a raindrop, the different colors get bent at different angles, separating into the rainbow's distinctive hues. (The bizarre phenomenon known as a fire rainbow is neither a fire nor a rainbow, because it occurs when light refracts through ice crystals, not raindrops.) In the past scientists tried to classify rainbows based on the colors in the rainbows, or the size of the droplets they refracted through. But those classifications often missed certain types of rainbows. A double rainbow appeared in the summer sky above Toulouse following an afternoon storm. Credit: CNRM To capture all the myriad "flavors" of rainbows, Ricard and his colleagues tried to figure out the minimum set of characteristics that would describe all rainbows. It turns out that rainbows can have up to four characteristics . There is the primary bow, with red on top and blue-violent on the bottom. Above that, secondary reflections inside a rain droplet always form a secondary, fainter bow above the primary bow, with the colors reversed. Between the two is a dark region, called Alexander's band, where little light from the raindrops light reflects. And sometimes, there are additional bows, called supernumerary bows, which may occur when the light rays spread and cancel each other out via diffraction and interference in the atmosphere. Types of rainbows Based on those characteristics, they determined there are 12 different types of rainbows, with imaginative names like RB_1, RB2, etc. The rainbows vary by whether all colors are visible, whether they have a strong Alexander's band, and whether there are supernumerary bows. Some of the more striking rainbows include only red arcs, and then there are yellow-and-orange rainbows. When Ricard and his colleagues analyzed the physics, they found that the height of the sun in the sky was the biggest single factor affecting the rainbow's appearance. For instance, when the sun is very low in the sky, such as at sunset, light is much less intense and must travel much farther to reach the eye. Only the red wavelengths are able to make it through the atmosphere at this time, he said "At sunset or sunrise, the color of the sun and the intensity of the incoming light changes dramatically," Ricard said. The size of the droplet also affected a rainbow's appearance, though to a lesser degree. Wider drops make for less vivid rainbows with more widely spaced hues, he said. While rainbow research may seem more suited to daydreamers and poets, it may have practical applications, Ricard said. For instance, if scientists can spy rainbows on exoplanets, that may be a sign of atmospheric water. And where there's water, there's often life. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

– How long have you spent thinking about rainbows—like really thinking about them? National Geographic reports atmospheric scientists Jean Ricard has spent enough time thinking about rainbows to develop a new rainbow classification system, which he presented Friday at an American Geophysical Union meeting. According to the presentation, Ricard created the system—which puts rainbows into 12 categories—because the classic ROY G. BIV rainbow described by textbooks hardly ever exists in nature. Rainbows are actually more complex than that. Ricard and his team found that rainbows can have up to four characteristics: the main band, a fainter double rainbow, a dark space between the two, and any additional bands, Live Science reports. National Geographic reports things get complicated because of all the variables—hence the 12 categories. For example, some rainbows exclude entire colors. Not to mention rainbows are constantly changing. "They don't look alike because when we look at a rainbow, one second later, the drops which form the primary bow and the secondary bow are not the same, because they are falling," Live Science quotes Ricard as saying. For decades scientists had been classifying rainbows based on raindrop size, according to the presentation. But after studying hundreds of pictures of rainbows, Ricard found the height of the sun actually has a bigger effect. National Geographic reports classifying rainbows might seem like a "frivolous endeavor," but Ricard says it can "challenge our understanding of rainbows." (Did the Grateful Dead conjure a rainbow?)

Specifically, senior Iraqi and Kurdish officials asked the United States as recently as this weekend to take action along the Iraqi-Syrian border to deprive ISIS of the safe havens it enjoys in that area. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “The Iraqis have asked for assistance in the border regions, and that’s something we’re looking at,” one State Department official said. The description of a calibrated military buildup by coalition forces, combined with a steady effort led by the United States Treasury Department to choke off ISIS’ ability to reap $1 million or more a day from oil sales, emerged as the administration has tried to define what Mr. Obama meant when he said the American goal was to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Sunni extremist group. The president’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, provided the most current definition of White House thinking on Sunday during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Using an alternative acronym for the extremist group, he said that “success looks like an ISIL that no longer threatens our friends in the region, no longer threatens the United States, an ISIL that can’t accumulate followers or threaten Muslims in Syria, Iraq or otherwise.” That definition falls short of the classic understanding of what it means to destroy an opposing force. But the administration is betting that it has tailored the goals to appeal to the coalition of oftentimes reluctant partners it is trying to assemble, many of whom are deeply suspicious of each other. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking from Paris, declined to say which states had offered to contribute air power, an announcement that White House officials said could await his return to testify in Congress early this week. State Department officials, who asked not to be identified under the agency’s protocol for briefing reporters, said Arab nations could participate in an air campaign against ISIS in other ways without dropping bombs, such as by flying arms to Iraqi or Kurdish forces, conducting reconnaissance flights or providing logistical support and refueling. “I don’t want to leave you with the impression that these Arab members haven’t offered to do airstrikes, because several of them have,” one State Department official said. “The Iraqis would have to be a major participant in that decision,” the official added. “It has to be well structured and organized.” The United Arab Emirates, which provided some air power in the 2011 attacks on Libya, seemed at the top of the list, with Qatar hosting an American military headquarters. American officials cautioned that all strikes would have to be approved by the newly assembled government in Iraq, as well as by American military planners. That could prove just one challenge to the offer by Arab nations to participate in airstrikes: While Iraq’s struggling military forces have experience operating with the United States, its Shiite-dominated government has never worked with the Sunni states of the Persian Gulf. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. The United States has identified ISIS targets in Iraq over the past several weeks. But officials said they were waiting, in part, to match the allied commitments with actual contributions: warplanes, support aircraft that can refuel or provide intelligence, more basing agreements to carry out strikes, and the insertion of trainers from other Western countries. Tellingly, there are no plans, as of now, to increase the number of American attack planes in the region. The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is scheduled to relieve the carrier George H. W. Bush in the Persian Gulf next month; if the Pentagon changed its plans and kept two carriers in the gulf, it could double carrier-based firepower over Iraq and Syria. But for now, there is no plan to do so, officials said. Nor are there any plans to increase American ground-based strike aircraft at facilities around the region, in hopes that Persian Gulf and European allies would make up the difference. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Another striking feature of the American plan, officials said, was the deliberate exclusion of coordination with two other players with an interest — and some ability — to take on ISIS: the government of Iran and the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who Mr. Obama declared three years ago was a brutal dictator who had to leave office. Mr. Kerry has ruled out cooperative efforts with Iranian officials, who a senior administration official said last week are “looking for whatever leverage they can get” in the conflict in hopes of using it to lift pressure on their nuclear program. Iranian-backed militias were on the ground in the Iraqi town of Amerli recently and provided the muscle that Iraqi forces could not in ending a siege by ISIS. While the administration insisted it would not work alongside Mr. Assad’s forces, the two sides were clearly working toward the same goal — leading to fears that the United States could essentially become Mr. Assad’s air force, at least temporarily, if it begins attacking ISIS emplacements in Syria. As described by American officials, the battle strategy calls for assembling a force first in Iraq, where the Iraqi army would be guided by 12-man teams of American “advisers” that are expected to begin operating within days, and for new arms and other assistance for the Kurdish forces. Only later would the effort expand to Syria, and the administration is pressing for a congressional vote this week on a $500 million arms package for “moderate” members of the Syrian opposition, now aimed at ISIS rather than the Assad government. Officials acknowledged that the so-called moderate rebel forces were fractured and far weaker than ISIS. Even so, administration officials struggled to explain whether the United States was at war with ISIS, as both the White House and the Pentagon spokesman said it was last week, or whether it was engaged in a more traditional counterterrorism action. That was how Mr. Kerry characterized the strategy in an effort to make it easier for Sunni states to explain to their own populations why they would be contributing forces against Sunni extremists. “Originally this is not a war,” Mr. Kerry said on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” trying to separate it from the military action in 2003 that he had opposed as a senator. “This is not combat troops on the ground. It’s not hundreds of thousands of people.” He went on to compare it to “war with Al Qaeda and its affiliates,” and said that “in the same context” the United States was “at war with ISIL.” ||||| MINNEAPOLIS U.S. law enforcement is investigating a new phenomenon of women from the American heartland joining Islamic State as President Barack Obama vows to cut off the militants' recruiting at home. At least three Somali families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have female relatives who have gone missing in the past six weeks and may have tried to join Islamic State, said community leader Abdirizak Bihi. He said that while the reasons for their disappearance were unclear, he had told the families to contact police. In a separate case, a 19-year-old American Somali woman from St. Paul snuck away from her parents on Aug. 25 saying she was going to a bridal shower. Instead, she flew to Turkey and joined IS in Syria. Home to the biggest Somali community in the United States, the Twin Cities area of Minnesota has been plagued by terrorist recruiting since the Somali group al-Shabaab began enlisting in America around 2007. This year, law enforcement officials say they learned of 15-20 men with connections to the Minnesota Somali community fighting for extremist groups in Syria. They included Douglas McAuthur McCain, a convert to Islam, who was killed in battle this summer. The St. Paul woman is the first case of an area female joining IS that has been made public although her family have asked for her name to be kept private because it fears retaliation from Islamists. Greg Boosalis, FBI division counsel in Minneapolis, said law enforcement was investigating the possible recruitment in the area by Islamist extremists of other females, as well as males, but refused to comment on specific cases. "We are looking into the possibility of additional men and women travelers," he said. Somali leaders and sources close to police worry that the reports of female would-be jihadis from the region could mark a new trend. The St. Paul woman is highly likely to have been recruited by IS through Islamist sympathizers in the United States, rather than joining the group on her own, they said. At least one other woman is suspected of helping her leave the United States. Another U.S. teenager, nurse's aide Shannon Conley, 19, from Colorado, pleaded guilty this week to trying to travel to the Middle East to enroll in IS. She was arrested at Denver International Airport in April with a one-way ticket and had been recruited online by a male militant in Syria. Nipping domestic extremism in the bud before Americans try to join terrorist groups is part of Obama's strategy against Islamic State announced in a televised address last week. Along with an aerial bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria, Obama pledged that the government would "intervene with at-risk individuals before they become radicalized toward violence and decide to travel abroad to Syria and Iraq to join ISIL." He said authorities would offer "tailored domestic programs to prevent violent extremism and radicalization" but gave no more details. The Somali woman from St. Paul who traveled to Syria attended a mosque near the eastern bank of the Mississippi River which had previously attracted suspected extremists. In June, the mosque banned an Egyptian-American man it said was spreading radical ideology. The woman told a relative after leaving the United States that she wanted to help children in IS-controlled territory in Syria. "The nature of the recruitment of these crazy organizations is how they use the element of surprise. Now they have surprised us again by going for the girls," said Bihi, speaking about the St. Paul woman who he said was targeted by recruiters. Bihi's teenaged nephew was killed in Somalia in 2009 after being persuaded to join al-Shabaab while in Minnesota. "BABY FACTORIES" While foreign women who join Islamic State often envision aiding a holy war or at least playing an active role in establishing a purist Islamic nation, the reality can be more mundane. Monitoring of extremists' social media accounts and other writings shows that male jihadis regard women counterparts as little more than mating partners, said Mia Bloom, from the Center for Terrorism and Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. "ISIS is recruiting these women in order to be baby factories. They are seeing the establishment of an Islamic state and now they need to populate the state," Bloom said. Scores of European Muslim women, mostly from Britain and France, have joined IS in the Middle East. Denver teenager Conley became engaged to an Islamic State militant in Syria who she met online. Jihadist groups like al Qaeda and IS usually only put women near the frontline in emergencies, Bloom said. Some young foreign women have been deployed to Islamic State checkpoints in northern Syria where they pat down other women to search for weapons and force local females to abide by strict Islamic dress codes. But snapshots on social media of the female jihadis' lives in Syria more often show that, "the girls go around making cookies. It's almost like a jihadi Tupperware party," Bloom said. The main worry for law enforcement is that U.S. militants will one day return to the United States and attack targets. "The obvious fear is of individuals coming back and committing a terrorist act here," said the FBI's Boosalis. The FBI has been working with the Somali community in Minnesota for years to help it combat radical Islamists. (Editing by Marilyn Thompson and Ross Colvin) ||||| Graphic videos showing British and American hostages being murdered by Islamic State (Isis) fighters are stirring support among foreign jihadis who are excited by a new confrontation with the west, monitoring of Islamists' social media activity suggests. Barbarous online films, such as the two-and-a half-minute video showing the killing of British aid worker David Haines released on Saturday night, are "turning on" jihadists in countries such as Tunisia and Libya who had previously reacted coolly to the civil war between the Sunni fundamentalists of Isis and the Shia minorities in Syria and Iraq. Evidence from the Twitter, Facebook, Ask.fm and Instagram accounts of 450 foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq and others who follow them suggests the filmed murders and speeches attacking Washington and London appear to have made Isis's cause more glamorous to extremists abroad, according to the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King's College London. The response may explain why Isis fighters have released the videos and have threatened to kill another Briton, Alan Henning. Some analysts have asked why Isis leaders would invite stronger military intervention from the west, but postings on social networks used by jihadis suggest the tactic could be aimed at widening support for Isis. "We have been monitoring the social media reaction and you can already see that the wannabe foreign fighters are excited by these killings," said Peter Neumann, director of the ICSR. "People in Tunisia and Libya are particularly interested in the prospect of fighting American and now British enemies. This is turning on people who were radicalised before this conflict started but weren't particularly excited by the Sunni-Shia battle. There are three types of reaction. There is pure jubilation, comments that America and now Britain are getting what they deserve, and the thought that this is not pretty, but that this is the kind of thing that happens with revolutions." The man who beheaded Haines, a father of two born in Yorkshire and raised in Scotland, directly addressed David Cameron in the film, ridiculing him as "an obedient lapdog" of Washington. "Your evil alliance with America, which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha dam, will only accelerate your destruction," the masked man said. There are already estimated to be more than 2,000 Isis fighters from Tunisia in Syria, but Neumann said the direct challenges to western leaders in the beheading videos were "an even stronger incentive for people who were sitting on the fence and thinking about going to fight". Other analysts claimed the latest video was a sign of Isis's weakness after US air strikes. It drew a measured response from Cameron who promised "a calm, deliberate" process of driving back, dismantling and destroying Isis. But a former senior government adviser on terrorism said it should be met with immediate military strikes by British forces. "I despair at the stupidity of these three beheadings," said Afzal Ashraf, a former senior Foreign Office official in Iraq, now a consultant fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. "There is no rationale to this. They are annoyed and upset they are being killed and so they are wheeling these poor guys out who they have held in some cases for two years and who they were hoping to get a ransom for. This tells me they are really hurting and the only thing they can do is kill an unarmed hostage in a very, very cowardly act, which shows just how weak they are." He argued that paratroopers and special forces should be sent in to kill Isis fighters manning the remote checkpoints that guard the group's recently claimed territory. "We have to send out a message that must be understood by not very smart people," he said. "I would get a few of our guys who would be only too happy to deliver David Cameron's compliments to those outposts. They could be there by supper, out by breakfast and be home in time for dinner." But Julian Lewis MP, a member of parliament's intelligence and security committee, said such a response would be to grant Isis's wish for the west to launch "crusader-style attacks in Muslim lands". "These disgraceful performances are acts of deliberate provocation," Lewis said. "The reason they are doing this is they are seeking to consolidate their position in the vanguard of political Islam … The very fact they are going to such lengths … shows they know the position they are trying to carve out is not secure." Lewis called for an ideological counterattack in the form of a mass public information campaign aimed at rubbishing claims that the brutality of the Isis militants has any root in Islam. "We need a greater national effort to identify the doctrine and undermine it," he said. That was echoed by Ghaffar Hussain, managing director of the counter-extremism thinktank the Quilliam Foundation, who called for a "multi-agency and cross-departmental approach to countering all forms of extremism and preventing radicalisation, whether violent or not, stemming from the acceptance that jihadist organisations recruit from a much larger pool of non-violent extremists".

