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This bride-to-be said yes to the dress, but she should have said no to the show. Now Alexandra Godino is suing cable network TLC’s reality show “Say Yes to the Dress​,​” ​accusing producers of reneging on a promise to delay airing the episode until after her May wedding. “If I for one second, for one second, thought they would air this before my wedding I would never have done it — ever, ever, ever,” Godino fumed to The Post on Thursday. “Not showing the world my gown before the wedding is very important, and in particular, I do not want my fiancée to see the gown before the wedding,” she says in her Manhattan Supreme Court suit. Godino, of Las Vegas, is set to marry pro hockey player Jeff May before 300 guests at a lavish event in Palm Springs, Calif., on May 14​ ​— where her dress will be “one of the most important aspects of [her] entire wedding,” according to court papers. The gown, by Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad, “has an element of surprise to it,” Godino confided, that will be ruined if the episode airs Friday night. Godino, 27, was shopping in New York bridal emporium Kleinfeld’s with her mom when a show producer approached her. The featured bride had bailed and the producer begged Godino to step in. “Of course, I said no,” she recalled, “then my mom puppy dog-eyed me into doing it.” Godino agreed to do it on the condition that her episode wouldn’t air until after the wedding. The producer agreed, the suit says, so Godino was shocked to find her piece would run on March 25. “I hired a lawyer because, how many times have they done this to brides? This is a show about weddings, how they’re completely unsympathetic is mind blowing,” Godino seethed. An attorney for the show’s production company admitted in court Thursday, “This is not he first time this issue has come up.” But Jon Hollis, Half Yard Production’s lawyer, said Godino was told “point blank it’s going to air in the spring and we … don’t control the broadcast company.” TLC attorney Theodore Tsekerides said it couldn’t be pulled because, “we have no full episode in the can.” Godino’s lawyer Frank Taddeo, said his client spent $20,000 for her dream dress — and wasn’t compensated by the show. She lost the emergency hearing to block the episode from airing but still plans to sue Discovery Communications and Half Yard for money damages. Manhattan Judge Nancy Bannon ruled that while she understands the tradition of a bride not being seen in her gown, Godino signed away her rights in a contract. “Things could be worse than being on a television show with a beautiful dress on,” Bannon said. ||||| Jon Hollis, the attorney for Half Yard Productions, which makes the show, said the show's managing producer, Nikki Taub, films 70 brides a season, and "this is not the first time the issue has come up" where brides don't want their gowns disclosed before their weddings. If they insist on a delay, they are not filmed, he said. ||||| 'Say Yes to the Dress' Bride Judge Says 'No' to Blocking Episode 'Say Yes to the Dress' Bride: Judge Says 'No' To Lawsuit

– If you were invited to Alexandra Godino's May wedding, tune into TLC at 9pm Friday night and you can get a sneak peek of the bridal gown she'll be wearing. That's the issue at the heart of a lawsuit Godino filed against the network, in which she attempted to force TLC to delay airing the episode of Say Yes to the Dress in which she appears. ("Not showing the world my gown before the wedding is very important," her suit says, per Page Six.) But a Manhattan judge refused Thursday, meaning Godino's dress will be unveiled publicly before she walks down the aisle. It all started back in September, when Godino, who is from Las Vegas and getting married in California, was approached at New York's Kleinfeld Bridal by producers who told her the bride they were supposed to be filming never showed up, and asked her if she was interested in filling in, the New York Daily News reports. Godino, 26, says she first made the producers promise they wouldn't air the episode until after her wedding, a promise that her lawyer says was witnessed by her mom and her fiance, professional hockey player Jeff May. But Godino signed a waiver that included no restrictions about when the show could air, so the judge ruled against her despite acknowledging that airing the episode Friday "could take away from the pageantry of the wedding." Pageantry indeed: The dress to which Godino said yes reportedly cost $40,000 and is "one of the most important aspects of [her] entire wedding," per the suit. As for her not wanting her fiance to see dress in advance, TMZ reports that the judge asked her lawyer if Godino could just ask him not to watch the episode. The bride-to-be plans to sue the show for damages.

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump tried to end the special counsel probe in December, marking the second known attempt to do so, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The Times report on Tuesday evening came as CNN reported that Trump is considering firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein , who has oversight of the Mueller probe, following a federal raid on Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen. In December, angered by reports of subpoenas for information on his business with Deutsche Bank, Trump told advisers he wanted the investigation to be shut down, according to the Times' report. The Times report, based on interviews with eight sources, said the President backed down after Mueller's office told Trump's lawyers and advisers that reports about the subpoenas were inaccurate. The report outlines the second time Trump is known to have moved to quash the probe, and follows previous reporting that the President moved to fire Mueller last June, which a source said White House counsel Donald McGahn refused. Trump denied the story at the time. Read More ||||| Over the next couple of days, Mr. Trump pestered Mr. McGahn about the firing, but Mr. McGahn would not tell Mr. Rosenstein. The badgering by the president got so bad that Mr. McGahn wrote a resignation letter and was prepared to quit. It was only after Mr. McGahn made it known to senior White House officials that he was going to resign that Mr. Trump backed down. The articles that provoked Mr. Trump’s anger in December — which were published by Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters — said one of Mr. Mueller’s subpoenas had targeted Mr. Trump’s and his family’s banking records at Deutsche Bank. Mr. Trump’s lawyers, who have studied Mr. Trump’s bank accounts, did not believe the articles were accurate because Mr. Trump did not have his money there. The lawyers were also able to learn that federal prosecutors in a different inquiry had issued a subpoena for entities connected to the family business of Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The news outlets later clarified the articles, saying that the subpoena to Deutsche Bank pertained to people affiliated with Mr. Trump, who was satisfied with the explanation and dropped his push to fire Mr. Mueller. The White House did not respond to an email seeking comment. Acutely conscious of the threat Mr. Mueller’s investigation poses, Mr. Trump has openly discussed ways to shut it down. Each time, he has been convinced by his lawyers and advisers that taking the step would only exacerbate his problems. In some cases, they have explained to Mr. Trump how anything that causes him to lose support from congressional Republicans could further imperil his presidency. But Mr. Trump’s statements to his advisers have been significant enough to attract attention from Mr. Mueller himself. Mr. Mueller’s investigators have interviewed current and former White House officials and have requested documents to understand whether these efforts show evidence the president is trying to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation, according to two people briefed on the matter. Mr. Trump’s frustrations have tended to flare up in response to developments in the news, especially accounts of appearances of witnesses, whom Mr. Trump feels were unfairly and aggressively approached by investigators. They include his former communications director, Hope Hicks, and his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. The venting has usually been dismissed by his advisers, many of whom insist they have come to see the statements less as direct orders than as simply how the president talks, and that he often does not follow up on his outbursts. One former adviser said that people had become conditioned to wait until Mr. Trump had raised an issue at least three times before acting on it. The president’s diatribes about Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Mr. Rosenstein and the existence of the special counsel have, for most of the White House aides, become a dependable part of the fabric of life working for this president. ||||| President Trump Donald John TrumpStone: 'I’ve never had any discussion' with Trump about a pardon White House: Trump will move forward on wall 'with or without' Dems Pelosi after Stone indictment: 'What does Putin have on the president'? MORE’s showdown with Robert Mueller Robert Swan MuellerSasse: US should applaud choice of Mueller to lead Russia probe MORE headed toward a crisis point on Tuesday, with the White House saying Trump has legal authority to fire the special counsel. Republicans unnerved by the president’s anger in public and private sought to talk him down, fearing a “Saturday night massacre”-style series of firings harking back to the Nixon era was growing more likely. GOP lawmakers fear presidential firings of Mueller, Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsWe can end the shutdown with billion — Trump and Democrats already agree on border security Nadler sends Whitaker questions on possible contacts with Trump over Mueller probe Graham angers Dems by digging into Clinton, Obama controversies MORE or Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod Jay RosensteinBarr’s first task as AG: Look at former FBI leaders’ conduct 5 myths about William Barr William Barr's only 'flaw' is that he was nominated by Trump MORE would cause chaos in Washington and dim Republican hopes of holding their congressional majorities. ADVERTISEMENT Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyOvernight Health Care: Lawyer alleges migrant kids behind held in unlicensed facilities | Poll shows 46 percent haven't heard of 'Medicare for all' | Lawmakers set up dueling drug pricing hearings As it applies to veterans, it is time for pay-go to go Proposed drug importation bill would expose Americans to counterfeit meds MORE (R-Iowa) declared in a CNN interview Tuesday that “it would be suicide for the president to fire him.” “I have made my views public, and I hope he’s listening to those of us who say it would be a mistake,” said Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn John CornynGeorge Conway: GOP senators bear responsibility for shutdown because they took 'idiot' Trump seriously GOP senator reportedly slams McConnell over shutdown: ‘This is your fault’ Dems strengthen hand in shutdown fight MORE (Texas). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellOn The Money: Trump agrees to end shutdown without wall funding | Senate quickly clears short-term funding measure | House to vote tonight | Federal workers could get back pay within days | Dems take victory lap Shutdown ends without funding for Trump’s border wall Senate expected to pass bill to end shutdown on Friday MORE (R-Ky.) insisted legislation to protect Mueller was unnecessary because cooler heads would prevail. “I haven’t seen a clear indication yet that we needed to pass something to keep him from being removed because I don’t think that’s going to happen, and that remains my view,” McConnell told reporters. “It’s still my view that Mueller should be allowed to finish his job. I think that’s the view of most people in Congress.” Trump’s fury at the FBI’s raid on Monday on Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer, has triggered the latest crisis surrounding the Mueller probe. Federal prosecutors were reportedly seeking information on payments made to two women, adult-film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who both claim to have had affairs with Trump years ago. The personal nature of the probe has clearly angered the president, who decried an unfair witch hunt of his presidency in a Tuesday morning tweet. “Attorney–client privilege is dead!” Trump tweeted. “A TOTAL WITCH HUNT!!!” The president also canceled a planned weekend trip to two South American nations. Allies of Trump were egging him on, saying they would understand if he took the step of firing officials at the Department of Justice — a decision some Republicans have said could spark a constitutional crisis. “I understand the president’s frustration with the hypocrisy playing out at the Department of Justice,” freshman Rep. Matt Gaetz Matthew (Matt) GaetzHouse passes bill expressing support for NATO Maduro starts new term in Venezuela facing US sanctions, lack of legitimacy abroad Rick Scott threw party at Florida governor’s mansion after DeSantis and family had moved in: report MORE (R-Fla.) told Fox News. “Frankly, it would be warranted if we made changes at the very top of the Department of Justice.” “I think there is a sufficient basis to fire Rosenstein in particular, and likely the attorney general for not doing his job,” he added. That suggestion shocked other Republicans. “If the president were to fire the deputy attorney general, that would be an extraordinary crisis and a real problem, and I just don’t think he’s going to do it,” said Sen. Susan Collins Susan Margaret CollinsShutdown ends without funding for Trump’s border wall Senate expected to pass bill to end shutdown on Friday GOP Sen. Collins: I'm not sure Trump understands living 'paycheck to paycheck' MORE (R-Maine). GOP lawmakers couldn’t escape questions about Trump, Cohen, Mueller and Rosenstein from reporters at the Capitol — even on a day when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot ZuckerbergHillicon Valley: Roger Stone indicted in Mueller probe | Zuckerberg defends Facebook's data practices | Irish data regulators probing Twitter | Zinke vows to make his crypto company 'great again' Zuckerberg defends Facebook data practices in op-ed On The Money: Shutdown Day 33 | Fight over State of the Union | Pelosi tells Trump no speech on Tuesday | Trump teases 'alternative' address | Trump adviser warns shutdown could hurt growth | Mulvaney seeks list of vulnerable programs MORE was testifying on Capitol Hill for the first time. Pushback from fellow Republicans against firing Mueller has grown stronger since the beginning of the year, when Trump’s allies mostly shrugged off speculation that the president would somehow cut short the special counsel investigation, dismissing it as an unlikely prospect. While most Republicans maintain they don’t think Trump will quash the probe, they’re less confident than before. And statements from the White House podium on Tuesday from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders only added to their fears. Sanders announced that Trump “certainly believes that he has the power” to end Mueller’s investigation. The comments suggest the White House may be looking for legal arguments to back a decision to fire Mueller. Legal experts say Trump does not have the power to fire Mueller directly. Under Justice Department regulations, that authority falls to the agency official in charge of the investigation — in this case Rosenstein. It is easy to see why a Trump decision to fire Mueller would make Republicans queasy. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted this month found that 69 percent of American voters oppose Trump firing Mueller while only 13 percent support it. More than half of the Republicans polled, 55 percent, said Trump shouldn’t interfere. Republicans are worried about a wave election this fall that could cost them their House majority. There are also fears about the Senate, though the fact that Democrats are defending many more seats in the upper chamber gives Republicans more confidence about holding it. Still, many GOP senators fear firing Mueller would pose new risks to their majority. Trump also has reason to fear a Democratic takeover of the House and Senate, which would unleash investigations of his administration. Amid uncertainty over what Trump will do next, some Republicans are pushing for legislation to protect Mueller, although that path doesn’t yet have much support in the party. Sens. Thom Tillis Thomas (Thom) Roland TillisShutdown deal may be in hand; Trump to make remarks Dems strengthen hand in shutdown fight White House immigration agenda hurts Senate Republicans in 2020 MORE (R-N.C.) and Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamHouse votes to reopen government, sending bill to Trump Shutdown ends without funding for Trump’s border wall The Hill's Morning Report — McConnell tells Pence shutdown must end MORE (R-S.C.) have sponsored bipartisan bills to protect the special counsel. The Tillis measure would empower judges to reinstate Mueller if a court found his firing to be improper. Tillis on Tuesday called for a vote on the measure. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer Charles (Chuck) Ellis SchumerLou Dobbs slams Trump's move to end shutdown: 'Illegal immigrants are surely pleased’ A law enforcement solution to security on the Southern border Senators pitch three-week stopgap bill to resolve shutdown fight MORE (N.Y.) tried to ramp up pressure on Republicans Tuesday by defending the integrity of Mueller’s work and calling for Senate floor action. – Jordain Carney contributed

– President Trump tried to fire Robert Mueller in December, which is the second known time the president has attempted to get rid of the special counsel, according to the New York Times. which cites interviews with eight White House officials and other people close to Trump. The sources say Trump demanded the firing because he was enraged by media reports that Mueller had crossed his "red line" and subpoenaed Deutsche Bank seeking records on the financial dealings of the Trump family. The insiders say that Trump backed down after lawyers contacted Mueller's team and determined that the reports were what the president would describe as "FAKE NEWS." The Times reported earlier this year that the chief White House lawyer refused Trump's order to fire Mueller last June. The Times report heightened worries that Trump will fire Mueller out of anger at Monday's raid on the offices of Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer. After the raid—the result of an investigation Mueller passed to the Manhattan US attorney—Trump said it was a "disgrace" and told reporters he hadn't made up his mind yet about firing Mueller, CNN reports. Republicans, who fear firing Mueller could cause chaos, have been trying to talk him down, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say he doesn't see a need to pass legislation to protect him from being removed, the Hill reports. "I don't think that’s going to happen, and that remains my view," McConnell said Tuesday. "It's still my view that Mueller should be allowed to finish his job. I think that's the view of most people in Congress."

New edition of Eric Wolanski’s “Coastal Wetlands” book JCU’s Professor Eric Wolanski has just published the second edition of “Coastal Wetlands- An Integrated Ecosystem Approach”. The book, co-edited by world experts in coastal ecosystems Gerardo Perillo (Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía), Dona... READ NOW Three new PhD projects focused on redclaw crayfish 2019 JCU Redclaw crayfish PhD project 1 - sperm technologies2019 JCU Redclaw crayfish PhD project 2 - egg & embryo technologies2019 JCU Redclaw crayfish PhD project 3 - husbandry technologies... READ NOW Clever little fish Sometimes animals surprise us. We are familiar with dogs catching frisbee, parrots talking and the cat that ninja-grabs at twine, but fish performing party tricks. Mmmmm what’s going on here?A quirky behaviour exhibited by a freshwater fish has... READ NOW Competitive Summer Internship and Industry Placement with $2,000 bursary – Cairns/Townsville/Mackay James Cook University’s TropWATER and North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (NQBP) are offering a unique opportunity for two JCU undergraduate and honours students who are interested in pursuing a post graduate career in marine science or pos... READ NOW ||||| Few reptiles can breathe underwater. Australia is home to one of the exceptions, the white-throated snapping turtle (Elseya albagula), which can extract oxygen from water through its backside via a process called cloacal respiration. This unusual technique, shared by a handful of other turtle and fish species, gave the turtles an evolutionary advantage for millennia, allowing them to hide from predators underwater for days at a time. Unfortunately, breathing out of your butt requires very specific conditions that no longer exist in the turtles' only habitat, Queensland's Connors River and three nearby catchments. Dams, weirs, agriculture and mining have left the water sluggish and full of sediment. That makes it significantly harder for the turtles—especially vulnerable juveniles—to stay underwater. As a result, predation has increased to the point where populations have crashed. The problem has gotten so bad that less than 1 percent of eggs and young turtles survive to adulthood and the species has now been declared critically endangered by the Australian government Connors River itself is the healthiest ecosystem in the region with relatively clearer waters and a good rate of water flow—but that may not stay that way forever. Four years ago, when James Cook University researcher Jason Schaffer started studying turtles there, he considered the river to be what he calls "a doomed landscape." A planned dam threatened to destroy the bum-breathing turtle's only safe habitat. Schaffer says working in the region "was very hard mentally" because of the dam project. "I worked quite closely with a few landowners who had their properties forcibly acquired by the government and were distressed about the whole situation." Luckily, financing fell through for the project but the potential that it could be resurrected looms over the region. "All the planning has been done and the land has only been leased back to the property owners," he says. "There is a risk that the dam will still go ahead in the future if it again becomes financially viable, and that worries me a bit." The turtles' critically endangered designation might influence any future efforts to build the dam but many other threats remain. Invasive species such as cats, dogs and foxes, which eat eggs and young turtles, pose one of the greatest risks. The turtles' eggs are particularly vulnerable. Schaffer says the turtles lay their eggs in July but they take about seven months to hatch because they go through a semi-dormant phase called diapause until the summer rainy season begins. "This makes them more vulnerable to predation than a lot of other turtle species," he says. In addition, the nests all too often get trampled by the cattle on the agricultural land that surrounds the rivers. Man-made construction also poses a threat for the few remaining adults. Dams and weirs effectively trap them in certain locations, preventing turtles from traveling to find mates. Shaffer reports that many turtles try to overcome these obstacles but end up falling when they attempt to cross the weirs; their shells crack or shatter and the animals die. If they survive, white-throated snapping turtles have very long life spans, perhaps as much as 100 years, but that also works against them. For one thing, the species typically starts breeding at 20 years of age. For another, Schaffer fears their long lives create the perception that they can survive if dams are built and more water is taken from the rivers for use by industry. "What [people] don't realize," he says, "is that almost nothing is surviving. When these aged adults eventually die there is nothing coming up to replace them. Pretty soon we'll blink and there will be no more left—just like that." Schaffer plans to keep studying the turtles and seeks funding to survey additional populations. He hopes to learn more about their susceptibility to environmental threats. Understanding the consequences of habitat alteration could help to predict the threats that these turtles and other species could face in the future. There's one more important reason to study the species, he adds: "These turtles breathe out of their ass, which is super awesome." Photo: Stephen Zozaya, courtesy of James Cook University

– The days of the white-throated snapping turtle (Elseya albagula) appear to be numbered, according to the Australian government, which has recently declared them critically endangered. If that isn't attention-grabbing enough, consider that the animal prompted a biologist to talk like this: "These turtles breathe out of their ass, which is super awesome." That's James Cook University researcher Jason Schaffer, who's spent eight years studying the turtles in a habitat where dams, agriculture, and predation are making it increasingly difficult for them to survive, reports Scientific American. One of Australia's largest freshwater turtle species—which can live to be 100—white-throated snapping turtles do indeed possess an unusual skill: cloacal respiration, by which they extract oxygen from water via their backsides, reports James Cook University. Thanks to dams, though, water is becoming too sluggish for this kind of breathing, bringing the reptiles to the surface, where they're vulnerable to predators, and restricting them from traveling to find mates. And their eggs take seven months to hatch, which is plenty of time to be eaten or trampled. "Almost nothing is surviving," Schaffer says. "There is nothing coming up to replace them. Pretty soon we'll blink and there will be no more left." (It turns out turtle shells predate dinosaurs.)

The bullet traveled 3,450 meters—over two miles—and took less than 10 seconds to reach its target: a fighter for the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in Iraq. Those are the details of the world record-breaking shot fired by a Canadian sniper, who has eclipsed the previous longest-confirmed kill by almost 1,000 meters. A member of Canada’s Joint Task Force 2—part of the U.S.-led coalition that is taking the fight to ISIS in Iraq—made the kill during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq, sources told The Globe and Mail. The identity of the sniper and his observer was kept anonymous for operational security reasons. The sniper used a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle—the standard long-range sniper of the Canadian military—and fired the shot from a high-rise building in an undisclosed location. Firing from such a distance, the shooter would have had to account for wind; the round dropping as it was fired from a higher location; and even the curvature of the earth. JOHN D MCHUGH/AFP/Getty “The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [ISIS] attack on Iraqi sources,” a military source told The Globe and Mail . “Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far away, the bad guys didn’t have a clue what was happening.” Read more: 'Brutal' ISIS has destroyed the historic Grand al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, which stood for eight centuries Canada has been involved in the war against ISIS since 2014. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government ordered the withdrawal of six Canadian fighter jets, which had been attacking ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria, in late 2015. But the Trudeau government has expanded the number of Canadian special forces involved in training missions with Kurdish Peshmerga forces, which will grow from 69 to 207. In response, ISIS has called for attacks in Canada, and several fighters claiming allegiance to the group have gone on shooting sprees in the country. In October 2014, Martin Couture-Rouleau—who was known as Ahmad the Converted—drove a car into two Canadian soldiers near a Quebec mall, killing one. The attacker had had his passport revoked months earlier after showing sympathies for ISIS and expressing a desire to travel to Iraq. Two days after the attack, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian-Libyan, shot and killed a Canadian soldier at the National War Memorial before breaking into the parliament buildings, where he was shot dead. Canada's then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that the attacker had been motivated by Canada’s participation in the war against ISIS. The world record sniper shot means that three of the top five longest confirmed kills were carried out by Canadian snipers. The top five are: ||||| A sniper with Canada's elite special forces in Iraq has shattered the world record for the longest confirmed kill shot in military history at a staggering distance of 3,540 metres. The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed Thursday that a member of Joint Task Force 2 made the record-breaking shot, killing an Islamic State insurgent during an operation in Iraq within the last month. "The Canadian Special Operations Command can confirm that a member of Joint Task Force 2 successfully hit a target at 3,540 metres," the forces said in a statement. "For operational security reasons and to preserve the safety of our personnel and our Coalition partners we will not discuss precise details on when and how this incident took place." Story continues below advertisement Read more: New mission against Islamic State won't include sending troops to Syria: Sajjan Read more: Ottawa lays out $62-billion in new military spending over 20 years The elite sniper was using a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle while firing from a high-rise during an operation that took place within the last month in Iraq. It took under 10 seconds to hit the target. "The shot in question actually disrupted a Daesh [Islamic State] attack on Iraqi security forces," said a military source. "Instead of dropping a bomb that could potentially kill civilians in the area, it is a very precise application of force and because it was so far way, the bad guys didn't have a clue what was happening." The military source said the JTF2 operation fell within the strictures of the government's advise and assist mission. "As stated multiple times in the past, members of the Canadian Special Operations Task Force do not accompany leading combat elements, but enable the Iraqi security forces who are in a tough combat mission," the statement said. "This takes the form of advice in planning their operations and assistance to defeat Daesh through the use of coalition resources." The kill was independently verified by video camera and other data, The Globe and Mail has learned. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement "Hard data on this. It isn't an opinion. It isn't an approximation. There is a second location with eyes on with all the right equipment to capture exactly what the shot was," another military source said. A military insider told The Globe: "This is an incredible feat. It is a world record that might never be equalled." The world record was previously held by British sniper Craig Harrison, who shot a Taliban gunner with a 338 Lapua Magnum rifle from 2,475 metres away in 2009. Previously, Canadian Corporal Rob Furlong had set the world record in 2002 at 2,430 metres when he gunned down an Afghan insurgent carrying an RPK machine gun during Operation Anaconda. Weeks before, Canadian Master Cpl. Arron Perry briefly held the world's best sniper record after he fatally shot an insurgent at 2,310 metres during the same operation. Both soldiers were members of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. JTF2 special forces are primarily tasked with counterterrorism, sniper operations and hostage rescue. Much of the information about this elite organization is classified and not commented on by the government. The unit's snipers and members of Canadian Special Operations Regiment, who are carrying out the main task of training Kurdish forces, have been operating in tough conditions in Iraq. Story continues below advertisement The Trudeau government pulled CF-18 fighter jets out of Iraq in 2016 but expanded the military mission, which will see the number of Canadian special forces trainers climb to 207 from 69 in an assist, train and advise mission. Canadian commandos are not supposed to be involved in direct combat, but are authorized to go up to the front lines on training missions with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and to paint targets for coalition air strikes. For operational security reasons, sources would not reveal the names of the elite Canadian sniper and his partner, nor the location where the action took place. A sniper and his observer partner are often sent to remote and dangerous locations to hunt down insurgents while having to carry heavy equipment. Once they have located the target, snipers follow the same methodical approach before each shot. Breathe in, out, in, out, find a natural pause and then squeeze the trigger. Canada has a reputation among Western military forces for the quality of its snipers, despite the small size of the Canadian Armed Forces compared to the United States and Britain. "Canada has a world-class sniper system. It is not just a sniper. They work in pairs. There is an observer," a military source said. "This is a skill set that only a very few people have." The skill of the JTF2 sniper in taking down an insurgent at 3,540 metres required math skills, great eyesight, precision of ammunition and firearms, and superb training. Story continues below advertisement "It is at the distance where you have to account not just for the ballistics of the round, which change over time and distance, you have to adjust for wind, and the wind would be swirling," said a source with expertise in training Canadian special forces. "You have to adjust for him firing from a higher location downward and as the round drops you have to account for that. And from that distance you actually have to account for the curvature of the Earth." U.S. Sergeant Bryan Kremer has the longest confirmed sniper kill shot by a U.S. soldier. He killed an Iraqi insurgent with his Barrett M82A1 rifle at 2,300 metres in 2004.

– A Canadian sniper in Iraq appears to have taken a shot for the ages. The Globe and Mail reports that a still-unidentified member of the nation's elite forces killed an Islamic State militant from a distance of 3,540 meters, which translates to a little more than 2 miles. If the account is verified—and it was apparently documented on video—it would best the previous longest kill made by a British sniper in 2009 of 2,475 meters. The gunman used a McMillan TAC-50, which Newsweek notes is the standard rifle among Canada's well-regarded snipers, and took the shot from a high-rise building in an unspecified locale in Iraq. The Globe and Mail spoke to multiple military sources who knew about the shot. “It is at the distance where you have to account not just for the ballistics of the round, which change over time and distance, you have to adjust for wind, and the wind would be swirling,” one expert tells the Globe and Mail. In fact, at that distance, the shooter would also have to account for the curvature of the earth, he adds. One military source says the sniper "disrupted a Daesh (ISIS) attack on Iraqi security forces." Canadian forces in Iraq have been assisting Kurdish fighters battling ISIS, enough so that ISIS has called for retaliatory attacks in Canada.

Fleetwood Mac, which has sold more than 100 million records, is announcing a new tour today that kicks off in October. But lead guitarist Lindsey Buckingham won't be on it. In its more than 50 years as a band, Fleetwood Mac has become famous for its dysfunction and turmoil. But the announcement this month that Buckingham was ousted from the band still came as a shock. For the first time, band members tell CBS News what happened. This week the new lineup was still getting to know each other, reports CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason. The first photo session for the new Fleetwood Mac included Mike Campbell, former lead guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Neil Finn, frontman for Crowded House. New members, but hardly novices. "Both these gentlemen have a legacy of their own. They don't need to have a calling card. They are who they are in their own right," drummer Mick Fleetwood said. With them, Fleetwood said, Fleetwood Mac has been reborn. "So it's effectively a new band?" Mason said. "This is absolutely a new band," Fleetwood responded. "This is the new lineup of Fleetwood Mac." The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac CBS News Neither Campbell or Finn are thinking of this as a temporary gig. "I'm making this my priority until whenever, you know. We'll see what happens," Campbell said. They will replace Buckingham, who joined the group back in 1974, helped re-shape their sound and wrote some of the group's biggest hits. "Mick, when did you decide that you had to make this change?" Mason asked. "It happened after we played in New York at the MusiCares event, which you were there," Fleetwood said. It was the band's last performance in late January when they were honored at the MusiCares benefit on Grammy weekend. All five members of the classic lineup appeared together. But tensions were building, Fleetwood said, because Buckingham would not sign off on a new tour they'd been planning for a year and a half. Honorees Stevie Nicks, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood perform onstage during MusiCares Person of the Year honoring Fleetwood Mac at Radio City Music Hall on January 26, 2018 in New York City. Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images "It became just a huge impasse and hit a brick wall, where we decided that we had to part company," Fleetwood said. "Was Lindsey effectively fired?" Mason asked. "Well, we don't use that word because I think it's ugly. And it's not a question that Lindsey has huge amounts of respect and kudos to what he's done within the ranks of Fleetwood Mac and always will," Fleetwood said. "But it's like a marriage that came to an end and there are reasons why. … But as a band we needed to move on and we have and that's --" "Because people who saw you in New York would've thought everything was OK. But it wasn't?" Mason asked. "No, it was not," Fleetwood said. Stevie Nicks supported the decision to part ways. "This team wanted to get out on the road. And one of the members did not want to get out on the road for a year," Nicks said. "We just couldn't agree. And you know, when you're in a band, it's a team. I mean I have a solo career, and I love my solo career, and I'm the boss. Absolutely. But I'm not the boss in this band." So just six days after the MusiCares performance, Campbell got a phone call from Fleetwood. "It was my birthday. And I was sitting in my backyard," Campbell recounted. He said he was wondering what he was going to do. He had a few things in the works, "but nothing quite as big as this," he said with a laugh. Campbell was in as lead guitarist. But the band still needed another singer. "We sat around a table and we just started listening to everybody we could think of," Nicks said. "Anywhere between, you know, 27 and 65. It was like -- it was crazy!" "I just made it," Finn joked. Finn, who turns 60 next month, was in his hometown, Auckland, New Zealand, when he got the call. "I just had this kind of big grin on my face 'cause it's a call you never expect to get," Finn said. They all met up at a theater in Maui on March 21. Nicks said they played together for two days. "And it did sound really good and I have film to prove it," Nicks said. We saw the cellphone footage of that first session. They ran through 10 songs in those two days. Christine McVie also liked what she heard. "The essence of the band was great, and fun, and the three voices sound really good together," McVie said. "I'm really happy." "It already feels like a band when we've only played once or twice. But with a little rehearsal, I think it's just gonna be incredible," Campbell said. For him, it's a new beginning after losing Tom Petty last fall. "It changed me and Mike for sure, in that you know, we need to take everyday that we have until we're gone and make it the best day we can because if that could happen to Tom, then it could happen to anybody," Nicks said. "And I'm gonna have the most fun I can and I'm gonna stop complaining. And I'm gonna throw myself into all these projects because you just never know." Nicks, Campbell and Petty go way back. They co-wrote her first solo hit, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." If all goes well, the band says they hope to record. They also said they did audition one other singer in Maui, but they won't reveal who that was. ||||| A little over a month ago, the majority of Fleetwood Mac – Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood – quietly gathered at a little theater in Maui with their future in doubt. The band had secretly parted ways with Lindsey Buckingham, the longtime guitarist and voice behind many of their most enduring songs. According to the group, the split came down to a scheduling conflict surrounding a world tour. “We were supposed to go into rehearsal in June and he wanted to put it off until November [2019],” says Nicks. “That’s a long time. I just did 70 shows [on a solo tour]. As soon as I finish one thing, I dive back into another. Why would we stop? We don’t want to stop playing music. We don’t have anything else to do. This is what we do.” Related Broken Chain: A History of Fleetwood Mac Firings and Departures Lindsey Buckingham's firing is just the latest in a decades-long game of musical chairs for the Hall of Fame band So instead, they invited Mike Campbell, the former guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and Crowded House frontman Neil Finn and spent a few days workshopping tunes from their vast catalog to see if this new lineup had the right chemistry. “I immediately felt like I’d known them for years,” says Christine McVie, “even though we’d only just met.” The new lineup will embark on a massive 52-date tour beginning October 3rd in Tulsa and criss-crossing the country before wrapping up in Phladelphia in April 2019. Tickets for the tour go on sale Friday, May 4th at 10 a.m. local time. (A complete itinerary is listed below.) The group also announced the launch of a SiriusXM channel devoted to the band beginning Tuesday, May 1st. Nobody in the group is quite willing to say Buckingham was “fired,” but they don’t completely object to the term. “Words like ‘fired’ are ugly references as far as I’m concerned,” says Fleetwood. “Not to hedge around, but we arrived at the impasse of hitting a brick wall. This was not a happy situation for us in terms of the logistics of a functioning band. To that purpose, we made a decision that we could not go on with him. Majority rules in term of what we need to do as a band and go forward.” Buckingham did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. "Majority rules in term of what we need to do as a band and go forward" - Mick Fleetwood Buckingham’s ousting marks the latest messy chapter in the ongoing 50-year Fleetwood Mac story – or, as drummer Mick Fleetwood tells it, business as usual. When key early members like Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer left the group in the early 1970s, Fleetwood got right on the phone and recruited new ones. The group never stopped working, even when Nicks left in the early 1990s and a new lineup found themselves opening up for the likes of REO Speedwagon on the state fair circuit. “There’s no doubt that my instincts, for better or worse, have always been to gravitate towards going forward,” Fleetwood tells Rolling Stone. “Having said that, I’d be lying if I didn’t literally say to myself, ‘This one needs a lot of thought.’” One of the first people that came to mind was Campbell, who was at his home on the Hawaiian island of Kauai when the call came. It happened to be his 68th birthday. “I was sitting in my yard by my pool contemplating my future without my partner [Tom Petty], which was going to be a dark place in a lot of ways,” he says. “ I said, ‘Give me a day to think it over.’ The more I thought about it, the more I though it could be great. I’ve known Stevie for years and we’ve always been very creative together.” Related Rob Sheffield on Why the Latest Fleetwood Mac Breakup Is Peak Mac The band's firing of Lindsey Buckingham might be the most quintessential chapter yet in the band's epic saga of dysfunction Not long after getting a commitment from Campbell, Fleetwood called up Finn at his New Zealand home. The singer had enormous success in the 1970s and 1980s with his bands Split Enz and Crowded House, but he was now earning a comfortable living as a solo artist with a devoted cult following. Getting back in the arena rock game was the last thing on his mind. “I was stunned when I got the call from Mick,” he says. “I was enjoying my life and my music, but I have a restless nature and now I’m relishing this beautiful gift that’s been given to me.” The group has yet to begin formal rehearsals - which they say will last two months working five days a week - but they've already decided that this tour will feature songs from the entire history of Fleetwood Mac, not just the original Buckingham/Nicks run from 1975 to 1987. “We were never able to do that since 1975 because certain people in the band weren’t interested in doing that,” says Nicks. “Now we’re able to open the set with a lot; a raucous version of [1969’s] ‘Rattlesnake Shake’ or something. I’d also like to do [1970’s] ‘Station Man,’ which has always been one of may favorites. We’re definitely doing [1970’s] ‘Oh Well.’” How does this all feel to bassist John McVie, the guy that put the “Mac” in Fleetwood Mac but speaks so infrequently that most fans don’t even know what his voice sounds like? “I felt very comfortable when we rehearsed,” he says. “It seemed to fit. It’s another exciting chapter in the book, in the saga.” The expanded set, however, doesn’t mean they’ll be neglecting the big radio hits like “Gold Dust Woman” and “The Chain.” “There are 10 hits we have to do,” says Nicks. “That leaves another 13 songs if you want to do a three-hour show. Then you crochet them all together and you make a great sequence and you have something that nobody has seen before except all the things they want to see are there. At rehearsal, we’re going to put up a board of 60 songs. Then we start with number one and we go through and we play everything. Slowly you start taking songs off and you start to see your set come together.” "This is sad for me, but I want the next 10 years of my life to be really fun and happy" - Stevie Nicks The band realizes that a Fleetwood Mac tour without Buckingham will be a different experience, but they soldiered on without him on the 1987 Tango In The Night tour and didn’t see a big decline in attendance. They also had 16 years of successful road work without Christine McVie when she left in 1998. She came back for the 2015 On With The Show tour, and last year recorded an album with Buckingham that they supported with a long tour that wrapped up just five months ago. “I had a great time with him on the road and making that record,” she says. “I was surprised to hear the news because it happened after I went back to London that the decision was made. But life moves on and I wanted to carry on with these guys.” For Nicks, carrying on without Buckingham is bittersweet. “Our relationship has always been volatile,” she says. “We were never married, but we might as well have been. Some couples get divorced after 40 years. They break their kids' hearts and destroy everyone around them because it’s just hard. This is sad for me, but I want the next 10 years of my life to be really fun and happy. I want to get up every day and dance around my apartment and smile and say, ‘Thank God for this amazing life.’” Fleetwood Mac North American Tour October 3 - Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center October 6 - Chicago, IL @ United Center October 10 - Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center October 12 - Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena October 14 - Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena October 16 - Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse October 18 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center October 20 - St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center October 22 - St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center October 26 - Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena October 28 - Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center October 30 - Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena November 1 - Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena November 3 - Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre November 5 - Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre November 7 - Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena November 10 - Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place November 12 - Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome November 14 - Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena November 17 - Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome November 19 - Portland, OR @ Moda Center November 21 - San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose November 23 - Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center November 25 - Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena November 28 - Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Arena November 30 - Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena December 3 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center December 6 - Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center December 8 - San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena December 11 - Inglewood, CA @ The Forum December 13 - Inglewood, CA @ The Forum February 5, 2019 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center February 7 - Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center February 9 - Austin, TX @ Frank Erwin Center February 13 - Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC February 16 - New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center February 18 - Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena February 20 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ BB&T Center February 22 - Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena February 24 - Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center February 27 - Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena March 3 - Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena March 5 - Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena March 9 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall March 11 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden March 13 - Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center March 15 - Hartford, CT @ XL CENTER March 20 - Albany, NY @ Times Union Center March 24 - Baltimore, MD @ Royal Farms Arena March 26 - Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center March 31 - Boston, MA @ TD Garden April 5 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center

– Two weeks after his exit from Fleetwood Mac was revealed, Lindsey Buckingham remains mum about the cause. Not his former band members. Stevie Nicks tells Rolling Stone the split came after Buckingham proposed pushing back the band's upcoming North American tour, which kicks off Oct. 3. "We were supposed to go into rehearsal in June and he wanted to put it off until November [2019]," six months after the tour is to wrap up, Nicks says. Drummer Mick Fleetwood tells CBS News he doesn't use the word "fired" because it's "ugly," but "as a band we needed to move on." In a first since 1975, the tour will feature songs from the band's full catalog, per Rolling Stone, which has the full list of dates.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH)-- A Richland County administrator is now without a job just days after being accused of telling EMS workers they could kill themselves if they did not like their working conditions. The accusations surfaced last week as former County Assistant Administrator Kevin Bronson was handed numerous employee concerns at an internal meeting. In response to his employees, Bronson reportedly responded by saying “if it’s really that bad you can just kill yourself or leave.” Bronson sent out an apology letter to his worker saying that his comment was insensitive and inappropriate. However former paramedic Baron O’Neal says that an apology just isn’t enough. "Number 1 they're overworked. Number 2, they're underpaid. Then they get slapped with 'if you don't like it, leave or kill yourself," said O'Neal. In his resignation letter, Bronson wrote “My disrespectful words hurt and offended many people, especially the EMS wokers. I am sorry” Meanwhile O’Neal says he is conversing with County Council to improve work conditions. County leaders say they want to hear about workers concerns so they can determine if anything can be done to address the situation. ||||| Sign in using you account with: {* loginWidget *} Sign in using your wsoc profile Welcome back. Please sign in Why are we asking this? By submitting your registration information, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . Already have an account? We have sent a confirmation email to {* data_emailAddress *}. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. Thank you for registering! Thank you for registering! We look forward to seeing you on [website] frequently. Visit us and sign in to update your profile, receive the latest news and keep up to date with mobile alerts. Click here to return to the page you were visiting.

– A recent meeting of county emergency medical services workers in South Carolina ended in tears—and, on Monday, with the resignation of an official who spoke at that meeting and mentioned suicide as an option if they didn't like the way things were on the job. Per WSOC-TV and WIS, about 100 Richland County EMS workers had assembled to register complaints about work conditions, and Assistant County Administrator Kevin Bronson apparently wasn't having any of their grievances. "So I'm looking through this list with 50 different problems, and if it's really that bad you can just kill yourself or leave," Bronson reportedly said, according to one of the people who was in the room. One employee tells WSOC that the room "erupted in emotion," with people "crying" and "yelling," partly because a deputy on staff had recently been lost to suicide. After the meeting, the EMS workers banded together with other EMS workers across the state, as well as local firefighters and retired law enforcement members, to protest Bronson's words. Per WIS, the head of an EMS crisis management group called Bronson's remarks "absolutely appalling," "insensitive," "unprofessional," and "childish," especially to a group of workers "who deal with death and crisis situations every day." Per Quorum Columbia, Bronson tried to apologize Friday in an email, noting he'd lost someone close to him to suicide, but he submitted his resignation Monday, acknowledging the "horrible and terrible thing" he'd said. Meanwhile, an ex-paramedic tells WACH he's talking with County Council members to try and improve conditions for the "overworked" and "underpaid" EMS employees. (A woman who texted her boyfriend to kill himself just got 15 months in jail.)

No doubt you’ve seen the news. For obvious reasons I won’t be blogging here anymore, though I will leave the archives up. I hope you’ll pray to whatever God you believe in, and heap endless scorn and abuse on the first goddamn hack that dares to try snooping around to find out what’s wrong. I mean it. No staking out the hospital, no asking around among my friends. No calling doctors and asking them to speculate on what might be going on. Anyone who does that is lower than dog shit stuck to a shoe, and I hope that when you see stories like that — because you will — you use their comment strings to express your outrage for being the kind of scumbags who would put their own hunger for unique visitors and pageviews ahead of a man’s right to privacy. Katie says she will be keeping a list. So, consider yourselves warned. For now, peace out. Much love. Namaste. ||||| On April 9, 2018, Roger Stone sent an email that would play a role in his future arrest. Though it wasn’t the only reason he was hauled into a Florida courtroom on Friday morning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller quoted portions of it in his indictment of the Trump ally—an indictment that shook Washington and added an absurdist edge to the Mueller probe. The email, which The Daily Beast obtained before a grand jury indicted Stone on several charges, shows just how irate Stone was about an acquaintance, Randy Credico. The exchange began when Credico emailed a group of people on the evening of April 9, 2018, about what he called an upcoming “media tour.” “It’s the “RANDY IS FULL OF SHIT “ tour Co- sponsored by Jack Daniels and Pablo Escobar,” Stone replied. In another email, about an upcoming Credico appearance on MSNBC, Stone speculated that he would be able to sue Credico over comments he might make. “Send me your address,” Stone wrote. “I bet I can get you served in a lawsuit the very next morning.” “Remember to bathe,” he added. Another email included more invective. “When I wipe my ass what’s on the toilet paper is worth more than You are,” Stone wrote. “Your threats are a violation of state and federal law,” Credico replied. Then Stone sent the email Mueller would quote portions of. “I know u are a dumb shit but read the Constitution,” he wrote. I have a constitutional right to call you a lightweight pantywaist cocksucker drunk asshole piece of shit and I just did You are a rat. A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds I’m going to take that dog away from you. Not a fucking thing you can do about it either because you are a weak broke piece of shit I will prove to the world you’re a liar “You don't have a constitutional right to threaten me and especially not threaten my dog… you crossed a red line,” Credico retorted. Stone had threatened to steal his service dog. “Rot in hell,” Stone replied. A month later, they had another semi-incomprehensible exchange that included accusations of drug abuse and financial problems. Stone emailed Credico, “I will piss on your grave.” A few weeks after that later, Stone and Credico had another dramatic exchange. “You are a pathetic loser,” Stone wrote on May 21. “Let’s see who’s around a year from now and who isn’t cocksucker” “Another one of your threats,” Credico replied. “Not a threat. A prediction. How you feeling champ ?” Roger replied. The Daily Beast shared screenshots of the emails with Stone’s lawyer, Grant Smith. When asked if he had any comment, Smith replied, “No.” After publication, Smith said Mueller was misusing the emails. “You are presenting things that are completely out of context with a decades long relationship,” he texted. “These two people talk like that to one another for years and years, it is nothing unusual and it certainly does not rise to the level of what the special counsel’s office charged.” Martin Stolar, a lawyer for Credico, declined to comment. “Randy will make public statements concerning the indictment if and when he’s called to testify.” he said. Stone and Credico’s relationship—the link between a political arch-villain and a New York stand-up comic—has found its way into the investigation of the century. And it highlights one of the most amusing realities of the special counsel's into Russian meddling in the 2016 election: Mueller, a notoriously serious and straight-faced law man, has spent a huge amount of time dealing with clowns. Stone, for his part, is basically a political performance artist. He spent his decades-long career in the public eye enmeshing himself in scandals, lobbing wild-eyed accusations at his critics, and honing the practice of wildly over-the-top political dirty tricks. He also wrote a column on men’s fashion for The Daily Caller. He wore a top hat to Trump’s inauguration. He paraded around the 2016 Republican National Convention alongside conspiracy-monger Alex Jones while sporting a T-shirt accusing Bill Clinton of rape. He suggested Trump fans should storm the hotel rooms of RNC delegates who didn’t support Trump. He got booted from Twitter and banned from CNN. He ran a lobbying firm with Paul Manafort. He got fired from Bob Dole’s campaign for putting out a newspaper ad for swingers. He starred in a Netflix documentary. He left the Trump campaign under contested circumstances and endeared himself to the internet conspiracy community, even questioning the scientific consensus on vaccines. This is the man Mueller has dogged for months. Credico, whose communications with Stone featured in his indictment, is also an ur-eccentric. As a comedian and drug-legalization activist, he drew notoriety for marching into the New York State Capitol dressed as the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes, complete with a toga and a fake beard. Once there, he protested the state’s drug laws by lighting up a joint. Credico is an expert at mimicking other people’s voices, impersonating Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump at the drop of a hat. A small, white long-haired dog named Bianca is his constant companion. He even took her along for questioning by Mueller’s team. Both men drew Mueller’s interest—Credico as a witness, Stone as a target—because of their shared interest in WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Credico, a self-described lefty, has long been a fan of WikiLeaks for revealing government secrets. Stone, meanwhile, wanted to get to Assange during the 2016 campaign in the his site had emails Hillary Clinton hadn’t made public. A few weeks before the election, Credico interviewed Assange on his radio show. He would later visit the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The two men exchanged emails about Wikileaks before Assange started dumping emails stolen from Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta. And Stone also made a series of cryptic, apparently prescient, statements about Wikileaks, which generated noisy speculation that he was getting information from inside the embassy. After the election, when Special Counsel Mueller started investigating potential coordination between the Kremlin and Trumpworld, he soon zeroed in on Stone. As Mueller questioned a host of Stone’s long-time associates, congressional investigators grilled Stone himself. Credico, in turn, faced questions about his relationships with WikiLeaks, ties to Stone, and alleged work as an intermediary between Stone and Assange. Stone had hinted in the past that Credico connected him to WikiLeaks, while Credico has long denied acting as any sort of go-between. As those probes unfolded, Stone grew increasingly agitated. He told reporters he expected to be charged, and he lambasted Mueller for running a witch hunt. A few days before his indictment, he texted The Daily Beast to say he would expose monstrous misconduct by Mueller’s team if indicted. On Friday morning, it was clear Stone’s actions after Mueller’s probe started had created his most immediate legal problems. The indictment alleges that he lied to Congress about his communications with Credico and another associate, Jerome Corsi; that he obstructed an official proceeding; and that he tampered with an unnamed witness, known to be Credico. And it cites the email printed above as one example of a statement “intended to prevent Person 2 from cooperating with the investigations.” That’s how a foul-mouthed exchange that reads like it's written on the wall of a dive-bar bathroom found its way into what’s arguably the most geopolitically consequential criminal investigation in decades.

– Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence, and we should all just ... let him be absent, writes the guy who's spent the better part of the last few years tweaking the Apple guru. None other than Fake Steve Jobs, aka Dan Lyons, has put his blog on hiatus effective immediately, and takes to the Daily Beast to call for those "filthy hacks" out there to "leave Steve alone." Lyons knows it's unlikely to happen: "They will rationalize the prying story by saying that Apple is a public company and investors need—nay, deserve—this information. Well, bullshit." "Don't go around claiming that your handful of shares gives you the right to pry into the private life of a sick man." If you want to know more about cancer, visit your local library, writes Lyons. And if investors really can't live with the uncertainty, "sell your shares and thank Steve Jobs for the ridiculous profits you've made." But Lyons won't be snooping around: Like Apple employees who "don’t know what’s wrong with their boss" and are "just feeling awful"—but are bound to be hounded by the media about their boss' condition all the same—"Today, I'm feeling awful, too."

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the state's death penalty was so flawed for so long that more than half of the people on death row may be entitled to new sentencing hearings. That opinion, handed down in a pair of decisions Thursday, covers more than 200 inmates awaiting execution — and includes all of those who were sentenced after 2002 or whose appeals were not final by that year. It is a legal decision that death row inmates, defense attorneys, prosecutors and the families of murder victims have awaited since January, when the U.S. Supreme Court found the state's death penalty unconstitutional. ID photos of Central Florida convicted killers on Florida death row. (Florida Department of Corrections) (Florida Department of Corrections) That ruling made it clear that Florida needed to rework its death penalty statute to bring it in line with other states that handled those cases, specifically by requiring that juries — not judges —make the key findings required to impose a death sentence. With Thursday's rulings, trial courts across Florida face the prospect of being swamped by requests from death row inmates, asking to be resentenced. A substantial portion of them should be granted, said retired Circuit Judge O.H. Eaton Jr. of Sanford. "There's going to be one hell of a lot of determinations as to whether these people are entitled to new penalty phases," he said. The flood of new petitions could result in a backlog that might take ten years to unjam, said Orange-Osceola Public Defender Robert Wesley. The rulings apply to more than 40 Central Florida convicted murderers. They include Bessman Okafor, who in 2012 killed an Orange County man who was about to testify against him at a home invasion trial; ax murderer John Buzia, a handyman convicted of killing an elderly Seminole County man in 2004; and Michael Gordon Reynolds, who beat and stabbed to death a Seminole County father, mother and 11-year-old daughter in 1998. In Orange and Osceola counties, 10 of 24 death row inmates could be eligible for new sentences, said Assistant State Attorney Ken Nunnelley. A moratorium since January Thursday's decision is the result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January. By a vote of 8-1, that court ruled that jurors — not a judge — must specifically identify why someone convicted of a capital crime should be put to death. That case involved Timothy Lee Hurst, a Pensacola man convicted of murdering his boss at a Popeyes Fried Chicken restaurant in 1998 with a box cutter, then putting her body in a freezer. The high court found that Florida's death penalty statute was unconstitutional, but left it to the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether the ruling should apply retroactively. The state has not executed an inmate since then. The state supreme court has issued several death penalty rulings in the interim. Some hinted that it would interpret the Hurst decision broadly, but each stopped short of spelling it out. On Thursday, that changed. The court laid it out: Every death penalty handed down in Florida since 2002 is unconstitutional. That's 55 percent of the state's death row population. That's because, in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling — Ring v. Arizona — that generally said the same thing to the state of Arizona that the high court said to Florida in the Hurst decision 14 years later: Juries — not judges — must decide whether the death penalty is appropriate. "Florida's capital sentencing statute has essentially been unconstitutional since Ring in 2002," the court wrote in one of Thursday's rulings, that of John F. Mosley, a Jacksonville-area man given the death penalty for placing his infant son in a plastic bag in 2004 and allowing him to suffocate. The Florida Legislature rewrote the death penalty statute last winter, giving juries more authority, and Gov. Rick Scott signed it into law on March 7, but in October, the Florida Supreme Court threw it out, saying it was unconstitutional because it failed to require a unanimous vote by jurors before the death penalty could be imposed. As a consequence, the state currently has no death penalty statute. 384 inmates on death row One of the factors the Florida Supreme Court had to evaluate was the level of disruption its ruling would create at trial courts around the state. It concluded that including all 384 death row inmates would be too burdensome. Even so, it set the stage for what could become nearly 200 resentencings: mini-trials at which a new jury would listen to evidence then rule whether the defendant should be given the death penalty. It will not be easy, Wesley said. Inmates must individually petition the court, and prosecutors will have a chance to argue that their sentences were fair, Nunnelley said. If a judge sides with the inmate, a new jury would decide whether he or she should be sentenced to death. If their decision is not unanimous, the inmate would be sentenced to life in prison. "Witnesses will have died. Memories will have failed. People will have disappeared," Wesley said. Eaton predicted that most inmates would qualify for resentencing. The most likely exceptions, he said, were those who chose to have a judge — not a jury — handle the penalty phase of their trials and those whose juries voted 12-0 in favor of the death penalty. Thursday's other ruling came in the case of Mark James Asay, who was convicted of killing two people, a black man and a transvestite, in 1987 in Jacksonville. He was scheduled to be executed March 17, but that was put on hold after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Hurst case. On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Asay was not entitled to a new sentencing hearing because his trial and initial round of appeals played out before 2002. The state has executed one person who might have benefited from Thursday's ruling: Oscar Ray Bolin Jr., who was put to death in January for murdering three young women in the Tampa Bay area in 1986. rstutzman@orlandosentinel.com and glotan@orlandosentinel.com ||||| The 6-1 ruling in a death sentence appeal says that Death Row inmates are not entitled to a re-sentencing unless their case was finalized after a 2002 ruling. Miami Herald File ||||| Death penalty opponents demonstrating against an execution in Florida in 2014. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) The Florida Supreme Court said Thursday that some death-row prisoners there may be able to seek new sentences, a decision that could impact hundreds of inmates and ends months of uncertainty surrounding capital punishment in one of the country’s leading death penalty states. While the court’s ruling means that many inmates could potentially avoid execution, many others on the state’s death row — the second-largest in the country, trailing only California — were deemed ineligible for this resentencing in a separate ruling Thursday. The decisions Thursday, along with doubt that has suffused Florida’s death penalty for most of this year, stemmed from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January striking down the state’s death sentencing scheme as unconstitutional. That ruling effectively froze the death penalty in Florida, contributing to a nationwide plunge in executions. But the ruling left unsaid whether it was retroactive and did not specify what it meant for the nearly 400 inmates on the state’s death row. [Executions in the United States just fell to a 25-year low] In a pair of rulings Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court offered its clearest answers yet to that question. The justices said that the January decision will not apply retroactively to death sentences finalized before a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving capital sentences in Arizona. Florida death row inmate Timothy Lee Hurst, the inmate for whom Hurst v. Florida is named. (Florida Department of Corrections via Reuters) But in another opinion, the Florida Supreme Court said the ruling striking down Florida’s death penalty would apply retroactively to any inmates whose sentences were finalized after that 2002 case. That could lead to resentencing for potentially more than 200 inmates, according to the Florida Supreme Court’s estimate, a number that would exceed the entire death row populations in most states. The rulings Thursday hinged on the U.S. Supreme Court’s January decision in Hurst v. Florida, which saw the justices strike down the state’s sentencing scheme because it gave too much power to judges, rather than juries. In the Hurst ruling, the justices determined that Florida’s system violated the Sixth Amendment, pointing to the 2002 determination the high court made in the case Ring v. Arizona, which found fault with a system that let a judge’s sentencing determination outweigh that of a jury. [Florida’s death penalty was deemed unconstitutional, so lawmakers rewrote it — and it was struck down again] In its new rulings Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court does not question the constitutionality of the death penalty. The justices also stress that their rulings will not impact the guilty verdicts that led to the death sentences, writing in one opinion that “no defendant will receive a new guilt phase or be released from prison while a new penalty takes place.” “The difference is not guilt or innocence but, instead, life or death,” the opinion states. Inmates eligible to try to seek new sentences will not all obtain them, nor are all guaranteed to have new penalty phases, the same ruling notes. It was not immediately clear the exact number of inmates who would be eligible for a resentencing hearing under the rulings Thursday, but the Florida Supreme Court estimated in one of its rulings that a little more than half of the state’s death row had sentences finalized after the Ring decision in 2002. [Florida had been weighing what to do with nearly 400 death row inmates] “The upshot is that between 150 and 200 people will need to be resentenced, opening old wounds and costing taxpayers millions of dollars,” Robert Smith, director of the Fair Punishment Project at Harvard Law School, said in a statement. “You can thank Florida’s prosecutors for this situation.” The rulings capped off what has been a chaotic year for Florida’s death penalty. In January, Florida carried out the country’s first execution of the year, a lethal injection that took place just days before the Supreme Court struck down the state’s death penalty system. Florida Gov. Rick Scott. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Florida lawmakers quickly revamped the state’s law in March to better adhere to the Supreme Court’s ruling and try to resume executions, but the Florida Supreme Court struck down the new law in October, saying that it was unconstitutional because juries were not required to be unanimous about sentences. The offices of Gov. Rick Scott (R) and Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) both said they were reviewing the Florida Supreme Court’s latest rulings. The justices ruled Thursday that Hurst must apply retroactively in the case of John F. Mosley, a 52-year-old on death row for killing his infant son in 2004. (Mosley was also sentenced to life in prison for killing his girlfriend in the same episode.) They vacated Mosley’s death sentence and remanded the case for a new penalty phase. In a partial concurrence and partial dissent, Justice Charles T. Canady, joined by Justice Ricky Polston, pilloried the decision to vacate Mosley’s death sentence. Canady wrote that the ruling “unjustifiably plunges the administration of the death penalty in Florida into turmoil that will undoubtedly extend for years.” Canady, who has been mentioned by President-elect Trump as a possible U.S. Supreme Court nominee, was also joined by Polston when he dissented from the Florida Supreme Court ruling striking down the state’s rewritten death penalty law in October. Justice James E.C. Perry, who retires from the court later this month, also concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing that Mosley’s death sentence should be vacated and automatically changed to a life sentence. This stance was offered earlier this year in an amicus brief filed by a high-profile group that included three former chief justices of the state’s Supreme Court, who had pointed to a state statute requiring that death sentences must be replaced by life sentences if “the death penalty in a capital felony is held to be unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court.” Bondi, the attorney general, argued in court filings that the Supreme Court had only “struck a portion” of the statute, rather than the death penalty itself. As such, today's Florida Supreme Court ruling is one of the most concretely consequential death penalty opinions in 40 years. — David Menschel (@davidminpdx) December 22, 2016 The justices ruled in the case of Mark James Asay, 52 — who was sentenced to death for two killings in 1987 — that he was not eligible for resentencing under Hurst because his sentence was final before the Ring decision was issued in 2002. They also denied other petitions Asay made and lifted a stay of execution they issued in his case earlier this year. The sharply divided court was particularly vocal about this case, with four justices filing additional opinions. In a third ruling issued Thursday, the justices also determined that a death sentence handed down in another case violated Hurst. As a result, they vacated that death sentence and remanded it to a trial court for a new penalty phase. Further reading: Florida Supreme Court halts scheduled execution after debate over state’s death penalty The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments about what to do post-Hurst earlier this year Why the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida’s death penalty in the first place Supreme Court Justice Breyer: California embodies the death penalty’s ‘fundamental defects’

– Eleven months after the US Supreme Court declared Florida's death penalty to be unconstitutional, the state supreme court ruled that more than 200 inmates on Florida's death row may have the right to new sentencing, the Orlando Sentinel reports. According to the Washington Post, that means more than half of Florida's massive death row population could potentially avoid execution. Last January, the US Supreme Court found Florida's death penalty violated the Sixth Amendment because it gave judges too much power, and juries too little, in deciding whether the guilty party lives or dies. It had told Arizona essentially the same thing way back in 2002. So on Thursday, the Florida supreme court ruled that the 55% of death row inmates who received their sentences after 2002 have the right to seek new sentencing trials. According to the ruling, no guilty verdicts will be changed and no one will be let out of prison prior to their new sentencing. The ruling also does the opposite for the half of death row inmates sentenced before 2002, the Miami Herald reports. They will not be allowed to seek new sentencing, meaning executions can start again in Florida for the first time since the US Supreme Court's ruling. A number of Florida supreme court justices had argued that the US Supreme Court's ruling should apply to all death row inmates, but they were outnumbered.

A 91-year-old actor known for his role on the popular TV series "Boy Meets World" foiled an attempted burglary at his home in the San Fernando Valley, authorities said.William Daniels, who portrayed the teacher George Feeny on the 1990s show, was at his house with his 89-year-old wife, Bonnie Bartlett, Saturday evening when the incident began.Shortly before 9:30 p.m., the would-be intruder forced open a back door, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Tuesday. Daniels quickly reacted, turning on lights in the house."Luckily, Mr. Daniels was able to frighten away the person and the LAPD quickly responded," the "St. Elsewhere" actor's publicist said in a statement to ABC7. "They are both well. Mr. Daniels thanks all his fans for their concern."LAPD investigators do not believe the couple was targeted.A description of the suspect was not available.Actor Will Friedle, one of Daniels' "Boy Meets World" co-stars, took to social media after learning of the incident."Don't ever mess with Mr. Feeny! #LoveYouBillAndBonnie," Friedle tweeted. ||||| CLOSE William Daniels, who played Mr. Feeny in "Boy Meets World," reportedly scared away an intruder who forced their way into his home. USA TODAY William Daniels, who portrayed teacher Mr. Feeny on "Boy Meets World," stopped an attempted burglary at his home. (Photo: ABC) You could never pull one over on Mr. Feeny, and a would-be burglar learned that the hard way. William Daniels, known for his role on "Boy Meets World" as well as his voice acting as K.I.T.T. in "Knight Rider," scared off someone who attempted to break into his home on Saturday. The 91-year-old actor was home with his 89-year-old wife Bonnie Bartlett when a person forced open a back door, according to Fox News and ABC's WJLA. Daniels acted quickly, turning on the lights in the house, which reportedly scared off the intruder. "Luckily, Mr. Daniels was able to frighten away the person and the LAPD quickly responded," Daniels' representative confirmed in a statement. "They are both well. Mr Daniels thanks all his fans for their concern." The Los Angeles Police Department said that "around 9:30 p.m., officers responded to an 'attempt burglary' radio call" and took a report of what happened, though they could not confirm that Daniels was the victim. Daniels joked on "Good Morning America" about the incident. “I struggled with an intruder, took him to the ground, I beat him up and he ran away with bruises all over him,” Daniels quipped. “Would you like to print that? You better not. It’s a total lie.” 91-year-old "Boy Meets World" star William Daniels scares off intruder at his California home. @PaulaFaris reports. https://t.co/dxQtksSar0pic.twitter.com/fchdJqa1bx — Good Morning America (@GMA) October 31, 2018 Daniels' onscreen student Will Friedle, who played Eric Matthews, recognized his former co-star's bravery on Twitter. Friedle tweeted: "Don’t ever mess with Mr. Feeny!" Daniels played the caring school teacher Mr. Feeny throughout the show's run from 1993 to 2000. Earlier in his career, he worked as Dr. Mark Craig on "St. Elsewhere." Most recently, he appeared in "Grey's Anatomy" in 2012, and he reprised his role as Feeny for five episodes of the short-lived spinoff "Girl Meets World," which was canceled in 2017. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/10/30/boy-meets-world-mr-feeny-william-daniels-foils-burglary/1818495002/ ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| UPDATE: William Daniels spoke to ABC after word got that the Boy Meets World actor foiled a burglary attempt on his Los Angeles home. “We were asleep and I heard bang, bang, bang,” Daniels, on the phone with wife Bonnie Bartlett, said. “I lit the light and Bonnie screamed and this person fled.” “Well, I think you scared him away,” Bartlett added. “Yes, yes, I did.” The original story continues below. Boy Meets World actor Will Friedle knows all too well, you “don’t ever mess with Mr. Feeny.” The actor, writing that on Twitter Tuesday, was responding to a report from ABC7 Eyewitness News about his sitcom costar, William Daniels, the actor behind Mr. George Feeny, thwarting a home robbery attempt. A rep for Daniels, 91, confirmed to EW in a statement that he was at home with wife Bonnie Bartlett in California’s San Fernando Valley on Saturday night when a potential intruder tried to break in. According to ABC7, the individual forced open the back door but ran off when Daniels turned on the lights. “Luckily, Mr. Daniels was able to frighten away the person and the LAPD quickly responded,” his publicist said. “They are both well. Mr Daniels thanks all his fans for their concern.” Friedle, who played “Fee-hee-hee-hee-nay’s” pesky next-door neighbor Eric Matthews, reacted on social media shortly after the news came to light. Related content:

– An elderly alum of Boy Meets World foiled an intruder Saturday night, illuminating the suspect both literally and (hopefully) metaphorically. Entertainment Weekly reports that William Daniels, 91, who played Mr. Feeny on the hit sitcom, was at the San Fernando Valley, Calif., home he shares with his wife, 89-year-old actress Bonnie Bartlett, when someone tried to break in through the back door. KABC notes Daniels had a quick reaction that scared the suspect away: He turned on the lights. "Luckily, Mr. Daniels was able to frighten away the person and the LAPD quickly responded," the actor's rep said in a statement, per USA Today, adding that both Daniels and his wife are OK. Police don't think they were specifically targeted. Daniels' BMW co-star Will Friedle had just one thing to say on Twitter about his former colleague's crime-busting skills: "Don't ever mess with Mr. Feeny!" ("Topanga" took issue with comments on her weight after her wedding.)

Story highlights Authorities also seize weapons and narcotics The raid comes a few weeks after the cartel leader's recapture (CNN) A cross-border raid by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials resulted in the arrest of 24 Sinaloa cartel members, authorities said. The sting occurred Friday around the Arizona border with Mexico, local media reported. It also netted "assault-type weapons" and hundreds of pounds of narcotics, said spokeswoman Gillian M. Christensen of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The raid, dubbed Mexican Operation Diablo Express, targeted "high-level" Sinaloa cartel members who operate in the United States and the Mexican state of Sonora. "The operation targets criminal elements and organizations operating in and around Sonoyta, Mexico," a statement from Christensen said. Read More ||||| TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The highly secretive, daylong law enforcement operation around the Arizona border with Mexico resulted in the arrest of two dozen alleged high-level Mexican drug cartel members, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman. The sting known as Mexican Operation Diablo Express took place all of Friday as numerous law enforcement agencies converged onto Lukeville, Arizona, which sits on the border with Mexico. Homeland Security Investigations, a unit of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, helped Mexican authorities nab 24 alleged members of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's biggest drug-trafficking organizations, who were operating around Sonoyta, Mexico, and the U.S. border, spokeswoman Gillian M. Christensen said. The DEA, FBI, Customs and Border Protection and Arizona state and local agencies were on hand to assist. "The targeted Sinaloa cell has been responsible for the importation of millions of pounds of illegal drugs, including marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, into the United States from Mexico during its existence. The organization is also responsible for the smuggling of millions of dollars in U.S. currency, along with weapons, into Mexico," Christensen said in a statement. The operation was conducted "with utmost secrecy" and took all day Friday as numerous law enforcement officers worked in both Lukeville and Sonoyta, bordering cities that are on the route to the Puerto Peñasco, the popular beach destination many Americans know as Rocky Point. ICE helped Mexican federal police into the U.S. to keep them safe during the operation, Christensen said. The sting also netted the seizure of several assault-type weapons and hundreds of pounds of drugs. "ICE applauds the Government of Mexico for their bold action in taking down this criminal organization and for their continued pressure on the Sinaloa Cartel throughout Mexico," Christensen said. The arrests are the latest blow to the Sinaloa Cartel after the arrest of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on Jan. 8, six months after he tunneled out of a top-security Mexican prison for the second time. The Mexican government says it is cooperating with an extradition request for Guzman from the U.S. The 24 people arrested on Friday have not been identified. They are in the custody of Mexican authorities, and the U.S. will seek extradition.

– American and Mexican authorities cooperated in a daylong cross-border raid that resulted in the arrest of 24 alleged high-level members of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel, reports the AP. The sting known as Mexican Operation Diablo Express took place all of Friday as numerous law enforcement agencies converged onto Lukeville, Ariz., which sits on the Mexican border. Homeland Security Investigations, a unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, helped Mexican authorities nab the cartel members, who were operating around Sonoyta, Mexico, and the US border, ICE rep Gillian Christensen said. The DEA, FBI, Customs and Border Protection, and Arizona state and local agencies were on hand. "This operation was conducted with utmost secrecy to maintain the element of surprise and to ensure the safety of the Mexican law enforcement officers executing it," Christensen said, per CNN. ICE helped Mexican federal police into the US to keep them safe during the operation, Christensen said. The sting also netted the seizure of several assault-type weapons and hundreds of pounds of drugs. "ICE applauds the government of Mexico for their bold action in taking down this criminal organization and for their continued pressure on the Sinaloa Cartel throughout Mexico," Christensen said. The arrests are the latest blow to the Sinaloa Cartel after the arrest of El Chapo on Jan. 8. The 24 people arrested Friday have not been identified. They are in the custody of Mexican authorities, and the US will seek extradition.

Photo: Filipe Braga; Courtesy Fundação de Serralves, Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto A visitor to the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Serralves museum in Porto was hospitalised this week after falling inside one of the British artist’s installations, which features a 2.5-metre-deep hole. It is not clear whether he fell into the hole or beside it. A spokesman for the museum says that the “visitor is OK [and] almost ready to return home”. He added that “security protocol was followed” and there are warning signs as well as a member of gallery staff inside the installation. It has been temporarily closed while the institution assesses what happened but it hopes to reopen it “in a few days”. According to the Público newspaper, the injured man is Italian and around 60 years old. The work, Descent into Limbo (1992), consists of a cube-shaped building, which can be entered by visitors, with a circular hole in the centre of its floor. The sides of the hole are coated in black pigment, giving the illusion of a depthless void. Anish Kapoor: Works, Thoughts, Experiments (until 6 January 2019) is the artist’s first major institutional show in Portugal. ||||| Public Art Program > Cloud Gate 201 E. Randolph St., between Michigan Ave & Columbus Ave Chicago, IL 60602 (click on image to enlarge) Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect Chicago’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the AT&T Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from AT&T. Millennium Park is located in the heart of downtown Chicago. It is bordered by Michigan Avenue to the west, Columbus Drive to the east, Randolph Street to the north and Monroe Street to the south. Learn More ||||| Anish Kapoor’s fascination with the void has led him to create some of his best-known works. Now, it has also caused someone to fall into an eight-foot pit. Last week, a 60-year-old Italian man fell into a hole that was part of the artist’s installation Descent Into Limbo at the Fundação de Serralves, Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal. The man was hospitalized following the incident, which took place August 13, according to the local newspaper Público. The work is on view as part of “Anish Kapoor: Works, Thoughts, Experiments,” the artist’s first Portuguese museum survey, where the wall text notes that “the sculpture is an expression of Kapoor’s interests in the formal and metaphoric play between light and darkness, inside and outside, the contained and the infinite, which underpins his sculptural oeuvre.” “An accident happened,” Fernando Rodrigues Pereira, the museum’s press officer, told artnet News in an email. “Now this installation is temporarily closed.” The exhibition had displayed warning signs and a staff member was manning the room when the man fell, as per established security protocols. “The visitor has already left the hospital and he is recovering well,” Pereira added. Visitors enter the installation through a small doorway leading into a freestanding concrete and stucco room, approximately 20 feet square. In the center of the floor is a circular pit, the sides painted black so that it at first appears solid, hiding its true depths. Kapoor designed Descent Into Limbo to appear like an endless chasm in space; looking down into it is a dizzying experience. A representative of the museum told the Art Newspaper on Friday that there are plans to reopen the installation “in a few days.” On the artist’s website, the work, which was first created for documenta IX in 1992, is described as a “cubed building with a dark hole in the floor. This is a space full of darkness, not a hole in the ground.” The piece takes its name from a painting by Italian Renaissance painter Andrea Mantegna. “Anish Kapoor: Works, Thoughts, Experiments,” is on view at the Serralves Museum, Rua D. João de Castro, 210, 4150-417, Porto, Portugal, through January 6, 2019. Follow artnet News on Facebook: ||||| Screenshot: Serralves Museum (YouTube) Like a real-life version of a Looney Tunes cartoon, a visitor to a Portuguese museum was injured last week when he stepped into an art installation resembling an inky void. Currently on exhibit at the Serralves Museum in Porto, Descent Into Limbo by Anish Kapoor includes an actual eight-foot hole that’s painted black—so it appears to have no depth at all. According to Britain’s Times, attendees of previous showings of the work have questioned “whether there really was a hole in the floor or whether it was simply a circle painted with an extremely dark black paint.” Presumably there will be no doubts going forward. Advertisement Though the Descent Into Limbo installation was reportedly surrounded with warning signs and staffers warning visitors not to get too close, there was no barrier around it. How the museumgoer, whom Portugal’s Publico reports was an Italian man in his 60s, was able to step into the hole isn’t known, but he was briefly hospitalized for the eight-foot fall. The museum closed the exhibit to assess what happened, but says it plans to reopen it soon. In addition to being known for his over-sized installations (including the giant reflective Cloud Gate “bean” in Chicago), Kapoor made headlines in 2016 when he secured the exclusive artistic rights to a physics-defying material called Vantablack. Developed by a British company called Surrey NanoSystems, the material is able to trap photons in-between lab-grown carbon nanotubes, which bounce around until they’re eventually absorbed. Just a scant 0.035 percent of visible light is reflected by an object covered in Vantablack, making it impossible to see any curves or contours—or to accurately gauge the depth of a hole if you don’t know what you’re looking at. Descent Into Limbo debuted years before Vantablack was announced to the public, and was instead created using a dark paint that produces the same depthless, black hole effect. For at least one hapless art lover, it seems that was enough. Advertisement [The Art Newspaper via Hypebeast] ||||| A man sustained back injuries when he fell into Descent into Limbo by Sir Anish Kapoor, left, at Serralves museum in Porto HORACIO VILLALOBOS/CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES All artists want their work to leave a mark on the viewer, but an installation by the British sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor has left one man needing hospital treatment. An Italian man believed to be about 60 fell into Descent into Limbo, a dark hole like an abyss in the centre of the floor inside a large concrete cube with a single door. The work is part of an exhibition of Kapoor’s sculptures and installations at the Serralves museum in Oporto, Portugal. The man was admitted to hospital with back injuries but has been discharged. At previous exhibitions viewers asked whether there really was a hole in the floor or whether it was simply a circle painted with an extremely dark black paint. In 2016…

– The "dizzying experience" of peering down into an "endless chasm in space" made a visitor to Portugal's Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art especially woozy, reports Artnet, and now the 60-year-old man is recuperating from his injuries. Last week, the Italian in Porto was checking out Chicago "Bean" creator Anish Kapoor's "Descent Into Limbo"—an installation that features a concrete room with what appears to be a deep black hole in the middle—when an incident happened involving the "bottomless pit." The Art Newspaper says it's not clear whether the visitor plummeted into the hole or fell next to it, and the museum press officer's curt message didn't clarify things: "An accident happened. Now this installation is temporarily closed." Luckily for the hapless visitor, the hole isn't actually unfathomable: It's just 8 feet deep, with the sides painted black to make it appear deeper than it really is. The fall into or near the "void" happened despite security and signs cautioning visitors about the exhibit. In the injured party's defense, Gizmodo points out the hole "appears to have no depth at all … like a real-life version of a 'Looney Tunes' cartoon." On Friday, a museum rep said the apparently disoriented tourist has already left the hospital; the London Times reports he suffered back injuries. Meanwhile the exhibit will be open again for viewing (but hopefully not stumbling over) "in a few days," the rep noted. (This 90-year-old ruined a work of art, had an unusual reaction.)

In a post on the first day of this year, I noted the surprisingly rapid decline in e-book sales growth over the course of 2012. The trend appears to be continuing this year. The Association of American Publishers reports that in the first quarter of 2013, overall e-book sales in the U.S. trade market grew by just 5 percent over where they were in the same period in 2012. The explosive growth of the last few years has basically petered out, according to the AAP numbers*: Looking at the major segments of the trade market, e-book sales were up 13.6 percent in the adult segment, down 30.1 percent in the children’s segment, and down 0.6 percent in the religious segment. The children’s segment accounted for a big part of e-book growth last year, thanks in large measure to the Hunger Games franchise, but that boost has proved temporary. E-books are still taking share from printed books, as overall trade sales declined by 4.7 percent in the quarter, but the anemic growth of the electronic market calls into question the strength of the so-called “digital revolution” in the book business. E-books now represent a bit less than 25 percent of total book sales. That’s an impressive share, but it’s still a long way from dominance. Other big e-book markets also show signs of maturing. A new Nielsen Research report indicates that UK e-book sales actually declined slightly in April from year-earlier levels. I speculated in my January post about some reasons why e-books may fall short of expectations: 1. We may be discovering that e-books are well suited to some types of books (like genre fiction) but not well suited to other types (like nonfiction and literary fiction) and are well suited to certain reading situations (plane trips) but less well suited to others (lying on the couch at home). The e-book may turn out to be more a complement to the printed book, as audiobooks have long been, rather than an outright substitute. 2. The early adopters, who tend also to be the enthusiastic adopters, have already made their move to e-books. Further converts will be harder to come by, particularly given the fact that 59 percent of American book readers say they have “no interest” in e-books, according to the Bowker report. 3. The advantages of printed books have been underrated, while the advantages of e-books have been overrated. 4. The early buyers of e-readers quickly filled them with lots of books, most of which have not been read. The motivation to buy more e-books may be dissipating as a result. Novelty fades. 5. The shift from e-readers to tablets is putting a damper on e-book sales. With dedicated readers, pretty much the only thing you can do is buy and read books. With tablets, you have a whole lot of other options. (To put it another way: On an e-reader, the e-reading app is always running. On a tablet, it isn’t.) 6. E-book prices have not fallen the way many expected. There’s not a big price difference between an e-book and a paperback. (It’s possible, suggests one industry analyst, that Amazon is seeing a plateau in e-book sales and so is less motivated to take a loss on them for strategic reasons.) Those still seem reasonable. Most intriguing, to me, is the possible link between the decline in dedicated e-readers (as multitasking tablets take over) and the softening of e-book sales. Are tablets less conducive to book buying and reading than e-readers were? UPDATE: A little more confirming data: A recent report on the Canadian market, from BookNet Canada, indicates that the market share of e-books peaked in the first quarter of 2012 at 17.6% and then started falling, dropping to 12.9% in the fourth quarter of 2012. BookNet sees evidence that e-books may be “plateauing” at about 15% of the Canadian market: “‘The research suggests that the ebook market in Canada may have reached a plateau,’ says BookNet Canada President and CEO Noah Genner. ‘Early 2013 data backs this up. So far, we’re seeing the same pattern repeating itself.'” And this from a March 2013 report on the “stalling” of e-books in the UK market: “Yet even as book sales continue to move online, ebooks are making notably slow gains, and likely slowing down the etailing book market overall. Bowker found that ebooks’ share of the UK market reached a high of 13% in July 2012, driven upward by ebook purchases of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’ But by November the share had fallen back down to 9%.” (Even without “Fifty Shades,” the current ebook bestseller list in the UK is “filled with erotic fiction,” reports The Guardian.) UPDATE 2: The original version of this post described the Nielsen data as being worldwide; it actually reflects only the UK market. *Sources of AAP data in chart: 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013. The AAP doesn’t seem to release its sales reports directly to the public, so collecting the data, from secondary sources, is a bit of a trial. In general, good information on book sales is hard to come by. ||||| Pin Share 3 31 Shares The AAP has put out a new press release today with some tidbits on the the state of the US book market. The data is drawn from the StatShot report, and while I don't have all the stats available but what I do have is a little startling. Update: If you came to this post via one of the articles which argued ebook sales are flattening, don't believe it. That conclusion is wrong, and I can prove it. The AAP is reporting that the 1192 publishers which submit their sales data to the AAP did not see a significant increase in the ebook market in the first quarter of this year. Sales of adult ebooks increased by 13%, but children's ebooks dropped by 30% (religious ebooks held steady). The overall ebook market grew from $374.8 million to $393.6 million, or about 5%. That is far below the growth reported in previous years, but it is still good news. The AAP also reported the total reported book sales dropped by 4.7% (from $1.5 billion to $1.4 billion) thanks to a severe drop in the children's and YA segment (24.6%). In that context the 5% growth is not bad. Audiobooks also increased by 14% ($24.8 million to $28.3 million), so there is some good news. In spite of the spectacular growth of ebooks in 2008 to 2011, we all know that eventually the ride would come to a stop as the growth of ebook market share slowed. TBH I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. Of course, these statistics only represent publishers sending their data to the AAP and not the entirety of the US ebook market. One can still hope that indie pub saw better growth than this. For those who are interested, here is the data: image by historygradguy ||||| July 30, 2013 New research on worldwide consumption of ebooks from Nielsen suggests that we could be at the end of the period of explosive growth for digital reading, as year-on-year sales fell for the first time. Nielsen’s new "Understanding the E-Book Consumer" for July 2013, which is based on data from the Kantar World Panel, also contains some better news for proponents of digital reading. It predicts that ebooks will overtake sales of print books in 2014, with total sales expected to rise to 47 million units. This will put total ebook sales 300,000 ahead of their print equivalents and mean that electronic books account for 48% of the overall fiction market. Away from the predictions, those parts of Nielsen Kantar’s report that are based on historic data show a more mixed picture for publishers. Sales of ebooks fell for the third consecutive month in April 2013, showing a (very slight) year-on-year decline of 0.1% - the first time such a thing has been recorded in this market. Nielsen attributes this slowdown to the lack of a star performing title in children’s and young adult publishing in 2013 to replicate the success that Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy enjoyed last year. Nielsen’s data for the UK market mirrors recent statistics published by the Association of American Publishers in early July. This reported that the days of double or even triple digit growth for the market might now be gone, with ebook sales growing by only 5% to $393.6 million in the first quarter of 2013. It also suggested that the huge success of The Hunger Games in 2012 may have been a one-off event that helped to skew expectations of the market this year. As ebook sales look set to take just under half of the total fiction market in the UK and more than a fifth (22%) of the overall UK book market, according to recent Bowker Market Research, it is only natural that the rate of growth would slow. As the overall market for ebooks gets bigger, publishers will need to sell ever greater volumes of ebooks in order to report significant growth, which is harder to achieve in a larger market. What these results do indicate very strongly, however, is the impact that just one runaway hit can have on moving the publishing market on both sides of the Atlantic, and the ultimate importance that blockbuster book sales still have to publishers’ bottom lines.