– America may now be at war with ISIS, but a handful of Americans are joining up with the Islamic extremist group—and not all of them are men. US law enforcement is looking into a recent spate of women allegedly seeking to join the jihad, Reuters reports. In the past six weeks, three families in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area have reported missing female family members they suspect may be enlisting, one local Muslim community leader says. On Aug. 25, another 19-year-old from the area ran away from home, hopped a flight to Turkey, and joined ISIS in Syria. "The nature of the recruitment of these crazy organizations is how they use the element of surprise. Now they have surprised us again by going for the girls," the community leader says. The Twin Cities are a hotbed for such recruiting because they boast America's largest Somalian population, but the problem isn't entirely localized: In July, a 19-year-old Colorado woman was arrested for allegedly trying to join up. In other ISIS news: State Department officials tell the New York Times that several Arab countries have agreed to help with the US airstrike campaign against ISIS—though some will only be providing supplies rather than running strikes of their own. Iraqi officials say that France has agreed to carry out airstrikes of its own, and Australia has announced that it will be as well. Australia will also be sending 200 troops to Iraq to serve as military advisers. Meanwhile, ISIS has been enjoying a PR boon of sorts among extremists online thanks to its string of grisly beheading videos, the Guardian reports. "The wannabe foreign fighters are excited by these killings," the director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization explains. "People in Tunisia and Libya are particularly interested in the prospect of fighting American and now British enemies. This is turning on people who were radicalized before this conflict started but weren't particularly excited by the Sunni-Shia battle."

Sound described as ‘abnormal’ was heard on day that contact was lost, navy spokesman confirms The families of the crew of a missing Argentinian navy submarine have reacted with grief and then anger to the possibility that an explosion hit the submarine around the time it sent its last signal on 15 November. An abnormal sound detected in the South Atlantic ocean was “consistent with an explosion”, the navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said. The navy did not have enough information to say what the cause of the explosion could have been or whether the vessel – the ARA San Juan – might have been attacked, he said. Relatives of the submarine’s 44 crew members, camped out at a naval base in the coastal city of Mar del Plata, had been largely optimistic before Thursday’s announcement, which prompted cries of anguish and calls for authorities to be held to account. Footage of relatives collapsing to the pavement as uniformed navy servicemen embraced each other was broadcast on live television, sending shockwaves across Argentina. A huge sea and air hunt is being conducted for the San Juan, a German-built, diesel- and electric-powered submarine that was launched in 1983. Some relatives have questioned authorities for letting the crew navigate on an ageing submarine - criticism that has highlighted the armed forces’ dwindling resources since the end of a military dictatorship in the 1980s. Authorities have said the level of maintenance, not the age, was what mattered, and that the vessel was in good condition. It received a midlife upgrade in 2009 in which its four diesel engines and electric propeller engines were replaced, according to the specialist publication Jane’s Sentinel. “They sent a piece of shit out to navigate,” said Itatí Leguizamón, the wife of the San Juan’s sonar operator Germán Suárez. “We don’t believe they didn’t know from before. They’re perverse bastards who’ve had us here for a week.” Leguizamón said naval officers had not been able to finish reading relatives the latest report because of the angry reaction. She claimed her husband had told her about an incident in 2014 when the San Juan had been unable to surface. Elena Alfaro, another relative, told TN news network: “I feel like I’m at a wake. I also feel time passing and time is crucial.” One relative yelled “they killed my brother” as he drove off after Thursday’s announcement. Argentina’s centre-right president, Mauricio Macri, has criticised naval commanders over their handling of the crisis. According to the Infobae website, Macri’s defence minister, Oscar Aguad, only learned that the submarine was missing when he read about it in the press. Macri took office last year promising to increase the military budget. “I know the state has ignored you for years, abandoned you, and that’s created problems in terms of budget, equipment and infrastructure,” Macri said at an Army Day ceremony in June 2016 in which he promised to improve military salaries and renew armaments. On Thursday the navy received information from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO), an international body that runs a global network of listening posts designed to check for secret atomic blasts. The Vienna-based agency, which has monitoring stations equipped with devices including underwater microphones that scan the oceans for soundwaves, said in a statement that two of its stations had detected an unusual signal near where the submarine went missing. But the agency was more guarded about whether this was caused by an explosion. The noise was detected in an area where Argentina’s continental shelf drops off abruptly from a depth of 200 metres to anything up to 5,000 metres, Horacio Tobías, a naval expert, told the TN news network. The San Juan would be difficult to find if it has sunk beyond the continental shelf. The existence of other sunken ships in that area of the sea floor could increase the difficulty of identifying the remains of the submarine. With the seven-day limit on the San Juan’s oxygen reserves having been reached on Wednesday morning, what hopes that remained were pinned on the submarine having been able to replenish its oxygen supply by surfacing at some point during the past week. Relatives have had their hopes raised and then dashed on a number of occasions already. Underwater sounds detected in the first days of the search by two Argentinian search ships were determined to have originated from a sea creature, not the vessel. Satellite signals were also determined to be false alarms. Russia was the latest navy to volunteer to a multinational sea search, sending an oceanographic research ship as the operation shifted focus from rescue to recovery. “I feel cheated,” said Leguizamón. “They say they only found out now, but how can they have only found out now?” She said other relatives were also furious. “They’re tearing up everything in there,” she told reporters outside the naval base. “How would you react if you were lied to? “They [the navy] didn’t use the word ‘dead’ but that’s the logical conclusion.” Reuters contributed to this story ||||| A woman touches a poster, overlaid with snapshots of Celso Oscar Vallejo, one of the crew members of the missing ARA San Juan, that hangs on a fence enclosing the Mar del Plata Naval Base, in Argentina,... (Associated Press) A woman touches a poster, overlaid with snapshots of Celso Oscar Vallejo, one of the crew members of the missing ARA San Juan, that hangs on a fence enclosing the Mar del Plata Naval Base, in Argentina, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. More help was arriving in a multinational search Thursday for the Argentine... (Associated Press) MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) — An apparent explosion occurred near the time and place an Argentine submarine went missing, the country's navy reported Thursday, prompting relatives of the vessel's 44 crew members to burst into tears and some to say they had lost hope of a rescue. Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the search will continue until there is full certainty about the fate of the ARA San Juan, despite the evidence of an explosion and with more than a week having passed since the submarine disappeared. It was originally scheduled to arrive Monday at Argentina's Mar del Plata Navy Base. The U.S. Navy and an international nuclear test-ban monitoring organization said a "hydro-acoustic anomaly" was produced just hours after the navy lost contact with the sub on Nov. 15. It was near the submarine's last known location. "According to this report, there was an explosion," Balbi told reporters. "We don't know what caused an explosion of these characteristics at this site on this date." The navy spokesman described the "anomaly" as "singular, short, violent and non-nuclear." Relatives of the crew who had gathered at the Mar del Plata base to receive psychological counseling broke into tears and hugged each other after they received the news. Some fell on their knees or clung to a fence crowded with blue-and-white Argentine flags, rosary beads and messages of support. Most declined to speak, while a few others lashed out in anger at the navy's response. "They sent a piece of crap to sail," said Itati Leguizamon, wife of submarine crew member German Suarez. "They inaugurated a submarine with a coat of paint and a flag in 2014, but without any equipment inside. The navy is to blame for its 15 years of abandonment." Balbi defended the Argentine Navy, saying that "with respect to the maintenance and state of our naval and air units, no unit ever leaves port or takes off if it isn't in operating conditions to navigate or fly with total security." The German-built diesel-electric TR-1700 class submarine was commissioned in 1985 and was most recently refitted in 2014. During the $12 million retrofitting, the vessel was cut in half and had its engines and batteries replaced. Experts say that refits can be difficult because they involve integrating systems produced by different manufacturers and even the smallest mistake during the cutting phase of the operation can put the safety of the ship and the crew at risk. The Argentine navy and outside experts have said that even if the ARA San Juan is intact, its crew might have only enough oxygen to be submerged seven to 10 days. It lost contact as it was sailing from the extreme southern port of Ushuaia. The submarine's captain had reported a battery failure. Authorities said late Wednesday that Argentine navy ships as well a U.S. P-8 Poseidon aircraft and a Brazilian air force plane would return to the area to check out the abnormal sound, which originated about 30 miles north of the submarine's last registered position. The search location straddles the edge of the continental shelf, with widely varying ocean depths, some as great as 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). Experts say the submarine could not have supported pressures that far down. "If a submarine goes below its crush-depth, it would implode, it would just collapse," said James H. Patton Jr. a retired Navy captain. "It would sound like a very, very big explosion to any listening device." Whatever it was, U.S. Navy Lt. Lily Hinz said the sound detected "was not a whale, and it is not a regularly occurring sound." Claudio Rodriguez, brother of crew member Hernan Rodriguez, said his family suspects "the explosion was so strong that they were not able to rise to the surface or shoot any flares. They didn't have time for anything." "As a family, we're grateful to all the people who prayed for us and for the families of all the 44," he said. More than a dozen airplanes and ships have been participating in the multinational search despite stormy weather that has caused waves of more than 20 feet (6 meters). Search teams are combing an area of some 185,000 square miles (480,000 square kilometers), which is roughly the size of Spain. The U.S. government has sent two P-8 Poseidons, a naval research ship, a submarine rescue chamber and sonar-equipped underwater vehicles. U.S. Navy sailors from the San Diego-based Undersea Rescue Command were also helping with the search. Britain's Ministry of Defense sent a special airplane with emergency life support pods to join the hunt that includes planes and ships from a dozen nations. Hopes were buoyed after brief satellite calls were received and when sounds were detected deep in the South Atlantic. But experts later determined that neither was from the missing sub. "They haven't come back and they will never come back," said Jesica Gopar, wife of submarine officer Fernando Santilli, choking back tears. "I had a bad feeling about this and now it has been confirmed." ___ Henao reported from Buenos Aires. AP writer Julie Watson in San Diego and Mayra Pertossi, Debora Rey and Victor Caivano in Buenos Aires and AP video journalist Paul Byrne in Mar del Plata contributed to this report. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption As hopes faded for the sub, angry relatives said the search operation had been inadequate Hopes that the 44 crew of a missing Argentine submarine might still be alive have been dashed after the navy said an event consistent with an explosion had been detected. The "abnormal, singular, short, violent, non-nuclear event" was recorded in the south Atlantic by a nuclear test watchdog last week. Relatives of the missing crew reacted with grief and anger at the news. It follows a US report of a loud noise in the same area. The ARA San Juan disappeared last Wednesday. More than a dozen countries including the US, Russia and the UK have sent assistance. Where is the latest information from? It was provided to the Argentine navy on Thursday by the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), spokesman Capt Enrique Balbi said. In a statement, the CTBTO said two of its hydro-acoustic stations had detected a signal from an "underwater impulsive event". Image copyright Reuters Image caption The ARA San Juan disappeared last Wednesday On Wednesday the navy received a US report of a "hydro-acoustic anomaly" detected hours after the submarine went missing. Capt Balbi said the suspected explosion took place near the submarine's last known location. The navy only knew the location of the suspected explosion, not its cause, he said, and search efforts would be concentrated in the area. How have relatives reacted? News of the suspected explosion was broken to family members gathered at the Mar del Plata navy base shortly before Capt Balbi spoke to journalists. Some remonstrated angrily with the navy spokesman, reports said, while others collapsed in tears. Relatives accused the navy of lying to them and of raising false hopes. Others pointed the finger at the government, saying lack of investment and corruption in the armed forces had made the submarine unsafe. One man whose brother was on board the ARA San Juan was quoted by Clarin newspaper [in Spanish] as shouting: "They killed my brother, the bastards. They killed my brother because they take them out to sail [in a vessel held together] with wire." Luis Tagliapietra, whose son Damián was on board, told Radio Cut that the navy had told them all the crew had been killed in the explosion at a depth of 200m. On Wednesday, Capt Balbi said oxygen would be running out on board the vessel. What was the sub's last known location? The ARA San Juan was returning from a routine mission to Ushuaia, near the southern-most tip of South America, when it reported an "electrical breakdown". According to naval commander Gabriel Galeazzi, the submarine surfaced and reported the breakdown, which Capt Galeazzi described as a "short circuit" in the sub's batteries. The sub was ordered to cut its mission short and return to the naval base in Mar del Plata immediately. According to Capt Balbi, the captain of the ARA San Juan contacted the naval base once more after reporting the problem. In the message, he reportedly said that the problem had been adequately fixed and that the sub would submerge and proceed towards Mar del Plata. The last contact was made at 07:30 local time (10:30 GMT) on Wednesday 15 November. It is not known what happened to the sub after that contact. ARA San Juan submarine Missing since 15 November Built in Germany: 1983 Length: 66 metres Crew: 44 Top speed: 45 km/h Range: 22,224 km Reuters Argentine navy protocol stipulates that in peace time, submarines make contact twice a day with the base. When the submarine failed to call in, the Argentine navy began its search. Who is on board? There are 44 crew on board the submarine, which is under the command of Pedro Martín Fernández. Forty-three of the crew are men but there is also one woman, Eliana María Krawczyk. The 35-year-old is the first female officer in Argentina to serve on a submarine. Image copyright Reuters Image caption Her family says it was Eliana María Krawczyk's dream to become a submariner Nicknamed "the queen of the sea" by her father she comes from Oberá, a city in northern Argentina. Despite having been born and raised far inland, her relatives say that "she was born to be a submariner", citing her "will of steel" and a passion for her job. The rest of the crew is made up of submariners of varying ages and experience. The sub's engineer, Hernán Rodríguez, has been on the ARA San Juan for 11 years, local media reported. Submarine tragedies Accidents involving submarines are rare. Here are some of the most serious: All 70 crew aboard China's Great Wall Ming-class submarine suffocated in 2003 when a diesel engine malfunctioned, consuming the vessel's oxygen supply Ming-class submarine suffocated in 2003 when a diesel engine malfunctioned, consuming the vessel's oxygen supply Russia's Kursk submarine sank in the Barents Sea in 2000 after a torpedo exploded during an exercise, killing all 118 on board, including 23 who survived the blast but died due to a lack of oxygen submarine sank in the Barents Sea in 2000 after a torpedo exploded during an exercise, killing all 118 on board, including 23 who survived the blast but died due to a lack of oxygen The USS Scorpion sank in the Atlantic in 1968, possibly because a torpedo exploded, killing the 99 crew sank in the Atlantic in 1968, possibly because a torpedo exploded, killing the 99 crew The USS Thresher sank during diving tests in 1963, killing all 129 on board - the biggest submarine death toll in history How could the missing submarine be located? Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, Germany, Russia, Peru, South Africa, Uruguay and the UK are among the countries that have sent either ships or planes to help with the search. The US navy has deployed two underwater vehicles which use sonar to create images of the sea floor. A Nasa research aircraft has also flown over the search area but failed to spot anything.