– The e-book boom looks to be finished, writes Nicholas Carr at the Rough Type blog. He picks up on stats from the Association of American Publishers that show just a 5% increase in sales in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the previous year. That's "anemic," he writes, and continues the trend of rapidly declining sales growth from 2012. E-books are still hurting print books, whose sales fell about 5% in the first quarter, but the digital versions seem to be settling in at about the 25% mark of total book sales. "In spite of the spectacular growth of e-books in 2008 to 2011, we all know that eventually the ride would come to a stop as the growth of e-book market share slowed," writes Nate Hoffelder at the Digital Reader. "I didn’t expect it to happen so quickly." Lots of reasons might be at play, but Carr wonders whether the drop is being helped along by the switch to multitasking tablets instead of devices (like the original Kindle) dedicated solely to reading. "Are tablets less conducive to book buying and reading than e-readers were?" Meanwhile, the numbers are worse worldwide: Nielsen Research says e-book sales actually declined in the first quarter—the first time that's happened, reports Publishing Technology.

You may have arrived at this page because you followed a link to one of our old platforms that cannot be redirected. Cambridge Core is the new academic platform from Cambridge University Press, replacing our previous platforms; Cambridge Journals Online (CJO), Cambridge Books Online (CBO), University Publishing Online (UPO), Cambridge Histories Online (CHO), Cambridge Companions Online (CCO), and Shakespeare Survey Online (SSO) which no longer exist. All content from these platforms is now available on Cambridge Core. In order to find the content you are looking for, use the search box at the top right of the page to search Cambridge Core or follow the links below to our key product areas. Useful links Collections & Series Journals Books eBook content from our publishing partners (previously published on UPO) Open access ||||| This teenage girl was buried in a Polish cemetery with a sickle over her neck, possibly to ward off demons. She was also buried with a copper headband and a copper coin, archaeologists found. How do you keep a demon from disturbing the living? A blade to the throat should do the trick. A few skeletons unearthed in a 400-year-old Polish cemetery have been discovered with sickles placed around their necks. Archaeologists believe this strange burial practice is evidence of a belief in magic and a fear of demons. The sickle burials were found at Drawsko cemetery, a site in northeastern Poland that dates from the 17th to the 18th centuries. Archaeologists, including Marek Polcyn, a visiting scholar at Lakehead University in Canada, have excavated more than 250 graves there since 2008. Among those graves were four skeletons with sickles placed at their throats, and a fifth skeleton with a sickle placed over its hips. Previously, these burials had been described as "vampire" burials, with the sickles interpreted as a way to prevent the dead from reanimating and terrorizing the living. But in a new study detailed in the journal Antiquity, Polcyn and co-author Elzbieta Gajda, of the Muzeum Ziemi Czarnkowskiej, now reject that characterization. ("We deliberately dismiss the interpretation of a revenant (i.e. vampire)," isn't something you read in an academic paper every day.) [See Photos of the Sickle Burials at Drawsko Cemetery] Instead, the archaeologists prefer to use the blanket term "anti-demonic" to talk about these burials, partly because vampires weren't the only kinds of evil incarnations of the dead, according to traditional folk beliefs in the region. But also, the sickle graves were afforded funerary privileges that weren't usually extended to "vampires" buried elsewhere: They were given Christian burials in sacred ground alongside other members of the community, and their corpses do not appear to have been desecrated or mutilated. In another sign that the people buried with sickles probably were not outsiders, scientists who studied chemical signatures locked in the teeth of these corpses found that all five individuals were locals. (They published those results in a paper in PLOS ONE last year.) "The magical and ritual meaning of this gesture seems beyond doubt," Polcyn and Gajda wrote, adding, however, that the sickle might have had more than one ritualistic meaning. The tool may have been intended to keep the dead in their graves under the threat of cutting their throat, but it also might have been used to prevent evil forces from tormenting their souls. What's more, the use of a tool made of iron, which had to undergo a transformation in fire, could symbolize the passage from life to death, the authors wrote. [7 Strange Ways Humans Act Like Vampires] Even though Christianity was the dominant religion in Poland at the time this cemetery was used, traditions from old Slavic pagan faith and folk belief systems still existed, including a belief in demons. Besides the sickles, there is not much that makes these graves unique, so the scientists aren't sure exactly what about these people made them demonic. They may have been thought to have supernatural powers in life, or they might have had physical characteristics considered suspicious (which might have included "an exceptionally hairy body," a unibrow, a large head and a red complexion, the authors said, citing traditional Polish folklore). These people also might have died in a traumatic fashion, without any time for the appropriate rites and rituals to make for a smooth spiritual transition into death — a concept some archaeologists call a "bad death." While some of the people buried with sickles may have simply died of old age, one of them, a girl, died as a teenager. The authors speculated that she might have met a violent and untimely end, perhaps through drowning, suicide or murder. Unfortunately for archaeologists, however, this death didn't leave its mark on the girl's bones. Polcyn and Gajda wrote that they hope further scientific tests on the corpses, such as biomolecular analyses, will help them understand more specifically what led the dead in Drawsko to be buried with sickles. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. ||||| This amber and a gold earring from burial of a lady close to Stonehenge shows the detailed decoration on other Bronze Age artifacts from the time of Stonehenge. MORE: Stonehenge Intricate Treasures Made by Children Although the purpose of the gold lozenge remains a mystery — interpretations have ranged from an elaborate button to an astronomical instrument -- its precise decorations, made of impressed lines, reveals a detailed knowledge of mathematics and geometry. On the chest of the Bush Barrow tribal chief there was a beautifully decorated gold lozenge. It was made of sheet gold with finely incised decoration. Some of the thousands of studs from the dagger. Each stud is thinner than a human hair. They were set into the wood at a density of over 1,000 per square centimeter to create a zig-zag pattern. Produced nearly 4,000 years ago, more than 1,000 years before the invention of any form of magnifying glass, the dagger was decorated with 140,000 tiny studs. The ultra-fine craftwork entailed extremely tiny components such as microscopic gold pins and gold wires. According to optic experts, only children and teenagers, and those adults who had become myopic naturally or due to the nature of their work as children, would have been able to create and manufacture such tiny objects. The eye-stressing work would have blinded most child workers. The image shows how the studs are placed in straight lines and the heads overlap each other like fish scales. This watercolor shows the dagger handle as excavated by William Cunnington in 1808. Among the buried objects, one of the finest was a dagger with an intricately decorated wooden handle. Today only fragments of the original handle survive. Here fragments of the 4,000-year-old wooden handle is mounted on a modern wood reconstruction. Reconstruction of the burial of the Bush Barrow mound. The burial contained the skeleton of a chieftain who lived almost 4,000 years ago. He was laid to rest in regal splendor with objects known today as the Stonehenge treasure. NEWS: Stonehenge Intricate Treasures Made by Children Evidence of “anti-demonic” funerary practices, with sickles placed around the throats of the deceased possibly to ward off demons, has been found in a 400-year-old cemetery in Poland. Researchers examined more than 250 human skeletons which were excavated since 2008 from a post Medieval cemetery in Drawsko, a rural settlement site in northwestern Poland. Dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, the remains represented individuals of all ages and both sexes and included five unique interments with sickles. Photos: Intricate Treasures From Stonehenge Burial Play Video Ancient Lost Army Found? The Persian army of 50,000 soldiers supposedly perished in a sandstorm in ancient Egypt 2500 years ago. Researchers have located a valley of bones they think may belong to the fabled army. DCI “In four of these burials the sickles were placed on the bodies of the dead with the cutting edge tightly against the throat, while the fifth was located on the pelvis,” Marek Polcyn, a visiting scholar at Lakehead University in Canada, and Elzbieta Gajda, of the Muzeum Ziemi Czarnkowskiej, wrote in the current issue of the journal Antiquity. The skeletons with the sickles around the throat were those of an adult male who died between 35–44 years of age, two adult females who died around 30–39 years of age, and an adolescent female who at around 14–19 years old. There was also an adult female aged 50–60 years interred with a large, arch-curved sickle placed across her hips. A stone was placed directly on top of the throat, while a coin was found in her toothless mouth. Ice Age Infant Skeletons Hint at Burial Rites Previously, it was suggested these people were buried as “vampires.” In this view, the sickle placed across the throat was intended to remove the head, should the vampire attempt to rise from the grave. But Polcyn and Gajda argue these burials should be rather interpreted as “anti-demonic.” They noted the sickle burials have none of the characteristics of so-called anti-vampiric practices. They were interred in sacred ground following conventional Christian burial patterns, with the head placed towards the west, and their graves did not appear to have been desecrated. Ancient Priest's Tomb Painting Discovered Near Great Pyramid “Confining the deceased in the grave by means of a sickle may have been a measure to prevent the demonized soul threatening the living, or could have been a reference to biblical symbolism in an attempt to prevent the soul from becoming demonized,” Polcyn and Gajda wrote. Vampires were not the only mythical creatures feared in Poland in the 17th century. As wars, hunger, pestilence, and poverty devastated the country, Slavic pagan faiths resurrected. “The development of the Counter-Reformation was a significant turning point as it brought cultural and intellectual regression, religious fanaticism and a growing climate of terror, deliberately stoked by Catholic clergy spreading fear of the devil and witchcraft,” the researchers wrote.

– Want to keep a demon-skeleton from haunting your rural settlement? Just bury it with a sickle at its throat. That's what researchers are saying about four skeletons from the 17th and 18th centuries found buried with iron sickles around their necks in a Polish cemetery, Discovery reports. Writing in Antiquity, Marek Polcyn and Elzbieta Gajda say the skeletons—two adult females, an adult male, and an adolescent female excavated with over 250 human remains starting in 2008—may have been feared as possible demons in Drawsko, northwestern Poland. The sickles "may have been a measure to prevent the demonized soul threatening the living, or could have been a reference to biblical symbolism in an attempt to prevent the soul from becoming demonized," the authors write. They dismiss the theory that the villagers feared vampirism, saying the burials were conventionally Christian, with heads pointing west, and the graves don't seem desecrated. Perhaps the burials followed the folk belief that a person with a "bad death" (like drowning, suicide, or death during childbirth) was prone to being inhabited by one of fourteen demons. Such beliefs persisted alongside Slavic pagan faith and Christianity in Poland at the time, Live Science reports. Interestingly, a fifth skeleton had the sickle around her hips, a stone at her neck, and a coin in her mouth. "Coins were placed in the mouth to favor the deceased's passage into the afterlife," one expert says. "The sickle and the stone would have prevent[ed] the dead from returning." (Read about self-identified vampires who have "a real fear.")

Former Alabama chief justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore on Sept. 26, 2017. (Brynn Anderson/AP) Roy Moore's Senate campaign was jolted by an allegation Thursday that he initiated sexual touching with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. Moore (R) has denied the allegations. Alabama state Auditor Jim Zeigler (R), though, is taking it a step further. In some rather remarkable and often nonsensical comments, the Moore supporter's argument isn't that Moore didn't do these things, but that even the conduct described in The Washington Post's report is a-okay with both him and the law. Zeigler's comments came in an interview with the Washington Examiner. Let's break them down: “There is nothing to see here,” Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler told the Washington Examiner. “The allegations are that a man in his early 30s dated teenage girls. Even the Washington Post report says that he never had sexual intercourse with any of the girls and never attempted sexual intercourse.” The first problem here is that the allegation isn't just that Moore “dated” 14-year-old Leigh Corfman but, rather, that he removed her clothes and touched her, and guided her hand to touch his penis. Corfman says this was unwanted. And regardless of whether this was consensual, this kind of activity would sure seem to be illegal. As The Post notes, Alabama law in 1979, as now, placed the age of consent at 16. It would be “sexual abuse in the second degree” for someone 19 or older to engage in sexual contact with someone younger than 16 but older than 12, and sexual contact is defined as the touching of sexual or intimate parts. Here's more from Zeigler: Moore never had “sexual intercourse” with the girl. Their relationship “happened almost 40 years ago.” And finally, “Roy Moore fell in love with one of the younger women.” Moore began dating his wife Kayla around this time, according to Ziegler. “He dated her. He married her, and they’ve been married about 35 years. They’re blessed with a wonderful marriage and his wife Kayla is 14 years younger than Moore.” Moore's wife, Kayla, is indeed 14 years his junior, but the law is less concerned with age differences and more concerned with whether one of the parties is a minor who isn't able to consent. A 70-year-old and a 56-year-old is not the same thing, for example, as a 28-year-old and a 14-year-old. And finally, the pièce de résistance: “Take the Bible — Zachariah and Elizabeth, for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist,” Ziegler says, choosing his words carefully before invoking Christ. “Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.” “There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here,” Ziegler concluded. “Maybe just a little bit unusual.” First, there are issues with Zeigler's Bible references. Both Zachariah and Elizabeth were elderly when John the Baptist was born; it wasn't that she was young and Zachariah was “extremely old.” Second, comparing modern age-of-consent laws to biblical times seems to be a slippery slope. Many things from 2,000 years ago don't apply today. Girls were often betrothed early in their teenage years, for example. And third, there is something called the virgin birth. Here is the definition of virgin. As The Post's Michelle Boorstein writes in her piece breaking this all down: In the Bible, Mary is the mother of Jesus, and Joseph became her husband. Beliefs about the specific story of Joseph and Mary and Jesus’ birth vary widely in Christian history and across traditions. Mary is referred to in scripture as a virgin, but there is disagreement about what that means. Generally, however, Christians believe that Mary was a virgin when he was born. Joseph is usually referred to as Jesus’ “father” or a father figure. ... Multiple evangelical leaders slammed Ziegler. “Bringing Joseph and Mary into a modern-day molestation accusation, where a 32-year-old prosecutor is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl, is simultaneously ridiculous and blasphemous,” said Ed Stetzer, a pastor and church consultant who chairs the Billy Graham Center of Church, Mission and Evangelism at Wheaton College. “Even those who followed ancient marriage customs, which we would not follow today, knew the difference between molesting and marriage.” Further reading: "Alabama state official defends Roy Moore, citing Joseph and Mary: ‘They became parents of Jesus’" ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann First Read is your briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. WASHINGTON — On Thursday morning, we told you that the December 12 Alabama Senate race was something you should put on your calendar, especially after Democrats’ big wins earlier in the week. But we had no idea what was going to happen just hours later: The Washington Post reported that a woman said Republican nominee Roy Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 and he was 32. The news could fundamentally transform the political situation in Washington. If Moore loses next month — and we stress the word “if” — then the GOP’s Senate majority goes from 52-48 to 51-49. Why is that important? For one thing, it makes it much more realistic for Democrats to capture control of the U.S. Senate in 2018. Democrats would need to win Arizona and Nevada (two races where they have at least a 50-50 shot of victory) and hold on to all of their vulnerable seats. That’s a tall order, of course, but it’s much easier than having to put a Texas or Tennessee on the map to win Senate control. Bottom line: If there’s a wave in 2018, Democrats will have an easier shot of having to flip two Senate seats instead of three to win back the Senate. In addition, a 51-49 GOP majority in the Senate could imperil the Republican tax plan. Senate Republicans are already having to walk a fine line in placating Sens. Rand Paul (who opposes the tax increases in the GOP plan), Bob Corker (who’s worried about increasing the deficit) and Susan Collins (who is against some of the tax cuts for the wealthy). A 52-48 majority means Senate Republicans can afford to lose two GOP votes, assuming all Democrats oppose the legislation. But with a 51-49 majority, Republicans can lose only one GOP senator. Now you might say that there’s no way (or little way) that a Republican could lose in Alabama, a state Trump won by a whopping 28 points in 2016. But consider: Before yesterday, Moore’s lead was just in the high single digits or low double digits, according to the polls. That isn’t a bulletproof lead; Moore has been a controversial figure in Alabama for more than a decade; Democratic opponent Doug Jones has owned the TV airwaves for an entire month, with ads like this: “I can work with Republicans better than Roy Moore can work with anyone”; And the race is a one-on-one special election that takes place two weeks before Christmas, so it will be a low-turnout affair. There is no other race on the ballot. This isn’t to say that it’s a slam dunk that Moore loses after yesterday. But we’re not sure enough people realize how dangerous the political situation is for the GOP. Could Alabama Republicans pull what New Jersey Democrats did in 2002? And given the situation — as well as the facts that ballots have already been printed and that state law mandates that a candidate must withdraw 76 days before the election to be removed from the ballot (and we’re a month out now) — NBC’s Steve Kornacki reminds us of what happened in New Jersey in 2002: “In 2002, New Jersey state law set a deadline of 51 days pre-election for a party to switch candidates, but incumbent Bob Torricelli, fresh off his reprimand by the Senate ethics committee and faced with collapsing poll numbers, dropped out 34 days before the vote. Democrats went to court to ask for a ballot switch anyway, and the state Supreme Court – regarded as one of the most liberal in the country – gave it to them. Republicans howled in protest and took it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. Frank Lautenberg then subbed in for Torricelli, and won the election easily.” The lesson: A party that controls the local political power and the courts can change the rules. But right now, it doesn’t seem like Moore is going to withdraw from the contest. "Judge Roy Moore has endured the most outlandish attacks on any candidate in the modern political arena, but this story in today’s Washington Post alleging sexual impropriety takes the cake," Moore campaign chair Bill Armistead said in statement. "National liberal organizations know their chosen candidate Doug Jones is in a death spiral, and this is their last ditch Hail Mary." Jonah Goldberg: Saving Moore isn’t worth it for Republicans Meanwhile, conservative writer Jonah Goldberg criticizes the Republicans who are defending Moore. “… I cannot grasp why so many people think it’s a good idea to stand by a man who, if elected, will serve as a negative campaign ad made flesh. I get the argument that it’s a ‘binary choice!’ But it’s a binary choice now, because a bunch of people who want to see the GOP burn down made it one.” Goldberg adds, “In the long run, a Senator Moore would cost Republicans more seats than the one he might give them. He’d be an albatross for every elected Republican, including President Trump, who will be asked to take a side on every scene in the clown show Moore would bring to Washington. And every conservative who ever denounces a Democrat for immoral behavior or insane views will be asked, ‘Oh yeah, why did you support Roy Moore then?’ Saving Steve Bannon’s reputation as the leader of some (doomed) movement certainly isn’t worth it, not for the cost to the GOP not to mention your own souls.” Want to understand why it appeared the GOP was racing for the Moore exits? Goldberg captures that. Senate Republicans unveil their tax plan Speaking of the GOP tax effort, Senate Republicans unveiled their plan yesterday, per NBC’s Alex Seitz-Wald, Benjy Sarlin and Leigh Ann Caldwell. “The Senate plan differs in some key ways from the version introduced by the House last week... The Senate bill maintains the current seven individual income-tax brackets, unlike the House's four, and lowers the top rate to 38.5 percent, while the House bill maintains it at 39.6 percent but applies it to higher income.” “And unlike the House version, the Senate bill would fully repeal the deduction for state and local taxes, which has become a sticking point with GOP congressmen from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey, which tend to lean Democratic, whose constituents depend on that deduction.” “The House included a deduction for the first $10,000 in property taxes to appease those members, but the Senate, which has fewer Republicans from such states, has no such provision in its bill. In the end, the House may be forced to swallow whatever the Senate passes and it's unclear if dissenting lawmakers from high-tax states have enough numbers to prevent it.” Was Michael Flynn discussing returning a Turkish opponent living on U.S. soil during the transition? NBCs Carol Lee and Julia Ainsley: “Federal investigators are examining whether former national security adviser Michael Flynn met with senior Turkish officials just weeks before President Donald Trump’s inauguration about a potential quid-pro-quo in which Flynn would be paid to secretly carry out directives from Ankara while in the White House, according to multiple people familiar with the investigation.” More: “Investigators for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s attack on the U.S. presidential election recently questioned witnesses about the alleged December 2016 meeting between Flynn and senior Turkish officials, two people knowledgeable with the interviews said. The questions were part of a line of inquiry regarding Flynn’s lobbying efforts on behalf of Turkey.” “Four people familiar with the investigation said Mueller is looking into whether Flynn discussed in the late December meeting orchestrating the return to Turkey of a chief rival of Turkish President Recep Erdogan who is living in the U.S. Additionally, three people familiar with the investigation said, investigators are examining whether Flynn and other participants discussed a way to free a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who is jailed in the U.S. Zarrab is facing federal charges that he helped Iran skirt U.S. sanctions.” ||||| Story highlights Roy Moore's brother defended him "to the hilt" amid the escalating controversy over allegations of sexual misconduct against him Jerry Moore firmly denied the charges against his brother and analogized his brother's situation to the persecution of Jesus Christ (CNN) Roy Moore's brother is defending the GOP Senate candidate "to the hilt" amid the escalating controversy over allegations of sexual misconduct against him, according to CNN correspondent Martin Savidge, who spoke to the brother on the phone. Jerry Moore firmly denied the allegations against his brother and drew an analogy between his situation and the persecution of Jesus Christ, Savidge reported Friday in an interview with CNN's John Berman. Savidge spoke to Jerry Moore on Friday morning, one day after an explosive Washinton Post report detailed allegations that the Republican Senate candidate from Alabama pursued sexual relationships with several teens when they were between the ages of 14 and 18 and he was in his thirties, including an alleged sexual encounter with the 14-year-old, who would not have been at the age of legal consent under Alabama law. Jerry Moore said, "he knows ... that the allegations against Roy Moore are not true, not true at all," Savidge reported. The younger Moore also said "he's very concerned about what the impact is going to be on their 91-year-old mother, hearing all of this, they worry about her age and health," Savidge said. Moore also claimed that the Democratic Party was behind what he called "false allegations," and that "these women are going to, as [Moore] put it, have to answer to God for these false allegations," Savidge said. Read More

– If the allegations against Roy Moore lead to a Democrat winning Alabama's US Senate race next month, it could "reshape Washington's political landscape," NBC News reports. The Republican majority in the Senate would go down to 51-49, which leaves Democrats a much more likely path to flipping things in 2018. To get control of the Senate, they'd need to keep all their vulnerable seats and add Arizona and Nevada, where NBC estimates they have at least a 50% chance of victory. And even before the 2018 elections, the GOP tax plan could be in trouble—the slimmer Republicans' margin of control in the Senate, the harder they have to work to get senators like Rand Paul, Bob Corker, and Susan Collins on board since they can only afford to lose one GOP vote. For now, it doesn't seem Moore—accused of molesting a 14-year-old when he was 32, among other things—is planning to withdraw so another Republican can run in his place; it's unclear whether he'd even be able to withdraw at this late date. Alabama's state auditor defended Moore Thursday by comparing his situation to that of Mary and Joseph, a Biblical couple with a big age difference who "became parents of Jesus." In the Washington Post, Aaron Blake calls Jim Zeigler's words "the worst defense" of Moore so far. If Moore did what he's accused of, it was illegal, hands down—not just "unusual" as Zeigler calls it. Blake notes that evangelical leaders are also slamming Zeigler's remarks. Another Jesus comparison: Roy Moore's brother says the politician is being persecuted like Christ was, CNN reports. Jerry Moore also said he's very concerned about the effect all this will have on their 91-year-old mother.

Image caption Baby Nargis was born on Monday (Photo: Plan International) A baby born in India has been declared the world's seven billionth person by child rights group Plan International. Baby Nargis was born at 07:25 local time (01:55GMT) in Mall village in India's Uttar Pradesh state. Plan International says Nargis has been chosen symbolically as it is not possible to know where exactly the seven billionth baby is born. The United Nations estimated that on Monday 31 October, the world's population would reach seven billion. However, the UN itself has decided not to identify a specific child as the seven billionth person. The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, told a news conference marking the occasion that the milestone was not about one newborn baby but about the entire "human family". He warned of rising public anger in the world's population and a loss of faith in governments and public institutions to do the right thing. "Our world is one of terrible contradictions," he said. "Plenty of food but one billion people go hungry. Lavish lifestyles for a few but poverty for too many others." He said he would take a message to the leaders of the G20 leading economies who are due to meet in Cannes later this week. "Think about our children, think about the future with vision and foresight." He said he would call for the world's poor not to be forgotten in a time of economic austerity and for women and young people to be given a proper voice in their future. In addition to baby Nargis in India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Cambodia have all identified seven billionth babies. 'Good luck' Every minute, 51 babies are born in India, 11 of them in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. Nargis was born to Vinita and Ajay Kumar on Monday morning in a small government-run hospital in Mall village, nearly 50km (31 miles) from the state capital, Lucknow, a Plan International official told the BBC. The daughter of a poor farmer, Nargis was chosen as the seventh billionth baby to focus attention on the ills of female foeticide and India's skewed sex ratio, the organisation said. Hundreds of thousands of female foetuses are aborted in India every year, even though sex-selective terminations and the use of ultrasound technology for foetal sex-determination are illegal there. Photos of baby Nargis were shown at a function attended by nearly 250 villagers at the hospital, the BBC's Ram Dutt Tripathi reports from Mall. Health officials presented the birth certificate to her father at the event. "We were praying all along for a daughter," Ajay Kumar said. "She is Lakshmi [Hindu goddess of wealth], she will bring us good luck," he said. A street play staged at the event on the importance of the girl child saw many moist eyes among the audiences, our correspondent says. The person chosen by the UN as the world's symbolic six billionth person, Adnan Mevic, is now 12 years old. He was photographed in hospital in 1999 with the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. His family are living in relatively poor conditions in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, and have expressed disappointment that since they were visited by Mr Annan, they have heard nothing more from the UN. It is thought that this could be one reason why the UN has decided not to name a seven billionth child. ||||| This article is over 7 years old Danica May Camacho, a girl born in Philippine capital Manila, is chosen by UN to symbolically mark global population milestone The world's seven billionth baby has been born in a packed government-run hospital in the Philippines. Weighing 2.5kg (5.5lb), Danica May Camacho was chosen by the United Nations to be one of several children around the world who will symbolically represent the global population milestone. She was delivered just before midnight on Sunday amid an explosion of press camera flashes at Manila's Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital. "She looks so lovely," her mother, Camille Dalura, whispered softly as she cradled her tiny newborn. "I can't believe she is the world's seven billionth." Danica's name means morning star. She is a second child for Camille Dalura and Florante Camacho. The parents and the baby were met by officials from the UN, which named 31 October Seven Billion Day, aiming to draw attention to the challenges of the world's growing population. The accuracy of the projection has been questioned, with some groups arguing that the figure is more likely to be reached next year. UN officials nevertheless presented the baby and her parents with a small cake as she lay on her mother's chest wearing a knitted red hat. The family also received a scholarship grant for Danica's education from wellwishers and some money to help them open a shop. Previous children picked out at birth by the UN to mark world population milestones have complained that the international body forgot about them later in life. Both 12-year-old Adnan Nevic of Bosnia Herzogovina, the sixth billionth baby, and Matej Gaspar from Croatia, who was number five billion, have complained that the UN chose them at birth then largely ignored them. "We saw Kofi Annan as almost like a godfather to him," Adnan's father, Jasminko, told the Guardian. Adnan said: "He held me up when I was two days old but since then we have heard nothing from them." The UN Population Fund hopes to raise awareness about reproductive health, women's rights and inequality through the campaign. Countries around the world have held celebrations to mark the occasion, including a song contest in Zambia and a concert in Vietnam. The Philippines has 94.9 million people, according to a UN report, and 10% of girls aged 15 to 19 have been pregnant. Enrique Ona, the country's health secretary, said the birth offered his country an opportunity to address population-related problems.

– The world’s 7 billionth baby has been born, and a number of infants are vying for the title. The UN has chosen Danica May Camacho—born in Manila, Philippines, just before midnight—as its symbolic No. 7 billion, the Guardian reports. UN officials offered Danica’s family a cake to celebrate, while other supporters gave the family a scholarship for her schooling. In India, kids' rights activists Plan International have chosen a girl named Nargis, born today in the country’s most populous state, to represent No. 7 billion. She was chosen to call attention to widespread, illegal sex-selective abortions of female fetuses, Plan International said. Some 250 villagers attended a hospital event celebrating her birth, which included a street play celebrating girls, the BBC reports. But the Guardian spoke to former milestone babies who say that once the hoopla passed, they felt discarded by the UN. "We saw Kofi Annan as almost like a godfather to him," says the father of 12-year-old Adnan Nevic of Bosnia Herzogovina, the sixth billionth baby. Says Adnan, "He held me up when I was two days old but since then we have heard nothing from them."

LONDON - MPs on Monday debated a petition to ban U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from Britain over remarks on Muslims, but while describing his comments as “crazy” and “offensive”, most said the ban would go against free speech. Members of parliament said Trump should be allowed into Britain where his views could be challenged, that a ban would give him more publicity or that it was not for Britain to get involved in U.S. affairs. Trump caused outrage last month with his comments that Muslims should be banned from entering the United States. He spoke after 14 people died in a shooting spree in California by two Muslims whom the FBI said had been radicalised. His comments prompted more than half a million Britons to sign a petition calling for him to be barred from entering the country, where he has business interests. The three-hour debate saw lawmakers from all sides criticise Trump’s comments. While it was not followed by a vote, many more lawmakers spoke against a ban than for it. “I want to see Donald Trump come to this country ... I want him to get a sense of the fury and the frustration with his xenophobic remarks,” said Gavin Robinson, a lawmaker from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party. Only interior minister Theresa May can issue an order banning entry into Britain and Prime Minister David Cameron has said while Trump’s comments were “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”, he does not back the idea of barring him. Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said the government did not comment on who it was considering for exclusion but said “a frank and open exchange of views” was the most effective way to influence Trump. “The U.S. remains our most important bilateral partner. It is in the UK’s interests that we engage all presidential candidates, Democratic and Republican, even though we may disagree profoundly on important issues,” he said. ‘NOT WITHIN 1,000 MILES’ “I believe it is for the American people to hold him to account. It is bad politics ... to intervene in the electoral processes of other countries,” said Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat. Some spoke passionately in favour of banning Trump however, saying he should not be treated differently from others who have been banned for similar views. “Just think what would happen in the current climate if he came ... and preached that message of divisive hate,” said Jack Dromey, an opposition Labour Party spokesman on home affairs. Slideshow (3 Images) “To have someone come to our shores who demonises all of the Muslim community would be fundamentally wrong and would undermine the safety and security of our citizens and that is not a risk I am prepared to take ... I don’t think Donald Trump should be allowed within a 1,000 miles of our shore.” Trump has threatened to cancel over 700 million pounds of planned investments in golf courses in Scotland if he is banned. Trump International Golf Links in Scotland said in a statement: “It is absurd that valuable parliamentary time is being wasted debating a matter raised as part of the American presidential election.” ||||| MPs are to debate calls for the US presidential candidate Donald Trump to be banned from the UK following his controversial comments about Muslims, after more than half a million people signed a petition. The government signalled last month that it would not refuse Trump entry after he was widely criticised for saying that Muslims should be banned from entering the US. However, the call for the sanction to be imposed on the businessman will now at least have a hearing in parliament after the House of Commons petitions committee announced on Tuesday that it was scheduling a session in Westminster Hall on 18 January. More than 560,000 people have signed the petition demanding the billionaire businessman be barred. Politicians will also discuss a separate petition opposing such a ban, even though it only gained about 40,000 signatures – well below the 100,000 threshold for triggering a debate. Trump, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination in the US, faced an international backlash last month after urging a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”. Woman behind petition to ban Donald Trump from UK ‘shocked’ by support Read more Justifying his comments, he claimed there were “places in London and other places that are so radicalised that police are afraid for their own lives”. There was no immediate response on Tuesday from Trump or his campaign to the news that the debate was to go ahead. The prime minister, David Cameron, has condemned the remarks as “divisive, stupid and wrong” but made clear he did not support banning Trump. The debate later this month will be led by the Labour MP Paul Flynn, a member of the committee. Its chairwoman, Helen Jones, said: “By scheduling a debate on these petitions, the committee is not expressing a view on whether or not the government should exclude Donald Trump from the UK. As with any decision to schedule a petition for debate, it simply means that the committee has decided that the subject should be debated. A debate will allow a range of views to be expressed.” ||||| For good reasons the Government does not routinely comment on individual immigration and exclusion decisions. The Home Secretary may exclude a non-European Economic Area national from the UK if she considers their presence in the UK to be non-conducive to the public good. The Home Secretary has said that coming to the UK is a privilege and not a right and she will continue to use the powers available to prevent from entering the UK those who seek to harm our society and who do not share our basic values. Exclusion powers are very serious and are not used lightly. The Home Secretary will use these powers when justified and based on all available evidence. The Prime Minister has made clear that he completely disagrees with Donald Trump’s remarks. The Home Secretary has said that Donald Trump’s remarks in relation to Muslims are divisive, unhelpful and wrong. The Government recognises the strength of feeling against the remarks and will continue to speak out against comments which have the potential to divide our communities, regardless of who makes them. We reject any attempts to create division and marginalisation amongst those we endeavour to protect. Home Office ||||| Image copyright Getty Images British MPs are set to debate a petition later (16:30 GMT) calling for a ban on Donald Trump from entering the country. You'll be able to follow the debate in video and text here. Who is Donald Trump? A billionaire New York property mogul and former star of the US Apprentice who is the surprise front runner in the race to be the next Republican candidate for the White House. He seems to have made a lot of Brits angry More than 570,000 people have signed an online petition calling for Donald J Trump to be banned from the UK, more than enough to trigger a debate in Parliament. Controversial comments Trump's supporters love his straight-talking style. The more taboos he breaks the higher he seems to go in the polls. He sparked outrage at the start of his campaign by branding Mexicans "criminals" and "rapists". He has also come in for flak from his opponents over comments about a female Fox News presenter and a disabled reporter. The final straw The UK petition was launched after Trump called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US until the authorities "can figure out" their attitudes. He also claimed London had become "so radicalised" the city's police force are "afraid for their own lives" and there are "no-go zones". Could Trump actually be banned from the UK? Image copyright PA Home Secretary Theresa May can - and does - prevent people from entering the UK because of things they have said. The Home Office says she does not use these powers lightly, only "if she considers their presence in the UK to be non-conducive to the public good" or if they are people who "seek to harm our society and who do not share our basic values". Who's on Britain's blacklist? Image copyright Getty Images Florida pastor Terry Jones, pictured, who gained notoriety for trying to organise a Koran-burning protest, white supremacist Don Black and Safwat Hegazy, a controversial Egyptian preacher, are among those to have been barred from Britain in recent years. What about politicians? Image copyright Getty Images Dutch MP Geert Wilders, pictured, who called the Koran a "fascist book" was banned from entering the UK in 2009 on security grounds. He overturned the ban on appeal and flew into Heathrow in a blaze of publicity. What Cameron thinks Image copyright AP In a rare intervention in US politics, Prime Minister David Cameron labelled Trump's comments "stupid and wrong" but said he did not support a ban, saying the tycoon would "unite us all against him" if he visited the UK. Could Monday's debate change Cameron's mind? Image caption MPs take part in an earlier Westminster Hall debate It's unlikely. The three-hour debate is not taking place in the Commons chamber - the place where British laws are made - but in a side chamber, Westminster Hall, and there will not be a vote at the end of it. A ban would be 'counterproductive' Paul Flynn, pictured, the veteran Labour MP who is proposing Monday's motion, says he does not want to see Trump banned from the UK as it would hand the Republican candidate a publicity coup. More than 40,000 people have signed a counter-petition, arguing that it would be "totally illogical" to ban Trump, which will also be debated by the MPs. "Let me take you by the hand..." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Brixton, in south London, would be on Flynn's itinerary Taking his cue from the folk song Streets of London, Paul Flynn says he would like to take Mr Trump by the hand and show him what Britain is like. He told BBC News: "I would invite him to show me where the no-go areas are in Britain and have a discussion about why in the UK we have fewer gun shot deaths per year than America has per day. Perhaps we can have a stroll down to Brixton to have a look at the racial harmony there." British lefties lecturing the Americans "If we are seen as a group of left-wingers opposing Trump it could have the reverse effect to the one the petitioners want," says Flynn. He says he wants to avoid interfering in US politics and will stress that country's proud tradition of free speech. So what's the point of the debate? Paul Flynn says he wants to give a voice to the petitioners' anger. There will be MPs who disagree with Mr Flynn, insisting a ban is necessary, and possibly some who will support his views. Salmond v Trump Image copyright Reuters The big question for many on Monday, is will Alex Salmond put in an appearance? The former SNP leader has had a long-running spat with Trump, who recently called him "an embarrassment to Scotland". Trump is proud of his Scottish ancestry but his investments in Aberdeenshire and ownership of the Turnberry golf resort have created controversy. He was stripped of his status as a business ambassador for Scotland by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon after his Muslim comments. Speaking on Sunday, Mr Salmond said he personally backed a ban, telling the BBC: "My view is that, yes, I would probably ban "The Donald" because it would do him some good. He wants to ban all Muslims from the US. I want to ban all Donald Trumps from Scotland." Image copyright AFP The last word? MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh will be speaking for the Scottish National Party in Monday's debate. But don't bet against Salmond having a say also.

– British lawmakers on Monday will stage an interesting debate: whether to bar Donald Trump from entering the country as a matter of principle. The move comes after more than 500,000 people in the UK signed a petition calling for the ban because of Trump's idea to temporarily ban Muslims from coming to the US. No vote will follow the debate, reports Reuters, making this more an airing of views. Interior minister Theresa May is the only one who can issue such a ban, and the Guardian reports that it doesn't look likely. Still, it should be lively. "What I will be doing today is asking that Theresa May exercise constancy in her approach to people who preach hatred," says Scottish National Party lawmaker Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. But Labour lawmaker Paul Flynn think it's misguided—not that he sounds like a Trump fan. "Sadly a ban would perversely help him in America, and that is where opinion matters," he says. "It would probably give him a halo of victimhood as a martyr and perversely that will attract more support for him." No tweets so far from Trump about Monday's debate, though he has previously threatened to yank $1 billion in investments in golf courses in Scotland if he is banned. The BBC has a Q&A on the controversy, and it's aimed squarely at UK readers, given the very first question: "Who is Donald Trump?"

The Pentagon's top lawyer said that policy makers must look to a time when the U.S. is no longer at war with al Qaeda and that taking on the remnants of the terrorist group would be a matter for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, not the military. The comments by Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon's general counsel, come as the Obama administration has begun an effort to clarify the rules and constraints on its counterterrorism operations, including such things as drone attacks. His views, while not constituting a declaration... ||||| Fight against terrorist group on course for Obama to stop using legal authority given by Congress to wage war, says lawyer The US is heading for a "tipping point" beyond which it should no longer pursue al-Qaida terrorists by military means, one of the Obama administration's most senior lawyers has said. Jeh Johnson suggested the group would become so degraded that a time would come when the legal authority given to the White House by Congress should no longer be used to justify waging the war that has been fought since 2001. Johnson said that when this happened, America had to "be able to say ... that our efforts should no longer be considered an armed conflict against al-Qaida and its affiliates". Instead, the responsibility for tackling al-Qaida should pass to the police and other law enforcement agencies. Johnson has been general counsel at the US defence department for the past four years and has given advice on every military operation that needs the approval of the president or defence secretary. In a speech presented tonight in the UK, Johnson was expected to set out the legal principles underpinning the conflict against al-Qaida and insisted they were rooted in domestic and international law. Congress had authorised the president to use "all necessary and appropriate force" against the nations, organisations and individuals responsible for the 9/11 attacks; the US supreme court had endorsed this in 2006 by ruling "our efforts against al-Qaida may be properly viewed as armed conflict". But Johnson also made clear these principles were not open-ended, and that the US government would need to respond when circumstances change. And though he said he could not predict when the conflict would draw to a close, he said the US must not be afraid to change its tactics. "I do believe that on the present course there will come a tipping point, a tipping point at which so many of the leaders and operatives of al-Qaida and its affiliates have been killed or captured, and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States, such that al-Qaida as we know it, the organisation that our Congress authorised the military to pursue in 2001, has been effectively destroyed. "At that point we must be able to say to ourselves that our efforts should no longer be considered an armed conflict against al-Qaida and its associated forces, rather a counter-terrorism effort against individuals who are the scattered remains of al-Qaida … for which the law enforcement and intelligence resources of our government are principally responsible." America's military assets would then be available in reserve, he said. The US could not "capture or kill every last terrorist who claims an affiliation with al-Qaida" and the enemy "did not include anyone solely in the category of activist, journalist, or propagandist". Washington's pursuit of suspected al-Qaida terrorists has been controversial, such as the use of UAVs – or drones – to launch attacks in countries such as Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. The administration has been criticised by human rights groups and US academics who say the tactic enrages local populations and causes civilian deaths. It is also legally dubious, they argue. A fortnight ago the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, claimed America had "decimated core al-Qaida" and that the group was "widely distributed, loosely knit and geographically dispersed". His remarks echoed those of Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, who is Barack Obama's nominee to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. She has been pilloried by Republicans for suggesting the attack in Benghazi, Libya, that led to the death of US ambassador Christopher Stephen was spontaneous rather than planned. Such characterisations will put Washington under greater pressure to review and justify the military campaign against al-Qaida, which has been virtually wiped out in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and now exists only in small, disorganised regional splinter groups. Speaking at the Oxford Union, Johnson insisted the US was applying conventional law to an unconventional enemy, and justified detaining prisoners indefinitely and using "targeted lethal force" – such as drones – to kill suspects. He conceded these techniques would be questionable "viewed in the context of law enforcement or criminal justice, where no person is sentenced to death or prison without an indictment, an arraignment, and a trial before an impartial judge and jury". But, he added: "Viewed within the context of conventional armed conflict, as they should be, capture, detention and lethal force are traditional practices as old as armies. Capture and detention by the military are part and parcel of armed conflict. We employ weapons of war against al-Qaida but in a manner consistent with the rule of law. We employ lethal force, but in a manner consistent with the law of war principles of proportionality, necessity and distinction." Johnson said that when the military conflict came to an end, those still in detention would not necessarily be released immediately. He said that after the end of the second world war, the US and British governments delayed the release of some Nazi prisoners of war. "We refuse to allow this enemy, with its contemptible tactics, to define the way in which we wage war," he said. "Our efforts remain grounded in the rule of law."

– Al-Qaeda may still view itself as America's No. 1 enemy, but the Pentagon has a different, ego-deflating assessment. The way things are going, the terror group soon won't qualify as an official adversary of the military, the Pentagon's top lawyer said in a speech at London's Oxford University last night, reports the Guardian. Two key points by Jeh Johnson, who, incidentally, is thought to be a top contender for attorney general when Eric Holder steps down in about a year: "I do believe that on the present course there will come a tipping point, a tipping point at which so many of the leaders and operatives of al-Qaeda and its affiliates have been killed or captured, and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States, such that al-Qaeda as we know it, the organization that our Congress authorized the military to pursue in 2001, has been effectively destroyed." "At that point we must be able to say to ourselves that our efforts should no longer be considered an armed conflict against al-Qaeda and its associated forces, rather a counter-terrorism effort against individuals who are the scattered remains of al-Qaeda … for which the law enforcement and intelligence resources of our government are principally responsible." The military would play a more limited role, stepping in when necessary. The speech is part of the administration's long-range efforts to clarify its counterterror rules, explains the Wall Street Journal, which susses out a tangible possibility: Remaining detainees at Gitmo are held under the 2001 Authority for the Use of Military Force against al-Qaeda. If that decree is no longer in effect a few years down the road, it presents an avenue for the release of prisoners and closure of the detention facility.

But that has not always been the case. In Colorado, the federal government has largely allowed the state-regulated medical-marijuana industry to operate, and supporters said they hoped the government would take a similar laissez-faire stance as the new laws took effect. “I don’t see D.E.A. agents sweeping into Colorado and Washington and enforcing drug laws that were previously enforced by local agencies,” said Norm Stamper, a former Seattle police chief who campaigned for the Washington measure despite a personal preference for dry martinis over pot brownies. “It would be extremely poor politics. The will of the people has been expressed.” Although elected officials, parents’ groups and top law enforcement figures opposed the measures, they nevertheless won support with voters who saw little harm with regulating marijuana similarly to the way alcohol is. Colorado’s marijuana law passed with 54 percent support, and Washington’s with 55 percent. Colorado and Washington are among 18 states with medical marijuana laws, but they become the first in the nation to approve the use for recreational purposes. A similar measure in Oregon failed on Tuesday. As soon as the laws are certified, it will be legal under Colorado and Washington law for adults 21 years and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. In Colorado, people will be able to grow as many as six plants. In Washington, users will have to buy their marijuana from state-licensed providers. 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 You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to 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. “They can’t arrest you for it, and they can’t seize it,” Mr. Stamper said. “It’s yours.” The measures will also set up regulations for industrial hemp, a fibrous plant that contains traces of the main psychoactive chemical in marijuana. The laws do not allow people to light up in public, and cities and counties will be able to block marijuana retailers, in much the same way that blue laws have restricted alcohol sales for decades. And it remains illegal to drive a motor vehicle while high on the drug. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Supporters say the laws will end thousands of small-scale drug arrests while freeing law enforcement to focus on larger crimes. They estimate that taxing marijuana will bring in millions of dollars of new revenue for governments, and will save court systems and police departments additional millions. Opponents warned that the law — despite its 21-year age minimum — would set Colorado and Washington on a collision course with the federal government and encourage teenagers to use marijuana. It is still unclear how much will change. The streets here in Denver and across Colorado are already lined with shops, their windows decorated with green crosses and pot leaves, advertising all-natural plant treatments and herbal health aids. “Coloradans are accustomed to having this stuff above ground, supervised by state authorities and having it regulated,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which supported legalization. To advocates, the real power of the measures’ passage may be that they signal a change in the way voters think about drugs and drug policy in the United States. Brian Vicente, a leading campaigner for the Colorado initiative, summed it up this way: “It’s a historic one, man.” ||||| DENVER—Now that measures legalizing some recreational marijuana for adults use have won approval in Colorado and Washington, state regulators and lawmakers must decide how to navigate federal opposition as they implement voters' desires. The measures flout federal law, under which marijuana sales and possession remain illegal. Oregon voters Tuesday rejected a similar pot-legalization measure. "The... ||||| Colorado officials and marijuana advocates on Wednesday looked toward an imminent confrontation with the federal government one day after voters in the state endorsed a measure to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Gov. John Hickenlooper said he is trying to speak soon with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to learn how the Justice Department will respond to the legalization measure’s passage. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said, despite his opposition to legalization, he would work with the state legislature to implement the new law — which he doubted the federal government would allow to stand. Proponents of Amendment 64, the measure voters approved with nearly 55 percent support on Tuesday, said they were optimistic the federal government would “respect the will of Colorado voters.” And the Colorado U.S. attorney — the top federal prosecutor in the state — remained largely mum on how the conflict would play out. In a statement, local U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Jeff Dorschner reiterated that the Justice Department’s intent to enforce the federal law that makes all marijuana possession or sales a crime “remains unchanged.” “My sense is that it is unlikely the federal government is going to allow states one by one to unilaterally decriminalize marijuana,” Hickenlooper said, adding, though, “You can’t argue with the will of the voters.” What lies ahead for Colorado — after it and Washington on Tuesday became the first states in the nation to buck federal law by legalizing marijuana for any purpose — is largely unknown territory. No state since the beginning of marijuana prohibition has rolled back restrictions on cannabis to the extent Colorado now has. Amendment 64 allows people 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants in their homes. The law won’t take effect, though, until Hickenlooper issues a proclamation certifying the vote. That will likely take at least a month. By law, it doesn’t have to happen until Jan. 5. Until then, all non-medical marijuana possession and cultivation in Colorado remain a crime. In other words, at least for a few more weeks, the time to puff has not yet come to pass. Amendment 64 also creates a system in which marijuana could be sold at specially regulated retail stores — which would be separate from medical-marijuana dispensaries. The details of that system must still be worked out by the state legislature and the Department of Revenue. The first recreational marijuana stores would likely not open until 2014, said Brian Vicente, one of Amendment 64’s proponents. Before that happens, the federal government might choose to intervene by, among other options, filing a lawsuit arguing that the law’s retail sales section violates the U.S. Constitution because it frustrates federal drug laws. “Coloradans should not expect to see successful legal challenges to the ability of the federal government to enforce its marijuana laws in Colorado,” Suthers wrote in a statement. “Accordingly, I call upon the United States Department of Justice to make known its intentions regarding prosecution of activities sanctioned by Amendment 64.” The measure’s supporters said they are optimistic the federal government will allow the law to stand, and they heralded their victory Tuesday as the first step in a nationwide push to end marijuana prohibition. “Things are moving,” Mason Tvert, one of the campaign’s chief proponents, said. “They’re moving quickly. We think the writing is on the wall.” Amendment 64 — which polls showed hovering at around 50 percent support heading into Election Day — won with what even supporters said was a surprising amount of cushion. With roughly 1.28 million votes in its favor, it drew more support than President Barack Obama did in winning Colorado. It passed in more counties than it lost — 33 to 31. It won in seven counties that voted for Republican Mitt Romney and lost in only one — Conejos — that voted for Obama. “We are at the tipping point on marijuana policy,” Vicente said. “This is an area where our voters and our citizens are really leading.” Drug-abuse prevention professionals, though, said Wednesday that Colorado is going down a dangerous path. They predicted marijuana legalization would increase pot use, especially among young people, and lead to higher rates of drugged driving and substance abuse. “We need to let people know it is not OK for youths to use marijuana,” said Christian Thurstone, a substance-abuse treatment doctor at Denver Health medical center. “We need them to realize it’s not OK for young people to drive under the influence of marijuana.” John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold

– Colorado and Washington state are now chill with citizens having a little pot—but the drug is still very much illegal in Uncle Sam's eyes, leaving states to chart a difficult path. When it comes to medical marijuana, the feds have tended to crack down on large operations and leave small, personal growers alone; that track record may offer a model for enforcement under the new laws. For its part, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency says its stance "remains unchanged," the New York Times notes. But “I don’t see DEA agents sweeping in ... and enforcing drug laws that were previously enforced by local agencies,” says a former Seattle police chief. "It would be extremely poor politics. The will of the people has been expressed.” The new law could bring in $180 million in taxes and savings over three years, says a Colorado group: "We want to be a model for the rest of the country on how to do this right." Washington advocates similarly say pot shops could bring in $500 million to $600 million in taxes annually. But thorny issues remain, including how to establish bank accounts for a business that's federally banned, the Wall Street Journal notes. "This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through," says Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who the Denver Post reports has been in touch with US Attorney General Eric Holder regarding federal policy. "That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don't break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly."

Judge T.S. Ellis has expressed skepticism about the scope of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. “What we don’t want in this country is . . . anyone with unfettered power,” Judge Ellis, who is to preside over the trial of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, told prosecutor Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben May 4. “So it’s unlikely you’re going to persuade me that the special prosecutor has unlimited powers.” Judge Ellis is right to be skeptical. Mr. Mueller’s investigation has crossed a constitutional... ||||| AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Deep State! Witch Hunt! Swamp! NO COLLUSION! Donald Trump’s Twitter harangues against Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election have become so common that we are inured to them. Likewise, the denunciations of Mueller by Rudy Giuliani, Devin Nunes, and Sean Hannity can generally be ignored, even when they deliver them in lower-case letters. But when a noted scholar of constitutional law raises similar, though far more rational, arguments, attention must be paid. Steven Calabresi is chairman of the board of the Federalist Society and the Clayton J. and Henry R. Barber Professor of Law at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law—and, we should add, a friend and colleague of ours.He recently published an op-ed in The Hill, purporting to explain why President Trump has behaved lawfully by demanding a Justice Department investigation of so-called FBI spying, and why Mueller’s own investigation is “unconstitutional.” He is half right, but it is the lesser half. Calabresi writes: Many liberals and critics are under the mistaken belief that President Trump is violating the rule of law and civil liberties ... by ordering the Justice Department’s Inspector General to investigate whether or not the FBI spied on his 2016 presidential campaign. In fact, the president is behaving totally lawfully. This is sleight of hand. Perhaps we missed it, but we know of no serious critic who claims that Trump lacks the legal authority to give orders to the Department of Justice. Rather, the criticism is that he has disregarded the long-standing convention of DOJ independence. A presidential order can be completely lawful in a formal sense, while still endangering “the rule of law and civil liberties.” Calabresi’s observation about Trump’s power is therefore accurate, but nonetheless a non-sequitur. Calabresi’s second point, however, is just wrong. He argues that Mueller’s investigation is unconstitutional because he was “never nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.” He reaches this conclusion by claiming that Mueller is “acting like a U.S. attorney” rather than an assistant and is therefore “a principal officer” who must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. But “acting like” a principal officer has no constitutional meaning and, in any case, Calabresi’s only support for this position is that Mueller “is more powerful and famous than are any of the 96 U.S. attorneys.” The factual claim regarding power is dubious, especially in light of Mueller’s referral of the Cohen investigation to the Southern District of New York. Moreover, there is no requirement that prosecutors who conduct national investigations be less “powerful” than individual U.S. attorneys. Fame, needless to say, is constitutionally irrelevant. Calabresi makes his point at somewhat greater length in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which he cites Justice Rehnquist’s majority opinion in Morrison v. Olson. That case, however, upheld the authority of a special counsel who had much broader powers than Mueller’s. Calabresi quotes Rehnquist as writing “that independent counsel Alexia Morrison qualified as an ‘inferior officer,’ not subject to the appointment process, because her office was ‘limited in jurisdiction’ to ‘certain federal officials suspected of certain serious federal crimes.’” Mueller is different, according to Calabresi, because he “is investigating a large number of people and has already charged defendants with many different kinds of crimes.” As it happens, that is an apt description of many investigations under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, which was upheld 8-1 by the Rehnquist Court in Morrison. It is axiomatic that a prosecutor does not need to ignore crimes that are discovered in the course of a valid investigation. And of course, Mueller’s subsequent conduct, even if it has been too expansive, would not retroactively invalidate his initial appointment. The very most that can be said, therefore, is that some of Mueller’s indictments might be vulnerable to challenge, but not that his very position violates the Constitution. Calabresi’s reading of the Constitution’s text is strained and unprecedented. Moreover, text is not the only source of constitutional meaning. In Calabresi’s own leading work on constitutional theory, he writes that “a foundational principle of law is that to some degree what the law is on the books is determined by what it actually is in practice.” (The Unitary Executive, p. 5.) There have been special prosecutors, not confirmed by the Senate, since 1875. They have repeatedly exposed corruption in the executive branch, most notably Richard Nixon’s conspiracy to obstruct justice. The institution is part of the reason for the success of the American regime. A proposal to radically weaken it is far from “conservative.” It is just what Edmund Burke hated about the French Revolution: Calabresi proposes to tear down well-functioning traditions on the basis of an abstract and untested theory. Finally, Calabresi asserts that “when an official uses government power in an unconstitutional way, anything that results from it is subject to the exclusionary rule and is not admissible in court,” evidently invalidating virtually all of Mueller’s work, including his referral of Cohen to the SDNY, as the “fruit of the poisonous tree.” This far exceeds any existing interpretation of the various exclusionary rules, which have been repeatedly narrowed by the Rehnquist and Roberts courts. In any event, an overly expansive investigation by Mueller would still be within the authority of the DOJ, and therefore not unconstitutional. We are always enlightened by Steven Calabresi’s scholarly work, which we very much admire. But he is wrong about the Mueller investigation. ||||| Replying to @realDonaldTrump Which Democrats are those? Could you please list the Democrats that are conducting the "Witch Hunt", which, by the way, has caught how many witches so far? Please list the Dems, America would like to know! History will remember the damage the trumps have done to America. #Mudd ||||| Trump: 'I have the absolute right to pardon myself' 8:40 AM ET Tue, 5 June 2018 | 01:00 President Donald Trump said Monday he has "the absolute right" to pardon himself — but added that he has "done nothing wrong." The tweet followed The New York Times' publication of a confidential letter over the weekend, in which Trump's lawyers argued to special counsel Robert Mueller that the president's broad powers mean he could not have obstructed justice. The 20-page letter also suggested that the president even wields the constitutional ability to exercise the pardon power in matters related to the special counsel's probe of the links between the Trump campaign and Russia. The assertion that a U.S. president holds an "absolute" power to pardon himself was endorsed on Sunday by Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a current member of Trump's legal team. Read more: Trump lays out two rationales for pardoning himself in the Mueller probe In an ABC News interview, Giuliani said Trump "probably does" have the power to pardon himself, though "he has no intention" of doing so. In word and action, Trump's latest uses of the pardon power could hold implications for how the president plans to act as the Russia probe, and the numerous lawsuits it has spawned, move forward. Trump exercised his power to pardon last week for a sixth time, for conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, who was convicted of making an illegal campaign contribution. In a tweet, Trump said D'Souza "was treated very unfairly by our government!" Later that day, Trump told reporters he was considering pardoning celebrity lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and was considering commuting the sentence of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois. He said both also had been treated "unfairly." Stewart was convicted in 2004 and sentenced to five months for a conviction related to a stock-selling scheme. Blagojevich, a Democrat, was sentenced in 2011 to 14 years in prison on corruption convictions, including trying to trade the Senate seat that became vacant when President Barack Obama went to the White House. Stewart and Blagojevich had ties to Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice" reality TV show. But Trump's latest tweets suggest he may be considering pardons for the very people who could be offering information about him to federal investigators. In just over a year, the special counsel has issued more than a dozen indictments, against Russians accused of working to affect the 2016 election as well as former Trump campaign officials, such as former campaign chief Paul Manafort. Mueller's team has also secured guilty pleas from Trump's first national security advisor, Michael Flynn, and Manafort's longtime associate, Rick Gates, among others. Both men have agreed to fully cooperate with the probe. No president has ever pardoned themselves. But a Justice Department memorandum from 1974 — shortly before the resignation of President Richard Nixon — asserted that the president did not possess such a power. "Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself," Mary Lawton, former acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, said in the memorandum. Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor who runs a commutations clinic at the University of St. Thomas, said the most controversial legal question is not the pardon itself, but what comes after. "He can issue himself a pardon warrant. There is nothing to stop him from doing so," Osler said. "The question is what happens next. It could be that it could not be challenged until a prosecutor presented a charge against him, and he relied on the pardon as a defense." Trump attacked the legal legitimacy of the special counsel in a follow-up tweet. Mueller's team, which was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in May 2017, is "totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL," Trump said. The president maintained in both tweets that he has done "nothing wrong." Numerous Trump campaign associates and other individuals have been interviewed as part of Mueller's investigation. While Trump has previously said he would like to participate in an interview, the letter argues that the special counsel must meet a high standard to prove that only the president himself could provide the information they seek. The special counsel is also looking into whether an obstruction of justice occurred as part of the investigations into Russian meddling and possible collusion with the Trump campaign. But Trump's lawyers contend in the letter that the commander in chief "could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself, and that he could, if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired." A spokesman for the special counsel declined to comment on Trump's tweets. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. --CNBC's Tucker Higgins contributed to this report.

– President Trump kicked off his Monday morning with a series of tweets about tariffs, the economy, and the "witch hunt" against him. The two receiving this most attention: This: "The appointment of the Special Councel [sic] is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong!" And this: "As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!" Regarding the constitutionality of the Mueller probe, the American Prospect tackled that very subject in a May 30 piece, detailing at length why "the special counsel’s work is firmly grounded in precedent." It's in part a counter-opinion to a May 13 Wall Street Journal op-ed written by Federalist Society chair Steven Calabresi that asserted the probe "crosses the legal line." As for the issue of whether Trump could pardon himself, it was a hot topic this weekend following a NYT report on a 20-page letter written by Trump's lawyers that touched on the subject; Rudy Giuliani addressed it too. CNBC chimes in, citing a Justice Department memo written in advance of President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation, the first line of which reads, "Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself."

Story highlights A suicide bomber targeted a NATO base, an official says At least 9 people are killed and 12 wounded in the explosion, the official says Another attack of "some significance" reported near Pakistani border Food at a NATO base appears to have been contaminated, ISAF says Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned a suicide bombing Monday at a military airfield, the latest incident in a spike in violence after the burning of Qurans by NATO troops last week. At least nine people were killed and 12 wounded in the early-morning explosion near the front gate of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force base at Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, according to Gen. Abdulla Hazim Stanikzai, the provincial police chief. There were no NATO casualties. The Taliban insurgency said the attack was in retaliation for the Quran burning and said it hoped the attacks will continue "with the anger of the public." Another attack of "some significance" was reported later Monday in Naranghar province, near the Pakistani border, said Lt. Cmdr. James Williams, an ISAF spokesman. A statement from the Taliban said its fighters also attacked U.S. troops and border police in southern Naranghar on Monday evening, claiming to have inflicted a dozen deaths on the U.S. and Afghan force while losing five of their own. But Williams said that while some insurgent casualties had been reported, there were no deaths among allied troops. The Qurans that were burned were among religious materials seized from a detainee facility at Bagram Airfield last week. U.S. President Barack Obama apologized to Karzai last week, calling the burning an inadvertent error. In a statement issued on the bombing Monday, Karzai condemned the "inhuman and un-Islamic" act and urged that "the ruthless enemy would earn nothing but growing public hatred and punishment before Allah, the Almighty." JUST WATCHED 9 killed by suicide bomb in Afghanistan Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 9 killed by suicide bomb in Afghanistan 02:13 JUST WATCHED Quran burning protests escalate Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Quran burning protests escalate 02:51 JUST WATCHED Clinton backs Obama's Quran apology Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Clinton backs Obama's Quran apology 02:34 JUST WATCHED Sensitivity training after Quran burning Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Sensitivity training after Quran burning 03:29 Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said insurgents tried to attack the ISAF installation and failed, instead taking more innocent lives. The Taliban also claimed Monday to be behind the poisoning of food at a dining facility at Forward Operating Base Torkham, near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It too was a retaliatory attack, the group said. ISAF confirmed that food at the base appeared to have been contaminated over the weekend, though it was unclear whether it was deliberate. "Nobody got sick. A dining facility worker came to his leaders at the FOB and said that something had been poisoned," said Maj. David Eastburn, an ISAF spokesman. "The dining facility was shut down, and we brought in environmental health, who found traces of chlorine bleach in the coffee and fruit. Soldiers are now eating pre-prepared rations, and no one was affected. There is a full investigation that is narrowing down who was responsible." Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman in Kabul, said it's not clear whether the incident was a deliberate attempt to poison troops or "was just inadvertent, perhaps using more Clorox in the cleaning process than they should have." The Taliban has frequently exaggerated its claims or claimed responsibility for attacks that later turned out to be the work of another group. Even so, Monday's bombing and news of the contaminated food come on the heels of a week of violent protests over the Quran burning. The violence has left at least 39 people dead, including four American soldiers, and hundreds more wounded. In northern Kunduz province over the weekend, protesters attacked a police chief's office and a U.S. military base, authorities said. Some threw hand grenades at the base, known as Combat Outpost Fortitude, with resulting blasts wounding seven U.S. personnel believed to be Special Forces members, they said. Demonstrations outside the United Nations office in Kunduz on Saturday left four civilians dead and prompted the U.N. mission there to say Monday that it is temporarily relocating its international staff. Two U.S. soldiers were gunned down last week at a base in eastern Afghanistan by a man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform. Allen pulled military advisers from Afghan ministries after Saturday's shooting deaths of two other U.S. officers inside the heavily secure Ministry of Interior. Authorities are searching for the suspect, identified by Afghan police as a junior officer in the ministry's intelligence department. The suspect had been fired by the Interior Ministry but rejoined the intelligence services as a driver a couple of months ago, a senior Afghan counterterrorism official said Monday. "We do not know how he was allowed into the office, as the command and control center requires a password for access," said the official, who is not authorized to speak to the media about the topic. "There is something fishy there." The official said he believed that the gunman used a silencer on his weapon, as no one heard the gunshots. He said he doubts that an angry exchange led to the shooting, because the "way he entered was not accidental." Kirby said it's not clear whether the shooting was linked the the Quran burning. "We don't know what the motivation was behind the murders, and we don't know all the facts surrounding how this individual got into this space and frankly was able to get out as quickly and apparently as easily as he did," Kirby said Monday. Allen has told his commanders he will not authorize the return of personnel to Afghan ministries until new security measures are in place and working, according to an official who has access to the latest intelligence and is involved in administration discussions but declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the situation. The religious materials, including Qurans, were removed from a detainee center library at Bagram Airfield because they had "extremist inscriptions" on them and there was "an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications," a military official said. The ensuing attacks have put pressure on already strained U.S.-Afghan relations at a time when the United States is working to reduce troop levels and transition security as part of its plan to withdraw by 2014. Pentagon officials on Monday acknowledged the significance of the attacks but denied they are affecting the U.S. or NATO mission there. "These events, they're troubling. They're worrisome. They've gotten everybody's attention," Kirby said. "Yes, tension is high here in Kabul right now, but across the country at large, the mission continues, and we're seeing the protest activity decline." The number of protests in Afghanistan has gone from 24 on Saturday to three on Monday, only two of which were because of the Quran burning, Kirby said. ||||| A suicide car bomber has struck at the gates of Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, killing nine people in an attack insurgents said was revenge for U.S. troops burning Qurans. The early Monday explosion comes after six days of deadly protests in Afghanistan over the disposal of Qurans and other Islamic texts in a burn pit last week at a U.S. military base north of the capital. American officials have called the incident a mistake and issued a series of apologies. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has urged calm, saying that Afghans should not let the insurgents capitalize on their indignation to spark violence. Monday's attack appeared to be a sign that the Taliban are seizing the opportunity to do just that. The bomber drove up to the gates of the airport _ which serves both civilian and international military aircraft _ shortly after dawn and detonated his explosives in a "very strong" blast, said Nangarhar provincial police spokesman Hazrad Mohammad. Among the dead were six civilians, two airport guards and one soldier, Mohammad said. Another six people were wounded, he said. An AP photographer saw at least four destroyed cars at the gates of the airport. NATO forces spokesman Capt. Justin Brockhoff said that no international forces were killed in the early morning attack and that the installation was not breached by the blast. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying a suicide car bomber had driven up to the airport gate and detonated his explosives as international forces were changing from night to morning guard duty. "This attack is revenge against those soldiers who burned our Quran," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in an email. More than 30 people have been killed in protests and related attacks since the incident came to light this past Tuesday, including four U.S. soldiers. On Sunday, demonstrators hurled grenades at a small U.S. base in northern Afghanistan and the ensuing gun battle left two Afghans dead and seven NATO troops injured. Still, the top U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan said Sunday that the violence would not change Washington's course. "Tensions are running very high here, and I think we need to let things calm down, return to a more normal atmosphere, and then get on with business," Ambassador Ryan Crocker told CNN. In the most high-profile attack, two military advisers were found dead in their office at the Interior Ministry in the heart of the capital with shots to the back of their heads. The slayings inside one of the city's most heavily guarded buildings raised doubts about safety as coalition troops continue their withdrawal. The incident prompted NATO, Britain and France to recall hundreds of international advisers from all Afghan ministries in the capital. The advisers are key to helping improve governance and preparing the country's security forces to take on more responsibility. A manhunt was under way for the main suspect in the shooting _ an Afghan man who worked as a driver for an office on the same floor as the advisers who were killed, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said. He did not provide further details about the suspect or his possible motive. The Taliban claimed that the shooter was one of their sympathizers and that an accomplice had helped him get into the compound to kill the Americans in retaliation for the Quran burnings.

– At least nine people were killed and 12 injured when a suicide car bomber struck an airport in eastern Afghanistan this morning. The blast killed six civilians, two airport guards, and an Afghan soldier at Jalalabad airport, which is used for both civilian and military flights, the AP reports. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it revenge for the burning of Korans at a US base last week. At least 39 people, including four US troops, have been killed in protests over the Korans. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for another, less deadly, attack, CNN reports. The group claimed it was responsible for the poisoning of food at a military base near the Pakistan border. A NATO spokesman says contaminated food was found at Forward Operating Base Torkham after a tip-off, but nobody got sick. "The dining facility was shut down and we brought in environmental health, who found traces of chlorine bleach in the coffee and fruit," he says. "Soldiers are now eating pre-prepared rations and no one was affected. There is a full investigation that is narrowing down who was responsible."

Mama mia! An Italian tourist got to add a night in jail to his Big Apple itinerary after he racked up a $208 bill at Smith and Wollensky without having a wallet to pay the bill. Graziano Graziussi, 43, said he begged workers to let him leave an iPhone as collateral while he got money from the apartment where he was staying — but they instead called cops, who were equally unsympathetic. “I found it completely unreasonable to call the police when I was coming up with possible solutions,” he told The Post. “I wasn’t going to run away. I was there, I had just forgotten my wallet. “ Cops asked Graziussi if he could have someone deliver wallet or recite his credit-card number for the restaurant to run — but he could not and was taken into custody, law enforcement sources said. A judge released Graziussi the next morning, on the promise he’d pay up. “I don’t think they should have arrested me in the first place,” the busted steak lover said. “I wanted to pay the check.” A rep for Smith & Wollensky’s management company declined comment. A manager and bartender at the restaurant last night said it’s standard practice to call cops when a customer can’t pay. “If someone doesn’t want to pay the bill then yes, I will call the police,” the manager said. “That’s the best way to handle that type of situation.” ||||| "You never know," said one customer, who declined to give his name. "I've got my own business, and I give people the benefit of the doubt. They probably should have given him a time scale. If he didn't come back in an hour, they'd call the cops."

– An Italian lawyer spent Monday night in a New York City jail because he didn't have his wallet when his $208 bill arrived at a swanky steak restaurant. Both the New York Post ("Mama Mia!") and the Daily News ("Crime Rib") love the tale. Graziano Graziussi says he offered to leave his iPhone as collateral and suggested the restaurant send a bus boy with him to retrieve his money, but the staff at Smith & Wollensky—and soon the NYPD—weren't having it. “I found it completely unreasonable to call the police when I was coming up with possible solutions,” he tells the Post. “I wasn’t going to run away. I was there, I had just forgotten my wallet." A judge released him the next morning and dismissed the dine-and-dash charges after he promised to pay up next week, reports the Honest Cooking blog.

The U.S. Secret Service plans to raise the height of the White House security fence by 5 feet and add a new concrete foundation to reduce the risk of fence-jumpers, according to a copy of an agency report obtained by the News4 I-Team. (Published Wednesday, April 27, 2016) The U.S. Secret Service plans to raise the height of the White House security fence by 5 feet and add a new concrete foundation to reduce the risk of fence-jumpers, according to a copy of an agency report obtained by the News4 I-Team. The agency, along with the National Park Service, said it intends to begin building a “taller, stronger” fence to protect the White House grounds by 2018. Details of the plan were included in an audio recording of a briefing made by federal officials, which was released to the I-Team Wednesday. The same briefing is expected to be presented May 5 at a meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission, which must first approve any changes to White House fencing. “The current fence simply is not adequate for a modern era. We’ve said that before. It is becoming more and more acutely clear that that is in fact the case,” Secret Service official Tom Dougherty said in the briefing to federal officials. “(The fence) is entirely scale-able, depending upon the circumstances. And we have now a society that tends to want to jump over the fence and onto the 18 acres,” Daugherty said in the briefing. According to the Secret Service briefing, the agency’s plans would raise the current 6-foot-tall fence to 11 feet. A new concrete “footing” and “foundation” for the fence are also planned. Secret Service and National Park Service plans for the new fence would also include “anti-climb features” to deter fence jumpers. Small spikes, which officials call “pencil points,” were added to the current fence in 2015 after a series of jumpers leapt the fence on to White House grounds. The plans for the new White House fence would include 1¾-inch pickets and taller gates near entrances to the grounds. U.S. House and Senate leaders were briefed by the Secret Service on the possible fence changes in mid-April, News4 learned. The National Park Service is also participating in the planning for the fence changes. “There are still several additional steps before construction could begin on a new fence, and a timeline is not concrete,” the agency said in a statement. ||||| Story highlights The new design features a fence that is 11 feet and seven inches tall The statement did not say how much the new fence would cost Washington (CNN) The U.S. Secret Service is proposing a "taller and stronger" White House fence following an increasing number of people attempting to breach the security encircling the executive mansion. The proposed new design of the fence incorporates "anti-climb features" and "intrusion detection technology," a Secret Service spokeswoman said in a statement. The new design features a fence that is 11 feet and seven inches tall. The statement did not say how much the new fence would cost. The Secret Service is awaiting the approval of the National Planning Commission for moving ahead with the proposal, and said their goal is for the project to be green-lit by 2018. ||||| Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpStone: 'I’ve never had any discussion' with Trump about a pardon White House: Trump will move forward on wall 'with or without' Dems Pelosi after Stone indictment: 'What does Putin have on the president'? MORE on Thursday seized upon news that the White House would be raising the height of its fence, to promote his plan to build a wall along the southern border. “President Obama understands that you build strong, tall, beautiful walls to keep people out who don't belong,” he wrote in a Facebook post, sharing an NBC Washington article on the Secret Service’s plans. “People who get permission can enter the White House LEGALLY!” ADVERTISEMENT The move by the Secret Service is in response to a series of fence-jumpings in the past year. One man who was carrying a knife made it inside the building before being stopped by officers. Trump’s signature policy proposal is to build a wall along the southern border to keep out illegal immigrants. ||||| ... fit of our whole beautiful, wonderful Nation. Many disagree, but I really feel that working with Democrats and Republicans, we can make a truly GREAT and SECURE deal happen for everyone. This is an opportunity for all parties to work together for the bene

– If you build it, they won't come. That's what the Secret Service is hoping its new plan to raise the White House fence by 5 feet will mean, the latest effort, after a lot of red tape, to stop people from trying to jump it, NBC Washington reports. Per an agency report and a Secret Service statement cited by CNN, anticipated construction on the "taller, stronger" fence would begin in 2018, lengthening the fence from 6 feet to 11 feet 7 inches and adding a new concrete "footing" and "foundation," as well as other "anti-climb features" and "intrusion detection technology." "The current fence simply is not adequate for a modern era," a Secret Service official said in the recorded brief. "[We] have now a society that tends to want to jump over the fence and onto the 18 acres." Donald Trump was one of the first to react to the news, the Hill reports. The "presumptive" GOP nominee put up a Facebook post that read: "President Obama understands that you build strong, tall, beautiful walls to keep people out who don't belong. People who get permission can enter the White House LEGALLY!" (There've been quite a few fence-jumpers over the past few years.)

Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Jan. 1, 2015, 11:43 PM GMT / Updated Jan. 2, 2015, 4:40 PM GMT Two men were arrested after one of them allegedly shot two West Virginia police officers during a traffic stop in Lewisburg Thursday — and then were found to be transporting two dead bodies in their vehicle, authorities said. The suspects are reportedly a father and son from Texas, with the father being the shooter, according to NBC affiliate WVVA. They were identified as Edward Campbell, 54, and Eric Campbell, 21, according to WSAZ. The Lewisburg police officers were wounded and expected to survive, West Virginia State Police said. The officers were shot after they pulled over a sport-utility vehicle with stolen license plates at 4 p.m. on Interstate 64, and a red Chevrolet pickup truck that was following that car pulled over as well, police said. Edward Campbell, the driver of the pickup, pulled out a handgun and shot both officers, police said. Donna Hinkle, director of administration at the Greenbrier County 911 Center, told NBC News that one was shot in the ribs but was wearing a bulletproof vest, and the other was grazed. One of the officers returned fire and wounded the driver of the SUV, Eric Campbell, in the leg. He drove off and tried to hide in a wooded area behind a guardrail, but surrendered about 90 minutes later, state police said. His father ran into the woods but was soon apprehended, police said. After the exchange of gunfire, police found two "recently deceased" bodies in the bed of the pickup truck, hidden under a mattress. The sheriff in Granville County, North Carolina told NBC affiliate WNCN that the bodies were those of Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife Dora, 62. The Faulkners were at their Oak Hill home when two men entered around 7 a.m. Thursday, according to Sheriff Brindell B. Wilkins Jr. The men reportedly set the couples house on fire and then stole their red Chevy pickup truck. It was unclear at what point the Faulkners were killed or how, and authorities did not have a potential motive yet for the killings. Both were arrested for malicious assault and attempted murder of a police officer. The shot officers were identified as Lt. Jeromy Dove and Patrolman Nicholas Sams with the Lewisburg Police. According to a news release, "they were taken to Greenbrier Valley Medical Center and are in good condition." ||||| LEWISBURG, W.Va. (AP) — Two West Virginia police officers were injured in a New Year's Day shootout after a traffic stop involving a stolen SUV and a truck with two dead bodies inside, authorities said. The two Lewisburg officers pulled over an SUV around 4 p.m. Thursday on a highway outside of the city, Lt. Michael Baylous of the West Virginia State Police said in a press release. The SUV had a North Carolina license plate that showed it had been stolen. During the stop, a truck pulled over in the area. As the officers were conducting the stop, the driver of the truck shot at them with a handgun, wounding both officers, Baylous said. One officer returned fire, wounding the suspect in the leg. Baylous said the driver of the SUV fled the scene and hid but later turned himself in without incident. The driver of the truck also fled and was eventually taken into custody by the Greenbrier County Sheriff's Department, he said. The suspects' identities have not yet been verified but they claim to be father and son, Baylous said. During a search, authorities found two recently deceased bodies under a mattress in the bed of the truck, according to the news release. State Police did not immediately identify the victims, but North Carolina's Granville County Sheriff Brindell B. Wilkins Jr. told Raleigh TV station WRAL that the bodies were those of Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife, Dora Faulkner, 62. The sheriff told the station that the two suspects burst into the Faulkners' home near Oak Hill on Thursday morning, set the house on fire and took the couple and their SUV. Wilkins said it was not immediately clear why the two were targeted or whether they were killed in the initial attack or sometime later. The Associated Press could not immediately reach Wilkins late Thursday. The two Lewisburg officers and the suspected shooter were being treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, Donna Hinkle, administrator of the Greenbrier County 911 center, told the AP. The two suspects will be arrested on charges of malicious assault and attempted murder of a police officer in Greenbrier County, according to the news release.

– After an SUV and a pickup truck were pulled over at a traffic stop outside of Lewisburg, West Virginia, yesterday, the driver of the truck opened fire on police before fleeing the scene and investigators soon discovered why: The bodies of a North Carolina couple whose house burned down yesterday morning were under a mattress in the back of the truck, reports WDBJ7. Two officers—one of whom graduated from the police academy just two weeks ago—were injured in the shootout but they are both expected to survive. One officer was hit in the ribs but was wearing a protective vest, while the other was grazed by a bullet, reports NBC. The SUV driver fled and hid during the shootout but soon turned himself in; the pickup driver, who was wounded in the leg, was captured about 90 minutes later in woods off Interstate 64, the AP reports. The suspects are from Texas and claim to be father and son, say police, who stopped the SUV after spotting stolen North Carolina plates. The victims found in the back of the truck have been identified as Jerome Faulkner, 73 and his wife, Dora Faulkner, 62. Police, who haven't found any connection between the couple and the suspects, believe the men set their home on fire before stealing their pickup truck, reports WNCN. It's not clear if the couple were killed during the initial attack or some time later.