– Hope turned to anger and despair for the families of 44 missing submariners Thursday after the Argentine navy shared news of a grim development. The navy said that a "hydro-acoustic anomaly" detected by the US Navy and a nuclear test-ban monitoring organization soon after the ARA San Juan was last heard from Nov. 15 was apparently an explosion, the BBC reports. Navy spokesman Enrique Balbi said the explosion was recorded near the sub's last known location and was "singular, short, violent, and non-nuclear." He said the cause of the apparent explosion is unknown and the search will continue until the vessel's fate is known. Relatives at the Mar del Plata base were seen collapsing in tears. The sub, which had reported a battery failure, was last heard from close to where Argentina's continental shelf drops to depths the vessel could not have survived at, the Guardian reports. "If a submarine goes below its crush-depth, it would implode, it would just collapse," retired US Navy Capt. James H. Patton Jr. tells the AP. "It would sound like a very, very big explosion to any listening device." Relatives accused the navy of giving them false hope—and of sending their loved ones to die in an unfit vessel. "They sent a piece of crap to sail," said Itati Leguizamon, wife of sonar operator German Suarez. "They inaugurated a submarine with a coat of paint and a flag in 2014, but without any equipment inside."

“My comrade-in-arms, my pal, my buddy.”— Oriana Fallaci“Robert Spencer incarnates intellectual courage when, all over the world, governments, intellectuals, churches, universities and media crawl under a hegemonic Universal Caliphate’s New Order. His achievement in the battle for the survival of free speech and dignity of man will remain as a fundamental monument to the love of, and the self-sacrifice for, liberty.”"Perhaps the foremost Catholic expert on Islam in our country."“Robert Spencer is indefatigable. He is keeping up the good fight long after many have already given up. I do not know what we would do without him. I appreciate all the intelligence and courage it takes to keep going despite the appeasement of the West.”— Ibn Warraq“America's most informed, fearless, and compelling voice on modern jihadism.”— Andrew C. McCarthy, Senior Fellow at National Review Institute“Robert Spencer is the leading voice of scholarship and reason in a world gone mad. If the West is to be saved, we will owe Robert Spencer an incalculable debt.”— Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs "The consummate Islam critic and expert." — Bruce Bawer“Over the years, we have become friends, and I have received his assistance on several pieces of legislation I proposed.”— Former Congressman Tom Tancredo “Few people are capable of applying scholarship, analytical reasoning, and objectivity to their topic -- while simultaneously being readable and witty -- as can Robert Spencer.”“A national treasure...The acclaimed scholar of Islam.”— Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy “I am indeed honored to call him my friend.” Brad Thor , novelist“A top American analyst of Islam....A serious scholar...I learn from him.”“A brilliant scholar and writer.”— Douglas Murray"One of my best teachers."— Ashraf Ramelah, Voice of the Copts“Thank God there’s at least one man with balls left in the West.”— Kathy Shaidle, Five Feet of Fury “I read people like [Mark Steyn] and Bob Spencer and the rest of them, and I say, ‘Boortz, you’re pretending you’re an author. These people really are. They really write some entertaining, some standup stuff.’”“Robert Spencer is the Stephen King of Jihad.”“Armed with facts and fearlessness, Spencer stands up for Western civilization.”— Michelle Malkin“Widely read in conservative foreign policy circles.”— New York Times“Widely read in many quarters in Washington.”— Washington Post“A canny operative who likely has the inside track on the State Department’s Middle East affairs desk should the tea party win the White House.”— New York Magazine“A hero of the American right.”— Karen Armstrong"Spencer’s comprehensive understanding of his Christian faith and Islam along with lucidly insightful writing give the lie to his international notoriety as a bigoted 'Islamophobe.'""The leading anti-Islamic intellectual in the United States....The go-to Islam expert for the right wing."— Salon Magazine“Robert Spencer is an Edward Said turned upside down.”— Stephen Suleyman Schwartz“One of the nation's most notorious Islamophobes.”— Hamas-linked CAIR"Geller and Spencer are probably the most important propagandizing Islamophobes in the world. These people's voices speak very loudly — not just here in the United States but overseas."— Heidi Beirach, Southern Poverty Law Center“Satanic ignoramus.”— Khaleel Mohammed“The Likud anti-Christ.”— Dar al-Hayat newspaper (Saudi Arabia)“Zionist Crusader, missionary of hate, counter-Islam consultant.”— Al-Qaeda’s Adam Gadahn, “Azzam the American” ||||| Upgrade to the latest Flash Player for improved playback performance. Upgrade now or more info ||||| Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is many things: a huckster, a convenient scapegoat, a terrible filmmaker. But to the members of America’s Islamophobic fringe, the producer of “The Innocence of Muslims” is something altogether different. He’s a victim. Nakoula is a man being punished by the Muslim extremists who have infiltrated the White House, and now want to criminalize any criticism of the Prophet, according to anti-Islam crusaders like Robert Spencer. “He is a political prisoner,” Spencer says. Never mind the fact that Nakoula seems to have tricked his actors into making a viral video that depicted Muhammad as a child molester. Never mind Nakoula’s conviction for bank fraud, which earned him a 21-month sentence in federal custody and a ban on using assumed identities, after he used 14 different aliases. Never mind the fact that Nakoula not only appeared to violate that probation by using the identity “Sam Bacile” when producing his video, or the fact the he doesn’t even seem to have been convicted under his real name. [In court Friday, he said he was really Mark Basseley Youssef (.pdf). He changed it back in 2002 because "Nakoula is a girl's name and it cause me troubles," he claimed.] To his defenders, it may even be kind of appropriate for Nakoula to go by so many names. To them, he’s become less of a man and more of a symbol – a prism for projecting a thousand conspiracy theories about a Muslim president gone mad with power, ready to unleash his scimitared hordes. “He has been arrested not for the technicality of the probation violation, but for insulting Muhammad. His arrest is a symbol of America’s capitulation to the Sharia,” Spencer writes. “I am Nakoula Basseley Nakoula,” blogger Scott Johnson adds. “Hillary Clinton, I insist that you have me arrested. I am thinking of making a movie about Mohammed,” declares Roger L. Simon, who continues, “Any Jews who now vote for Obama are ‘useful idiots’ beyond anything ever conceived by Lenin.” Is there a First Amendment critique to be made of the White House’s handling of Nakoula and his video? There sure is. At first, the Obama administration tried to put the blame for the current unrest in the Middle East on Nakoula — a charge we now know to be unfair. Then the Pentagon’s top general tried in vain to talk one of the video’s promoters into abandoning “Innocence.” And the White House unsuccessfully asked YouTube to pull the video from its servers. Afterward, ACLU executive Ben Wizner said the civil liberties group was “concerned” by the federal government’s apparent attempt to “throw its weight behind a request for self-censorship.” That didn’t stop Investors’ Business Daily from fuming that “Americans might as well be living under Islamic blasphemy laws, yet the nation’s champion of free speech — the ACLU — is AWOL. That’s because it’s now largely run by Muslims.” The rhetoric only heated up with Nakoula’s arrest on Thursday. “He was hunted down like an animal,” wrote Pamela Geller, a prominent member of the anti-Islam camp. “He is being jailed for blasphemy. This is Obama sharia enforcement in America.” It’s a bit of an odd accusation, considering that Nakoula directly contradicted his terms of probation (.pdf), which explicitly forbade him from “us[ing], for any purpose or in any manner, any name other than his/her true legal name or names without the prior written approval of the Probation Officer.” But what makes the Obama comment particularly odd is that U.S. Magistrate Judge Suzanne H. Segal (.pdf), who ordered that Nakoula be taken into custody, was appointed to the federal bench in 2002 — during the administration of George W. Bush. Of course, it’s not surprising that Geller would come to the defense of Nakoula and his film. She’s a political ally of one of the men who helped make the movie. Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih is the president of Media for Christ, a Duarte, California-based broadcasting concern. He not only obtained the permits to shoot “Innocence” and allowed Nakoula to use his soundstage. Media for Christ’s Arabic-language television channel, “The Way TV,” also hosts a regular segment by “Innocence” consultant Steve Klein, who uses the platform to let loose a series of anti-Muslim diatribes. (A sample: “We’re just telling the truth about Muhammad being a pedophile and a murderer. Why do you want to kill us? Why do you want to come to America? Why do you want to replace our Constitution? Why do you want to replace our church?”) Nassralla appeared alongside Geller, Rober Spencer, and “Innocence”-promoter Morris Sadek at a pair of rallies protesting a Muslim center in downtown Manhattan. ”I come from Egypt. Egypt was Coptic, was Christians. From one thousand four hundred years, Islamic conquer our country with their lies [sic],” Nasralla declared at the 2010 event. After portions of “Innocence” aired on Egyptian television, and rioters seized on the film as an excuse to storm the American embassy there, Nasralla published a statement on Geller’s blog saying he was “shocked” that Nakoula has turned the film into an anti-Muhammad diatribe. “The work of my ministry and my television station is to expose the brutal ideology of sharia and terrorism…. We never insult anyone.” In February of this year, Geller used her blog to promote a movie not unlike “Innocence.” The idea was to make a film so devastating to Muhammad, it would shatter the religion of his followers. “To get rid of Islam we need to reveal the truth about it,” the blog noted. ” We need to make a motion picture about Muhammad – a biopic that reveals the details of his life. The Devil is in the details.” The post was written long after Nakoula began casting “Innocence.” But it’s not hard to see why Geller would rush to the defense of the film, and its maker. She had a similar notion herself. ||||| Hillary Clinton, I insist that you have me arrested. I am thinking of making a movie about Mohammed. I don’t want to brag, but as a film professional with an Academy Award nomination in screenwriting, I may do a better job than Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, alleged creator of the Innocence of Muslims. But I have to admit one thing. Hopeless and inept as Nakoula may be as a filmmaker, I agree with the intentions of his movie. I too have a serious problem with Islam because I happen to abhor misogyny and homophobia, both mainstays of that faith. And, like most Americans, I prefer freedom of religion to jihad, Sharia law, and a global caliphate. Don’t let me criticize any of that. I also happen to agree with Nakoula that making a movie about a faith whose prophet married a six year old and deflowered her at nine is of thematic and dramatic relevance. As a father, I am seriously concerned about child abuse, as is most of our film-going public, I would imagine. Indeed, the beginnings of Islam are the very stuff of great theatre and cinema, reprehensible as the actions of the protagonist may be. In fact, it may be great because of those actions. After all, Richard III is not a classic for nothing. So I am very tempted by the subject of Mohammed. Arrest me, Hillary Clinton, before I start. Call Eric Holder! And while you are at it, tell him to round up Salman Rushdie. His novel about Mohammed is obviously blasphemous. He was lucky to escape that fatwa. We should have one of our own. And arrest those Danish cartoonists too – ink-stained wretches! Arrest everyone who dares to criticize a religion that wants to take the world back to the seventh century. After all, you’re a “progressive.” You’re on the side of human rights. And make us apologize for our work, too. We didn’t mean a word we said. I’m sure the thoughtful folks in the Arab Street will accept our apologies and return to their peaceful, meditative lives. But most of all, arrest me because I might even make things worse. My film is likely to be inspired by a fascinating lecture I heard by the very Rushdie during which the novelist, who read Islamic history at Cambridge, explained the origins of that faith. He said it began with Mohammed’s ruthless and violent battle with the mother cults that then controlled Medina over local trade routes. It was about money then, but, as I will show in my movie, that war evolved into a kind of perpetual “War on Women” that has been waged by Islam since. Interesting, huh? Good cinema. Action, adventure, sex (matriarchy vs. ultra-patriarchy), even a little meaty conversation like Lawrence of Arabia. Don’t let me do it. There’s only one “War on Women” and you know it -- the one your fellow Democrats ascribe to Mitt Romney and company. I wouldn’t want to undermine that. So stop me, Hillary, before I write. The Bill of Rights is a fusty old document anyway, obviously subject to revision by an UN-approved committee of trans-global multi-culturalists. Censor me all you want. I’m ready. I don’t want to cause any international incidents. I have enough sleepless nights as is. But you will excuse me if, in the process, I think of you as the deepest of reactionaries. I knew you were a big time liar when you blamed the “right-wing conspiracy” for your husband’s obvious serial adultery. That was nothing compared to this, however. By blaming filmmakers, even the most amateurish ones, for the murderous actions of fanatical Islamists, you have placed yourself in complete opposition to everything our country ever stood for and to the essence of the U.S. Constitution. How despicable. ADDENDUM: For an insight to the degree to which our State Department has lied to us and to themselves about the situation in the Middle East, go here. Any Jews who now vote for Obama are "useful idiots" beyond anything ever conceived by Lenin. ||||| Islamofascism: Americans might as well be living under Islamic blasphemy laws, yet the nation's champion of free speech — the ACLU — is AWOL. That's because it's now largely run by Muslims. The ACLU usually stands up strong for First Amendment rights. Not in the case of the Muhammad movie. The ACLU's executive director failed to release an official statement condemning the outrageous efforts of the White House to deep-six the film, including pressuring YouTube to remove its trailer from the Web. Amnesty International, in contrast, asserted that any Muslim hurt over the film "should not be used as a justification to curtail core freedoms or justify potential government repression." Not until The Daily Caller contacted the ACLU did it speak out, and only meekly so. It said it was "concerned" about the White House request to censor the "repellant film." The ACLU's strangely muted response contrasts sharply with its militant reaction to post-9/11 measures to crack down on Islamic terrorists. "The government has gone to extraordinary lengths to squelch dissent (in the Muslim community) — from censorship and surveillance to detention," it says on its website, complaining it was "encroaching" on the "free speech rights" of Muslims. In a 200-page report on jihad fundraising, "Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity," the ACLU argued that "federal law enforcement is engaging in practices that intimidate Muslim donors and create a climate of fear that chills American Muslims' free and full exercise of their religion." In other words, the First Amendment rights of Muslims are more precious than those of the average citizen. Where is this bias coming from? Muslims. The ACLU now counts at least eight on its national executive staff alone. In fact, a Muslim runs the ACLU's Center for Democracy, while another heads its National Security Project. The irony is not lost on Steve Emerson, director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "The ACLU was founded on the basis that there shouldn't be any blasphemy laws," said Emerson, who's airing a new documentary, "Jihad in America: The Grand Deception." "Yet in the last 10 years, they've appointed (to their boards) members of the Muslim Brotherhood who believe in blasphemy laws." The top Muslim lawyer in ACLU's stable is Jameel Jaffer, who successfully sued the U.S. to reveal CIA secrets for interrogating terror suspects. This national-security wrecking machine is not even American. He's Canadian. He also happens to be a Muslim activist closely tied to major Muslim Brotherhood figures and front groups.