Swiss archaeologists recently announced the discovery of what they say is the earliest metal representation of a human body part ever found in Europe. The 3,500-year-old object is a hand, slightly smaller than life-sized, made of more than a pound of bronze. It has a cuff of gold foil glued to the wrist, and a socket inside that would have allowed it to be mounted on a stick or pole. The find was originally uncovered in 2017 near Lake Biel in the western canton (province) of Bern, by treasure hunters using metal detectors, who turned it in to authorities along with a bronze dagger and rib bone they found nearby. “We had never seen anything like it,” says Andrea Schaer, head of the Ancient History and Roman Archeology Department at the Bern Archaeological Service. “We weren’t sure if it was authentic or not – or even what it was.” By radiocarbon dating a tiny bit of the organic glue used to attach a layer of gold foil onto the sculpture’s “wrist,” they determined the object was very old – dating back to the middle Bronze Age, or between 1,400 and 1,500 B.C. That was enough to convince the archaeologists to return this past spring to the area where the bronze hand was originally found. After the erstwhile looters pointed out where they found the object, Schaer and her team spent seven weeks excavating what turned out to be a badly-damaged grave, located on a plateau above Lake Biel near the tiny village of Prêles. “There’s a magnificent view over the plateau to the Alps,” Schaer says. “It really is an extraordinary place.” In the burial, researchers found the bones of a middle-aged man, along with a long bronze pin, a bronze spiral probably worn as a hair tie, and fragments of gold foil matching those that adorn the bronze hand. They also recovered one of the sculpture’s broken fingers in the man’s grave, a good indication that the hand was originally buried with the man. Metal objects in Bronze Age burials are rare, and gold is almost never found in Bronze Age burials in Switzerland. As far as Swiss archaeologists familiar with the find can tell, a sculpture like this is unique in Europe, and perhaps beyond. “The fact that we know of thousands of Bronze Age graves and have never found anything like this shows it’s pretty special,” says Stefan Hochuli, head of the Department of Monument Preservation and Archaeology in the nearby Swiss canton of Zug. The sculpture will be on display in Biel, Switzerland for the next month. Meanwhile, the archaeologists are working to publish the find -- and puzzling over what the hand might have been for. “It must have been placed on something, but we don’t know what,” Schaer says. The sculpture’s socket suggests it could have adorned a statue, been mounted on a stick and wielded like a scepter, or even worn as a prosthetic as part of a ritual. ||||| Image: Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern/Philippe Joner In October 2017, a pair of treasure-hunting metal detectorists made an extraordinary discovery near a Swiss lake: a sculpted bronze hand with a gold cuff dating back some 3,500 years. Archaeologists have never seen anything quite like it, and are at a loss to explain its purpose or function. And in an unfortunate turn, the hand is now at the center of a criminal investigation. The bronze hand and its thin gold cuff, along with a bronze dagger and a human rib bone, were discovered by the metal detectorists near Lake Biel in the Bernese Jura, about 28 miles (45 km) northwest of Bern, Switzerland, according to a Canton de Bern press release. The items were handed over to specialists at the Ancient History and Roman Archeology Department in the Bern Archaeological Service one day after the discovery. Advertisement The hand of Prêles, as it’s now called, is slightly smaller than an adult hand and was cast from about a pound of bronze, according to National Geographic. Radiocarbon dating of the organic, vegetable-based glue used to adhere the gold band to the hand’s wrist places the artifact to between 1,400 and 1,500 BC, back during Europe’s Middle Bronze Age. The archaeologists studying the hand, a team led by Andrea Schae, say it’s doubtful the hand was worn; a socket inside the hand suggests it was mounted on a staff of some kind. Image: Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern/Philippe Joner Schae’s team returned to the site in the Bernese Jura to conduct further excavations. They discovered that a grave, possibly a tomb, that unfortunately “had suffered significant damage as a result of recent work,” write the researchers in the release. Advertisement Indeed, there may be something untoward going on here. SwissInfo reports that there are indications that some objects were stolen from the site. A spokesperson for the Canton Archaeological Service of Bern confirmed to Gizmodo that “a criminal investigation is currently underway in this matter,” and that because of this, they “cannot give more detailed information.” Image: Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern/Guy Jaquenod Despite this, the researchers managed to uncover more items at the site, including the bones of a middle-aged male, a long bronze pin, a bronze spiral likely worn as a hair ornament, more bits of gold foil (likely from the hand), and one of the sculpture’s missing fingers. The archaeologists say the hand was likely buried with the man, of whom we know virtually nothing. Advertisement Beneath the grave, the researchers uncovered a stone-based structure. Apparently, “the man and the bronze hand were deliberately buried over this older construction,” write the researchers in the press release. “He must have been a high-ranking character.” This is an exceptional Swiss Bronze Age burial, one with no precedent. As far as the archaeologists can tell, the bronze hand is unique. “To the knowledge of Swiss, German and French specialists, there has never been a comparable sculpture dating from the Bronze Age in Central Europe,” according to the press release. “The hand of Prêles is now the oldest bronze piece representing a part of the human body. It is therefore a unique and remarkable object.” A formal research paper to describe the findings is forthcoming, but the researchers are still trying to figure out if the items were manufactured nearby or imported from afar. They’re also struggling to understand the purpose of the sculpted bronze hand. Advertisement “We do not know either the meaning and the function attributed to it,” the authors write in the press release. “Its gold ornament suggests that it is an emblem of power, a distinctive sign of the social elite, even of a deity. The hand is extended by a hollow form that suggests that it was originally mounted on another object: it was perhaps part of a scepter or a statue.” Sadly, this analysis is being complicated by the disturbed condition of the site; the researchers never had an opportunity to observe the grave in situ, that is, in its original, unperturbed state. There’s a lesson here: If you’re a so-called treasure hunter, or a person who’s accidentally stumbled upon something of archaeological significance, stop what you’re doing and call in the experts. Failure to do so means you’re just looting—and destroying history. [Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern via National Geographic] ||||| Deux particuliers ont fait une découverte exceptionnelle dans le Jura bernois début octobre 2017 : ils ont trouvé une main sculptée en bronze portant un bracelet en or près de Prêles, sur le Plateau de Diesse. Il y avait également une lame de poignard en bronze et une côte humaine. Les auteurs de la découverte ont remis ces objets au Service archéologique de Berne dès le lendemain. Les premières recherches ont montré qu’aucun objet analogue n’avait été trouvé à ce jour en Suisse ou dans les pays voisins. Une pièce unique remontant à 3500 ans La datation au carbone 14 a permis de déterminer que la main en bronze datait de 1500 à 1400 av. J.-C. On a en outre analysé la colle végétale utilisée pour fixer la fine plaque d’or appliquée autour du poignet. La datation indique que la côte humaine est plus jeune d’une centaine d’années. Ces deux dates, situées dans l’Âge du bronze moyen, sont cohérentes avec la lame de poignard. Les premières analyses effectuées sur les métaux utilisés pour fabriquer la main confirment qu’il s’agit d’alliages courants à cette époque. Personnage de haut rang En fouillant les lieux, l’équipe du Service archéologique a mis au jour une tombe contenant les ossements d’un homme adulte au début de l’été 2018. Elle avait malheureusement subi des dommages importants suite à des travaux récents. La tombe contenait une fibule en bronze, une spirale en bronze (ornement de coiffure) et des restes de plaque d’or provenant vraisemblablement de la main. La présence de l’un des doigts de la main en bronze a confirmé que la sculpture était bien issue de ce site. On a découvert sous la tombe une construction en pierres d’origine humaine. Apparemment, l’homme à la main de bronze a été délibérément inhumé au-dessus de cette construction plus ancienne. Il devait s’agir d’un personnage de haut rang. Un sceptre ou une statue À la connaissance des spécialistes suisses, allemands et français, on n’a jamais trouvé de sculpture comparable datant de l’Âge du bronze en Europe centrale. La main de Prêles est à ce jour la pièce en bronze la plus ancienne figurant une partie du corps humain. C’est donc un objet unique et remarquable. Il est encore trop tôt pour déterminer si la main a été fabriquée dans la région des Trois-Lacs ou dans une contrée plus lointaine. On ne connaît pas non plus la signification et la fonction qui lui étaient attribuées. Son ornement en or donne à penser qu’il s’agit d’un emblème de pouvoir, signe distinctif de l’élite sociale voire d’une déité. La main est prolongée par une forme creuse qui suggère qu’elle était à l’origine montée sur un autre objet : elle était peut-être une partie d’un sceptre ou d’une statue.Toutes les questions seront abordées lors de l’étude scientifique qui débutera au cours des prochains mois. Exposition temporaire de cette découverte exceptionnelle La main de Prêles sera exposée au public du 18 septembre au 14 octobre 2018 au NMB Nouveau Musée Bienne. Mediendokumentation

– The hand is a bit smaller than that of an adult and made from roughly a pound of bronze. What it was used for has perplexed archaeologists since it was found in Switzerland last October. At an estimated 3,500 years old, National Geographic calls it "Europe's earliest metal body part"—though it subsequently narrows that to "the earliest metal representation" of one. As Gizmodo explains, archaeologists don't believe someone wore the hand but, rather, that an internal socket allowed it to be affixed atop a stick or pole. It was unearthed by metal detector-armed treasure hunters searching around Lake Biel in what archaeologists later discovered was a grave in extreme disrepair. It held the bones of a middle-aged man, along with items that included a bronze pin and one of the bronze hand's fingers. Because the hand was taken from the scene in a less-than-scientific way, any knowledge that could be gleaned about its use based on how it might have been arranged with the buried man's body has been lost to history. That's left Andrea Schaer of the Bern Archaeological Service with only speculations: "It must have been placed on something, but we don’t know what"—National Geographic suggests "it could have adorned a statue, been mounted on a stick and wielded like a scepter, or even worn as a prosthetic as part of a ritual." A press release notes "its gold ornament suggests that it is an emblem of power, a distinctive sign of the social elite, even of a deity." Gizmodo reports on a weird twist: a criminal investigation is underway based on authorities' belief that some items may have been stolen from the grave. (A metal detector unearthed treasure tied to King Bluetooth.)

WASHINGTON—The U.S. economy posted its best six-month stretch of growth in three years despite two hurricanes, a sign that it might be breaking out of its long-running slow-growth trend, with the help of soaring stock prices and rising business and consumer confidence. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in the U.S., expanded at a 3% annual rate in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said Friday. That followed 3.1% annual growth in the spring. ... ||||| The U.S. economy expanded at a 3 percent annualized rate between July and September, advancing President Trump's goal of faster economic growth and potentially providing a tail wind to Republican efforts to overhaul the tax code. The robust pace of economic growth defied analysts' expectations that activity might slow in the third quarter because of Hurricane Harvey. This marks the second quarter of above-trend growth for Trump, after the economy expanded at a annualized pace of 3.1 percent in the spring, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Friday. Combined with a strong labor market and record highs in the stock market — the Standard & Poor's 500 index is up 15 percent year to date — the economy is proving to be an ally of a president who is otherwise suffering from unusually low approval numbers and political conflicts. But opinions vary greatly over whether Trump should take credit for the uptick in growth. "He gets zero credit because he hasn't done anything. There's been zero change in economic policy," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, a research firm. "This uptick is happening across the globe. It’s not just the U.S." Conservatives, however, point out that Trump has dramatically scaled back regulations on businesses, which is helping to spur more corporate spending, they argue. Third quarter growth was bolstered by companies beefing up their inventories and spending more on equipment. "It's striking how much has been done on the regulatory front. It has to matter to the economy," says economist Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the right-leaning American Action Forum. His organization keeps a tally of how much government regulations costs. [Major divisions remain as GOP nears its tax deadline] Trump and his allies in Congress are making the case that passing a tax overhaul — which aims to cut income and corporate taxes by $1.5 trillion over a decade — is critical to continuing the economic expansion. House Republicans plan to unveil a bill on Wednesday on the tax code and both chambers plan to pass one by Thanksgiving, an extremely tight deadline for a major piece of legislation. “Working with President Trump and the Senate, we will deliver on our tax reform promise this year — ushering in a new era of growth for the American people,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said in a statement Friday. Yet the resiliency of the economy also underscores the high-stakes of the effort and what any slowdown in growth, or decline in the stock market, might mean for the president and Republicans politically. "A good portion of people voted for Trump because they were unhappy with their individual economic plight," says Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. "They expect their lot in life to improve." Few economists expect the economy to continue to expand at a 3 percent pace in coming quarters, given the waves of baby boomers retiring and exiting the workforce. Under President Obama, the economy grew an average of 2.1 percent a year, although he also had many quarters where growth exceeded 3 percent. Trump repeatedly promised growth of over 4 percent on the campaign trail, something that hasn't happened consistently since the late 1990s. “An above-trend quarter does not mean that the trend has picked up,” says Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics. Some — including in the White House — argue that the stock market and businesses might already be pricing in a substantial tax cut, meaning failure to deliver could lead to a pullback in performance. In earnings calls this week, over a dozen CEOs of major companies like AT&T and UPS sounded upbeat that Congress will enact a tax package. Some had gone as far as to project how much their earnings would rise next year and what they would do with the extra cash. "If we get tax reform that gives us greater access to our offshore cash, that will allow us to invest more in the U.S., and it will also allow us to be able to return more cash to shareholders," said Richard Gonzalez, CEO of drug company AbbVie on an earnings call Friday. [Wonkblog Analysis Congress might take away the 401(k) for the wrong reason] Christopher J. Nassetta, CEO of Hilton, said Thursday that he was “much more optimistic this quarter” that business taxes will go down and that as soon as Congress passes the bill, the benefits will “start to flow through pretty quickly.” Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin recently warned Congress that the stock market would see a “significant” drop if the tax package does not pass. The White House reiterated that message again Friday. “Firms are optimistic because of regulatory reform but also because they expect corporate tax reform,” said Kevin Hassett, chair of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers, on a call with reporters. “The thing I’m worried about is if those expectations prove to be incorrect, I would expect business fixed investment to go back to its disappointing past and markets to go down as well.” The United States is on track for a history-making expansion. If the current growth cycle lasts until May 2018, as most economists predict, it will be the second longest expansion in U.S. history, according to Lakshman Achuthan, co-founder of the Economic Cycle Research Institute. If it lasts until July 2019, it would surpass the 1991-2001 expansion as the longest. “Some people may think we are in the seventh or eighth inning of this expansion, but in the business cycle game, there is no fundamental reason an economic expansion cannot last for 20 innings or longer,” says Achuthan. [‘It’s cool again to invest’: Americans are giddy about stocks as Dow tops 23,000] There's a heated debate among economists over how much Trump's tax plan, which is being finalized now, will bump up growth. The Trump administration says tax cuts will cause a large uptick, so much so that the economy will grow more than 3 percent a year, which hasn't happened since 2005. "I expect the impact on GDP growth will be muted," wrote Megan Greene, chief economist at Manulife Asset Management in a note Friday. She predicts most companies will spend their extra cash on buying back more stock and hiking dividends, a boon to Wall Street that won't do much for Main Street. Goldman Sachs forecasts only a modest 0.1 to 0.2 percentage point increase in economic growth if Congress passes the tax reform bill. The Wall Street bank also cautions that growth depends not just on what Congress and the White House do, but also the Federal Reserve. After years of stimulative low interest rates, the Fed is beginning to lift rates, which is akin to tapping the brakes on the economy. “This tail wind is unlikely to persist as the Fed continues to tighten,” Goldman warned in its weekly kick-start newsletter this week. Trump is about to select the next Fed chair, the most powerful economic policy position in the United States. He is currently debating between reappointing current chair Janet L. Yellen, an advocate of low rates to help growth and jobs, or nominating someone like Stanford economist John Taylor, who favors raising interest rates faster. The leading candidates for the job are Yellen, Taylor and Jerome Powell, who is currently a Fed governor and seen as someone likely to continue many of Yellen's low-rate policies. Read more: Is earning $100,000 a year middle class in America? Trump's Fed chair choice largely down to Taylor or Powell Goldman Sachs predicts only minor boost from Trump’s tax cuts

– The US economy, helped by strong business investment, grew at a solid annual rate of 3% in the third quarter. It marks the first time in three years that growth has hit that mark for two consecutive quarters, per the AP. The Commerce Department says the July-September advance in the gross domestic product—the country's total output of goods and services—followed a 3.1% rise in the second quarter. It was the strongest two-quarter showing since back-to-back gains of 4.6% and 5.2% in the second and third quarters of 2014. The economy accelerated this summer despite the impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which many private economists believe shaved at least one-half percentage point off growth. The Wall Street Journal sees the growth as "particularly impressive" because of those storms, having forecast something closer to 2.7%. The Washington Post, meanwhile, calls the report a victory for President Trump, as the figure met his goal. "The challenge for Trump will be to get faster growth for an entire year," writes Heather Long.

The word “shithole” was projected onto President Trump Donald John TrumpStone: 'I’ve never had any discussion' with Trump about a pardon White House: Trump will move forward on wall 'with or without' Dems Pelosi after Stone indictment: 'What does Putin have on the president'? MORE’s D.C. hotel Saturday. Video shows the word, along with the poop emoji, being projected onto the property. ADVERTISEMENT “Pay Trump bribes here,” “emoluments welcome” and “we are all responsible to stand up and end white supremacy” were also projected onto the building. Trump has faced intense backlash for calling Haiti, El Salvador and African nations “shithole countries” during an Oval Office meeting on immigration this week. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump reportedly said, before suggesting that the U.S. bring in more immigrants from countries like Norway. The White House initially did not deny that Trump made the remarks, but Trump later disputed the reports on Twitter. Lawmakers, media figures and world leaders have all decried Trump’s comments. The African Union, representing all 55 African countries, demanded Saturday that Trump apologize for the remarks. ||||| The expletive President Trump used last week in a discussion about immigration in the Oval Office and other slogans were projected Saturday night onto an outer wall of the Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington. Video footage posted on Twitter shows the word "SHITHOLE" and poop emoji projected on the wall of the hotel. An arrow, also apparently projected on the building, points to the arched doorway. The pictures appear on the Twitter feed of Robin Bell, who has previously projected wording critical of the president onto the hotel. He has become known as a kind of projectionist provocateur and something of a "hit-and-run editorial writer," as David Montgomery described him last year in The Washington Post. The president, in a discussion last week on immigration policy, used "shithole" to refer to certain countries from which large-scale immigration was undesirable, according to people present at the meeting. The Washington Post saw the posted photographs but did not actually see the words at the time they were projected. Bell said he had focused his projector onto the building for about 40 minutes. He was interviewed afterward. ||||| A screen grab of video posted on Twitter showing the word “SHITHOLE” projected onto the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. on January 14, 2017. Twitter.com/bellvisuals The word of the week in Washington got a full-blown public display on Saturday night as an artist projected it on the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Video footage shows that an artist projected the word “SHITHOLE” surrounded by a stream of animated poop emojis onto the wall of the hotel. The projection ended a week in which uttering the word “shithole” in public suddenly became common after President Trump reportedly used it in a meeting. The video posted on Twitter shows the sequence of phrases that were projected onto the front steps of the hotel: “Not a D.C. resident?” / “Need a place to stay?” / “Try our shithole” / “This place is a shithole.” And then the one word—“SHITHOLE”—in capital letters was projected surrounded by poop emojis. Later in the projection, the artist issues a stark warning: “The president is distracting us from politics that are harming us” / “Stay vigilant.” The video ends with the projection: “Pay Trump bribes here” with an arrow pointing to the entrance of the hotel. The projection is the work of Robin Bell, who posted it on his Twitter account. This is not the first time Bell has made politically charged projections onto Trump’s hotel in Washington. He had already displayed the “Pay Trump bribes here” message before, for example. Bell has also gone beyond the hotel, projecting #SessionsMustGo and “I thought the KKK was OK until I learned that they smoked pot”onto the Department of Justice building. In a long profile of Bell last year, the Washington Post’s David Montgomery described him as a “hit-and-run editorial writer.” At the time, Montgomery noted that “Bell’s projections now come regularly enough that during especially volatile news cycles, it’s like sensing mayhem in Gotham and looking out for a bat signal.”

– President Trump's controversial pet phrase came home to roost in a way on Saturday night, when someone projected "SHITHOLE" onto the front of Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC. Per Slate, the display went thusly: "Not a D.C. resident?/Need a place to stay?/Try our shithole/This place is a shithole." That was followed by "SHITHOLE" over the entrance, combined with poop emojis. The projection appears to be the work of Robin Bell, reports the Washington Post, who has pulled similar anti-Trump stunts in the past. Footage of the projection appeared on Bell's Twitter feed; he told the Post that it was up for about 40 minutes Saturday night. (You can see it here.) In further fallout on Saturday, the Hill notes that the entire 55-nation African Union demanded Trump apologize.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2015 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington. Ginsburg’s public criticism of Donald Trump is dividing legal... (Associated Press) WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Campaign 2016 ahead of the Republican and Democratic National conventions (all times EDT): 12:05 a.m. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is responding to Thursday night's truck attack in France by arguing for the expulsion from the U.S. of any Muslim who believes in Sharia law. Gingrich is being considered as a possible running mate by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The former Georgia congressman said on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" that the U.S. "should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization." Gingrich is calling the attack in Nice, France, which killed at least 80 people, "the fault of Western elites who lack the guts to do what is right, to do what is necessary, and to tell us the truth, and that starts with Barack Obama." __ 11:45 p.m. Hillary Clinton says Americans stand "in strong solidarity with the people of France," after a truck attack in Nice, France, adding, "We will not be intimidated." A truck carrying weapons and hand grenades plowed through a group of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice late Thursday, killing at least 80 people. The Democratic presidential candidate says the U.S. and France will never let terrorists undermine democratic values. She says the "cowardly attack only strengthens our commitment to our alliance and to defeating terrorism around the world." __ 10 p.m. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says in the aftermath of a deadly truck attack in France that if he's elected president he would ask Congress for a declaration of war on the Islamic State. In an interview with Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," Trump says, "This is war." He spoke after a truck carrying weapons and hand grenades drove onto a sidewalk in Nice, France, and plowed through people celebrating Bastille Day, killing at least 77 people. Trump says to fight the Islamic State, which he calls a "cancer," NATO should be used "for a purpose." It was not immediately clear Thursday night who was behind the attack. In a separate interview on Fox, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton says the U.S. needs to "stand strongly" with France and strengthen our alliances, including with NATO, to ferret out terrorism and prevent future attacks. Clinton says she would intensify efforts to put together a more effective coalition against terrorism. __ 9:50 p.m. A committee at the Republican National Convention has defeated an effort by conservatives who want to let delegates vote for any presidential candidate they'd like. Thursday's vote by the convention's rules committee was a major blow to forces trying to derail Donald Trump's nomination at the GOP gathering next week. The 112-member panel is dominated by top party officials and delegates loyal to Trump. The proposal's author is Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh. She has said she'll try to force a vote on her proposal in the full convention next week — a vote she'll also be likely to lose. __ 9:05 p.m. Tim Tebow won't be at the Republican National Convention after all. The former football star was to be among the biggest names at next week's GOP convention in Cleveland. But he says in a Thursday night Facebook post that his attendance was simply a rumor. He commented roughly 12 hours after Donald Trump's campaign announced his status as a convention speaker. Tebow says: "I just got back from the Philippines, and I wake up this morning to find out that I'm speaking at the Republican National Convention. It's amazing how fast rumors fly. And that's exactly what it is, a rumor." Tebow says he'd do "anything for America." But that won't include appearing in Cleveland next week on Trump's behalf. Tebow says he'll focus his time instead on helping children through his foundation. 8:55 p.m. A committee holding early meetings at the Republican National Convention has decided to vote sooner than expected on an uphill drive by opponents of Donald Trump to "unbind" delegates so they can vote for any presidential candidate they'd like. The convention rules committee had planned to hold a vote on that proposal Friday. But working late into the evening, the panel voted to hold that roll call Thursday evening. The proposal by Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh would let delegates vote their conscience and back any contender, not the one they were committed to by state primaries and caucuses. When the full convention holds its meetings next week, Unruh and other conservatives hope that change would let the gathering block Trump's nomination to be GOP presidential candidate. But they are unlikely to prevail. __ 7:35 p.m. Donald Trump is insisting that he has yet to settle on a running mate. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee says in an interview on Fox News Channel, "I haven't made a final, final decision." Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has emerged as a late favorite for the job, but Trump advisers caution that the businessman had not made a final decision and could still change his mind. Trump tells Fox that Pence has done a wonderful job in Indiana, but adds that fellow finalists Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich as "fantastic" people. Trump has canceled a Friday news conference where he planned to make public his VP choice, citing the truck attack in France that has killed dozens. Trump says that it's "crazy what's going on" and says, "We have to get awfully tough and we have to get very, very smart." ___ 7:13 p.m. Donald Trump says on Twitter that he is delaying the announcement of his running mate following the deadly truck attack in France. After a day of speculation about who might join Trump atop the Republican Party's presidential ticket, Trump tweets on Thursday night: "In light of the horrible attack in Nice, France, I have postponed tomorrow's news conference concerning my Vice Presidential announcement." Trump had been scheduled to unveil his pick at an 11 a.m. news conference at a hotel in midtown Manhattan. Late Thursday, a truck drive onto the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of revelers who'd been gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, France. Authorities say dozens of people are dead. ___ 6:20 p.m. Talks aimed at averting some battles at the Republican National Convention between GOP leaders and conservatives have broken down. That increases the chances of a confrontation between the two sides next week when the full convention meets in Cleveland. The longshot effort by conservatives to "unbind" delegates and let them back any candidate they want was not addressed by the talks. That issue is seemingly headed toward a fight next week. Leaders of the Republican National Committee spent hours Thursday meeting with conservatives who are pushing populist changes in party rules that would weaken leadership powers. The two sides could not reach agreement. Conservatives hope to force votes on their proposals by the full convention. Party leaders say they'll be able to defeat them, but they'd hoped to avoid battles on national television. __ 4:40 p.m. Sen. Ted Cruz is refusing to condemn a rebellion against Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention as the fiery Texas conservative weighs his political future against the prospect of a national Republican embarrassment. Cruz's continued public silence, as his loyalists actively plotted to undermine Trump on Thursday, irked Trump allies and Republican leaders alike, all eager to avoid a public spectacle when the four-day gathering formally begins on Monday. Yet having accepted a speaking slot on the main stage, there are signs the 45-year-old senator is willing to cooperate with Trump's campaign — privately, at least — even as he works to sustain his popularity among anti-Trump conservatives. ___ 2:52 p.m. Hillary Clinton is assuring Senate Democrats that she will pick a "very qualified" vice presidential candidate during their weekly luncheon on Capitol Hill. The former secretary of state was asked during the private luncheon who she would choose as her running mate, prompting a roar from the audience and promises that they wouldn't tell anyone. Clinton says after the luncheon that she had a "great conversation" with them and talked about ways to bring economic opportunity to the nation and "build a strong Democratic party." Lawmakers say Clinton's former Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders, received applause at the lunch. The meeting also included potential Clinton running mates like Tim Kaine of Virginia, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. ___ 2:37 p.m. Newt Gingrich says he still has not heard from Donald Trump about his running mate selection. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Gingrich said he was still expecting to hear from the Republican nominee Thursday. Gingrich told the AP earlier in the day that he had expected to receive word from Trump sometime after 1 p.m. ____ 2:29 p.m. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says that Donald Trump's impending vice presidential decision ultimately comes down to whether he wants a fellow "pirate" or a "relatively stable, more normal person." Gingrich is one of the three finalists the presumptive GOP nominee is considering for his running mate. He's speaking on Facebook live about the intricacies of the vetting process and sharing his thoughts on the two other finalists: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Gingrich suggests that he has yet to hear from Trump about his decision. He says, "We'll find out what Donald Trump decides to do." ___ 1:25 p.m. Hillary Clinton has arrived at a weekly luncheon with Senate Democrats where she is expected to brief them on her presidential campaign. The presumptive Democratic nominee said Thursday, "it's great to be back here in the Senate." She received loud applause from the Democratic members. Clinton was joined at the lunch by some of her former colleagues as well as potential vice presidential choices, including Tim Kaine of Virginia, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Her onetime Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders was also at the lunch. He endorsed Clinton in New Hampshire on Tuesday. Clinton was scheduled to campaign in Virginia with Kaine later in the day. ___ 12:00 p.m. House Speaker Paul Ryan says Indiana Gov. Mike Pence would be a good pick for Donald Trump's vice president. Ryan says it's no secret he's a big fan of Pence's and holds him in very high regard. Ryan tells reporters Thursday: "I hope that he picks a good movement conservative. Clearly Mike is one of those." The Wisconsin Republican says he doesn't know what Trump will do, and "I hope he makes a good pick and clearly that would be a good one." Trump's vice presidential announcement is expected soon with the Republican National Convention getting under way in Cleveland next week. ___ 11:55 a.m Hillary Clinton is vowing to expand upon President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration despite the Supreme Court's recent deadlocked ruling. Clinton says in a speech at the League of United Latin American Citizens' national convention that she will put a comprehensive immigration bill before Congress in her first 100 days of office. She says the high court did not "actually rule on the substance of the case" and it's within the authority of the president to temporarily stop the deportation for millions of people living in the U.S. illegally. Clinton says she will create a "simple, straight forward system" in which people with sympathetic cases or a history of serving their communities can make their case and become eligible for deferred action. The Democratic presidential candidate was also meeting Thursday with Senate Democrats and campaigning with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a possible vice presidential pick. ___ 11:52 a.m. Newt Gingrich says he is hosting a "Facebook Live" event Thursday afternoon to discuss the Republican "vice presidential picks and the VP selection process." Gingrich is one of the finalists to join Donald Trump on the November ticket. Earlier Thursday, the former House speaker told The Associated Press that he expects to hear from Trump shortly after 1 p.m. about whether he's been chosen. Gingrich's Facebook event is scheduled for 2 p.m. Gingrich, who has been active on the social media venue, hosted a Facebook Live event with Trump earlier this month. ___ 11:18 a.m. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence quickly exited a planned speaking event in Indianapolis shortly after releasing details about a new economic development initiative. The Republican governor is considered a top contender to become Donald Trump's vice president pick. Pence and his entourage swiftly exited the building and climbed into a waiting motorcade. His office and his re-election campaign have not released details of any other planned events after several days of repeated public appearances. ___ 11:12 a.m. Senior U.S. national security officials say they are worried about the potential for violence at the Republican National Convention to be held in Cleveland next week. During congressional testimony Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh (jay) Johnson says he's concerned that demonstrations outside the convention hall may get out of hand. Johnson says he will be inspecting the security around the convention hall during a visit Friday. He says he says similar concerns about the Democratic convention to be held in Philadelphia. He'll be visiting that site next week. Johnson tells the House Homeland Security Committee there will be 4,000 U.S. government security personnel in Cleveland. FBI Director James Comey says anytime there is a large, national event there is concern that radical people and groups may be drawn to it. ___ 10:56 a.m. A pivotal committee of delegates at the Republican National Convention has abruptly taken a recess of several hours, just as it was beginning to consider rules changes proposed by conservatives and foes of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. Some delegates said the Trump campaign and top GOP officials were trying to see if they could strike a compromise with conservatives trying to let delegates back any candidate they want and offering other rules changes. A leader of those conservatives is Ken Cuccinelli, who was a campaign adviser to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's now abandoned presidential campaign. GOP Chairman Reince Priebus and top Trump campaign officials were also in the convention center. ___ 10:24 a.m. Newt Gingrich says he expects to hear from Donald Trump about his vice presidential decision as early as Thursday afternoon. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Gingrich says he expects the decision sometime after 1pm. He says he had not heard from the Trump campaign Thursday morning. Gingrich, the former House speaker, is among Trump's top choices, along with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Gingrich praised Trump for running a "very fair, open process" and said he looked forward to the businessman's decision. Trump and his running mate will make their first joint appearance Friday in New York. ___ 10:16 a.m. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she regrets her "ill-advised" public criticism of Donald Trump. Ginsburg says in a statement issued by the court on Thursday that judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office. She promises to be more circumspect in the future. Ginsburg told The Associated Press last week that she did not want to think about the prospect of Trump winning the presidency. She escalated her criticism in subsequent media interviews. She came under attack for her comments in recent days, leading to Thursday's statement. ___ 8:40 a.m. Donald Trump's campaign and party leaders seem poised to defeat GOP renegades trying to derail the billionaire's presidential nomination. But it's unclear they'll prevail before the dispute flares into a potentially angry and embarrassing floor fight next week. The two sides on Thursday were beginning what could be a two-day faceoff at early meetings of the convention's rules committee. That panel's initial votes are expected to demonstrate how firmly Trump and GOP Chairman Reince Priebus control the convention, which meets in full next week. ||||| Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama on Friday issued a thinly veiled rebuke of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's call for the U.S. to test every person with a Muslim background to see if they believe in Sharia law and deport those who do. Addressing the terror attack in Nice, France, that left more than 80 people dead, Obama didn't mention Gingrich by name, but there was little doubt who he was calling out. "In the wake of last night's attacks, we've heard more suggestions that all Muslims in America be targeted, tested for their beliefs, some deported or jailed," Obama said in remarks from the White House. "And the very suggestion is repugnant and an affront to everything that we stand for as Americans." Obama's implicit critique of Gingrich was a part of broader point he made Friday in response to the Nice attack, which he called "sickening." "It's been a difficult several weeks in the United States, but the divide that exists is not between races and ethnicities and religions," Obama said. "And those impulses, when we do not speak out against them and build institutions to protect people from those impulses, they can take over. They can be unleashed, so all of us have responsibilities, not just a few." Obama said the fight against terrorists will be won when the United States "stays true to our values." Earlier Friday, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked directly about the former speaker's comments. "It sounds like he may need to consult his copy of the pocket Constitution as well," Earnest said at a White House press briefing, adding that "proposals like that, rhetoric like that, is un-American by its very definition." Gingrich's original comments came on Thursday night during an interview on Fox News, hours after a truck rampaged through a Bastille Day celebration in Nice. "Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be: Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported," Gingrich said in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. "Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization. Modern Muslims who have given up Sharia, glad to have them as citizens. Perfectly happy to have them next door." Gingrich defended those comments Friday during an appearance on Facebook Live but acknowledged that "deportation is impossible" with American citizens. "It's not appropriate under the Constitution, and historically, we've always said if you fought against the United States, that the correct answers were basically jail as opposed to deportation," he said. "I think we have to talk through what should be the right way of handling people who are here but are not citizens." Newt Gingrinch speaks on February 27, 2015. Gingrich also used the Facebook Live appearance to try to assuage Muslims living in the U.S. "If you are a practicing Muslim and you believe deeply in your faith, but you're also loyal to the United States and you believe in the Constitution, you should have your rights totally, completely protected within the Constitution," Gingrich said. "You should have nothing to fear. Your children should have nothing to fear." "This is not about targeting a particular religion or targeting people who practice in a particular way," he added. "This is about looking at particular characteristics that we have learned painfully, time after time, involve killing people, involve attacks on our civilization." Muslims and experts on Islam quickly criticized Gingrich's initial comments. Apparently a lot of ppl who know nothing abt Islam are now experts on Islam and sharia, telling Muslims what their religion *actually* says — Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) July 15, 2016 "Apparently a lot of people who know nothing about Islam are now experts on Islam and sharia, telling Muslims what their religion actually says," tweeted Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. While Sharia is often defined as "Islamic law," there is no single book of jurisprudence followed by all 1.6 billion Muslims. In fact, there are varying interpretations and legal opinions -- called fatwas -- most of which concern rituals, family matters and personal spirituality. In that way, Sharia is similar to Jewish law, and Israel is among the countries that allow Sharia courts, noted The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg. Omar Suleiman, a popular Muslim scholar in Dallas, took a defiant stance toward Gingrich's comments. "Newt Gingrich, I'll make your job easier for you: I believe in every single tenet of my faith," Suleiman wrote in a Facebook post . "Because of that, I speak against extremists overseas and extremists like you and the fraud running for President. You can try to deport me now." Gingrich calls for monitoring mosques During the interview on Thursday, Hannity asked Gingrich how "you possibly ascertain whether or not that person really wants assimilation, really wants a new life, or whether or not they want to expand that caliphate, which is what we're at war against?" "The first step is you have to ask them the questions," Gingrich responded. "The second step is you have to monitor what they're doing on the Internet. The third step is, let me be very clear, you have to monitor the mosques. I mean, if you're not prepared to monitor the mosques, this whole thing is a joke. Where do you think the primary source of recruitment is? Where do you think the primary place of indoctrination is? You've got to look at the madrassas -- if you're a school which is teaching Sharia, you want to expel it from the country." The comments by Gingrich -- who was a finalist to be Donald Trump's running mate before the real estate mogul tapped Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Thursday -- are similar to ones made by Trump himself last fall , when he called for surveillance of "certain mosques" to counter terrorist threats. Gingrich also said Thursday that calling Islam a "religion of peace" is "bologna." "It's not that Islamists are necessarily evil, but they're not necessarily a religion of peace," Gingrich said. Gingrich then turned his focus to President Barack Obama, citing many leading Democrats' argument for stricter gun regulation laws after the Orlando terror attack , where 49 individuals where shot and killed inside a nightclub. "I fully expect by tomorrow morning that President Obama will have rediscovered his left-wing roots and will give a press conference in which he'll explain that the problem is too many trucks," Gingrich said. "If only we had truck regulation, then we wouldn't have problems like Nice because it is trucks that are dangerous. I mean that's the exact analog to Orlando and just tells you how nuts the left wing in America is." Trump's campaign manager Paul Manafort was asked to respond to Gingrich's comments on CNN's "New Day," but said he didn't know what Gingrich's comments were and what the context was. "The point is the country's got serious problems dealing with terrorism," Manafort said. Gingrich was also asked about Trump's decision to select Pence as his running mate. The former House speaker acknowledged it appeared the Indiana governor was the choice, but said, "I've not been officially told."

– Newt Gingrich managed to out-Trump Donald Trump in the wake of Thursday night's horrific attack in Nice, calling for nothing less than the ideological testing of all Muslims in the US and the expulsion of those who don't pass muster. "Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be. Western civilization is in a war. We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported," Gingrich told Fox News' Sean Hannity, per CNN. "Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization. Modern Muslims who have given up Sharia, glad to have them as citizens." Gingrich added that Muslims should also have their mosques and online activities monitored. Gingrich went on to blame the attack on President Obama, saying it was "the fault of Western elites who lack the guts to do what is right, to do what is necessary, and to tell us the truth, and that starts with Barack Obama," the AP reports. He predicted that Obama will give a press conference "in which he'll explain that the problem is too many trucks." Gingrich, who had been in the running to become Trump's VP choice, told Hannity that it now appears that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has gotten the nod, "but I've not been officially told yet." Trump, who spoke to Fox's Bill O'Reilly, didn't go as far as Gingrich, but he said as president, he would ask Congress to declare war on global terrorism, reports the New York Times. "If you look at it, this is war. Coming from all different parts," he said. "And frankly it's war, and we're dealing with people without uniforms." (Trump has delayed his VP announcement, which had been scheduled for Friday morning.)

Levi Johnston: I Don't Need to Be Qualified to Be Mayor Email This While on 'The View,' Levi Johnston tried and failed miserably to explain his candidacy for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. He added that there are really no qualifications to hold Sarah Palin's old gig. When asked by Barbara Walters what his qualifications for mayor were, Johnston pointed out that the job doesn't call for any and that his lack of experience shouldn't be an impediment. "Qualifications for mayor, there really are none," he said, to several loud guffaws from the audience. "You've got to live in city limits for one year. You don't need a high school diploma, which I'm working on anyway." While on 'The View,' Levi Johnston tried and failed miserably to explain his candidacy for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. He added that there are really no qualifications to hold Sarah Palin's old gig.When asked by Barbara Walters what his qualifications for mayor were, Johnston pointed out that the job doesn't call for any and that his lack of experience shouldn't be an impediment. "Qualifications for mayor, there really are none," he said, to several loud guffaws from the audience."You've got to live in city limits for one year. You don't need a high school diploma, which I'm working on anyway." Later, Whoopi Goldberg asked Johnston to give details on his platform, but he came up short again."At this point in time, I couldn't tell you," he said, adding that he only announced his run for mayor a month ago and hasn't yet planned a strategy."But usually when people say they're running for mayor, they've thought about it before they actually run," Sherri Shepherd countered.In August, Johnston's manager confirmed Johnston's plans to run for the office as part of a reality TV show and insisted he was serious about it.Johnston said the only real qualification is to live in the city limits for a year before the election. He believes he's as qualified as any other candidate, saying he thinks it's important to listen to the people and their concerns. ||||| U.S. CA U.K. AU Asia DE FR E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our US edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Canadian edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our UK edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Australian edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Asia edition? E! ist überall Dieser Inhalt ist für internationale Besucher verfügbar. Möchtest du ihn in der deutschen Version anschauen? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our German edition? E! est partout Une version adaptée de ce contenu est disponible pour notre public international. Souhaitez-vous voir ça dans notre édition française ? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our French edition? E! está em toda parte Este conteúdo está customizado e disponível para nossa audiência internacional. Você gostaria de vê-lo em nossa edição do Brasil? E! está en todos lados Nuestro contenido está disponible y personalizado para nuestra audiencia internacional. ¿Te gustaría verlo en la edición en español? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Spanish edition? E! está en todos lados Nuestro contenido está disponible y personalizado para nuestra audiencia internacional. ¿Te gustaría verlo en la edición en español? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Spanish edition? E! está en todos lados Nuestro contenido está disponible y personalizado para nuestra audiencia internacional. ¿Te gustaría verlo en la edición en español? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Spanish edition? E! está en todos lados Nuestro contenido está disponible y personalizado para nuestra audiencia internacional. ¿Te gustaría verlo en la edición en español? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Spanish edition? E! Is Everywhere This content is available customized for our international audience. Would you like to view this in our Brazilian edition? Bienvenido a E! Online - Tu destino #1 para todo lo relacionado a la cultura pop. Hemos especializado nuestro sitio para tu región. ¿Quieres ir a E! Online Latino?

– Levi Johnston is running for mayor of Wasilla, so it seems logical to ask him about his political platform. Just one problem … he doesn’t have one. “What can you do that no one else can do? Why should they vote for you?” Whoopi Goldberg asked him yesterday on The View. “At this point in time, I couldn’t tell you,” came the response, garnering a chorus of sad “Oh, Levi” moans from the co-hosts. “I said I was running for mayor, what, a month ago?” Johnston defended himself. He went on to explain, at least, his motivation for running, Zap2It reports: “Wasilla's a great place, I just want to keep it that way for my son.” But perhaps this whole thing will work in his favor, writes Peter Gilstrap on E!: “Think about it … hunky Levi actually got all five of the View queens to feel sorry for him because he's too dumb to lie. Good God, this whole thing just might work.” To watch more of the interview ("Qualifications for mayor? There really are none."), click here.

FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2015 file photo, professor Stephen Hawking listens to a news conference in London. The family of the late British physicist Stephen Hawking has opened a lottery for 1,000 tickets... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2015 file photo, professor Stephen Hawking listens to a news conference in London. The family of the late British physicist Stephen Hawking has opened a lottery for 1,000 tickets... (Associated Press) LONDON (AP) — The family of the late British physicist Stephen Hawking has opened a lottery for 1,000 tickets for a service of thanksgiving in his honor at Westminster Abbey. Hawking's ashes are to be interred June 15 at the London church between the graves of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. The cosmologist's account of the mysteries of space, time and black holes in "A Brief History of Time" won him international acclaim. His work went on despite being diagnosed at age 21 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. In a nod to the public, Hawking's foundation will select 1,000 applicants at random to attend. The abbey will be open for free afterward for the public to pay their respects at his grave. Ticket applications can be made until May 15 by visiting www.stephenhawkinginterment.com . ||||| Stephen Hawking’s Interment at Westminster Abbey It was a wonderful day. The sun shone as guests streamed into Westminster Abbey in the heart of London. The service was a most beautiful occasion, with moving tributes from Professor Hawking’s family and friends. We will update this site with photos and film from the day as it becomes available, so please keep checking back to find out more. You can visit Westminster Abbey to see where the Professor’s ashes are interred. Find out more here: www.westminster-abbey.org/

– The family of the late British physicist Stephen Hawking has opened a lottery for 1,000 tickets for a service of thanksgiving in his honor at Westminster Abbey. Hawking's ashes are to be interred June 15 at the London church between the graves of Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin. The cosmologist's account of the mysteries of space, time, and black holes in A Brief History of Time won him international acclaim. In a nod to the public, Hawking's foundation will select 1,000 applicants at random to attend, the AP reports. The abbey will be open for free afterward for the public to pay their respects at his grave. Ticket applications can be made until May 15 by visiting www.stephenhawkinginterment.com. (Hawking, who died March 14, was explicit about what he wanted on his tombstone.)

Does a musical score hold the secret of hidden Nazi gold? In scenes reminiscent of an Indiana Jones movie, a Dutch film-maker has started digging in a Bavarian town, believing annotations made by Hitler's aide Martin Bormann on a piece of sheet music will guide him to the gold. The theory was first developed by the Dutch writer Karl Hammer Kaatee last year, when he published scans of decades-old sheet music that was allegedly marked-up by Bormann. There's nothing exceptional about the music – Gottfried Federlein's Marsch-Impromptu – but Kaatee was drawn to the pages' hand-drawn scribbles and mysterious annotations. In the waning days of the second world war, he argued, Bormann used Marsch-Impromptu to secretly convey the location of a buried fortune: at least 100 gold bars, plus Hitler's personal collection of diamonds, known as the "tears of the wolf". The Führer supposedly intended for the document to reach Nazi party accountant Franz Xaver Schwarz in Munich; instead, Schwarz was arrested. Now, 51-year-old film-maker Leon Giesen believes he has cracked the code and has already staged three excavations in the town of Mittenwald, in Bavaria, guided by Bormann's markings. According to Spiegel Online, Giesen's theory is centred on the hand-written phrase, "Wo Matthias die Saiten Streichelt" ("where Matthew plucks strings"). This, he claims, is a reference to Mittenwald luthier Matthias Klotz, one of the town's most famous residents. Another phrase, "Enden der Tanz" ("end the dance") is purportedly an allusion to one of the local railway's buffer stops. The sheet music may even contain a concealed diagram of the city's train tracks. Working separately from Kaatee, Giesen is using crowdfunding to finance further Mittenwald digs. The initial drillings were reportedly fruitful: diggers found "anomalous" metals, Giesen told Der Spiegel. "[It] cold be a treasure chest," admitted Jürgen Proske, a local historian and amateur archaeologist, "but it could just be a manhole cover." It is possible sceptics might look at Karl Hammer Kaatee's other work and doubt the likelihood of the music containing a code. For example, his 2006 book Satan's Song purported to be a fictionalised version of the true story of the CIA's hunt for Jesus. ||||| Three attempts have been made in recent weeks to find buried Nazi treasure in the Bavarian town of Mittenwald, close to the Austrian border. Even though the holes in the ground have since been filled, the traces left by drills and blue markings are still visible below a thin layer of autumn leaves. Authorities granted permission for the undertaking in "a bid for clarity," and before too long, the story was making headlines in local papers. "The Hunt for Nazi Gold," the Garmisch-Partenkirchner Tagblatt called it. Residents' reactions range from annoyed to amused. "I've never seen anything like it," says one. "I can't wait to see what they find down there," says another. Behind it all is 51-year-old Leon Giesen, a Dutch filmmaker and musician with a tantalizing theory. He is convinced that Nazi treasure is languishing below Mittenwald's roads -- gold or diamonds, at the very least. The whole idea of Nazi gold has long held a grip on the public imagination, and as a former Nazi stronghold, Bavaria provides fertile soil for many an aspiring Indiana Jones. In 1944, with the Allies and the Soviet Army threatening to advance, it was here that Heinrich Himmler, one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, planned to build an Alpine Fortress -- a national redoubt where Nazi Germany would fight from until the end. And that's not all. In April 1945, the Wehrmacht armed forces and officials of the Reichsbank approved a plan to store at least part of the reserves of the German Reichsbank at Einsiedl, a small town on the southwest shore of Lake Walchen. Much of these assets were handed over to the Allies, but around 100 gold bars, sacks of dollars and Swiss francs and possibly even more hoards went missing. 'Like a Treasure Map' Even though Giesen's theory is an outlandish one by any standards, it has generated reams of publicity in his native Netherlands. It revolves around an annotated score of the "March Impromptu" by composer Gottfried Federlein. Legend has it that in the final days of World War II, Adolf Hitler's private secretary Martin Bormann scribbled letters, figures and runes on the score that form a code giving the coordinates of the hidden Nazi treasure. Supposedly, a military chaplain was tasked with taking the score to someone in Munich. But it apparently never arrived, instead ending up decades later in the hands of Dutch journalist Karl Hammer Kaatee. After spending years attempting to crack the code, he finally made the score public last December and was promptly deluged with e-mails and suggestions. Even though there is no proof that the document is genuine, it exerts a magic pull on many. "It's like a treasure map that can't be deciphered," says Jürgen Proske, a local historian from Garmisch-Partenkirchen and a hobby archeologist who has located Wehrmacht paraphernalia and a wine cellar from 1940 in the mountains around Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Mystery of Mittenwald But filmmaker Giesen now believes he's solved the mystery, maintaining that the line added to the score that reads "Wo Matthias die Saiten Streichelt" ("where Matthew plucks strings") is a reference to Mittenwald and its famous son Matthias Klotz, who founded the town's violinmaking tradition. Moreover, he contends that the score contains a schematic diagram of the train tracks that ran through Mittenwald in the 1940s, and that the rune and fragmented sentence "Enden der Tanz" ("end the dance") at the end of the score means the treasure can be found at the former site of the buffer stops. The drilling effort in Mittenwald proved fruitful, unearthing a large quantity of unidentified metals. "Geologists call it an anomaly, a substance that doesn't belong there," says Giesen. He is now looking for a company specialized in excavations and dealing with explosives to continue the hunt, and is hoping to pay the costs by raising €25,000 with a crowdfunding campaign. He is also considering making a documentary about the project. Local historian Jürgen Proske has his doubts about the find. "It could be a treasure chest," he says. "But it could just be a manhole cover."

– It's quite the fanciful story: Nazis buried diamonds and 100 gold bars in a Bavarian town during World War II, in a spot whose location was encoded into an annotated piece of sheet music by Adolf Hitler's private secretary. That score, to Gottfried Federlein's "March Impromptu," was posted online in December by stumped Dutch journalist Karl Hammer, reports der Spiegel. Now, a 51-year-old fellow Dutchman who spent nine months poring over what NBC News describes as "letters, figures, and lyrics" added to the score thinks he has an answer—or, at least, a "very good theory." Leon Giesen spotted a distinct capital "M," which seemed familiar to him: An image of a Berlin train station had contained the same letter. He now believes the "M" stands for Mittenwald, where Nazi barracks once stood, and that the phrase Enden der Tanz, or "end the dance," refers to one of the rail line's buffer stops, reports the Guardian. If you're doubtful, there's also this: Giesen thinks an added lyric (wo Matthias die Saiten streichelt, "where Matthew plucks strings") refers to 17th-century violin builder Matthias Klotz, who hailed from that same town. Giesen got the go-ahead to drill three holes in Mittenwald, and says his "geophysical survey" revealed an "anomaly" in the earth. Next up: Raise more money for a full excavation, which is no small task. "If there are boxes with valuable items below the surface they could be booby-trapped, so we need to bring in specialists and meet all safety requirements first." (More treasure-related news: Jewels have been found atop the French Alps.)

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - A 16-year-old girl has been gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park while posing for a picture near the animal. The National Park Service says the unidentified girl's injuries were serious but not life-threatening. The agency described her as an exchange student from Taiwan who was visiting the park with her host family. The incident occurred shortly after noon Friday in the Old Faithful area. The Park Service says she and others were between 3 and 6 feet from the bison when she turned her back to the bison to have her picture taken. The bison took a couple steps and gored her. The girl was airlifted to an area hospital. The Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison in the park. In a statement, the Parks Service said: "Visitors are advised to give the animals enough space and be willing to alter their plans to avoid interacting with an animal in close proximity." ||||| A teenage girl visiting Yellowstone National Park suffered serious injuries when she tried to pose for a photo next to a bison. The 16-year-old Taiwanese exchange student and her host family were hiking near Old Faithful Geyser on Friday afternoon when they came across a bison grazing, according to a news release from the National Park Service. The group was between 3 and 6 feet away from the animal at the time. When the teen turned her back to the bison to have her picture taken, the bison took a few steps and "gored her," the National Park Service reported. The girl suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, the National Park Service said. The National Park Service calls bison "unpredictable and dangerous" and says visitors should stay at least 25 yards away. "Visitors are reminded that Yellowstone wildlife is wild," the National Park Service said in a news release. "Wildlife should not be approached, no matter how tame or calm they appear."

– A 16-year-old Taiwanese exchange student got a little too close to a bison while sightseeing with her host family at Yellowstone National Park, reports CBS News, and was gored by the animal. The National Park Service says the girl was between three and six feet from the bison on Friday near Old Faithful when she turned her back to pose for a picture; the animal turned and gored her, causing serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Bison are "unpredictable and dangerous," says the Park Service, per ABC News; "Visitors are reminded that Yellowstone wildlife is wild. Wildlife should not be approached, no matter how tame or calm they appear."

Production firm admits health and safety breaches over incident that saw actor pinned by door while filming The Force Awakens Harrison Ford could have been killed when he was crushed by a hydraulic door on the set of the Millennium Falcon spaceship while filming the most recent Star Wars film, a court has heard. Ford was reprising his role as Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in June 2014 when he was knocked to the ground and crushed beneath the heavy door of the Millennium Falcon while filming at Pinewood Studios in London. The company responsible, Foodles Production, pleaded guilty to two breaches under health and safety legislation. The 71-year-old actor sustained severe injuries from the accident, including a broken left leg, after he walked on to the set not believing it to be live. However, Milton Keynes magistrates court heard how the hydraulic spaceship door was operated by another person and that as the actor passed beneath it, he was hit hard in the pelvis and pinned to the floor. Ford was then airlifted to hospital in Oxford. Andrew Marshall, prosecuting, said the breaches had caused a “risk of death” and that if the emergency stop had not been pressed in time, it could have been a very different outcome for Ford. “It could have killed somebody. The fact that it didn’t was because an emergency stop was activated,” he said. A health and safety executive described the weight of the Millennium Falcon door as comparable to that of a small car. Speaking about the injury to talk-show host Jonathan Ross in December, Ford said the hydraulics involved in the Millennium Falcon had considerably developed since 1977 when the doors were controlled with a pulley operated by hand. Ford said: “Now we had lots of money and technology and so they built a fucking great hydraulic door which closed at light speed and somebody said, ‘Ooh I wonder what this is?’ “And the door came down and hit me on my left hip because I was turned to my right. And then it flung my left leg up and it dislocated my ankle and as it drove me down to the floor, my legs slapped on the ramp up to the Millennium Falcon and broke both bones in my left leg.” Foodles pleaded guilty to one count under section two of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which related to a breach of duty in relation to employees, and a second under section three, a breach over people not employed by the company. Angus Withington, defending, said that while Foodles pleaded guilty, it would contest the level of risk involved. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) welcomed the guilty plea but said it had been a foreseeable incident. A spokesman said: “The British film industry has a world-renowned reputation for making exceptional films. Managing on-set risks in a sensible and proportionate way for all actors and staff – regardless of their celebrity status – is vital to protecting both on-screen and off-screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry.” Foodles, which is owned by Disney, is due to be sentenced on 22 August at Aylesbury crown court. A spokeswoman said the company had cooperated fully with the HSE investigation. “The safety of our cast and crew was always a top priority throughout the production,” it said. Ford recovered from the injuries in time to complete his portrayal of Han Solo in the film, which was set 30 years after the events in 1983’s Return of the Jedi and directed to much critical acclaim by JJ Abrams. It was the most successful film ever at the UK box office and has taken more than $2bn (£1.5bn) worldwide. Abrams later spoke about how much Ford’s injury had “bonded” the crew on set and said when the actor had returned he was “better and stronger than ever, I can’t overstate that. There was a fire in his eyes that you see in the movie.” Production of Star Wars: Episode VIII has got under way at Pinewood and the film is due for release in December 2017. ||||| LONDON – A British production company owned by Disney pleaded guilty Tuesday to two health and safety violations on the set of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in connection with an incident during filming that resulted in a broken leg for Harrison Ford. Ford, reprising his role as Han Solo, was walking through the spaceship Millennium Falcon when a hydraulically operated door knocked him over and pinned him to the floor. Although he suffered only a broken left leg in the June 2014 accident, the force of the blow could have killed him, prosecutors said. London-based Foodles Production acknowledged that it broke the law on the Pinewood Studios set. It pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure workplace safety. Two other charges were dropped. Sentencing is expected to take place next month. Ford, then 71, was airlifted to a hospital in Oxfordshire for treatment. He eventually completed filming on the J.J. Abrams-directed blockbuster. He has said that he did not believe the set to be live when he and Abrams stood conferring on the Millennium Falcon. Someone pressed a button that caused the door to close on him with what health and safety regulators say was a force comparable to the weight of a small car. Related Everything We Know About L3-37, Breakout Star of ‘Solo’ Nick Redman, Documentary Filmmaker and Soundtrack Producer, Dies at 63 “This was a foreseeable incident. Foodles Production Ltd. has accepted it failed to protect actors and staff,” Britain’s Health and Safety Executive said in a statement. “The British film industry has a world-renowned reputation for making exceptional films. Managing on-set risks in a sensible and proportionate way for all actors and staff – regardless of their celebrity status – is vital to protecting both on-screen and off-screen talent, as well as protecting the reputation of the industry.” Ford joked about the accident on a British talk show last December, blaming his injury on modern-day technology. “In the original film, the door…would have been closed with a pulley and a stagehand just closing it,” Ford said. “But now we had lots of money and technology and so they built a f—ing great hydraulic door which closed at light speed.”

– Harrison Ford got crushed by a hydraulic door and pinned to the ground while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens in London, and though he recovered in time to finish the movie, a court heard this week that he could have been killed in the incident, the Guardian reports. Ford walked onto the Millennium Falcon set in June 2014 not knowing it was live, and as he passed underneath the door—which weighs as much as a small car—it "came down and hit me on my left hip because I was turned to my right," Ford explained to talk show host Jonathan Ross in December. "And then it flung my left leg up and it dislocated my ankle and as it drove me down to the floor, my legs slapped on the ramp up to the Millennium Falcon and broke both bones in my left leg." It's not clear exactly how the incident happened, but someone was operating the door at the time. Variety says that "someone pressed a button that caused the door to close on him." Per Ford in December, "They built a f---ing great hydraulic door which closed at light speed and somebody said, ‘Ooh I wonder what this is?’" Foodles Production, the company responsible, pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations, and during court proceedings, a prosecutor said the breaches caused a "risk of death" and that Ford could have died had the emergency stop not been pressed in time. The defense acknowledged that the production company was pleading guilty, but denied the level of risk that was said to be involved.

Russian scientists have drilled into an Antarctic lake that has been sealed off from the rest of the world for about 15 million years. Sampling the waters of Lake Vostok could reveal clues about the evolution of life on Earth and may yield entirely unknown forms of life. According to the Russian newswire RIA Novosti, scientists from Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute in St Petersburg drilled through the 3,768 metres of ice above Lake Vostok to reach the surface of the lake on Sunday. Lake Vostok is the largest of hundreds of lakes that sit under the thick layer of ice on the Antarctic continent. Russian scientists had been planning to drill through the ice to the lake for several decades, but the scheme was only recently approved by the relevant international bodies. Their drilling started in the first few days of this year. In recent decades, scientists have found bacteria and other single-celled organisms that have evolved to live in conditions in which other life forms would struggle to survive, such as darkness or extreme temperatures or salinity. The scientists believe that Lake Vostok might be a haven for so-called "extremophiles". They want to take samples of the water to examine any such creatures, which will have lived in frigid waters for millions of years and followed a distinct evolutionary path to that of the rest of life on Earth. Even though the Russian team has made it through the ice of the oncoming Antarctic autumn this week, it will not be able to take samples of the Vostock water until much later in the year, once winter is over. British scientists are also engaged in a project to drill to a sub-glacial lake on Antarctica. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey will use a hot-water drill to cut through the ice cap to Lake Ellsworth, on the western Antarctic ice sheet, later this year. The team installed its equipment in November last year and will begin drilling in the weeks before Christmas 2012. • This article was amended on 7 February 2012 to clarify the date of the Antarctic winter. ||||| Several Russian news outlets are reporting that Russian scientists have successfully drilled to Antarctica's Lake Vostok, a massive liquid lake cut off from daylight for 14 million years and buried beneath 2 miles (3.7 kilometers) of ice. The lake is the object of a years-long project to study its waters, which may house life forms new to science. The news appears to have originated from Ria Novosti, a state-run news agency, which ran the following quote from an unnamed source with no affiliation: "Yesterday, our scientists stopped drilling at the depth of 3,768 meters [12,362 feet] and reached the surface of the sub-glacial lake." The same news report went on to discuss an old theory that Nazis built a secret base at Lake Vostok in the 1930s, and that German submarines brought Hitler and Eva Braun's remains to Antarctica for cloning purposes following the German surrender in World War II. "There are a lot of rumors going around about penetrating the lake, and we need the Russian program to make the official announcement," said John Priscu, a University of Montana microbiologist and veteran Antarctic researcher who has been involved in Lake Vostok investigations for years "If they were successful, their efforts will transform the way we do science in Antarctica and provide us with an entirely new view of what exists under the vast Antarctic ice sheet," Priscu told OurAmazingPlanet in an email. It appears there has been no official confirmation of the team's success. There are no press releases on the website of Russia's Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, the government agency that oversees the country's polar science expeditions. Possible cold-loving life Lake Vostok, about the size of Lake Ontario, is the largest lake on the icy continent. Scientists estimate the lake itself is roughly 14 million years old — the age of the ice sheet that covers it — and that the water currently in the lake is roughly 1 million years old. Scientists believe the lake could be home to cold-loving microbial life adapted to living in total darkness. The organisms likely survive using mechanisms similar to the ever-increasing parade of creatures that have been discovered living in the total darkness of hydrothermal vents at the bottom of the ocean, deriving energy from minerals in seafloor rocks. Today's news follows on the heels of other unsourced reporting from American news outlets last week, which claimed the scientists were lost, and that something sinister was afoot at Vostok Station. Priscu, who has been in contact with Russian science headquarters in St. Petersburg over the course of the 2011-2012 field season, has firmly refuted such reports. The Vostok team has been racing against the approach of Antarctica's brutal winter weather. Extreme cold can prevent aircraft from operating, and could maroon the team at the station during the total darkness and bitter temperatures of austral winter. Temperatures have already plunged below minus 49 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45 degrees Celsius), and Priscu said it was likely the team would need to leave by this week at the latest. [The Coldest Places on Earth] Race to test for life Even if the Russian team has reached the lake, they will be forced to wait until next season to actually sample the water because of the type of drill they're using, which can bring back only ice — not liquid water — from the deep borehole. The water must freeze over the Antarctic winter before researchers can lay hands on it, to see what organisms might be living in Lake Vostok. Two other nations are mounting projects to drill into ancient Antarctic lakes hidden beneath miles of ice, and with drill technology that can fetch liquid water samples for analysis in the space of days. Both lakes are in West Antarctica, in conditions slightly less brutal than those at Vostok Station, which holds the record for coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth: minus 129 degrees F (minus 89 degrees C), in July 1983. The British are positioned to start drilling at Antarctica's Lake Ellsworth in autumn 2012, and an American team hopes to begin drilling to the Whillans Ice Stream, a network of subglacial waterways, in January 2013. If the Russians have indeed reached Lake Vostok this week, it could be a close contest to see who will be first to test whether life can go on in the cold darkness beneath Antarctica's ice. Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.

– Russian scientists have successfully drilled through more than two miles of ice to reach a "lost world" under Antarctica, according to a Russian newswire. Lake Vostok has been sealed off for some 15 million years. While some fear it has been contaminated by kerosene and other materials used by the Russian team, scientists hope it will yield exceptionally hardy life forms that have evolved in isolation from everything else on Earth, the Guardian reports. The expedition could "transform the way we do science in Antarctica and provide us with an entirely new view of what exists under the vast Antarctic ice sheet," a veteran Antarctic researcher tells LiveScience. The Russian team only has a few days before brutal cold will force them to leave the research station, and any analysis of lake samples will have to wait until later this year. American and British teams are also working to obtain samples from the lakes under Antarctica, of which Vostok—the size of Lake Ontario but only discovered in the '90s—is the biggest.

Abstract Given prior evidence that an affected woman conveys a higher risk of ovarian cancer to her sister than to her mother, we hypothesized that there exists an X-linked variant evidenced by transmission to a woman from her paternal grandmother via her father. We ascertained 3,499 grandmother/granddaughter pairs from the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute observing 892 informative pairs with 157 affected granddaughters. We performed germline X-chromosome exome sequencing on 186 women with ovarian cancer from the registry. The rate of cancers was 28.4% in paternal grandmother/granddaughter pairs and 13.9% in maternal pairs consistent with an X-linked dominant model (Chi-square test X2 = 0.02, p = 0.89) and inconsistent with an autosomal dominant model (X2 = 20.4, p<0.001). Paternal grandmother cases had an earlier age-of-onset versus maternal cases (hazard ratio HR = 1.59, 95%CI: 1.12–2.25) independent of BRCA1/2 status. Reinforcing the X-linked hypothesis, we observed an association between prostate cancer in men and ovarian cancer in his mother and daughters (odds ratio, OR = 2.34, p = 0.034). Unaffected mothers with affected daughters produced significantly more daughters than sons (ratio = 1.96, p<0.005). We performed exome sequencing in reported BRCA negative cases from the registry. Considering age-of-onset, one missense variant (rs176026 in MAGEC3) reached chromosome-wide significance (Hazard ratio HR = 2.85, 95%CI: 1.75–4.65) advancing the age of onset by 6.7 years. In addition to the well-known contribution of BRCA, we demonstrate that a genetic locus on the X-chromosome contributes to ovarian cancer risk. An X-linked pattern of inheritance has implications for genetic risk stratification. Women with an affected paternal grandmother and sisters of affected women are at increased risk for ovarian cancer. Further work is required to validate this variant and to characterize carrier families. Author summary Our article uses the largest familial study of ovarian cancer to argue that there exists an ovarian cancer susceptibility gene on the X-chromosome acting independently of BRCA1 and BRCA2. This observation implies that there may be many cases of seemingly sporadic ovarian cancer that are actually inherited; for example, only daughters who inherit risk from their fathers. This X-linked pattern implies novel ways to prioritize families for screening even without additional testing—sisters must both be carriers or neither; fathers of women with potentially inherited ovarian cancer may receive new attention. In addition, we found evidence that other cancers affect fathers and sons in these families. Using sequencing technology, we isolated a candidate gene, MAGEC3, that may be associated with earlier onset of ovarian cancer. The further study of this gene and the X-linked pattern will require additional study. Citation: Eng KH, Szender JB, Etter JL, Kaur J, Poblete S, Huang R-Y, et al. (2018) Paternal lineage early onset hereditary ovarian cancers: A Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry study. PLoS Genet 14(2): e1007194. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007194 Editor: Charis Eng, Cleveland Clinic Genomic Medicine Institute, UNITED STATES Received: October 25, 2017; Accepted: January 9, 2018; Published: February 15, 2018 Copyright: © 2018 Eng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability: Data are restricted due to ethical concerns in keeping with the institute's policies on germline variation data and the level of patient consent gained. Data are available from the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry (ovarianregistry@roswellpark.org) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data. Funding: This research was funded by the National Institutes of Health under award numbers P50CA159981, K01LM012100 and P30CA016056 as well as the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation (https://www.roswellpark.org/giving/about-foundation). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Introduction A history of ovarian cancer among first-order relatives remains the strongest and best-characterized predictor of ovarian cancer risk [1–3] and a main determinant of genetic testing referral [4, 5]. The evidence for a monogenic, autosomal dominant mode of inherited risk dates to the pre-BRCA era where studies focused on assessing heritability [6,7] using affected first-order and second-order [8] female relatives. In a systematic review, Stratton and colleagues noted that, “not explicable in terms of any genetic model,” an affected woman’s sisters are at higher risk of disease than their mother [1]. We propose an explanation to this paradox is the existence of an X-linked gene that must pass preferentially from a carrier father to each of his daughters. Genetic evidence of X-linkage has appeared in cytogenetic studies where loss of X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) can be visualized by loss of heterochromatin based Barr bodies [9]. Studies of ovarian tumors’ genomic profiles show loss of heterozygosity around Xq25 and Xp [10,11] as well as patterns of XCI [12,13] possibly associated with tumors of low malignant potential [14]. Studies investigating a mechanistic connection between BRCA1 and XCI [15,16], especially in tissue after transformation [17], are mixed but tend to conclude that XCI dysregulation is BRCA independent [9,18,19]. The Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry housed at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (Buffalo, NY), for over 35 years comprises over 50,000 participants and 5,600 cancers in 2,600 families. To leverage the deep pedigree data in this study, we reasoned that, if the disease allele passes through the father’s side of the family, it could be inferred by disease in a woman’s father’s mother. That is, by considering the frequency of disease transmission in grandmother/granddaughter pairs with an intermediate son/father. Under an autosomal dominant model, an affected grandmother (either maternal or paternal) passes the disease allele to her granddaughter with probability 1/4. This means that data previously presented by affected mothers and sisters are not able to discriminate between autosomal and X-linked models and these effects have been previously indistinguishable by segregation analysis due to disease censoring in fathers. In the X-linked dominant model, while a maternal grandmother again passes the disease allele to her granddaughter with probability 1/4, a paternal grandmother passes the allele to her granddaughter with probability 1/2 due to deterministic transmission by the obligate carrier son/father. Therefore, we might discriminate between autosomal versus X-linked models by considering the rate of cancers in granddaughters with exactly one affected grandmother. An autosomal dominant model predicts an equal rate of cancers in maternal-lineage and paternal-lineage pairs while an X-linked dominant model predicts that paternal-lineage families will have twice the rate of cancers (Fig 1). PPT PowerPoint slide PowerPoint slide PNG larger image larger image TIFF original image Download: Fig 1. X-linked model. Schema for X-linked inheritance when cancer status is specific to women (all carrier men are effectively disease censored). Two family patterns with a pair of first-degree affected women are the maternal grandmother (MGM) family and the paternal grandmother (PGM) family. Stratton’s paradox implies that PGM families are more likely under X-linkage because a father must pass the variant to all of his daughters. The rates are equal if the variant is autosomal. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007194.g001 We collected almost 3,500 grandmother/granddaughter pairs within the registry to test this paternal lineage hypothesis and were able to sequence 159 germlines to search for candidate variants. Discussion We have presented evidence that there may exist an X-linked model of transmission of an ovarian cancer susceptibility gene. Our observations are supported by a large familial study and the novel use of grandmother/granddaughter pairs to observe an increased rate of cancer among paternal granddaughters, an earlier age of onset, and a bias towards families with more daughters. We sequenced the X chromosomes of a small number of registry members in order to isolate a candidate gene, but we cannot rule out the possibility that our reported variant is in linkage with the true variant. However, the segregation analysis and age of onset analyses do suggest that it is likely to lie on the X chromosome. Future studies are warranted to confirm the identity and function of the X-linked gene that contributes to familial transmission of ovarian cancer. Limitations of our study include the case-only design, which has required us to forgo investigating common variants. While the number of pedigrees in the registry is large, unrelated case-control studies are much larger and would likely yield other potential variants. Our study population is nearly exclusively Caucasian and our results may not extend to other populations. Our exome sequencing approach focuses on the coding regions of the X-chromosome only. This design is unable to identify intragenic variants and complex rearrangements not involving exons. Evidence of X-linkage is not inconsistent with the prevailing autosomal dominant BRCA1/2 with polygenic weak variant effects model for ovarian cancer [8]. Ramus and colleagues [21] previously noted a lack of BRCA mutations in more than 33% of families with 3 or more ovarian cancers and 35% of families with breast/ovary cancers and concluded that there is a missing susceptibility gene. In families with two cases of ovarian cancer, the rate of BRCA mutations increased from 27% with no breast cancers to 83% with two breast cancer cases suggesting that BRCA mutations may be more specific to breast cancers. Schildkraut and colleagues [25] inferred that there must exist both shared and disease-specific genes after estimating the heritable correlation between breast and ovary cancers at h2 = 0.48. The missing gene might be ovarian cancer specific. We suspect that the difficulty identifying this missing heritability may be due, in part, to historically inconsistent disease definition. In our literature review, we noted that studies that ascertained patients for breast cancer first and then acquired family members with ovarian cancer only saw increased risk to mothers [26]. Indeed, aggregated breast/ovary cancer studies [27] tend to show the autosomal dominant model while studies that carefully isolate ovary cancers uncover the X-linked, sister/mother effect [1]: given a family history of breast cancer, a mother with breast cancer increases the ovarian cancer risk to her daughter (OR = 2.3) while an affected sister yields a negligible odds ratio (OR = 1.1). Conversely in families with a history of ovarian cancer only, a mother’s ovarian cancer raised her daughters’ ovarian cancer risk (OR = 2.3, but p>0.05) while a sister’s ovarian cancer nearly quadruples her sister’s risk (OR = 3.92) [28]. Therefore, the autosomal dominant genes may be common to both breast and ovary cancers while the X-linked gene may be ovary-specific. We emphasize that future studies should be carefully designed to isolate X-linked versus autosomal and ovary-specific versus breast-ovary associations and to distinguish sporadic and hereditary ovarian cancers. Identifying a significant X-linked contribution to familial ovarian cancer risk has implications for clinical genetics: with suspicion of paternal lineage, an affected woman’s sisters are at significantly increased risk for ovarian cancer and ought to be counseled. If the affected woman carries the X-linked gene through her father, her sisters must also be carriers. It is reasonable to conjecture that maternal-lineage bias may have affected how patients, physicians, and researchers view family history and so the X-linked pattern may imply a familial origin for ovarian cancers previously thought to be sporadic cases. In particular, if the disease transmits through the father’s side, cases manifesting in only children or a woman with only brothers may not appear overtly hereditary. Using the rate of second generation grandmother pairs, we observed twice as many affected maternal grandmothers versus paternal. Without ascertainment bias, we would have expected a balanced rate, so we might predict that, other things equal, we have missed almost two paternal cases for every observed one. We have provided some evidence that MAGEC3 is a potential candidate for the X-linked gene near previous linkage loci and it possesses a missense variant with large effect, rare prevalence and is associated with earlier onset. While MAGEC3 is thought to be a cancer testis antigen, it shows some expression in normal heart, brain, fallopian tube and pituitary gland tissues suggesting that the loss of expression of MAGEC3 plays some role in cancer formation. We have previously shown that co-expression patterns of the MAGE genes are non-random in ovarian tumors [29] and that other X-linked CT antigens (NY-ESO-1 encoded by CTAG1B) signaling highly aggressive tumors [30]. The only MHD-carrying yeast homologous gene (NSE3) binds with NSE1 and complexes with SMC5/SMC6 to repair double strand breaks via homologous recombination [31–33]. On the other hand, family members MAGEA [34, 35], MAGEC2 [36], carrying a paralogous MHD, have been shown to bind to RING domain proteins to form a p53 interacting E3 ubiquitin ligase that promotes tumorigenesis. Recently, computational modeling of sex-bias in cancers affecting both sexes has identified MAGEC3 directly as a putative X-linked tumor suppressor [37]. Reinforcing our observation that men in X-linked families may be at increased risk of prostate cancer, the cytoband housing MAGEC3 (Xq27.2) has been previously linked to these hereditary cancers [38], raising the possibility that there is a common hereditary X-linked locus responsible for reproductive tract-specific cancers. While not unexpected for the X-chromosome [39], the candidate SNP appeared to rest in HWE while the HapMap populations reject HWE for this SNP. Given that the population frequencies are correlated with ovarian cancer incidence, we conjecture that the general population is under selection against the G allele (and against ovarian cancer) and it is the registry population that inherits neutrally and therefore more often manifests disease. This conjecture is consistent with the observations that CT antigens, especially those on the X chromosome, are under strong positive selection [40] and that the region containing MAGEC3 shows strong inter-population difference [41]. While the latter study localized the effect to MAGEC2 and not MAGEC3, their criterion for the frequency difference was aggressively high (delta > 0.90) which would preclude the SNPs that may be still be in the middle of a soft selective sweep. That the beneficial A allele in rs176026 has not yet fixed may explain why we have found a common variant, but it may also imply that the true cancer phenotype variant is hitchhiking along with the selective pressure behind the CT antigens. Methods Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry Families in the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry (formerly Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry, Buffalo, NY) have been accessioned continuously from 1981 to present as described previously [8,42]. Briefly, qualifying families must have (a) two or more cases of ovarian cancer, (b) one ovarian cancer with two or more other cancers or (c) an early onset (age 45) ovarian cancer and at least one other cancer. Families provide written informed consent under Roswell Park Cancer Institute protocol CIC95-27. Cases are verified by medical record and/or death certificate when required and stage and histology are verified by a registry pathologist. The registry comprises 50,401 individuals including 5,614 ovarian cancers from 2,636 unique families. Families are also classified by disease pattern: families manifesting only ovarian cancer are termed “site-specific ovary” families and families with a number of breast cancers as well as ovarian cancers are “breast and ovary” families. First and second order pair ascertainment Considering women who (a) were at least 45 without disease at last contact or (b) had died without disease and those with confirmed ovarian cancer, we observed over 8,900 mother-daughter pairs and 27,000 sister-sister pairs. From large registry pedigrees, we ascertained 3,499 women with two grandmothers who possessed a recorded disease status. Of these granddaughters, 2,569 reported no affected grandmothers (73.4%), 892 had exactly one affected grandmother (25.5%) and 38 had two affected grandmothers (1.1%). These women came from large pedigrees where the average family under study has 27.3 individuals (range: 8–330). Of the 3,499 pairs, 619 belonged to high-risk families tested for BRCA mutations as previously described [8]. Families are classified as BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 positive if any one family member tests positive for a deleterious mutation. If every family member tests negative, the family is classified as BRCA negative. X-chromosome sequencing Due to the age of the study cohort and availability of blood samples, we could not sequence all of the grandmother/granddaughter pairs. We focused on 159 women who reported a negative BRCA test and had an available DNA sample. DNA samples were whole-exome sequenced using Agilent SureSelect Human All Exome 50Mb kits v3 and v5. Raw sequence reads were aligned to the Human Reference Genome (NCBI Build 37) using the Burrows-Wheeler Aligner (BWA) [43], Picard [44] and GATK [45]. We retained variants within the X-chromosome exome with at least a 10% rate of non-reference genotypes, using the total, 2,161, to set the chromosome-wide significance threshold for the log-rank test of age-of-onset association at–log 10 (0.05/2161) = 4.636 on the log odds (LOD) scale. BRCA status was re-evaluated based on the sequencing results. Population genetics Ovarian cancer incidence data was downloaded from the IARC website [46]. HapMap allele frequencies were accessed via dbSNP and 1000 genomes populations via the Phase 3 1000 genomes browser. Correlations between the incidence and allele frequency were assessed by simple linear regression. The sequenced women all self-report Caucasian ancestry which we confirmed through principal components analysis. Within sib-ship likelihood models Assume that we observe W = W n + W c women with ovarian cancer among a sistership of N = N n + N c women, where the subscripts n and c refer to non-carriers and variant carriers. The likelihood of W given the probability of disease in carriers (p c ) and non-carriers (p n ) can be constructed by assuming that, conditional on N n and N c , W n and W c are simply binomial random variables. Under an autosomal model, Nc is Binomial (N, 0.5). Under the X-linked model, P(N c = N) = P(N c = 0). Evaluating these likelihoods by enumerating admissible combinations of (W n , W c , N n , N c ) is straightforward. Tissue expression data We downloaded GTEx v7 data (https://www.gtexportal.org/) aligning reported female cases only with known tissue sample types. We normalized the MAGEC3 RNAseq levels to MAGEA1 levels on a per sample basis. TCGA ovary data on the quantile normalized HuEx array were downloaded from the GDAC Firehose (https://gdac.broadinstitute.org/) and cBioPortal’s normalized RNAseq Z-scores. Functional analysis We examined SNP-based linkage via LDLink, LDproxy [47] using the CEU population for reference. The functional predictions for missense SNPs were scored by PolyPhen [22] and the regulation was scored by HaploReg (v4) [48] using the EUR reference and its default position weight-matrix scoring algorithms [49]. Statistical analysis Expected frequencies under the autosomal model were based on the pooled case frequency (157/892 = 17.6%). It can be shown that the X-linked likelihood was maximized by a granddaughter cancer rate of 14.0%. Goodness-of-fit was tested versus a chi-square distribution. Pedigree likelihoods were evaluated using the kinship2 [20] algorithms. Relative risk and odds ratio confidence intervals were computed under the log transform. Age-of-onset was defined as the shortest time to death, ovarian cancer diagnosis or prophylactic oophorectomy censored by age at last contact. The majority of granddaughter ages were observed (89.0%, 3080/3461). Risk of disease was estimated using the product-limit (Kaplan-Meier) estimate, tested with the log-rank test and hazard ratios estimated through Cox’s partial likelihood with graphical diagnostics for proportional hazards. All tests are two-sided and analyses were performed in R3.3.1 including the survival package. Supporting information S1 Fig. Sequencing results. X-chromosome wide exome sequencing (A) yielded a single SNP associated with earlier age of ovarian cancer onset (B). The variant in in MAGEC3 affects the backbone between two MAGE homology domains (C) leading to a predicted conformational change and loss of function. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007194.s001 (TIF) S2 Fig. Raw RNAseq count data from GTEX. (A) MAGEC1 and MAGEC2 show classic cancer testis antigen patterns while MAGEC3 shows moderate levels of expression in most tissues. (B) Log10 RPKM RNAseq data again shows MAGEC3 has moderate expression in a variety of tissues. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007194.s002 (TIF) S3 Fig. MAGEC3 versus MAGEA1 expression in normal and ovarian tumors. Relative expression to MAGEA1, which is not expressed in normal tissue, is nearly 100x higher in brain tissue. The TCGA categories are ovarian tumors measured by array and RNA sequencing. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007194.s003 (TIF) S4 Fig. Population allele frequency. G/A allele relative frequencies by population and geographic location (A); CHD and ASW are the Chinese American and African American populations in Denver and southwest USA. Sorted by allele frequency and expected genotype frequency (B). Alelle frequency is correlated with national incidence of ovarian cancer in HapMap and 1000 genomes (C). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1007194.s004 (TIF) Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank and acknowledge the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry participants, donors and past researchers. Data referenced in this manuscript utilizes GTEx Release V7 (dbGaP Accession phs000424.v7.p2). ||||| Image copyright Getty Images US scientists believe they have identified a new gene mutation that can raise the risk of ovarian cancer, and is passed from father to daughter. It is inherited through the X-chromosome and is independent of other known susceptibility genes that women can already be tested for. Experts say more studies are needed to confirm the identity and function of the gene. The latest findings appear in the journal PLoS Genetics. Family risk Currently, women with a strong family history of cancer can be tested for the BRCA gene, which greatly increases a woman's chance of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Angelina Jolie inherited BRCA1 from her mother - she had preventative surgery after her doctors estimated she had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. But researchers believe there may be many other cases of seemingly sporadic ovarian cancer that are actually inherited - some via the X chromosome girls get from their father. Image copyright AFP/getty Image caption Angelina Jolie had her first preventative surgery in 2013 Men pass on one X chromosome to their daughters. Dr Kevin Eng and colleagues at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute honed in on one suspect gene, called MAGEC3, located on the X chromosome from fathers. Ovarian cancers linked to genes inherited from the father (and paternal grandmother) had an earlier age-of-onset than ones linked to maternal genes, and were also associated with higher rates of prostate cancer in fathers and sons. Lead author Kevin Eng from the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Buffalo, New York said: "What we have to do next is make sure we have the right gene by sequencing more families. This finding has sparked a lot of discussion within our group about how to find these X-linked families. "It's an all-or-none kind of pattern: A family with three daughters who all have ovarian cancer is more likely to be driven by inherited X mutations than by BRCA mutations." Ovarian cancer and BRCA Most women in the UK have a one in 54 chance of developing ovarian cancer in their lifetime, BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that help repair damage to the DNA in our cells. If people inherit a mutated version of either of these genes it puts them at greater risk of certain cancers. BRCA 1 mutation gives women a lifetime risk of ovarian cancer of 40-50%. If women know they have BRCA gene mutations, they can choose to take action before cancer develops. Angelina Jolie had her fallopian tubes and ovaries removed when she found she had BRCA1 Dr Catherine Pickworth from Cancer Research UK said: "This research suggests that some women's risk of ovarian cancer could be passed down through their father's family, as well as their mother's, due to newly discovered faulty genes. "In future, this could help women with a family history of ovarian cancer better understand their risk of developing the disease. This is important because ovarian cancer is often diagnosed at a late stage when it's harder to treat. Further work is now needed to get a clearer picture of how the genetic faults uncovered in this research might affect inherited risk of ovarian cancer." Annwen Jones, Chief Executive of Target Ovarian Cancer, said: "These findings, if borne out by further research, would represent a significant step forward in ovarian cancer prevention, saving thousands of lives". ||||| Does your baldness gene come from your mother or father? There are a lot of myths and misinformation about the genetic causes of male pattern baldness (MPB). One of the most enduring is that a man inherits the genetic propensity for MPB from his mother. While there is some truth to this, it is not the whole story. The primary baldness gene is on the X, or female chromosome, which men do inherit from their mothers. A study from the University of Bonn in Germany from 2005 confirmed this, and added fuel to the mother myth. And it is true: the hereditary factor is more dominant on the mother’s side. If your dad has a full head of hair but your mom’s brother is a 5 on the Norwood Scale at age 35, chances are you will follow your uncle’s journey through MPB. However, the gene for MPB is actually passed down from both sides of the family. Furthermore baldness genes may skip generations, and skip people within the same generation. This is why it is perfectly possible to have an older brother with enviable full, thick hair, while you are stuck with a Norwood 3 at age 27. The result means that there are millions of families where the older brother gets the George Clooney hair while the younger is stuck with the Vin Diesel look, or visa versa. Furthermore, if you take four brothers it is absolutely possible to have a Norwood 3, 5 and 7 and a fourth brother with no MPB at all within that same family. If most of the men on your mother’s AND your father’s side are bald, then you, your sons and brothers all have an increased propensity to experience MPB. Life just isn’t fair sometimes. Luckily we live in an era when you don’t have sit by and simply watch your hair thin away to nothing. There are many FDA-approved medical advances that help you keep the hair you have, and even if you think you are too far gone, chances are you may be a candidate for a hair transplant. If you are considering a transplant choose your physician carefully. Research the physician and clinic, consider their reputation, training, experience, accreditations and patient comments. Expect to meet and talk with the physician—the one who will actually do your procedure—at the consultation. And, check out real hair transplant before and after photos on actual patients of the clinic. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dr. James Harris is an internationally renowned hair transplant surgeon, inventor of patented follicular unit extraction technology, published author in the field of hair restoration and an advocate for patient care. He is currently at the forefront of research and development in the field of hair cloning. Learn more about Dr. Harris or read rave reviews from his patients. ||||| Fathers could be passing on a genetic mutation to their daughters that further adds to their inherited risk of ovarian cancer, new research suggests. A study of about 10,000 families impacted by ovarian cancer found a genetic mutation passed down through the father's X chromosome is entirely separate from the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutaions which are passed on by both mother and father. This mutation was also found to be associated with higher rates of prostate cancer in fathers and sons. Published in journal PLOS, the researchers said the findings of the 30-year study could explain why some families have multiple members affected by the disease. "A family with three daughters who all have ovarian cancer is more likely to be driven by inherited X mutations than by BRCA mutations," said Kevin Eng, a professor of oncology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. Using the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry, researchers looked at data collected over 30 years and collected information about pairs of granddaughters and grandmothers. They then sequenced portions of the X-chromosome from 186 women affected by the cancer. Women born to fathers whose mother had been affected by ovarian cancer were twice as likely to develop the disease, compared to those who inherited the disease from their mother's side, data showed. "The paternal-lineage women had 2.04 times the risk of maternal-lineage women," the authors wrote. Women carrying this previously unknown mutation on the X-chromosome also developed the cancer more than six years earlier than average. "We observed a significant acceleration in the development of disease in granddaughters with an affected paternal grandmother versus maternal grandmother," wrote the authors. Professor Georgia Chenevix-Trench of the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute said it had always been known ovarian cancer could be inherited through the father. What the new research does suggest is that there might be something specifically on the X chromosome that adds to that risk, the Australian geneticist said. However she added more research is needed, noting a previous and much larger study failed to show any association between the specific mutation variation the authors refer to and disease. "What's interesting about this paper, if it's correct, is that there seems to be something extra on the X chromosome that the paternal grandmother will pass on to her son and that will always be passed on to his daughters," Professor Chenevix-Trench told AAP. "It doesn't all of a sudden mean most of a woman's risk of ovarian cancer is inherited through the father," she said. "It just means there might be a little bit of additional risk through your father." ||||| Fathers may be partially responsible for passing on to their daughters genetic risk factors for ovarian cancer, a new study published Thursday in PLoS Genetics has shown. By looking at the patterns of cancer within families, researchers found that women had a higher risk of ovarian cancer if their paternal grandmothers were afflicted by the disease. Women with a mutation on a particular gene found on the X chromosome, called MAGEC3, appeared to get ovarian cancer 6.7 years earlier than they would have without the mutation. Among the families involved in the study, the average age that women with the mutation got ovarian cancer was 44. Women carry two X chromosomes in their cells—one from their mother, the other from their father. “The gene does exist on mom’s chromosomes too,” Kevin Eng, a researcher at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute who was one of the authors of the paper, told Newsweek. But because a woman’s father has only one X chromosome to give to his daughters, a father with mutations in this gene is guaranteed to pass it on. “If you do inherit it from dad, the pattern is really all or nothing,” Eng said. “That means you and every one of your sisters is going to carry the mutation.” Eng and his colleagues used data from an ovarian cancer registry for people with at least two cases of the disease in their families. “Physicians at Roswell Park have been running this registry for quite a long time,” Eng said—about 35 years. The registry includes about 2,700 families. There are other, more famous mutations on genes linked with ovarian cancer risk: BRCA1 and BRCA2. According to the American Cancer Society, women who carry a BRCA1 mutation have up to a 70 percent chance of getting ovarian cancer at some point. Genetic tests exist for BRCA1 and BRCA2, and in theory testing could be done for MAGEC3. But more research would need to be done before that happens. Less than 10 percent of ovarian cancers may be due to genetic mutations, the American Cancer Society noted. Ovarian cancer is responsible for less than 2 percent of new cancer diagnoses in the United States each year. Almost half of people with ovarian cancer are still alive five years after they are diagnosed.