– To America's anti-Muslim bloggers, the director of Innocence of Muslims is more of a cult hero than a criminal, Wired reports. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula "is a political prisoner," writes one, who argues that recent Arab protests are designed "to intimidate the US into criminalizing criticism of Islam." Another wants to be arrested because "I am thinking of making a movie about Muhammed"; he goes on to call Jews who vote for President Obama "''useful idiots' beyond anything ever conceived by Lenin." Not all of them are typing away in basements, either. Investors' Business Daily recently seethed that "Americans might as well be living under Islamic blasphemy laws," and a California-based broadcaster called Media for Christ has welcomed guests who slam the Muslim religion (sample here). While Wired agrees that there is a good First Amendment argument against President Obama's handling of Innocence, America's anti-Islamist movement goes much further—arguing that Muhammed is "a pedophile and a murderer" and that we should "get rid of Islam." Click for the full article.

Originally published March 24, 2014 at 11:36 AM | Page modified March 24, 2014 at 11:45 PM Photo by Ted S. Warren /The Associated Press; Graphic by The Seattle Times Officials said they have received 176 reports of people missing as rescuers continue to search the debris from a milewide mudslide in Snohomish County. Dec. 14-15, 2006: Hanukkah Eve Windstorm blamed for at least 14 deaths in Western Washington, including eight who died of carbon-monoxide poisoning. May 18, 1980: Mount St. Helens in Skamania County erupted, following a magnitude 5.1 earthquake. The heat melted glaciers and caused massive mudflows, killing 57 people and destroying more than 200 homes. Oct. 12, 1962: The Columbus Day Windstorm claimed 46 lives as it moved from Northern California through Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, with winds gusting over 100 mph. Jan. 13, 1950: Blizzard and high winds dumped 21 inches of snow on the Seattle area, claiming 13 lives. Aug. 20-Sept. 9, 1910: The Great Fire of 1910 burned about 3 million acres in Northeast Washington and Northern Idaho, killing 85 people, 72 of them firefighters. March 1, 1910: Stevens Pass Avalanche killed 96 people after it swept two trains down a ravine. It remains the deadliest avalanche in U.S history, and Washington’s worst natural disaster. Use an interactive tool to see the landslide’s deadly path. Interactive map: A detailed view of the neighborhood hit by the landslide Read about the lives of the victims. Use an interactive to see how, even as warnings mounted, homes kept being built in slide-prone Steelhead Haven. A collection of stories and visuals about the disaster, why it may have happened and the people it affected. Rescuers Monday found six more bodies in a milewide swath of mud and debris that plunged from a Snohomish County hillside, as reports of those still missing jumped to 176. So far, 14 people have been confirmed dead after the massive mudslide came down from above the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River, crossed over it, plowed through homes and onto Highway 530 about 11 a.m. Saturday. Search conditions are dismal. Crews have at times been kept from the area out of fear more of the cliff above might crumble. And when they can look, “in areas it’s like quicksand. Sometimes it takes five minutes to walk 40 or 50 feet and get our equipment over these berms,” said Travis Hots, chief of Snohomish County Fire Districts 21 and 22. The National Guard is expected to arrive early Tuesday to aid the search. As the search progressed, the names of the missing reported to authorities increased dramatically. Sunday, there were reports of 18 people missing. Monday morning, John Pennington, who heads the county’s Department of Emergency Management, said they were sorting through a list of 108 reports, with obvious duplicates removed. By Monday evening, that number had reached 176. Pennington said that sounds discouraging, but he emphasized that some reports are vague and it is likely there are several about the same person. He encouraged people to continue calling in with names, photos and descriptions of people who might have been in the mudslide’s path. “Candidly, the 176 names ... I believe very strongly is not going to be a number that we’re going to see in fatalities. I believe it’s going to drop dramatically,” Pennington said. “But it doesn’t make the process any easier.” Rescuers Monday used aircraft, hovercraft, heat-sensing equipment and dogs to look through mud 20 feet deep in places and contaminated by chemicals and bacteria. “It’s very tedious and slow-going,” Hots said. They are working in areas where there are most likely to be survivors, such as in houses and cars. “When we do find a void space, it’s difficult to search because buildings have been collapsed and crushed,” Hots said. He said the mud is so compressed in houses that it’s like concrete. Pennington said there are 59 vacant lots in the slide area, and 49 more lots had structures — meaning a house, a cabin or some type of possible dwelling. Of all the structures, 25 were likely occupied full-time. Dayn Brunner, after fighting the urge to dig through the mudslide wreckage Sunday, gave in to the temptation Monday along with his sons, brothers, cousins and friends. His sister, Summer Raffo, 36, is missing somewhere in the mud. “I can’t stay at home not doing anything,” Brunner said. He said officials told them they had to leave, but they refused. “They said just be careful and call us if you need us.” Other family members and friends of the missing gathered in the nearby towns of Darrington and Arlington, awaiting news and talking about loved ones. Often, they spoke in the past tense. Nobody has been found alive in the debris since Saturday. “Most of us in these communities believe that we will not find any individuals alive,” Pennington said Monday evening. “But I’m a man of faith, and I believe in miracles.” Still, he said, “we are moving toward a recovery operation” rather than a rescue. Hope gone Pete Bellomo, of Bellevue, spent the day in Arlington, trying to find out any information about his daughter, Shelley, and her longtime partner, Jerry Logan. He did not hold out hope they would be found alive. “No, no, I don’t think there’s any chance of that ... but I haven’t been informed of anything yet,” he said. Shelley Bellomo, 54, “loved living by that river,” where she could watch the bald eagles flying by, her father said. “It was a beautiful location. I never thought [a mudslide] could fall all the way across 530,” he said. Logan was “an all-around handyman” who helped one neighbor build a barn and installed a deck for another, Pete Bellomo said. Also missing is 13-year-old Jovon Mangual, his half-sisters Kaylee Spillers, 5, and Brooke Spillers, 2, and his stepfather, Billy Spillers. The children’s mother, Jonielle Spillers, a nursing assistant, and Jovon’s 4-year-old half-brother, Jacob Spillers, are alive. The Spillers moved from Seattle to Oso about two years ago, said Jovon’s father, Jose Mangual, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army. Billy Spillers, a chief petty officer in the Navy, is stationed at Naval Station Everett and the family liked Oso “because it was more countrylike and they liked the house,” Mangual said. Billy Spillers and the children were apparently watching TV when the mudslide happened, according to Mangual, who said he spoke with Jacob about what happened. The boy said he’d been on the second floor. “Jacob told me he got out when nobody else was able to get out,” Mangual said. Jonielle Spillers was working when she learned of the slide. Blocked from reaching home because of the slide, she called hospitals, which is how she found Jacob. Thomas Durnell, 65, was at his Oso home when it was destroyed by the slide. Deb Durnell, his wife, was working Saturday morning and is safe, according to her daughter, Pam Keller. Carrie Milburn, a friend of the couple, said they moved there after marrying in 2010. Seth and Christina Jefferds have lived in their house in Oso for years . Seth Jefferds, a volunteer firefighter, was not home at the time of the slide and arrived to find his house flattened and his wife and her 4-month-old granddaughter, Sanoah Huestis, missing, said his brother-in-law, Dale Petersen. Sanoah Huestis lived with Christina and Seth Jefferds. Sanoah is just “a very, very cute child,” said Seth’s father, Peter Jefferds. He described Christina Jefferds as “very charismatic, loving. A great woman.” Northwest Smile Design, a dental office in Marysville where Christina Jefferds worked, posted on its website Monday that she and Sanoah Huestis had died, calling her “a steadying and calming force in times of stress ... a true friend.” Nichole Webb Rivera said she frantically called and texted her parents, her daughter and her daughter’s fiance when the massive hillside collapsed. Rivera said her parents, Thom and Marcy Satterlee, lived in the center of the slide, and she doesn’t think they made it out. She said her 20-year-old daughter, Delaney Webb, and Webb’s fiance were visiting the older couple at the time. Rivera lives in Houston but traveled to Washington after the slide. She said Monday: “We’ve lost four.” Seven people injured in the slide were being treated at area hospitals Monday. At Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, 22-week-old Duke Suddarth was in critical condition but improving. His mom, Amanda Skorjanc, 25, was in satisfactory condition. Three men, ages 81, 58 and 37, were all in serious condition there, though their names were not released. At Cascade Valley Hospital in Arlington, one woman was in satisfactory condition. Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon reported a 68-year-old man was in stable condition. Monday night, Darrington Mayor Dan Rankin said the closed Mountain Loop Highway, which connects Darrington to the outside world from the north, could reopen Tuesday or Wednesday. It has been closed for the winter. Times staff reporters Alexa Vaughn, Janet Tu, Bob Young, Lynn Thompson, John Higgins, Erik Lacitis, Brian M. Rosenthal and Nancy Bartley contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press is included in this report. Four weeks for 99 cents of unlimited digital access to The Seattle Times. Try it now! ||||| Six more bodies were found Monday in a Washington town that was engulfed by mud when a hillside collapsed, raising the number of confirmed dead to 14, and authorities are chasing down a striking 176 reports of people missing. The number of reports of missing people was up from 108 earlier in the day, though authorities cautioned that many of those could likely be false alarms and duplicates. The search effort included firefighters and police officers, dogs and heavy equipment operators — even a hovercraft. Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed 0:55 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog The threat of a secondary landslide for a time hampered search-and-rescue efforts Monday afternoon. Emergency management officials said some crews had been pulled off the disaster site in Oso, Wash., because of the danger. "There is movement on the landslide," said state geologist Dave Norman. State officials said geologist from several agencies were on the scene to monitor the hillside, but the slide area remained unsafe for recovery work before beginning again. But the going was tough, officials said, with some areas “like quicksand” and others chunky hard clay hard to traverse and dig. No survivors were found on Monday, said Snohomish County Fire District 21 Chief Travis Hots in a Monday evening news briefing. Crews were going to continue overnight and into the morning, however. “We’re looking in areas where there are most likely survivors,” Hots said, including structures and vehicles. On the way to help is a 50-person specialty search-and-rescue team from the National Guard, said John Pennington, director of the Snohomish County Emergency Management Agency. Facebook Twitter Google Plus Embed 0:52 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog The mudslide Saturday flattened dozens of homes in an area that was 4,400 feet wide by 4,400 feet long — shy of a square mile — leaving a jumble of muck and debris in its wake. It peeled off a section of the hill that is 1,500 feet wide and 600 feet high. The concern was the land behind that so-called head-scarp might be unstable. The mud and debris also dammed up a river, which was causing flooding upstream. The water was up to the eaves in seven homes, and officials were considering further evacuations. President Barack Obama declared an emergency in Snohomish County, Wash., because of the mudslide and flooding. He ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts and authorized the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts with "the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population."

– The number of people missing or unaccounted for after a mudslide that wiped out a riverside neighborhood in Washington state has soared to 176 from 108, with 14 now confirmed dead. The chief of Snohomish County's Department of Emergency Management says the list is still vague and he is sure the final number of victims will be lower, though area residents say they know entire families that are still missing, the Seattle Times reports. Others on the missing list include repairmen who were out on jobs and a group of girls who were at a slumber party. Firefighters, police officers, heavy equipment, and even a hovercraft are being used in the search effort, and rescuers say they still hold out hope of finding people alive, NBC reports. In some places, searchers have been sinking in the mud, which can measure up to 20 feet deep. One volunteer firefighter says many tragic stories from the scene remain to be told. "It's much worse than everyone’s been saying," he says. "The slide is about a mile wide. Entire neighborhoods are just gone. When the slide hit the river, it was like a tsunami."

A year after Hurricane Maria swept across Puerto Rico, leaving some 2,975 people dead and knocking the economy on its back, it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S. territory may never fully recover from the storm. Puerto Rico was already insolvent before the 2017 storm, with creditors and the island's government deep in negotiations about how to jumpstart the economy or strip it bare to pay off $70 billion owed to bondholders. And the island's government owes another $50 billion it doesn't have to cover current and future pensions. Even before Maria, half a million people had left Puerto Rico and its economy had been steadily shrinking since 2005. After the hurricane, there's even less to work with. While power and water have finally been restored to more than 99 percent of the island's remaining 3.2 million residents, the economy is moribund. Economic output is projected to fall 13.3 percent this year, manufacturing jobs are drying up, tax receipts are down, small businesses are shuttering, and the reconstruction boom that follows many natural disasters is stymied by the slow pace of federal aid and the fact that most Puerto Ricans had little savings or insurance before the storm. Only 15 percent had homeowners insurance, and only 1 in 3 residents has a bank account. "I am not hugely optimistic," says Brad Setser, an economist at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, who has written extensively on Puerto Rico. The challenge for the island is whether it can harness the growth that comes with an expected $9 billion in recovery spending in 2018 and 2019. "If Puerto Rico doesn't experience strong growth in fiscal 2019, it never will," said Setser. Puerto Rico's governor, Ricardo Rosselló, blames what he calls the island's status as a "colony" of the united States. He wrote to President Trump this week urging the U.S. to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. "The biggest impediment for Puerto Rico's full and prosperous recovery: the inequalities Puerto Rico faces as the oldest, most populous colony in the world," Rosselló wrote. Granting statehood, however, would be a multi-year process facing daunting political odds. In the meantime, Puerto Rico's economy is in a tailspin. How hard is life in Puerto Rico? A fiscal plan published by the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in June outlines many of the challenges. Here's a look at the numbers: ||||| Aaron and Diana Umpirerre gather in the parking lot to meet others to head to West Palm Beach for a protest, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018 in Hollywood, Fla. Activists marking the one-year anniversary of... (Associated Press) Aaron and Diana Umpirerre gather in the parking lot to meet others to head to West Palm Beach for a protest, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018 in Hollywood, Fla. Activists marking the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria's devastation of Puerto Rico are staging a rally and caravan focused on President Donald... (Associated Press) WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Dozens of vehicles slowly approached President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday afternoon, blasting reggaeton and salsa as they drove by. They honked their horns and waved Puerto Rican flags draped from their car windows and trunks. They were on their way to a rally a few miles away to mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria. Despite the scorching hot sun, hundreds of activists showed up at the Meyer Amphitheater in West Palm Beach. Buses full of protesters came from as far as Miami and Orlando. The crowd was lively. People spread out on the grass and walked around carrying posters that read "Respeta Mi Gente" (Respect My People) and "Justice for Puerto Rico." To one side of the stage, a giant blowup balloon of Trump depicted as a baby had been inflated. Crowds waited in line to take photographs in which they gave the orange balloon the middle finger. Event organizers encouraged those in attendance to vote in the midterm elections in November. Anyone with a microphone was constantly telling people to vote, to register to vote, and to spread awareness about voting. "We're honoring the lives that were lost," said Marcos Vilar, the president and executive director of Alianza for Progress, one of the event organizers. "We are recognizing all the people that were displaced and are living here in South Florida, central Florida and throughout the state." Vilar believes that although Puerto Ricans are citizens, the current administration's response to the aftermath of Hurricane Maria has proven that Puerto Ricans are not treated equally. Nearly 3,000 people have died as a result of Hurricane Maria, according to a study conducted by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. The president has repeatedly rebuked the death toll. Last week he tweeted that researchers had inflated the numbers "like magic" saying the amount was "FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER -NO WAY!" Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago during the event. Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who was in attendance, called the current situation in Puerto Rico "inexcusable" and characterized Trump's comments as offensive. "How much more insults do (Puerto Ricans) have to take after being treated like they have?" he asked. He also criticized the Federal Emergency Management Agency's relief efforts, saying that their treatment of Puerto Ricans has been "cold-hearted" and that the agency must do more to provide displaced people with temporary housing assistance. Nelson is locked in a tight re-election race with Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who must leave office because of term limits. The large Puerto Rican vote in Florida is seen as a crucial bloc in the state. Scott has visited Puerto Rico numerous times since the hurricane. Dayavet Velez, 17, said that her home in Adjuntas, a small municipality tucked away in the mountains of central Puerto Rico, had been destroyed by Hurricane Maria. She and her family have been living in central Florida for nearly a year. "We came here because we lost everything there," she said. Velez said that when Trump visited Puerto Rico, he didn't see the full devastation that Maria had caused, he saw only a distorted reality. He didn't visit the areas that were most affected by the storm. Despite the hardships she and her family have faced, the high school senior remains hopeful. "We're not going to be torn down," she said. "We're going to stand up for ourselves ... we're going to be strong ... we're going to progress here."