– Sons inherit a baldness gene from their moms, and now scientists are pointing to another parent-child link on the opposite side. Per the BBC, fathers can pass down a gene mutation to their daughters that can raise the risk of ovarian cancer, per a study published Thursday in Plos Genetics. The 30-year study of nearly 3,500 grandmother/granddaughter pairs culled from the Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry found that women had a spiked risk of ovarian cancer if their grandmothers on their fathers' side had had the disease. The mutation, which was found to be distinct from the BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations that are inherited from both parents, was also tied to a higher rate of prostate cancer in both the fathers and their sons, per News.com.au. To work out their experiment, researchers pulled 186 women with ovarian cancer and sequenced their X chromosomes. What they found was women whose paternal grandmothers suffered from the disease had double the risk of developing the cancer than those whose maternal grandmothers had had it. Daughters get a total of one X chromosome from their dads, and on that chromosome is where the possibly mutated MAGEC3 gene lies. Women can receive the gene from their moms as well—but since their fathers are only giving them one X chromosome, if the gene is mutated, the daughters are sure to receive it, per Newsweek. Women with this mutated gene also seemed to get ovarian cancer nearly seven years earlier than they would have without the mutated gene. That means if sisters within one family get ovarian cancer, all paths may lead back to Dad. "A family with three daughters who all have ovarian cancer is more likely to be driven by inherited X mutations than by BRCA mutations," study co-author Kevin Eng says. (Scientists hope a blood test may one day catch ovarian cancer early.)

Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| The New York Times has published an anonymous op-ed it says is by a senior official in the Trump administration, who writes that there is a "quiet resistance" to the president within his own administration "working diligently" to block President Trump's "worst inclinations." Mr. Trump slammed the op-ed and The New York Times at the White House Wednesday afternoon, and then later tweeted, "TREASON?" In an editor's note, The Times says it knows the author's identity but agreed not to reveal it because the person's job would be jeopardized. "President Trump is facing a test to his presidency unlike any faced by a modern American leader," the official wrote. "The dilemma — which he does not fully grasp — is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations." While the official says that this cadre of administration insiders should not be associated with the "resistance" of the left, they believe that the president's actions are "detrimental to the health of our republic." The official says, "The root of the problem is the president's amorality." Mr. Trump addressed the op-ed during brief remarks Wednesday afternoon, slamming the "anonymous source within the administration" and calling it "really a disgrace." Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement called the anonymous author "gutless." "We are disappointed, but not surprised, that the paper chose to publish this pathetic, reckless, and selfish op-ed," Sanders said. "The individual behind this piece has chosen to deceive, rather than support, the duly elected President of the United States. He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people. This coward should do the right thing and resign." In the op-ed, the anonymous official argues that most executive branch staffers are "working to insulate their operations from his whims," as Mr. Trump's "impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back." The author quotes another unnamed official as saying that "there is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next." The author praises other officials who have privately stood up to Mr. Trump. "The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren't for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful," the official writes. The author also criticizes the president's friendliness towards autocrats and dictators such as Russian President Vladimir Putin. The official says there some "early whispers within the cabinet" of the 25th Amendment — which provides a mechanism for replacing a president who is incapacitated — but "no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis." "The bigger concern is not what Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility," the official writes. "There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first," the official ends his op-ed. "But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans." At a meeting with sheriffs from around the country at the White House Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Trump denounced the op-ed and took a jab at The New York Times. "When you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who is failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons — and the New York Times is failing — if I weren't here, I believe the New York Times probably wouldn't even exist," he said. Pres. Trump: "When you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who is failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons -- and the New York Times is failing -- if I weren't here, I believe the New York Times probably wouldn't even exist." pic.twitter.com/cnv0oltPjq — CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) September 5, 2018 Mr. Trump tweeted later about the op-ed-, writing just "TREASON?" in one tweet. In another, he showed a video of his comments at the White House and wrote "The Failing New York Times!" In a later tweet, he asked if the "the so-called 'Senior Administration Official' really exist, or is it just the Failing New York Times with another phony source? If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once!" ||||| By and large, the Donald Trump era has wrought a series of unprecedented actions, uncharted waters, first times for everything. Arguably one of the most stunning such firsts, at least in the media landscape, arrived on Wednesday afternoon, when The New York Times published an op-ed submitted by an anonymous “senior official” titled “I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.” This official not only confirmed the West Wing chaos so often described in White House reporting, but also informed readers that concerned White House staffers are working on a stealth plan to protect the republic from Trump’s erratic behavior as commander in chief, in what read like a mixture of a cry for help, a patriotic warning, a professional exculpation, and a sign that the inmates know they are banging around in a tortured asylum. The article was strewn with eye-popping, stomach-churning confessions such as: “The dilemma . . . is that many of the senior officials in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations,” and: “from the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in chief’s comments and actions.” Finally, the author invoked a fear of the 25th Amendment, which my colleague Gabriel Sherman reported on last year. “Given the instability many witnessed,” the author noted, “there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president. But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis.” Inside the Times’s newsroom and Washington bureau, the op-ed caused jaws to drop. The news and opinion departments function independent of one another, and editorial-page editor James Bennet confirmed to me that he did not inform executive editor Dean Baquet about the column in advance, in order to respect the firewall. “People are totally stunned,” one senior Times journalist told me. “It’s a parlor game. Everybody’s trying to figure out who it is, including the Washington bureau. It feels like a crazy moment.” Indeed, Times reporters who cover the White House now find themselves in the rather unorthodox and surely awkward position of trying to discern the identity of a source whose anonymity is being protected by another department of their own organization. “I’m obviously very concerned about preserving the anonymity of the writer,” Bennet told me, “but I understand reporters are doing their job.” In a brief phone interview Wednesday evening, Bennet wouldn’t say much about the genesis of the op-ed. He offered that it had already been in the works before similar claims about a White House in crisis began leaking out of Bob Woodward’s forthcoming Trump tell-all, Fear. Jim Dao, the editor who oversees op-eds for the Times, told CNN that “several days ago” the official “contacted me through an intermediary.” Bennet told me there was a rigorous vetting process, and that his team took seriously the precautions to protect the identity of the official about whom America’s political and media establishment is now engaged in a feverish guessing game. Bennet elaborated that the Times has granted anonymity to op-ed writers before—say, a person inside Syria whose life would be endangered by a byline, or an undocumented immigrant fearful of deportation. But one cannot recall an instance when the Times, or any major newspaper, offered an unnamed administration official a platform upon which to torch the very administration for which he or she works. It’s a decision that speaks to the extraordinary times we live in, and one that was bound to be met with controversy, adding to an already substantial series of controversies the opinion section has weathered under Bennet’s stewardship. “The author of the anonymous op-ed is hoping to vindicate the reputation of like-minded senior Trump staffers,” wrote David Frum, the former George W. Bush aide and anti-Trump conservative, in a piece for The Atlantic. “But what the author has just done is throw the government of the United States into even more dangerous turmoil. He or she has enflamed the paranoia of the president and empowered the president’s willfulness.” Trump, in a televised appearance on Wednesday, renounced the piece and its author. “We have somebody in what I call the ‘failing New York Times‘ talking about he’s part of the resistance within the Trump administration. This is what we have to deal with,” he said. “So when you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who’s failing, and probably here for all the wrong reasons—no. And The New York Times is failing. . . . So if the ‘failing New York Times’ has an anonymous editorial—can you believe it, anonymous, meaning gutless, a gutless editorial.” (Editorials, intended to reflect the position of a newspaper’s editorial board, appear without a byline. Wednesday’s bombshell was in fact an anonymous opinion piece.) “There will be a lot of criticism, and I understand it,” Bennet told me. “The question for us was, does making this unusual grant, is it merited by the significance of the piece? We feel that it was.” He added, “Our job isn’t to publish op-eds to further one political argument or another. Our job is to publish op-eds that further the public’s understanding of what the hell is going on, and I think this piece makes a significant contribution.” ||||| President condemns ‘gutless’ source of piece revealing opposition within administration and claims paper must hand writer over Donald Trump has called for the New York Times to reveal the identity of a senior administration official who the paper says is the author of a column revealing they are part of a “resistance” against the president’s “worst inclinations”. The president vented his fury at the essay, which the newspaper said it had taken the rare step of running anonymously, saying the writer’s “identity is known to us” and their “job would be jeopardized by its disclosure”. Its publication has prompted a frenzied search for the author. Trump called for the source to be revealed in tweets on Wednesday evening, with one asking starkly: “TREASON?” Trump aide's anonymous op-ed reveals 'resistance' inside administration Read more Then in a follow up tweet, he insisted: “If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once.” Later he tweeted: Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) I’m draining the Swamp, and the Swamp is trying to fight back. Don’t worry, we will win! Earlier a defiant Trump, appearing at an unrelated event at the White House, said of the New York Times: “They don't like Donald Trump and I don't like them.” He derided the article as “anonymous, meaning gutless” and described the author as “some anonymous source within the administration probably who is failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons”. The essay immediately triggered a guessing game as to the author's identity on social media, in newsrooms and inside the White House, where officials were blindsided by its publication. The article’s language was being scrutinized for clues. The writer, claiming to be part of the “resistance” to Trump – but not from the left – said: “Many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office.” The column went on: “It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room … We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do what's right even when Donald Trump won't.” Play Video 1:29 'Gutless': Trump responds to anonymous New York Times op-ed – video Brian Stelter, senior media correspondent at CNN, reported that the author of the piece had used an intermediary several days ago to make contact with the New York Times op-ed editor Jim Dao. Stelter said Dao had told him that there were only a "very small number of people within the Times who know this person's identity” and that a number of special precautions had been made to keep it protected. Dao would not elaborate. The op-ed pages of the newspaper are managed separately from its news department. Dao, Stelter reported, declined to comment on how senior the official was or reveal further nuances of the person’s role. It was unclear if the author worked in the White House or had direct contact with Trump. The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, accused the author of choosing to “deceive” the president by remaining in the administration. “He is not putting country first, but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the American people,” she said. “The coward should do the right thing and resign.” Sanders also called on the New York Times to "issue an apology" for publishing the piece, calling it a "pathetic, reckless and selfish op-ed". White House officials did not immediately respond to a request to elaborate on Trump's call for the writer to be turned over to the government or the unsupported national security ground of his demand. The furore over the op-ed comes after Trump had also hit out at a highly critical book on his presidency by the respected investigative journalist Bob Woodward. Trump called the book a “con of the public”. Woodward, one of the journalists who helped uncover the Watergate scandal, portrays the Trump White House as chaotic and dysfunctional in his new book, Fear. In one section, Woodward says that Trump ordered the defence secretary, James Mattis, to kill the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad after a chemical attack on civilians, but Mattis dismissed the order. Speaking on Wednesday to Anderson Cooper on CNN, the former secretary of state, John Kerry, asked about the Woodward book and the New York Times op-ed, said there was a "genuine constitutional crisis" around the presidency. The Associated Press contributed to this report ||||| I’m draining the Swamp, and the Swamp is trying to fight back. Don’t worry, we will win! ||||| We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Would you like to proceed to legacy Twitter? Yes

– "TREASON?" tweeted President Trump after the New York Times published an op-ed from an anonymous administration official who described his leadership style as "impetuous" and "adversarial" and spoke of a "resistance" inside a deeply unstable administration. In a follow-up tweet, the president told the newspaper to reveal the author's identity, if it wasn't a "phony source," the Guardian reports. "If the GUTLESS anonymous person does indeed exist, the Times must, for National Security purposes, turn him/her over to government at once," Trump said, adding: "I'm draining the Swamp, and the Swamp is trying to fight back. Don’t worry, we will win!" More: "I don't like them." Speaking at a meeting of sheriffs from around the country Wednesday afternoon, Trump described both the source and the Times as "failing," CBS reports. "When you tell me about some anonymous source within the administration, probably who is failing and probably here for all the wrong reasons—and the New York Times is failing—if I weren't here, I believe the New York Times probably wouldn't even exist," he said. They don't like Donald Trump and I don't like them," he said of the Times. People "stunned" within the Times. The Times' newsroom is separate from its opinion department, and sources tell Vanity Fair that people within the paper were "totally stunned" to read the "cry for help" from inside the administration. "It’s a parlor game. Everybody's trying to figure out who it is, including the Washington bureau," one senior journalist says. "It feels like a crazy moment."

As college students across the country stream onto campuses this week, Duke University’s The Chronicle reports that “some” members of the Class of 2019 were refusing to read a book assigned to them this summer as part of the elite school’s Common Experience Summer Reading program. Many colleges have similar programs. In preparation for my first year of college in 1989, I myself read Jonathan Kozol’s Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America and Nadine Gordimer’s Something Out There. I can still remember my new classmates’ passionate arguments about South Africa’s apartheid regime and chronic homelessness in New York. This summer the first-years at the college where I now teach are reading Piper Kerman’s Orange is the New Black. At least they better be. We can disagree with the authors of the books we read, but we have to read them first. It’s unclear how many of Duke’s 1,750 incoming students skipped Alison Bechdel’s highly-acclaimed 2006 graphic-novel style memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. That anyone admitted to a top university would purposely ignore their first assignment is, first and foremost, sad. These students have denied themselves a great read. The book, beautifully written and illustrated, won numerous literary awards and inspired a Broadway musical that swept the Tonys this spring. It’s a bittersweet story detailing Bechdel’s life growing up with a closeted gay father “who killed himself a few months after I came out to my parents as a lesbian.” Heavy stuff, for sure, but higher education is about examining the heavy stuff. Through her unique lens, Bechdel explores the themes of family, growing up and self-acceptance; themes we all can relate to. What’s really disappointing, however, are the reasons students have given for refusing to read the book. According to The Chronicle, they think it’s pornographic. When I heard that, I grabbed my copy off the shelf to find the porn I apparently missed the first time around. I’m not sure how one labels a book pornographic without actually reading it, of course. Maybe it’s a new twist on the Stewart test: I know it when I don’t see it? Either way, it represents the antithesis of education, which requires both the opening of books and the opening of minds. It’s true that a few panels of grey-scale drawings in the 232-page book do depict partial adult nudity and consensual sexuality. Certainly no one is exploited or objectified, making these examples far less offensive than your average love scene—both in popular culture and in classic literature. Which leads me to the conclusion that it’s not really the illustrations that have caused this most recent controversy, but rather the queer-identitifed people depicted in them. Do these students think that four panels depicting partial nudity or sex between women will make them gay or skew their sense of self? Do these students think that four panels depicting partial nudity or sex between women will make them gay? Do they think that exposure to such drawings will skew their sense of self? Or deep down do they fear that their homophobia will become hard to justify once they’ve been confronted with it in such an honest and empathetic setting. College students are adults and should be able read about sex and sexuality. They should be able to read about the lives of all kinds of people, because the reality is people identify across a wide spectrum of sexual identities. All of our stories matter. Education—especially higher education—obliges us to read, hear, and see things that we might not otherwise encounter. Anyone committed to learning must therefore engage with people, perspectives, ideas, and experiences that may at first seem strange, confusing, or problematic. Learning means we attempt to understand—it doesn’t mean we have to like everything we’re exposed to. We can disagree with the authors of the books we read, but we have to read them first. Worthwhile ideas and values can withstand exposure to other ideas and values. But those seeking a university education should be prepared to have the worldview and perspectives they developed at 18 challenged and expanded. If not, why go to college? Or read? Or think? If we aren’t being challenged, we aren’t learning. If we don’t do the work, we fail. The Duke students who refused to read Fun Home have already failed. Willfully. Perhaps Duke should dismiss them, as they’re unwilling to take on college-level study. Let them reapply when they are ready to face the danger presented by a comic book. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com. ||||| Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, N.C. (Jim R. Bounds/Bloomberg) As a Christian, I knew that my beliefs and identity would be challenged at a progressive university like Duke. My first challenge came well before I arrived on campus, when I learned that all first years were assigned “Fun Home,” a graphic novel by Alison Bechdel. The book includes cartoon drawings of a woman masturbating and multiple women engaging in oral sex. After researching the book’s content and reading a portion of it, I chose to opt out of the assignment. My choice had nothing to do with the ideas presented. I’m not opposed to reading memoirs written by LGBTQ individuals or stories containing suicide. I’m not even opposed to reading Freud, Marx or Darwin. I know that I’ll have to grapple with ideas I don’t agree with, even ideas that I find immoral. But in the Bible, Jesus forbids his followers from exposing themselves to anything pornographic. “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” he says in Matthew 5:28-29. “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.” This theme is reiterated by Paul who warns, “flee from sexual immorality.” I think there is an important distinction between images and written words. If the book explored the same themes without sexual images or erotic language, I would have read it. But viewing pictures of sexual acts, regardless of the genders of the people involved, conflict with the inherent sacredness of sex. My beliefs extend to pop culture and even Renaissance art depicting sex. I’m well aware that my ethics make me an anomaly on campus, in contemporary culture and even among many professing Christians. However, my principles come primarily from my understanding of the Bible, which I have read multiple times, studied weekly in community for the last seven years, and consider to be the Word of God. I don’t believe my position will limit my exposure to essential lessons in history, philosophy or literature. I assume that having to view graphic images of sex for a class will be rare. If it does happen, I will avoid any titillating content and encourage like-minded students to do the same. And I believe professors should warn me about such material, not because I might consider them offensive or discomforting, but because I consider it immoral. Still, if my academic experience at Duke is full of thought-provoking stimuli other than pictures of sexual acts, it’s hard for me to believe that it will be incomplete. I decided to post about my decision on the Duke Class of 2019 Facebook page to comfort those with similar beliefs. I knew that my decision wouldn’t be well-received. How could it in a country where, according to one study, more than three-quarters of American men between 18 and 24 years old have viewed pornography within the past month. But though many students denounced my decision publicly, almost 20 people privately messaged me, thanking me for my post. I received many messages from Christians, but a message from a Muslim man stood out. The man, currently a sophomore at Duke, wrote, “I’ve seen a lot of people who just throw away their identity in college in the name of secularism, open-mindedness, or liberalism.” Is this really what Duke wants? Cultural pluralism will lose its value if students aren’t allowed to follow their beliefs, even if they are conservative. Without genuine diversity, intellectual dialogue and growth are stifled. I recognize, of course, that Christians on campus and throughout the country have an important responsibility, too. We need to learn how to dialogue across differences. Over the past couple of days, I have received many encouraging messages from a new friend, who considers herself bisexual and a Buddhist. She and I became friends after she saw my Facebook post. Instead of criticizing me, she asked me to explain my beliefs. I, in turn, asked her to explain the Buddhist perspective on sexuality. This is how diversity is supposed to work. We each shared our perspective, and walked away from the conversation with a deeper understanding and compassion for each other. That is what college is really about.

– Some Duke freshmen made headlines this week for refusing to read a graphic novel assigned to them. In the Washington Post yesterday, one of them provided a fuller explanation of the stance against Alison Bechdel's Fun Home. "The book includes cartoon drawings of a woman masturbating and multiple women engaging in oral sex," writes Brian Grasso, a Christian who considers the images pornographic. Grasso says he's not opposed to reading about ideas and beliefs opposed to his own—and fully expects to do so at Duke—but having to look at pictures is a whole different matter. "I think there is an important distinction between images and written words," he writes. "If the book explored the same themes without sexual images or erotic language, I would have read it." In his view, the images violate the "sacredness of sex." Grasso writes that he knows his is a minority view, but "cultural pluralism will lose its value if students aren't allowed to follow their beliefs, even if they are conservative." At Quartz, however, SUNY Brockport instructor Amber Humphrey writes that education "obliges us to read, hear, and see things that we might not otherwise encounter." If these students aren't prepared to do that, maybe Duke should show them the door. "Let them reapply when they are ready to face the danger presented by a comic book." (Click to read her full column, or Grasso's full column.)

LandLeader is once again proud to present The Land Report 100, the 2018 annual survey of America's top land owners. In our second year of sponsoring this exclusive list, LandLeader continues to reinvent land and ranch marketing and is growing at a tremendous rate. Since 2013, LandLeader jumped into the land marketing market with immediate growth, innovative marketing strategies, exceptional land sales, and welcomed the best land brokers to join our exclusive partnership across the country. In just three quick years our members have collectively sold over $3 billion in real estate in over 35 states. The network that our owner members have created gives landowners and buyers the most trusted and wide spread group of land professionals in America. Our team of agents and brokers loves the great outdoors, believes in strong family values and are purveyors of conservation and wildlife management. ||||| The federal government is by far the nation's biggest land owner, holding 640 million acres of purple mountains, fruited plains and amber waves of grain in the name of the American public. But over the past decade, the nation's wealthiest private landowners have been laying claim to ever-larger tracts of the countryside, according to data compiled by the Land Report, a magazine about land ownership in America. In 2007, according to the Land Report, the nation's 100 largest private landowners owned a combined 27 million acres of land — equivalent to the area of Maine and New Hampshire combined. A decade later, the 100 largest landowners have holdings of 40.2 million acres, an increase of nearly 50 percent. Their holdings are equivalent in area to the entirety of New England, minus Vermont. Those rising numbers represent “the growing appeal of land as an asset class,” said Eric O'Keefe, editor of the Land Report, in an interview. The stock market has been on a tear in recent years, and some wealthy individuals have been looking to cash out and park their assets in a safe place. That's where land comes in. Paper fortunes appear and vanish in the span of days on Wall Street, but land isn't going anywhere. Investors are particularly interested in productive land — property that can be used to raise cattle, mine minerals, produce timber or grow crops. That's because when the Dow Jones industrial average lost over half its value between 2007 and 2009, over that same period “productive land correction was less than five percent,” according to O'Keefe. Like stocks, income and wealth in general, land ownership is tightly concentrated among the upper class. According to a recent working paper by New York University economist Edward Wolff, in 2016 the wealthiest 1 percent of households owned 40 percent of the nation's non-home real estate, while the next 9 percent of households owned another 42 percent. That left the remaining 90 percent of households owning just 18 percent of the country's non-home real estate. A 2015 paper by the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated that the total value of land in the Lower 48 states was roughly $23 trillion in 2009, with $1.8 trillion of that value owned by the federal government. The nation's largest private landowner is telecom baron John Malone, with 2.2 million acres — an area considerably larger than the state of Delaware — to his name in 2017. Ted Turner is No. 2 on the list, with an even 2 million acres. O'Keefe says that one common thread among the nation's top private landowners is sports team ownership. Malone and Turner have both owned the Atlanta Braves, while No. 4 landowner Stan Kroenke, with 1.38 million acres, owns the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Rams. Back in 2008, you needed about 76,000 acres to appear in the Land Report's list of the top 100 landowners. Today the cutoff is nearly double, 145,000 acres. The median holdings of the top 100 landowners rose from 160,000 acres to 250,000 acres over that time period. Part of that increase, O'Keefe says, reflects improvements in data collection and availability. His staff scours property records, tax rolls, corporate filings and real estate listings, among other sources, to produce the annual list. Many wealthy individuals shield their purchases via trusts, shell companies and other corporate structures, making ownership difficult to ascertain in some cases. “Most people have no idea that there's this market in these huge pieces of America,” O'Keefe said. Properties currently on the market include the Agua Fria Ranch in Texas, where $15.2 million will get you 23,482 acres, including “almost the entire Agua Fria Mountain range.” (Alternatively, with the same amount of money you could buy a single condo in Brooklyn). Other enormous chunks of land currently for sale include 24 mountain peaks outside Salt Lake City for $39 million (price recently reduced), a 7,000-acre Georgia estate on the market for the first time in the history of the republic, and T. Boone Pickens's Mesa Vista ranch in Texas, where $250 million will net you 64,000 acres of the Texas Panhandle. For most Americans, land isn't a financial necessity the way income or even wealth is, so we give little thought to the massive tracts of countryside trading hands every year. “Eighty percent of us live on 3 percent of the United States,” O'Keefe said. “Large swaths of privately owned land are beyond comprehension because they are simply beyond the horizon.”

– The list may not have the same cachet as the Forbes list of richest Americans, but it's an interesting look at an often overlooked aspect of US wealth. The Land Report is out with its annual list of the 100 largest private landholders in America, and sitting on top is a man who made his fortune in the telecom business. Liberty Media Chairman John Malone has 2.2 million acres across the US, spread across several states from coast to coast. The Washington Post highlights a rich-are-getting-richer component of the list: In 2007, the 100 biggest landowners collectively had 27 million acres. In 2017, that total is 40.2 million acres, roughly the equivalent of New England, without Vermont. The Post sees the growing interest in land acquisition as a more stable investment for investors who don't want to be at the mercy of the stock market. The top 10 follow.

Crops are wilting, schools have shut their bathrooms and government officials are bathing in lagoons because of a severe shortage of fresh water in a swath of the South Pacific. The island groups of Tuvalu and Tokelau have declared emergencies, relying on bottled water and seeking more desalination machines. Parts of Samoa are starting to ration water. Supplies are precariously low after a severe lack of rain in a region where underground reserves have been fouled by saltwater from rising seas that scientists have linked to climate change. While nobody has gone thirsty yet, officials worry about the logistics of supplying everyone with enough water to survive and the potential health problems that might arise. And exactly how the islands will cope in the long term remains a question mark. "We are praying that things will change," Samoan-based official Jovilisi Suveinakama said. Six months of low rainfall have dried out the islands. Climate scientists say it's part of a cyclical Pacific weather pattern known as La Nina _ and they predict the coming months will bring no relief, with the pattern expected to continue. Rising sea levels are exacerbating the problem, as salt water seeps into underground supplies of fresh water that are drawn to the surface through wells. On the three main atolls that make up isolated Tokelau, the 1,400 residents ran out of fresh water altogether last week and are relying on a seven-day supply of bottled water that was sent Saturday from Samoa, Suveinakama said. Suveinakama said that some schools no longer have drinking water available, and that the students often need to return home if they want to use a bathroom. "In terms of domestic chores, like washing clothes, everything's been put on hold," he said. "We are cautious of the situation given the possible health issues." Suveinakama said that Tokelau, a territory of New Zealand, has tapped emergency funds to buy desalination machines, which turn salt water into fresh water. He hopes those will be shipped to the islands soon. In Tuvalu, a nation of low lying atolls that is home to less than 11,000 people, Red Cross team leader Dean Manderson described the situation as "quite dire." He said that on the island of Nukulaelae, there were only 16 gallons of fresh water remaining Tuesday for the 350 residents and that the Red Cross was sending over two small desalination machines. He said much of the well water on Tuvalu is unusable because it has become contaminated with salt water. The New Zealand government this week flew a defense force C-130 plane to Tuvalu stocked with Red Cross supplies of bottled water and desalination machines. Officials including High Commissioner Gareth Smith also flew over to assess the situation. Smith said the coconut trees on Tuvalu are looking sickly and that the edible breadfruit, which grow in trees, are much smaller than usual. He said other local fruits and vegetables, including a type of giant taro, are not growing well or are in short supply. He said people in the capital of Funafuti are permitted a ration of two buckets of water per day and that government ministers have been bathing in the lagoon to preserve water. Funafuti residents have been relying on a large desalination machine for much of their daily water supply, said Manderson. The Red Cross has been helping improve the function of that machine and has been fixing other such machines that have broken down, he added. New Zealand climate scientist James Renwick said the rainfall problems can be traced back 12 months, when the region began experiencing one of the strongest La Nina systems on record. La Nina is sparked when larger-than-normal differences in water temperature across the Pacific Ocean cause the east-blowing trade winds to increase in strength, Renwick said. That, in turn, pushes rainfall to the west, leaving places like Tuvalu and Tokelau dry. Last year's La Nina system dwindled by June but has begun picking up again just ahead of the November rainy season, Renwick said, meaning that there is no relief in sight for island groups like Tuvalu, Tokelau and Samoa. "Low rainfall continues to be on the cards, at least through the end of the year," Renwick said. Officials say they are concentrating on the short-term supply problems and have not yet had time to think about longer term solutions for the islands. But they say that the combination of rising water levels and low rainfall mean makes life on the islands look increasingly precarious. ||||| Image caption Water supplies will have to be brought to Tokelau by barge from ships anchored offshore A second South Pacific community is suffering a severe water shortage due to an ongoing drought crisis. Tokelau declared a state of emergency late on Monday, following a similar move in neighbouring Tuvalu, where water is already being rationed. A New Zealand-administered territory of three islands, Tokelau's 1,400 people have less than a week's drinking water left. The lack of rainfall is blamed on the La Nina weather pattern. Officials said Tokelau had run out of natural fresh water and was relying solely on bottled water. New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said other islands in the South Pacific were also reporting water shortages. Parts of Samoa have begun rationing water. He said New Zealand was rushing to assess the situation throughout the region, amid fears the crisis could escalate. This is having a severe impact on crops, so there's likely to be a food shortage as well Murray McCully, NZ Foreign Minister New Zealand was "making sure we deal with the drinking water issue most urgently", he said. A New Zealand Air Force plane landed in Tuvalu on Monday carrying containers of water and desalination units. Tuvalu, one of the world's smallest independent nations, with a population of about 11,000, lies about halfway between Australia and Hawaii. Tokelau is about 500km (310 miles) to the east. Impact on crops Mr McCully said the situation was urgent in parts of Tuvalu. He said there was less than a week's supply of drinking water on Funafuti, the main island of Tuvalu. "I understand one of the other outlying islands, Nukulaelae, has a more urgent shortage and there is a desalination plant on the way there," Mr McCully said. "There are going to be some flow-on effects here, clearly this is having a severe impact on crops, so there's likely to be a food shortage as well." La Nina causes extreme weather, including both drought and floods, and was blamed for floods in Australia, South East Asia and South America in late 2010 and early 2011. David Hebblethwaite, a water conservation expert with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, said Tuvalu had experienced low rainfall for the past three years and there had been no precipitation at all for seven months. He said Funafuti and Nukulaelae both lacked groundwater supplies, making them dependent on rainfall collected from the roofs of homes and government buildings. Mr Hebblethwaite said the islands may also need extra medical supplies if water shortages lead to sanitation issues and consequent health problems.

– Some island groups in the South Pacific, already in danger of being swamped by rising seas, have run out of fresh water. Tuvalu and Tokelau have declared states of emergency because of the water crisis, caused by six months of low or no rainfall and by groundwater becoming contaminated with seawater, the BBC reports. New Zealand's air force has rushed bottled water and desalination machines to the areas most in need. In Tuvalu, a nation of atolls that is home to around 11,000 people, the situation is "quite dire," a Red Cross team leader says. The crisis is spreading, with Samoa now rationing water, and experts believe that because of La Niña, the region won't see any rainfall until at least until the end of the year. The water crisis is expected to trickle down into food shortages, and sanitation and public health problems, the AP reports, and officials say the future of the island nations is looking increasingly uncertain.

Despite the many number of studies examining workaholism, large-scale studies have been lacking. The present study utilized an open web-based cross-sectional survey assessing symptoms of psychiatric disorders and workaholism among 16,426 workers (M age = 37.3 years, SD = 11.4, range = 16–75 years). Participants were administered the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale, the Obsession-Compulsive Inventory-Revised, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Bergen Work Addiction Scale, along with additional questions examining demographic and work-related variables. Correlations between workaholism and all psychiatric disorder symptoms were positive and significant. Workaholism comprised the dependent variable in a three-step linear multiple hierarchical regression analysis. Basic demographics (age, gender, relationship status, and education) explained 1.2% of the variance in workaholism, whereas work demographics (work status, position, sector, and annual income) explained an additional 5.4% of the variance. Age (inversely) and managerial positions (positively) were of most importance. The psychiatric symptoms (ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and depression) explained 17.0% of the variance. ADHD and anxiety contributed considerably. The prevalence rate of workaholism status was 7.8% of the present sample. In an adjusted logistic regression analysis, all psychiatric symptoms were positively associated with being a workaholic. The independent variables explained between 6.1% and 14.4% in total of the variance in workaholism cases. Although most effect sizes were relatively small, the study’s findings expand our understanding of possible psychiatric predictors of workaholism, and particularly shed new insight into the reality of adult ADHD in work life. The study’s implications, strengths, and shortcomings are also discussed. Introduction Workaholism has been defined as “being overly concerned about work, driven by an uncontrollable work motivation, and to investing so much time and effort to work that it impairs other important life areas” [1] (p. 8). Research into this timely topic has heavily expanded over the past few decades [2,3], and concerns have been raised regarding the downsides of workaholism [4,5]. In order to prevent workaholism developing, there is a need to identify factors involved with this compulsive work pattern–especially since modern technology (i.e., laptops, tablets, smartphones) has blurred the natural lines between home and the workplace. Given this evolving context, the present study aimed to identify risk factors associated with workaholism, and to enrich the existing literature in several ways. Previous workaholism research has often used invalid measures, small samples, and insufficient theoretical frameworks [1,6,7]. In this study, a contemporary theoretical framework of addiction to conceptualize workaholism was applied, and validated scales were utilized to investigate whether several psychiatric symptoms were related to workaholism among a large sample of employees. The latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) reconceptualized addictive behavior to include behavioral addictions akin to more traditional drug addictions [8]. Two profound changes were made: (i) Gambling Disorder (formerly pathological gambling) was reclassified as a behavioral addiction rather than a disorder of impulse control [9], (ii) and Internet Gaming Disorder was introduced into Section 3 of the DSM-5 (Emerging Measures and Models) [8]. However, at present, although these changes represent a substantial recognition of behavioral addictions in general, most potentially addictive behaviors are not yet formally defined as such–including workaholism. As the line between excessive enthusiasm and a genuine addiction is difficult to define, scholars have typically used specific criteria to define the border between addictive and non-addictive behavior [10]. These criteria involve being totally preoccupied by work (salience), using work to alleviate emotional stress (mood modification), gradually working longer and longer hours to get the same mood modifying effects (tolerance), suffering emotional and physical distress if unable to work (withdrawal), sacrificing other obligations (personal relationships with partner and children, social activities, exercising, etc.) because of work (conflict), desiring or attempting to control the number of hours spent working without success (relapse), and suffering some kind of harm or negative consequence as either a direct or indirect result of the excessive working (problems) [11,12]. Because previous workaholism scales did not cover these addiction components, the seven-item Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS) was specifically developed in order to assess this behavior using the same criteria as other addictions [13]. Consequently, the BWAS is based on and embedded within general addiction theory [10], and has demonstrated robust psychometric properties across studies in different countries [13–15]. Via mobile technology hardware, work is highly accessible to anyone and anywhere, and has the potential to facilitate and enhance workaholism tendencies [16,17]. However, there has been a perceivable paucity in the number of reliable prevalence estimates of workaholism. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses tentatively report estimates from 5% to over 25% [14,18]. According to a recent (and, to date, only) nationally representative study of Norwegian workers, 8.3% were categorized as workaholics [14]. Research has also shown that age is inversely related to workaholism [14,19]. Although a few studies have reported gender differences [20,21], workaholism appears to be unrelated to both gender and marital status [2,14,19]. Research has further demonstrated that higher education and having managerial duties are associated with workaholism [13,19,20,22,23]. A few studies have reported higher levels of workaholism in certain lines of work (e.g., commercial trade, agriculture, medicine, communication, consultancy, etc.) as well as sectors (private and self-employment) [19,20,22–24]. For some, workaholism has been described as a money disorder [25], and one study associated it with having a higher income [20]. This has good face validity because working hard usually means increased salary/earnings. Given these findings, it is expected that younger, well-educated workers, in self-employed and private sector, with managerial responsibilities and higher income will report higher scores on the Bergen Work Addiction Scale in the present study (Hypothesis 1). Research have consistently demonstrated that Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) increases the risk of various chemical and non-chemical addictions [26]. However, this psychiatric disorder has never been empirically examined (or theoretically associated with) workaholism. ADHD is prevalent in 2.5–5% of the adult population, and is typically manifested by inattentiveness and lack of focus, and/or impulsivity, and excessive physical activity [8,26]. Individuals with ADHD may often stop working due to their disorder, and may have trouble in getting work health insurance as they are regarded as a risk group [26]. For this reason, the present authors hypothesize that individuals with ADHD may compensate for this by over-working to meet the expectations required to hold down a job. Although this is a contentious issue, there are a number of reasons why ADHD may be relevant to workaholism. Firstly, the present authors argue that the inattentive nature of individuals with ADHD causes them to spend time beyond the typical working day (i.e., evenings and weekends) to accomplish what is done by their fellow employees within normal working hours (i.e., the compensation hypothesis). In addition, as they may have a hard time concentrating while at work due to environmental noise and distractions (especially office work in open landscape environments), they might find it easier to work after co-workers have left their working environment or work from home. Their attentive shortcomings may also cause them to overly check for errors on the tasks given, since they often experience careless mistakes due to their inattentiveness [26]. This may cause a cycle of procrastination, work binges, exhaustion, and–in some cases–a fear of imperfection. Although ADHD is associated with lack of focus, such individuals often have the ability to hyper-focus once they find something interesting–often being unable to detach themselves from the task (e.g., flow) [27,28]. Secondly, the present authors’ argue that the impulsive nature of individuals with ADHD causes them to say ‘yes’ and taking on many tasks without them thinking ahead, and taking on more work than they can realistically handle–eventually leading to workaholic levels of activity. Thirdly, it is also argued that the hyperactive nature of individuals with ADHD and the need to be constantly active without being able to relax, causes such individuals to keep on working in an attempt to alleviate their restless thoughts and behaviors. Consequently, work stress might act as a stimulant, and they may choose active (and often multiple) jobs with high pressure, deadlines and activity (e.g., media, sales, restaurant work)–where they have the opportunity to multitask and constantly shift between tasks (e.g., Type-A personality behavior) [26,29]. In line with this, Type-A personality has often been associated–and sometimes used interchangeably–with workaholism in previous research [2,30]. This line of reasoning also relates to the workaholic type portrayed by Robinson [31], in which he actually denoted “attention-deficit workaholics” (who tend to start many projects but become bored easily and need to be stimulated at all times). His description of the “relentless” type also corresponds well with ADHD symptoms (i.e., unstoppable in working fast and meeting deadlines, often with many projects going on simultaneously). In other words, these types may utilize work pressure to obtain focus, constantly seeking stimulation, crisis, and excitement–and therefore like risky jobs. Finally, people with ADHD are often mistaken as being lazy, irresponsible, or unintelligent because of their difficulties with planning, time management, organizing, and decision-making [26]. Feeling misunderstood might cause individuals with ADHD to push themselves to prove these misconceptions as wrong–and resulting in an excessive and/or compulsive working pattern. Such individuals are often intelligent, but may feel forced or motivated to start up their own business (i.e., entrepreneurs), as they find it troubling to adjust to standard work schedules or organizational boundaries. Previous research has highlighted that workaholism is prevalent among entrepreneurs and the self-employed [24,32]. Often failing in other aspects of life (e.g., family) [26], work for such individuals may become even more important to them (e.g., self-efficacy). In accord with the aforementioned line of reasoning and findings, it is hypothesized that ADHD symptoms will be positively associated with workaholism in the present study (Hypothesis 2). Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is another underlying psychiatric disorder that increases the likelihood of developing an addiction [33]. Full-blown OCD occurs in approximately 2–3% of children and adults, and is commonly manifested by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors of checking, obsessing, ordering, hoarding, washing, and/or neutralizing [8,34,35]. It has been suggested that addictive behaviors might represent a coping and/or escape mechanism of OCD symptoms, or as an OCD-behavior that eventually becomes an addiction in itself [36]. Previous workaholic typologies have incorporated the “compulsive-dependent” and “perfectionistic” types [37], and some empirical studies have demonstrated that obsessive-compulsive traits are present among workaholics [2,38,39]. The OCD tendency of having the need to arrange things in a certain way (i.e., a strong need for control) and obsessing over details to the point of paralysis–may predispose workers with such traits to develop workaholic working patterns [31,37,40,41]. Therefore, it is hypothesized that OCD symptoms will be positively related to workaholism in the present study (Hypothesis 3). Other psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression may also increase the risk of developing an addiction [33]. Approximately 30% of people will suffer from an anxiety disorder in their lifetime, and 20% will have at least one episode of depression [34,35]. These conditions often occur simultaneously, as most people who are depressed also experience acute anxiety [36]. Anxiety and/or depression can lead to addiction, and vice versa [36]. A number of studies have previously reported a link between anxiety, depression, and workaholism [2,7,42,43]. Furthermore, it is known that workaholism (in some instances) develops as an attempt to reduce uncomfortable feelings of anxiety and depression. Working hard is praised and honored in modern society, and thus serves as a legitimate behavior for individuals to combat or alleviate negative feelings–and to feel better about themselves and raise their self-esteem [10,11]. Consequently, it is hypothesized that there will be a positive association between anxiety, depression, and workaholism (Hypothesis 4). Against this background, data were analyzed from a large sample in order to investigate whether individual and work-related demographics and psychiatric symptoms in terms of ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and depression could predict workaholism (Hypotheses 1–4). ||||| A large national Norwegian study shows that workaholism frequently co-occurs with ADHD, OCD, anxiety, and depression. Researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway have examined the associations between workaholism and psychiatric disorders among 16,426 working adults. "Workaholics scored higher on all the psychiatric symptoms than non-workaholics," says researcher and Clinical Psychologist Specialist Cecilie Schou Andreassen, at the Department of Psychosocial Science, at the University of Bergen (UiB), and visiting scholar at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Workaholics score higher on all clinical states The study showed that workaholics scored higher on all the psychiatric symptoms than non-workaholics. Among workaholics, the main findings were that: 32.7 per cent met ADHD criteria (12.7 per cent among non-workaholics). 25.6 per cent OCD criteria (8.7 per cent among non-workaholics). 33.8 per cent met anxiety criteria (11.9 per cent among non-workaholics). 8.9 per cent met depression criteria (2.6 per cent among non-workaholics). "Thus, taking work to the extreme may be a sign of deeper psychological or emotional issues. Whether this reflects overlapping genetic vulnerabilities, disorders leading to workaholism or, conversely, workaholism causing such disorders, remain uncertain," says Schou Andreassen. The pioneering study, published in the open-access journal PLOS One, is co-authored by researchers from Nottingham Trent University and Yale University. Affects identification of disorders According to Schou Andreassen, the findings clearly highlight the importance of further investigating neurobiological deviations related to workaholic behaviour. "In wait for more research, physicians should not take for granted that a seemingly successful workaholic does not have ADHD-related or other clinical features. Their considerations affect both the identification and treatment of these disorders," says Schou Andreassen. Seven diagnostic criteria for workaholism The researchers used seven valid criteria when drawing the line between addictive and non-addictive behaviour. Experiences occurring over the past year are rated from 1 (never) to 5 (always): You think of how you can free up more time to work. You spend much more time working than initially intended. You work in order to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness or depression. You have been told by others to cut down on work without listening to them. You become stressed if you are prohibited from working. You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and/or exercise because of your work. You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health. Scoring 4 (often) or 5 (always) on four or more criteria identify a workaholic. Accordingly, the Bergen Work Addiction Scale operationalizes workaholism by the same symptoms as traditional addictions: salience, mood modification, conflict, tolerance, withdrawal, relapse and problems. In line with previous research, 7.8 per cent of the current sample classified as workaholics, which is close to an estimate (8.3 per cent) found in a (and, to date, only) nationally representative study conducted by Dr. Andreassen and colleagues in 2014. ||||| Gain a global perspective on the US and go beyond with curated news and analysis from 600 journalists in 50+ countries covering politics, business, innovation, trends and more.

– Spending late nights at the office and missing a kid's piano recital or three might be a sign of a deeper psychiatric problem, according to a study published last week in PLOS One. Researches found workaholism was statistically linked with anxiety, depression, OCD, and ADHD. “Workaholics scored higher on all the psychiatric symptoms than non-workaholics," researcher Cecilie Schou Andreassen says in a press release. Researchers found 32.7% of workaholics had ADHD versus 12.7% of non-workaholics; 25.6% had OCD versus 8.7% of non-workaholics; 33.8% had anxiety versus 11.9% of non-workaholics; and 8.9% had depression versus 2.6% of non-workaholics. Without further research, the nature of the relationship between workaholism and common psychiatric conditions is unclear. But Schou Andreassen notes, “Taking work to the extreme may be a sign of deeper psychological or emotional issues." Researchers found 7.8% of the nearly 16,500 adults studied were workaholics, which they determined with a series of seven statements participants could rank, including, “You think of how you can free up more time to work” and “You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.” But not everyone is convinced. “Any human behavior can be turned into a disease,” a professor at Liverpool University tells the Financial Times. “It’s this tendency to pathologize the usual messy realities of life, of which work is one.” (Here's why we shouldn't have to find meaning in work.)

The humble grilled cheese sandwich is the latest dish to get the novelty sandwich makeover thanks to Deca Restaurant + Bar located inside the Ritz-Carlton Chicago. For the month of April, the restaurant is serving up a "Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese," which contrary to the name, has a price tag of $100. Unlike other stunt foods that have turned to combining seemingly disparate foods like deep fried twinkies with a pork belly burger, the sandwich features layers of pricey ingredients. According to the press release below, the Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese "is not your childhood classic" and features black Iberico ham "sourced from pigs" that "roam free in the pasture eating acorns" in the "south of Spain," "artisan" country sourdough bread, 40-year aged Wisconsin cheddar "infused with 24k gold flakes," white truffle aioli, 100-year-old aged balsamic vinegar, heirloom tomatoes, foie gras, and comes topped with a sunny side up duck egg. Just incase that wasn't indulgent enough, the sandwich is also served with "a skillet of lobster mac." Eric Ciechna, a host at the restaurant tells DNAinfo, "Looking at how ridiculously extravagant some of these items are, $100 might actually be a steal on this thing." See the press release: Celebrate National Grilled Cheese Month in 2014 all April long with the ultimate sandwich - the Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese for USD 100.00 at deca Restaurant + Bar, located at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago, A Four Seasons Hotel. The Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese is not your childhood classic. deca Restaurant + Bar has created a one-of-a-kind experience. The sandwich is enveloped in artisan country sourdough bread, and cooked until golden brown in Laudemio Marchesi de' Frescobaldi EVOO. Layered between the bread is thinly sliced black Iberico ham, sourced from pigs living primarily in the south of Spain, allowed to roam free in the pasture eating acorns until they are of proper size. They are then salted and air-dried for six weeks followed by a minimum curing process of 12 months. The ham slices are smothered in melting 40-year aged Wisconsin cheddar infused with 24K gold flakes, taking the grilled cheese to the next level of decadence. Following are the Ellis Family Farms heirloom tomatoes, lightly drizzled with 100-year-old aged balsamic vinegar, and Oregon perigord white truffle aioli. The sandwich is finished with Hudson Valley foie sras and a sunny side up duck egg, accompanied by a skillet of lobster mac. It's time to treat yourself with this Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese - the ultimate culinary indulgence. deca RESTAURANT + BAR is located on the 12th floor of The Ritz-Carlton Chicago, A Four Seasons Hotel. For reservations, book online or call 312 573 5160. To stay connected, follow Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @decaChicago. · $100 Gold-Plated Grilled Cheese Offered at Ritz-Carlton's Deca Restaurant [DNAinfo] · All Novelty Sandwiches Coverage on Eater [-E-] ||||| Deca Restaurant + Bar's "Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese," priced at $100 and featuring gold-infused cheddar, celebrates National Grilled Cheese Month. View Full Caption Huge Galdones STREETERVILLE — The Ritz-Carlton Hotel's restaurant and bar, deca, is offering a limited-edition menu item this month that befits the hotel's ritzy reputation: the "Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese," a $100 sandwich that features gold-plated 40-year-old cheddar. The Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese sandwich, available at the restaurant at 160 E. Pearson St, is made with artisanal sourdough bread coated with Laudemio Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi extra-virgin olive oil, which retails for more than $30 a bottle. Layered inside the sandwich is thinly-sliced black Iberco ham from free-roaming, acorn-fed pigs raised in the South of Spain. The meat is salted and air-dried for six weeks, then cured for a minimum of 12 months — usually closer to 18 months, said Eric Ciechna, a host at the restaurant. "Up until a few years ago, you could not get Iberco ham in the United States," Ciechna said. "It's so insanely expensive. We get it in very small quantities." Most important is the cheese: a 40-year-old aged Wisconsin cheddar infused with 24-carat gold flakes. Other ingredients include heirloom tomatoes from the Ellis Family Farm in Benton Harbor, Mich., Hudson Valley Foie Gras, which costs about $60 per pound, and a sunny-side-up duck egg. Dressing the epic sandwich is a drizzle each of a 100-year-old aged balsamic vinegar and Oregon Perigord white truffle aioli. "Looking at how ridiculously extravagant some of these items are, $100 might actually be a steal on this thing, since there are so many different components to this," Ciechna said. The sandwich will be available for all of April at the restaurant, which happens to be National Grilled Cheese Month. It comes with a side skillet of lobster macaroni and cheese. For more information and reservations, call deca at (312) 573-5160.

– Like grilled cheese? Got $100 to burn? Chicago's Deca Restaurant + Bar has got just the sandwich for you, notes Eater. It's the "Zillion Dollar Grilled Cheese" with ingredients that include 40-year aged Wisconsin cheddar infused with 24-carat gold flakes and black Iberico ham from pigs that feasted on acorns in the pastures of southern Spain, explains DNA Info. And then, of course, there's the foie gras, white truffle aioli, and the side of lobster mac and cheese. It's only available this month, which happens to be National Grilled Cheese Month.

Pope Francis joined the—now truly #blessed—Instagram community on Saturday, posting his first photo on the popular app. “Pray for me,” the caption says, repeated in eight other languages. The photo, posted with the handle @franciscus, shows Francis kneeling with his head bowed in prayer. “I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of mercy and the tenderness of God,” Francis posted on Saturday on Twitter, where he has more than 8.89 million followers. “Watching Pope Francis post his first photo to Instagram today was an incredible moment. @franciscus, welcome to the Instagram community! Your messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark,” Instagram CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom posted on Instagram on Saturday. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Systrom met with Pope Francis at the Vatican last month to discuss the unifying power of images, giving him a curated book of Instagram photos during the visit. Write to Katie Reilly at Katie.Reilly@time.com. ||||| Pope Francis hit one million Instagram followers within 12 hours of launching his account. Pope Francis' new account was christened on Saturday with a photo of him kneeling in prayer. The accompanying message said "pray for me" in 9 languages. It was not a selfie. His new account broke a record for getting one million followers -- the previous record was 24 hours held by David Beckham. The Pope's Instagram handle is "Franciscus." While the account will be separate from the official Vatican account, it will be maintained by members of the Vatican -- his Twitter account is also maintained by other people. News of the Pope's plans to join Instagram broke Thursday and came just weeks after his meeting with Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. During their meeting in late February, the two discussed "the power of images to unite people across different cultures and languages." They also talked about the possibility that the Pope would join the image-based social media platform, according to a spokesperson from Instagram. Related: Apple CEO Time Cook met with Pope Francis at the Vatican Systrom was on hand when the Pope's first Instagram photo went live. Pray for me Rezad por mí Pregate per me صلوا من أجلي Priez pour moi Módlcie się za mnie Rezem por mim Betet für mich Orate pro me A photo posted by Pope Francis (@franciscus) on Mar 19, 2016 at 4:24am PDT The CEO also commemorated the moment with a photo -- of him shaking hands with the Pope. Watching Pope Francis post his first photo to Instagram today was an incredible moment. @franciscus, welcome to the Instagram community! Your messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark. A photo posted by Kevin Systrom (@kevin) on Mar 19, 2016 at 4:33am PDT He included this message: "Watching Pope Francis post his first photo to Instagram today was an incredible moment. @franciscus, welcome to the Instagram community! Your messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark." Saturday's post comes on the third anniversary of Pope Francis' papal inauguration. His time as Pope has been marked by an embrace of social media as a way to communicate with Catholic followers around the world. Joining Instagram was a particularly smart move since, according to a spokesperson, the platform has been quickly gaining popularity in countries with a large Catholic presence such as Mexico, France, Italy and Brazil. And users were engaging with the Pope on the platform long before he launched his account. According to Instagram, his visit to the U.S. in the fall of 2015 generated 21 million posts, likes and comments from nine million people. ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more

– Pope Francis officially joined the Instagram generation on Saturday, and he's already bringing a unique voice to the social media platform—in that his first post wasn't a cat video, photo of food, or selfie. Instead, His Holiness—or @franciscus, as he's now known on Instagram—posted a picture of himself praying along with the phrase "pray for me" in nine languages. CNN reports the Pope had 100,000 Instagram followers within an hour of launching his account. His first post had more than 65,000 likes and nearly 12,000 comments in the first three hours. Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom, who met with the Pope last month, called the Pope's first Instagram post "an incredible moment" and said his "messages of humility, compassion and mercy will leave a lasting mark," according to Time. A Vatican spokesperson says the Pope joining Instagram is a "particularly smart move" because it's quickly becoming more popular in Catholic-heavy countries like Italy, Mexico, and Brazil. Pope Francis has embraced social media during his three years in the position. He actually announced his first Instagram post on Twitter, were he has nearly 9 million followers. "I am beginning a new journey, on Instagram, to walk with you along the path of mercy and the tenderness of God," the Pope tweeted. But for anyone worried the Pope will soon be too distracted by filter options to get any work done, CNN points out someone else does his social media for him.

EMBED >More News Videos Shane McMahon and his pilot share their tale after landing in the water. I'd like to thank the man upstairs for looking out this morning & thanks to pilot Mario, Suffolk County Marine Bureau & Babylon Coast Guard. — Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) July 19, 2017 A small helicopter carrying the son of WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon made an emergency landing in the waters off of Gilgo Beach Wednesday morning.The FAA says the Robinson R-44 helicopter with two aboard landed on its pontoon skids about a half mile off the coast just before 10:30 a.m. Neither Shane McMahon nor pilot Mario Regtien was injured."We heard some noise, and it became very clear to me that I could no longer continue flying the helicopter," Regtien said. "So I decided to do an auto-rotation landing in the water."The FAA said Regtien sent out a mayday call just before landing in the water. A commercial flight headed into JFK Airport heard the call and radioed to the FAA.Emergency responders, including two lifeguards, picked up the two and ferried them safety to shore. Both were wearing life jackets. NYPD Aviation and SCUBA units also responded and assisted in the rescue."It's very unsettling when all the sudden you have something happen," McMahon said. "You hear a bang, and then you start saying, 'We're going to do an emergency landing in the water.' So yes, it was very unnerving. But again, Mario was super calm, which made me super calm. And we landed perfectly."McMahon had chartered the flight from New York City to Westhampton to visit his family, and they had taken off from the West Side Heliport. The trouble began just south of Republic Airport, while they were cruising at 1,400 feet."It went as good as it could go," Regtien said. "Landed softly, and I checked to see if he was OK. Everyone was fine, and we waited for the Coast Guard at that point. I left my shoes in the helicopter in case we had to swim."McMahon thanked all those involved."First of all, I'd like to thank the pilot, Mario," he said. "He did an amazing job. He was cool under pressure. I couldn't have been in better hands. He explained everything as it was happening. I'd also like to thank the Coast Guard, who was there instantaneously, Suffolk County Marine, a bureau that was there, the lifeguards that came to the beach. Just thankful that everything worked out well and that we're here."He also posted this message on social media:The helicopter is registered to "Awesome Flight LLC" of White Plains. ||||| NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Shane McMahon, the son of World Wrestling Entertainment’s Vince McMahon, was one of two people rescued Wednesday when their small helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in the water about half a mile off Gilgo Beach in Babylon. The Robinson R44II-type helicopter, which is registered to a company in White Plains, was en route to Westhampton when it went down around 10:30 a.m. after taking off from Westchester County Airport. The chopper issued a Mayday call prior to going down. A commercial flight headed to John F. Kennedy Airport heard the call and relayed it to controllers. “Everything happened so quickly, you don’t have much time to react,” McMahon told 1010 WINS’ Al Jones. “It was very unnerving.” McMahon said he heard a bang and then his pilot told him they were going to land in the water. As CBS2’s Emily Smith reported, as the helicopter lost power, they inflated the pontoons and made a hard landing on the ocean. “It is very unsettling when all of a sudden you have something happen. You hear a bang and saying you are going to do an emergency landing in the water, so yes very unnerving,” he said. As CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan reported, McMahon congratulated the pilot he had hired to chopper him from Manhattan to Westhampton — for skill and calm under duress, calling a mayday above ocean waters off Gilgo beach as they lost power, before banking down into a hard landing. “[He] was super calm, which made me super calm and we landed perfectly,” McMahon said. The fortunate outcome was unexpected. “We heard some noise, and it became very clear to me that I could no longer continue to fly the helicopter, so I decided to make an auto-rotational landing on the water,” Mario Regtien said. The helicopter went down about 2,000 feet from a lifeguard stand, where two lifeguards jumped into kayaks to help before the U.S. Coast Guard arrived. “We ran up and got kayaks and we paddled out, a short trip out there. Those guys actually handled it really well, the two gentlemen in the helicopter, actually really calm and collected,” lifeguard Zach Viverito told CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan. “We put them on the kayaks and just swam along with them until the Coast Guard met us about halfway in.” “We were just getting to work and we saw a helicopter go down pretty hard, saw a big splash,” lifeguard Don Dobbi said. “We ran up and grabbed the kayaks and paddled out to see what was going on, we knew it was out of the ordinary.” I'd like to thank the man upstairs for looking out this morning & thanks to pilot Mario, Suffolk Co. Marine Bureau & Fire Island Coast Guard — Shane McMahon (@shanemcmahon) July 19, 2017 McMahon gave a “big kudos” to the lifeguards. “Everybody chipped in, it was great,” he said. The helicopter could be seen floating on pontoons on the water following the emergency landing. Suffolk County police said the two men were wearing life jackets and were uninjured. They were then picked up and brought to shore by a police department Marine Bureau vessel. When asked if they were the heroes of the day, Viverito said, “I don’t know about that.” “That is what we are here for,” he said. “So just kind of training, get on the equipment and go right out there.” The Coast Guard responded to remove the aircraft, police said. Great Job by NYPD Aviation & SCUBA with assisting in the rescue of two people from a Helicopter accident in v/o Tobay Beach in Nassau County pic.twitter.com/nREf3mWz7p — NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) July 19, 2017 The NYPD also assisted in the rescue.

– Shane McMahon was rescued from the waters off a New York beach Wednesday morning after the helicopter he was riding in performed a diving elbow drop into the ocean. WABC reports the son of WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon was taking the helicopter to visit his family when something went wrong. Pilot Mario Regtien guided the Robinson R-44 helicopter into a controlled crash off Gilgo Beach. Neither man was injured. McMahon calls the crash "very unnerving" but credited Regtien for how he handled the situation. "Mario was super calm, which made me super calm. And we landed perfectly," he says. According to CBS New York, nearby lifeguards saw the helicopter crash and paddled kayaks out to help McMahon and Regtien ahead of the Coast Guard's arrival.

FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump has panned Saturday Night Live's season premiere but tweeted praise for Kanye West. As the show... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump has panned Saturday Night Live's season premiere but tweeted praise for Kanye West. As the show... (Associated Press) FILE- In this Sept. 7, 2018, file photo Kanye West attends the Ralph Lauren 50th Anniversary Event held at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park during New York Fashion Week in New York. President Donald Trump... (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has panned Saturday Night Live's season premiere but tweeted praise for Kanye West, who closed the show with a pro-Trump message. Saturday's show opened with Matt Damon playing Brett Kavanaugh in a parody of Thursday's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on sexual assault claims. As the show ended, West took the stage wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat and made an unscripted pro-Trump speech after the credits rolled. Videos of the speech circulated on social media. Trump tweeted Sunday that he didn't watch the show — it's "no longer funny" and "is just a political ad for the Dems." He added: "Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told 'no'), was great. He's leading the charge!" ||||| Rapper Kanye West got boos and jeers from the audience at “Saturday Night Live” after he went on a pro-President Trump rant during the closing credits of the season premiere. West, wearing a red “Make American Great Again” hat and with the show’s cast standing behind him, launched into the screed off camera, but it was caught on video by comedian Chris Rock. “I wanna cry right now, black man in America, supposed to keep what you’re feeling inside right now,” he sang as he paced the stage. He continued: “The blacks want always Democrats you know it’s like the plan they did, to take the fathers out the home and put them on welfare. Does anybody know about that? That’s a Democratic plan.” Then he turned to his support of Trump. “There’s so many times I talk to like a white person about this and they say, ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’ Well, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago.” A smattering of applause was quickly drowned out by boos in the audience. Rock could be heard on the video saying, “Oh, my God.” West appeared on the show’s 44th season opener as a last-minute replacement for Ariana Grande, who canceled. ||||| Like many, I don’t watch Saturday Night Live (even though I past hosted it) - no longer funny, no talent or charm. It is just a political ad for the Dems. Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told “no”), was great. He’s leading the charge! ||||| The rapper, sporting a Make America Great Again hat, called for more open political dialogue and hinted at a 2020 run. During the 44th season premiere of NBC's Saturday Night Live on Saturday, musical guest Kanye West gave a pro-Trump speech while wearing a Make America Great Again hat in a speech made after the TV broadcast ended. “There’s so many times I talked to a white person about this and they’re like, ‘How can you like Trump, he’s racist?’ Well, if I was concerned about racism I would have moved out of America a long time ago,” West said to the crowd at Studio 8H in New York, eliciting several claps and a number of boos. "You’ve got a situation where you need to have a dialogue and not a diatribe...It’s easy to make it seem like it's so, so, so one-sided," West said in his speech. West also briefly alluded to plans of running for political office in 2020. His speech was filmed and posted to Instagram by comedian Chris Rock, who was in the crowd at the taping. Looks like we missed a lot after the credits Kanye is back to talking about running for president in 2020. : @chrisrock pic.twitter.com/yObaal85CA — Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) September 30, 2018 The rapper delivered the comments after a final performance following the cast's sign-off. He was given extra time to perform a third song and when the broadcast ended, West invited the cast back onstage. When he began speaking, the moment made the cast uncomfortable, says a show insider — something that could be seen in the videos posted on social media. The insider said the cast returned to the stage assuming they would be dancing for his performance and what transpired was "unfair." During his speech from the SNL stage, West said he was "bullied" backstage before coming out in his MAGA hat. "You see they're laughing at me, they screamed at me," West said onstage. "They said, 'Don't go out there with that hat on.' They bullied me backstage. They bullied me! And then they say I'm in a sunken place. You want to see the sunken place? Okay, I'm going to listen to y'all now, or I'm going to put my Superman cape on," he said, replacing his MAGA cap. "This means you can't tell me what to do." West went on to say: "Follow your heart and stop following your mind. That's how we're controlled. That's how we're programmed. If you want the world to move forward, try love." The insider refuted West's "bullied" claim. West also wore the MAGA hat in promos leading up to the premiere with host Adam Driver and castmember Kenan Thompson, and in show photos leading up to his performance that aired during the broadcast. SNL goes off the air at 1 a.m. and West began his speech several minutes after 1 a.m., said the insider about why the moment didn't make it to air. KANYE SNL TALK THAT GOT CUT OFF FREEDOM OF SPEECH SHOULD HAVE EXTENDED pic.twitter.com/IpULoEJxsN — MIKE DEAN! #MWA (@therealmikedean) September 30, 2018 On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump responded to West's performance on Twitter: "Like many, I don’t watch Saturday Night Live (even though I past hosted it) - no longer funny, no talent or charm. It is just a political ad for the Dems. Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told “no”), was great. He’s leading the charge!" Trump has not been shy about criticizing SNL in the past. The president has been strongly critical of Alec Baldwin's impersonation of him on the program, saying, "Alec Baldwin, whose dying mediocre career was saved by his terrible impersonation of me on SNL, now says playing me was agony. Alec, it was agony for those who were forced to watch." The rapper had previously voiced support for Trump, tweeting a picture of a MAGA hat he owned signed by the president and declaring they both had similar "dragon energy." "Just as a musician, African-American, everyone around me tried to pick my candidate for me and then told me that I couldn't say that I like Trump," West told late-night host Jimmy Kimmel earlier this year. West also took issue with the notion that "blacks can only be Democrats," an adage that fellow Chicago musician Chance the Rapper echoed on Twitter in April. Trump, at the time, responded to West's support by thanking the rapper via Twitter. Jackie Strause contributed to this story. Oct. 1., 9: 30 a.m. This story has been updated with additional details of West's performance.

– Kanye West's Saturday Night Live performance drew both praise and criticism after the vocally pro-Trump rapper appeared onstage in a "Make America Great Again" hat over the weekend. However, he reportedly made another statement regarding the president during his appearance, one that was cut from the show's final broadcast. Per the New York Post, West was booed by the audience as he ranted during closing credits that Democrats want to keep black Americans on welfare. He then addressed his well-known support of President Trump. "I talk to like a white person about this and they say, ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’" West said. "Well, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago.” Per the Hollywood Reporter, West also briefly suggested a 2020 run could be in his future. In the audience was former SNL cast member Chris Rock, who recorded West's statement on video and cringed audibly from behind the camera as West spoke. Among West's supporters was none other than the president himself, who tweeted Sunday that he doesn't watch the show ("a political ad for the Dems") but that he heard about West's hat. "Word is that Kanye West, who put on a MAGA hat after the show (despite being told 'no'), was great," Trump wrote, per the AP. "He's leading the charge!" Among the topics tackled earlier in the Adam Driver-hosted premiere were the Kavanaugh testimony and show writer Pete Davidson's engagement to singer Ariana Grande.

Trending Look but don’t touch! American tourist snaps Italian statue’s finger off Aug. 6, 2013 at 6:31 PM ET Violating the first rule of visiting a museum — look but don’t touch the art — an American tourist in Italy has generated shock and outrage by snapping the finger off a 600-year-old statue at a museum in Florence. According to the Italian newspaper, Corriere Fiorentino, the snap heard around the art world took place when an unnamed 55-year-old Missouri man visiting the city’s Museo dell'Opera del Duomo held his hand up against the outstretched palm of a statue of the Virgin Mary by the 15th-century sculptor Giovanni d'Ambrogio. Whether he was comparing hand spans or giving the statue a high five is unclear but the end result was that the pinky finger of the statue’s right hand was broken off. Despite apologizing for his action, the tourist could be liable for a large fine, according to The (UK) Independent. MAURIZIO DEGL' INNOCENTI / EPA Even a financial penalty, however, is unlikely to assuage local Florentines, experienced art lovers and other travelers who would argue that anyone with the means to travel should also possess the understanding that art in museums is meant to be seen and not touched. “In a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten, that is, ‘Do not touch the works’,” museum director Timothy Verdun told reporters. That basic premise notwithstanding, that globalization only reinforces the need for continuing education, says Sevil Sonmez, a tourism professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. “If this was a first-time traveler, he’s probably not very experienced, maybe a little naïve,” said Sonmez. “If there’s no one around to give pointers on what to do and what to avoid, these things are likely to happen.” In fact, in the case of the Virgin’s dismembered digit, it’s happened before. As reported by Firenze Today, the pinky was actually a plaster replacement for the long-missing marble original. Nor is this first priceless piece of art damaged by accident. In 2006, a visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, tripped and sent three Quing Dynasty vases crashing to the ground. Four years later, a woman visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York fell into a Picasso painting called “The Actor” and left it with a six-inch gash. The artworks above, it’s worth noting, were eventually repaired and put back on display, which suggests there may be hope that future visitors to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo will be able to view the Virgin with all 10 of her fingers. In the meantime, the incident in Florence should serve as a timely reminder of the “look but don’t touch” rule. That also means no high fives, no “pull my finger” photo ops and definitely no fist bumps. As for the still-anonymous yet now-infamous finger-snapper, Sonmez, for one, takes the long view. “It’s part of the process of traveling and gaining experience,” she said. “The best way to learn is to make mistakes — and he certainly won’t do that again.” Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him on Twitter. ||||| The unnamed man was reportedly spotted by a security guard as he began touching the statue and trying to measure its finger, but attempts to stop him came too late and the digit broke off. The incident took place in the Italian city’s world famous Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, with the 600-year-old exhibit believed to be the work of eminent medieval sculptor Giovanni d'Ambrogio. The tourist is said to have apologised for damaging the priceless artwork, but could still receive a large fine for his careless behaviour. Before any financial penalty can be arranged, however, the American tourist has suffered the full force of Florentine fury over the incident, which locals consider symptomatic of a modern thoughtless and disrespectful attitude towards fragile ancient artworks. Timothy Verdun, the head of the museum and coincidentally an American himself, condemned the tourist’s behaviour, saying: “In a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten, that is, ‘Do not touch the works’”. Mr Verdun confirmed that the broken finger was not original to the piece, and had been added at a later date. He added that the price of any repair was not yet known and that, even if it was considered affordable, there was no guarantee that the restoration would be a success.

– A clumsy tourist from Missouri is in for plenty of finger-wagging from the art world after accidentally snapping a digit off a 600-year-old statue in a museum in Florence, Italy. The 55-year-old was holding his hand against the statue's palm when a finger snapped off, NBC reports. The man apologized but may still be hit with a heavy fine for damaging the work by medieval sculptor Giovanni d'Ambrogio. The museum's director—an American himself—blasted the tourist's behavior, saying "in a globalized world like ours, the fundamental rules for visiting a museum have been forgotten, that is, 'Do not touch the works,'" the Independent reports. But this is nothing new for the statue: The little finger snapped off by the tourist was itself a plaster replacement for the original marble finger, which was broken off many years ago.

http://timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_prison-5.jpg Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes. WILKES-BARRE — Two people died Monday evening inside the Luzerne County Correctional Facility — an inmate and a prison guard — according to Luzerne County Manager David Pedri. The two died after a brief altercation that took place at about 6:25 p.m., Pedri said at a news conference late Monday night. Pedri identified the inmate as Timothy Gilliam, 27. Pedri said he believed Gilliam had been incarcerated for failing to register under Megan’s Law, for sex offenders. Pedri said the name of the prison guard was not being released at the request of his family. “This guard went to work today believing that he would be coming home,” Pedri said. “And, sadly that didn’t happen.” He called the incident a “sad and tragic.” “We will do everything in our power to ensure an incident like this never happens again,” he said. According to Pedri, who declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, the matter was under investigation by the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office and Pennsylvania State Police. When asked about Mark Rockovich, the new correctional division head, Pedri said Monday was his first day on the job. Luzerne County Councilman Tim McGinley, who was on site shortly after the incident occurred, said any suspect death would be of concern to the county, noting that the county spends $30 million on the facility annually. Michele Rohrbaugh, whose son Michael is an inmate on the fifth floor of the facility, came for a visit at about 7 p.m. and was told by prison staff that there would be no visit because the prison was on lockdown. Rohrbaugh stood outside of the prison for over three hours, hoping to hear her son was safe. After the press conference, she made her way from council chambers visibly relieved. “It wasn’t him,” she said. “It wasn’t my son.” Rohrbaugh said she recently had heard that gang activity at the prison was on the rise. She also said she was concerned with her son’s safety. Some prison guards have been complaining for months about security and safety concerns at the main prison, located on Water Street. Prison officials have been wrestling with an increase in inmate assaults and fighting — problems that have been blamed on a rise in inmates who are addicted to drugs, battling mental health issues and involved in gangs. The main prison has been at or over its 505-inmate capacity in recent years. In April, county officials investigated the hospitalization of a prison inmate for a serious cut above his right ear down into his neck. Prison officials said they suspected the man was assaulted by another inmate, but the inmate continues to maintain he cut himself when he fell off the top metal bunk bed in his cell, officials said as recently as last week. One guard, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Monday night that he and many of his colleagues blame Pedri and prison deputy Warden James Larson for not taking their safety concerns seriously. Larson has been acting as correctional services division head since April 1, following the March resignation of prior prison overseer J. Allen Nesbitt in March. The county council unanimously voted last week to confirm Pedri’s nomination of Rockovich as the new correctional division head. Rockovich, who has worked at the prison since 1991, assured the council he will address problems at the facility, including work release. Federal authorities recently charged former prison employee Louis Elmy with extortion and possession of a firearm in furtherance of selling crack cocaine. Prosecutors said Elmy, while acting in his official role as a prison work-release counselor, extorted money and other items of value from work release inmates in exchange for giving them special privileges and unauthorized furloughs. The resolution appointing Rockovich was to take effect six days after adoption, which means Monday was his first day in the new position. County Councilman Eugene Kelleher in March questioned delays in repairing malfunctioning security cameras at the prison and other safety concerns raised by at least 10 past and present staffers who had contacted him. The aging facility has more nooks and crannies than a modern prison because it is five stories. “I’m really concerned about security at the prison for employees,” Kelleher said at the time. The administration said it was addressing the cameras. Editors Note: This article has been edited to reflect the correct identity of the deceased inmate.

– A correctional officer and an inmate are dead following an altercation at a Pennsylvania prison. It happened Monday night at Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Wilkes-Barre, which is currently on lockdown, the AP reports. Luzerne County Manager David Pedri tells the Times Leader that the dead inmate is 27-year-old Tracy Gilliam, who he believes was in prison for failing to register as a sex offender. Pedri says the guard's family has asked for his name not to be released. "This guard went to work today believing that he would be coming home," he says. "And sadly, that didn't happen." Pedri says authorities will do all they can to make sure a "sad and tragic" incident like this doesn't happen again. State police and the county DA are investigating.

4 years ago (CNN) - Anthony Weiner, the embattled New York City mayoral candidate who admitted this week to sending raunchy chats to a young woman last summer, estimated Thursday he had online relationships with three different women after his 2011 resignation from Congress. But speaking at a news conference, the Democrat said he couldn't say for sure how many more women might come forward. "There are a few. I don't have a specific number for you," Weiner said. "There are people I've had exchanges with that are completely appropriate, and that there are no pictures or illicit texts or anything. Now if those people want to say they don't like the exchanges we had either, I don't know where to put them." READ MORE: Weiner's poll numbers tumble Weiner stepped down from his House seat in 2011 after admitting to sending lewd photos and messages to multiple women online. He pointed out Thursday that when he left the House of Representatives, he admitted to exchanging messages with six women. He then provided a rough total of how many women he's engaged with sexually online. "It's not dozens and dozens," he said. "It's six to ten, I suppose, but I can't tell you absolutely what people are going to consider inappropriate or not." READ MORE: Pelosi blasts Weiner: Do your therapy in private Pressed to provide a guess as to how many of those relationships occurred after his resignation, Weiner said, "I don't believe I had any more than three." Weiner has resisted calls from his rivals to withdraw from the race for New York City mayor, saying the decision of whether he's trustworthy enough for the job should be up to voters. Sources: Huma Abedin considered leaving Weiner last fall Weiner resists calls to withdraw as woman who received messages is identified Why Anthony Weiner's problem is ours, too ||||| In light of new revelations that Anthony Weiner continued to engage in lewd online behavior after he resigned from Congress two years ago, Weiner now trails Christine Quinn in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. In this first poll conducted entirely after the latest scandalous details emerged, Quinn now outdistances Weiner by 9 percentage points. Among registered Democrats in New York City, including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, if the Democratic primary were held today, here is how the contest would stand: 25% Christine Quinn 16% Anthony Weiner 14% Bill de Blasio 14% Bill Thompson 7% John Liu 2% Erick Salgado 1% Sal Albanese 2% Other 19% Undecided Click Here for Complete July 25, 2013 NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll NYC Release and Tables POLL MUST BE SOURCED: NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll* “For many Democrats the latest revelations about Anthony Weiner are more of the same, only more so,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Weiner has lost his lead and his negatives are at an all-time high.” There has been a 14 percentage point swing in the contest between Quinn and Weiner. As noted, Quinn leads Weiner by 9 percentage points. When the NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll last reported this question in June, Weiner — 25% — edged Quinn — 20% — by 5 percentage points among New York City Democrats including those who were undecided yet leaning toward a candidate. Bill Thompson received the support of 13%. At that time, 10% backed Bill de Blasio while 8% were for John Liu. Erick Salgado had the support of 2%, and 1% was behind Sal Albanese. One percent backed another candidate, and 18% were undecided. Among Democrats who are likely to vote in September’s primary, 26% are for Quinn compared with 17% for de Blasio who is in a statistical tie for second with Weiner at 16% and Thompson with 15%. Liu has the backing of 7%, Salgado garners 2%, and 1% is for Albanese. Two percent support another candidate, and 15% are undecided. How committed to their choice of candidate are New York City Democrats with their candidate preference? 42% say they strongly support their choice. 32% are somewhat behind their pick while 23% might vote differently. Three percent are unsure. Last month, 36% of Democrats with a candidate preference reported they were firmly in their candidate’s camp. 38% were somewhat behind their pick, and 23% thought they might change their minds before Election Day. Three percent, at the time, were unsure. Democrats who are for Weiner — 52% — are still more committed to their choice of candidate than backers of the other leading contenders. 37% of Quinn’s supporters strongly support her. 35% of Thompson’s backers have a similar intensity of support, and 33% of Democrats behind de Blasio are firmly committed to their candidate. In June, 45% of Weiner’s supporters said they strongly supported him. This compares with 34% of Quinn’s backers who expressed a similar intensity of support. Results for Thompson and de Blasio are not available for the previous poll. Table: 2013 Democratic Primary for Mayor (NYC Democrats with Leaners) Table: Intensity of Support (NYC Democrats with a Candidate Preference) Weiner’s Negative Rating Soars There has been a dramatic shift in Democrats’ impressions of Anthony Weiner from a similar poll conducted last month before the latest online sexual relationship came to light. In the current survey, a majority of Democrats citywide have an unfavorable impression of Anthony Weiner. 55% have this view while three in ten — 30% — have a favorable opinion of the candidate. 15% have either never heard of him or are unsure how to rate him. This represents the highest negative rating Anthony Weiner has received this election season. In last month’s NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll, a majority of New York City Democrats — 52% — had a favorable view of Weiner while 36% had an unfavorable opinion of him. 11%, at the time, had either never heard of him or were unsure how to rate him. “New York City Democrats were willing to give Anthony Weiner a second chance but are reluctant to excuse his behavior now,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. Table: Anthony Weiner Favorability (NYC Democrats) Table: Anthony Weiner Favorability Over Time (NYC Democrats) Democrats Divide Over Future of Weiner’s Candidacy Despite the tawdry details of Weiner’s online sexual relationships, Weiner vows to fight on in his quest to become the next mayor of New York City. But, do Democrats citywide want Weiner to remain in the race? 47% do while 43% want him to drop out of the contest. 10% are unsure. What would the race look like without Weiner? Quinn outpaces her closest competitor, Thompson, by 15 percentage points. Among registered Democrats in New York City, including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate, if the Democratic primary were held today, here is how the contest would stand without Anthony Weiner: 32% Christine Quinn 17% Bill Thompson 16% Bill de Blasio 9% John Liu 2% Erick Salgado 1% Sal Albanese 2% Other 20% Undecided Among Democrats who are likely to vote in September’s primary, 32% support Quinn compared with 20% for de Blasio. 18% are behind Thompson while Liu receives the support of 9%. Two percent back Salgado while 1% is for Albanese. Two percent support another candidate, and 17% are undecided. Table: Should Anthony Weiner Drop Out of the Race for New York City Mayor? (NYC Democrats) Table: 2013 Democratic Primary for Mayor without Anthony Weiner (NYC Democrats with Leaners) Do Weiner’s Online Sexcapades Matter to Democrats? 46% of New York City Democrats say Weiner’s online sexual relationships will impact their vote. Included here are 33% who report Weiner’s activities will matter a great deal to their decision and 13% who say Weiner’s actions will matter a good amount. 49%, however, say these activities matter little or not at all when deciding their vote. This includes 14% who say these revelations matter a little and 35% who say they don’t matter at all. Five percent are unsure. Anthony Weiner is not the only politician seeking forgiveness from the public. Following a prostitution scandal that forced him out of office, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is running for New York City comptroller. However, Democrats citywide find Weiner’s behavior more egregious than Spitzer’s actions. When NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist asked Democrats earlier this month if Spitzer’s sex scandal would impact their vote, only 34% believed it would have an effect on how they cast their ballot, and 62% reported it would matter little or not at all. Five percent were unsure. Table: Impact of Weiner’s Online Sexual Relationships on Vote (NYC Democrats) A Matter of Trust? Abedin’s Support Does Little to Help Weiner In a press conference on Tuesday, Huma Abedin, Anthony Weiner’s wife, publicly supported her husband and said she had forgiven him. However, her commitment does little to help Weiner’s electoral chances. Almost three in four Democrats — 73% — report Abedin’s support has no impact on how much trust they have in Weiner to be mayor. 15% say her backing makes them more likely to trust him while 12% say it makes them less likely to do so. Table: Does Huma Abedin’s Support of Anthony Weiner Make You More or Less Likely to Trust Weiner as Mayor? (NYC Democrats) Have Weiner’s Chances Run Out? Can New York City Democrats move beyond Weiner’s salacious activities and give him another chance? Again, there is a divide. 47% believe Weiner deserves another chance in the public arena while 45% disagree and say he does not have the character to be mayor. Nine percent are unsure. When Marist last reported a similar question in May, 59% of Democrats thought Weiner should be given a second chance. 35% said he did not have the character to be mayor, and 6% were unsure. Democrats are more willing to grant redemption to Eliot Spitzer. Two weeks ago, 67% said Spitzer deserved another chance while one in four — 25% — believed he did not have the character to be comptroller. Eight percent, at that time, were unsure. Table: Does Anthony Weiner Deserve Another Chance? (NYC Democrats) Just Four in Ten Think Weiner Would Do Well as Mayor Just 40% of Democrats citywide think Weiner would do an excellent or good job as mayor. This includes 15% who say he would be an excellent mayor and 25% who report he would be a good one. 47% do not think he would excel as mayor, including 19% who believe he would do a fair job in the office while more than one in four — 28% — predict he would perform poorly in City Hall. 13% are unsure. Once again, New York City Democrats express more faith in Eliot Spitzer. In NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist’s early July survey, 57% thought Spitzer would do either an excellent — 18% — or good — 39% — job as comptroller. 19% reported he would do a fair job, and 12% said he would fall short. 12%, then, were unsure. Table: How Would Anthony Weiner Perform as Mayor? (NYC Democrats) Spitzer with 17 Percentage Point Lead in the Race for NYC Comptroller Where does the contest for New York City comptroller stand? Spitzer — 49% — leads Scott Stringer — 32% — by 17 percentage points among registered Democrats in New York City including those who are undecided yet leaning toward a candidate. Two percent support another candidate, and 17% are undecided. Spitzer’s lead has widened. Earlier this month, 42% of Democrats supported Spitzer while 33% were for Stringer. One percent backed another candidate, and 24% were undecided. Among Democrats who are likely to vote in September’s primary, 48% support Spitzer compared with 36% for Stringer. One percent supports another candidate, and 14% are undecided. Last time, Spitzer led Stringer 44% to 36% among Democrats likely to vote on Primary Day. Table: 2013 Democratic Primary for Comptroller (NYC Democrats with Leaners) How the Survey was Conducted Nature of the Sample

– Have New Yorkers had enough? In a Marist poll last month, Anthony Weiner claimed frontrunner status in the race for New York City mayor by 5 points over Christine Quinn. This week's revelations have caused a 14-point swing: She's now in front with 25% to his 16%, reports Marist. Two others are tied for third, just 2 points back of Weiner. And another comeback looks daunting: Most respondents (55%) now have an unfavorable opinion of Weiner. On top of that, Weiner admits that the woman who came forward this week isn't the only recipient of his lewd texts since he resigned from Congress in 2011, reports CNN. He seems to have lost track, however: "I don't believe I had any more than three," he said, when pressed for an answer during a news conference. And the overall number, pre- and post-resignation? "It's not dozens and dozens. It's six to 10, I suppose, but I can't tell you absolutely what people are going to consider inappropriate or not."

When Google Inc. launched its Google+ social-networking site three weeks ago, executives handed out sailor hats to the hundreds of employees working on the project, symbolizing their year-long journey to that point. So far, the sailing has been mostly smooth. On Wednesday, Web-traffic watcher comScore Inc. estimated Google+ has had 20 million unique visitors since its launch, including five million visitors from the U.S. A Google spokeswoman declined comment. Google's rapid growth spurt on Google+ suggests that people are hungry for more social network options, WSJ's Jen Valentino-DeVries reports. ComScore, whose estimates are based on a "global measurement panel" of two million Internet users, similar to the approach Nielsen uses to measure television ratings,doesn't have data on the number of minutes people spent on Google+. Still, the growth of Google+ has impressed observers because access to it is by invitation only, meaning people can join only if a current member invites them. And the company hasn't yet marketed the service to the more than one billion monthly visitors who use its search engine, Gmail and other services. Journal Community Google+ lets people share comments, articles, photos and videos with various "circles" of friends or contacts, or they can share content publicly with any userwho wants to view their posts. Eventually, Google plans to incorporate features of Google+ in its other services, such as its YouTube video site. "I've never seen anything grow this quickly," said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at comScore. The only other site that has accumulated as many new visitors in a short period of time is Twitter in 2009, he said, "but that happened over several months." The new data follow comments by Google CEO Larry Page last week that Google+ had more than 10 million users.Mr. Page said Google+'s traction was evidence that there are "more opportunities for Google today than ever before." Of course, Google has a long way to go to reach the scale of Facebook Inc., which has more than 750 million users, and Twitter Inc., which has more than 200 million registered accounts. With Google+, Google is aiming to match rivals like Facebook, which used personal information posted by its members to create a multibillion-dollar advertising business that lets marketers target specific demographic groups or people with certain interests. Google also hopes the service can become a home for brands and celebrities. The data Google obtains about people's interests could also help it change the way its Web-search engine works. Sites in its search results could potentially be ranked based on what users and their friends like or find useful, Google engineers have said. View Full Image Reuters A screen shot of the Google Plus social network is shown in this publicity photo. In addition to adding numerous features over time, Google will eventually allow software developers to create "social" games and other applications that would run on top of Google+, similar to Facebook's successful "platform" for applications, people familiar with the matter have said. Google+ also has unique technology, such as a "hangouts" feature, that lets people do "video chats" using their computer webcams, speaking to numerous friends simultaneously. The company plans to include Google+ in its suite of online software for businesses. In an email to investors Tuesday, Barclays Capital equity researchers said that "given positive initial traction from users we believe Google is now better positioned to compete and integrate social cues across its products than before, which could drive increased relevancy in search going forward." Even some privacy advocates who lambasted Buzz, Google's prior social-networking effort, have lauded Google+. "The product has been designed to make it easier to share with one group of your friends while retaining some measure of privacy with respect to your family, coworkers or other groups of friends," said Peter Eckersley, a senior technologist at privacy-advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation, in an email. But Mr. Eckersley added: "Google+ won't be as good for protecting your privacy against Google or against governments or lawyers with the power to compel Google to turn over your information." Ben Hopper, a 29-year-old photographer in London who joined Google+ just after it launched, said "it feels a little empty right now" compared with Facebook, where he has more than 4,000 "friends." But he said that he "needs to be everywhere to show my photography," and if Google+ becomes integrated with Gmail, Google's email service, "for me it will have the upper hand." Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com ||||| The number of people on Google+ has passed 20 million according to ComScore, further validating Google's biggest attempt at social networking yet. ComScore bases its estimate on a global measurement panel of 2 million users. Google hasn't confirmed the numbers, but last week, Google CEO Larry Page said the service had more than 10 million users sharing 1 billion items per day. "I've never seen anything grow this quickly," ComScore analyst Andrew Lipsman told the Wall Street Journal. So, now what? It's clear that Google+ isn't a flop like its immediate predecessor, Google Buzz. With a steady base of users investing time in Google+, we can start to look at where the social network will be going next: Business and Brand Pages To the dismay of brands and businesses who want to reach the quickly-growing Google+ audience, Google is restricting its social network to personal use and banning accounts that appear to be tied to a business. Google promises to have a system for all businesses and brands in the coming months. "The platform at the moment is not built for the business use case, and we want to help you build long-term relationships with your customers," Google Group Product Manager Christian Oestlien wrote. "Doing it right is worth the wait." Games It's kind of an open secret that Google+ will become a place to play social games, with hints found in the service's source code and help pages. How exactly Google+ will attack the Facebook gaming juggernaut is unclear, but Google has reportedly pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Farmville maker Zynga, and is rumored to be creating a separate "games" stream in Google+ so your friends won't have to hear about the status of your farm unless they want to. Integration With Other Services Over time, Google is expected to hook its existing services into the social backbone of Google+, allowing users to share Google Docs documents, YouTube videos, and more with the circles they've created on the social network. For now, integration is limited to the notification boxes that appear atop Gmail, Maps, and other services, but over time expect Google+ tie-ins to grow deeper. Follow Jared on Facebook and Twitter as well as Today @ PCWorld for even more tech news and commentary.

– Google’s new social networking site, Google+, has gotten an impressive 20 million unique visitors in its first 3 weeks online; of those, 5 million are from the US. And that’s with access still limited only to those who have been invited by other members—and without any advertising yet through Google’s search engine or Gmail, the Wall Street Journal notes. “I've never seen anything grow this quickly,” says an analyst at comScore. The company hasn't confirmed the visitor numbers but said last week it had more than 10 million users. Meanwhile, privacy advocates who slammed Google’s earlier social system, Buzz, are more comfortable with the new service. Google+ makes it “easier to share with one group of your friends while retaining some measure of privacy with respect to your family, coworkers, or other groups of friends," notes one watchdog. Still, he warns, “Google+ won't be as good for protecting your privacy against Google.” So now that Google+ is off to a promising start, what next? PC World looks at the possibilities, which include reaching out to businesses and gamers.

Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| A drone filming a Russian medieval festival met a fitting demise when a reenactor in a full knight’s costume brought it with the end of a spear. Luckily, the drone’s footage remained in tact, giving us an incredible view of not only the spearing but also of one of the stranger gatherings ever caught on camera. The violent drone destruction occurs at the beginning of the Youtube video, but, at the end of the festival, there is plenty of of old-time partying, rugby-like games, and, of course, Russians pretending to wage medieval war against one another. Clearly though, these reenactors are doing something right, because the throw that brought down the drone was not easy. Hovering about 20 feet over the heads of the party-goers, the drone catches sight briefly of a man jutting through the crowd, only to be felled by the hurtling missile. The drone didn’t stand a chance, but the good news is maybe some of the more elaborate anti-drone technology developed in recent months may not be necessary after all. Who needs to blast disabling radio waves across the sky, fire nets, or to train eagles to capture drones, when an old-fashioned man with a spear will do the trick just fine? The video definitely makes clear that drones may be the future, but spears are timeless. ||||| What’s the greatest weakness of a drone? Partial marks if you said an eagle, a radio frequency jammer, or another drone. But no, the real answer is “Russian historical re-enactors armed with a spear”, as this video from Russia’s Rusborg gathering earlier this month reveals. Unlike the high-tech method of drones armed with nets designed to down other drones, hitting a small quadcopter with a spear isn’t the safest way to take down an annoying interloper. Not only do you risk spearing someone if you miss, but the drone itself probably won’t come out of it in the best shape: the drone’s operators, UAV photographers from Lipetsk, say it’s now heading off to Moscow for repairs. In addition to that, there’ are not many circumstances when wandering around with a spear is a good idea. Still, can’t hurt to try.

– We now know what would happen if a drone traveled back in time to the Middle Ages. A talented knight—more precisely, a talented medieval reenactor—at Russia's Rusborg festival managed to down a drone with a throw of his spear. The drone was recording the event from about 20 feet in the air when the man emerged from a crowd, took aim, and let fly, sending the drone careening to the ground, per Inverse. Its operators, photographers from Lipetsk, say the drone had to be sent to Moscow for repairs, reports the Guardian. Luckily its footage of sword fights and half-naked rugby games was unharmed.

It is getting hard to count how many times Miley Cyrus has stripped down for photo shoots — but the 22-year-old’s latest spread is her most provocative yet. Cyrus covers this month’s issue of Candy magazine, the first magazine “completely dedicated to celebrating tranvestism, transexuality, crossdressing and androgyny in all their glory.” In a series of photos taken by renowned celebrity photographer (and alleged sex predator) Terry Richardson, Cyrus playfully fellates a nightstick while donning a policeman’s cap, stretches out her tongue to lick her armpit hair and bends at the waist to reach for a sex toy. “Miley has what it takes,” the caption on each shot reads. Check out the complete unblurred photo shoot here (Warning: Photos are extremely NSFW). This isn’t the first time Cyrus has gotten naked for Richardson; the controversial photographer shot a younger Cyrus in his New York studio in 2013. The pair also worked together on Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” music video. Richardson, who’s worked with countless celebrities on sexy photo shoots, has become something of an outcast in the photography world in recent years. Last year, a model named Emma Appleton accused the photographer of soliciting sex from her in exchange for securing her a Vogue photo shoot. In December 2013, Richardson’s ex-girlfriend, Audrey Gelman, said that both she and Lena Dunham, who had been photographed by Richardson, “have regrets.” Last year, Vogue told Us Weekly it had “no plans to work with” its controversial former contributor in the future. ||||| “Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman.” That’s how Amy Schumer described her nude photo by Annie Leibovitz for the new Pirelli Calendar, seizing the words from the tweets and thinkpieces by her critics and cheerleaders, all of whom will reliably bicker over the headline-making photo shoot from the star, who has turned the unapologetic, self-deprecating embracing of her body image into a zeitgeist-seizing art form. In the photo, Schumer is nude with nothing but a pair of underwear and some heels on, her arms opting to conceal her nipples instead of the rolls on her stomach as she slouches, and holding a coffee cup as the flash of a bulb startles her face startles into a candid, quite beautiful pose. The Trainwreck and Inside Amy Schumer star is a model for photographer Annie Leibovitz’s “quite different” 43rd edition of the Pirelli Calendar, typically known for classic pin-up poses from the world’s most glamorous and flawless sex symbols—Naomi Campbell, Penelope Cruz, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford—but which this year features some of the world’s most distinguished women, all noted for things other than, but also including, their looks. “The goal was to be very straightforward,” Leibovitz said in a press conference unveiling the images. “I wanted the pictures to show the women exactly as they are, with no pretense.” In addition to Schumer, other models for the calendar include names not classically associated with the phrase “pin-up”—Selma director Ava DuVernay; Yao Chen, the first Chinese goodwill ambassador for United Nations High Commission for Refugees; tennis phenom Serena Williams—and therefore reappropriates the phrase to encompass new layers of sexiness and beauty: the kind that triumphs confidence, intelligence, class, and strength as part of the idea of exhibitionism. The remainder of the calendar’s models include Lucasfilm producer Kathleen Kennedy, Yoko Ono, writer Fran Lebowitz, executive Mellody Hobson, former supermodel Natalia Vodianova, philanthropist Agnes Gund, blogger Tavi Gevinson, and Iranian artist Shirin Neshat. As for her own image, which bucks the celebrity tradition of airbrushing out curves and rolls, Schumer says, “I never felt more beautiful.” The more radical message she's sending: We’re all our fiercest champions, but we're also our biggest critics. That tension? That is natural. That is beautiful. It’s easy to sound trite or maybe even patronizing when praising a famous person for embracing their body, and for being candid about all the insecurities they still acknowledge. But to deny the power not just in Schumer’s involvement in this calendar but also in the way she has shared the photo would be an injustice to the effect it will undeniably have. “Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman,” she captioned the photo when she posted it on Twitter and on Instagram Monday morning. These are words that seem in contradiction with each other, almost like an insufferable beat poet who thinks she is being deeper than she is. But they’re not. Schumer is redirecting the body-positive movement in a more realistic, and maybe even emotionally healthier way. Get The Beast In Your Inbox! Daily Digest Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast. Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't). By clicking “Subscribe,” you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Subscribe Thank You! You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason. You can feel confident and proud of your body. You can find your curves sexy. You can embrace what some might call an imperfection. And you can also hate your body sometimes, too. Because to have a relationship with your body and your self-confidence means being honest about insecurities and your feelings about them. Otherwise you’re just projecting a false pride, convincing yourself that you’ve accepted parts of your body that you don’t like merely because a body-positive movement says you will be happier if you do. Schumer has always been candid about her body image, partly because she recognizes the radical power of being a successful and sexual woman in Hollywood while not having the body type of a waifish clothing rack with cartoon boobs. With great power comes great responsibility, and if not necessarily considering it a responsibility to discuss her body image struggles (because, dear God, how awful), she considers it an opportunity, and one that she’s relished. But she’s also been candid because we’ve forced her to. How many interviews has Schumer sat through, forced to answer questions about being a “trailblazer” because she’s carved a place for herself in show business without being a size zero? The brilliant comedian that she is, she’s used it as part of her comedy, especially in an often repeated bit about how in L.A. her arms register as legs. (It’s a good bit, even if we’ve heard her perform it so often by this point we could recite it ourselves.) The eloquent human that she is—the one who has been so incomparably gifted at channeling our own frustrations and complicated feelings with a razor-sharp wit laced with surprising shocks of emotion—she’s also used this candor to be more authentic than most celebrities have ever been about what it’s been like to be insecure with your body while under the scrutinizing gaze of the public eye. And then eventually conquer that. “Some nights I just didn’t even want to go on stage because I couldn’t find an outfit I looked good in,” she said on the Today show last month. Then, tearfully, “It’s been a struggle for me my whole life, especially just being in the entertainment industry, standing on a stage in front of people. I can’t perform my best or be confident if I’m not sure if I’m pulling at something. Sometimes I would just want to throw in the towel and say, ‘I’m not going to do stand-up tonight.’” We don’t often let our strong role models to have chink in their armor, especially ones that betray any sort of emotion or vulnerability. Amy Schumer, role model for all confident women, called bullshit on that, and we’re all better for it. So it’s with a careful honed grace, sharpened from so much of that, that Schumer shares the photo with the perfect message, a collection of words that some will use to describe how she looks, that she will use to describe her looks as her relationship to the photo and her body evolves (like all of us do with our own), and that actually mean something real—more real than any rote “This is beautiful!” plastic endorsement. Perhaps unintentionally, there’s a bit of cheeky poeticism to this photo being included as part of the Pirelli Calendar, which is routinely associated with “pin-up” poses. In an episode of Inside Amy Schumer that spoofed 12 Angry Men, jurors did not debate whether the defendant (played by Schumer) was guilty of committing murder, but instead the crime of not being hot enough to be on TV. At one point, one of the jurors bemoans the end of the days where only women as sexy and perfect as Marilyn Monroe—the iconic pin-up girl—were allowed on TV. Monroe was a size 8, another juror points out. Schumer is a size 6. A beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless size 6. ||||| Annie Leibovitz opts for natural and effortless style in portraits of Serena Williams, Yoko Ono, Amy Schumer and others Pirelli calendar goes with less steam and more jokes for 2016 The annual calendar produced by Pirelli tyres – which traditionally centres on the artfully lit nude bodies of female supermodels – has been unveiled, presenting a dramatic shift in subject matter and aesthetic. Gone are the gym-toned limbs and heaving bosoms; in their place for the 2016 calendar, shot by Annie Leibovitz, are simple portraits of women of various sizes, ages and ethnicities chosen for their “professional, social, cultural, sporting and artistic accomplishment”. Quick guide A brief history of the Pirelli calendar Show Hide What is it? The Pirelli calendar was first published in 1963 as a corporate gift for clients and customers of the Italian tyre company. The annual publication of the calendar – which has traditionally featured conventionally sexy images of nude women – has become an unlikely fixture on the fashion calendar because it attracts big-name photographers, models and celebrities. Its blatant objectification of naked women has been controversial and at times obtuse, but the calendar has survived by becoming more diverse and inclusive in its approach and its subject matter. Who has shot for it? ​The original photographer was Terence Donovan, who was tasked with producing an arty, tasteful reimagining of the traditional car mechanics' workshop pin-up calendar. ​He returned in 1987. Other notable names include Brian Duffy (1965), Sarah Moon (1972), Norman Parkinson (1985), Bert Stern (1986), Richard Avedon (1995, 1997), Peter Lindbergh (1996, 2002, 2014, 2017), Annie Leibowitz (2000, 2016), Mario Testino (2001), Terry Richardson (2010), Steve McCurry (2013), Helmut Newton (2014), Steven Meisel (2015) and Tim Walker (2018). What about the models? The models have often taken second billing to the photographers, although there have been plenty of big names. Naomi Campbell featured in 1987, and the calendar tapped into the cult of the supermodel from 1994 when Herb Ritts shot Helena Christensen, Cindy Crawford, Karen Alexander and Kate Moss. Steven Meisel's 2015 edition was a who's who of the biggest names in modelling including Gigi Hadid, Karen Elson and Joan Smalls. How has the calendar moved with the times? In 2007, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin took inspiration from Hollywood by featuring Penélope Cruz, Lou Doillon, Hilary Swank, Naomi Watts and a 71 year-old Sophia Loren. Peter Beard's 2009 calendar highlighted social activism. It was shot in Rio de Janeiro, using a mix of models and city residents – all clothed – who had started their own charities. Annie Leibowitz's 2016 calendar featured women who have achieved something significant in their fields, including Yoko Ono, Patti Smith, Serena Williams and Amy Schumer. Tim Walker's Alice in Wonderland calendar for 2018, styled by Vogue editor Edward Enninful, was the first to star an all-black cast, including Whoopi Goldberg, Puff Daddy, Naomi Campbell and RuPaul. Subjects include Yoko Ono, wearing a top hat, tuxedo jacket and fishnet tights; and Patti Smith, modelling jeans, boots and a snarl. The cultural commentator Fran Lebowitz makes an unlikely Miss May, smoking a cigarette in a man’s oversized pinstriped jacket. The blogger Tavi Gevinson, Chinese actor Yao Chen, artist Shirin Neshat, investment banker Mellody Hobson, the director of the film Selma, Ava DuVernay, and Agnes Gund, an art collector, also appear. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Serena Williams in the 2016 calendar. Photograph: Annie Leibovitz/Pirelli The tennis star Serena Williams was one of just two scantily clad stars, posing in a balletic lunge with her muscular, naked back to the camera. December’s subject, the comedian Amy Schumer, sips from a lipstick-stained takeaway coffee cup in her underwear, with soft rolls of flesh visible on her stomach. At the launch of the calendar on Monday, Leibovitz explained that none of these photographs had been conceived with the male gaze in mind. Williams’s photo was “not a nude but a body study”, she said, while Schumer’s was a comic conceit: “The idea was that she was the only one who had not got the memo about wearing clothes.” To the uninitiated, the Pirelli calendar might sound like a tatty document destined for mechanics to stare at in a garage. But during its 50-odd years of production, Pirelli has worked hard to cultivate a sense of artiness and exclusivity around the images. In its hard copy form the calendar is only sent out to a select and secret few, although the images circulate widely on the internet. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Annie Leibovitz attends the Pirelli calendar launch in London. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA They are given a veneer of respectability, and fashion industry approval, thanks to the inclusion of the world’s top supermodels and actors – Kate Moss, Gisele Bundchen and Julianne Moore to name a few – who are photographed by illustrious names including Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon and Helmut Newton. Monday’s slick launch event, in the grand ballroom of the Grosvenor House on Park Lane, London, underlined the seriousness with which Pirelli takes the calendar as a marketing exercise. The world’s media gathered for the unveiling of the images, listening as Clare Balding interviewed Leibovitz and three of the calendar’s subjects – Gevinson, Gund and Chen – on stage, while the proceedings were translated via headsets into four languages. The women spoke warmly of the calendar’s symbolism, with Leibovitz describing it as representative of a shift in the way women are viewed. The tyre manufacturer’s chief executive, Marco Tronchetti Provera, said the company had been looking to make a departure from the usual format of its calendar this year, one that felt “very timely”. “Women who have done something outstanding in their lives, from every corner of the world. This represents what Pirelli thinks is beautiful,” said Tronchetti Provera. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yao Chen, the Chinese actor, in the calendar. Photograph: Annie Leibovitz/Pirelli Leibovitz added that the images were designed to look as natural and effortless as possible, with little “pretence” to the pictures. Though shot in flattering black and white, they had been subject to just a “little cleaning up” of the images rather than the usual heavy post-production work, she said. Though Leibovitz, who also photographed a calendar of nudes for Pirelli in 2000, declined to describe the calendar as a feminist watershed moment for the brand, she said: “Pirelli has always given free rein to the photographer, so it’s really about choice of photographer. I think the company has wanted to shift for a few years and my mandate was that they wanted to see some change.” During a behind-the-scenes film shown at the launch, the photographer’s almost-namesake Lebowitz offered a slightly different analysis: “Perhaps clothed women are going to have a moment.” ||||| Annie Leibovitz/Pirelli For more than half a century, Italian tire-maker Pirelli has released an annual calendar full of photos of supermodels in pin-up poses wearing skimpy lingerie or nothing at all. This year’s iteration marks a drastic departure from the form: The calendar’s models are luminaries of art, business, sports, and philanthropy, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Christina Cauterucci Christina Cauterucci is a Slate staff writer. In fact, the only two women who appear in partial nudity are Amy Schumer and Serena Williams, who’ve each been targeted by body-shamers over the past year. Their gorgeous images do more to turn that shame around on their trolls than any Instagram comment war ever could. Advertisement Yoko Ono, Ava DuVernay, Iranian artist Shirin Neshat, Patti Smith, author Fran Lebowitz, actress Yao Chen, and Tavi Gevinson show up in the calendar, too. “I wanted the pictures to show the women exactly as they are, with no pretense,” Leibovitz told Vogue of the studio portraits. The calendar isn’t for sale; as in past years, it’ll be gifted to 20,000 “VIPs, musicians, politicians, and royalty.” The nudity of Williams and Schumer stands in stark contrast to Pirelli’s usual M.O. Previous decades have seen the world’s top professional beauties showcasing individual exposed, oiled-up body parts—with their faces, at times, cropped out—in what amounted to a fancified soft-core porn magazine. Last year’s featured women, which included lingerie models Adriana Lima, Joan Smalls, and Gigi Hadid, were shot swaddled in latex straddling bike seats and bathing in bubbles. Flip through the past 50 years of calendars and you’ll find just a few years of clothed women in editorial-type shoots. Taken as a whole, the archive testifies to the longtime persistence of one particular beauty ideal in fashion and mainstream media, one that can rarely accommodate a roll of fat, bulge of muscle, or pinch of age-spotted skin. Annie Leibovitz/Pirelli Now, Pirelli seems to realize, the world has gotten bored of this tired tradition. “A white, able-bodied cis-gendered woman being naked is just not revolutionary anymore,” Gevinson told the New York Times. “I don’t think anyone is going to be like, ‘Damn, I wanted those naked chicks.’ ” The calendar’s two naked chicks, Williams and Schumer, are the perfect step away from Pirelli’s nudity of yore. In any state of dress or undress, Schumer and Williams have been scrutinized for their looks, and both have resisted pressure to retreat into more modest clothing or a different strength-training regimen. Schumer has parodied her trolls’ ridiculous fixation on her looks and doubled down on her overtly sexual image. Williams, whose “large biceps” and “mold-breaking muscular frame” have been pondered over nearly as much as her athletic prowess, has batted down claims that her body shape makes her less feminine. (“First of all she’s a woman, and she wants to be a woman,” coach Tomasz Wiktorowski has said of his strategy to keep tennis player Agnieszka Radwanska small and lean.) In a Good Morning America interview, Williams praised her own body’s athletic form. “I love that I am a full woman and I’m strong and I’m powerful and I’m beautiful at the same time,” she said.

– Amy Schumer, posing in her undies with tummy folds? Serena Williams, similarly dressed while showing off her buff physique? The Pirelli Calendar—which usually shows skinny models and actresses in soft-core poses—is breaking from tradition this year by using photos of successful women across various fields, the Daily Beast reports. "The goal was to be very straightforward," says photographer Annie Leibovitz, who snapped the shots for the 43rd edition. "I wanted the pictures to show the women exactly as they are, with no pretense." Only Schumer and Williams (who were each criticized by body-shamers in recent months) are posing in the near-buff, notes Slate. Schumer tweeted about it this way: Beautiful, gross, strong, thin, fat, pretty, ugly, sexy, disgusting, flawless, woman. Thank you @annieleibovitz — Amy Schumer, November 30, 2015 Among others posing for Leibovitz are Ava DuVernay, director of Selma; Yao Chen, a Chinese goodwill ambassador to the UN; Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm producer; Natalia Vodianova, ex-supermodel; Shirin Neshat, Iranian artist; and Yoko Ono. Seems Leibovitz chose her models: "Pirelli has always given free rein to the photographer," she tells the Guardian. "I think the company has wanted to shift for a few years and my mandate was that they wanted to see some change." So will the calendar revert to sexy poses next year? It's unclear, but Neshat tells the New York Times that "it would be a huge disappointment" if Pirelli chose to "abandon the idea of the women who define modern life, and go back to sexy girls who are too young to have accomplished anything." (Miley Cyrus recently did a nude photo shoot, too.)

Foreign policy may offer U.S. President Barack Obama his best chance to strike a unifying chord in a State of the Union address that would otherwise be dominated by divisive domestic and economic issues. Specifically, the president should emphasize America’s embrace of human and democratic rights, values that transcend parties and administrations. He would echo Jimmy Carter’s clarion call for human rights, Ronald Reagan’s statements on the oppression of Soviet Jews, Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright’s communities of democracy, and George W. Bush’s commitment to freedom as he began his second term. State of the Union speeches aren’t the venue for nuance. But the president could acknowledge, with mentions of the Middle East and the troubled Arab Spring, that U.S. values are central to its foreign policy, even though furthering this ideal is never easy, and success may not be near. Even Senator John McCain, in a grouchy mood, would applaud. The so-called pivot to Asia and the troubled Middle East have been the dominant themes of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. In his speech, the president would do well to pay tribute to Europe, a signal that even as the U.S. faces new challenges it won’t ignore old allies and alliances. A call for a trans-Atlantic free-trade zone would be compelling, even if there are doubts whether Europe’s tenuous financial condition makes that a realistic goal now. A commitment to more aggressive promotion of global trade pacts captures America’s can-do essence, offers a positive economic message and appeals to more than a few Republicans. The president is certain to pay tribute to the military, as he should after a national election that largely avoided mention of the tens of thousands of men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Obama should offer a new GI Bill of Rights for veterans returning to a still recovering economy. (Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg View columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. This is one of 11 suggestions Bloomberg View columnists made for the foreign policy section of Barack Obama's State of the Union address. Read more here. ) To contact the writer of this column: Al Hunt in Washington at ahunt1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this column: Max Berley at mberley@bloomberg.net. ||||| If President Obama wants immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented workers, he may not want to mention it at all in tonight’s State of the Union speech, a new Washington Post poll suggests. Seven in 10 people in the survey said they would support a path to citizenship, including 60 percent of Republicans. But when the same question was asked of a separate sample of respondents, this time with Obama’s name attached to it, support dropped to 59 percent overall and just 39 percent among Republicans. On other hot-button issues like banning the sale of semi-automatic assault weapons or ending the war in Afghanistan, however, lending Obama’s name to the proposal made each viewed more favorably — and therefore if he were to put his political weight behind them it could actually increase their chances of passing. On doing something about climate change, there was no noticeable movement. Here’s the full chart, courtesy of our friends at Capital Insight: Look deeper into the numbers and you can see how much partisanship drives the movement on each of the issues. On a path to citizenship, Republicans don’t mind the idea in theory but loathe it when attached to Obama. Independents are slightly less likely to support a path to citizenship if it is cast as Obama’s proposal, while Democrats favor it in basically the same numbers with or without the president’s name being mentioned. The reverse is also true. While six in 10 Democrats support an assault weapons ban, that number jumps to more than three in four when the proposal is cast as Obama’s. Independents move slightly more in favor of an assault weapon ban when Obama is tied to it, while Republicans don’t like the idea with or without Obama. Here are the four issues broken down by party identification: The results aren’t terribly surprising. Partisan polarization has never been higher in the country and, therefore, Obama’s name attached to a proposal can really move the needle among the bases of each party. But they do provide a fascinating backdrop for Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight and make clear how the issues he chooses to emphasize as his own could well make a major difference in whether those proposals can pass through Congress. Hagel showdown set for today: Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on Monday set a vote on Chuck Hagel’s confirmation for 2:30 p.m. today, at which point Republicans on the committee will be faced with a stark choice. Some in the GOP are still upset about the lack of disclosure from Hagel and from the administration when it comes to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya. And there was even some chatter that some of them might stage a walkout. Doing so on the eve of the State of the Union, needless to say, would be a huge story and would highlight the partisan divisions in Congress. Levin seems to be trying to call the GOP’s bluff. And it might be a smart move. Perhaps the leading GOP senator on foreign policy matters, John McCain (R-Ariz.), says he won’t walk out and that doing so would be disrespectful. And neither will the panel’s ranking Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). From here, the question is whether the GOP is united in its opposition to Hagel and whether it will opt for seldom-used and risky tactics to stop his confirmation. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), for example, has threatened to put a hold on Hagel’s nomination in the larger chamber. Oh, and for what it’s worth, Hagel’s brother says Hagel is only emboldened by the opposition. Fixbits: Michael Bloomberg has made a six-figure donation to Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly’s new PAC. Oregon, whose voters banned gay marriage in 2004 by double digits, may vote on whether to overturn that ban in 2014. State of the Union update: Ted Nugent will be Rep. Steve Stockman’s (R-Tex.) guest, while a man fighting deportation will be Rep. Luis Gutierrez’s (D-Ill.). Former Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff (D) has a clear shot in the primary to face Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) after state Rep. Karen Middleton (D) opted not to run. Democrats also landed an opponent for Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), who is considering a run for Senate in a swing district. A new memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee makes a pre-SOTU point we’ve made before: that President Obama’s more liberal tack could hurt Democratic senators running for reelection in red states. Must-reads: “New Rove Group Could Backfire on G.O.P.” — Nate Silver, New York Times “Obama Prepares To Screw His Base” — Ben Smith, BuzzFeed “Gauging the probability of success for Obama’s agenda post-State of the Union” — Zachary A. Goldfarb, Washington Post ||||| Europeans who settled America gave their lives a slingshot shape. They pulled back so they could shoot forward. They volunteered to live in harsh conditions today so their descendants could live well for centuries. The pioneers who traveled West did the same thing. So has each generation of immigrants — sacrificing the present for the sake of the future. This slingshot manner of life led to one of those true national clichés: that America is the nation of futurity, that Americans organize their lives around romantic visions of what is to be. In 1775, Sam Adams confidently predicted that the scraggly little colonies would one day be the world’s most powerful nation. In 1800, Noah Webster projected that the U.S. would someday have 300 million citizens, and that a country that big should have its own dictionary. In his novel, “Giants in the Earth,” Ole Rolvaag has a pioneering farmer give a visitor a tour of his land. The farmer describes his beautiful home and his large buildings. The visitor confesses that he can’t see them. That’s because they haven’t been built yet, the farmer acknowledges, but they already exist as reality in his mind. This future-oriented mentality had practical effects. For decades, government invested heavily in long-range projects like railroads and canals. Today, Americans have inverted this way of thinking. Instead of sacrificing the present for the sake of the future, Americans now sacrifice the future for the sake of the present. Federal spending is the most obvious example. The federal government is a machine that takes money from future earners and spends it on health care for retirees. Entitlement spending hurts the young in two ways. It squeezes government investment programs that boost future growth. Second, the young will have to pay the money back. To cover current obligations, according to the International Monetary Fund, young people will have to pay 35 percent more taxes and receive 35 percent fewer benefits. But government is not the only place you can see signs of this present-ism. Business has slipped into this pattern, too. C.E.O.’s serve short stints and their main incentive is to make quarterly numbers, not to build for the long term. Banks can lend money in two ways. They can lend to fund investments or they can lend to fund real estate purchases and other consumption. In 1982, banks were lending out 80 cents for investments for every $1 they were lending for consumption. By 2011, they lent only 30 cents to fund investments for every $1 of consumption. As Robert D. Atkinson and Stephen J. Ezell note in their book “Innovation Economics,” American firms are also lagging in their commitment to research and development. Between 1999 and 2006, for example, German firms increased research-and-development spending by 11 percent, Finnish firms by 28 percent and South Korean firms by 58 percent. During that same period, U.S. spending increased by a paltry 3 percent. Increasingly, companies have to spend their money on retirees, not future growth. Last week, for example, Ford announced that it was spending $5 billion to shore up its pension program. That’s an amount nearly equal to Ford’s investments in factories, equipment and innovation. Why have Americans lost their devotion to the future? Part of the answer must be cultural. The Great Depression and World War II forced Americans to live with 16 straight years of scarcity. In the years after the war, people decided they’d had enough. There was what one historian called a “renunciation of renunciation.” We’ve now had a few generations raised with this consumption mind-set. There’s less of a sense that life is a partnership among the dead, the living and the unborn, with obligations to those to come. The political debate, though, is largely oblivious to this mental shift. Republicans and Democrats are so busy arguing about the merits of government versus business that they are blind to the problem that afflicts them both. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama is apparently planning to give us yet another salvo in that left-right war, as he did in his second Inaugural Address. One of his aides, in a fit of hubris, told Politico that the president will be offering Republicans a golden bridge to ease their retreat. But it would be great if Obama gave an imaginative speech that reframed things as present versus future. If the president were to propose an agenda for the future, he’d double spending on the National Institutes of Health. He’d approve the Keystone XL pipeline. He’d cut corporate tax rates while adding a progressive consumption tax. He’d take money from Social Security and build Harlem Children’s Zone-type projects across the nation. He’d means test Medicare and use the money to revive state universities and pay down debt. Would Americans buy that agenda? Maybe. Americans are neglecting the future, but I bet they’re still in love with it. ||||| Story highlights Julian Zelizer: Obama delivers first State of the Union of second term He says it's an opportunity for president to sketch a broad vision for U.S. Speech comes at a time of continuing economic troubles in America, he says Zelizer: Obama can follow in the footsteps of FDR and LBJ President Obama is set to deliver the first State of the Union Address of his new term. On Tuesday evening, he will step before a joint session of Congress and a nation in difficult times. Unemployment rose in January to 7.9%. There are signs of economic progress, but millions of Americans are struggling to find a job while others are desperate to keep the one they have. Other kinds of economic challenges face many people. The Pew Research Center recently released a study showing the growing number of adults who are struggling to support grown children and their parents, the "Sandwich Generation" as they are called. The economy is just the tip of the iceberg. The issue of immigration needs to be resolved soon. Too many immigrants live in a state of constant uncertainty about their future, or that of their children. The tensions in this debate are heightened by the fact that state and local governments are struggling to find enough revenue to pay for crucial services such as education. Julian Zelizer The climate also remains in peril, as the wild weather patterns of the past year have shown. At the same time, Americans are still reeling from the deadly shooting incidents that have caused horrible bloodshed in movie theaters and schools and waiting to see what Washington does, or does not do, about guns. Then there are the countless foreign policy challenges we face. The State of the Union address gives President Obama a prime opportunity to lay out what he intends to do in the year ahead to guide the nation through these difficult challenges. Although there are limits to how much these speeches can change public opinion, especially in an age of partisan polarization where large segments of the electorate are hard to move, it still is a vital moment where he can help shape the agenda for the coming year and outline some key themes for public discussion. John King: Speech may do little to change Washington It may be tempting to list a series of measures Obama wants Congress to pass, but the president should use this speech to do something more than provide a laundry list, and the historical record offers some guidance about how. The speech can offer a vision. In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt gave one of the most historic State of the Union addresses when he outlined the Four Freedoms. He delivered his speech on the brink of America becoming involved in World War II. With Europe and Asia in the middle of a major military crisis, FDR defined the four freedoms that he believed should be the foundation of the international system: the freedom of speech and expression, the freedom to worship God, the freedom from want and, finally, the freedom from fear. "That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation," FDR said. "That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb." The speech was inspirational and offered a moral blueprint for the United States, both in its efforts at home and abroad for decades to come. If President Obama wants to sketch a set of legislative goals, he might look to President Johnson. In 1965, LBJ was fresh off his landslide victory against Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater and he managed to outline a breathtaking agenda, offering proposals for government to expand its role in all walks of life, from education to health care to the environment. JUST WATCHED Obama: Avoid sequester, pass small cuts Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Obama: Avoid sequester, pass small cuts 01:28 JUST WATCHED CNN Explains: The State of the Union Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH CNN Explains: The State of the Union 02:23 This was all part of the Great Society, a vision that Johnson had outlined a few months earlier at the University of Michigan but which came to life during the State of the Union address. "The Great Society asks not how much," Johnson said, "but how good; not only how to create wealth but how to use it; not only how fast we are going, but where we are headed." Sometimes the State of the Union address can be an opportunity for a president to take a risk, to set out an objective for the nation that might be controversial or might look impossible at the time, but which challenges Congress and the citizens to repair broken parts of society. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln, with America in the Civil War, insisted that the freedom of the slave was essential to the restoration of the union. "We—even we here—hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve." The speech can also be a moment for honesty. One speech that often receives attention in top 10 lists is President Gerald Ford's State of the Union address in 1975. Ford is an unlikely candidate for any historic list, as he took over from Richard Nixon after his resignation and wouldn't be re-elected in 1976. Ford governed in difficult economic times -- the nation was hit by the twin shock of inflation and unemployment, which came to be known as stagflation. When Ford went on the air, he was brutally honest. The state of the nation, he said, "is not good." Ford proceeded to outline what Americans were facing. "Millions of Americans are out of work. Recession and inflation are eroding the money of millions more. Prices are too high, and sales are too slow." While presidents usually like to use these speeches to make Americans feel good about where they are, President Obama might think about speaking straight to a nation frustrated with a new normal of stagnant growth, where politicians talk about economic improvement even as the workforce continually struggles with high rates of unemployment and economic insecurity. While Americans want a leader who can point a path forward, they also want to know that the person in the White House truly understands the pain many are suffering. In his first State of the Union address, delivered in January 2010, President Obama stressed his promise to help the middle class and to fix the broken political process in Washington. "We face a deficit of trust," he said. In his second address, delivered after the Republicans had taken over the House and in the wake of the horrific shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords, President Obama again appealed to the desire for unity. He also called on Congress to support a legislative package that would allow the United States to regain its competitive edge. In January 2012, Obama, highlighted the differences between the parties—the choice Americans would face in the upcoming election--by calling on Congress to support investments in education, infrastructure and clean energy. He warned that growing economic inequality threatened the future of the middle class. "We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well," he said, "while a growing number of Americans barely get by or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same set of rules." This time around, the president should think big, not necessarily about how much he wants to propose, but about the vision and ideas he wants to put forth to move the United States forward. Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter. Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.

– President Obama will deliver his State of the Union address tonight, and every pundit out there has an opinion on how he should approach it. A sampling of the day's top unsolicited advice: "It may be tempting to list a series of measures Obama wants Congress to pass," but Obama should avoid a laundry list, warns historian Julian Zelizer at CNN. "The president should think big," perhaps using the speech, as FDR did in 1941, to "offer a vision" for America, or to take a bold gamble, as Abraham Lincoln did by supporting emancipation in 1862. Or he can simply be honest about today's challenges, as Gerald Ford was when he said the state of the union "is not good." Obama should invoke Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan by emphasizing "America's embrace of human and democratic rights, values that transcend parties and administrations," suggests Albert Hunt at Bloomberg. "Even Senator John McCain, in a grouchy mood, would applaud." "President Obama is apparently planning to give us yet another salvo in that left-right war," laments David Brooks in the New York Times. "But it would be great if Obama gave an imaginative speech that reframed things as present versus future." Somewhere along the line, America went from a forward-looking nation to a consumption-minded one. Smart investments in tomorrow could change that. Meanwhile, Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post has a more scientific look at what Obama should and shouldn't say, noting that in polls some policy ideas, like a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, became less popular when Obama's name was attached to them. Others, like banning assault weapons or ending the war in Afghanistan, got a boost from the association.

This article is over 1 month old Venezuelan president also claimed ‘ultra-right locos’ within Brazil’s incoming government were plotting to invade his country Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, has accused the White House of playing a direct role in an attempt to assassinate him and claimed “ultra-right locos” within Brazil’s incoming government were plotting to invade his country. Venezuela: is a US-backed 'military option' to oust Maduro gaining favour? Read more At a press conference in the presidential Miraflores palace in Caracas, Maduro said he had “no doubt” that the US government had ordered and authorized the botched strike against him last August with explosive-laden drones and continued to plot against him. He offered no evidence to support the allegations. Maduro claimed the US hoped to install a rightwing dictatorship in Venezuela and accused the US media of waging an “incessant” media campaign against his government in order to justify a foreign military intervention in Venezuela. The US national security adviser, John Bolton, had personally hatched a plan “to fill Venezuela with violence”, Maduro alleged, urging Donald Trump to abandon the supposed conspiracy and turn away from “conflict and confrontation”. In November Bolton described Venezuela as part of a Latin American “troika of tyranny” that had “finally met its match”. Last year Trump told reporters there were “many options” to resolve the Venezuelan crisis including a military one. In December the US defense secretary, James Mattis, called Maduro “an irresponsible despot” who would ultimately “have to go”. Maduro vowed to resist what he called the “neo-fascist madness” of his foreign foes and called on the international community to denounce the alleged plot against him. “Our message to the world is: it’s time to defend Venezuela!” he said. “Venezuela will not be a victim of a neo-fascist aggression.” “We will not retreat, we will not be brought to our knees, we will not give up. We will fight and we will guarantee Venezuela peace … whatever the price,” Maduro added. “We don’t want violence, or international conflicts, or war, or coups. No, no, no, no. The people want progress, prosperity and coexistence.” Bolton praises Bolsonaro while declaring ‘troika of tyranny’ in Latin America Read more Venezuela’s president also lashed out at Brazil’s incoming president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his vice-president, Hamilton Mourão, who he claimed was obsessed with the idea of invading Venezuela. “[This guy] has the face of a madman,” Maduro said of Mourão. “Saying a Brazilian military force is going to enter Venezuela is crazy talk.” “Nobody in Brazil wants the incoming government of Jair Bolsonaro to get involved in a military adventure against the Venezuelan people,” he said. Bolsonaro, who takes power on 1 January, has made no secret of his loathing of Maduro and last year vowed to “do whatever is possible to see that government be deposed”. But in a recent interview with the Brazilian magazine Piauí, Mourão struck a more moderate tone: “It’s the Venezuelans who have to solve the Venezuelans’ problems,” he said. ||||| An announcement that Iran may deploy new-generation warships to Venezuelan waters could alter the region’s geopolitical balance and almost certainly disturb the U.S. government.

– The Trump administration was directly involved in an attempt to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—at least, that’s what Maduro claims (and not for the first time), the Guardian reports. "I have no doubt that the White House authorized the drone against Nicolás Maduro," he said, speaking in the third person during a Wednesday press conference, according to the Miami Herald, which notes that officials in the US often speak of the need for peaceful regime change in the South American country, "even as the threat of military intervention hangs in the air." The embattled Maduro says US National Security Adviser John Bolton is behind a range of plots to destabilize Venezuela. These include the aforementioned botched drone attack against Maduro in August and conspiring with "ultra-right locos" in Brazil to invade Venezuela.

The wonder, or perhaps the horror, of social media is that it allows people to remotely participate in a catastrophe in a personal but safe way. Photos are one thing, but hearing the real terror and fear from those who are there fully experiencing it in real time is another thing entirely. In another earthquake video shared on Twitter, a man holds a phone to record his reaction along with that of a woman in the room. He says no way, no way, no way and the woman babbles, I think she's praying, as the furniture topples and the room rocks. It's a terribly intimate moment I'm almost embarrassed to watch. But it strikes a chord. I've been there. And I will be there again, most likely. ||||| The U.S. Geological Survey's ShakeMap said light to moderate shaking — categorized as intensity 4 and 5, and depicted on a map as aqua and green — was felt in parts of the Westside and the San Fernando Valley, but probably was not heavy enough to cause any significant damage. Shaking was also felt in Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Glendale. ||||| The wonder, or perhaps the horror, of social media is that it allows people to remotely participate in a catastrophe in a personal but safe way. Photos are one thing, but hearing the real terror and fear from those who are there fully experiencing it in real time is another thing entirely. In another earthquake video shared on Twitter, a man holds a phone to record his reaction along with that of a woman in the room. He says no way, no way, no way and the woman babbles, I think she's praying, as the furniture topples and the room rocks. It's a terribly intimate moment I'm almost embarrassed to watch. But it strikes a chord. I've been there. And I will be there again, most likely. ||||| Hurricanes in Florida, Texas and the Caribbean; record-high temperatures in San Francisco; and wildfires in the Pacific Northwest. And last night, a 3.6-magnitude earthquake a few miles away from Westwood, Calif., a neighborhood in Los Angeles near Bel Air, Calabasas, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. “Earthquakes like this happen several times a year, so it’s not uncommon at all,” said John Bellini, a geophysicist at the United States Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center. You wouldn’t know it from the reactions on social media. After the earthquake struck at 11:20 p.m. local time, tremors erupted across Los Angeles Twitter. ||||| We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Would you like to proceed to legacy Twitter? Yes

– Residents of Los Angeles should be feeling more than empathy in the wake of Mexico City's 7.1 magnitude earthquake that left more than 200 dead Tuesday. They should also be experiencing fear, writes Mariel Garza at the Los Angeles Times. "Though of course my heart goes out to the people whose lives and homes were just ripped apart, and of course they will be in our collective prayers, what keeps me riveted to my Twitter feed and the videos therein is the sense that I’m glimpsing my own future," writes the LA resident. Experts say the city of 4 million is overdue for a big earthquake. But "it's easy to forget when the ground is still," Garza writes. "This was a sobering and graphic reminder." Garza was especially moved by videos showing whole buildings crumbling to dust or families huddled together as their house shakes. He says he'll be glued to coverage of the ongoing rescues and cleanup, searching for "clues and lessons" in the hope that "when it's LA's turn, I will be ready." But despite experts' predictions, not many Angelenos appear to be living in fear, even after LA was shaken by a 3.6 magnitude tremor and 2.0 magnitude aftershock on Monday, per the Times. The New York Times rounds up reactions of the relatively small tremor from celebrities, including musician Cray, who tweeted a photo that appeared to show a water bottle had fallen off a counter during the quake. "WE WILL REBUILD," she joked. (Click to read Garza's full column.)

The full moon known as this year's Harvest Moon will rise tonight (Sept.16) and will be shaded by a subtle type of lunar eclipse for some skywatchers in Africa, Asia and Australia. The Harvest Moon (as with all full moons) officially turns full when it reaches the spot in the sky opposite to (180 degrees from) the sun. In 2016, the Harvest Moon's moment will occur tonight at 3:05 p.m. EDT (12:05 p.m. PDT). A minor penumbral lunar eclipse will accompany the full moon tonight, and will be visible from Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Western Pacific. The Slooh Community Observatory will offer a live webcast of the eclipse at Slooh.com beginning at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT). You can also watch the lunar eclipse webcast on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. [Harvest Moon Lunar Eclipse Guide: When & How to See It] The Harvest Moon is the one that comes the closest to the autumnal equinox, so this year it falls in September, although occasionally this title can be bestowed upon the October full moon. That will happen 12 times from 1970 to 2020, occurring next in 2017. The 2016 version of the Harvest Moon comes six days prior to the autumnal equinox, although it can occur as early as Sept. 8 (as it did in 2014) or as late as Oct. 7 (as happened in 1987). Many think that the Harvest Moon remains in the night sky longer than any of the other full moons seen during the year, but that is not so. What sets the Harvest Moon apart from other full moons is that it occurs at the climax of the harvest season, so farmers can work late into the night by the moon's light. This moon rises at about the time the sun sets, and — more importantly — at this time of year, instead of rising its normal average of 50 minutes later each day, the moon seems to rise at somewhat the same time each night. This NASA chart prepared by eclipse expert Fred Espenak shows the regions on Earth where the penumbral lunar eclipse of Sept. 16, 2016 will be visible. The primary visibility areas include Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Western Pacific. Credit: NASA/Fred Espenak In actuality, from midnorthern latitudes (+40 degrees), the rising of the moon over a three-night span centered on full phase (Sept. 15, 16 and 17) comes, on average, 38 minutes later each night. The night-to-night difference is greatest for the more southerly locations (Miami, located at latitude +25.8 degrees, sees moonrise come an average of 45 minutes later). Meanwhile, the difference is less at more northerly locations (at Edmonton, Canada, located at latitude 53.5 degrees N, the average difference is only 28 minutes). [Harvest Moon 2016: When and How to See September's Full Moon] The reason for this seasonal circumstance is that the moon appears to move along the ecliptic, and at this time of year, when rising, the ecliptic makes its smallest angle with respect to the horizon for those living in the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast, for those living in the Southern Hemisphere, the ecliptic at this time of year appears to stand almost perpendicular (at nearly a right angle) to the eastern horizon. As such, the difference for the time of moonrise exceeds the average of 50 minutes per night. At Sydney, Australia (latitude -33.9), for instance, the night-to-night difference amounts to 67 minutes. Interestingly, for those who live near 70 degrees north latitude, the moon does indeed appear to rise at about the same time each night around the period of the Harvest Moon. And for those who live even farther to the north, a paradox occurs: The moon appears to rise earlier each night! At Barrow, Alaska (latitude +71.3 degrees), for instance, the times of moonrise on Sept. 15, 16 and 17 will be, respectively, 9:05 p.m., 9:02 p.m. and 8:59 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time. So from Barrow, Alaska, the moon will seem to rise an average of 3 minutes earlier each night! The Harvest Moon will also undergo an eclipse of sorts, although this event will not afford viewers much of a spectacle. It's a "penumbral" eclipse, which occurs when the moon passes through the outer fringe of the Earth's shadow. Unlike when the moon interacts with the dark umbral shadow of Earth, resulting in a noticeable "bite" out of the lunar disk, a penumbral eclipse at best causes a tarnishing or "smudginess" on the moon at maximum effect. This full chart of the Sept. 16, 2016 lunar eclipse, prepared by NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak, shows both the visibility regions for the eclipses, as well as how the moon will dip through the outer shadow of Earth. Credit: NASA/Fred Espenak Unfortunately, North America is not in the viewing zone. Eastern Africa, western and central Asia, and western and central Australia are in the best positions to see this eclipse. At maximum (2:54 p.m. EDT, or 1854 GMT), 93 percent of the moon's diameter will be immersed in the Earth's penumbral shadow; the upper part of the moon will appear noticeably shaded. So for all of you (including me) who live in North America, don't be dejected that you're missing out on this shady little drama. It's really an underwhelming event. Editor's note: If you see an amazing Harvest Moon or live in one of the visilibility regions for the penumbral lunar eclipse and capture a striking photo that you'd like to share with Space.com and our news partners for a story or gallery, let us know! You can send images and comments in to: spacephotos@space.com. Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. ||||| View Images A plane crosses the 2014 harvest moon, as seen from Fukuoka, Japan. Photograph by The Asahi Shimbun, Getty Images Gaze at the harvest moon on September 16, and you may notice the normally bright lunar orb start to darken. Don’t panic—the ominous sight is a perfectly normal penumbral eclipse. This month’s full moon has been dubbed the harvest moon because it is the closest one to the autumn equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. Rising about half an hour later each night, the added light from the full moon’s shine is said to have given farmers more time to harvest their crops. Last year, the harvest moon was also a supermoon—when our natural satellite made its closest approach to Earth—and it was turned a spectacular ruddy hue by a total lunar eclipse. This year, Earth’s shadow will again darken the moon, but in a more ethereal event known as a penumbral eclipse. What Causes a Super Harvest Blood Moon? On September 27, 2015, a rare super blood moon was visible in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. The unique lunar phenomenon happens when a set of three events converge at the right time. Find out what happened. A total eclipse of the moon is highly dramatic affair, since the moon turns dark red as it glides through the deep inner shadow cone, or umbra, of Earth. Because the sun is a large disk rather than a single point of light, our planet’s shadow also has a lighter outer cone, or prenumbra, that can also envelop the moon. When this penumbral eclipse happens, it creates a subtle shading of the lunar disk. The best views of this week’s harvest eclipse should be across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the western Pacific Basin. The deepest and darkest phase of the eclipse will come at 2:54 p.m. ET (18:54 GMT). For detailed charts and times in your location, visit EclipseWise.com. Because the darkening will be so slight, the best bet for viewers will be to use binoculars or telescopes to catch the creep of Earth’s shadow as it blankets the moon’s usual glare. Expect to see the darkening effect start over the northern portion of the moon’s limb and envelope about 91 percent of its disk during its maximum phase. While not as flashy as a super blood moon eclipse, you should be sure to enjoy this week’s lunar show—it’s the last harvest moon eclipse of any kind that we’ll see until 2024. The next big lunar event for the Eastern Hemisphere will be January 31, 2018, when there will be a total eclipse of the moon. Also This Week Neptune and Moon. After darkness falls on September 15, look for the moon to guide binocular viewers to the planet Neptune. The two worlds will appear to be only three degrees apart, a separation that’s equal to six full moon disks side by side. But don’t be fooled by their celestial coziness. While the moon is about 240,000 miles from us, on average, Neptune is the most distant planet from the sun at about 2.7 billion miles away. Shining at a feeble magnitude 7.8, the ice giant is invisible to the naked eye, but it can be glimpsed with binoculars as a very faint bluish disk among a backdrop of white pinpoint stars. Venus Meets Spica. Here’s an observing challenge for skywatchers in tropical latitudes: After sunset on September 17 and 18, look for the bright planet Venus to pair up with Spica, the lead star of the constellation Virgo. The celestial pair will only be 2.5 degrees apart, or equal to the width of five full moon disks. What will make this a bit tricky for viewers is that this conjunction will happen less than 10 degrees above the southwestern horizon. This will make the viewing time critical, as the duo will follow the sun quickly and sink below the horizon within 45 minutes of local sunset. Binoculars will also help keep the pair in easy view. Clear skies!

– Skywatchers can witness a rare sight Friday night, though people in North America will have to settle for doing so via the Internet. The part everyone can see: It will be a full moon, and because this one falls closed to the fall equinox, it's called a harvest moon (the better for farmers of yore to harvest their crops, as legend has it). What's more, it coincides with a small lunar eclipse, though that part will be visible only in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, reports Space.com. Still, it will be the last harvest moon eclipse until 2024, reports National Geographic. During the show, only the upper part of the moon will be slightly shaded in what's known as a penumbral eclipse. Not in the viewing area? Watch it here.

CLOSE Dominika Egorova, played by Jennifer Lawrence, is left with an uncertain future after her dancing career suddenly ends. Then she finds herself in a world of violence when she becomes a dangerous spy. USA TODAY Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence, center left) goes to Sparrow School in the spy thriller 'Red Sparrow.' (Photo: Murray Close) Jennifer Lawrence's Red Sparrow spy is no James Bond. Or Jason Bourne. Or Jack Bauer. Or even, for the older folks, Emma Peel. But that's all good. In the new thriller based on Jason Matthews' novel, the actress stars as a Russian rookie secret agent who's more liable to use sex as a weapon than, say, a switchblade in her stiletto — though the film is still plenty violent. Red Sparrow (★★½ out of four; rated R; in theaters nationwide Friday) veers from its genre by focusing on methodical spycraft and juggling emotions; unlike Charlize Theron in last year's Atomic Blonde, Lawrence is seducing people instead of kicking them in the face. Previously: Jennifer Lawrence on nudity, saying 'no' to selfies and 'Red Sparrow' More: Harvey Weinstein sorry he used Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence in his defense Dominika Egorova (Lawrence) is a star ballerina in the Bolshoi whose career gets shelved after a horrific injury. To make ends meet and take care of her ailing mother (Joely Richardson), Dominika is recruited by her Uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts), a major figure in the Russian intelligence service. After a successful first assignment to woo an influential business leader, Vanya sends his niece to Sparrow School, a secretive place run by a stoic matron (Charlotte Rampling) that teaches young men and women to use their sexual wiles for espionage purposes. While she's getting trained, CIA operative Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) tries to find a way back to Moscow after a botched mission involving his contact with a Russian mole. When Nate meets Dominika, they fall for each other and he sees a path to make her a double agent. She's out mostly for survival, though, and the audience is left wondering about her — and many of the characters' — true allegiances. Dominika (Jennifer Lawrence) and Nate (Joel Edgerton) fall for each other but the relationship gets complicated in 'Red Sparrow.' (Photo: Murray Close) With the exception of her Russian accent, which seems more like an underwhelming audition for a Boris and Natasha cartoon, Lawrence fits the role like a new pair of pointe shoes. The chemistry with Edgerton isn't great but Dominika by herself is a fascinating study, a woman who first uses her body to create exquisite art, later has it used by men, and then takes it back in a big way. At nearly 2½ hours, Red Sparrow is overlong for what it needs to be, yet still doesn't spend enough time in Sparrow School, the most interesting aspect of the entire movie. At first, Dominika is taken off guard by weaponizing her sexuality, but in one nude scene opposite a male student in class, she becomes the dominant figure playing mind games and suddenly finds a physical power she never had before. It's startlingly empowering instead of exploitative — unfortunately, it's also fleeting since she never gets the chance to showcase that same sort of tantalizing rawness again. More: Jennifer Lawrence slams 'ridiculous' controversy surrounding her Versace dress Related: 10 must-see films of 2018, from 'Fantastic Beasts' to 'Mary Poppins' Director Francis Lawrence's twisty yarn on the whole is similarly frustrating. There's so much good stuff, but it never jells in a satisfying way. There's a fun episode involving Dominika, Nate and a boozy U.S. senator (Mary-Louise Parker) that's tense and enjoyable, and the filmmaker creates a nice contrast of worlds in the beginning, intercutting shots of the gorgeous Bolshoi Ballet with a chilly twilight meetup in Gorky Park. Other times, Red Sparrow is a hard watch due to its brutality: Dominika is the subject of a cruel and relentless torture sequence, there's a bone break so heinous that you'll feel queasy afterward, and poor Nate gets the business end of a skin slicer. With Cold War tensions rising again in real life, Red Sparrow feels of this time in a cool way, but only Lawrence's spy is memorable in this so-so operation. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2FGxWMu ||||| Go to the Legal Help page to request content changes for legal reasons. ||||| In this image released by Twentieth Century Fox, Jennifer Lawrence appears in a scene from "Red Sparrow." (Murray Close/Twentieth Century Fox via AP) (Associated Press) In this image released by Twentieth Century Fox, Jennifer Lawrence appears in a scene from "Red Sparrow." (Murray Close/Twentieth Century Fox via AP) (Associated Press) In the James Bond films, sex with a globe-trotting spy seems to be fun, fun, fun. A martini, a tuxedo, a witty line or two and then it's off to a luxurious bed with two tanned, muscular bodies. Not so in the new thriller "Red Sparrow ," where the sex is cold, ugly and often violent. This dark, meandering and cliche-ridden bummer starring a trying-hard Jennifer Lawrence tries to reach for a cool and stylish look at contemporary spycraft but often falls victim to cartoon violence and a muddled story. The creators may call it erotic but it's as erotic as a visit to the dentist. Francis Lawrence, the director of the last three "Hunger Games" films, reunites with Lawrence for more adult fare but one likely to be remembered more for the outdoor junket photos of Lawrence in a thigh-slit dress in chilly London while her male co-creators wore coats. Based on a book by former CIA agent Jason Matthews, "Red Sparrow" stars Lawrence as Dominika, a Moscow ballerina who has to rethink her career after a devastating injury. With the advice of her high ranking spy uncle, she goes to a "sparrow" school where the students are taught to use seduction as their main weapon. "Every human is a puzzle of need," the stern headmistress played by Charlotte Rampling tells her recruits. "You must become the missing piece and they will tell you everything." Dominika isn't buying it and later complains to her uncle, "You sent me to whore school." But she's going to do it — forced to perform sex acts in front of the class — to pay for her sick mother's care, so that gets her conveniently off the hook morally. Our heroine is soon unleashed onto the world, a little like Luc Besson's "La Femme Nikita" but without that film's visual coherence or empathy. (Lawrence does sport awesome bangs, so there's that). Lawrence as an actress gives her all here, from learning ballet — daily, three-hour rehearsals for three months — to adopting a Russian accent that seems swiped from Natasha from "Rocky and Bullwinkle." ("I haf to ko avay vor a vile," she tells her mom). But what really drives Dominika is never very clear, how she goes from a tea-drinking dancer to someone perfectly happy caving in someone's head with a cane. That's partly so viewers don't know where her loyalties lie and will stay intrigued, but she gets lost in what could be a double-cross or triple-cross — or, if you're in withdrawal from the Olympics — the infamous quad-cross. Soon you just don't care. "We can't trust a word that comes out of her mouth," one character says of Dominika and he's right. No trust, no care. She's like a reflection of the film itself, getting flatter and more boring by the minute. As a sign of how lost the filmmakers get, a scene about whether or not a false drawer will open becomes the most thrilling element for a good 30 minutes. In addition to Rampling, there are fine turns from Jeremy Irons, Douglas Hodge and Mary-Louise Parker (who nevertheless seems to be in a different film altogether.) On the other side, one of the worst casting decisions was making Joel Edgerton Dominika's love interest. He's a puppy dog next to her tiger and there are simply no sparks between them. "Red Sparrow" takes place in the languid, rich air of old European capitals and it gains no energy from the mostly — and curiously empty — high-end restaurants, hospitals and swimming pools. There are gorgeous exteriors of Vienna, Budapest, London and lush hotel interiors. The soundtrack is Tchaikovsky and Mozart. It's like an extended ad for Chanel, except for all the gore. Gore? Oh yes. There are two rape scenes, several instances of torture — one with a hospital-grade skin peeler — public and naked degradations, a gross garroting, a dead body in a tub with its head in a plastic bag, and more than a hint of incest. The bloodiness in juxtaposition with the bloodless high-end luxury is jarring — but not in a good way. Courtesy of screenwriter Justin Haythe, the cliches are all here, from the matching sweatsuits the sparrows wear as they jog on their snowy campus to watching spies wordlessly pass packages in dark and empty parks. A hand-off of political prisoners is staged on an airport tarmac at night, complete with snipers, flashing police lights, enough troops to invade Belgium and the overly dramatic walk each person takes toward freedom. This is a film in which interrogators coolly demand confessions in clipped European accents. It's where a demented torturer lovingly unrolls his bag of evil tools like a contestant with a knife roll on "Top Chef." Then he intones: "Do you know how long it takes to peel skin from a human being?" (Spoiler alert: "Hours and hours.") Come to think of it, that might be more fun than sitting though "Red Sparrow." "Red Sparrow," a 20th Century Fox release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "strong violence, torture, sexual content, language and some graphic nudity." Running time: 139 minutes. One star out of four. ___ MPAA Definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. ___ Online: https://www.foxmovies.com/movies/red-sparrow ___ Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits ||||| Unlike in Bond movies, though, there are few self-aware winks in “Red Sparrow.” Working from Justin Haythe’s script, Mr. Lawrence folds in moments of levity (a delectably acid and funny Mary-Louise Parker stirs things up), but “Red Sparrow” mostly hews closer in grim vibe and viciousness to Bourne than to Bond. And, in classic fashion, Dominika endures the extremes of punishment — penance that centers on her pulverized, near-martyred body — that often come with heroic journeys. The rawness of the violence is startling, partly because despite “Atomic Blonde” and other female-driven movies, it’s still unusual to see a woman receive (and freely mete out) such barbarity. That may not be everyone’s idea of progress, but it’s both appealing and crucial that “Red Sparrow” doesn’t soft sell Dominika. There’s an attractive, recognizable toughness to her as well as a febrile intensity born from need and circumstances, including the existential reality of being a woman in a man’s world. Dominika is sentimental (mostly about her mother), but she isn’t sentimentalized and never becomes the movie’s virgin or its whore, its femme fatale or good girl. She’s just the one carrying the fast-track story. And when Dominika becomes involved with Nate, it’s because, well, that’s how the roles were written. Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Edgerton never manage to spark, but it scarcely matters; their characters are too busy to seriously moon over each other. As she does, Ms. Lawrence goes all in, seamlessly meeting the movie’s physical demands — whether she’s dancing onstage or crawling in blood — while turning Dominika into a character who grows more real with each unreal scene. She worked with Mr. Lawrence on three “Hunger Games” movies, and this shared history probably smoothed some of the story’s edges, and may also explain why “Red Sparrow” moves so fluidly even as the story nuttily kinks and bounces around locations. It helps that Ms. Lawrence, like all great stars, can slip into a role as if sliding into another skin, unburdened by hesitation or self-doubt. Craft and charm are part of what she brings to this role, as well as a serviceable accent, but it’s her absolute ease and certainty that carry you through “Red Sparrow.” She was born to screen stardom, and it’s a blast to see where it’s taking her. ||||| Red Sparrow Francis Lawrence narrates a sequence from the film featuring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton. (The New York Times) Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Joel Edgerton, Charlotte Rampling, Matthias Schoenaerts, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeremy Irons and Ciaran Hinds. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Opens Friday at GTA theatres. 140 minutes. 18A Red Sparrow is a brutal, muddled and dispiriting watch, but it may inadvertently be one of the more accurate screen depictions of the messy world of espionage. This is not a recommendation. The James Bond franchise and other spy movies have created a cool image of the profession, blending fashion, sex, technology and martial arts. Article Continued Below Red Sparrow, which stars Jennifer Lawrence as a Bolshoi Ballet star turned sex-trade sleuth, offers almost none of these enticements. It functions as the anti-007 (or non-Atomic Blonde) in its sadistic spy vs. spy stuff. The sex is rape by any name, the tech is ancient floppy disks and the fighting is artless and bloody — one guy is killed by a door handle, another has his skin flayed by a razor, two people are bludgeoned to death by a golf club. As for fashion, Lawrence’s Dominika rocks the red dress she wears early on, when she’s tricked by her sleazy uncle Ivan (Matthias Schoenaerts) to join Russia’s “sparrow” program, a.k.a. “whore school.” But the dress is soon off. She’s obliged to trade sex for foreign secrets, under the tutelage of an unsmiling matron (Charlotte Rampling). As a reward for this service to the state, Dominika’s sick mother (Joely Richardson) gets medical care. Lawrence and her no-relation helmer Francis Lawrence, who directed her in three Hunger Games films, struggle to make an action movie out of ex-spy Jason Matthews’ dense novel and Justin Haythe’s overly plotted screenplay. Jennifer Lawrence in Red Sparrow. ( Murray Close / AP ) Jon Hamm as a Las Vegas dealer in memorabilia in Nostalgia. ( Bleecker Street Media / Bleecker Street Media ) This image released by Roadside Attractions shows Patricia Clarkson, left, and Kristin Scott Thomas in a scene from The Party. ( Nicola Dove / AP ) Shirley Henderson is shown in a scene from Never Steady, Never Still. ( THE CANADIAN PRESS ) Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird. ( Merie Wallace / AP ) The story shuttles between Moscow and Budapest, but the accents go in all directions — especially Lawrence’s dodgy Russian one, which approaches parody. American, British (Jeremy Irons) and Irish (Ciarán Hinds) actors play Russians, while Australia’s Joel Edgerton doubles down with an uncertain Yankee accent and name: Nate Nash, a rebel CIA operative. Cinematography by Hunger Games lenser Jo Willems is as cold and grey as those films tend to be, but here again, that’s probably a virtue in the context of a movie’s drive for authenticity — perhaps a little too much, given the toll it takes on dramatic interest. It’s only when Mary-Louise Parker turns up as the drunk, greedy and careless Nina, top aide to a U.S. senator, that the story momentarily gets interesting, even a little amusing. Considering that Nina probably works for one of Trump’s hapless Republicans, even this portrayal has a ring of truth, although probably not in the way anybody intended. Article Continued Below Peter Howell Nostalgia Starring Jon Hamm, Catherine Keener. Co-written and directed by Mark Pellington. Opens Friday at Cineplex Yonge-Dundas. 110 minutes. 14A Nostalgia explores the inevitable loss of the things we hold precious, how we strive to hold them in memory and how we let them go. It’s a story beautifully told at an unhurried pace by director Mark Pellington that’s sure to touch everyone who sees it in a very personal way. The film is structured as a series of stories that segue as one character hands off the narrative to the next, starting with insurance adjuster Daniel (John Ortiz) visiting Ronnie, a lonely widower in a cluttered home, and then moving to Helen, faced with the agonizing choice of what to save in a fire, and then to Will, a buyer and seller of collectibles, who visits his sister as they close up their old family home. It is here that fresh tragedy strikes. Pellington has assembled a standout cast, including stalwarts Bruce Dern as Ronnie and Ellen Burstyn as Helen. Jon Hamm delivers a finely textured performance as Will and Catherine Keener’s performance as sister Donna will tear at your heart. It’s a film steeped in melancholy that gently reminds us to live life fully before it’s time to say goodbye. Bruce DeMara The Party Starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall. Written and directed by Sally Potter. Opens Friday at the Varsity. 71 minutes. 14A A knock at the door is answered by a crazed woman with a gun. Writer/director Sally Potter knows how to open a story. Jump back to a few hours earlier, as Janet and Bill are hosting a party of their closest friends to celebrate her elevation to a senior post in government. But the celebration is short-lived as complication and conflict soon follow. Bill (Timothy Spall) is getting determinedly bombed while spinning vinyl, April (Patricia Clarkson) snipes constantly at her New Age holistic healer spouse Gottfried (Bruno Ganz), Tom (Cillian Murphy) sweats profusely and snorts coke in the loo while awaiting the arrival of his wife, Maryanne, and Jinny (Emily Mortimer) realizes that Martha (Cherry Jones) isn’t truly on board regarding their impending maternity. Potter shoots the film aptly in black and white and shows an adeptness for stinging wit and droll dialogue. The cast is superb, especially Clarkson, who gets most of the good lines. It’s not entirely satisfying but Potter delivers a darkly delicious comedy of manners. BD Never Steady, Never Still Starring Shirley Henderson, Theodore Pellerin. Written and directed by Kathleen Hepburn. Opens Friday at Famous Players Canada Square. 112 minutes. 14A Filmmaker Kathleen Hepburn’s first feature-length film is sweet, sad and unapologetically Canadian. It follows the travails of Judy (Shirley Henderson), a woman struggling to live with Parkinson’s Disease while trying to launch her son Jamie into the world. “You’ve got to live your life,” she tells Jamie in one particularly poignant following a death that will leave her alone to fend for herself in her isolated northern home. Jamie (Théodore Pellerin) has plenty of troubles of his own, among them a hard, lonely life working as a roughneck in the oilpatch and trying to come to terms with his sexual identity. Henderson delivers a truly impressive performance as Judy, allowing us to see the strong, sensitive woman behind the disability. Pellerin demonstrates strong screen presence as her tormented son. There’s some great supporting work from Nicholas Campbell as Ed and Mary Galloway as Kaly, a teenager dealing with her pregnancy alone. It’s rather bleak but the camera work is exceptional, the pace languorous and Hepburn’s screenplay deliberately ambiguous. BD Lady Bird (DVD) Starring Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Lois Smith and Beanie Feldstein. Written and directed by Greta Gerwig. Out March 6 on DVD. 94 minutes. 14A The funniest and most heartfelt movie of 2017 marked Greta Gerwig’s debut as solo writer/director, an outstanding achievement for the loveably daffy star of Frances Ha and Mistress America. This coming-of-ager achieves flight in its own unique way, like the aerodynamically unorthodox ladybug the title tips to. Saoirse Ronan is a riot as the college-bound title rebel, her most lived-in role to date. The wily and resourceful Lady Bird is really just an awkward kid trying hard to turn “nope” into hope. Laurie Metcalf also scores as Lady Bird’s sweet-and-sour mom and Tracy Letts quietly impresses as the defeated yet loving dad. The film’s multiple Oscar noms, Best Picture and Best Director among them, are all deserved. There’s much love in how Gerwig’s keen eye manages to make her hometown Sacramento look good, better than Lady Bird would ever admit. One perfectly just-so scene places the teen inside a colourful wall mural, like a distaff Where’s Waldo? Extras include an audio commentary by Gerwig and cinematographer Sam Levy and a making-of featurette. PH

– After a career-ending injury, Russian ballerina Dominika becomes a seductive spy in Red Sparrow, a Francis Lawrence-directed film based on Jason Matthews' novel. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, it's a bloody affair that might not be worth its 2.5-hour run time, based on what critics are saying. It had a 52% positive rating among critics, and a slightly higher one from audiences: Peter Howell doesn't recommend it. At the Toronto Star, he calls Red Sparrow "the anti-007" in which "the sex is rape by any name, the tech is ancient floppy disks and the fighting is artless and bloody." Additional drawbacks are an "overly plotted screenplay," and Lawrence's "dodgy" Russian accent, "which approaches parody," Howell writes. Overall, it's "a brutal, muddled and dispiriting watch." Manohla Dargis disagrees, applauding Lawrence's ability to "slip into a role as if sliding into another skin." She delivers "a serviceable accent," but it's "her absolute ease and certainty that carry you through Red Sparrow," a "preposterously entertaining" film, Dargis writes at the New York Times, pointing out how rare it is to see a female character be the victim and perpetrator of "startling" violence. "With Cold War tensions rising again in real life, Red Sparrow feels of this time in a cool way, but only Lawrence's spy is memorable in this so-so operation," writes Brian Truitt at USA Today. "There's so much good stuff"—Dominika is "a fascinating study" and Lawrence "fits the role like a new pair of pointe shoes"—"but it never jells in a satisfying way." The film is also too long and a "hard watch due to its brutality," Truitt writes. Lawrence "gives her all," but it's not enough for Mark Kennedy, either. "What really drives Dominika is never very clear" and she ends up "like a reflection of the film itself, getting flatter and more boring by the minute," he writes at the AP. He also criticizes the "muddled" story and "cartoon violence," perhaps best exhibited in a scene involving the peeling of skin. "That might be more fun than sitting though Red Sparrow," he writes.