– Dozens of vehicles slowly approached President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday afternoon, blasting reggaeton and salsa as they drove by. They honked their horns and waved Puerto Rican flags draped from their cars on their way to a rally a few miles away to mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria. Despite the scorching sun, hundreds showed up in West Palm Beach, with buses full of protesters from as far as Miami and Orlando. A lively crowd carried posters that read "Respeta Mi Gente" (Respect My People) and "Justice for Puerto Rico," reports the AP. A giant blowup balloon of Trump depicted as a baby hovered as crowds waited to take photos in which they gave it the middle finger. Event organizers and anyone with a microphone was constantly telling people to vote in the midterm elections or to register to vote. The event came as CBS notes that Puerto Rico may never fully recover from Maria. "We're honoring the lives that were lost," said Marcos Vilar, president of Alianza for Progress. "We are recognizing all the people that were displaced and are living here." Vilar believes that the Trump administration's response has proven that Puerto Ricans are not treated as equal citizens. Nearly 3,000 died as a result of Hurricane Maria, per a study by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University. Trump has repeatedly rebuked the death toll. Last week he tweeted that researchers inflated the numbers "like magic," saying "FIFTY TIMES LAST ORIGINAL NUMBER -NO WAY!" Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago during the event. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, who was in attendance, called the situation in Puerto Rico "inexcusable" and characterized Trump's comments as offensive. "How much more insults do (Puerto Ricans) have to take after being treated like they have?" he asked.

ADDS THAT ROWE IS AT TOP AND DUBOSE AT BOTTOM - This photo provided by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows the arrest of the two Georgia fugitives Donnie Rowe, top, and Ricky Dubose, bottom, in... (Associated Press) SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Two escaped inmates sought in the killings of two guards on a Georgia prison bus were captured after a chase and being held at gunpoint by a rural Tennessee homeowner whose vehicle they were trying to steal, authorities said. Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose were apprehended Thursday in the rural community of Christiana, Tennessee, ending a multi-state manhunt that began Tuesday morning. "True bravery is what's caused us to stand before you tonight to talk about a successful capture instead of a tragic incident," Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said at a news conference. "So I'm totally grateful to everyone involved." Earlier in the day, police in nearby Shelbyville had responded to a call about a home invasion, where a couple had been held captive, Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles said. The suspects fled in the couple's vehicle and fired on sheriff's deputies chasing them on Interstate 24 about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Nashville, Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Bill Miller said. Rutherford County Sheriff Michael Fitzhugh said his deputies did not return fire and none of them was injured. Rowe and Dubose crashed the car and bailed out, running into the woods, Miller said. They then came across a home set back on a long driveway. The trooper said the homeowner looked outside and saw the two allegedly trying to steal his car. The man held the two at gunpoint with a neighbor he called for help until the sheriff's department could get there to arrest the fugitives. The two were being held at the Rutherford County jail. Georgia Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier said in a news release that he was relieved the two inmates were captured and no longer a threat to the public. "They will be brought to justice swiftly for their heinous crime against our officers," he said, also expressing gratitude to all of the law enforcement officers who provided support and assistance in the search for the two men. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal applauded the "tireless efforts" of law enforcement but also turned his thoughts to the families of the two officers, saying their pain remains. "We will do everything in our power to support their loved ones, and we will not forget their sacrifice and service," Deal said. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine said the bureau's agents will take part in processing the scene. The two men had been on the run since early Tuesday, when they are accused of having killed Sgt. Christopher Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue. The two inmates overpowered and disarmed the guards on a bus about 6:45 a.m. Tuesday as 33 inmates were being driven between prisons, authorities have said. One of them fatally shot both guards, and then they jumped out of the bus and carjacked a driver who happened to pull up behind them on state Highway 16 in Putnam County, southeast of Atlanta, authorities said. The two inmates then fled in the stolen Honda Civic and drove about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north to Madison, where they ransacked a home, stealing food and clothes and leaving their prison uniforms behind around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. Late Tuesday night, about 12 hours after the home burglary, the pair stole a Ford pickup truck from a rock quarry about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) from the burglarized home when the trail had gone cold. The FBI announced a tip line and said pictures of the men and information about a $130,000 reward would appear on billboards in multiple states. TBI's Gwyn said Thursday he wasn't sure who would collect the reward. Authorities warned that the men, who had escaped with the guards' 9 mm pistols, were considered very dangerous. Gwyn said investigators believe both weapons have been found at the site where the men crashed the vehicle. Monica and Billue were transfer sergeants at Baldwin State Prison. Monica had been with the Georgia Department of Corrections since October 2009 and Billue since July 2007. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said the escaped inmates had been inside a secured area of the bus. He said he didn't know how they got through the locked cage to overpower the guards. Protocol is to have two armed corrections officers on the bus, but the officers don't wear bullet-proof vests during transfers, Dozier said. Both escapees were serving sentences for armed robbery and other crimes. The Department of Corrections said Rowe, 43, had been serving life without parole since 2002, and Dubose, 24, began a 20-year sentence in 2015. ___ Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed to this report. ||||| A two-day manhunt that had the South on edge came to a close Thursday after two Georgia inmates who allegedly shot and killed two correctional officers were captured off a highway in Tennessee. Ricky Dubose, 24, and Donnie Rowe, 43, escaped Baldwin State Prison on Tuesday morning after they overpowered and shot two correctional officers — Christopher Monica, 42, and Curtis Billue, 58 — with their own guns while the prisoners were being moved to another facility via a transport bus. Play Facebook Twitter Embed Escaped Georgia Inmates Captured in Tennessee 2:15 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog They were captured at a home off Interstate 24 after a high-speed car chase that included an exchange of gunfire — an estimated 20 shots. The fugitives escaped into the woodline Thursday evening but were later held at gunpoint by a local man when they tried to steal his car, a spokesman for Tennessee Highway Patrol said. Georgia Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier confirmed the capture in a statement. "We are relieved to know that these two dangerous individuals have been taken off the streets, and the public is out of harm's way,” Dozier said. "They will be brought to justice swiftly for their heinous crime against our Officers." Authorities reported that the trail had gone cold after a series of false sightings in South Carolina on Wednesday. In response, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI joined forces to offer a reward that grew to $130,000 for information that led to an arrest. Escaped inmates Ricky Dubose and Donnie Rowe are seen after their capture. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Before the capture, a lead developed when a couple in Shelbyville, Tennessee, reported that they had been tied up in their home by the escaped inmates, Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing told NBC affiliate WSMV. Dubose and Rowe put guns to the the couple's heads and threatened their lives, ate soup in their house and stole their clothing and valuables before leaving after about three hours in the couple's black Jeep Cherokee, Swing said. According to Swing, the escaped convicts intended to take the woman with them, but decided against it. They gagged and tied her up, bound the man with belts and put socks on his hands so he wouldn't be able to use his fingers, he said. The couple were able to untie themselves later and call police. "They are extremely traumatized," Swing said. "I know both of them — great people — but they are extremely traumatized. Thankfully, they have some family here with them, so they're dealing with it now." Escaped inmates Ricky Dubose, left, and Donnie Russell Rowe. Georgia Department of Corrections Later that evening, police attempted to stop the car that Row and Dubose were driving on Interstate 24. The two men fired 20 shots at police during the high-speed chase, but only hit the frames of the police cars. The escapees wrecked the car, got out and fled on foot into the woods, authorities said. According to authorities, the two men ran on foot into the woods where they momentarily lost police. They came upon a home where they attempted to steal a car, but the homeowner came outside and held the fugitives at gunpoint until a neighbor came to assist. Police were then called and arrested the two men. Steve Emmett, a spokesman for the Atlanta field office of the FBI, confirmed to NBC News that the two inmates were in custody. The FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives collaborated with the GBI in response to the convicts' escape. The highway where the car was stopped remained a crime scene Thursday evening, causing traffic to back up for several miles, according to WSMV. ||||| 0 Inmates accused of killing officers appear in court SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - The two inmates who were on the run for three days after authorities say they killed two corrections officers, have been captured. The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in Tennessee confirmed Ricky Dubose and Donnie Rowe were caught Thursday evening in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The escapees were wanted for the prison bus murders of two corrections officers: Sgt. Chris Monica and Sgt. Curtis Billue. Our Agent snapped this picture of Ricky Dubose and Donnie Rowe just after their capture in Rutherford County, TN tonight. Great work by all! pic.twitter.com/p2Y30ol9Ut — TBI (@TBInvestigation) June 16, 2017 Dubose and Rowe appeared in court in Rutherford County Friday. They both waived extradition back to Putman County, Georgia where the officers were killed. Rutherford County Sheriff Michael Fitzhugh said at first he did not know who the men were, but was concerned about his deputies. "They shot at my deputies and I'm concerned about that. Yes, I'd like to see attempted murder charges brought against them, realizing that we'll have our charge and line up and they'll be behind the Georgia charges because there's no question the Georgia charges are more severe," he said. Investigators say Rowe and Dubose have committed so many crimes in so many places that it may be days or weeks before there is a full list of charges. They are being held in the Rutherford County jail until officials from Georgia come pick them up. Dubose's cousin spoke out Thursday before his capture, pleading he turn himself in. She said her cousin is not a monster. "The Ricky I know is nothing like what we are seeing on TV, all the tattoos, the heinous things going on. That's not the Ricky I know," Brenda Tarver said. Tarver said she last talked to Dubose when he visited her church in 2013. She said he had just gotten out of jail, and told her he was "trying to do right." Wednesday, Georgia officials released a photo for a Ford F-250 truck that Dubose and Rowe were said to have stolen. Channel 2 Action News learned Thursday evening the men ditched that truck Moore County, Tennessee Thursday. They said from there, they an stole another car and headed to Bedford County, where investigators said they broke into an elderly couple’s home. Georgia inmates accused of killing corrections officers caught in Tennessee: https://t.co/jcTvHpSM95 pic.twitter.com/PwcXGUECbV — WSB-TV (@wsbtv) June 16, 2017 “I'll say they weren't injured but I can assure you they were traumatized by these hoodlums coming into their home. I'm sorry as I can be,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said. Officials from Tennessee say Dubose and Rowe held the couple hostage for about three hours before stealing their car. Tennessee law enforcement said the couple were able to get break free and call investigators. Deputies said they spotted the car in Shelbyville. The men got into a car chase when deputies attempted to pull them over along Interstate 24 westbound. “All of a sudden, I look up from my phone and I see a state trooper. He's got an assault rifle, he's got his finger on the trigger and he's like, 'as soon as I tell you turn around and go the opposite way on the highway,'” Witness Andy Held told Channel 2’s Nicole Carr. Deputies said the inmates fired at them from the car. Investigators said the men wrecked the vehicle near mile marker 91 after the chase reached speeds of 100 mph. Dubose and Rowe then ran from the car into a wooded area along the interstate. The approached a nearby home and the homeowner called police and his neighbors. CAPTURED: Fugitives in custody following car chase in TN. More info will be forthcoming. — Governor Nathan Deal (@GovernorDeal) June 16, 2017 Investigators said the men surrendered peacefully when they were taken into custody. No one was injured in the incident. This all started Tuesday morning when investigators said Dubose and Rowe jumped the correctional officers, shot them and then broke out of the bus in Putnam County. The officers died from their injuries. Investigators said the inmates then carjacked a Honda, dumped it later and broke into a home to grab food, street clothes and money. The escapees then stole the white Ford F-250 pickup, leading to Thursday’s event. The head of Georgia’s Department of Correction, Greg Dozier, declined to talk about how the prisoners where capable of overtaking the armed guards on Thursday. He said the focus now was tracking them down and offering compassion to the families of the corrections officers, killed in the line of duty. “We will miss them deeply, and we can't replace them. It's a shame two individuals would be so cowardly to do this," Dozier said. Gov. Nathan Deal released a statement about the arrest: “Rest assured, justice will be served. My sincere thanks to our local, state and federal law enforcement officers who assisted in the manhunt. Because of their tireless efforts, the public is safe. The pain endured by the families and loved ones of Sergeant Christopher Monica and Sergeant Curtis Billue endures, however. We will do everything in our power to support their loved ones, and we will not forget their sacrifice and service.” Thankfully the 2 escaped prisoners have been captured without anymore bloodshed. Here are the 2 faces we need to remember : pic.twitter.com/aaqXrpK1hy — Tony Thomas (@TonyThomasWSB) June 16, 2017 Sgt. Christopher Monica was 42 years old. He was husband and father of two daughters. Monica was an 8-year veteran of the Department of Corrections. Sgt. Curtis Billue was 58 years old and leaves behind two sons. Billue was a 10-year veteran of the Department of Corrections. He also served in the U.S. Army for 11 years. © 2018 Cox Media Group.