Kerry Biggs needed help managing her chronic pain. Years of taking prescription medications to alleviate the pain caused by her fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments had left the mother of two "feeling foggy." Desperate to find an alternative, Biggs tried kratom. Derived from the leaves of the kratom tree, a close relative of the coffee plant, it has been used for centuries in Southeast Asia for its medicinal properties. In small doses, kratom acts as a minor stimulant similar to caffeine. In larger doses its works as a painkiller and can act as an antidepressant for some people. "It gave me a new lease on life," said Biggs, who was able to wean herself off prescription painkillers by using kratom. "It dampened down my pain without all the side effects that come with taking prescription drugs." That new lease on life came to an abrupt end last year, because Biggs lives in Wisconsin. In 2014, Wisconsin became the fourth state to ban kratom. Kratom was never mentioned by state legislators either before or after the vote that made it illegal. Instead, two of the chemicals in it were included on a list of synthetic opioids lawmakers classified as Schedule 1 drugs, despite the fact kratom is neither synthetic nor an opioid. No one in Madison has been able to explain how or why the chemicals ended up on the list, but their inclusion means kratom is now in the same category as heroin and cocaine. At a meeting of the Wisconsin Controlled Substances Board last week, board member Alan Bloom said he was surprised to see the kratom on the list of schedule substances. "They stick out like a sore thumb," said Bloom, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Bloom was blunt in his assessment of the scheduling of kratom. "There's no scientific basis for it," he told his colleagues. But state lawmakers aren't required to rely on science in their decisions. In 2012, legislators in Indiana made kratom illegal by declaring it to be a synthetic drug. Tennessee and Vermont followed Indiana's example, treating a tree's leaves like something created in a lab. "Most people in this country have never heard of kratom, and there's a lot of bad information out there about it," said Susan Ash, executive director of the American Kratom Association. Ash has used kratom since 2011 to manage the symptoms of advanced Lyme disease. She founded AKA last year to advocate for people who use kratom and combat misinformation and efforts to ban it. "There are some companies out there who aren't interested in helping people and they are promoting kratom as a 'legal high.' That's led to some hysterical stories in the media," Ash said. "Usually it's a story by a local TV news crew. They usually claim it's a dangerous new synthetic drug, even though it's not synthetic and it's been used for hundreds of years in Asia. They never talk to people who use for health reasons." ||||| Question What is kratom, and is it a helpful remedy or a harmful drug? Gayle Nicholas Scott, PharmD Assistant Professor, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) is a tree-like plant in the same botanical family as the coffee tree and gardenia (Rubiaceae), and is native to Southeast Asia. Other names for kratom are ketum, thang, icthang, kakuam, kraton, thom, and biak-biak. Kratom has been used for centuries in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia to combat fatigue and, empirically, to treat pain and opioid withdrawal symptoms.[1,2] It is most commonly used orally, as fresh leaves that are chewed or that have been prepared as an extract, or as dried plant material brewed as a tea or ingested in gelatin capsules. Less frequently, kratom is smoked.[1,2] Effects are reported to be dose-dependent. Doses of 1-5 g have a stimulant effect and increase energy. Moderate to high doses (5-15 g) have opioid-like effects, including euphoria. Doses > 15 g can cause extreme sedation and stupor, similar to opioids. The indole alkaloid mitragynine appears to be responsible for the opioid-like effects of kratom. Mitragynine has high affinity for mu-opioid receptors, but less than morphine. Affinity for delta- and kappa-opioid receptors are lower than for mu, but higher than the affinity of morphine for delta and kappa. Animal research suggests that kratom has analgesic effects that are reversed by naloxone, and that kratom may have anti-inflammatory and anorexic effects. Some effects of mitragynine appear to be independent of opioid receptor activity and may involve noradrenergic and serotonergic mechanisms.[1] Animal research suggests that kratom can be addictive, and observational research in chronic kratom users in Malaysia suggests that kratom can lead to dependence, although social functioning does not appear to be impaired.[3,4] Despite its potentially addictive properties, kratom is currently legal in most states. Kratom is regulated in the United States as a dietary supplement and can be purchased in smoke shops and on the Internet. Recently, however, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moved to ban the importation of kratom, calling it a "new dietary ingredient," on the basis of lack of marketing documentation in the United States before the enactment of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994. The FDA also cited the absence of established safety and potential toxicity.[5,6] Acute adverse effects of kratom include anxiety, irritability, and aggression, as well as opioid-like effects, such as sedation, nausea, constipation, and itching. Chronic high-dose use has been associated with hyperpigmentation of the cheeks, tremor, weight loss, and psychosis.[1,2] Cases of both overdose and withdrawal have been reported by poison control centers. Common presentations of overdose include palpitations and seizures. Withdrawal symptoms include myalgia, insomnia, fatigue, and chest discomfort. Withdrawal symptoms have even occurred in the infant of a chronic kratom-using mother.[7,8] Fatalities possibly attributed to kratom, usually in combination with other drugs, have been reported.[9-11] Kratom appears to have a strong drug interaction potential. Kratom extracts inhibit CYP2C9, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4 in vitro.[12,13] Kratom is sometimes combined with O-desmethyltramadol, a tramadol (Ultram®) metabolite, in a product called "krypton."[9] Additive depressant effects on the central nervous system, along with potential metabolic drug interactions, in theory may increase its opioid-like effects. Kratom use appears to be increasing in the United States and worldwide.[7,8] Routine toxicologic screens do not detect kratom.[14] Healthcare providers caring for patients who present for emergency treatment should be aware that kratom use may be responsible for otherwise unexplained stimulant or depressive symptoms. ||||| Vivazen, a shot-format herbal liquid supplement marketed for pain relief, has removed the controversial ingredient kratom from its formulation. The decision to do so comes out of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s continued crackdown on kratom, a botanical that’s been characterized as producing opiate-like effects and addictive properties. In February the FDA issued an “Import Alert 54-15” for kratom, made from the leaves of a tree native to Southeast Asia, effectively suspending its import into the United States for use as a dietary ingredient or supplement. “There is inadequate information to provide reasonable assurance that such ingredient does not present a significant or unreasonable risk of illness or injury,” the agency wrote. The FDA also pointed to scientific research concerning the toxicity of kratom with regards to internal organ systems. In September, 2014, U.S. Marshals, on behalf of the FDA, seized more than 25,000 pounds of raw kratom (estimated to be worth more than $5 million) from Van Nuys, Calif.-based Rosefield Management. Following the FDA’s suppression of the ingredient, a wave of negative press began surfacing around kratom and specifically Vivazen, which listed the ingredient on its label. In a news report aired in June, Birmingham’s WIAT called the product “addiction in a bottle.” Three months later a machete-wielding man robbed an Anniston, Ala. gas station, taking a half case of Vivazen with him in addition to the contents of the cash register. Online bulletin board Reddit has numerous posts of people chronicling their experiences with the drug. Meanwhile, Vivazen sales rose dramatically, achieving a 1064.4 percent increase in dollar sales over the 52-week period dating from September 6, 2014 to September 5, 2015, when it reached $5.9 million according to Nielsen sales data. Following a brief period in which Vivazen was unavailable for purchase, the reformulated product has resurfaced on the company’s website with four new additions to its offerings, all of which are now CGMP-certified. Offering a range of functionalities, the new 2 oz. shots come in Bliss, Relax, Pain and Sleep varieties. Twelve-packs of Vivazen are sold on the site for $66.98. The popularity of Vivazen has apparently led other companies to emulate its success, albeit illegally, according to United Naturals, the maker of Vivazen. The company filed a legal complaint against LXR Biotech and Capital Sales Company in the U.S. district court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accusing the companies of illegally manufacturing and distributing counterfeit Vivazen products. United Naturals did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story. ||||| ABC 33/40 has a follow-up to a story we first told you about last week. Talladega County drug agents say a sweep of products containing Kratom was a success. The agents gave store operators 24 hours to remove the herbal supplement from their shelves or face jail. This time last week, it was not hard to find these little bottles containing Kratom in Talladega County. ABC 33/40 looked for Kratom at a few stores in a half-mile area and couldn't find one. Drug agents in this county told store operators Kratom is illegal. Some law enforcement agencies say it is not true. "When they came, we took everything down the same day, boxed it up and took it back to the vendor we bought it from, " said Cashier Sam Elsaidi. Elsaidi wasted no time following the orders from Talladega County's Drug Task Force. "They said if we still have it after 24 hours, they are going to come back here and there will be a problem like taking someone to jail," added Elsaidi. Customers at Elsaidi's gas station noticed quickly they'd have to go far to get it. "They would come in here asking do we have it. We would answer no and they would say Talladega County is crazy and ask why," added Elsaidi. Drug agents hand-delivered letters insisting store owners comply with the law and ordered them off shelves. "This all started because we started getting complaints from parents. Some were talking about their kids walking around like a bunch of zombies. Then we had others who said they were bouncing off of the wall," said Talladega County Drug Task Force Commander Jason Murray. Some other law enforcement agencies in Central Alabama have not removed Kratom from stores. "It all boils down to the interpretation of the law. My district attorney interprets it is illegal because it hits the opiate receptor of the brain," added Murray. Murray knows some people claim Kratom isn't bad. "You know, they said the same thing about spice. They said the same thing about ecstasy. They say the same the same thing about marijuana. There is a debate going on about that. Our job is to protect the public and that is what we are doing," added Murray. Elsaidi has no problem keeping the Kratom out of his store. He's concerned about a similar looking product from vendors, expected to come out next month, claiming to not contain the herbal supplement. ||||| Keep Kratom Safe and Legal Millions of Americans depend on natural kratom for their health and wellness. In fact, kratom has been used for centuries as a natural remedy for pain management and other benefits. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is using incomplete and even false science in order to prohibit the manufacturing and sale of natural kratom. The American Kratom Association is your advocate in the effort to keep kratom safe and available, not only by challenging the FDA to be honest and transparent in its analysis and the information it shares about what centuries have proven to be a safe botanical, but working with industry farmers, manufacturers, and distributors to keep natural kratom pure. What you can do… ||||| Concern is particularly high in South Florida, where a rising concentration of drug-treatment providers has coincided with the sprouting of kratom bars. But kratom is now available around the country. Powdered forms of the leaf are sold at head shops and gas-station convenience stores and on the Internet. Bars have recently opened in Colorado, New York, North Carolina and other states where customers nurse brewed varieties, varying in strength, from plastic bottles that resemble those for fruit juice. Photo Kratom exists in a kind of legal purgatory. Because it is categorized as a botanic dietary supplement, the Food and Drug Administration cannot restrict its sale unless it is proved unsafe or producers claim that it treats a medical condition. (Some packages are coyly labeled “not for human consumption” to avoid tripping such alarms.) The F.D.A. did ban the import of kratom into the United States in 2014, however, under its authority when a substance is strongly suspected to be harmful. That year, marshals seized 25,000 pounds of it from a Los Angeles warehouse. The Drug Enforcement Administration has listed kratom as a “drug of concern” but not a controlled substance, which would require proven health risks and abuse potential. Indiana, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming have banned it on their own; several other states, including Florida and New Jersey, have set aside similar bills until more is known about kratom’s health risks. The Army has forbidden its use by soldiers. Kratom has been linked to seizures and respiratory depression, but deaths related to it appear rare. Linda Mautner, who lives in the Delray Beach area, has claimed that her 20-year-old son, Ian, committed suicide in 2014 in the throes of kratom addiction, but Mr. Mautner was also receiving treatment for depression. Some deaths in the United States have resulted from kratom’s being laced with the prescription pain reliever hydrocodone or morphine. Kratom’s narcotic effects have been known for centuries in its native Thailand, which banned the substance decades ago amid widespread abuse. Nevertheless, kratom being sold in the United States is still smuggled in from Thailand, as well as several other Southeast Asian countries. Western research of kratom is in its infancy. Some kratom advocates claim that it helped wean them from stronger and more dangerous opiates. Susan Ash of Norfolk, Va., said she had taken kratom during treatment for dependence on prescription painkillers, and now uses a small amount daily for chronic pain and depression. Last year, she founded the American Kratom Association, a consumer group of more than 2,000 members that lobbies against state bills to ban the substance. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “We know from all our experiences that kratom has the potential to be a wonderful medicine,” said Ms. Ash, 46, adding that her organization receives little funding from kratom manufacturers. “We’re all experiencing that it’s changing our lives. We do agree that more science is needed to actually prove this potential that we know it has.” Photo Meanwhile, kratom is sold somewhat under the radar. In Carrboro, N.C., a nonalcoholic bar called Krave serves kratom drinks under the name “ketum” to deter connections to the substance’s darker side, the owner, Elizabeth Gardner, said. Ms. Gardner added that if she learns that a customer is in substance-abuse recovery, she will disclose concerns about kratom’s potential addictiveness. Kavasutra, a popular chain of bars that sell kratom and kava, another plant-based drink, does not list kratom on its menu, but sells it regularly in bottles and small plastic bags of powder. Kavasutra’s owner, Dylan Harrison, was once one of South Florida’s primary manufacturers and distributors of spice, a synthetic hallucinogen banned under federal law. He was released from federal prison in August 2014 after serving 10 months on drug charges. Several telephone messages left for Mr. Harrison were not returned. 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 You agree to 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. Mr. Mautner’s death has fueled debates among South Florida lawmakers over making kratom illegal, a move supported by the Broward County Medical Association. Neither Broward County nor Palm Beach County, which includes Delray Beach, has done so, however, and Palm Beach County decided in April to not require warning signs of kratom’s addictiveness at bars and stores that sell it. Ms. Pankova frequented the Kavasutra in Delray Beach not only because kratom soothed her cravings for opiates, she said, but also because it was not detectable on the drug tests she took as part of her recovery program. Many drug-treatment providers consider kratom use a full-fledged relapse. Ms. Pankova said she and many friends wound up spending $60 a day on kratom drinks before moving back to less expensive heroin. Another South Florida resident with that experience, Robert Waina, said he had abused dozens of different drugs before discovering kratom three years ago. He enjoyed the mild high to the point that he found himself ordering bottle after bottle. When he tried to cut back, he couldn’t, and eventually suffered from such withdrawals that he had to go to rehab for kratom three times, most recently last spring. Sitting in a coffee shop in Delray Beach, Mr. Waina said recently that he had stayed sober since then, avoiding kratom like any other drug. “If I’m taking it,” he said, “as far as I’m concerned, I’m not clean.”

– There's a little green leaf that relieves pain and helps people kick heroin, but is also addictive—so should it be legal? That's what lawmakers are trying to decide about kratom, a tree-like plant from Southeast Asia, the New York Times reports. The FDA has banned kratom imports while four states (Wyoming, Vermont, Tennessee, and Indiana) have made it illegal, but more kratom bars are emerging that serve the leaf in drink form, and powdered versions are available online and everywhere from convenience stores to gas stations. "It's a mind-altering substance, so people like me who are addicts and alcoholics, they think just because it's legal, it's fine," says Florida resident Dariya Pankova, who took kratom for heroin withdrawal. "It's a huge epidemic down here, and it’s causing a lot of relapses.” Long taken as a stimulant in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia, kratom contains something called mitragynine that seems to cause "opiod-like effects," per Medscape. But kratom also has been linked to respiratory depression, seizures, and possibly suicide; makers of the herbal-liquid "feel good" supplement Vivazen recently removed kratom from its ingredients, Bevnet reports. Yet advocates like the American Kratom Association say the leaf helps wean people off dangerous drugs, and Reason argues that states' arguments against kratom (that it's an opioid or synthetic drug) are incorrect. "It all boils down to the interpretation of the law," says a drug official in Alabama, where one county banned all kratom products last month, ABC 3340 reports. "My district attorney interprets it [as] illegal because it hits the opiate receptor of the brain." (One country may give heroin addicts what they want: heroin.)

Story highlights Boko Haram overruns a Nigerian village in pickup trucks, shooting at men The insurgents douse houses with gasoline and set them on fire They round up women, girls and boys and kidnap them News takes days to get out, since telecommunications towers had been destroyed Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped at least 185 women and children, and killed 32 people in a raid in northeastern Nigeria this week, local officials and residents said. Gunmen in pickup trucks attacked the village of Gumsuri, just north of Chibok, on Sunday, shooting down men before herding women and children together. "They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," a local government official said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. News of the attack took four days to emerge because of a lack of communication. Telecommunications towers in the region had been disabled in previous attacks. Local officials learned of the attack from residents who fled to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, where the officials had moved a year ago to escape Boko Haram attacks. The militants stormed the village from two directions, overwhelming local vigilantes who had repelled Boko Haram attacks over the course of the year, said Gumsuri resident Umar Ari, who trekked for four days to Maiduguri. ‎"They destroyed almost half the village and took away 185 women, girls and boys," Ari said.‎ Resident Modu Kalli said the militants fired heavy machine guns on the village and poured canisters of gasoline on houses before setting them on fire. "We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with nothing, save the clothes I have on me," Kalli said. Hundreds of residents of Gumsuri continue to arrive in Maiduguri, which has been struggling to accommodate thousands of residents fleeing towns and villages overrun by Boko Haram. Cameroon: At least 116 Boko Haram fighters killed Meanwhile, the Cameroon military says that it killed at least 116 Boko Haram fighters during a fight in northern Cameroon on Wednesday, near the border with northeastern Nigeria. The incident began when the militant group tried to attack the Cameroonian town of Amchide, military spokesman Lt. Col. Didier Badjeck said. One Cameroonian soldier was killed, and another was missing after the attack, according to a statement released by Badjeck. Boko Haram destroyed two trucks and stole a third, Badjeck said. Badjeck said the military believes its artillery also inflicted unspecified damage to Boko Haram on the Nigerian side of the border during the fight. "Our defense forces rigorously fought back this barbaric attack, and forced the enemy to retreat," Cameroonian government spokesman Issa Tchiroma Bakary said. "This terrorist group has only one objective: to spread fear and uncertainty amongst our population. But I can assure you that they will be defeated," Bakary said. Two months ago, the nearby area of Limani, Cameroon, was the site of a deadly clash between Boko Haram and Cameroonian forces. Eight Cameroonian soldiers and 107 Boko Haram fighters were killed during an attack by the militants that month, Cameroon state-run broadcaster CRTV reported, citing the Cameroonian defense ministry. Campaign of violence Boko Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria regularly since 2009, attacking police, schools, churches and civilians, and bombing government buildings. This month, at least one female Boko Haram suicide bomber killed five people in Maiduguri. Last month, suicide bombings killed nearly 180 people. More than half of the victims died in an attack on a mosque that many suspect Boko Haram was behind. The group has targeted mainstream Islam, saying that it does not represent the interests of Nigeria's 80 million Muslims and that it perverts Islam. In April, Boko Haram militants drew international condemnation when they kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, many of whom they later said they sold into slavery. At least 5,000 people have died at Boko Haram's hands, according to a U.S. Congressional Research Service report, making it one of the world's deadliest terrorist organizations. ||||| Boko Haram fighters have killed 32 people and kidnapped scores of others in a northeastern Nigerian village, local officials and a witness said, as a court-martial sentenced 54 soldiers to death for mutiny. Neighbouring Cameroon also said that its troops had killed 116 Boko Haram fighters in a far north region. The Nigerian officials, who requested anonymity, said locals in the village of Gumsuri were still counting those abducted in the attack on Sunday in a remote, isolated area in the Borno state, adding that the figure, which included women and children, could pass 100. "After killing our youths, the fighters have taken away our wives and daughters," Mukhtar Buba said on Thursday, after fleeing Gumsuri to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state. There are 116 of the assailants dead on Cameroonian territory and undetermined casualties on the Nigerian territory from our artillery fire Cameroonian Army Statement Details took four days to emerge because the mobile phone network has largely collapsed in the area roughly 70km south of Maiduguri, and many of the roads are impassable. Gamsuri is located on the road that leads to Chibok, where Boko Haram abducted more than 200 girls from a school in April. Speaking about soldiers sentenced to death by firing squad, lawyer Femi Falana, who represents the condemned men, said another 43 soldiers accused of refusing to fight Boko Haram would be tried by a military court. Falana said five men had been acquitted. Nigerian troops regularly complain that they are outgunned by Boko Haram and are not supported with enough ammunition or food. Meanwhile in Cameroon, the fighters attacked an army base in Amchide on the border with Nigeria on Wednesday, but soldiers repelled them, inflicting heavy losses, the Cameroon defence ministry said. "A column made up of a military truck and four pick-ups from the BIR [elite Rapid Intervention Battalion] were caught in an ambush that began with an explosion of a roadside bomb," the army said. "There are 116 of the assailants dead on Cameroonian territory and undetermined casualties on the Nigerian territory from our artillery fire," the statement said. "There is one dead on the Cameroonian side and one officer missing." According to the army, the Boko Haram fighters destroyed a pick-up and a troop truck, as well as managing to capture another military truck. Boko Haram, which opposes Western education and has been waging an armed campaign against the government since 2009, has grown in power in the area, where Cameroon and Nigeria are linked by a bridge. One of the local Nigerian officials said the Gumsuri had previously been protected against Boko Haram violence by a strong vigilante force, but that they were overpowered in Sunday's attack. Vigilante attacks "For the past one year, the fighters have made several attempts to attack Gumsuri but were resisted by the gallant youths of the village," he told AFP news agency. "It is sad that on Sunday, the village was subdued," he added. The military and police were not immediately available for comment. Boko Haram has repeatedly attacked the vigilante forces which have formed across the northeast, describing them as legitimate targets for siding with Nigeria's military. The other local official said fighters "stormed the village in a convoy of vehicles [armed] with petrol bombs" and heavy weapons. Buba, the resident, said more than half the village had been destroyed. "The terrorists mercilessly attacked us and killed at will," he told AFP. Borno is the epicentre of Boko Haram's five-year uprising aimed at creating a strict Islamic state in northern Nigeria.

– Boko Haram's latest raid in Nigeria has killed 32 people, and the militants have reportedly taken as many as 185 women and children hostage, CNN reports. News of the Sunday attack in Gumsuri, in the country's northeast, is coming out days later because of communication issues—the mobile network has "largely collapsed," Al Jazeera reports, and many roads are impassable. Telecommunications towers were taken out in past attacks. This time around, residents who fled to Borno State's capital, Maiduguri, told local officials what had happened. "They gathered the women and children and took them away in trucks after burning most of the village with petrol bombs," says one official. "They destroyed almost half the village," adds a resident. Another, describing the machine guns they fired and the gasoline they used to set houses on fire, says, "We lost everything in the attack. I escaped with nothing, save the clothes I have on me." Hundreds of residents are fleeing to Maiduguri, which has been nearly overrun with thousands of others who have fled other villages after attacks. Nigeria has also sentenced 54 soldiers to death for refusing to fight Boko Haram. Meanwhile, neighboring Cameroon says its troops repelled Boko Haram fighters who attacked an army base, killing 116 of the insurgents in its far north.

On October 11, 2015, President Obama was asked by Steve Kroft of CBS News about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while she was the Secretary of State. It was an awkward question for Obama. The F.B.I., led by James Comey, whom Obama chose to run the agency, was in the middle of an investigation into whether Hillary Clinton mishandled classified information. His Administration has been unusually aggressive in prosecuting government officials who leak classified material. But the Clinton e-mail investigation had also turned into a highly partisan issue, with Republican Presidential candidates making wild and unsubstantiated claims about her conduct. Still, Obama could have remained silent. There is a long-standing tradition by which Presidents do not comment about ongoing F.B.I. investigations, especially when a former member of their own Administration is under scrutiny. Obama seemed to want to follow that protocol and swat the question away. “Well, I'm not going to comment on—” he said before he was cut off. “You think it's not that big a deal?” Kroft asked. If Obama had intended to stick to the standard “no comment” that tradition dictated, he changed his mind. “I can tell you that this is not a situation in which America's national security was endangered,” the President said, asserting a firm conclusion about the matter eight months before the investigation was completed. The following April, after it was revealed that classified information did pass through Clinton’s unsecured e-mail server, Obama was asked by Chris Wallace of Fox News if the President stood by his October comment. “Can you still say flatly that she did not jeopardize America’s secrets?” Wallace asked. Obama again hesitated. “I’ve got to be careful because, as you know, there have been investigations, there are hearings, Congress is looking at this. And I haven’t been sorting through each and every aspect of this,” he said. But once again the President added a seemingly exculpatory comment about the target of an ongoing investigation. “She would never intentionally put America in any kind of jeopardy,” Obama said, of Clinton. The second comment was less specific than the first, but, as Benjamin Wittes, the editor-in-chief of the Lawfare blog and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Jack Goldsmith, a former assistant attorney general in the Bush Administration, note in a careful analysis of the e-mail investigation, “Both of these statements gave the appearance to many observers that the President had prejudged legally relevant aspects of the investigation.” Obama’s Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, who oversees the F.B.I, allowed herself to be similarly compromised. On June 27th, President Bill Clinton boarded Lynch’s plane while it was on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and the two spoke for about thirty minutes. Clinton and Lynch, who both insisted that the e-mail investigation was not discussed, quickly admitted that the meeting was a mistake. “People have a whole host of reasons to have questions about how we in government do our business,” Lynch said in an interview with Jonathan Capehart, in Aspen, Colorado, on July 1st. “My meeting on the plane with former President Clinton could give them another reason to have questions and concerns.” An aide to Bill Clinton told CNN that the meeting “was unplanned” and “entirely social” but “recognizing how others could take another view of it, he agrees with the attorney general that he would not do it again.” To remove any doubts about political meddling in the matter, Lynch said that she would accept whatever recommendations career prosecutors sent to her in the investigation, but later a Justice official muddied that position by insisting that Lynch would actually be “the ultimate decider.” Two days later, on July 3rd, the Times reported that “Democrats close to Mrs. Clinton say she may decide to retain Ms. Lynch, the nation’s first black woman to be attorney general,” a report that did little to ease the concerns of those who were worried that Lynch and Obama and the Clintons were trying to unduly influence the investigation. Why does any of this matter now? Because the statements and actions of Obama, Lynch, and Bill Clinton are necessary to understand the context of Comey’s unusual decision this week to break with long-standing Department of Justice procedures about not taking actions or making public disclosures that could affect an election. We now know that there was an internal debate at the Justice Department about whether to make any disclosure. Investigators reportedly found the e-mails on a laptop belonging to the former Congressman Anthony Weiner that was shared with his now estranged wife Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide. An F.B.I. investigative team briefed Comey on the findings on Thursday, and he authorized them to take the necessary steps—presumably including seeking court permission—to look at the e-mails. In September, when the F.B.I. issued a subpoena for Weiner’s cell phone, the news immediately leaked. It is almost certain that the agency’s search of Weiner’s laptop for Clinton-related e-mails would also have leaked. Comey decided that given the near certainty of a leak, and given the fact that he had previously testified that his investigation was completed, it was better to disclose the new development to Congress than not. “Of course, we don’t ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations,” he wrote in a letter to F.B.I. employees on Friday, “but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed. I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record.” Obama and Lynch’s previous actions made Comey’s decision more likely. As my colleague Jane Mayer first reported, Lynch pressed Comey not to make the disclosure to Congress, citing the long-standing Justice guidelines. But the fact that Lynch encouraged Comey to keep quiet is likely to have made Comey more certain that he needed to disclose. Think of the decision from Comey’s perspective. He could either disclose the new development now and risk being accused of influencing the election, or he could keep quiet; then, when the news of Abedin’s laptop inevitably leaked, he could be accused of caving to Lynch and her staff and keeping the information from voters. If the news leaked after the election and after Hillary Clinton was President, Republicans would turn the non-disclosure into a monumental scandal and allege that Comey played a role in a Lynch-instigated cover-up. If Clinton were President, the ensuing scandal would taint her victory, with Republicans arguing that voters were kept in the dark about a major development in one of the central issues of the campaign. While Comey’s disclosure created many hours of breathless coverage on Friday and Saturday, the truth is that the new information is not very significant: the F.B.I. will examine some of Huma’s e-mails. So what? Most polls show that voters’ minds are made up about Clinton and the e-mail scandal. A new CBS poll of thirteen battleground states found that for seventy-one per cent of respondents the Comey revelation had no impact on how they would vote. As the Washington Post noted in a report on a new ABC News poll that shows almost two-thirds of voters say the issue will make “no difference” in their vote, the news “may do more to reinforce preferences of voters opposed to Clinton than swing undecided voters.” This isn’t surprising. For most voters, opinions about Trump and Clinton are set in stone. For those still on the fence, shouldn’t we trust them to be sophisticated enough to understand the development even if they don’t have all the information they may want? As a general rule, more information and disclosure about a candidate is always better for voters in a democracy. Besides, news stories that seem potentially game-changing in an election rarely are. They last a few days and then fade. (Remember when the video of Clinton appearing to faint was going to cost her the election?) Yes, Trump, a reckless demagogue, has taken this information and made wild claims, but think of what he and his supporters would have alleged if the information leaked out in a less formal way, especially after the election was over. Comey is now coming under attack as a partisan Republican trying to undermine the Clinton campaign. (Notably, he’s being attacked by many of the same people who held him up as an exemplar of integrity and independence back in July, when he announced that the F.B.I. would not recommend that criminal charges be brought against Clinton.) In the Washington Post today, two former deputy attorneys general, Jamie Gorelick, who served in the Clinton Administration and supports Hillary, and Larry Thompson, who served in the George W. Bush Administration and opposes Trump, say “James Comey is damaging our democracy.” That seems almost as overheated as Trump’s rhetoric. What the anti-Comey arguments ignore is that if Lynch (and Obama) had maintained a more scrupulously non-partisan approach over the last two years, Comey perhaps would not have had to insert himself as publicly as he has in order to defend the F.B.I. from allegations of political interference. Comey became the face of the investigation, to the public and to Congress, because his superiors—Obama and Lynch—could not. It’s far better for the public to have this information now than after the election. Perhaps it’s possible that this revelation will swing the election to Trump. But it seems highly unlikely. Clinton is still favored to win, and, if she does, Comey will have done her a favor. ||||| Senior Hillary Clinton staffer Huma Abedin and Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook at a rally headlined by Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in a high school gym in Portsmouth, N.H. July 12, 2016 Senior Hillary Clinton staffer Huma Abedin and Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook at a rally headlined by Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in a high school gym in Portsmouth, N.H. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, is at the center of a renewed FBI email investigation of Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Abedin is now separated from Anthony Weiner, a scandal-plagued former congressman and unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York. Top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin has told people she is unsure how her emails could have ended up on a device she viewed as her husband’s computer, the seizure of which has reignited the Clinton email investigation, according to a person familiar with the investigation and civil litigation over the matter. The person, who would not discuss the case unless granted anonymity, said Abedin was not a regular user of the computer, and when she agreed to turn over emails to the State Department for federal records purposes, her lawyers did not search it for materials, not believing any of her messages to be there. That could be a significant oversight if Abedin’s work messages were indeed on the computer of her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner, the former congressman from New York who is under investigation for allegedly exchanging lewd messages with a 15-year-old girl. So far, it is unclear what — if any — new, work-related messages were found by authorities. The person said the FBI has not contacted Abedin about its latest discovery, and she was unsure what the bureau has discovered. [Justice officials warned FBI that Comey’s decision to update Congress was not consistent with department policy] According to federal law enforcement officials, investigators found thousands of messages on Weiner’s computer that they believe to be potentially relevant to the separate Clinton email investigation. How they are relevant — or whether they are significant in any respect — remains unknown. Here’s what happened after the FBI said it would examine newly discovered emails linked to Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) Weiner and a lawyer for Abedin did not return messages seeking comment. Clinton has called on the FBI to release more information and predicted that nothing would emerge that would change the FBI’s conclusion that no charges were appropriate against her. FBI Director James B. Comey wrote in a letter to lawmakers Friday that investigators would take “appropriate investigative steps” to determine if any of the messages contained classified information or if they could somehow advance the Clinton probe in another way. Federal law enforcement officials said it was possible that the messages could be duplicates of others already recovered in the case, and they could also be benign. Former FBI officials said that once agents have the legal authority to more closely examine the emails, they are likely to use a computer program to weed out duplicates, then slowly examine the remaining messages for classified information and evidence of obstruction or bad intent. [Renewed email probe leaves Clinton campaign scrambling, Trump on attack] The FBI did not release on Saturday any new details about what it had found — even as it faced immense pressure to do so. Abedin has served in a variety of roles for Clinton, starting as an intern in 1996, when Clinton was first lady. In the State Department, Abedin served as Clinton’s deputy chief of staff for operations. Abedin had a State Department email account, a Yahoo account, an account on Clinton’s private server and an account used to support Weiner’s campaign activities. When Abedin left the State Department, she signed a statement saying she had “surrendered to responsible officials all controlled or administratively controlled documents and materials with which I was charged or which I had in my possession.” The State Department — in the process of collecting Clinton’s and others for records and Freedom of Information Act purposes — later asked Abedin to turn over relevant messages, and she gave her laptop and BlackBerry for review. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's private email server was once again pushed into the lime light when FBI Director James B. Comey announced that he would resume looking into the case with less than two weeks before the election. The development has left the campaign scrambling to head off the potentially game-changing damage. (Alice Li/The Washington Post) Abedin told the FBI in an interview in April that her attorneys asked for guidance from the State Department on how to conduct that review but did not receive a response. Summarizing Abedin’s interview, FBI agents wrote that she told them that the attorneys “erred on the side of caution and opted to include anything that they were unsure about.” In a sworn deposition in June, Abedin said she “looked for all the devices that may have any of my State Department work on it and returned — returned — gave them to my attorneys for them to review for all relevant documents.” Meanwhile, on Friday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump took aim at Abedin in particular as he brought up Clinton’s emails. “I wonder, is she going to keep Huma?” Trump said. “Huma has been a problem. I wonder: Is Huma going to stay there?” Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report. Read more: James Comey’s unavoidably horrible decision Computer seized in Weiner probe prompts FBI to take new steps in Clinton email inquiry FBI agents pressed Justice unsuccessfully for probe of Clinton Foundation ||||| (CNN) The FBI stumbled upon a trove of emails from one of Hillary Clinton's top aides weeks ago, law enforcement officials told CNN Sunday. But FBI Director James Comey didn't disclose the discovery until Friday, raising questions about why the information was kept under wraps and then released only days before the election. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has obtained a warrant that will allow it to begin searching the computer that is believed to contain thousands of newly found emails of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, two law enforcement sources confirmed to CNN. The timeline behind the discovery of the emails came into greater clarity Sunday. Investigators took possession of multiple computers related to the inquiry of Anthony Weiner in early October, U.S. law enforcement officials said. Weiner is Abedin's estranged husband and is being probed about alleged sexting with a purportedly underage girl. Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Huma Abedin, longtime aide to former U.S. Secretary of State and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, arrives to speak to the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Capitol Hill in Washington on Friday, October 16. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin watches as Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton speaks during the David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University on April 29 in New York City. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin (right) looks on during a news conference following Clinton's keynote speech at a Women's Empowerment Event at the United Nations on March 10. Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career (Left to right) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, their daughter Chelsea Clinton and Abedin leave the official memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium December 10, 2013 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin stands with her husband, Anthony Weiner, during a news conference on July 23, 2013 as he addressed new allegations that he engaged in lewd online conversations with a woman after he resigned from Congress for similar previous incidents. Weiner was running for mayor of New York City at the time. Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career In this photo illustration, Weiner (left) appears with Abedin in a YouTube video announcing he will enter the New York City mayoral race on May 22, 2013. Weiner resigned from Congress in 2011 after admitting to tweeting lewd photos of himself and engaging in inappropriate online relationships with other women. Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career U.S. President Barack Obama acknowledges Abedin at an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan in the State Dining Room of the White House August 10, 2012 in Washington. Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin talks with a guest during an Iftar dinner at the White House August 10, 2011. Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (right) and Abedin arrive for a NATO Foreign Minister family photo in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin April 14, 2011. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (right) receives a note from Abedin as she testifies about the State Department's 2012 budget during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on March 10, 2011 in Washington. Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (left), accompanied by Abedin (center), greets people before a meeting on the Flood Emergency in Pakistan September 19, 2010 at United Nations headquarters in New York. Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin (right) accompanies then-Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York) after Clinton voted in the Democratic primary election on February 5, 2008 in Chappaqua, New York. Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton greets people during a campaign stop at The McConnell Center January 7, 2008 in Dover, New Hampshire, as Abedin stands behind her. Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Clinton (right) greets people during a campaign stop at Aeroservices, Inc. on January 4, 2008 in Nashua, New Hampshire, accompanied by Abedin. Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Huma Abedin's life and career Abedin walks with Clinton at Andrews Air Force Base in 2000 as the Clintons prepared to leave for a wedding in Arkansas. Hide Caption 15 of 15 Technical experts at the FBI began procedures to catalogue the emails found on one of the computers and soon found emails belonging to Abedin. The discovery surprised investigators, triggering legal issues because the search warrant was limited to the sexting case. That's why the Justice Department sought the new search warrant. Senior officials at the FBI, including Andrew McCabe, the FBI deputy director, were briefed on the issue. By mid-October, Comey learned investigators in the Weiner case might have found something that could have an impact on the now-closed probe into Hillary Clinton's private email server, according to one law enforcement official. Comey was told investigators were still trying to figure out how many emails existed and their pertinence to the Clinton probe. Senior Justice Department officials were briefed on the situation about a week ago and Comey was given a full briefing Thursday, the officials said, triggering his decision to notify members of Congress Friday that the FBI was reviewing emails potentially related to Clinton's server. The news regarding the timing of the computer's seizure was first reported Sunday by The Washington Post Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 28. The former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state was the first woman to lead the presidential ticket of a major political party. Hide Caption 1 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Before marrying Bill Clinton, she was Hillary Rodham. Here she attends Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her commencement speech at Wellesley's graduation ceremony in 1969 attracted national attention. After graduating, she attended Yale Law School. Hide Caption 2 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Rodham was a lawyer on the House Judiciary Committee, whose work led to impeachment charges against President Richard Nixon in 1974. Hide Caption 3 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight In 1975, Rodham married Bill Clinton, whom she met at Yale Law School. He became the governor of Arkansas in 1978. In 1980, the couple had a daughter, Chelsea. Hide Caption 4 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Arkansas' first lady, now using the name Hillary Rodham Clinton, wears her inaugural ball gown in 1985. Hide Caption 5 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons celebrate Bill's inauguration in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1991. He was governor from 1983 to 1992, when he was elected President. Hide Caption 6 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Bill Clinton comforts his wife on the set of "60 Minutes" after a stage light broke loose from the ceiling and knocked her down in January 1992. Hide Caption 7 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight In June 1992, Clinton uses a sewing machine designed to eliminate back and wrist strain. She had just given a speech at a convention of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. Hide Caption 8 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight During the 1992 presidential campaign, Clinton jokes with her husband's running mate, Al Gore, and Gore's wife, Tipper, aboard a campaign bus. Hide Caption 9 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton accompanies her husband as he takes the oath of office in January 1993. Hide Caption 10 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons share a laugh on Capitol Hill in 1993. Hide Caption 11 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton unveils the renovated Blue Room of the White House in 1995. Hide Caption 12 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton waves to the media in January 1996 as she arrives for an appearance before a grand jury in Washington. The first lady was subpoenaed to testify as a witness in the investigation of the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. The Clintons' business investment was investigated, but ultimately they were cleared of any wrongdoing. Hide Caption 13 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons hug as Bill is sworn in for a second term as President. Hide Caption 14 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The first lady holds up a Grammy Award, which she won for her audiobook "It Takes a Village" in 1997. Hide Caption 15 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons dance on a beach in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January 1998. Later that month, Bill Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Hide Caption 16 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton looks on as her husband discusses the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 26, 1998. Clinton declared, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." In August of that year, Clinton testified before a grand jury and admitted to having "inappropriate intimate contact" with Lewinsky, but he said it did not constitute sexual relations because they had not had intercourse. He was impeached in December on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Hide Caption 17 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The first family walks with their dog, Buddy, as they leave the White House for a vacation in August 1998. Hide Caption 18 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight President Clinton makes a statement at the White House in December 1998, thanking members of Congress who voted against his impeachment. The Senate trial ended with an acquittal in February 1999. Hide Caption 19 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton announces in February 2000 that she will seek the U.S. Senate seat in New York. She was elected later that year. Hide Caption 20 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton makes her first appearance on the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee. Hide Caption 21 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Sen. Clinton comforts Maren Sarkarat, a woman who lost her husband in the September 11 terrorist attacks, during a ground-zero memorial in October 2001. Hide Caption 22 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton holds up her book "Living History" before a signing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, in 2003. Hide Caption 23 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton and another presidential hopeful, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, applaud at the start of a Democratic debate in 2007. Hide Caption 24 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama and Clinton talk on the plane on their way to a rally in Unity, New Hampshire, in June 2008. She had recently ended her presidential campaign and endorsed Obama. Hide Caption 25 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama is flanked by Clinton and Vice President-elect Joe Biden at a news conference in Chicago in December 2008. He had designated Clinton to be his secretary of state. Hide Caption 26 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton, as secretary of state, greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a meeting just outside Moscow in March 2010. Hide Caption 27 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight The Clintons pose on the day of Chelsea's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky in July 2010. Hide Caption 28 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight In this photo provided by the White House, Obama, Clinton, Biden and other members of the national security team receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in May 2011. Hide Caption 29 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton checks her Blackberry inside a military plane after leaving Malta in October 2011. In 2015, The New York Times reported that Clinton exclusively used a personal email account during her time as secretary of state. The account, fed through its own server, raises security and preservation concerns. Clinton later said she used a private domain out of "convenience," but admits in retrospect "it would have been better" to use multiple emails. Hide Caption 30 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton arrives for a group photo before a forum with the Gulf Cooperation Council in March 2012. The forum was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Hide Caption 31 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama and Clinton bow during the transfer-of-remains ceremony marking the return of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who were killed in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012. Hide Caption 32 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton ducks after a woman threw a shoe at her while she was delivering remarks at a recycling trade conference in Las Vegas in 2014. Hide Caption 33 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton, now running for President again, performs with Jimmy Fallon during a "Tonight Show" skit in September 2015. Hide Caption 34 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton testifies about the Benghazi attack during a House committee meeting in October 2015. "I would imagine I have thought more about what happened than all of you put together," she said during the 11-hour hearing. "I have lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done." Months earlier, Clinton had acknowledged a "systemic breakdown" as cited by an Accountability Review Board, and she said that her department was taking additional steps to increase security at U.S. diplomatic facilities. Hide Caption 35 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders shares a lighthearted moment with Clinton during a Democratic presidential debate in October 2015. It came after Sanders gave his take on the Clinton email scandal. "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about the damn emails," Sanders said. "Enough of the emails. Let's talk about the real issues facing the United States of America." Hide Caption 36 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton is reflected in a teleprompter during a campaign rally in Alexandria, Virginia, in October 2015. Hide Caption 37 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton walks on her stage with her family after winning the New York primary in April. Hide Caption 38 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight After Clinton became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, this photo was posted to her official Twitter account. "To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want -- even president," Clinton said. "Tonight is for you." Hide Caption 39 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Obama hugs Clinton after he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The president said Clinton was ready to be commander in chief. "For four years, I had a front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline," he said, referring to her stint as his secretary of state. Hide Caption 40 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton arrives at a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York on September 11. Clinton, who was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before, left early after feeling ill. A video appeared to show her stumble as Secret Service agents helped her into a van. Hide Caption 41 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight Clinton addresses a campaign rally in Cleveland on November 6, two days before Election Day. She went on to lose Ohio -- and the election -- to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump. Hide Caption 42 of 43 Photos: Hillary Clinton's life in the spotlight After conceding the presidency to Trump in a phone call earlier, Clinton addresses supporters and campaign workers in New York on Wednesday, November 9. Her defeat marked a stunning end to a campaign that appeared poised to make her the first woman elected US president. Hide Caption 43 of 43 Comey's notification to Congress of the review is rocking the final days of the presidential race. Democrats are furious that Comey would revive the explosive issue of Clinton's email server so close to the election. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is seizing on the review after spending weeks on the defense, hoping it will be a potent issue he can ride until the end of the contest. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta blasted Comey on Sunday for disclosing the review. "He might have taken the first step of actually having looked at them before he did this in the middle of a presidential campaign, so close to the voting," Podesta said on CNN's "State of the Union." The Clinton campaign also distributed a letter from nearly 100 former federal prosecutors and high-ranking Justice Department officials raising concerns about Comey's letter. The wrote that Comey's letter is "inconsistent with prevailing Department policy, and it breaks with longstanding practices followed by officials of both parties." Abedin hasn't spoken publicly about the newly found emails. "The possibility that this device contains any emails of hers is news to her," a source familiar with the investigation and civil litigation told CNN. "The device supposedly at issue now belonged to Anthony, not her." The computer in question is considered to belong to Weiner. Prior to obtaining the warrant, investigators saw enough of the emails to determine that they appeared pertinent to the previously completed investigation and that they may be emails not previously reviewed. Agents saw enough of the emails that they believed there could be classified information and that it warranted further inquiry, law enforcement sources told CNN. Because they didn't have a warrant specific to Abedin's emails, officials weren't able to further examine them. Justice Department and FBI officials view Abedin as cooperative with the investigation. FBI officials don't yet know how many of the emails are duplicates of emails they already have reviewed as part of the Clinton email server investigation and whether any of them may contain classified information. Investigators believe it's likely the newly recovered trove will include emails that were deleted from the Clinton server before the FBI took possession of it as part of that earlier investigation. FBI officials expect they have to interview Abedin again after they have gone through the emails. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that talks between the Department of Justice and Abedin's lawyers were underway. They are not. ||||| CLOSE FBI Direcor James Comey told lawmakers the emails appeared to be related to the previously closed probe of Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information. USA TODAY NETWORK Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton. (Photo: Andrew Theodorakis, Getty Images) Federal authorities have obtained a warrant to review a tranche of newly-discovered emails that could be related to the previously-closed investigation of Hillary Clinton’ handling of classified information, an official familiar with the matter said Sunday. The official who is not authorized to comment publicly said the process had begun to seek an expeditious review of emails linked to longtime Clinton aide Huma Abedin. Though the volume of emails is substantial — perhaps in the thousands — authorities have not completely ruled out the possibility of completing the review by Election Day. It is possible that many of the emails, discovered during a separate investigation of Abedin’s estranged husband former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner, are duplicates of those already reviewed by the FBI, the official said. Weiner is suspected of having sexually charged communications with a 15-year-old girl. Meanwhile, a Justice Department official said that although Attorney General Loretta Lynch objected to FBI Director James Comey’s decision to notify Congress of the new email discovery, Justice officials would be supporting the FBI action to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. The Clinton campaign said Sunday that neither Abedin nor her lawyer had been contacted by the FBI. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that there may be as many as 650,000 emails on the laptop, but it is unclear how many may be relevant to the Clinton email server investigation. FBI Director James Comey announced Friday that the bureau had uncovered emails that may be related to the FBI probe of Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Comey had announced in July that while Clinton had mishandled classified information on her private email, he would not recommend criminal charges against her. Democrats were outraged by Comey's announcement Friday that the bureau was reviewing more emails, saying that he provided so little detail as to open the door to an array of conspiracy theories. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had urged Comey not to announce the new review, saying it violated the Justice Department's policy of not interfering in elections. The Trump campaign has praised Comey for disclosing the latest review of emails, saying Americans deserved to know before they vote. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2eJz2vx ||||| As Hillary Clinton reaches the home stretch of the election well ahead in polling over Donald Trump, new revelations from the FBI's reopening of the investigation into the Democratic candidate's emails has shifted the race. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib discusses how the information could impact both candidates. Photo: AP The surprise disclosure that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are taking a new look at Hillary Clinton’s email use lays bare, just days before the election, tensions inside the bureau and the Justice Department over how to investigate the Democratic presidential nominee. Investigators found 650,000 emails on a laptop that they believe was used by former Rep. Anthony Weiner and his estranged wife Huma Abedin, a close Clinton aide, and underlying metadata suggests thousands of those messages could have been sent... ||||| The Post’s Matt Zapotosky breaks down the unknowns following the FBI’s announcement on Oct. 28 that it will renew its Hillary Clinton email probe. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) The Post’s Matt Zapotosky breaks down the unknowns following the FBI’s announcement on Oct. 28 that it will renew its Hillary Clinton email probe. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) The FBI has obtained a warrant to search the emails found on a computer used by former congressman Anthony Weiner that may contain evidence relevant to the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server, according to law enforcement officials. One official said the total number of emails recovered in the investigation into Weiner (D-N.Y.) is close to 650,000, but that reflects many emails that are not related to the Clinton investigation. But officials familiar with the case said that the messages include a significant amount of correspondence associated with Clinton and her top aide, Huma Abedin, Weiner’s estranged wife. [The Clinton email probe: Questions and answers] FBI agents investigating Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state knew early this month that messages recovered in a separate probe might be germane to their case, but they waited weeks before briefing the FBI director, according to people familiar with the case. The director, James B. Comey, has written that he was informed of the development Thursday, and he sent a letter to legislators the next day letting them know that he thought the team should take “appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails.” Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's private email server was once again pushed into the limelight when FBI Director James B. Comey announced that he would resume looking into the case with less than two weeks before the election. The development has left the campaign scrambling to head off the potentially game-changing effects. (Alice Li/The Washington Post) That missive ignited a political firestorm less than two weeks before the election. Almost instantly, Comey came under intense criticism for his timing and for bucking the Justice Department’s guidance not to tell Congress about the development. And his announcement means that Clinton could have to contend with the news that the FBI has resumed its investigation of her use of a private email server — without any clarity on whether its investigators will find anything significant — up to and beyond Election Day. People familiar with the case said that agents on the Clinton email team had known about the messages since soon after New York FBI agents seized a computer related to their investigation into Weiner, who has been accused of exchanging explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl. [Why Comey was able to defy Justice bosses on Clinton email announcement] Officials said the agents probing Clinton’s private email server did not tell the director immediately because they were trying to better assess what they had. “It’s a step-by-step process,” said one senior law enforcement official. “There are many steps along the way that get you to a place where the director can be appropriately briefed in order to make a decision” about whether to move forward. Investigators will now look at whether the newly uncovered emails contain classified information or other evidence that could help advance the Clinton email probe. It is possible, though, that the messages could be duplicative of others already recovered elsewhere or that they could be a collection of benign, personal notes. 1 of 22 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Who is FBI Director James Comey? View Photos A look at the career of FBI Director James Comey. Caption James B. Comey, the head of the bureau since 2013, was dismissed by President Trump on May 9, 2017. March 15, 2017 FBI Director James B. Comey leaves a closed-door meeting with senators about President Trump’s allegations of wiretapping at Trump Tower during the 2016 election at the Capitol in Washington. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. Several law enforcement officials with technical expertise said it is generally not difficult to create software to analyze such emails, searching for terms like “secret” or “top-secret” or any mention of places with classified operations, such as Pakistan. Agents should also be able to figure out quickly how many of the emails duplicate those that have already turned up. “You could automate that pretty quickly,” said one law enforcement official. What will take more time, however, is making conclusions about whether any of the emails include classified information. That process, former FBI officials have said, could be cumbersome and drag on after the election. Investigators would have to read those for potentially relevant information, and, if there were questions about their classification, send them to other agencies for review. But no one involved in the investigation is trying to delay, officials say. “This is not a team that sits on its hands,” said one official. Abedin has told people that she is unsure how her emails could have ended up on a device she viewed as belonging to her husband, according to a person familiar with the investigation and civil litigation over the matter. [Abedin says she doesn’t know how her emails wound up on her husband’s computer] An announcement from the FBI in early October, when the emails were discovered, might have been less politically damaging for Clinton than one coming less than two weeks before the Nov. 8 election. The FBI declined to comment. Comey wrote in his letter to Congress, “We don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails,” and federal law enforcement officials have said that investigators on the Clinton email team still had yet to thoroughly review them. Comey in July announced that he was recommending that the investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state be closed without charges. But he said investigators had found classified information on the server and characterized Clinton’s and her aides’ conduct as “extremely careless.” Legislators on both sides of the political aisle are likely to raise questions about why the team investigating Clinton’s private email took so long to brief Comey. Clinton and her backers have pushed aggressively for the bureau to release more information about its findings and criticized the agency for making its work public without knowing more. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has called the matter “the biggest scandal since Watergate” and suggested, without evidence to support it, that the case against Clinton was now “so overwhelming.” A Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll found that more than 6 in 10 likely voters said the FBI’s announcement would make no difference in their vote. A little more than 3 in 10 said the news made them less likely to support Clinton, though about two-thirds of those were Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. Read more: FBI agents pressed Justice unsuccessfully for probe of Clinton Foundation Read the letter Comey sent to FBI employees explaining his controversial decision on the Clinton email investigation Post-ABC poll finds tight presidential race, with mixed reaction to FBI’s review of Clinton’s emails

– The issue of newly discovered emails related to Hillary Clinton's use of a private server dominated headlines Sunday, though it remains unclear whether the emails themselves contain anything new or damaging because the FBI has yet to begin searching them. (They were found on the computer of Anthony Weiner, husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin, during a separate investigation of him.) Some of the latest developments: The Justice Department and the FBI is seeking a warrant to conduct a full search of the Abedin emails, but the issue is tricky because the computer belongs to Weiner, not Abedin, explains CNN. The subpoena under which it was seized relates only to the allegations that he was sexting with an underage girl. When the search begins, it will take weeks because the laptop has a total of about 650,000 emails. It's not clear how many of those were sent to or from Clinton's private server, but that figure is probably in the "thousands," reports the Wall Street Journal. Some may be duplicates that already have been seen by the FBI. Meanwhile, talks also are under way with Abedin's lawyers to gain access to the emails, reports USA Today. Abedin has told people she has no idea how her emails ended up on her husband's computer, reports the Washington Post. Her lawyers didn't search it when they were turning over her emails to the State Department, because she was reportedly unaware they were on it. A separate Post story says FBI agents had known for weeks about the emails on Weiner's computer but delayed telling FBI chief James Comey for reasons that are unclear. The chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration thinks the FBI's Comey has run afoul of the Hatch Act, which bars the use of an official position to sway an election. Richard Painter filed a formal complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, and he explains his case in the New York Times. If Clinton wins the election, she'll be grateful to Comey for this move, argues Ryan Lizza in the New Yorker. Need to catch up? The Times has a Q&A here.

This image provided Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, by RR Auction of Boston shows the last page of an April 1934 letter from Depression-era gangsters Bonnie and Clyde to a former member of their gang they felt... (Associated Press) This image provided Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, by RR Auction of Boston shows the last page of an April 1934 letter from Depression-era gangsters Bonnie and Clyde to a former member of their gang they felt had betrayed them. The letter, written in Bonnie Parker's neat cursive and signed by Clyde Barrow,... (Associated Press) BOSTON (AP) — Bonnie and Clyde made it quite clear how they felt about a former member of their gang in a letter they sent to him as he sat in the Dallas County Jail. He was a coward, they wrote, and they should have killed him when they had the chance. The four-page letter to Raymond Hamilton was written in April 1934 in Bonnie Parker's neat cursive and signed by Clyde Barrow. It could fetch more than $40,000 when it's sold next month by Boston-based RR Auction, said the auction house's executive vice president, Robert Livingston. Based on the language, experts think Barrow, who had poor writing skills, likely dictated the letter to Parker, Livingston said Wednesday. The couple was livid with Hamilton, in part because of a disagreement over how to split $4,000 stolen from a Texas bank just two months earlier. "I should have killed you then I would have saved myself much bother and money looking for you," reads the letter, which is full of 1930s gangster jargon. The letter also says Hamilton is "yellow," pointing out that he was captured without resistance and based on the way he acted during a narrow escape from a police road block in Missouri. "The next impression was when we got the road 'blocked' on us in the Ozarks and you were too 'yellow' to fight. You cowered in the floorboard, afraid of being shot," the letter reads. It also contains a prescient line about Bonnie and Clyde's own demise only a month later, when they were killed in a law enforcement ambush in Louisiana. "I know that some day they will get me but it won't be without resistance," the letter reads. It ends: "I hope this will serve the purpose of letting you know that you can never expect the least of sympathy or assistance from me. So long." There is still intense interest in Bonnie and Clyde, who were almost glorified in their day before the public turned against them after they were linked to the murder of two police officers, Livingston said. Two pistols recovered from the bodies of the infamous outlaw couple were sold by RR in 2012 for more than $500,000. It's unclear if Hamilton ever saw the letter, Livingston said. It was intercepted by Sheriff Richard "Smoot" Schmid, who shared it with newspapers several months later. It remained in his family's possession until they decided to auction it. "Every line in this letter is remarkable," Livingston said. "It's one of a kind." ___ Online: www.rrauction.com ||||| Clyde Barrow wanted Raymond Hamilton dead. And Barrow wanted Hamilton to know it. Hamilton split with the infamous Barrow gang of Dallas after an apparent dispute over Hamilton's girlfriend. And Hamilton wrote a letter in April 1934 to his lawyer, claiming that he was actually a gentleman bandit and had nothing to do with all the death and destruction wrought by Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Barrow, who couldn't write well, had Parker pen a letter to Hamilton in which he called Hamilton's girlfriend a "prostitute sweetheart." Barrow also said he "should have killed" the "yellow" Hamilton when he had the chance. The four-page letter, sent to Hamilton at the Dallas County jail, will be put up for auction in late September in Boston. The note is filled with 1930s gangster lingo and anger directed at their old sidekick. "I know that some day they will get me but it won't be without resistance," Barrow told Hamilton in the letter. "Maybe you can talk yourself out of the 'chair.' Or maybe you can write a few more letters (try one to the governor) at least it will gain you some publicity." A law enforcement ambush killed Bonnie and Clyde about a month after the letter was written, and Hamilton couldn't talk his way out of the electric chair. He was executed in 1935. Dallas County Sheriff Richard "Smoot" Schmid intercepted the letter on its way to the jail and later made it public. But Schmid's family kept the original letter in a family scrapbook for years before they decided to auction it. Bobby Livingston, executive vice president of RR Auction in Boston, said the letter evokes imagery of Bonnie and Clyde consumed with revenge on Hamilton while evading law enforcement. As public opinion had turned against the couple after they killed two police officers in Grapevine, the pair cast Hamilton as a man who toted a gun only to "'show off' or else kidnap women and children." "Every single line in that letter is just brimming with content that any collector of any genre of letters, this would be the letter to have," Livingston said. "If you're enamored by the story of Bonnie and Clyde, here it is." Other Bonnie and Clyde memorabilia has sold for tens of thousands in recent years. Two of their guns were auctioned in 2012 for more than $500,000. Livingston believes the letter could sell for over $40,000. Adjusted for inflation, that's still less than the $4,000 the Barrow gang stole in a Lancaster bank job, which sparked the split with Hamilton. But it's a good take for four pages of blue ink in cursive. "It's unbelievable what things go for," said Perry Carver, who runs the Bonnie and Clyde Ambush Museum in Gibsland, La. Carver took over the museum last year from Linton "Boots" Hinton, whose father, Ted, was a Dallas County sheriff's deputy and part of the law enforcement posse that killed Bonnie and Clyde. The museum is at the site of Bonnie and Clyde's last known meal. Carver, who used to play as a child in Atlanta in the car where Bonnie and Clyde were killed, said interest remains high in the couple, who met in West Dallas in 1930. Barrow, hardened by his time in the state's notorious Eastham prison unit, captured the country's attention because of his relationship with Parker. It also helped that the two targeted banks, seen as villainous during the Great Depression. The outlaws' crime spree later became enshrined in pop culture lore after the 1967 movie Bonnie and Clyde, starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the title characters. But Barrow's nephew, Buddy Barrow Williams, said his father, L.C. Barrow, never talked about Bonnie and Clyde when Buddy was growing up. Although L.C. was close to his brother, his family avoided the limelight and the shame that came from being a Barrow. "The older generation who grew up with this ... that generation didn't want no part of it," said Barrow Williams, who lives in Sunnyvale. "Every 20 years, you got a new generation. Then they brought the '67 movie, and then there was more curiosity. I guess they just fell in love with the story of two people falling in love and being willing to die for each other." And they did. But not before the two bid Hamilton, whom they once busted out of jail, a less-than-fond farewell. "I hope this will serve the purpose of letting you know that you can never expect the least of sympathy or assistance from me," Barrow wrote in Parker's writing. "So long." On Twitter: @TristanHallman ||||| (Originally published by the Daily News on April 22, 1934. This story was written by Virgil S. Beck.) DALLAS, TEX., April 21. — The staccato rattle of a machine gun echoes. An officer of the law or a shopkeeper stumbles to die in a pool of his own blood. An automobile roars away with the occupants cursing or laughing. In the madly driven car a short, lean, thin-faced youth, his black hair slicked back, grip the handle of a machine gun. At his side, a rather pretty red-haired girl, often with a large black cigar gripped between her teeth, fingers the trigger of another tommy gun as she glances back for signs of pursuit. This tragic scene has just been enacted in the Southwest for the ninth time in the last two years. The locale this time was Miami, Okla. The victim was Constable Cal Campbell, 63, who made the mistake on April 6, 1934, of questioning the occupants of an auto mired in the mud. The scene had been enacted at least eight times before, with minor variations. The thin-faced youth in the car was Clyde Barrow, the Texas Rattlesnake, wanted for nine murders and countless bank robberies, store holdups, and machine gun battles with the law. His girl companion, who is charged with almost as many crimes as Barrow, was his sweetheart, Bonnie Parker. The titian-haired gun girl, who is an expert with machine gun, rifle and pistols, has a fondness for strong black cigars which has led to her identification in many crimes. It is Bonnie who usually covers the retreat with a machine gun as Clyde handles the wheel. Bonnie is very proud of her record as a gun moll, but she resents the belief that she smokes cigars. She made her denial to Percy Boyd, Chief of Police of Commerce, Okla., who was kidnaped by Barrow and Bonnie after the slaying of Constable Campbell. “No nice girl smokes,” said Bonnie. But she did not explain the many pictures of her with a machine gun in her hands and a long black cigar in her lips. The daring delivery of five convicts from the Eastham prison farm near Huntsville, Tex., last Jan. 16 by Barrow and Bonnie caused the State Legislature to offer a $1,000 reward for the capture of “the most dangerous desperado of the Middle West.” Included in the quintet of liberated prisoners was Raymond Hamilton, 20, companion in crime of Barrow and his gun moll, who was under sentences totaling 262 years. The Legislature has appropriated a $500 reward for the capture of Hamilton, and another $500 for apprehension of Joe Palmer, one of the fugitive convicts who killed a prison guard during the daring escape. During the last two years Barrow and Bonnie Parker, with their various companions, have established a criminal record that eclipses even that of Pretty Boy Floyd and the other noted bad men of Southwest. And this elusive, youthful bandit couple — Barrow is 23 and Bonnie is only 19 — boast that they will not be taken alive. They have murdered, assaulted, robbed, kidnaped, looted and shot their way out of police traps throughout Texas and in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, Illinois, Ohio, New Mexico, Indiana and probably other States. Clyde and Bonnie Called “A Pair of Human Rats.” New York Daily News published this on April 22, 1934. (New York Daily News) New York Daily News published this on April 22, 1934. (New York Daily News) New York Daily News published this on April 22, 1934. Officers call Barrow and his gun moll “a pair of human rats” who dash about the country like mad dogs, jeering, cursing and laughing diabolically at their dying victims. These same officers admit the bandits are experts with firearms and absolutely fearless, and doubt that they ever will be captured alive. They seem to know every highway and side road in the Middle West. They strike suddenly and ruthlessly, and when officers think they have the pair cornered they suddenly appear in another State. *** Barrow, Bonnie and Hamilton grew up in West Dallas. Barrow fought, fibbed and stole and at the age of 15 had his first brush with the law. He was arrested for automobile thievery. That was on Dec. 3, 1926. Barrow and Hamilton, while still in their early teens, teamed up in petty thievery and many times ran afoul of the law. As they grew older, they started carrying guns and set out along the easy money route. On Feb. 28, 1928, Barrow and Hamilton were picked up for investigation in Fort Worth, and in October, 1929, they were arrested for two safe burglaries in Dallas. About this time Barrow and Hamilton met Parker, who was a waitress in a Dallas cafe. She is the daughter of Mrs. Emma Parker of Trinity Heights, and, although only 15 at the time, Bonnie had been married to Roy Harding, who now is serving a prison sentence for the murder of a deputy sheriff. The youthful bandits started taking Bonnie along on escapades and she soon became a fugitive also. Clyde’s first serious acquaintance with jails came in 1930. On March 2 he was convicted on seven charges of burglary and given two years in each case in Waco, Tex. The Judge, moved by the defendant’s youth, agreed to allow the sentences to run concurrently. But jail was not to the liking of Barrow, and he escaped before he could be taken to prison. On March 16, just two weeks after Barrow had been sentenced, Middletown, O., police attempted to arrest him for questioning. Here Clyde, for the first time, tried to shoot it out with the officers. He was captured and returned to Waco, where the Judge ordered Barrow to serve the full fourteen years of his sentences. Barrow Chops Off Toe to Avoid Work in Jail. Clyde was admitted to the Texas penitentiary on May 21, 1930, and was assigned to the woodchopping detail. His dislike for hard labor was shown immediately. He deliberately chopped off the big toe of his right foot so he would be sent to the hospital. Meanwhile, Marvin Ivy (Buck) Barrow, brother of Clyde and eight years his senior, also had launched upon a criminal career and had been sentenced to prison on several robbery charges. He had escaped on March 30, 1930, and when Clyde was sent to prison, Buck and his wife, Blanche, 22, teamed up with Hamilton and the red-headed Bonnie Parker. This quartet continued their career of petty robbery during 1930 and 1931 until Buck Barrow surrendered to prison authorities on Dec. 27, 1931. Notorious bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow kid around with a shotgun. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) Mrs. Cumie F. Barrow, frail, gray-haired mother of the notorious brothers, appealed for clemency for her wayward son Clyde. Sobs of the mother finally aroused the pity of Gov. Ross Sterling and he paroled Clyde on Feb. 2, 1932. This act of clemency brought vigorous protests from several sheriffs who wanted Barrow on numerous charges of robbery and theft. The younger Barrow had hardly reached home before Dallas police arrested him for hijacking on March 25. Clyde had joined Hamilton and Bonnie Parker again. The following month, on April 30, J.N. Bucher, operator of a store at Hillsboro,Tex., was shot to death by two youths as they robbed him. Barrow and Hamilton were identified as the bandits. The Texas Rattlesnake had had his first taste of blood. They were identified again in a Dallas robbery on May 12, and on Aug. 1 they robbed the Neuhoff Packing Company in Dallas of $400. Barrow and Hamilton next turned up at a dance at Atoka, Okla., on Aug. 5. A sheriff and his deputy approached their car to question them. The youthful bandits opened fire without warning, killing the sheriff and wounding the deputy, E.C. Moore. Next they kidnaped a deputy sheriff at Carlsbad, N.M., on Aug. 16 they wounded a deputy in a gun battle at Wharton, in South Texas, on Aug. 30. They killed Howard Hall, grocery clerk, in a store robbery at Sherman, Tex., on Oct. 11. At about this time Barrow and Hamilton split after dispute over the affections of their redheaded feminine companion. Hamilton was arrested at Bay City, Mich., in December, 1932. He was brought back to Texas and given sentences totaling 263 years on just a few of the many charges chalked up against him. Hamilton lamented having broken with Clyde Barrow, and vowed that no penitentiary would hold him. “I’ll wait my chance and be out before you know it. And when I do, I’ll team up with Clyde and Bonnie again and all hell will never catch us,” Hamilton defiantly declared, as officers well recall now. *** Picture taken in the early 1930s of crime partners Bonnie Parker (R) and Clyde Barrow, Bonnie and Clyde. (STF/AFP/Getty Images) Meanwhile, Gov. Sterling had revoked Clyde’s parole because of his criminal activities, but the younger Barrow, and Bonnie continued on their lawless way. On Dec. 23, 1932, they attempted to steal an automobile at Temple, Tex., and killed Doyle Johnson, the owner, in making their escape. Clyde and Bonnie decided to visit Barrow’s mother on Jan. 7, 1933. They ran into a police trap, but shot their way out, killing Deputy Sheriff Malcolm Davis. Gov. Miriam A. Ferguson of Texas granted Clyde’s older brother, Buck, a full pardon on March 20, 1933. Buck and his wife, immediately joined Clyde and Bonnie in Joplin, Mo. Officers surrounded their house to make a search for liquor on April 13, not knowing the identity of the occupants. Constable J. W. Harriman was killed instantly and Detective Harry McGinnis was wounded fatally. Machine guns, shotguns, pistols, loot from Joplin robberies, and a cache of diamonds stolen in Texas were found in the house, but the outlaws escaped. Bonnie Takes to Verse; Becomes ‘Suicide Sal.’ On a table was an unfinished poem entitled “Suicide Sal,” in the handwriting of Bonnie Sal. She described her life as the pal of a desperado and declared she was proud of it. Since then, Bonnie has been known as Suicide Sal. With Missouri offering a $1,000 reward for the capture of the Barrows, which still stands for Clyde’s apprehension, Barrow, and Bonnie wandered about Indiana, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana. On April 28 they stole a car at Ruston, La., belonging to H.D. Darby, a business man. Darby and Miss Sophie Stone, home demonstration agent, gave chase in her car. The Barrows kidnaped them and let them out 125 miles away at Waldo, Ark., after giving them $5. In Darby’s car the roving terrorists swooped down on far-off Lucerne, Ind., on May 8. They robbed a bank and wounded two women as they escaped. They turned up next near Wellington, Tex., in the Panhandle. Bonnie Parker was injured when the bandits’ car went over an embankment. Their guns aroused a farmer’s suspicions and he notified the sheriff. The lawmen who finally got Bonnie and Clyde resorted to an ambush, riddling their car with bullets on May 23, 1934, near Gibsland, La. (AP) When Sheriff George Corry and Marshal Paul Hardy arrived at the scene they were captured, disarmed, and forced to accompany the bandits to near Erick, Okla., where they were left tied and wired to trees. Sheriff Corry related that Clyde Barrow had asked them: “Did you know who I was?” When the officer admitted he did not, Barrow replied: “It’s a good thing. Seven like you did, and they’re pushing up daisies now.” The outlaw brothers and their women companions next appeared in Hutchinson, Kan., on June 14, and stole an automobile which was identified as that used in a store robbery at Fayetteville, Ark., on June 23. Their auto was wrecked in a collision near Alma in their getaway. Marshal Henry D. Humphrey, 52, and Deputy Sheriff A.M. Salyers started to investigate. The bandits killed Humphrey without warning and fled in Salyers’ car. During the next thirty minutes the bandits spread terror along the highway. Motorists were forced into the ditch by a hail of bullets and finally the road was blocked by the outlaws and a car in which Mr. and Mrs. Mack Lofton Jr. were driving was seized by the fleeing pair. Early the following morning, Mrs. Harry F. Rogers, 26, while canning fruit in her kitchen, was confronted by two men at her mountain home near Winslow, Ark., 50 miles from Alma. Although alone, Mrs. Rogers defied the bandits when they demanded the keys to her automobile. The enraged intruders beat Mrs. Rogers with a heavy chain and their fists, criminally assaulted her and stabbed her. They then told the semi-conscious woman that they would fix the car so she could never drive it, and started pushing the machine toward the edge of a cliff. As the pair fled, the courageous farmwoman dragged herself to her feet, steered the car against a tree and slumped unconscious, where she was found by her husband upon his return. After hovering between life and death for several days, Mrs. Rogers recovered and identified pictures of Clyde and Buck Barrow as those of her attackers. The bullet-riddled automobile in which the bandits, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, were trapped, shot and killed on a Louisiana road is seen May 24, 1934, near Arcadia, La. (AP) *** The Barrows shot their way out of a tight spot in Platte City, Mo., on July 20. A cordon of thirteen officers surrounded their tourist cabin and ordered them out. A woman answered that she would open the door as soon as she was dressed. A moment later machine gun fire burst from the cabin. The officers’ guns raked the walls, but their machine gun jammed. Suddenly the two Barrows and their women dashed from the door. One of the men, apparently wounded, was being half-carried by the women. The other man turned a machine gun on the officers and kept them at bay long enough to permit a getaway in their auto. Three of the officers had been wounded, none seriously. The desperate band was not so fortunate when they met up with the authorities of Dexter, Iowa, four days later. Their trial had been picked up when Ed Penn, a farmer, found bloodstained bandages in the woods near Dexter. Federal, State and county officers closed in about the wooded area. The Barrows opened fire from behind a fallen tree. The posse closed in under terrific fire from machine guns and automatic pistols. Deputy Sheriff Rags Riley of Polk County was wounded slightly. Buck Barrow fell seriously wounded and his wife Blanche was captured while fighting like a tigress by his side. She had been injured in the face by shattered glass during the battle at Platte City. Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker escaped by wading a creek, crawling through a cornfield and stealing a car from Valley Feller, a farmer. Buck and Blanche were taken to Perry, La., for treatment while airplanes, armored cars, motorcycles and automobiles, all equipped with wireless, took up the search for the fugitives. The manhunt spread over Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska and several other States. The belief that one more or more of the fugitives had been wounded was verified on July 28 when a car stolen from George Allbright of Polk County was found abandoned near Broken Bow, Neb. The cushions were blood-soaked and Bonnie’s purse and picture were in the car. Meanwhile officers had identified the Barrow gang in dozens of robberies throughout Iowa and an arsenal of two machine guns, thirty-four automatic pistols and five revolvers had been found in the outlaw barricade. Tan Ford sedan in which Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker were ambushed. Dying Buck Barrow Confesses a Murder Realizing he was dying, Buck confessed that it was he who killed Marshal Humphrey and sought to exonerate Clyde. Deputy Salyers identified Buck as one of the pair that killed Humphrey and in turn was told by the dying desperado that he was lucky to be alive. Buck Barrow died on July 29 from infection of one of his many wounds. His wife was returned to Pallette City, Mo., and was sentenced to ten years in prison. The 59-year-old mother of the bandit brothers arrived in Iowa after her son’s death. She returned his body to Texas for burial in a little rural cemetery near Dallas. *** Clyde and Bonnie continued to leave their trail of crime through several State of the Middle West. Bank robberies, filling station holdups, store burglaries and highway robbery were charged to them over a large area, but they avoided brushes with the law until Nov. 22, 1933. Sheriff R. A. Schmid of Dallas learned that Clyde had been slipping home to visit his mother and laid a trap for the desperado. The sheriff and three deputies hid in a ditch alongside a new highway near Grand Prairie, about midway between Dallas and Fort Worth. They opened fire on Barrow’s car with machine guns. With guns blazing from his hands and those of Bonnie, the daring outlaw dashed through the trap. While officers of several States were investigating ever current reports that the will-o’-the-wisp bandit and his cigar-smoking girl companion were in their localities, Barrow suddenly carried out the most daring exploit of his career on Jan. 16, 1934. Major Crowson, 24, and Olan Bozeman, 30, guards at the Eastham prison farm on the Trinity River in Houston County, Texas, had started out on the farm of thousands of acres with a woodcutting detail of seventeen prisoners shortly before 7 o’clock that morning. Raymond Hamilton, former pal of Clyde Barrow and sweetheart of Bonnie Parker, was one of the convicts. As the detail was passing a drainage ditch, Joe Palmer, another of the convicts suddenly dashed to a brush pile, followed by two other prisoners. The trio came up with pistols and opened fire on the guards. At the same moment, Barrow and Bonnie stuck their heads above the top of the drainage ditch and opened fire with machine guns. Every year on the anniversary weekend the ambush scene is re-enacted as part of a Bonnie and Clyde Festival. (AP) Crowson went down, mortally wounded by a bullet fired by Palmer. Bozeman was shot in the hips. Hamilton, serving sentences totaling 263 years; Palmer, serving twenty-five years for robbery with firearms; Henry Methvin, up for ten years for assault to murder; W.H. Bybee, under two life sentences for murders, and J.B. French, serving twenty-five years for robbery, escaped with Barrow and his gun moll. Their car was observed dashing over the roads with machine guns held on the sides by the fugitives. French was recaptured that night near the prison farm, and Bybee was caught at Amarillo, Tex., on Jan. 30. The other three, Palmer being charged with the murder of Crowson, remain at large. Posses, headed by Texas Rangers, and sheriffs of a dozen counties, scoured South Texas for days, but the elusive Barrow could not be found. Guards recalled seeing a mysterious airplane hovering about the farm for several days, and prison authorities believe Barrow had scouted the layout from the air before attempting the daring delivery. *** Barrow, Bonnie and Hamilton, the strange trio that had launched a criminal career while children, and, stranger still, with one girl serving as sweetheart to two youthful desperadoes, were together once more. Their trial soon was picked up again. One the afternoon of Feb. 12, City Marshal Dale Davis and three deputies of Reed Springs, Mo., started in search of thieves who had stolen a car from a dealer in the town. Near the outskirts of Reed Springs, Barrow, Bonnie Parker and two other men were bottled up in a narrow lane by the officers. Outnumbering their pursuers, the desperadoes forced the officers to retreat under heavy gunfire. After disabling the officers’ car, the bandits fled south. Sheriff Seth Tuttle and a posse arrived and chased the fugitives into Arkansas. Higher Reward Urged If Barrow is Killed. Irked by the many lawless acts of Barrow and his companions in crime, the Texas Legislature voted a $1,000 reward for his capture on Feb. 17. No price was placed on Bonnie’s head. Attempts to make the reward for Barrow “dead or alive” brought bitter argument. Several members expressed the opinion that Barrow will never be taken alive and that it would be a great benefit to the State and nation if he were killed. One even suggested doubling the reward if the desperado was killed and cutting it in half if he is taken alive. Others contended that legalized murder, even of the Texas Rattlesnake, should not be encouraged, and declared that every man is entitled to a fair trial. Meanwhile, Barrow, with the blood of at least nine men on his hands; his gun moll, Bonnie Parker, drinker of strong corn whisky and smoker of strong cigar, and Raymond Hamilton, fugitive from a 263-year prison sentence, dash over the highways from the Canadian border to the Gulf, robbing, looting, and ready to kill at the least provocation. Elusive, armed to the teeth with firearms with which they are experts, ruthless killers, and masters of almost every type of crime this strange trio of two desperadoes and their one sweetheart companion have eclipsed the bloody record of Pretty Boy Floyd and are recognized as the most dangerous criminals in the Middle West and possibly the nation. 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– The cursive is Bonnie's; the signature, Clyde's. A four-page letter written by the duo in April 1934 is hitting the auction block in September, and it's a fiery one. It's addressed to one Raymond Hamilton, a one-time member of their gang who, at the time the letter was written, was behind bars in the Dallas County Jail. That he was there was a reflection of just how "yellow" he was, per the letter, as he didn't try to flee as he was captured. The Dallas Morning News reports the trio had a falling out over Hamilton's girlfriend (the "prostitute sweetheart" the letter refers to); the AP cites a disagreement over how to divvy up $4,000 they had taken from a Texas bank earlier that year. This after Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker famously rescued Hamilton and four others from a Texas prison farm in January 1934, per a New York Daily News article written that year. Hamilton was serving sentences totaling 262 years at the time. The lines are biting. "I should have killed you then I would have saved myself much bother and money looking for you," reads the letter, which Boston-based RR Auction says was likely dictated by Barrow to Parker, who had superior writing skills. It closes by telling Hamilton, "I hope this will serve the purpose of letting you know that you can never expect the least of sympathy or assistance from me. So long." But he may not have ever seen it. Sheriff Richard "Smoot" Schmid intercepted it and later publicized it; his family is now auctioning it off. The Morning News notes Barrow and Parker were killed the month after they wrote the letter. Hamilton's fate was no better: Death by electric chair in 1935. Read more from the letter, including a prescient line, here.

Former White House press secretary James Brady, who was left paralyzed in the Reagan assassination attempt, looks at his wife, Sarah Brady, during a 2011 news conference on Capitol Hill. (Evan Vucci/AP) Federal prosecutors said they will not charge John W. Hinckley Jr. with murder in the shooting of President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary in a 1981 assassination attempt, even though a medical examiner concluded that James S. Brady’s death in August was caused by the old wounds. The decision, announced Friday by the U.S. attorney for the District, comes four months after a medical examiner decided that Brady’s death at the age of 73 was a direct result of a bullet fired 34 years ago outside the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest. In a statement, prosecutors said their decision was based on “a review of applicable law, the history of the case, and the circumstances of Mr. Brady’s death.” Hinckley, now 59, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the shooting of Reagan, Brady and two others and has spent the past three decades at St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Southeast Washington. Hinckley’s attorney, Barry Wm. Levine, said “any idea that this was a prosecutable case was ridiculous. There were so many legal obstacles to prosecuting this case, just countless.” He said that had authorities filed new charges, he believes the case “would be barred as a matter of law.” The March 30, 1981, assassination attempt came just 69 days into Reagan’s presidency. Reagan was severely wounded. Brady was struck first, above the left eye, and the bullet shattered in his head. He remained incapacitated for the remainder of his life, paralyzed in the left arm and leg. At the time of his death, he was suffering from aspiration pneumonia, and prosecutors said the cause of death was listed by a medical examiner in Virginia, where Brady died Aug. 4, as a “gunshot wound [to the] head and consequences thereof.” John Hinckley Jr. arrives at U.S. District Court on Nov. 18, 2003, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP) A representative of Brady’s family said in a statement that they respect the decision by the U.S. attorney. “We deeply appreciate the extraordinary outpouring of love and support” since Brady’s death, the statement said. “We miss him greatly.” Brady and his wife, Sarah, became leading advocates of gun control after the shooting, fighting for years for passage of legislation requiring background checks on handgun purchases. The medical examiner’s ruling presented law enforcement authorities with a difficult decision on whether to file new charges against Hinckley, who previously had gone to trial on 13 criminal charges, two of them related to Brady: assault with intent to kill while armed and assault with a dangerous weapon. Hinckley told authorities that he hoped that killing Reagan would impress the actress Jodie Foster. While some prosecutors said in August that the medical examiner offered authorities a new chance to revisit the criminal case, others questioned whether it would be legal or even a matter of good public policy. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., the District’s top prosector, provided two legal reasons for not pursuing additional charges against Hinckley. In his statement, he said a judge would likely prevent prosecutors from arguing, or a jury from finding, that Hinckley was sane when he fired the shots. A jury already concluded that he was insane at the time. Machen said in the statement that any attempt to try Hinckley again would result in a directed verdict from the judge reaffirming the jury’s decision in 1982. Machen also said the District’s now-overturned year-and-a-day law, which prevented filing murder charges 367 or more days after an attack, still affects the case because it was the law when the assassination attempt was made in 1981. Levine also said he would have argued that the constitutional idea of double jeopardy, which protects against charging a person twice with the same crime, would have protected his client. An element of a murder charge is intent, and he said Hinckley was already adjudicated when the jury declared him insane on the “assault with intent to kill” charge. In addition, Levine said he would have argued that other medical issues caused Brady’s death. “I think the public will understand it was a decision made professionally and with due consideration for the law and the facts,” said Joseph E. diGenova, a supervisor in the U.S. attorney’s office when Hinckley was tried. The former prosecutor said that “the criminal justice system is not perfect.” He added: “I’m sure there is nothing prosecutors would have liked better than to charge John Hinckley with murder. But they have higher duties than worrying about public sentiment.” Although Brady’s death and the decision on how he died brought new attention to the case, Hinckley continues to battle prosecutors on another front: how much freedom he should enjoy now that it appears his illness is waning, or under control. Over the years, Hinckley’s attorney and health-care workers have petitioned to allow him stays with his mother in Williamsburg. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman ruled in December 2013 that Hinckley could visit his mother every month for 17 days. He wrote that he was convinced that Hinckley “will not be a danger to himself and to others,” but he rejected a bid for even longer outings, saying Hinckley still had not gained friends or ties to people in Williamsburg. While in Virginia, Hinckley is under strict rules. He may drive but only to “destinations where people will be expecting him.” He is allowed six unsupervised outings away from his mother’s house, each lasting up to four hours. He is barred from visiting any areas where the president or members of Congress might be. Even the times of his daytime strolls in Williamsburg are tightly regulated. And attorneys are still debating how much Internet time Hinckley should be allowed while in Virginia. “This is a gentleman who was ravaged by mental disease some 30 years ago and who has recovered entirely,” Levine said. “He is stricken by the grief that he has caused others. This whole event is catastrophic for him. He is keenly aware of what it did to James Brady and to others, and he regrets it profoundly.” ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. / Updated Federal prosecutors have decided against filing any new charges against John Hinckley Jr. in the death of former White House spokesman James Brady. The case was re-opened earlier this year after a coroner's report concluded that shots fired by Hinckley during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981 directly led to Brady's death this past August. In 1982, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity of all charges against him. Shortly thereafter he was committed to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, where he remains today. Prosecutors pointed out that any jury in a murder trial would be directed to consider that he was already found to be legally insane at the time of the incident and "the government would be precluded now from arguing that Hinckley was sane at the time he shot Mr. Brady. " "The decision was made following a review of applicable law, the history of the case, and the circumstances of Mr. Brady’s death, including recently finalized autopsy findings," said a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington. IN-DEPTH — Pete Williams and Hasani Gittens

– Would-be Reagan assassin John Hinckley Jr. will not be charged with murder in last year's death of James Brady, the Washington Post reports. The notion had become a real possibility when a coroner ruled that Brady's death at age 73 was a homicide—the result of the bullets that struck him in the head back in 1981. Federal prosecutors decided they would have little chance of conviction considering that Hinckley was found to be not guilty by reason of insanity of all charges at the time, reports NBC News. "The decision was made following a review of applicable law, the history of the case, and the circumstances of Mr. Brady's death, including recently finalized autopsy findings," says a statement from the US Attorney's Office in Washington. The Brady family issued a statement saying it respected the decision. Hinckley remains institutionalized at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, though he gets to spend a lot of time on the outside.

The Virginia State Board of Elections has postponed plans for a name-drawing on Wednesday to decide the winner of a deadlocked House of Delegates race — and possibly which party controls the chamber — after one of the candidates announced plans for a court challenge over whether the election was really a tie. The rare spectacle of filling a legislative seat by drawing one of two candidates' names out of a pitcher has drawn widespread interest, in no small part because a Democratic victory would mean that the House, where Republicans had a 16-seat majority before the Nov. 7 elections, would be split 50-50 when the legislature convenes Jan. 10. Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds said Tuesday that she would file a motion in Newport News Circuit Court on Wednesday, asking judges to reconsider their decision to count a disputed ballot as a vote for Republican incumbent David Yancey and declare the race a tie. Simonds's lawyers said they could not file the motion Tuesday because the court was closed. They also said they had written to the Board of Elections asking it to postpone the name-drawing until the court decides whether to act in response to the motion. [Settling a tied Virginia House race by drawing a name? Not that weird by history’s standards.] Hours later, the Board of Elections announced that it had canceled plans for the 11 a.m. drawing. "Drawing names is an action of last resort," the board said in written statement. "Any substantive concerns regarding the election or recount should be resolved before a random drawing is conducted." The board, which must give 24 hours' notice before calling an emergency meeting, will not hold a drawing Wednesday even if the court rules that day. "We want to act in a transparent manner as there is no need for any more surprises with this election," the board said. On Election Day, Yancey appeared to beat Simonds in the 94th legislative district race by 10 votes. But a Dec. 19 recount left Simonds ahead by a single vote. This image provided by the City of Newport News via The Virginian-Pilot shows a copy of the ballot at the center of the recount dispute. (AP/AP) The next day, a three-judge panel decided that a ballot that was declared ineligible during the recount should count for Yancey, tying the race at 11,608 votes apiece. The ballot in question contained a mark for Simonds as well as a mark for Yancey, and an extra mark by Simonds's name that the court ruled was an effort to strike out the mark in her favor. Republicans said the unknown voter had selected every other Republican on the ballot and intended to vote for Yancey. The panel of judges agreed. If Simonds wins the seat, the House chamber will be split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, forcing the parties into a rare power-sharing arrangement. If Yancey wins, the Republicans will retain their majority by the slimmest possible margin. In her motion, Simonds asserts that the panel made a "clear legal error . . . [that] ran contrary to Virginia law" by counting the disputed ballot. "This is really about the integrity of elections in Virginia," she told reporters. She accused Yancey, a six-year incumbent, of trying to do "an end run" around proper election procedures. Parker Slaybaugh, a spokesman for House Republicans, said in a statement that "the Court acted appropriately and . . . the integrity of the process is without question." The statement also noted that a recount in a separate House race involved a Democrat challenging a disputed ballot, which the court agreed to review and then counted for the Democratic candidate. In their letter to the Board of Elections, Simonds's lawyers wrote that if the judges reconsider their finding that the contest was tied, there would be no need for a drawing. It also states that neither candidate would be harmed by a "brief delay" in naming a winner, so long as the process is completed by the time the General Assembly is gaveled into session on Jan. 10. If the race is still in limbo by that date, neither candidate would be seated — giving Republicans control of the chamber with 50 seats to the Democrats' 49. Clara Belle Wheeler, the lone Republican on the election board, said the matter should be settled before the legislature convenes. "I am of the very strong opinion that the people of Newport News need to have a representative in the House of Delegates," she said. The last — and perhaps only other — time the state settled a tied election by "lot" was in 1971, when candidates for a House seat in Fairfax — Republican William H. Moss and Democrat Jim Burch — each received 16,410 votes. Virginia uses the same procedure several times a year to decide ballot order for candidates. Counters get help filling out the paperwork as they retabulate ballots for Virginia’s House District 94 on Dec. 19. (Joe Fudge/AP) If there is a lot-drawing in the 94th District race, the loser could seek a second recount. Democrats are also seeking a new election in a different House race that Republican Bob Thomas won by 73 votes, in which an apparent voter-registrar error led to 147 voters casting ballots in the wrong districts. Katie Baker, a spokeswoman for the House Democrats, said Tuesday that the Democratic candidate in that race, Joshua Cole, will not contest the results with the state legislature — a last-ditch, rarely used measure. But Cole is still asking a federal judge to order a new election. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 5. His decision not to contest the election with the legislature was first reported by WTOP. Before the Nov. 7 elections, Republicans outnumbered Democrats in the House 66-34. The GOP has a smaller, 21-to-19, edge in the state Senate, where tied votes can be broken by the incoming lieutenant governor, Democrat Justin Fairfax. Fenit Nirappil contributed to this report. ||||| NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The Latest on the tied House race in Virginia (all times local): 7 p.m. Election officials say they've postponed their plan to break a tie in a Virginia House race that could decide party control of the chamber. Elections Commissioner Edgardo Cortes confirmed the postponement Tuesday in an email to The Associated Press. Election officials had planned to draw names from a bowl Wednesday. The delay follows an announcement that the Democratic candidate will challenge the race's vote count in court. Shelly Simonds and her lawyers said the court failed to follow election law last week by allowing a ballot to be counted after a recount had concluded. The race between Simonds and Republican Del. David Yancey is for the 94th District in Newport News. If Simonds were declared the winner, it would split party control of Virginia's House 50-50. ____ 3:55 p.m. The Democrat in a tied race for a Virginia House seat that could affect which party controls the chamber says she'll ask a court to declare the tie invalid. Shelly Simonds' lawyers said Tuesday that they'll ask the court to reconsider its ruling after last week's recount. If Simonds were declared the winner in the 94th District in Newport News, it would split control of the legislature 50-50. Currently it's 51-49 in favor of Republicans. Attorney Ezra Reese said the court violated election law by counting a ballot for Republican Del. David Yancey a day after the recount. Election officials plan to draw names from a bowl Wednesday to settle the outcome. Simonds said she'll ask them to delay the drawing. Simonds and Yancey are tied at 11,608 votes each. ||||| Norfolk, VA (23510) Today Sunny to partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High near 95F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.

– Shelly Simonds wants to stop her name from being written on a slip of paper and put inside an old film canister on Wednesday morning, and she's partially succeeded. The Democrat plans to ask a Virginia court to name her the winner of the 94th District Race on Wednesday; she had been declared the winner following a recount last Tuesday, with the 11,608-to-11,607 vote ending 17 years of Republican control in the Virginia House. But judges last Wednesday evened the count to 11,608 for both, and the race is now set to be determined by lot, with the aforementioned film canister and one containing the name of Republican rival/incumbent David Yancey put in a 180-year-old turquoise pitcher, reports the Washington Post. The Newport News Circuit Court is closed Tuesday for the holiday, so she'll file documents Wednesday arguing that election officials sidestepped proper procedure when they handed Yancey an additional vote. The AP reports election officials on Tuesday night decided to postpone the drawing as a result of her planned filing; they didn't specify a new date or time. When more than one candidate's bubble is filled in on a ballot, that ballot is supposed to be declared an "over vote" and discarded. But the 11,608th vote handed to Yancey came from a ballot in which both candidates' bubbles were filled in; Simonds' bubble had a slash mark through it. Her filing also calls out Yancey's decision to take issue with the ballot the day after the recount, which facilitated his "opportunistic end run" around recount law, she alleges, per the Virginia Pilot.

The organic produce market in the United States has grown quickly, up 12 percent last year, to $12.4 billion, compared with 2010, according to the Organic Trade Association. Organic meat has a smaller share of the American market, at $538 million last year, the trade group said. The findings seem unlikely to sway many fans of organic food. Advocates for organic farming said the Stanford researchers failed to appreciate the differences they did find between the two types of food — differences that validated the reasons people usually cite for buying organic. Organic produce, as expected, was much less likely to retain traces of pesticides. Organic chicken and pork were less likely to be contaminated by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. “Those are the big motivators for the organic consumer,” said Christine Bushway, the executive director of the trade association. The study also found that organic milk contained more omega-3 fatty acids, which are considered beneficial for the heart. “We feel organic food is living up to its promise,” said Sonya Lunder, a senior analyst with the Environmental Working Group, which publishes lists highlighting the fruits and vegetables with the lowest and highest amounts of pesticide residues. The Stanford researchers said that by providing an objective review of the current science of organic foods, their goal was to allow people to make informed choices. In the study — known as a meta-analysis, in which previous findings are aggregated but no new laboratory work is conducted — researchers combined data from 237 studies, examining a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and meats. For four years, they performed statistical analyses looking for signs of health benefits from adding organic foods to the diet. Photo The researchers did not use any outside financing for their research. “I really wanted us to have no perception of bias,” Dr. Bravata said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story One finding of the study was that organic produce, over all, contained higher levels of phosphorus than conventional produce. But because almost everyone gets adequate phosphorus from a wide variety of foods, they said, the higher levels in the organic produce are unlikely to confer any health benefit. The organic produce also contained more compounds known as phenols, believed to help prevent cancer, than conventional produce. While the difference was statistically significant, the size of the difference varied widely from study to study, and the data was based on the testing of small numbers of samples. “I interpret that result with caution,” Dr. Bravata said. 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 You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to 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. Other variables, like ripeness, had a greater influence on nutrient content. Thus, a lush peach grown with the use of pesticides could easily contain more vitamins than an unripe organic one. The study’s conclusions about pesticides did seem likely to please organic food customers. Over all, the Stanford researchers concluded that 38 percent of conventional produce tested in the studies contained detectable residues, compared with 7 percent for the organic produce. (Even produce grown organically can be tainted by pesticides wafting over from a neighboring field or during processing and transport.) They also noted a couple of studies that showed that children who ate organic produce had fewer pesticide traces in their urine. The scientists sidestepped the debate over whether the current limits are too high. “Some of my patients take solace in knowing that the pesticide levels are below safety thresholds,” Dr. Bravata said. “Others have questioned whether these standards are sufficiently rigorous.” Similarly, organic meat contained considerably lower levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria than conventionally raised animals did, but bacteria, antibiotic-resistant or otherwise, would be killed during cooking. Dr. Bravata agreed that people bought organic food for a variety of reasons — concerns about the effects of pesticides on young children, the environmental impact of large-scale conventional farming and the potential public health threat if antibiotic-resistant bacterial genes jumped to human pathogens. “Those are perfectly valid,” she said. The analysis also did not take factors like taste into account. But if the choice were based mainly on the hope that organic foods would provide more nutrients, “I would say there is not robust evidence to choose one or the other,” Dr. Bravata said. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The argument that organic produce is more nutritious “has never been major driver” in why people choose to pay more, said Ms. Lunder, the Environmental Working Group analyst. Rather, the motivation is to reduce exposure to pesticides, especially for pregnant women and their young children. Organic food advocates point to, for example, three studies published last year, by scientists at Columbia University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. The studies identified pregnant women exposed to higher amounts of pesticides known as organophosphates and then followed their children for years. In elementary school, those children had, on average, I.Q.’s several points lower than those of their peers. Critics of the Stanford study also argue that lumping all organic foods into one analysis misses the greater benefits of certain foods. For example, a 2010 study by scientists at Washington State University did find that organic strawberries contained more vitamin C than conventional ones. Dr. Crystal Smith-Spangler, another member of the Stanford team, said that the strawberry study was erroneously left out but that she doubted it would have changed the conclusions when combined with 31 other studies that also measured vitamin C. ||||| 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.

– There's no question that organic food is better for the planet, but there's no evidence that it's better for the person eating it, according to a new study. Scientists analyzed four decades of research, and found that organic meat and produce have no more nutritional value or other health benefits than conventional—and cheaper—foods, reports the New York Times. Much more pesticide residue was found in conventional fruits and vegetables, but only three of the 237 studies analyzed found residue above allowed limits. "When we began this project, we thought that there would likely be some findings that would support the superiority of organics over conventional food,” says the lead researcher. “I think we were definitely surprised." But organic food advocates say that some of the study's findings, including the higher levels of pesticide residue, validate consumers' decisions to buy organic, and note that the organic food movement started out as a way to help the environment, reports USA Today. "The health benefits really ended up being almost inadvertent, a nice fringe benefit" of sustainable farming, says a scientist at Consumers Union.

Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment. It’s a striking position from the world’s richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology. In a recent interview with Quartz, Gates said that a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argues that governments must oversee such programs rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes. The idea is not totally theoretical: EU lawmakers considered a proposal to tax robot owners to pay for training for workers who lose their jobs, though on Feb. 16 the legislators ultimately rejected it. “You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed” of automation, Gates argues. That’s because the technology and business cases for replacing humans in a wide range of jobs are arriving simultaneously, and it’s important to be able to manage that displacement. “You cross the threshold of job replacement of certain activities all sort of at once,” Gates says, citing warehouse work and driving as some of the job categories that in the next 20 years will have robots doing them. You can watch Gates’ remarks in the video above. Below is a transcript, lightly edited for style and clarity. Quartz: What do you think of a robot tax? This is the idea that in order to generate funds for training of workers, in areas such as manufacturing, who are displaced by automation, one concrete thing that governments could do is tax the installation of a robot in a factory, for example. Bill Gates: Certainly there will be taxes that relate to automation. Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, social security tax, all those things. If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think that we’d tax the robot at a similar level. And what the world wants is to take this opportunity to make all the goods and services we have today, and free up labor, let us do a better job of reaching out to the elderly, having smaller class sizes, helping kids with special needs. You know, all of those are things where human empathy and understanding are still very, very unique. And we still deal with an immense shortage of people to help out there. So if you can take the labor that used to do the thing automation replaces, and financially and training-wise and fulfillment-wise have that person go off and do these other things, then you’re net ahead. But you can’t just give up that income tax, because that’s part of how you’ve been funding that level of human workers. And so you could introduce a tax on robots… There are many ways to take that extra productivity and generate more taxes. Exactly how you’d do it, measure it, you know, it’s interesting for people to start talking about now. Some of it can come on the profits that are generated by the labor-saving efficiency there. Some of it can come directly in some type of robot tax. I don’t think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. It’s OK. Could you figure out a way to do it that didn’t dis-incentivize innovation? Well, at a time when people are saying that the arrival of that robot is a net loss because of displacement, you ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed of that adoption somewhat to figure out, “OK, what about the communities where this has a particularly big impact? Which transition programs have worked and what type of funding do those require?” You cross the threshold of job-replacement of certain activities all sort of at once. So, you know, warehouse work, driving, room cleanup, there’s quite a few things that are meaningful job categories that, certainly in the next 20 years, being thoughtful about that extra supply is a net benefit. It’s important to have the policies to go with that. People should be figuring it out. It is really bad if people overall have more fear about what innovation is going to do than they have enthusiasm. That means they won’t shape it for the positive things it can do. And, you know, taxation is certainly a better way to handle it than just banning some elements of it. But [innovation] appears in many forms, like self-order at a restaurant—what do you call that? There’s a Silicon Valley machine that can make hamburgers without human hands—seriously! No human hands touch the thing. [Laughs] And you’re more on the side that government should play an active role rather than rely on businesses to figure this out? Well, business can’t. If you want to do [something about] inequity, a lot of the excess labor is going to need to go help the people who have lower incomes. And so it means that you can amp up social services for old people and handicapped people and you can take the education sector and put more labor in there. Yes, some of it will go to, “Hey, we’ll be richer and people will buy more things.” But the inequity-solving part, absolutely government’s got a big role to play there. The nice thing about taxation though, is that it really separates the issue: “OK, so that gives you the resources, now how do you want to deploy it?” ||||| Robots are taking human jobs. But Bill Gates believes that governments should tax companies’ use of them, as a way to at least temporarily slow the spread of automation and to fund other types of employment. It’s a striking position from the world’s richest man and a self-described techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, one of the leading players in artificial-intelligence technology. In a recent interview with Quartz, Gates said that a robot tax could finance jobs taking care of elderly people or working with kids in schools, for which needs are unmet and to which humans are particularly well suited. He argues that governments must oversee such programs rather than relying on businesses, in order to redirect the jobs to help people with lower incomes. The idea is not totally theoretical: EU lawmakers considered a proposal to tax robot owners to pay for training for workers who lose their jobs, though on Feb. 16 the legislators ultimately rejected it. “You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed” of automation, Gates argues. That’s because the technology and business cases for replacing humans in a wide range of jobs are arriving simultaneously, and it’s important to be able to manage that displacement. “You cross the threshold of job replacement of certain activities all sort of at once,” Gates says, citing warehouse work and driving as some of the job categories that in the next 20 years will have robots doing them. You can watch Gates’ remarks in the video above. Below is a transcript, lightly edited for style and clarity. Quartz: What do you think of a robot tax? This is the idea that in order to generate funds for training of workers, in areas such as manufacturing, who are displaced by automation, one concrete thing that governments could do is tax the installation of a robot in a factory, for example. Bill Gates: Certainly there will be taxes that relate to automation. Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, social security tax, all those things. If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think that we’d tax the robot at a similar level. And what the world wants is to take this opportunity to make all the goods and services we have today, and free up labor, let us do a better job of reaching out to the elderly, having smaller class sizes, helping kids with special needs. You know, all of those are things where human empathy and understanding are still very, very unique. And we still deal with an immense shortage of people to help out there. So if you can take the labor that used to do the thing automation replaces, and financially and training-wise and fulfillment-wise have that person go off and do these other things, then you’re net ahead. But you can’t just give up that income tax, because that’s part of how you’ve been funding that level of human workers. And so you could introduce a tax on robots… There are many ways to take that extra productivity and generate more taxes. Exactly how you’d do it, measure it, you know, it’s interesting for people to start talking about now. Some of it can come on the profits that are generated by the labor-saving efficiency there. Some of it can come directly in some type of robot tax. I don’t think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. It’s OK. Could you figure out a way to do it that didn’t dis-incentivize innovation? Well, at a time when people are saying that the arrival of that robot is a net loss because of displacement, you ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed of that adoption somewhat to figure out, “OK, what about the communities where this has a particularly big impact? Which transition programs have worked and what type of funding do those require?” You cross the threshold of job-replacement of certain activities all sort of at once. So, you know, warehouse work, driving, room cleanup, there’s quite a few things that are meaningful job categories that, certainly in the next 20 years, being thoughtful about that extra supply is a net benefit. It’s important to have the policies to go with that. People should be figuring it out. It is really bad if people overall have more fear about what innovation is going to do than they have enthusiasm. That means they won’t shape it for the positive things it can do. And, you know, taxation is certainly a better way to handle it than just banning some elements of it. But [innovation] appears in many forms, like self-order at a restaurant—what do you call that? There’s a Silicon Valley machine that can make hamburgers without human hands—seriously! No human hands touch the thing. [Laughs] And you’re more on the side that government should play an active role rather than rely on businesses to figure this out? Well, business can’t. If you want to do [something about] inequity, a lot of the excess labor is going to need to go help the people who have lower incomes. And so it means that you can amp up social services for old people and handicapped people and you can take the education sector and put more labor in there. Yes, some of it will go to, “Hey, we’ll be richer and people will buy more things.” But the inequity-solving part, absolutely government’s got a big role to play there. The nice thing about taxation though, is that it really separates the issue: “OK, so that gives you the resources, now how do you want to deploy it?” ||||| Tweet with a location You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Bill Gates has called for a tax on robots to make up for lost taxes from workers whose jobs are destroyed by automation. The Microsoft founder and world’s richest man said the revenue from a robot tax could help fund more health workers and people in elderly and child care, areas that are still expected to rely on humans. His comments come amid growing concerns about how robots and artificial intelligence will change the workforce, with experts predicting that most jobs will be rendered obsolete over the next 30 years.

– Job-stealing robots should be taxed the same as humans, Bill Gates says. "If a robot comes in to do the same thing, you’d think that we’d tax the robot at a similar level," the Microsoft founder tells Quartz. He says governments should tax companies that replace workers with machines and use that money to fund jobs that can only be performed by humans, such as caring for children and the elderly. In what is perhaps a surprising declaration for a man who built his fortune through innovation, the billionaire philanthropist contends the pace of automation in job-killing industries ought to be slowed, and taxes can help do that. "It is really bad if people overall have more fear about what innovation is going to do than they have enthusiasm," he says. While the European Parliament last week nixed a robot tax for now, notes the Telegraph, such a levy is being pushed by the French socialist candidate for president. But the idea of taxing machines is picking up steam even in the unlikely climes of Silicon Valley, which seems to favor the customers, not the industry, footing the bill, per the Financial Times. But the world's richest man doesn't think manufacturers would mind paying up. "I don’t think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax," he says. "It’s OK." Skeptics took to Twitter, blaming Microsoft's own technology for lost human jobs. (Read the full interview here.)

STANDISH, Maine (AP) — Three men are charged with digging up the cremated remains of two relatives and moving them to another cemetery in Maine. Authorities say 71-year-old Calvin Lewis of Limington, 37-year-old Hiram resident Travis Lewis and 42-year-old Kevin Lewis of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, are charged with abuse of a corpse. Police say the men dug up the remains of Richard Lewis and the son who shared his name from a cemetery in Standish last fall, then reburied them in the family plot in Limington. The elder Richard Lewis was Calvin Lewis' brother and the father of the other two men. The remains were returned to their original resting place on Aug. 2. Kevin Lewis tells the Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/1rd16sK) the men "just thought we had a right" to move family members. ||||| Kevin Lewis says it didn't seem like a big deal to dig up his relatives' ashes and rebury them in a family plot in another cemetery. One of the three men who are accused of illegally moving the ashes of two buried relatives said Thursday that he believed they had the right to move the remains. Kevin Lewis said he, his brother and his uncle moved the ashes of his father, Richard W. Lewis, and brother, Richard “Trent” Lewis, from Steep Falls Cemetery in Standish to a family plot in Maple Hill Cemetery in Limington. “We just thought we had a right. My father’s parents are there (in Limington) and it’s where everybody else will be buried,” he said of the family plot. Lewis said he didn’t think it was a big deal and that the graves were not marked where they were. Lewis, 42 of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, his brother Travis Lewis, 37, of Hiram and their uncle Calvin Lewis, 71, of Limington have been issued a summons to appear in Bridgton District Court Nov. 18 on a charge of abuse of a corpse. The law does not differentiate between ashes and a body. The three dug up the ashes and reburied them last fall, but it only came to light recently, police said. The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office was told about the ashes being moved by Richard “Trent” Lewis’ former girlfriend, who is the mother of his children. She told deputies that she buried her ex-boyfriend, who died in 2007, and his father, who died in 2003. Because of that, she objected to their relatives moving the remains, deputies said. She was told about the transfer of remains this month by Kevin Lewis, who thought she should know. Kevin Lewis said that when his father died, there was a large funeral at a funeral home and that his ashes were kept at a family member’s house. Later, the family decided to have the ashes buried in the same plot that the woman had purchased for his brother for $200. “We did dig them up and move them, but she didn’t pay for my father’s funeral,” he said. He said eight people attended his father’s interment. “We appreciated what this woman did,” Kevin Lewis said. “Everything she did was really polite, very nice.” He said the family and his brother’s ex-girlfriend have gotten along well. Share

– Kevin Lewis thought it was no big deal when he and a couple of relatives unearthed the ashes of his father and brother in Standish, Maine, and reburied them about 10 miles down the road in Limington. "We just thought we had a right," Lewis tells the Portland Press Herald. Apparently, they didn't. Lewis, his brother Travis, and their uncle Calvin are now accused of abuse of a corpse after the deceased brother's former girlfriend clued police into the move, which happened last fall. The woman says she buried her ex-boyfriend's ashes when he died in 2007, as well as the ashes of his father, which had been sitting at a family member's house since his death in 2003. "We appreciated what this woman did," Lewis said, "but she didn't pay for my father’s funeral." He explains the family moved the ashes to a family plot because "it's where everybody else will be buried." The AP reports, however, the remains were returned to their original resting place earlier this month. The Lewises are due in court Nov. 18.

0 Several arrests made in 1983 'racially-motivated' murder SPALDING COUNTY, Ga. - Investigators said two men got away with murder for more than three decades thanks, in part, to help from two law enforcement officers. The explosive news came in a news conference from the Spalding County sheriff Friday. The death of Timothy Coggins was “no doubt” racially-motivated, according to sheriff Darrell Dix. It was in 1983 that Coggins' body was found abandoned near power lines on Manley Road. According to the report, Coggins died of multiple forms of trauma. The sheriff said after an exhaustive investigation, the case went cold. A new witness came forward earlier this year, which led to a re-examination of the case. Original witnesses were contacted and re-interviewed. TRENDING STORIES: Channel 2 Action News learned that two of the five people implicated in the death of Coggins were acting in their official capacity when the crime happened. Dix said Milner Police Officer Lamar Bunn was charged with obstruction, and Spalding County Detention Officer Gregory Huffman was charged with violation of oath office. Frankie Gebhardt, 59, and Bill Moore Sr., 58, were charged with felony murder. Sandra Bunn, 58, was charged with obstruction. “There is no doubt in the minds of all investigators involved that the crime was racially motivated, and if the crime happened today it would be prosecuted as a hate crime,” Dix said. Coggins' family thanked the current sheriff and the GBI for taking another look at this case. "We know that there's been tireless nights and we know that you guys have put in so many hours making sure that these people were brought to justice, so on behalf of them, we would definitely like to say 'thank you,'” said Coggins’ niece, Heather Coggins. “The only unfortunate part in this is that our grandparents, Timothy Coggins’ parents, are not able to see this today." The sheriff said recent media coverage helped witnesses to come forward. “Thanks to the assistance of both local and statewide new media coverage, previously unknown witnesses stepped forward and when interviewed, many of the witnesses stated that they had been living with this information since Coggins' death but had been afraid to come forward until now or had not spoken of it until now,” Dix said. The sheriff said the investigation is not over and that more arrests are expected. Friends of the victims said they thought this day would never come. "It worried everybody to death, but we never could find out what was going on, so life just continued to go on," Alton McFarland said. The Coggins’ family never gave up hope for justice. “Even on my grandmother's deathbed she knew that justice would one day be served,” said Heather Coggins. “So we are eternally grateful and we would like to say thank you.” © 2019 Cox Media Group. ||||| Five people, including two law enforcement officials, were arrested Friday by the Spalding County Sheriff’s Department in connection with a 1983 cold case. Timothy Coggins, a 23-year-old man, was found dead on a power line near Minter Road in the city of Sunny Side on Oct. 9 of that year. Frankie Gebhardt, 59, and Bill Moore Sr., 58, were charged with murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and concealing a body. Lamar Bunn, a Milner Police Department employee, and Sandra Bunn, 58, were charged with obstruction. Gregory Huffman, a detention officer with the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, was charged with obstruction and violation of oath of office. Sheriff Darrell Dix said there is “no doubt” in the minds of investigators that the crime was racially motivated, and if it occurred today it would be prosecuted as a hate crime. Officials did not release any additional information on the suspects’ involvement in the crime. Huffman was fired from the sheriff’s office Friday morning. Timothy Coggins, 23, was found dead in Sunny Side, Ga in Spalding County on Oct. 9, 1983. ((Spalding County Sheriff’s Office)) “(Coggins) was murdered brutally,” Dix said. “And we are going to make sure people answer to that crime.” The GBI and Spalding sheriff’s department reopened the case in March after receiving new information and met with Coggins’ family in July. Many of the witnesses interviewed said they had been living with information since Coggin’s death, but “had been afraid to come forward or had not spoken of it until now,” officials said. “We have always wanted justice, held out for justice, and knew that we would have justice,” Heather Coggins, the man’s niece, said at a news conference. “We have endured grief for the past 34 years … our journey is coming to an end; their journey is just beginning.” The initial investigation in 1983 hit a snag when those suspected of being involved threatened and intimidated potential witnesses, Dix said. Officials said the investigation is not over, and more people could be arrested and charged. “We are sending a message that we want to make crystal clear. If you are a criminal, murderer, drug dealer or gang member, you are no longer welcome or tolerated in Spalding County,” Dix said. “We will do everything we can do to stop you, regardless of who you are, where you come from, and as was demonstrated today, regardless of time or distance.” ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Oct. 14, 2017, 2:56 PM GMT / Updated Oct. 14, 2017, 6:07 PM GMT By Reuters, Yelena Dzhanova and Jay Varela A decades-old investigation in Georgia into the murder of a black man in 1983 culminated in the arrests of five white people on Friday, including two law enforcement officers charged with hindering the probe, officials said. The body of Timothy Coggins, 23, was found on Oct. 9, 1983, in a grassy area near power lines in the community of Sunnyside, about 30 miles south of downtown Atlanta. He had been “brutally murdered” and his body had signs of trauma, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. Timothy Coggins Spalding County Sheriff's Office Investigators spoke to people who knew Coggins, but the investigation went cold, Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix said at a news conference. This past March, new evidence led investigators from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Spalding County to re-examine the case. Dix did not provide details on the nature of the evidence, saying more tips were received after authorities, over the summer, announced to the media the case was re-opened. “Even on my grandmother’s death bed, she knew that justice would one day be served.” Some witnesses confessed they lived with knowledge about the case for years, but were afraid to come forward, Dix said. “It has been an emotional roller coaster for everybody that was involved,” Dix said. Police arrested five people on Friday in connection with the slaying. Frankie Gebhardt, 59, and Bill Moore Sr, 58, were each charged with murder, aggravated assault and other crimes. Authorities did not immediately say where Gebhardt and Moore lived. At a hearing Saturday morning, the two were denied bond, the Sheriff's Office said. Related: Follow Other Cold Cases That Remain Unsolved Gregory Huffman, 47, was charged with obstruction and violation of oath of office, Dix said. Huffman was a detention officer with the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office but his employment was terminated after he was arrested. Huffman was being held on a $25,000 bond for the violation of oath of office and $10,000 for obstruction. Lamar Bunn, a police officer in the town of Milner, which is south of Spalding County, was also arrested and charged with obstruction, as was Sandra Bunn, 58. She is Lamar’s mother, according to NBC affiliate WXIA. Lamar and Sandra were both released Friday night on bond of $706.75. Clockwise, left to right; Gregory Huffman, Bill Moore Sr., Frankie Gebhardt, Sandra Bunn, and Lamar Bunn. Spalding County Sheriff's Office Investigators are convinced the murder was racially motivated, Dix said. “There is no doubt in the minds of all investigators involved that the crime was racially motivated and that if the crime happened today it would be prosecuted as a hate crime,” the Sheriff’s Office said. Dix said that "without getting into detail, you hear people talk about overkill and this was definitely overkill. It was meant to send a message and it was brutal." Several members of Coggins’ family appeared at the news conference Friday where authorities announced the arrests. The family held out for justice all this time, said Heather Coggins, a niece of the victim. “Even on my grandmother’s death bed, she knew that justice would one day be served,” she said. It was not immediately clear if any of the five arrested people had an attorney, and they could not be reached for comment.

– Five white people—including two law enforcement officers—were arrested Friday in Georgia in connection with the murder of a black man 34 years ago, NBC News reports. Timothy Coggins was 23 when his body was found in a grassy area 30 miles south of downtown Atlanta in 1983. Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix says Coggins was "brutally murdered." According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dix says suspects at the time threatened and intimidated possible witnesses, and the case was never solved. "It worried everybody to death, but we never could find out what was going on, so life just continued," a friend of Coggins tells WSB. The case was reopened in March after new evidence turned up, and the original witnesses—afraid to come forward at the time—were re-interviewed. It's unclear what the new evidence was. Bill Moore, 58, and Frankie Gebhardt, 59, were charged with murder, aggravated assault, and more. Gregory Huffman, 47, was charged with obstruction and violation of oath of office. He was fired as a detention officer with the sheriff's office following his arrest. Lamar Bunn, a police officer in a nearby town, was charged with obstruction. His mother, Sandra Bunn, was also charged with obstruction. Dix says investigators believe the murder was "racially motivated" and would be considered a hate crime today. "It was meant to send a message and it was brutal," he says. Officials say more arrests are possible. "We have always wanted justice, held out for justice, and knew that we would have justice," the victim's niece, Heather Coggins, says.

The architectural career of Zaha Hadid has not been traditional or easy. She entered the field with illustrious credentials. Born in Baghdad, she studied at the highly regarded Architectural Association in London, was a partner in the avant-garde Office of Metropolitan Architecture with Rem Koolhaas, and has held prestigious posts at one time or another at the world’s finest universities including Harvard, Yale, and many others. Much admired by the younger generation of architects, her appearance on campuses is always a cause for excitement and overflowing audiences. Her path to worldwide recognition has been a heroic struggle as she inexorably rose to the highest ranks of the profession. Clients, journalists, fellow professionals are mesmerized by her dynamic forms and strategies for achieving a truly distinctive approach to architecture and its settings. Each new project is more audacious than the last and the sources of her originality seem endless. Ms. Hadid has become more and more recognized as she continues to win competition after competition, always struggling to get her very original winning entries built. Discouraged, but undaunted, she has used the competition experiences as a “laboratory” for continuing to hone her exceptional talent in creating an architectural idiom like no other. It is not surprising that one of the architects whose work Ms. Hadid admires is another Pritzker Prize winner, the preeminent South American author of Brasilia, and other major works—Oscar Niemeyer. They share a certain fearlessness in their work and both are unafraid of risk that comes inevitably with their respective vocabularies of bold visionary forms. The competition winning phase of Ms. Hadid’s career gradually began to result in built works such as the Vitra Fire Station, the LFone in Weil am Rhein, the Mind Zone in the Millennium Dome and reached a recent high point with the opening of the critically acclaimed Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio. The full dimensions of Ms. Hadid’s prodigious artistic outpouring of work is apparent not only in architecture, but in exhibition designs, stage sets, furniture, paintings, and drawings. The jury is pleased to acknowledge one of the great architects at the dawning of the twenty-first century by awarding the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize to Zaha Hadid, to commend her extraordinary achievements, and to wish her continued success. ||||| Zaha Hadid has died aged 65. Getty Images / Jeff J Mitchell The late architect Zaha Hadid, known as "The Queen of Curves" for the modern curving designs of her buildings, died Thursday at the age of 65. Her legendary career led her to become the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize (the Nobel Prize of her field) in 2004. She also received numerous other awards and honors, including being named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DME) in 2012 and earning the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal in 2015 — the first ever given to a woman. The Iraqi-born British architect died in a Miami hospital after suffering a heart attack, a representative for Zaha Hadid Architects confirmed with Business Insider. She had been admitted to the hospital after contracting bronchitis earlier this week. Hadid designed everything from a metro station in Saudi Arabia to the aquatics center for the 2012 London Olympics to a city center in downtown Belgrade— all in her signature flowing style. One of her newest buildings was just completed in New York City — an 11-story condominium made of steel and glass that incorporates a unique chevron pattern. Click through to see how her style has evolved over time, and remember the artist through the body of work she has left behind all over the world. ||||| One of contemporary architecture’s biggest stars, the Iraqi-born, London-based Zaha Hadid, died in Miami of a heart attack today, Mar. 31. She was 65. Hadid, the only female member of the elite tribe of so-called “starchitects,” celebrities of the profession, was the winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize and was the first woman to receive the Royal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio The Broad Art Museum in Michigan “She had contracted bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while being treated in hospital,” her firm, Zaha Hadid Architects, said in a statement. “Zaha Hadid was widely regarded to be the greatest female architect in the world today.” “Working with office partner Patrik Schumacher, her interest was in the interface between architecture, landscape, and geology; which her practice integrates with the use of innovative technologies often resulting in unexpected and dynamic architectural forms.” ReutersVictor Fraile Pavilion for Chanel’s “Mobile Art” exhibition in Hong Kong. Hadid was known for imaginative, gravity-defying structures, including the London Olympic Aquatic Centre, the MAXXI museum in Rome, and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. In addition to accolades, Hadid’s work has also received criticism. She did not shy away from designing for autocratic regimes including Qatar and Azerbaijan, both known to violate human rights. Nevertheless, in a field that has often disregarded women and championed men, Hadid’s career was a beacon to many female architects. She established her practice in London in 1979, and was named a Dame in 2012. An exterior view of Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Center in downtown of Baku, Azerbaijan. EPA/Robert Ghement. EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga Hadid poses in the newly constructed Serpentine Sackler Gallery in Kensington Gardens, in London, Britain. EPA/Yna Hadid’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul. AP Photo/Carlos Osorio The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. Reuters/Kyodo Hadid’s design for the Tokyo National Stadium, scrapped by the Japanese government because it was too expensive. Reuters/Jason Lee The Galaxy Soho building in Beijing. Reuters/Andrew Winning A sculpture by Zaha Hadid titled “Kloris” at the Royal Academy of Arts in central London. Reuters/Victor Fraile Hadid’s futuristic pavilion for Chanel’s “Mobile Art” exhibition, placed in Hong Kong’s Central district.

– Zaha Hadid, the literally and metaphorically groundbreaking architect who reshaped the design landscape with what the New York Times describes as "buildings of extravagant sculptural invention, spectacles of curving, swooping, unprecedented forms," died at the age of 65 in Miami on Thursday. Hadid had been taken to a local hospital for bronchitis earlier this week and suffered a sudden heart attack while she was being treated there, per a statement from her London office. Known as the "Queen of Curves" for her "signature flowing style," Business Insider notes, she was the only female architect to ascend to the ranks of what Quartz labels as her profession's elite "starchitects" group. The Iraqi-born Brit was known for her designs for, among others, the London Aquatic Center (a 2012 Olympics venue), China's Guangzhou Opera House, and Cincinnati's Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art. Hadid was the first woman to ever take home the Pritzker Prize, the architecture world's highest honor, and was also the first woman to receive Britain's esteemed RIBA Gold Medal. The Times points out that Hadid's designs were often not the most practical (nor the cheapest): Her plans for the 2020 Olympics' main venue in Tokyo had to be ditched after anticipated costs blew up to around $2.5 billion, more than double the original estimate. But she came up during a time when architects morphed into celebrities, and she was one of the hottest and most imaginative of them all, cranking out such complicated theoretical designs in the beginning of her career that they were never able to be brought to fruition. "Each new project is more audacious than the last and the sources of her originality seem endless," the Pritzker jury wrote upon awarding her its prize in 2004. (Check out pics of her most well-known works at Business Insider and Quartz.)

Story highlights Conservative activists at the Values Voters Summit in Washington booed Donald Trump Friday after he called Marco Rubio a "clown" Rubio and Trump have been fighting all week, trading insults on-air and on Twitter Washington (CNN) Donald Trump drew boos from religious conservatives Friday after he called Marco Rubio a "clown" and attacked him on immigration. "You know there's this clown Marco Rubio, I've been so nice to him," Trump said at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. The jab was immediately met with sustained booing from many of those in attendance. Trump tried to talk over the boos, which lasted several seconds: "I've been so nice to him. No. But I've been so nice." Trump and Rubio have been anything but "nice" to each other this week, engaging in a continued back-and-forth that started Tuesday. Read More ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story WASHINGTON — After training his fire for much of the summer on former Gov. Jeb Bush, Donald J. Trump has found a new favorite Republican rival to taunt: Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. But Mr. Rubio is proving capable of giving it back. And Mr. Trump also discovered on Friday that some conservatives do not respond as kindly when the insults are directed toward Mr. Rubio, who is not viewed with the sort of suspicion that Mr. Bush engenders among hard-line activists. “You have this clown, Marco Rubio,” Mr. Trump began, in a speech to the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit here. “And I’ve been so nice to him.” Before he could go further, though, the audience of social conservatives let out a cascade of boos. Mr. Trump had brought a Bible with him on stage, but he is not a natural fit for movement conservatives, particularly the born-again Christians who are involved in politics chiefly because of their faith and attend conferences such as this. He quickly turned to a safer line of attack, recalling that Mr. Rubio had been a leader in the push to provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants before he abandoned that legislative effort. “If you believe in something, you have to be true to yourself,” said Mr. Trump, calling Mr. Rubio “really weak on immigration.” Continue reading the main story First Draft Newsletter Subscribe for updates on the 2016 presidential race, the White House and Congress, delivered to your inbox Monday - Friday. He added: “All of a sudden, he went down in the polls and he starts changing his tone.” Mr. Rubio, trying out one of Mr. Trump’s favorite tactics by mocking him with feigned pity, shot back later in the day that Mr. Trump “had a tough week.” “I think one of the statements he made was in front of an empty room in South Carolina,” Mr. Rubio said on Fox News. “He had a really bad debate. Carly Fiorina really embarrassed him.” The back-and-forth was the latest signal of Mr. Rubio’s growing prominence in the Republican race. Overshadowed for much of the year, Mr. Rubio has begun to inch up in the polls after a pair of solid debate performances. And after months of avoiding the fray with Mr. Trump, Mr. Rubio waded into it earlier this month, saying his inability to answer questions on national security was “very concerning.” “If you don’t know the answer to these questions, then you are not going to be able to serve as commander and chief,” he said on CNN, referring to a radio interview in which Mr. Trump was unable to talk with much specificity about foreign policy matters. That criticism prompted a wave of insults from Mr. Trump, who appears to have either tired of mocking Mr. Bush or determined that he no longer poses him the greatest threat among the primary contenders. Speaking in North Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday — in a room that, as Mr. Rubio noted later, had scores of empty seats — Mr. Trump, 69, belittled Mr. Rubio, 44, for running up personal credit card debt. “He’s got no money,” said Mr. Trump, who calls himself a billionaire 10 times over, “zero.” He also declared that he had a superior head of hair and ridiculed Mr. Rubio for heavily perspiring during the Republican debate on Sept. 16. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Advertisement Continue reading the main story The next day, Mr. Rubio responded by engaging in a bit of amateur psychology on a popular Kentucky sports talk radio show. “He had a really bad debate performance last week,” Mr. Rubio said. “He’s not well informed on the issues. He really never talks about issues and can’t have more than a 10-second sound bite on any key issue. I think he’s kind of been exposed a little bit over the last seven days and he’s a touchy and insecure guy. So that’s how he reacts and people can see through it.” Such talk, which Mr. Rubio continued in an interview on Fox News, set the stage for Mr. Trump’s trash-talking of Mr. Rubio at the Values Voter Summit on Friday morning. Beforehand, though, word of House Speaker John A. Boehner’s abrupt resignation reached Mr. Trump as he made his way down a hotel staircase. But he showed surprisingly little interest in what was a political bombshell. “Well it’s a big decision that he made, it’s a great decision,” Mr. Trump said. “I think so. I think it’s good for everybody. I think it’s time, he’s been there a long time. But I think it’s time.” (After further questions, Mr. Trump grasped for an escape hatch: “What do you think?” he asked his interviewer. “You tell me.”) Approaching the ballroom where he would give his speech, Mr. Trump was swarmed by reporters who also wanted to ask him about Mr. Boehner. He repeated his answer — “It’s time” — and kept walking. But then a reporter asked him about Mr. Rubio. Mr. Trump stopped and turned to the cameras. “He doesn’t show up to vote for one thing,” said Mr. Trump, uncorking his now-familiar attack on Mr. Rubio’s record of absenteeism from Senate votes. Asked if he thought Mr. Rubio was a “threat,” Mr. Trump said he did not. “I think he’s a baby,” he said. ||||| The internet is a fickle place. For weeks, it lavished attention on the storyline that Jeb Bush was destined to play the role of chief antagonist to Donald Trump — Jeb would be Sherlock Holmes to Trump’s Professor Moriarty, bravely calling out Trump’s vile demagoguery and basking in accolades from it. But Jeb’s efforts to challenge Trump failed to capture the imagination. Now, suddenly, the internet is abuzz with talk about how Marco Rubio is the one who is drawing blood from Trump, and talk of Rubio having a plausible shot at the nomination is on the rise. The chatter about Rubio’s skillful engagement of Trump grew louder on twitter today when Trump, addressing the Values Voter Summit, called Rubio a “clown,” only to be met with loud booing. “Tide turning?” tweeted National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar, as if to suggest that Rubio may have found the key to unlocking the forces that would finally bring down Trump. Trump also seemed to let on that Rubio is getting under his skin in an interview today in which he called the Florida Senator a “baby.” This came after Rubio tagged Trump as a “touchy and insecure guy” who has been “exposed a little bit over the last seven days.” Rubio was responding to an earlier Trump broadside in which the Donald described him as a “kid” and a “lightweight.” And Trump has also attacked Rubio by pointing out that he “sweats more than any young person I’ve ever seen in my life,” whatever that is supposed to tell us. Suddenly, the political classes are talking about Rubio as Trump’s chief foil. Politico ran an analysis of Rubio’s new taking-it-to-Trump strategy, concluding that Rubio is a “skill puncher” and that the “benefits could be huge.” It’s enough to make one feel sorry for Jeb. After all, Bush repeatedly tried to take on Trump, after the billionaire developed a habit of referring to Bush as “low energy.” Jeb has gone after Trump on precisely the thing about Trump that the political classes had been wringing their hands about, challenging Trump’s restrictionism and the evident pleasure he’s taken in insulting millions of immigrants. At the recent GOP debate, Jeb earnestly challenged Trump’s attacks on Mexican immigrants by arguing that Republicans instead should take a “hopeful, optimistic approach” by welcoming them to this country to pursue the American dream. For good measure, Jeb even threw in a Reagan reference. But all anyone remembered about this exchange was Jeb’s failure to extract from Trump an apology to his wife; Jeb lost the alpha male battle of wills. Now Jeb is dropping in the polls, and Rubio is rising (a little bit, anyway) in them. It appears Rubio may simply be better at engaging Trump than Jeb is. Why? Perhaps Jeb is just too earnest; he doesn’t know how to engage on Trump’s level, and Rubio does. Jeb is trying to engage the brash billionaire by prattling on about American values and tolerance. Boooooor-ing! Rubio, by contrast, tagged Trump as “touchy and insecure” and over “exposed,” a much more TV-and-internet-friendly hit that hints at questions about Trump’s masculinity. Rubio gets it! Perhaps Rubio just has a better instinct for what we used to refer to, in the prehistoric days of the internet, as the “freak show,” the evolving 24-7 cable news and internet political media culture that, if anything, has only gotten freakier and more hyper-kinetic with the twitterization of politics. Jeb hasn’t been in politics for many years. Rubio, by contrast, was first elected to the Senate amid the 2010 Tea Party wave, when this internet/media/twitter/ political culture was really going into hyperdrive. We may learn in coming days that Rubio just knows how attack Trump in ways that work better in this new media environment — and knows how to get under the reality TV master’s skin — in a manner that Jeb just can’t hope to fathom. Politics isn’t fair.

– At a summit yesterday, Donald Trump discovered a big difference between Marco Rubio and some of the other people he has bad-mouthed: A lot of conservatives like him. The crowd at the Family Research Council's Values Voters Summit booed after Trump called the senator as a "clown," although Trump, who went on to describe Rubio as "weak on immigration," later claimed the boos were actually cheers, NBC reports. Trump's comments followed a week of back-and-forth between the pair, with Rubio calling Trump "very touchy and insecure guy" and Trump describing his 44-year-old rival as an "overly ambitious," excessively sweaty, "kid" who "shouldn't be running in this race," reports CNN. After the summit comment, Rubio retorted that Trump "had a tough week" and a "really bad debate," reports the New York Times, which notes that Trump has attacked Rubio's bank balance and even his hair. But Rubio is rising in the polls and unlike Jeb Bush, the target of many Trump attacks over the summer, it looks like the senator has a good instinct for Internet-driven political culture, and "knows how to get under the reality TV master's skin," writes Greg Sargent at the Washington Post. The Times notes that when a reporter asked Trump about John Boehner's resignation yesterday, he didn't have much to say, but when asked about Rubio, he criticized his absenteeism record in the Senate and called him a "baby." (Trump was also booed by a crowd waiting for Pope Francis.)

Co-founders of Tinder and eight other former and current executives of the popular dating app are suing the service's current owners, alleging that they manipulated the valuation of the company to deny them of billions of dollars they were owed. The suit, filed Tuesday in state court in New York, seeks at least $2 billion in damages from Match Group (MTCH) and its parent company, IAC/InterActiveCorp (IAC). The plaintiffs are represented by Orin Snyder of Gibson Dunn, who has represented some of the biggest companies in tech, including Facebook, Apple and Uber. Four of the plaintiffs, who still work at Tinder, were put on paid administrative leave by the company on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the matter. The dispute centers on an analysis of Tinder done in 2017 by Wall Street banks to set a value for stock options received by Sean Rad, a Tinder co-founder, and other early employees. It also includes an allegation of sexual harassment against Tinder's former CEO, Greg Blatt. IAC issued a statement calling the suit "meritless" and saying it would "vigorously defend" itself against it. The statement said that Rad and other former executives who left the company a year or more ago "may not like the fact that Tinder has experienced enormous success following their respective departures, but sour grapes alone do not a lawsuit make." Tinder's 2017 valuation was set at $3 billion, unchanged from a valuation that had been done two years earlier, despite rapid growth in revenue and subscribers. The suit charges that executives with Match and IAC deliberately manipulated the data given to the banks, overestimating expenses and underestimating potential revenue growth, in order to keep the 2017 valuation artificially low. That manipulation allegedly deprived some early Tinder employees of millions, or billions, of dollars. "They lied about the financial performance. They manipulated financial data, and essentially stole billions of dollars by not paying us what they contractually owe us," Rad said in an interview with CNN. "We're here to preserve our rights and to fight for what's right, for what was promised us." The suit does not offer an alternative valuation, and when asked by CNN, Rad refused to give an estimate other than to say it was "multiples" of the $3 billion figure. The suit seeks at least $2 billion in damages, and according to the suit the plaintiffs' options accounted for more than 20% of the company. That would suggest the plaintiffs are alleging that Tinder was undervalued by at least $9 billion, putting its total value at about $12 billion. But Match Group, which is publicly traded and includes Tinder along with other dating apps, has a market cap of only about $13.5 billion. IAC overall, which is controlled by media magnate Barry Diller and which also includes brands such as Angie's List and The Daily Beast in addition to the services that make up Match, has a market cap of about $16 billion. The price of both stocks slumped immediately after the suit was filed. Tinder's success is driving much of that value. Last week, shares of Match shot up 17% in a single day and shares of IAC jumped nearly 8% after Match reported huge gains from Tinder. Revenue from Tinder alone was up 136% over the last year, coupled with an 81% increase in the number of subscribers. On an investor call about the earnings report, Match's CFO told investors it now expects Tinder to generate $800 million in revenue this year, which he called a "phenomenal achievement." The suit says that is 75% higher than the 2018 estimate used in the 2017 valuation. How Tinder was created The suit provides a fascinating look behind the scenes not only at the operations of Tinder, but also of the kinds of battles that can happen between technology innovators who create new companies and the investors who help to finance their early operations. Tinder has helped change the way that people meet by gamifying dating. Users can swipe left on a potential date's profile if they aren't interested, and swipe right if they are. If both parties swipe right, it's a match. When it was introduced, the app transformed the online dating experience and paved the way for a number of competitors that iterated on the format. Today, the company says it sees 1.6 billion swipes a day and touts a total of over 20 billion matches. The suit claims that Rad and others created Tinder largely on their own time, and with their own money, while working on other projects at Hatch Labs, a business incubator IAC runs in New York. The suit says they were told that if Tinder was successful they would receive a "founder friendly ownership" deal and would be given a majority the company. But once Tinder proved successful, they were given options worth only about 20% of the company, according to the suit. "By the time we had anything in contract, Tinder was already big," Rad said. "The early team gave it their all, and they sacrificed like any founder of any company does, or early employees of any company does. They took risk. We all took risk," Rad said. How much is Tinder worth? The share of the company to which the early employees are entitled is not at issue in the suit; they ultimately agreed to the roughly 20% they were given. The question in the lawsuit is the value of that stake. According to the suit, IAC and Match installed Blatt as Tinder's CEO ahead of the valuation process in order to paint to the banks conducting the valuation a more pessimistic view of Tinder's growth. The suit alleges that Match and IAC downplayed the impact of significant product features that Tinder was set to introduce, like a change that allowed a wider user base, as well as Tinder Gold, a premium version of the app that significantly increased revenue. "There was hard data that showed that these features are going to have a significant impact on the company," Rad said. "They downplayed the importance of either one of these features even though internally everyone knew how important they were. And then weeks later to the public they are saying how these features are the cornerstone of our growth." According to the suit, within one week of Tinder Gold's launch, Match's market value increased by $1 billion. IAC defended the valuation process in its statement. "The facts are simple: Match Group and the plaintiffs went through a rigorous, contractually-defined valuation process involving two independent global investment banks, and Mr. Rad and his merry band of plaintiffs did not like the outcome," it said. "Mr. Rad has a rich history of outlandish public statements, and this lawsuit contains just another series of them. We look forward to defending our position in court." IAC said that since Tinder's start it has paid more than $1 billion in equity compensation to Tinder employees including its founders. During the valuation process, Blatt threatened other executives of Tinder who tried to share accurate information with the banks performing the valuation, according to the suit. Rad told CNN that employees were told they'd be fired if they provided the correct information. Rad was on the board at the time, but he told CNN that he'd been pushed out of the conversations and was put in a position where he couldn't ensure that the valuation and the information given to the banks were correct. According to the suit, Rad was banned from Tinder's headquarters by Blatt. "The employees were literally told, and these are my colleagues who built this company with me, were told that if they speak to me, if they provide me with the right information, they can be fired." Allegations of sexual harassment The suit also alleges that, soon after he was named CEO of Tinder in late 2016, Blatt groped and sexually harassed Tinder Vice President of Marketing and Communications Rosette Pambakian at a company holiday party. The suit alleges that when Rad notified IAC officials of Blatt's conduct, they covered it up and kept Blatt as CEO specifically because he was central to their plan to downplay the valuation. Pambakian is a plaintiff in the suit. Rad said Pambakian told him about the incident shortly after it happened, and that when he confronted Blatt about it, the CEO threatened him. "I was told ... 'If you take me down, I'm going to take you down with me,'" he told CNN. IAC's statement did not respond to the lawsuit's allegations of sexual harassment against Blatt. CNN also reached out to Blatt for comment and did not receive a response. This is not the first time there have been allegations of sexual harassment at the executive level at Tinder. In fact one of the plaintiffs in the suit, and a co-founder of Tinder, Justin Mateen, was accused of sexual harassment in 2014. But unlike Blatt, who stayed in his job, Mateen, an ally of Rad, was forced to quit the company and lost half of his options. A lawsuit by the alleged victim in that case — Whitney Wolfe Herd, who went on to found Bumble — against Tinder, Match and IAC alleged that Mateen harassed her and that Rad allowed the harassment to take place. It settled without an admission of wrongdoing by any of the parties. Asked by CNN about it, Rad said that Mateen paid the financial consequences for his actions. "That's not relevant to the fact that this company made promises to all the Tinder employees, including Justin, and reneged on those promises and overlooked the contracts they had with us," Rad said. Taking on Barry Diller By filing this suit, the plaintiffs are taking on one of the most powerful people in the world of technology and new media. Barry Diller, 76, is chairman not only of IAC but also of Expedia, the largest online travel company in the world. Forbes estimates his net worth at $3.1 billion. CNN has also reached out to Diller for comment about the allegations in the suit in addition to seeking comment from IAC. It has yet to hear back. Rad said it wasn't easy to decide to go up against Diller this way. "No one wants to have to sue anyone," Rad said. "Especially a large, powerful corporation. It's terrifying." Asked whether he thought Diller played a role in the alleged scheme, Rad said he looked forward to the facts coming out. "I think when you're operating in a company for many, many years and you know, the mandate is that nothing important happens without one person knowing about it, you assume they know about everything that's happening. Especially something as significant as this." ||||| FILE - This Oct. 26, 2009 file photo shows the IAC building in New York. The founders of the dating app Tinder, along with current executives and some of its employees, have filed a lawsuit against IAC/InterActiveCorp... (Associated Press) FILE - This Oct. 26, 2009 file photo shows the IAC building in New York. The founders of the dating app Tinder, along with current executives and some of its employees, have filed a lawsuit against IAC/InterActiveCorp and its Match Group subsidiary for allegedly manipulating financial information,... (Associated Press) FILE - This Oct. 26, 2009 file photo shows the IAC building in New York. The founders of the dating app Tinder, along with current executives and some of its employees, have filed a lawsuit against IAC/InterActiveCorp and its Match Group subsidiary for allegedly manipulating financial information,... (Associated Press) FILE - This Oct. 26, 2009 file photo shows the IAC building in New York. The founders of the dating app Tinder, along with current executives and some of its employees, have filed a lawsuit against IAC/InterActiveCorp... (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — The founders of the dating app Tinder, along with current executives and some of its employees, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against IAC/InterActiveCorp and its Match Group subsidiary for allegedly bilking them by manipulating financial information to create a lowball estimate of Tinder's value. They are seeking at least $2 billion in the lawsuit against Match and IAC, which is controlled by media mogul Barry Diller. IAC and Match Group, of which Tinder is now part, called the allegations in the lawsuit "meritless." The lawsuit claims that there were written contracts between IAC and Match and Tinder employees, including founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen. The contracts required Tinder be valued on specific dates in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021 and that the workers be allowed to exercise their stock options and sell them to IAC and Match. The lawsuit alleges New York-based IAC and Match instead created false financial information, delayed new products and used other tactics to try to keep Tinder's valuation low. Tinder was then merged into Match Group, which the lawsuit says was a pretext to extinguish Tinder employees' stock options. IAC and Match Group said the lawsuit was a case of "sour grapes" on the part of Rad and Mateen at seeing Tinder's "enormous growth" since their departures from the company.

– The co-founders of the dating app Tinder, along with eight other current and former executives, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against IAC/InterActiveCorp and its Match Group subsidiary for allegedly bilking them by manipulating financial information to create a lowball estimate of Tinder's value, the AP reports. They are seeking at least $2 billion in the lawsuit against Match and IAC, which is controlled by media mogul Barry Diller. IAC and Match Group, of which Tinder is now part, called the allegations in the lawsuit "meritless." The lawsuit claims that there were written contracts between IAC and Match and Tinder employees, including founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen, and Jonathan Badeen. The contracts required Tinder be valued on specific dates in 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021 and that the workers be allowed to exercise their stock options and sell them to IAC and Match. The lawsuit alleges New York-based IAC and Match instead created false financial information, delayed new products, and used other tactics to try to keep Tinder's valuation low. Per CNN, the dispute centers around a 2017 analysis that valued Tinder at $3 billion, the same valuation that had been set two years prior, despite the fact that both revenue and subscribers had increased in that time; the suit says the 2017 valuation, which was done to set a value for stock options received by Rad and other early employees, should have been higher. Tinder was then merged into Match Group, which the lawsuit says was a pretext to extinguish Tinder employees' stock options. "They lied about the financial performance. They manipulated financial data, and essentially stole billions of dollars by not paying us what they contractually owe us," Rad tells CNN. In a statement, IAC and Match Group said Rad, Mateen, and other former execs "may not like the fact that Tinder has experienced enormous success following their respective departures, but sour grapes alone do not a lawsuit make." See CNN for much more on the ins and outs of the suit, which also includes allegations of sexual harassment and groping against Tinder's former CEO.

A rare blue lobster caught by local lobsterman, Greg Ward, is on display at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, N.H., on Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster... (Associated Press) A rare blue lobster caught by local lobsterman, Greg Ward, is on display at the Seacoast Science Center in Rye, N.H., on Tuesday, July 18, 2017. Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster... (Associated Press) PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire lobsterman has joined an elite club after catching a rare blue lobster. The Portsmouth Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2uBKn8X ) Greg Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster when he examined his catch off the coast Monday where New Hampshire borders Maine. The Rye lobsterman quickly realized his hard-shell lobster was a unique blue and cream color. The oft-cited odds of catching a blue lobster are 1 in 2 million. But no one knows for sure. Ward says the lobster is unlike anything he's ever seen. He gave the rare crustacean to the Seacoast Science Center in Rye to study and put on display. Center aquarist Rob Royer says Ward's blue lobster will go on display in the "exotic" lobster tank once it acclimates to the water. ___ Information from: Portsmouth Herald, http://www.seacoastonline.com ||||| PORTSMOUTH — Lobstermen catch thousands of the crustaceans every year, but every now and again a gem is found among the masses. On Monday, Rye lobsterman Greg Ward caught a hard-shelled blue and cream colored lobster around 1 p.m. near the New Hampshire-Maine border. He originally thought he caught a rare albino lobster, but said he had rarely caught blue lobsters in his 32 years of commercial lobster fishing. “This one was not all the way white and not all the way blue," Ward said. "I’ve never seen anything like it. Usually, the stronger lobsters are usually the reddish brown color but this one still had a hard shell.” Ward gave the lobster to Seacoast Science Center in Rye to examine and put on display. According to aquarist Rob Royer, the likelihood of a catching a blue lobster is somewhere between 1 and 3 million. He said the odds of catching an albino lobster are roughly one in a hundred million. “Blue lobsters are still pretty uncommon," Royer said. "We’ll get about five or six calls every summer. Every time we get a call about an albino lobster, I get a little skeptical just because they are so rare.” Royer said Ward’s lobster will eventually go on display in Seacoast Science Center’s “exotic” lobster tank as soon as it gets adjusted to the center’s tanks and water. He said it currently has another blue lobster on display, a bright orange lobster and a calico covered lobster. Ward’s first mate Jango Troy said it was great to see a different kind of lobster. “You see so many lobsters that are alike, day in and day out on the boat,” said Troy, a Portsmouth resident. “When you happen to see one that’s different, it really sticks out.”

– A New Hampshire lobsterman has joined an elite club after catching a rare blue lobster, the AP reports. The Portsmouth Herald reports Greg Ward initially thought he had snagged an albino lobster when he examined his catch off the coast Monday where New Hampshire borders Maine. The Rye lobsterman quickly realized his hard-shell lobster was a unique blue and cream color. The oft-cited odds of catching a blue lobster are 1 in 2 million. But no one knows for sure. Ward says the lobster is unlike anything he's ever seen. He gave the rare crustacean to the Seacoast Science Center in Rye to study and put on display. Center aquarist Rob Royer says Ward's blue lobster will go on display in the "exotic" lobster tank once it acclimates to the water.

For a dead man, Lenin Carballido apparently ran a pretty good campaign. Last Sunday, nearly three years after he was officially declared dead, Carballido was narrowly elected mayor of San Agustin Amatengo, a small town in Mexico’s Oaxaca state. Carballido faked his own demise in 2010, according to Mexico’s Reforma newspaper, in order to evade charges stemming from a 2004 sexual assault. With police on his trail, Carballido “died” and obtained a coroner’s certificate in September 2010, affirming he had succumbed to “natural causes” after slipping into a diabetic coma. The charges were dropped. Carballido’s resurrection occurred this year when he ran as a local candidate for Mexico’s leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), beating his opponent Sunday by a margin of 11 votes, 515 to 504. Lenin Carballido poses for a portrait during his campaign in Oaxaca, Mexico, June 4, 2013. Mexican prosecutors are investigating how Carballido was elected mayor of a village in southern Mexico after being certified as dead. (Luis Alberto Hernandez/AP) Isidoro Yescas, a state election official in Oaxaca, said investigators were seeking to obtain an official copy of Carballido’s death certificate, which would leave him unfit for office. “Even if he’s been elected, such proof that he committed a crime would make him ineligible and strip him of his right to serve,” Yescas told Reforma, adding “this is not a typical electoral crime.” PRD officials said they were not aware that their candidate was legally dead. Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report. ||||| Prosecutors are investigating how a man certified as dead got elected mayor of a village in southern Mexico. In this June 4, 2013 photo, Lenin Carballido poses for a portrait during his campaign in Oaxaca, Mexico. Mexican prosecutors are investigating how Carballido certified as dead was elected mayor of a... (Associated Press) Authorities say relatives of Lenin Carballido used a death certificate showing that he died of a diabetic coma in 2010 to convince police to drop an arrest warrant against him for allegedly participating in a 2004 gang rape. A living Carballido later ran in, and narrowly won, Sunday's election in San Agustin Amatengo in Oaxaca state. In his campaign, he posted photos of himself all around the village of 1,400 residents, with slogans like "Now is the Time" and "United for Development." But shortly after his victory, the death certificate surfaced with his full name of Leninguer Carballido. Officials in Oaxaca said Thursday that the certificate had been drawn up and signed by a public registry official, but that the information had been faked. Carballido's party, the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, known as the PRD, said it had been fooled by the candidate. "When he registered as a candidate, he presented all his paperwork, his birth certificate, a letter stating he had no criminal record," said Rey Morales, the state leader of the PRD. "He fooled the prosecutors' office, he fooled the office of records, he fooled electoral officials." "If all this is true, he cannot take office as mayor," said Morales. Carballido didn't answer his cellphone Thursday. Haydee Reyes Soto, the director of the Oaxaca public records office, said the registry official who drew up the fake death certificate used a real official form, signed it and stamped it with an official seal, and even listed it under a file number used to record a real death. "The form is real, what is false is the information," Reyes Soto said, adding "the decision has already been made to fire" the official, Abel de la Rosa Santos, who is also being questioned by prosecutors. According to records, a woman accused of Carballido and four other men of having raped her in Oaxaca city in 2004. Mayra Ricardez, spokeswoman for the Oaxaca state prosecutors' office, said the arrest warrant against Carballido was "never served, because his family showed officers a false death certificate." Ricardez said the statute of limitations had not run out on the crime. "The prosecutors' office is taking all the legal steps necessary to revive the case and serve the arrest warrant that is still pending," she said. It seems unlikely that Carballido will be able to take office in San Agustin Amatengo, an impoverished village near the city of Oaxaca where many residents left in the 2000s to seek work in the United States and elsewhere. One San Agustin Amatengo official, who said he could not speak on the record about a criminal case, said residents hadn't been aware of the candidate's past. "All of this came out after the elections were over," the official said. On Thursday, the Oaxaca state prosecutors' office issued a statement saying it would do everything it could to put him in jail, even if he is formally sworn in as mayor, and was considering whether he might also face charges on election-law violations. "The state attorney general's office will investigate and bring charges, even if the suspect is recognized by electoral authorities as a municipal authority," the office said, referring to him by his full name, Leninguer Raymundo Carballido Morales. He ran for office simply as "Lenin Carballido."

– A zombie mayor would make for one hell of a headline (not to mention a movie), but the newly elected leader of a small town in Mexico isn't dead in real life—just on paper. According to Mexican newspaper Reforma, Lenin Carballido faked his own death in 2010 due to police charges for allegedly participating in a gang rape, the AP and Washington Post report. He successfully obtained an official coroner’s certificate, and the charges were dropped. Carballido then resurrected himself this year to run for local government in San Agustin Amatengo, Oaxaca. The Oaxaca state prosecutors' office says the statute of limitations has not run out on the crime he was originally charged with, and it plans to revive the case and arrest him. "The state attorney general's office will investigate and bring charges, even if the suspect is recognized by electoral authorities as a municipal authority," it says, per the AP. Carballido's party, the Democratic Revolutionary Party, says it wasn't aware their candidate was legally dead. "He fooled the prosecutors' office, he fooled the office of records, he fooled electoral officials," says the PRD's state leader. "If all this is true, he cannot take office as mayor."

In this image provided by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment orca Takara helps guide her newborn to the water's surface at SeaWorld San Antonio, Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in San Antonio. The company based... (Associated Press) In this image provided by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment orca Takara helps guide her newborn to the water's surface at SeaWorld San Antonio, Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in San Antonio. The company based in Orlando, Fla., announced the birth Wednesday. (Chris Gotshall/SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment via... (Associated Press) MIAMI (AP) — Officials at SeaWorld say the last killer whale has been born in captivity at one of its parks — in San Antonio. The orca's birth Wednesday afternoon comes in the wake of a decision by the Florida-based company in 2016 to stop breeding killer whales. SeaWorld didn't immediately name the calf because the park's veterinarians had not yet determined whether it was male or female. The mother, 25-year-old Takara, was already pregnant last year when SeaWorld said it stopped the breeding program. The gestation period for orcas is about 18 months. SeaWorld says the mother had a smooth delivery and both appeared healthy. SeaWorld's chief zoological officer, Chris Dold, told The Associated Press by phone that the birth was one of those "extraordinary moments." ||||| Last orca whale bred at SeaWorld born in San Antonio In this image provided by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment orca Takara helps guide her newborn to the water's surface at SeaWorld San Antonio, Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in San Antonio. The company based in Orlando, Fla., announced the birth Wednesday. (Chris Gotshall/SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment via AP) less In this image provided by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment orca Takara helps guide her newborn to the water's surface at SeaWorld San Antonio, Wednesday, April 19, 2017, in San Antonio. The company based in ... more Photo: Chris Gotshall, Associated Press Photo: Chris Gotshall, Associated Press Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Last orca whale bred at SeaWorld born in San Antonio 1 / 35 Back to Gallery The final orca calf to be bred in captivity at SeaWorld was born Wednesday at the company's San Antonio park, a milestone in the company’s bid to end orca breeding at its theme parks following years of controversy. Takara, a 25-year-old female orca, gave birth to the calf after an 18-month pregnancy at around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, the company said in a news release sent late Wednesday night. The orca was already pregnant when SeaWorld announced last year it was ending its orca breeding program in March. SeaWorld believes Kyuquot, one of two male orcas at SeaWorld San Antonio, is the father, but officials will need to do a paternity test to know for sure. “We are very excited by the birth of Takara’s calf and look forward to introducing her to our guests very soon,” SeaWorld San Antonio Carl Lum said in a statement. More than two dozen orcas will continue to live in the Orlando-based theme park operator's parks for decades to come, including five in San Antonio. Takara already has four children, two of which live at the San Antonio park. RELATED: SeaWorld rebrands with roller coaster, rescue efforts SeaWorld is billing the San Antonio calf's birth as the last opportunity for park visitors and researchers to witness and observe a young orca's maturation outside of the wild, which the company says is vital to understand orcas at large. “Although this is the last killer whale birth at a SeaWorld park, our work to understand and protect this species will continue for decades to come,” Hendrik Nollens, vice president of veterinary services for SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, said in the release. Outside researchers will have access to the calf and its mother. Heather Hill, a St. Mary’s University professor who studies animal behavior, will monitor sleep patterns of the mother and her newborn calf. Another researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will track how contaminants and toxins transfer from mother to offspring, data that could be useful in combating pollution’s effects on orca populations in the wild. The calf will be visible to visitors either in the orca stadium pool at the San Antonio park or in two adjacent pools. SeaWorld’s chief zoological officer, Chris Dold said veterinarians at the San Antonio park told him the calf was born normally — tail first — after about an hour and a half of smooth labor. Both orcas were swimming calmly, including taking breaths at the water’s surface, and trainers would be watching for the calf to begin nursing. “Mom generally will rest but she can’t rest too much .... mom’s not holding onto the calf, but it’s riding in her slipstream, and that’s how it gets around,” Dold said. “Our expectation is that all of this will go smoothly, but we take none of that for granted.” Takara got pregnant naturally, something SeaWorld hopes to prevent in the future. It has the nation’s best veterinary and scientific experts working to prevent conception, SeaWorld San Antonio spokeswoman Gayle MacIntyre said last month. “This includes medical efforts, such as monitoring ovarian cycles and birth control, as well as social management to reduce the likelihood of conception.” SeaWorld is also revamping orcas' role in the parks’ programming. The company is working to emphasize natural and educational encounters instead of the flashier shows and mammal-based entertainment the company is known for. The company has previously said it also plans to plug millions of dollars into rides, events and other attractions — including at least $18 million to build the Wave Breaker roller coaster at its San Antonio park. The ride, intended to simulate marine animal rescue efforts, is slated to open in June. SeaWorld ended its orca breeding program following years of backlash sparked by the 2013 documentary film "Blackfish," which scrutinized the Orlando-based theme park operator’s treatment of orcas. Declining stock value and falling attendance at its parks in the wake of the documentary have forced the company to retool its public image as an eco-friendly entertainment group that provides educational experiences alongside attractions like roller coasters and water parks. Attendance fell by 471,000 visitors in 2016, a 2.1 percent drop from 2015. SeaWorld also posted a net loss of $12.5 million, or 15 cents a share, for 2016 — compared with $49.1 million in profit, or 57 cents a share, the previous year. The theme park operator cut 320 employees in December as part of a company-wide restructuring program intended to eliminate $65 million in costs and generate $40 million in net savings by December 2018. That round of layoffs included eleven employees at the San Antonio park, Lum said at the time. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation last fall banning the breeding of killer whales and their use in entertainment shows, codifying SeaWorld's pledge to end its breeding program with legislation. Tilikum — the orca who killed SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 and main subject of "Blackfish" — sired 14 calves over 25 years. He died of a bacterial infection in January.

– Officials at SeaWorld say the last killer whale has been born in captivity at one of its parks—in San Antonio. The orca's birth Wednesday afternoon comes in the wake of a 2016 decision by the Florida-based company to stop breeding killer whales. SeaWorld didn't immediately name the calf because the park's veterinarians have not yet determined whether it is male or female. The mother, 25-year-old Takara, was already pregnant last year when SeaWorld stopped the breeding program. The gestation period for orcas is about 18 months. SeaWorld says the mother had a smooth delivery and both appear healthy. SeaWorld's chief zoological officer, Chris Dold, tells the AP that the birth was one of those "extraordinary moments." SeaWorld says the calf—one of a couple of dozen orcas that will remain in the company's parks for decades to come—represents the last chance for visitors and researchers to witness the growth and maturation of a young orca outside its natural setting, the San Antonio Express-Tribune reports. There are two male orcas at the San Antonio park and SeaWorld thinks Kyuquot is the father, but it will carry out tests to make sure. (Blackfish orca Tilikum sired 14 calves before his death this year.)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Boston Celtics got a scare when they were told of a bomb threat on their private flight to Oklahoma City. The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/2hbx9Jc ) reports the plane landed safely around 5:00 p.m. at Will Rogers World Airport, where players were told to leave their bags and proceed to their hotel. The FBI's Oklahoma City field office said late Saturday that a thorough search of the aircraft "did not locate an explosive device" and that the agency is investigating the incident. The Boston Globe says only a few team executives were aware of the threat during the flight and that others in the party were informed upon landing in Oklahoma City, where the Celtics face the Thunder on Sunday. The team departed for Oklahoma City from Bedford, Massachusetts. ||||| 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 Boston Celtics got a scare when they were told of a bomb threat on their private flight to Oklahoma City. The Boston Globe reports the plane landed safely around 5:00pm at Will Rogers World Airport, where players were told to leave their bags and proceed to their hotel. The FBI's Oklahoma City field office said late Saturday that a thorough search of the aircraft "did not locate an explosive device" and that the agency is investigating the incident, reports the AP. The Boston Globe says only a few team executives were aware of the threat during the flight and that others in the party were informed upon landing in Oklahoma City, where the Celtics face the Thunder on Sunday. The team departed for Oklahoma City from Bedford, Mass.