– Georgia's two escaped inmates were captured Thursday with help from a gun-toting Tennessee homeowner. But first, Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose broke into an elderly couple's home, tied up the occupants, held guns to their heads, threatened to kill them, and ate their beef stew, Bedford County Sheriff Austin Swing tells NBC News. After three hours of terror at the Shelbyville home, the inmates finally left in the couple's Jeep Cherokee, Swing tells the Tennessean. At that point, the "traumatized" couple were able to free their bonds of rope and belts and call police. Soon after, the inmates led an hours-long car chase down Interstate 24 near Murfreesboro, with speeds reaching 100mph, per WSB-TV. Authorities say they fired 20 shots at police. The shots hit police vehicles but caused no injuries. After several hours, the inmates wrecked their car when they crashed into a tree line. However, they failed to surrender, instead running six miles to a home, where they attempted to steal another vehicle. That's when the homeowner intervened. Hearing a commotion outside the home in Christiana, he held DuBose and Rowe at gunpoint until authorities arrived, per the AP. (A neighbor apparently came over and helped.) The inmates had left their weapons at the crash site. "It's an ideal situation in the end," says Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, though he adds the deaths of two corrections officers weighs heavy. It's unclear who will receive a $130,000 reward offered for information leading to the capture.

10:40 p.m. UPDATE: The mom of a 10-year-old girl reported missing in Sacramento has been arrested after police say she hid the child in a case of revenge against her estranged husband. Sac police say mom was seeking revenge and hid her child! @CBSSacramento — JENN MCGRAW CBS13 (@NewsMcGraw) June 1, 2016 Police say the mother was upset her daughter was dropped off 15 minutes early and she had to race home. They say she and her boyfriend concealed the daughter from everyone. The mother gave an interview with CBS13 where she broke down in tears pleading for the return of her daughter as police said she knew where the girl was all along. Police say the girl was hidden at a family friend’s house. Someone reached out to the police department and informed them what was going on, leading to the mother’s arrest. She will be booked into Sacramento County Jail. She faces a felony and two misdemeanors for concealing the daughter from the parents, reporting a false emergency and obstructing police. Mother facing felony & 2 misd for concealing child and reporting a false emergency @CBSSacramento @AdrienneMooreTV — JENN MCGRAW CBS13 (@NewsMcGraw) June 1, 2016 Police spent much of Tuesday searching for the girl, bringing out community members, police officers and even a helicopter spreading announcements in the neighborhood. The girl’s father, Don Lee, said family from the Bay Area came to aid the search. SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento Police are searching the Land Park region of Sacramento for a missing girl. Crime scene tape is up at Pony Express Elementary School where Laprea Lee was last seen at around 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Her family says it’s very unusual, and that Lee wouldn’t just run off. Police are investigating the area and have helicopters in the air looking for her. “I was at work, I got a call. I have cameras, and my camera showed her at 10:55 a.m. At 10:56 a.m. we have no sign of her. We have no sign of her. We’re just looking forward to bringing her home, please,” her mother said. It’s unclear why the police tape is up at the scene. ||||| Shavaughn Vaugn, 43, (left) and Antwan Holliday, 44, (right) were booked at the Sacramento County Jail. A mother and her boyfriend were arrested for staging the kidnapping of her 10-year-old daughter, the Sacramento Police Department said. Shavaughn Vaugn, 43, reported her daughter, Laprea Lee, was missing at 12:51 p.m. Tuesday from her home in 1200 block of 58th Avenue, police said. Vaugn told officers that Laprea's father, Don Lee, had taken Laprea camping over the weekend. Laprea's grandfather dropped the girl off at her home about 10:30 a.m., but Vaugn said that when she got home about 30 minutes later, her daughter was gone, police said. Vaugn kept telling police that she thought Don Lee was hiding Laprea somewhere, but there were no signs of foul play, investigators said. After eight hours of searching, officers found Laprea at the home of Vaugn's boyfriend, Antwan Holliday, 44. Police discovered Vaugn and Holliday staged the incident to make it look like Laprea's father had done something to her, officers said. Vaugn and Holliday were booked into the Sacramento County Jail on multiple charges, including false report of an emergency, obstructing/delaying police and conspiracy. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.

– Shavaughn Vaughn told police on Tuesday that her daughter was missing and that she suspected the 10-year-old’s father was hiding her somewhere. The report sparked an eight-hour search in Sacramento, complete with helicopters, the Sacramento Bee reports. In an interview with CBS 13, Vaughn began to cry as she pleaded for her daughter's safe return. “We’re just looking for her to bring her home,” she said. “Please.” Now, however, police say it was all an act. As it turns out, young Laprea Lee was safe and sound at the home of Antwan Holliday, Vaughn’s boyfriend, the whole time, KCRA reports. Vaughn, 43, and Holliday, 44, face felony and misdemeanor charges related to hiding the girl, filing a false police report, and obstructing police. Police say Vaughn staged the whole thing for revenge because she was upset that her daughter had been dropped off about 15 minutes early after a camping trip with the girl’s father, Don Lee, forcing her to rush home, per CBS. (The girl was dropped off by her grandfather.) Vaughn told police that when she arrived home, Laprea was nowhere to be found, and she accused the girl's father of taking her. Police say a tipster eventually told them that Laprea was with Holliday, leading to the ruse being discovered.