Fantasia -- Police Report Cites 'Suicide' Attempt The police who responded to Fantasia Barrino 's home last night were told the " American Idol " champ had attempted to commitby ingesting pills ... this according the police report obtained by TMZ.According to the report, cops received a 911 call at 10:13 PM last night ... and responded to Fantasia's home in North Carolina.Once they arrived on the scene, they listed her injury as "serious" and then transported her to a local hospital. ||||| Fantasia is in stable condition at a North Carolina hospital after taking an overdose of "aspirin and a sleep aid," according to the manager for the former "American Idol" champ. FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2010 file photo, recording artist Fantasia Barrino poses for a portrait in New York. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, file) (Associated Press) The overdose came days after the singer was named in court documents by Paula Cook, who accused Fantasia of having an affair with her husband, Antwaun Cook. Brian Dickens, Fantasia's manager, said in a statement Tuesday that winner was "overwhelmed by the lawsuit and the media attention." "Last night, Fantasia was hospitalized. She took an overdose of aspirin and a sleep aid. Her injuries are not life threatening. She was dehydrated and exhausted at the time," he said. His statement did not specify where she was taken and he did not immediately return a call seeking comment In the statement, Dickens acknowledged that Fantasia had a relationship with Cook for 11 months, but said that Fantasia believed Cook when he said "he was not happy in his marriage and his heart was not in it. She believed him when he told her he and Mrs. Cook were separated late in the summer of 2009." After reading the filing from Paula Cook, Dickens said "there is plenty (Fantasia) does not know" and added that she's heartbroken over "any pain she may have caused." Fantasia, who won the "American Idol" crown in 2004, is due to release her third album, "Back to Me," on Aug. 24. She was supposed to do promotion for the album this week; a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press was canceled earlier Tuesday. Since winning "Idol," the North Carolina resident has endured success as well as difficult times. While she's had both platinum and gold albums and starred on Broadway in "The Color Purple," she fell into legal troubles that almost forced her to lose her home in 2008. A VH1 reality show, "Fantasia For Real," debuted earlier this year, chronicling her struggles as a single mother trying to support her family, as well as her attempts to jump-start her career, which has sagged in recent years. ___ Online: http://www.fantasiaofficial.com/

– Former American Idol champ Fantasia Barrino is hospitalized after overdosing on a combination of aspirin and a sleep aid, but her manager says her life isn't in danger. Fantasia had been distraught and "overwhelmed by the lawsuit and the media attention" related to her affair with the married Antwaun Cook. The North Carolina police report called it a suicide attempt, reports TMZ. "Fantasia believed Mr. Cook when he told her he was not happy in his marriage and his heart was not in it," read the manager's statement. But now she is "heartbroken and is sorry for any pain she may have caused." Fantasia won Idol in 2004 and has had mixed success since. Her third album is due out later this month, notes AP.

- Former tennis player John McEnroe tried to explain his statement that fellow tennis player Serena Williams would be ranked "like 700 in the world" if she had to play on the men's circuit, on June 27. () ||||| Safe to say, this John McEnroe-Serena Williams debate has gone from an overblown sports controversy to an entirely pointless one. It started on NPR over the weekend when McEnroe, on a promotional tour for his new book, “But Seriously,” caught some heat for a comment he made about Serena Williams: Garcia-Navarro: We’re talking about male players but there is of course wonderful female players. Let’s talk about Serena Williams. You say she is the best female player in the world in the book. McEnroe: Best female player ever — no question. Garcia-Navarro: Some wouldn’t qualify it, some would say she’s the best player in the world. Why qualify it? McEnroe: Oh! Uh, she’s not, you mean, the best player in the world, period? Garcia-Navarro: Yeah, the best tennis player in the world. You know, why say female player? McEnroe: Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world. Garcia-Navarro: You think so? McEnroe: Yeah. That doesn’t mean I don’t think Serena is an incredible player. I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it’d be a little higher, perhaps it’d be a little lower. And on a given day, Serena could beat some players. I believe because she’s so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke ’cause she’s been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit — the men’s circuit — that would be an entirely different story. As I wrote at the time, it was a pretty ‘gotcha’ line of questioning from the host. McEnroe repeatedly lavished praise on Serena’s ability but didn’t steer away from the line of questioning above, creating a backlash that Serena responded to on Monday: Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based. — Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017 I've never played anyone ranked "there" nor do I have time. Respect me and my privacy as I'm trying to have a baby. Good day sir — Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017 McEnroe could’ve just left it there, but his tennis player instinct to volley back apparently cropping back up, he did the opposite. McEnroe doubled down on the comment by refusing to apologize. "Would you like to apologize?" — @NorahODonnell "No." — John McEnroe pic.twitter.com/BFN8w2EyfY — CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 27, 2017 Clarified that he didn’t know it would create controversy, and that he didn’t intend to bother Serena during her pregnancy. "It wasn't necessary…. I didn't know it would create controversy." — John McEnroe on his Serena Williams comments pic.twitter.com/6YAPtZ80mp — CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 27, 2017 Following with a claim that, at 58, he would right now rank 1,200 on if he played full time. Where would John McEnroe rank himself? "I would be, currently, about 1,200 in the world." pic.twitter.com/KJSMBiuBlY — CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 27, 2017 Before concluding by mockingly re-ranking the best tennis players in history, putting Serena at No. 5. ||||| On Tuesday, John McEnroe joined “CBS This Morning,” where he discussed the controversy surrounding recent comments he made about how Serena Williams would compare to the top men’s tennis players on the planet. McEnroe had said, during an interview on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” over the weekend, that “if [Williams] played the men’s circuit, she’d be, like, 700 in the world.” The retired player’s comment led to intense anger. Williams herself eventually criticized McEnroe over Twitter, asking him to “please keep [her] out of [his] statements.” When asked on “CBS This Morning” if he would like to apologize, however, McEnroe replied, “Uh, no.” He then said that “tennis [is] unlike other sports ― they’re always asking about how women” would fare against him. "Would you like to apologize?" -- @NorahODonnell "No." -- John McEnroe pic.twitter.com/BFN8w2EyfY — CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 27, 2017 McEnroe did admit that the comment “wasn’t necessary” and said that Williams is “the greatest female player that ever lived,” ranking her fifth of all-time among men and women. But McEnroe often seemed unsure of exactly what to say, leading to a number of rambling sentences and a suggestion that he didn’t want to “upset her” because he didn’t want “anything to go wrong with Serena[’s pregnancy].” WATCH: John McEnroe apparently thinks Serena Williams is a hysterical woman who may fall apart because of his comments and go into labor pic.twitter.com/qaDq2Wcejt — Yashar Ali (@yashar) June 27, 2017 ||||| John McEnroe said he will not apologize for claiming Serena Williams is only as good as the 700th-best male tennis player in the world. In an interview with CBS This Morning on Tuesday, McEnroe said he would not apologize for the comments, which he made in an interview with NPR on Sunday. Instead, McEnore lamented that tennis players are often asked to rank each other, regardless of their gender — which he says athletes in other sports rarely consider. When asked why he would make the comment, McEnroe said: “It wasn’t necessary. I didn’t know it would create controversy.” “She’s the greatest female player that ever lived,” McEnroe said. McEnroe, a retired tennis star who is now promoting his new book, was given the chance to re-do his rankings on CBS This Morning. He placed Williams in the fifth spot. “OK, you happy now?” he appeared to joke. As for himself, McEnroe said he “would be, currently, about 1,200 in the world.” (When he was active in the sport, McEnroe had attained the No. 1 ranking in singles and doubles.) Williams called out McEnroe on Twitter Monday evening, asking him to “please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.” “Respect me and my privacy as I’m trying to have a baby,” Williams, who is pregnant, tweeted. “Good day sir.” Williams has won 23 singles Grand Slam titles, 14 more in doubles and is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes in the world. McEnroe’s initial comments came as he was responding to a question from NPR about why he doesn’t call Williams the greatest tennis player, period. “If she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t think Serena is an incredible player. I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it’d be a little higher, perhaps it’d be a little lower.” McEnroe’s assessment of Williams’s rank among her male counterparts differs from one he gave in the past. In 2015 after her Wimbledon win, McEnroe called Williams “arguably the greatest athlete of the last 100 years,” according to ESPN.

– John McEnroe refused to apologize Tuesday after claiming that Serena Williams would only be ranked 700th or so if she played against men rather than women, Time reports. McEnroe induced a wave of ire, including some from Williams herself, after making the comment Sunday on NPR. On Tuesday he told CBS This Morning he "didn't know it would create a controversy" but wouldn't be apologizing. According to HuffPost, McEnroe said he didn't want to "upset" Williams and cause "anything to go wrong" with her pregnancy. While McEnroe apparently isn't sorry for his comments about Williams, he said he is sorry tennis players are constantly asked to rank each other. He said people are "always asking about how women" would do playing against him. In a joking re-ranking of history's greatest tennis players, McEnroe put Williams fifth overall, asking, "You happy now?" He said he would rank about 1,200th out of women's tennis players at his current age of 58, USA Today reports. The Washington Post has the video of McEnroe's appearance on CBS This Morning.

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller answered tough questions from U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle today about the growing scandal of explicit photos being shared on the Marines United Facebook page and other websites. He called the actions of Marines engaged in cyberbullying female members of the corps "truly disturbing and unacceptable." Speaking before the Senate Armed Services Committee with acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Ronald Green, Neller said the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating the allegations and will hold accountable any service members involved. But some senators were not satisfied with the military leadership's response. "When you say to us, 'It's got to be different,' that rings hollow," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. "I don't know what you mean when you say that. Why does it have to be different because you all of a sudden feel that is has to be different? Who has been held accountable?" .@SenGillibrand: It's "a serious problem when we have members of our military denigrating female Marines...with no response from leadership" pic.twitter.com/6kuEF3M5Pp — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 14, 2017 She pressed Neller on how commanders would be held responsible as well. "It is a serious problem when we have members of our military denigrating female Marines who will give their life to this country in the way they have, with no response from leadership," Gillibrand said. "So if you're dedicated to fixing the culture of the Marines and all the services, what do you plan to do to hold commanders responsible who fail to get this done?" she added. Neller has acknowledged that the sharing of explicit photos online is linked to a broader cultural problem that must be addressed. "I'm responsible," he said in reply to Gillibrand. "I'm the commandant. I own this, and we are going to have to, you know, you've heard it before, but we're going to have to change how we see ourselves and how we do — how we treat each other. That's a lame answer, but ma'am, that's the best I can tell you right now. We've got to change, and that's on me." On Friday, Neller made an impassioned request to women who may have been victims of the military's nude photo sharing scandal to step forward so that those responsible could be held accountable. On Friday he said "less than 10" female victims have been identified. Today he told the committee that a "small number" of victims have come forward, and he repeated that others need to speak out about online harassment they received. Stackley said a tip line set up for service members to share information with leadership received 53 calls as of Monday. It's estimated that 30,000 people had access to the Marines United Facebook page, a private Facebook group established several years ago as a support network to help fellow Marine veterans dealing with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder, Neller said. A link posted on the site led to another internet storage site, where some members of the group posted explicit photos of female Marines; the link and separate site have since been removed by the internet service provider, he said. Neller and Stackley said that about 500 Marines United members accessed the link to the explicit photos. The two men added that did not have a breakdown of active duty military personnel, veterans and civilians who were involved in that site. Stackley said anonymity can make it difficult to identify individuals online. The other military services are also looking into reports that photos of female members from all the branches were posted on additional websites. The Marine Corps has the lowest percentage of female members among the five military services, with women making up about 7 to 8 percent of Marines, and it has focused recruiting efforts on increasing the number of women in uniform. Neller addressed the relationship between some male and female Marines in today's hearing. "The female Marines are a small group in our Corps," he said. "And for whatever reason, there are still some number — and I don't think it's separate from the sexual assault issue, but this issue of denigration of women, objectification of women, misogyny, however you want articulate it, or just bad behavior is tied to the way that some ... male Marines look at women in the Marine Corps." J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo In his opening statement, Neller asked female Marines past and present to trust that the issue will be addressed. "I know I'm asking a lot of you right now, but I ask you trust the leadership of the Marine Corps to take action and correct this problem. I ask you to trust me personally as your commandant and when I say I'm outraged that many of you haven't been given the same respect when you earn the title Marine," he said. Neller listed several examples of female Marines who were recently killed in the line of duty, asking male Marines, "How much more do the females of our Corps have to do to be accepted?" "We have to commit to get rid of this perversion to our culture. Enough is enough," he said, adding that he believes this scandal is "not indicative of the great majority of Marines." Gen. Neller: "I don't believe—I may be wrong, pray to God I'm not—but I don't believe this is indicative of the great majority of Marines" pic.twitter.com/GbDIGnfiS4 — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 14, 2017 Active-duty service members who take and share explicit photos of others without their consent can be punished under varying articles in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., suggested active-duty Marines should be dishonorably discharged to send a "signal" to deter others from similar behavior. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., suggested that veterans convicted of these actions could lose their military benefits. "We need to make it a very frightening proposition for people, going forward, to be captured in this sort of activity," he said. ABC News' Luis Martinez and Sekar Krisnauli contributed to this report. ||||| The Navy is now knee-deep in the nude online photo-sharing scandal that started with the Marine Corps last week and senior admirals are acting quickly to crack down on a problem that is starting to look like a cyber variation of the Navy's notorious 1991 Tailhook debacle. Evidence has emerged that female sailors stationed across the globe are being targeted by anonymous online voyeurs seeking, collecting and distributing naked photos that are typically shared confidentially between couples involved in long-distance relationships. Women from more than a dozen Navy commands were specifically targeted by online users seeking nude photos — likely other sailors or people closely familiar with their command personnel — according to a Navy Times investigation. A review of message boards such as AnonIB, a site first reported on by Business Insider, as well as 4Chan and Tumblr, reveals a network where users seeking nude photos target specific service members, often with innocuous Facebook and Instagram photos asking for "wins," a code for naked pictures. The threads are often subdivided by command. Users will seek specific sailors, often identified by picture, job title, rank and even name, and in many cases nude photos are subsequently posted. The sites — along with the sailors, veterans and civilians who operate them — make up a shadowy web of file sharing that has proven to be a game of whack-a-mole for investigators. As soon as one cache of nude photos is discovered, users migrate using obscure message boards, updating one another as to which new dark corner of the Internet contains the photos. The female sailors being targeted on the publicly accessible sites come from all corners of the Navy, with their commands including the carriers Eisenhower, Truman, Roosevelt and Reagan; the destroyer Cole; Naval Base San Diego, Naval Station Norfolk, Naval Air Stations Oceana, North Island and Pensacola; the hospital ship Mercy, Walter Reed Medical Center; and the U.S. Naval Academy. The staggering list of command locations was compiled during a two-day Navy Times investigation, but is likely not comprehensive. After Navy Times shared the findings with the Navy, the Navy's top officer issued a blistering memo to all his commanders insisting that the behavior be stamped out in the fleet. "Team, we have a problem and we need to solve it," wrote Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations. "Really solve it — not put a band-aid on it, not whitewash over it, not look the other way. "The discovery of on-line sites that degrade the female members of our team has shined a light on the fact that this problem persists. But we get reminders of it every day, when we disrespect women by crude jokes, wisecracks, sexual harassment, and in its worst manifestation, sexual assault — a serious violent crime. Despite a steady effort to get after this, we're not making progress." The Navy has to act as a team to defeat its adversaries, Richardson said, but the behavior sets the whole fleet back. Richardson dismissed suggestions that the behavior was only a small fraction of the population and said sailors who don’t respect their shipmates need to leave. "I’ve heard hundreds of times that 'these actions are being taken by only a small minority.'" Richardson wrote. "Prove that. If that’s true, then the vast majority of men and women need to stand up and smother this behavior. To become intolerant. To act to put a stop to this. And if you’re one of that minority that just won’t get it, then it’s time for you to leave the Navy." It is the responsibility of commanding officers, division officers and the chief’s mess to confront the issue with sailors head on, Richardson continued. "Make it clear that individuals who can't live up to our professional standards in competence and character are not welcome in our Navy. Make it clear that our standards call us to a higher commitment than the law — we are better than that. And finally, I expect you to make it crystal clear that to remain the world's most powerful Navy we must be 100 percent focused on staying ahead of our competition, which starts with leadership and teamwork … Own this problem. Solve it. There is no room in our Navy for toxic behavior." Cyber Tailhook The scandal that is engulfing the military began last weekend when a story published on the website The War Horse — then published March 4 via Reveal— exposed a private Facebook group called Marines United, which was used regularly to swap explicit photos of fellow Marines. There were approximately 30,000 members in the group, which the service is working with Facebook and Google to shut down. The revelations sparked outrage among lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and from military leaders alike, though public exposure has been limited in part to avoid unlawfully influencing the ongoing investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The other two branches have also launched probes. In testimony before Congress Tuesday, Neller said roughly 500 members of the Marines United group accessed a share drive online containing a cache of nude photos. To this point, 53 calls from alleged victims have come in to a tip line set up by the NCIS, according to acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley. Investigators are challenged by the rapidly-evolving nature of the groups — shut one down, another pops up somewhere else. Further complicating the matter is that message boards such as AnonIB are, as the name suggests, anonymous, making it difficult to figure out who is posting. Going after user data is a costly court procedure that presupposes you can figure out who runs the site in the first place. The burgeoning controversy is drawing comparisons to the Navy’s infamous Tailhook scandal, where dozens of women and some men reported sexual assaults while attending a conference at the Las Vegas Hilton in 1991. That scandal rocked the Navy's traditional culture and set the stage for a force-wide crackdown on sexual assault and sexual harassment. Yet the comparison falls short in one important way: unlike sexual assault, posting a nude photo, even without permission, isn’t always a crime. That’s an issue that Rep. Jackie Spier, D-Calif., told Military Times was "a gaping hole in regard to revenge porn." Speier, who has pushed legislation for federal penalties against sharing nude photos without consent, will introduce a new measure early next week to amend the UCMJ to specifically outlaw the practice in the military as well. "It’s a violation of privacy; it’s despicable behavior," she said. "I think this shows a rotten culture in the military, and I’m not going to allow it to continue." Timothy Parlatore, a New York criminal defense attorney and former surface warfare officer who works with sailors pro bono, said that Article 134, which covers actions prejudicial to good order and discipline and that bring discredit to the service, would likely be the net that the services use to punish active-duty personnel who shared photos or made aggressive or harassing comments on the site. "Article 134 is very broad and the actions could be seen as prejudicial to good order and discipline," he said. "Certainly its service discrediting, no question about that."

– A familiar scene played out on Capitol Hill Tuesday in the form of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand expressing anger at the harassment of women in the military. This time, she was grilling Marines chief Gen. Robert Neller in the wake of the revelation that photos and videos of female Marines, sometimes nude, had been widely shared in online groups. One exchange, via ABC News, sums it up: Gillibrand: "It is a serious problem when we have members of our military denigrating female Marines who will give their life to this country in the way they have, with no response from leadership. So if you're dedicated to fixing the culture of the Marines and all the services, what do you plan to do to hold commanders responsible who fail to get this done?" Neller: "I'm responsible. I'm the commandant. I own this, and we are going to have to, you know, you've heard it before, but we're going to have to change how we see ourselves and how we do—how we treat each other. That's a lame answer, but ma'am, that's the best I can tell you right now. We've got to change, and that's on me." The New York Times, meanwhile, has the story of one of the women victimized. Savannah Cunningham, a 19-year-old in Phoenix, made a nude video for a Marine she was dating in a long-distance relationship, and it surfaced in the online forums. Cunningham wasn't in the military at the time, but, despite the harassment she endured over the video, ships out for basic training next month. “Someone needs to stand up and say this does not represent the values of the Marine Corps,” she tells the newspaper. “If not me, then who?” A story in the Navy Times shows the challenge: It confirms that the scandal is not confined to the Marines, with women from at least a dozen Navy commands also specifically targeted in the online forums, likely by other sailors.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — U.S. helicopters airlifted soldiers to a central Yemeni province where they targeted an al-Qaida compound, clashing with suspected militants and killing at least seven of them early on Tuesday, according to the American military, Yemeni security officials, and tribal leaders. The Central Command said the U.S. forces killed the militants using "a combination of small arms fire and precision airstrikes" to attack the compound. The Defense Department said the operation was conducted with the support of Yemen's government. According to Yemeni officials, the raid took place in the al-Sirim area in the province of Marib in the early morning hours. Tribal members said explosions were heard in al-Sirim, followed by helicopters and gunfire. The helicopters landed in the outskirts of the town of Jouba near al-Sirim, which is known as one of al-Qaida's hideouts and which has been targeted by a series of airstrikes in the past month that reportedly killed six al-Qaida militants. According to the officials, there was also bombing in nearby Bayda province. The officials and the tribesmen spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to reporters. They also did not have any specifics on casualties. The Marib raid is the second publicly-known U.S. ground deployment in Yemen this year against al-Qaida militants. The United States has stepped up airstrikes as part of a sustained assault on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in areas of Yemen where it is most active, after a late January special operations raid that resulted in the death of a Navy SEAL. Washington considers AQAP as one of the most dangerous branches of the terror network. The January raid also killed 25 civilians, including women and children, and sparked outrage in Yemen. The US military said 14 militants from al-Qaida were killed in the assault and that U.S. service members captured "information that will likely provide insight into the planning of future terror plots." Over 75 U.S. airstrikes carried out since the beginning of the year have reflected an almost double increase in the yearly totals since the drone program against al-Qaida in Yemen began in 2009, according to analysts. But al-Qaida has used the chaos of Yemen's civil war following the 2015 launch of the Saudi-led campaign targeting the Shiite Houthi rebels who seized the capital, Sanaa, and other areas in the country, to expand its footprint and recruitment efforts. The militant group has also effectively emerged as a de facto ally of the U.S.-backed Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his backers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the battle against the Shiite rebels. The United States also supports the oil-rich Saudi Arabia with military advisers, logistics and intelligence, in addition to billions of dollars in arms. ||||| US forces have carried out a raid on an al-Qaeda compound in Yemen, killing seven militants, the US military says. They were killed "through a combination of small arms fire and precision air strikes" in the Marib governorate, east of Sanaa, on Tuesday morning. The primary objective of the operation was to gather intelligence. The military did not say whether there were any US casualties during the raid which was supported by the Yemeni government. In a statement, the US Central Command says the militants were members of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). "Raids such as this provide insight into AQAP's disposition, capabilities and intentions, which will allow us to continue to pursue, disrupt, and degrade AQAP." The US has carried out frequent strikes on al-Qaeda's bases in Yemen, often using unmanned drones. In January, it said that 14 militants were killed during a commando raid on an al-Qaeda stronghold in central Yemen. Al-Qaeda has taken advantage of the chaos caused by the conflict in Yemen to entrench its presence in the south and south-east of the country. For the past two years, the country has been embroiled in fighting between forces loyal to the internationally recognised president, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Shia Houthi rebels.

– US helicopters airlifted soldiers to a central Yemeni province where they targeted an al-Qaeda compound and killed at least seven militants Tuesday, reports the AP. Central Command said US forces killed the militants using "a combination of small-arms fire and precision airstrikes," with the primary goal being the collection of intelligence, reports the BBC. It was unclear what was retrieved on that front. The Defense Department, which did not mention any US casualties, said the operation was conducted with the support of Yemen's government. The raid in Marib province is the second publicly known US ground deployment in Yemen this year against al-Qaeda. The first, in January, resulted in the death of a Navy SEAL. The United States also has stepped up airstrikes as part of a sustained assault on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in areas of Yemen where it is most active. Washington considers AQAP one of the most dangerous branches of the terror network. The January raid killed 25 civilians, including women and children, and sparked outrage in Yemen. For its part, al-Qaeda has used the chaos of Yemen's civil war to expand its footprint and recruitment efforts in the region.

WASHINGTON — Loneliness and social isolation may represent a greater public health hazard than obesity, and their impact has been growing and will continue to grow, according to research presented at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. “Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need — crucial to both well-being and survival. Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment,” said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, professor of psychology at Brigham Young University. “Yet an increasing portion of the U.S. population now experiences isolation regularly.” Approximately 42.6 million adults over age 45 in the United States are estimated to be suffering from chronic loneliness, according to AARP’s Loneliness Study. In addition, the most recent U.S. census data shows more than a quarter of the population lives alone, more than half of the population is unmarried and, since the previous census, marriage rates and the number of children per household have declined. “These trends suggest that Americans are becoming less socially connected and experiencing more loneliness,” said Holt-Lunstad. To illustrate the influence of social isolation and loneliness on the risk for premature mortality, Holt-Lunstad presented data from two meta-analyses. The first involved 148 studies, representing more 300,000 participants, and found that greater social connection is associated with a 50 percent reduced risk of early death. The second study, involving 70 studies representing more than 3.4 million individuals primarily from North America but also from Europe, Asia and Australia, examined the role that social isolation, loneliness or living alone might have on mortality. Researchers found that all three had a significant and equal effect on the risk of premature death, one that was equal to or exceeded the effect of other well-accepted risk factors such as obesity. “There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators,” said Holt-Lunstad. “With an increasing aging population, the effect on public health is only anticipated to increase. Indeed, many nations around the world now suggest we are facing a ‘loneliness epidemic.’ The challenge we face now is what can be done about it.” Holt-Lunstad recommended a greater priority be placed on research and resources to tackle this public health threat from the societal to the individual level. For instance, greater emphasis could be placed on social skills training for children in schools and doctors should be encouraged to include social connectedness in medical screening, she said. Additionally, people should be preparing for retirement socially as well as financially, as many social ties are related to the workplace, she noted, adding that community planners should make sure to include shared social spaces that encourage gathering and interaction, such as recreation centers and community gardens. Session 3328: “Loneliness: A Growing Public Health Threat,” Plenary, Saturday, Aug. 5, 3-3:50 p.m. EDT, Room 151A, Street Level, Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Pl., N.W., Washington, D.C. Presentations are available from the APA Public Affairs Office. Julianne Holt-Lunstad can be contacted by email or by phone at (801) 422-1324. The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 115,700 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives. ||||| VR Diving Underwater With Elusive Devil Rays Devil rays are mysterious sea creatures that are rarely seen in the wild. With their population dwindling, biologists are racing to learn more about these rays before they disappear. ||||| Across 148 studies (308,849 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.50 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.59), indicating a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period. Significant differences were found across the type of social measurement evaluated (p<0.001); the association was strongest for complex measures of social integration (OR = 1.91; 95% CI 1.63 to 2.23) and lowest for binary indicators of residential status (living alone versus with others) (OR = 1.19; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.44). Funding: This research was generously supported by grants from the Department of Gerontology at Brigham Young University awarded to JHL and TBS and from TP Industrial, Inc awarded to TBS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. These findings indicate that the influence of social relationships on the risk of death are comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality such as smoking and alcohol consumption and exceed the influence of other risk factors such as physical inactivity and obesity. Furthermore, the overall effect of social relationships on mortality reported in this meta-analysis might be an underestimate, because many of the studies used simple single-item measures of social isolation rather than a complex measurement. Although further research is needed to determine exactly how social relationships can be used to reduce mortality risk, physicians, health professionals, educators, and the media should now acknowledge that social relationships influence the health outcomes of adults and should take social relationships as seriously as other risk factors that affect mortality, the researchers conclude. The researchers identified 148 prospective studies that provided data on individuals' mortality as a function of social relationships and extracted an “effect size” from each study. An effect size quantifies the size of a difference between two groups—here, the difference in the likelihood of death between groups that differ in terms of their social relationships. The researchers then used a statistical method called “random effects modeling” to calculate the average effect size of the studies expressed as an odds ratio (OR)—the ratio of the chances of an event happening in one group to the chances of the same event happening in the second group. They report that the average OR was 1.5. That is, people with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival than those with weaker social relationships. Put another way, an OR of 1.5 means that by the time half of a hypothetical sample of 100 people has died, there will be five more people alive with stronger social relationships than people with weaker social relationships. Importantly, the researchers also report that social relationships were more predictive of the risk of death in studies that considered complex measurements of social integration than in studies that considered simple evaluations such as marital status. Some experts think that social isolation is bad for human health. They point to a 1988 review of five prospective studies (investigations in which the characteristics of a population are determined and then the population is followed to see whether any of these characteristics are associated with specific outcomes) that showed that people with fewer social relationships die earlier on average than those with more social relationships. But, even though many prospective studies of mortality (death) have included measures of social relationships since that first review, the idea that a lack of social relationships is a risk factor for death is still not widely recognized by health organizations and the public. In this study, therefore, the researchers undertake a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relevant literature to determine the extent to which social relationships influence mortality risk and which aspects of social relationships are most predictive of mortality. A systematic review uses predefined criteria to identify all the research on a given topic; a meta-analysis uses statistical methods to combine the results of several studies. Humans are naturally social. Yet, the modern way of life in industrialized countries is greatly reducing the quantity and quality of social relationships. Many people in these countries no longer live in extended families or even near each other. Instead, they often live on the other side of the country or even across the world from their relatives. Many also delay getting married and having children. Likwise, more and more people of all ages in developed countries are living alone, and loneliness is becoming increasingly common. In the UK, according to a recent survey by the Mental Health Foundation, 10% of people often feel lonely, a third have a close friend or relative who they think is very lonely, and half think that people are getting lonelier in general. Similarly, across the Atlantic, over the past two decades there has been a three-fold increase in the number of Americans who say they have no close confidants. There is reason to believe that people are becoming more socially isolated. To address these issues, we conducted a meta-analysis of the literature investigating the association between social relationships and mortality. Specifically, we addressed the following questions: What is the overall magnitude of the association between social relationships and mortality across research studies? Do structural versus functional aspects of social relationships differentially impact the risk for mortality? Is the association moderated by participant characteristics (age, gender, health status, cause of mortality) or by study characteristics (length of clinical follow-up, inclusion of statistical controls)? Is the influence of social relationships on mortality a gradient or threshold effect? Empirical data suggest the medical relevance of social relationships in improving patient care [13] , increasing compliance with medical regimens [13] , and promoting decreased length of hospitalization [14] , [15] . Likewise, social relationships have been linked to the development [16] , [17] and progression [18] – [21] of cardiovascular disease [22] —a leading cause of death globally. Therefore, synthesis of the current empirical evidence linking social relationships and mortality, along with clarifications of potential moderators, may be particularly relevant to public health and clinical practice for informing interventions and policies aimed at reducing risk for mortality. Social relationships have been defined and measured in diverse ways across studies. Despite striking differences, three major components of social relationships are consistently evaluated [5] : (a) the degree of integration in social networks [9] , (b) the social interactions that are intended to be supportive (i.e., received social support), and (c) the beliefs and perceptions of support availability held by the individual (i.e., perceived social support). The first subconstruct represents the structural aspects of social relationships and the latter two represent the functional aspects. Notably, these different subconstructs are only moderately intercorrelated, typically ranging between r = 0.20 and 0.30 [9] , [10] . While all three components have been shown to be associated with morbidity and mortality, it is thought that each may influence health in different ways [11] , [12] . Because it is presently unclear whether any single aspect of social relationships is more predictive than others, synthesis of data across studies using several types of measures of social relationships would allow for essential comparisons that have not been conducted on such a large scale. There are two general theoretical models that propose processes through which social relationships may influence health: the stress buffering and main effects models [5] . The buffering hypothesis suggests that social relationships may provide resources (informational, emotional, or tangible) that promote adaptive behavioral or neuroendocrine responses to acute or chronic stressors (e.g., illness, life events, life transitions). The aid from social relationships thereby moderates or buffers the deleterious influence of stressors on health. From this perspective, the term social support is used to refer to the real or perceived availability of social resources [6] . The main effects model proposes that social relationships may be associated with protective health effects through more direct means, such as cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and biological influences that are not explicitly intended as help or support. For instance, social relationships may directly encourage or indirectly model healthy behaviors; thus, being part of a social network is typically associated with conformity to social norms relevant to health and self-care. In addition, being part of a social network gives individuals meaningful roles that provide self-esteem and purpose to life [7] , [8] . Current evidence also indicates that the quantity and/or quality of social relationships in industrialized societies are decreasing. For instance, trends reveal reduced intergenerational living, greater social mobility, delayed marriage, dual-career families, increased single-residence households, and increased age-related disabilities [3] , [4] . More specifically, over the last two decades there has been a three-fold increase in the number of Americans who report having no confidant—now the modal response [3] . Such findings suggest that despite increases in technology and globalization that would presumably foster social connections, people are becoming increasingly more socially isolated. Given these trends, understanding the nature and extent of the association between social relationships and mortality is of increased temporal importance. Two decades ago a causal association between social relationships and mortality was proposed after a review of five large prospective studies concluded that social relationships predict mortality [1] . Following the publication of this provocative review, the number of prospective studies of mortality that included measures of social relationships increased exponentially. Although the inverse association between social relationships and nonsuicide mortality has received increased attention in research, neither major health organizations nor the general public recognize it as a risk factor for mortality. This may be due in part to the fact that the literature has become unwieldy, with wide variation in how social relationships are measured across a large number of studies and disappointing clinical trials [2] . “Social relationships” has perhaps become viewed as a fuzzy variable, lacking the level of precision and control that is preferred in biomedical research. Thus, the large corpus of relevant empirical research is in need of synthesis and refinement. Aggregate effect sizes were calculated using random effects models following confirmation of heterogeneity. A random effects approach produces results that generalize beyond the sample of studies actually reviewed [27] . The assumptions made in this meta-analysis clearly warrant this method: The belief that certain variables serve as moderators of the observed association between social relationships and mortality implies that the studies reviewed will estimate different population effect sizes. Random effects models take such between-studies variation into account, whereas fixed effects models do not [28] . In each analysis conducted, we examined the remaining variance to confirm that random effects models were appropriate. The majority of information obtained from the studies was extracted verbatim from the reports. As a result, the inter-rater agreement was quite high for categorical variables (mean Cohen's kappa = 0.73, SD = 0.13) and for continuous variables (mean intraclass correlation [26] = 0.80, SD = .14). Discrepancies across coding pairs were resolved through further scrutiny of the manuscript until consensus was obtained. In cases where multiple effect sizes were reported across different levels of social relationships (i.e., high versus medium, medium versus low), we extracted the value with the greatest contrast (i.e., high versus low). When a study contained multiple effect sizes across time, we extracted the data from the longest follow-up period. If a study used statistical controls in calculating an effect size, we extracted the data from the model utilizing the fewest statistical controls so as to remain as consistent as possible across studies (and we recorded the type and number of covariates used within each study to run post hoc comparative analyses). We coded the research design used rather than estimate risk of individual study bias. The coding protocol is available from the authors. When multiple reports contained data from the same participants (publications of the same database), we selected the report containing the whole sample and eliminated reports of subsamples. When multiple reports contained the same whole sample, we selected the one with the longest follow-up duration. When multiple reports with the same whole sample were of the same duration, we selected the one reporting the greatest number of measures of social relationships. When multiple effect sizes were reported within a study at the same point in time (e.g., across different measures of social relationships), we averaged the several values (weighted by standard error) to avoid violating the assumption of independent samples. In such cases, the aggregate standard error value for the lnOR were estimated on the basis of the total frequency data without adjustment for possible correlation among the averaged values. Although this method was imprecise, the manuscripts included in the meta-analysis did not report the information necessary to make the statistical adjustments, and we decided not to impute values given the wide range possible. In analyzing the data we used the shifting units of analysis approach [25] which minimizes the threat of nonindependence in the data while at the same time allowing more detailed follow-up analyses to be conducted (i.e., examination of effect size heterogeneity). Data within studies were often reported in terms of odds ratios (ORs), the likelihood of mortality across distinct levels of social relationships. Because OR values cannot be meaningfully aggregated, all effect sizes reported within studies were transformed to the natural log OR (lnOR) for analyses and then transformed back to OR for interpretation. When effect size data were reported in any metric other than OR or lnOR, we transformed those values using statistical software programs and macros (e.g., Comprehensive Meta-Analysis [24] ). In some cases when direct statistical transformation proved impossible, we calculated the corresponding effect sizes from frequency data in matrices of mortality status by social relationship status. When frequency data were not reported, we recovered the cell probabilities from the reported ratio and marginal probabilities. When survival analyses (i.e., hazard ratios) were reported, we calculated the effect size from the associated level of statistical significance, often derived from 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Across all studies we assigned OR values less than 1.00 to data indicative of increased mortality and OR values greater than 1.00 to data indicative of decreased mortality for individuals with relatively higher levels of social relationships. To increase the accuracy of coding and data entry, each article was initially coded by two raters. Subsequently, the same article was independently coded by two additional raters. Coders extracted several objectively verifiable characteristics of the studies: (a) the number of participants and their composition by age, gender, marital status, distress level, health status, and pre-existing health conditions (if any), as well as the percentage of smokers and percentage of physically active individuals, and, of course, the cause of mortality; (b) the length of follow up; (c) the research design; and (d) the aspect of social relationships evaluated. We included in the meta-analysis studies that provided quantitative data regarding individuals' mortality as a function of social relationships, including both structural and functional aspects [23] . Because we were interested in the impact of social relationships on disease, we excluded studies in which mortality was a result of suicide or injury. We also excluded studies in which the only measurement of social support was an intervention provided within the context of the study (e.g., support group), the source of social support was nonhuman (e.g., a pet or higher power), or the social support was provided to others (i.e., giving support to others or measures of others' benefit from the support provided) rather than to the individual tracked for mortality status. We coded studies that included participant marital status as one of several indicators of social support, but we excluded studies in which marital status was the only indicator of social support. We also excluded studies in which the outcome was not explicitly and solely mortality (e.g., combined outcomes of morbidity/mortality). Reports with exclusively aggregated data (e.g., census-level statistics) were also excluded. Manuscripts coded were all written in English, which accounted for 98% of the total retrieved. See Figure 1 for additional details. To identify published and unpublished studies of the association between social relationships and mortality, we used three techniques. First, we conducted searches of studies from January 1900 to January 2007 using several electronic databases: Dissertation Abstracts, HealthSTAR, Medline, Mental Health Abstracts, PsycINFO, Social Sciences Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts via SocioFile, Academic Search Premier, ERIC, and Family & Society Studies Worldwide. To capture the broadest possible sample of relevant articles, we used multiple search terms, including mortality, death, decease(d), died, dead, and remain(ed) alive, which were crossed with search words related to social relationships, including the terms social and interpersonal linked to the following words: support, network, integration, participation, cohesion, relationship, capital, and isolation To reduce inadvertent omissions, we searched databases yielding the most citations (Medline, PsycINFO) two additional times. Next, we manually examined the reference sections of past reviews and of studies meeting the inclusion criteria to locate articles not identified in the database searches. Finally, we sent solicitation letters to authors who had published three or more articles on the topic. Sixty-one studies had combined data of both structural and functional measures of social relationships (see Figure 5 ). Across these studies, the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.44 (95% CI = 1.32 to 1.58). A large degree of heterogeneity characterized studies (I 2 = 82% [95% CI = 78% to 86%]; Q (60) = 337, p<0.001; τ 2 = 0.09), and we conducted a random effects metaregression using the same variables and analytic procedures described previously. We extracted 64 unique effect sizes that evaluated combined structural and functional measures of social relationships within 61 studies. The metaregression explained only 6.8% of the variance in these effect sizes, and the model failed to reach statistical significance (p = 0.95). None of the variables in the metaregression moderated the results. Twenty-four studies had data exclusive to functional measures of social relationships (see Figure 4 ). Across these studies, the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.46 (95% CI = 1.28 to 1.66), which value fell within the CI of the omnibus results reported previously. There was moderate heterogeneity across studies (I 2 = 47% [95% CI = 16% to 68%]; Q (23) = 44, p<0.01; τ 2 = 0.04), so we conducted a random effects metaregression using the same variables and analytic procedures described previously. We extracted 87 unique effect sizes that were specific to measures of functional social relationships within 72 studies. A total of 16.5% of the variance in these effect sizes was explained in the metaregression, but the model did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.46). The results were not moderated by any of the specified participant characteristics (age, sex, initial health status, cause of mortality) or study characteristics (length of follow-up, geographic region, statistical controls). Metaregression is an analogue to multiple regression analysis for effect sizes. Its primary purpose is to ascertain which continuous and categorical (dummy coded) variables predict variation in effect size estimates. Using random effects weighted metaregression, we examined the simultaneous association (with all variables entered into the model) between effect sizes and prespecified participant and study characteristics ( Table 3 ). To examine the most precise effect size estimates available and to increase the statistical power associated with this analysis, we shifted the unit of analysis [24] and extracted effect sizes within studies that were specific to measures of structural aspects of social relationships. That is, if a study contained effect sizes from both structural and functional types of social relationships, we extracted the structural types for this analysis (with identical subtypes aggregated), which resulted in a total of 230 unique effect sizes across 116 studies. A total of 18% of the variance in these effect sizes was explained in the metaregression (p<0.001). As can be seen in Table 3 , effect sizes based on data controlling for other variables were lower in magnitude than those based on raw data. Moreover, effect sizes differed in magnitude across the subtype of structural social relationships measured. Complex measures of social integration were associated with larger effect size values than measures of social participation. Binary measures of whether participants lived alone (yes/no) were associated with smaller effect size values. Average random effects weighted odds ratios for the various subtypes of social relationships are reported in Table 4 . Sixty-three studies had data exclusive to structural measures of social relationships (see Figure 3 ). Across these studies, the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.57 (95% CI = 1.46 to 1.70), which value fell within the CI of the omnibus results reported previously. The heterogeneity across studies was still quite large (I 2 = 84% [95% CI = 80% to 87%]; Q (62) = 390, p<0.001; τ 2 = 0.07), so we undertook metaregression with prespecified participant and study characteristics. Given that structural versus functional components of social relationships may influence health in different ways [11] , [12] , the high degree of heterogeneity observed in the omnibus results may have been due in part to differences between the components of social relationships evaluated within and across studies. Hence the remaining analyses separately evaluate effect sizes obtained from structural, functional, and combined (structural and functional) measures of social relationships. Table 2 provides definitions of the types and subtypes of social relationships evaluated. To assess the possibility of publication bias [177] , we conducted several analyses. First, we calculated the fail-safe N [177] to be 4,274, which is the theoretical number of unpublished studies with effect sizes averaging zero (no effect) that would be needed to render negligible the omnibus results. Second, we employed the “trim and fill” methodology described by Duval and Tweedie [178] , [179] to estimate the number of studies missing due to publication bias, but this analysis failed to reveal any studies that would need to be created on the opposite side of the distribution, meaning that adjustment to the omnibus effect size was unnecessary. Third, we calculated both Egger's regression test and the alternative to that test recommended by Peters and colleagues [180] that is better suited to data in lnOR format. The results of both analyses failed to reach statistical significance (p>0.05). Finally, we plotted a contour-enhanced funnel plot ( Figure 2 ) [181] . The data obtained from this meta-analysis were fairly symmetrical with respect to their own mean; fewer than ten studies were “missing” on the left side of the distribution that would have made the plot symmetrical. Based on these several analyses, publication bias is unlikely to threaten the results. Across 148 studies, the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42 to 1.59), which indicated a 50% increased likelihood of survival as a function of stronger social relations. Odds ratios ranged from 0.77 to 6.50, with substantial heterogeneity across studies (I 2 = 81% [95% CI = 78% to 84%]; Q (147) = 790, p<0.001; τ 2 = 0.07), suggesting that systematic effect size variability was unaccounted for. Thus factors associated with the studies themselves (e.g., publication status), participant characteristics (e.g., age, health status), and the type of evaluation of social relationships (e.g., structural social networks versus perceptions of functional social support) may have moderated the overall results. We therefore conducted additional analyses to determine the extent to which these variables moderated the overall results. Statistically nonredundant effect sizes were extracted from 148 studies ( [29] – [176] ; see Table 1 ). Data were reported from 308,849 participants, with 51% from North America, 37% from Europe, 11% from Asia, and 1% from Australia. Across all studies, the average age of participants at initial evaluation was 63.9 years, and participants were evenly represented across sex (49% female, 51% male). Of the studies examined, 60% involved community samples, but 24% examined individuals receiving outpatient medical treatment, and 16% utilized patients in inpatient medical settings. Of studies involving patients with a pre-existing diagnosis, 44% were specific to cardiovascular disease (CVD), 36% to cancer, 9% to renal disease, and the remaining 11% had a variety of conditions including neurological disease. Research reports most often (81%) considered all-cause mortality, but some restricted evaluations to mortality associated with cancer (9%), CVD (8%), or other causes (2%). Participants were followed for an average of 7.5 years (SD = 7.1, range = 3 months to 58 years), with an average of 29% of the participants dying within each study's follow-up period. Discussion Cumulative empirical evidence across 148 independent studies indicates that individuals' experiences within social relationships significantly predict mortality. The overall effect size corresponds with a 50% increase in odds of survival as a function of social relationships. Multidimensional assessments of social integration yielded an even stronger association: a 91% increase in odds of survival. Thus, the magnitude of these findings may be considered quite large, rivaling that of well-established risk factors (Figure 6). Results also remained consistent across a number of factors, including age, sex, initial health status, follow-up period, and cause of death, suggesting that the association between social relationships and mortality may be generalized. The magnitude of risk reduction varied depending on the type of measurement of social relationships (see Table 4). Social relationships were most highly predictive of reduced risk of mortality in studies that included multidimensional assessments of social integration. Because these studies included more than one type of social relationship measurement (e.g., network based inventories, marital status, etc.), such a measurement approach may better represent the multiple pathways (described earlier) by which social relationships influence health and mortality [182]. Conversely, binary evaluations of living alone (yes/no) were the least predictive of mortality status. The reliability and validity of measurement likely explains this finding, and researchers are encouraged to use psychometrically sound measures of social relationships (e.g., Table 2). For instance, while researchers may be tempted to use a simple single-item such as “living alone” as a proxy for social isolation, it is possible for one to live alone but have a large supportive social network and thus not adequately capture social isolation. We also found that social isolation had a similar influence on likelihood of mortality compared with other measures of social relationships. This evidence qualifies the notion of a threshold effect (lack of social relationships is the only detrimental condition); rather, the association appears robust across a variety of types of measures of social relationships. This meta-analysis also provides evidence to support the directional influence of social relationships on mortality. Most of the studies (60%) involved community cohorts, most of whom would not be experiencing life-threatening conditions at the point of initial evaluation. Moreover, initial health status did not moderate the effect of social relationships on mortality. Although illness may result in poorer or more restricted social relationships (social isolation resulting from physical confinement), such that individuals closer to death may have decreased social support compared to healthy individuals, the findings from these studies indicate that general community samples with strong social relationships are likely to remain alive longer than similar individuals with poor social relations. However, causality is not easily established. One cannot randomly assign human participants to be socially isolated, married, or in a poor-quality relationship. A similar dilemma characterizes virtually all lifestyle risk factors for mortality: for instance, one cannot randomly assign individuals to be smokers or nonsmokers. Despite such challenges, “smoking represents the most extensively documented cause of disease ever investigated in the history of biomedical research” [183]. The link between social relationships and mortality is currently much less understood than other risk factors; nonetheless there is substantial experimental, cross-sectional, and prospective evidence linking social relationships with multiple pathways associated with mortality (see [182] for review). Existing models for reducing risk of mortality may be substantially strengthened by including social relationship factors. Notably, the overall effect for social relationships on mortality reported here may be a conservative estimate. Many studies included in the meta-analysis utilized single item measures of social relations, yet the magnitude of the association was greatest among those studies utilizing complex assessments. Moreover, because many studies statistically adjusted for standard risk factors, the effect may be underestimated, since some of the impact of social relationships on mortality may be mediated through such factors (e.g., behavior, diet, exercise). Additionally, most measures of social relations did not take into account the quality of the social relationships, thereby assuming that all relationships are positive. However, research suggests this is not the case, with negative social relationships linked to greater risk of mortality [184],[185]. For instance, marital status is widely used as a measure of social integration; however, a growing literature documents its divergent effects based on level of marital quality [186],[187]. Thus the effect of positive social relationships on risk of mortality may actually be much larger than reported in this meta-analysis, given the failure to account for negative or detrimental social relationships within the measures utilized across studies. Other possible limitations of this review should be acknowledged. Statistical controls (e.g., age, sex, physical condition, etc.) employed by many of the studies rule out a number of potentially confounding variables that might account for the association between social relationships and mortality. However, studies used an inconsistent variety of controlling variables, and some reports involved raw data (Table 1). Although effect size magnitude was diminished by the inclusion of statistical controls only within the data obtained by measures of structural social relationships (but not functional or combined measures), future research can better specify which variables are most likely to impact the overall association. It must also be acknowledged that existing data primarily represent research conducted in North America and Western Europe. Although we found no differences across world region, future reviews inclusive of research written in all languages (not only English) with participants better representing other world regions may yield better estimates across populations. Approximately two decades after the review by House and colleagues [1], a generation of empirical research validates their initial premise: Social relationships exert an independent influence on risk for mortality comparable with well established risk factors for mortality (Figure 6). Although limited by the state of current investigations and possible omission of pertinent reports, this meta-analysis provides empirical evidence (nearly 30 times the number of studies previously reported) to support the criteria for considering insufficient social relationships a risk factor of mortality (i.e., strength and consistency of association across a wide range of studies, temporal ordering, and gradient of response) [188]. The magnitude of the association between social relationships and mortality has now been established, and this meta-analysis provides much-needed clarification regarding the social relationship factor(s) most predictive of mortality. Future research can shift to more nuanced questions aimed at (a) understanding the causal pathways by which social participation promotes health, (b) refining conceptual models, and (c) developing effective intervention and prevention models that explicitly account for social relations. Some steps have already been taken identifying the psychological, behavioral, and physiological pathways linking social relationships to health [5],[182],[189]. Social relationships are linked to better health practices and to psychological processes, such as stress and depression, that influence health outcomes in their own right [190]; however, the influence of social relationships on health cannot be completely explained by these processes, as social relationships exert an independent effect. Reviews of such findings suggest that there are multiple biologic pathways involved (physiologic regulatory mechanisms, themselves intertwined) that in turn influence a number of disease endpoints [182],[191]–[193]. For instance, a number of studies indicate that social support is linked to better immune functioning [194]–[197] and to immune-mediated inflammatory processes [198]. Thus interdisciplinary work and perspective will be important in future studies given the complexity of the phenomenon. Perhaps the most important challenge posed by these findings is how to effectively utilize social relationships to reduce mortality risk. Preliminary investigations have demonstrated some risk reduction through formalized social interventions [199]. While the evidence is mixed [2],[6], it should be noted that most social support interventions evaluated in the literature thus far are based on support provided from strangers; in contrast, evidence provided in this meta-analysis is based almost entirely on naturally occurring social relationships. Moreover, our analyses suggest that received support is less predictive of mortality than social integration (Table 4). Therefore, facilitating patient use of naturally occurring social relations and community-based interventions may be more successful than providing social support through hired personnel, except in cases in which patient social relations appear to be detrimental or absent. Multifaceted community-based interventions may have a number of advantages because such interventions are socially grounded and include a broad cross-section of the public. Public policy initiatives need not be limited to those deemed “high risk” or those who have already developed a health condition but could potentially include low- and moderate-risk individuals earlier in the risk trajectory [200]. Overall, given the significant increase in rate of survival (not to mention quality of life factors), the results of this meta-analysis are sufficiently compelling to promote further research aimed at designing and evaluating interventions that explicitly account for social relationship factors across levels of health care (prevention, evaluation, treatment compliance, rehabilitation, etc.).

– Being lonely won't just make you feel sad—it may also endanger your life. In fact, researchers now say that people steeped in social isolation (including those who live by themselves) and a lack of connection with others can suffer just as much of a mortality risk as someone inhaling nearly a pack of cigarettes a day, and even more so than someone who's obese, Seeker reports. All of which leads Julianne Holt-Lunstad—a Brigham Young University psychology professor who presented these findings, also published in the PLOS ONE journal, at the American Psychological Association's convention on Saturday in DC—to stress that loneliness and isolation should be treated as public health issues. She says they could perhaps be partly remedied via initiatives such as teaching kids more social skills in school, or prepping seniors on how to keep their social lives active after they retire. Holt-Lunstad's research was based on two meta-analyses. The first, comprised of 148 studies and nearly 300,000 subjects, found those who claimed better social connections also boasted a 50% lower risk of early demise—and poor social connectivity offered the same mortality risk as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. The second grouping was made up of more than 3.4 million participants over 70 studies and found that social isolation (lack of actual contact with others), loneliness (the perception of feeling lonely, whether others are around or not), or simply living alone all carried more risk of premature death than obesity. "With an increasing aging population, the effect on public health is only anticipated to increase," Holt-Lunstad notes. "Indeed, many nations around the world now suggest we are facing a 'loneliness epidemic.' The challenge ... now is what can be done about it." (How loneliness and Alzheimer's may be linked.)

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption An eyewitness to the Cambrils shooting described what happened to Radio 4's Today programme Spanish police say they have shot dead five suspected terrorists in the town of Cambrils in a second vehicle attack, hours after another in Barcelona killed 13 people and injured dozens. Police said the men were linked to the Barcelona attack, which so-called Islamic State said it had carried out. Police are still hunting the man who drove his van into crowds on Las Ramblas in Barcelona on Thursday. Spanish media have named Moussa Oukabir, 18, as the suspect. He is the brother of Driss Oukabir, whose documentation was allegedly used to rent the van involved in the attack. Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy has condemned what he called a "jihadist attack". He has announced three days of national mourning and a minute's silence was held at noon (10:00 GMT) on Friday. What happened in Cambrils? Image copyright AFP Image caption The vehicle overturned in the attack Seven people, including a police officer, were wounded when a car was driven into them early on Friday, Catalan emergency services said. One later died in hospital. The attackers' vehicle overturned and when the men got out they were quickly fired upon by police, media say. One was reportedly brandishing a knife. The men were wearing what appeared to be explosive belts, police said, and a series of controlled explosions was carried out. The belts proved to be fake, Catalan regional head Carles Puigdemont later told local radio. Police say the situation in Cambrils - a popular seaside resort 110km (70 miles) south-west of Barcelona - is now under control. What happened on Las Ramblas? A rented van was driven down Las Ramblas, a popular street in the centre of the city on Thursday afternoon, mowing down tourists and locals. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption What was it like to be caught up in the Barcelona attack? Witnesses said the van deliberately targeted people, weaving from side to side. The driver of the van, believed to be the sole attacker, fled on foot and is still being hunted by police. Las Ramblas is a central boulevard that runs 1.2km (0.75 miles) through the centre of Barcelona from the city's Plaça de Catalunya (Catalonia Square) to the Christopher Columbus monument at the seafront. A businessman from New Orleans, who was just arriving in a taxi in Las Ramblas, said: "I heard a crowd screaming. It sounded like they were screaming for a movie star. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Footage shows police surrounding a white van moments after the attack "I saw the van. It had already been busted on the front. It was weaving left and right, trying to hit people as fast as possible. There were people lying on the ground." Kevin Kwast, who is on holiday in Barcelona with his family, said: "I was eating with my family in La Boqueria market very near where the crash occurred. "Hundreds of people started stampeding through the market... we started running with them going outside right into where casualties were already on the ground. "Police pushed us into a money transfer shop and we've been sheltering there for over an hour." Who were the victims? Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Footage captures people using a shop as an escape route on Las Ramblas Citizens of some 24 countries were killed or injured in the Las Ramblas attack, the Catalan government has said. Confirmed dead: Spaniard Francisco López Rodríguez, who was in his 60s Italian Bruno Gulotta, 35 Unnamed Italian Unnamed Belgian What do we know about the victims? France's foreign ministry said on Friday that 26 French nationals were injured, with at least 11 in a serious condition. Thirteen German citizens were wounded, some seriously. A five-year-old Irish boy suffered a broken leg. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Greece are among those saying their citizens were injured. Pakistani, Philippine, Venezuelan, Australian, Romanian, Peruvian, Dutch, Danish, Algerian and Chinese nationals were also among the casualties, officials said. Have arrests been made? Image copyright Spanish National Police/ HANDOUT Image caption Police released this photo of Driss Oukabir, whose documents were used to rent the van Two people were detained on Thursday over the Las Ramblas attack, but not the driver of the van. One of those held is Driss Oukabir, whose documents were used to rent the van, local media say. They say he is in his 20s, and was born in Morocco. However, latest reports suggest he has told police he was not involved, and that his documents were stolen. Spanish media report that his younger brother, Moussa, rented two vans, the one used in the attack and another found hours later in the town of Vic, north of Barcelona, and intended as a getaway vehicle. The second man arrested was born in Melilla, the autonomous Spanish city on the north coast of Africa. He has not been named. On Friday, police announced a third arrest had been made in the Catalan town of Ripoll. So-called Islamic State has said it was behind the Las Ramblas attack, saying in a brief statement carried by its Amaq news outlet that it was carried out by "Islamic State soldiers". The group gave no further evidence or details to back this claim. What was the timeline of events? Alcanar, Wednesday evening: An explosion rips through a house in the small town, 200km south of Barcelona. One person dies. Police chief Josep Lluis Trapero said it appeared the residents at the house had been "preparing an explosive device". A Catalan government official says a cell may have intended to use gas canisters in the Las Ramblas attack An explosion rips through a house in the small town, 200km south of Barcelona. One person dies. Police chief Josep Lluis Trapero said it appeared the residents at the house had been "preparing an explosive device". A Catalan government official says a cell may have intended to use gas canisters in the Las Ramblas attack Barcelona, Thursday 16:50 (14:50 GMT) : A white Fiat van drives down Las Ramblas in central Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring scores. The driver flees on foot : A white Fiat van drives down Las Ramblas in central Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring scores. The driver flees on foot Vic, Thursday 18:30: Police find a second van, thought to be a getaway vehicle, in the town, 80km north of Barcelona Police find a second van, thought to be a getaway vehicle, in the town, 80km north of Barcelona Sant Just Desvern, Thursday 19:30: A car is driven into officers at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Barcelona. A man is found dead in the car but the interior ministry denies earlier reports he was killed by police gunfire. The dead man is not believed to be linked to the Las Ramblas attack, officials say, but investigations are ongoing A car is driven into officers at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Barcelona. A man is found dead in the car but the interior ministry denies earlier reports he was killed by police gunfire. The dead man is not believed to be linked to the Las Ramblas attack, officials say, but investigations are ongoing Cambrils, Friday 01:00: A second vehicle attack takes place in the resort south of Barcelona. Police kill five suspects said to be linked to the Las Ramblas attack Trump pushes debunked 'pig's blood' myth, hours after Barcelona attack Analysis: A worrying trend Gordon Corera, BBC News security correspondent Barcelona is just the latest European city to witness the terrible effects of a vehicle attack on an iconic or "soft" target. In Nice a year ago, Bastille Day celebrations were targeted, then a Christmas market in Berlin. In London, Westminster and London Bridge, as well as Finsbury Park, saw cars and vans used as weapons. In the UK, new barriers have been put in place to mitigate some of the risks at key locations and there is discussion of imposing checks on those renting vans, but security services in Britain - as well as across Europe - are all too aware that there are limits to what they can do to spot and stop those planning murder in this way. The weapons employed are readily available and there is little or no training, co-ordination or planning required. This means there are few points where individuals can be spotted by the intelligence services. Although so-called Islamic State has released a statement saying what it calls its "soldiers" had carried out the Barcelona attack, it is not yet clear whether there was any direct link to the group or if they were simply inspired by its call to act. The language used often indicates the latter. Either way, authorities will be bracing themselves for the possibility of further attacks of a similar nature. Europe's deadly vehicle attacks ||||| A man caught in the panic of the terrorist attack in Cambrils described the scenes as like watching a "horror film". Fitzroy Davies, who earlier told how one of the attackers smiled at police, was visiting the town for a judo camp. He told Sky News he saw one of the attackers get back on his feet, despite suffering police gunshots. He said: "He came running up, he had silver stuff on him, he had a thing in his hand, and then somebody shouted 'police' and then within 30 seconds the police came. "Next thing you know, they've drawn their guns and they were shouting at the guy and then shots were fired. "He then fell down and then within two seconds he stood back up. He then stepped over the fence, charged the police again and the police then gave some more shots and then he fell down again. "I couldn't understand what he was saying but he was just shouting something and he was going up and down the street and the police were saying 'stop', it must have been 'stop, stop', or whatever, and he kept charging until, in the end, they shot him." Mr Davies said the crazed attacker was behaving "like somebody who was on drugs". He said: "He was just going up and down the street, like ranting, raving and he was - I don't know if he was all the ticket, I don't know because he was just going up and down. "And then when he took the first round of shots he fell on the floor, and then within two seconds, I thought I was watching a film, one of them horror films, the guy just stood up. "Just stood up, got back up, walked over the fence and started laughing at the police. "And as he started laughing at the police, he was walking to them and the police started to step backwards and then they shot him again. And that's when he went down." Mr Davies said the terrorist appeared to be holding some kind of device, later thought to have been a mock trigger for a fake suicide vest. "I think it did it's job," he said. "It made everyone fearful. And I think that's what they were looking for. "He had something in his hand and at first everybody kept on thinking he's got something. And that's why everybody was running." ||||| Spain was hit by its worst terrorist attack in more than a decade on Thursday, when a van driver plowed into dozens of people enjoying a sunny afternoon on one of Barcelona’s most famous thoroughfares, killing at least 13 people and leaving 80 bloodied on the pavement. Hours later, the Catalan police said they foiled a second vehicular attack, in the seaside town of Cambrils, 70 miles to the south, fatally shooting four people. A fifth died later of wounds, the police said. The suspects appeared to be wearing explosive belts, though these devices were later found to be fake, police said. Six civilians and one police officer were injured during the episode, the Catalan emergency services said. The Barcelona attack was at least the sixth time in the past few years that assailants using vehicles as deadly weapons have struck a European city. The police cordoned off the Plaza de Cataluña and Las Ramblas in the heart of Barcelona, both tourist destinations, and began a chaotic pursuit for the attackers. ||||| It was with great sadness that I learned today that one Canadian was killed and four others injured during yesterday’s cowardly terrorist attack in Barcelona. We join Spain and countries around the world in grieving the senseless loss of so many innocent people. We must stand firm against the spread of hate and intolerance in all its forms. These violent acts that seek to divide us will only strengthen our resolve.” ||||| Barcelona (CNN) The perpetrators of the terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils originally planned to use explosive devices to wreak greater devastation but were apparently thwarted because their materials detonated prematurely, police said Friday. A house in Alcanar, south of Barcelona, was destroyed in a blast Wednesday night -- hours before one attacker mowed down dozens of people in the heart of Barcelona , killing 13. A group of five attackers then drove into pedestrians in the town of Cambrils, killing one, in the early hours of Friday. Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told reporters that explosives were found in the Alcanar property and that police "are working on the hypothesis that these attacks were being prepared in that house." A source briefed on the investigation said a preliminary assessment of the Alcanar property indicated there were traces of the powerful explosive TATP in the rubble. TATP has been used in numerous Islamist terrorist attacks carried out in Europe, including the November 2015 Paris attacks, the March 2016 Brussels bombings, the May Manchester bombing and a failed bomb attempt by an Islamist extremist at the Gare Centrale in Brussels in June. The explosion meant the attackers were unable to use material they were planning to deploy in attacks in Barcelona, Cambrils and perhaps elsewhere, he said. The attack in Barcelona, capital of the Spanish region of Catalonia, was therefore "more rudimentary than they originally planned," Trapero said. The revelations pointed to the alarming possibility that authorities knew nothing of an advanced plot to mount a spectacular terror attack until an accidental explosion at the perpetrators' base -- and despite this eye-catching setback the terror cell managed to carry out two further improvised attacks without impediment. Key developments -- Four people have been arrested: one of them in Alcanar and three in Ripoll. Three were Moroccan citizens and another was Spanish; they ranged in age from 21 to 34. None of them had been on authorities' radar for terrorism. Police said Friday they have identified three of the suspects, but didn't name them publicly. -- People from at least 34 countries were among the injured in the attacks, Catalan authorities said. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said an American citizen was among the dead. Two Italians were the first of the deceased victims to be named. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said one of the dead was Canadian. Spain's Department of Interior said four Spaniards and one Portuguese national were killed. -- Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy labeled the Barcelona attack "jihadi terrorism." Rajoy's government has declared three days of mourning across Spain. -- The ISIS media wing, Amaq, has said the Barcelona attackers were "soldiers of the Islamic State," but stopped short of explicitly claiming responsibility for the attacks or providing evidence for their claims. -- King Felipe, the Spanish head of state, led a moment's silence at Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya -- near where the attack began. Crowds later joined in lengthy applause. "We are not afraid, we won't forget," they chanted. King Felipe VI of Spain leads a moment of silence in Plaça de Catalunya on Friday. An attack gone wrong The first sign of the terror cell's activities -- although its significance was not immediately understood -- came Wednesday evening when the house in Alcanar was almost completely destroyed by an unexpected explosion. One person, a Spanish national, died the in the blast, and another was seriously injured. Both were found inside the house. The injured man is one of the four suspects arrested. He was moved to a police station in Tortosa on Friday, Catalan police said. Six other people were also injured in the explosion, according to a Catalan fire department report, no information was provided as to the identity of the six. Police said Friday there were other "biological remains" found at the site, but it is unclear whether they belong to a different person. The debris of a house in the village of Alcanar, Catalonia, is seen Thursday after it collapsed due to an explosion. "They were trying to make explosives out of butane gas among other things," Trapero said. He speculated that "some sort of accident" caused the explosion, therefore avoiding greater catastrophe later. Thwarted by the accidental explosion, and possibly alarmed at the attention it had drawn, it appears that the surviving members of the cell scrambled to mount an alternative plan. The next day at about 5 p.m., a rental van was driven at high speed from Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya deep into the teeming crowds on the city's most famous thoroughfare, Las Ramblas. "I saw people flying into the air and everyone was running into the shops on either side," witness Ali Shirazinia told CNN. At least 13 people were killed and 120 injured. The driver of the van fled on foot. The Interior Ministry said Friday that 15 of the 59 people still hospitalized remain in critical condition. The van used in the Barcelona attack was abandoned at the scene, August 18, 2017. Hours later, as details of the atrocity in Barcelona were still emerging, five attackers drove an Audi A3 into several pedestrians in Cambrils, 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Barcelona, early on Friday morning. Police engaged in a shootout with the attackers, and all five were shot dead, four of them by one officer. A woman subsequently died from her injuries, Catalan emergency services said, taking the number of dead in both attacks to 14. Six others were injured, three seriously. Photographs showed the black Audi, flipped upside down with its windows smashed out, being removed from the scene. Catalan police later said they found an ax and knives in the car, and the attackers had fake explosive belts attached to them. Before being shot they had wounded one person in the face with a knife. Police were investigating whether one of the attackers was the driver of the van used in the Barcelona attack. Police officers stand near an overturned car onto a platform at the spot where terrorists were intercepted by police in Cambrils, Friday, Aug. 18. Alex Folch, 28, told CNN he saw the immediate aftermath of the shootout from his holiday apartment on the fifth floor of the Club Nautic Cambrils, on the Consulat de Mar. He said he saw three people lying on the ground surrounded by police, one with what appeared to be "a metallic kind of belt" around the waist. Folch said he could see snipers on the roof beside him and later heard controlled explosions conducted by police. Police said later they have identified each attacker but they didn't release their names publicly. The house in Alcanar appears crucial to the investigation. Trapero said several of its residents had hired some of the vehicles used in the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks. He added that "the investigation is centered on identifying those persons who were in that house." A car that ran over police officers at a checkpoint in Barcelona later on Thursday was unconnected with the attacks, Trapero said. One of the occupants of the car was found to have been stabbed. Shock and fear in Barcelona The Catalan government said the Barcelona victims came from 34 countries. The first to be identified was an Italian, Bruno Gulotta, who worked for Tom's Hardware Italia. He was a much-loved colleague with a partner and two young children, the company said. He had been on holiday in Barcelona with his family. The second victim named was another Italian, Luca Rosso. Belgium's Foreign Ministry spokesman Jose de Pierpont said one Belgian was among those killed in the attack. A 74-year-old Portuguese woman has also been identified by the Portuguese government as one of the victims in Barcelona. Las Ramblas reopened Friday morning but reminders of the previous day's horror were all around. In some outdoor cafés, full glasses of beer and sangria sat out on tables, left behind after people scattered. Overturned chairs and napkins were strewn on the street. Waiters were beginning to pick up the pieces as restaurants opened. Flowers, candles and messages of solidarity piled up through the day at makeshift shrines along the street. Some shocked residents and tourists had come to the normally bustling avenue to pay their respects to the attack victims. Others gathered for a march intended to show unity in the face of fear. "It was an attack against humanity," Sandra Gregorio said after laying flowers at one of the many memorials that has sprung up. "Look at this street, Barcelonians are not afraid," her boyfriend Marc Guzmán added. "We have to be united, now more than ever." Hajar Menssouri, a 24-year-old laboratory technician and student, told CNN: "I joined the march to show that fear would not divide us." Earlier, resident Federico Colmenarejo, 32, walked along Las Ramblas in a daze. His apartment overlooks the street -- and he said a phone call from his grandmother at the time of the attack had saved his life because it had stopped him going out. "Just to think how is it possible that I cross this street every day on my way to work. I can't believe it. In Barcelona this never happens," he told CNN. ||||| Injured people are treated in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017 after a white van jumped the sidewalk in the historic Las Ramblas district, crashing into a summer crowd of residents and tourists... (Associated Press) BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Police on Friday shot and killed five people wearing fake bomb belts who staged a car attack in a seaside resort in Spain's Catalonia region hours after a van plowed into pedestrians on a busy Barcelona promenade, killing at least 13 people and injuring over 100 others. Authorities said the back-to-back vehicle attacks — as well as an explosion earlier this week elsewhere in Catalonia— were connected and the work of a large terrorist group. Three people were arrested, but the driver of the van used in the Barcelona attack remained at large and the manhunt intensified for the perpetrators of the latest European rampage claimed by the Islamic State group. Authorities were still reeling from Thursday's Barcelona attack when police in the popular seaside town of Cambrils, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) to the south, fatally shot five people near the town's boardwalk who had plowed into a group of tourists and locals with their blue Audi 3. Six people, including a police officer, were injured, though it wasn't clear how badly. Catalonia's interior minister, Joaquim Forn, told Onda Cero radio that the five suspects killed in a subsequent shootout with police were wearing fake bomb belts. "They were fakes, but very well made, and it wasn't until the bomb squad carried out the controlled explosion of one that they could determine they were fakes," he said. The Audi and a damaged police car were towed from the scene Friday. The Cambrils attack came hours after a white van veered onto Barcelona's picturesque Las Ramblas promenade and mowed down pedestrians, zig-zagging down the strip packed with locals and tourists from around the world. Forn, told local radio RAC1 the Cambrils attack "follows the same trail. There is a connection." He told Onda Cero that the Cambrils and Barcelona attacks were being investigated together, as well as a Wednesday night explosion in the town of Alcanar in which one person was killed. "We are not talking about a group of one or two people, but rather a numerous group," he said. He added that the Alcanar explosion had been caused by butane tanks stored in a house, and that firefighters and police responding to the blast had been injured. The Barcelona attack at the peak of Spain's tourist season left victims sprawled across the street, spattered with blood and writhing in pain from broken limbs. Others were ushered inside shops by officers with their guns drawn or fled in panic, screaming and carrying young children in their arms. "It was clearly a terror attack, intended to kill as many people as possible," Josep Lluis Trapero, a senior police official for Spain's Catalonia region told reporters late Thursday. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, saying in a statement on its Aamaq news agency that the attack was carried out by "soldiers of the Islamic State" in response to the extremist group's calls for followers to target countries participating in the coalition trying to drive it from Syria and Iraq. Cambrils Mayor Cami Mendoza said the town had taken precautions after the Barcelona attack, but that the suspects had centered their assault early Friday on the narrow path to Cambrils's boardwalk, which is usually packed with locals and tourists late into the evening. "We were on a terrace, like many others," said bystander Jose Antonio Saez. "We heard the crash and intense gun shots, then the dead bodies on the floor, shot by the police. They had what looked like explosive belts on." Others described scenes of panic, and found safety inside bars and restaurants until police had secured the area. Local resident Markel Artabe said he was heading to the seafront to get an ice cream when he heard the shots. "We began to run. We saw one person lying on the pavement with a shot in his head then 20-30 meters further on we saw two more people, who must have been terrorists as they had explosive belts around them. We were worried so we hid." A third Barcelona suspect was arrested Friday in the northern town of Ripoll, where one of the two detained on Thursday had also been nabbed. The third arrest was made in Alcanar, where the gas explosion in a house was being investigated. "There could be more people in Ripoll connected to the group," Forn told TV3 television, adding that police were focusing their investigation on identifying the five dead in Cambrils as well as the driver of the Barcelona van. Police said the two suspects arrested Thursday were a Spanish national from Melilla, a Spanish-run Mediterranean seafront enclave in North Africa, and the other a Moroccan. Spanish public broadcaster RTVE and other news outlets named one of the detained as Driss Oukabir, a French citizen of Moroccan origin. RTVE reported said Oukabir went to police in Ripoll to report that his identity documents had been stolen. Various Spanish media said the IDs with his name were found in the attack van and that he claimed his brother might have stolen them. Media outlets ran photographs of Oukabir they said police had issued to identify one of the suspects. The regional police told The Associated Press that they had not distributed the photograph. They refused to say if he was one of the two detained. The driver, however, remained at large. "We don't know if the driver is still in Barcelona or not, or what direction he fled in," Forn, the Catalan interior minister, told SER Radio. "We had local police on the scene, but we were unable to shoot him, as the Ramblas were packed with people." The Catalan regional government said people from 24 countries were among those killed and injured in Barcelona. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called the killings a "savage terrorist attack" and said Spaniards "are not just united in mourning, but especially in the firm determination to beat those who want to rob us of our values and our way of life." After the afternoon attack, Las Ramblas went into lockdown. Swarms of officers brandishing hand guns and automatic weapons launched a manhunt in the downtown district, ordering stores and cafes and public transport to shut down. By Friday morning, the promenade had reopened to the public, and neighbors and tourist were allowed past police lines to go back to their homes and hotels. The city center remained under heavy surveillance. At noon Friday, a minute of silence honoring the victims was to be observed at the Plaza Catalunya, near the top of the Ramblas where the van attack started. Rajoy declared three days of national mourning. Similar vehicle attacks have been carried out at tourist sites in France, Germany, Sweden and Britain. "London, Brussels, Paris and some other European cities have had the same experience. It's been Barcelona's turn today," said Carles Puigdemont, president of Catalonia's government. The bloodshed was Spain's deadliest attack since 2004, when al-Qaida-inspired bombers killed 192 people in coordinated assaults on Madrid's commuter trains. In the years since, Spanish authorities have arrested nearly 200 jihadists. The only deadly attacks were bombings claimed by the Basque separatist group ETA that killed five people over the past decade but it declared a cease-fire in 2011. "Unfortunately, Spaniards know the absurd and irrational pain that terrorism causes. We have received blows like this in recent years, but we also that terrorists can be beaten," Rajoy said. ___ Associated Press writers Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Albert Stumm in Barcelona, Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Alan Clendenning in Phoenix also contributed to this report. ||||| BARCELONA (Reuters) - The driver of the van that ploughed into crowds in Barcelona, killing 13 people, may still be alive and at large, Spanish police said on Friday, denying earlier media reports that he had been shot dead in a Catalan seaside resort. Josep Lluis Trapero, police chief in Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia, said he could not confirm the driver was one of five men killed. “It is still a possibility but, unlike four hours ago, it is losing weight,” he told regional TV. The driver abandoned the van and fled on Thursday after speeding along a section of Las Ramblas, the most famous boulevard in Barcelona, leaving a trail of dead and injured among the crowds of tourists and local residents thronging the street. It was the latest of a string of attacks across Europe in the past 13 months in which militants have used vehicles as weapons - a crude but deadly tactic that is near-impossible to prevent and has now killed nearly 130 people in France, Germany, Britain, Sweden and Spain. Suspected jihadists have been behind the previous attacks. Islamic State said the perpetrators of the latest one had been responding to its call to target countries involved in a U.S.-led coalition against the Sunni militant group. Hours after the van rampage, police shot dead five people in the Catalan resort of Cambrils, 120 km (75 miles) down the coast from Barcelona, after they drove their car at pedestrians and police officers. The five assailants had an axe and knives in their car and wore fake explosive belts, police said. A single police officer shot four of the men, Trapero said. A Spanish woman was killed in the Cambrils incident, while several other civilians and a police officer were injured. Trapero had earlier said the investigation was focussing on a house in Alcanar, southwest of Barcelona, which was razed by an explosion shortly before midnight on Wednesday. Police believe the house was being used to plan one or several large-scale attacks in Barcelona, possibly using a large number of butane gas canisters stored there. However, the apparently accidental explosion at the house forced the conspirators to scale down their plans and to hurriedly carry out more “rudimentary” attacks, Trapero said. Graphic on Barcelona crash - tmsnrt.rs/2uQ48Lh FOUR ARRESTS Police have arrested four people in connection with the attacks - three Moroccans and a citizen of Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla, Trapero said. They were aged between 21 and 34, and none had a history of terrorism-related activities. Another three people have been identified but are still at large. Spanish media said two of them may have been killed by the blast in Alcanar while one man of Moroccan origin was still sought by the police. People gather around an impromptu memorial a day after a van crashed into pedestrians at Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Spain August 18, 2017. REUTERS/Sergio Perez Police in France are looking for the driver of a white Renault Kangoo van that may have been used by people involved in the Barcelona attack, a French police source told Reuters. WORST SINCE 2004 It was the deadliest attack in Spain since March 2004, when Islamist militants placed bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, killing 191 people. Of 126 people injured in Barcelona and Cambrils, 65 were still in hospital and 17 were in a critical condition. The dead and injured came from 34 countries, ranging from France and Germany to Pakistan and the Philippines. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said an American citizen was confirmed dead, and Spanish media said several children were killed. As Spain began three days of mourning, people returned to Las Ramblas, laying flowers and lighting candles in memory of the victims. Rajoy and Spain’s King Felipe visited Barcelona’s main square nearby to observe a minute’s silence. Defiant crowds later chanted “I am not afraid” in Catalan. Foreign leaders voiced condemnation and sympathy, including French President Emmanuel Macron, whose nation has suffered some of Europe’s deadliest recent attacks. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking after media reports that some Germans were among those killed, said Islamist terrorism “can never defeat us” and vowed to press ahead with campaigning for a general election in Germany in September. Slideshow (21 Images) King Mohammed VI of Morocco sent his condolences to Spain. U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking by phone with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday, pledged the full support of the United States in investigating the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils and bringing the perpetrators to justice. In a message to the cardinal of Barcelona, Pope Francis said the attack was “an act of blind violence that is a grave offence to the Creator”. Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the attack showed the European Union’s system of migrant relocation was wrong. “It is dangerous. Europe should wake up,” he said. “We are dealing here with a clash of civilisations.” ||||| This article is over 1 year old Grandfather says Julian Cadman became separated from his mother, who is in a serious condition but stable condition in hospital An urgent search is under way for a child with dual British nationality who is believed to be among the missing after the terror attacks in Spain, the UK prime minister has said. Theresa May spoke after a British man living in Australia appealed for information about his seven-year-old grandson, Julian Alessandro Cadman, who became separated from his mother, Jom, during the chaos. “Julian is seven years old and was out with Jom when they were separated, due to the recent terrorist activity. Please share if you have family or friends in Barcelona,” said Tony Cadman, whose Facebook profile says he lives in Australia and is originally from Dorset. May told Sky News that Britain was “urgently looking into reports of a child believed missing, who is a British dual national”. She did not name him. It has been reported that the child and his mother previously lived in Kent, and Tony Cadman posted a picture of Julian wearing a uniform from a British nursery school. Barcelona and Cambrils attacks: 17 in critical condition as fourth arrest made – live updates Read more May and the Foreign Office have confirmed that British nationals are among those injured, though they have not said how many. Tony Cadman said Jom, his daughter-in-law, had been injured in the attack in Las Ramblas on Thursday, which left 13 people dead. He said she was in a serious but stable condition in hospital. Julian’s father, Andrew Cadman, said he had spoken to his son only hours before he went missing. Cadman was travelling from Sydney to Barcelona on Friday to search for Julian. The Australian foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, has said one Australian is missing and four others have been injured in the attack. “We are concerned, but we are working closely with authorities to determine the whereabouts of the one Australian unaccounted for,” Bishop told reporters in Melbourne on Friday. Barcelona victims: citizens from at least 24 countries among dead and injured Read more Two New South Wales women are in hospital. One of those women, Sydney bank worker Suria Intan, is being treated at the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. Intan works for the Commonwealth Bank and is a member of the Hillsong church. She was due to return home this weekend after a three-week holiday with three girlfriends, Fairfax reported. Two Victorian men – both of whom were hit by the attacker’s van – have been discharged after receiving treatment. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms these brutal and cowardly attacks, and in the case of Las Ramblas, clearly designed to harm and affect tourists who were visiting the area,” Bishop said. “The Australian government remains committed to ensuring that Australians are as safe as they can be, either overseas or here in Australia.” Australia’s consular hotline has received more than 380 calls, with government advice updated to urge travellers to exercise caution and heed the directions of local authorities. There are 2,000 Australians registered with the embassy as being in Spain, and roughly 20,000 Australians in Spain at any one time.

– A huge manhunt is underway in Spain for the driver of a van that plowed into pedestrians in Barcelona, killing 14 people in a terrorist attack claimed by ISIS. Spanish police have named the suspect as 18-year-old Moussa Oukabir, the Guardian reports. The suspect's brother, 28-year-old Moroccan national Driss Oukabir, was arrested after the attack and reportedly told authorities that his identity documents, which were used to rent the van, were stolen. In other developments: Police say five suspects shot dead after injuring people in a second attack Thursday night were wearing fake explosive belts, CNN reports. The suspects engaged in a shootout with police after driving their Audi A3 into pedestrians in the town of Cambrils, authorities say. Their vehicle overturned during the attack. The suicide belts were so realistic that security forces didn't know they were fake until controlled explosions had been carried out, authorities say. Investigators believe a 12-person terror cell was behind both attacks and an explosion that killed a person at a house in the town of Alcanar, the Telegraph reports. They suspect the terrorists were planning to use gas canisters in another attack. A counterterrorism expert tell the New York Times that authorities believe the attackers initially planned to use a large truck loaded with explosives, but they rented multiple smaller vehicles after they couldn't get a permit for a larger one. Police say the three people arrested so far include a man from Melilla, Spain's North African enclave, reports Reuters. A 7-year-old Australian boy is missing after the Barcelona attack, the Guardian reports. Family members are pleading for help in the search for Julian Cadman, whose mother was hospitalized in serious condition after the attack. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said Spaniards "are not just united in mourning, but especially in the firm determination to beat those who want to rob us of our values and our way of life," the AP reports. He has declared three days of national mourning. This is the latest atrocity in what the BBC calls a "worrying trend" of attackers using vehicles to attack "soft" targets. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, though it's not clear whether the attackers are directly linked to the group or only inspired by them. (The victims, including more than 100 injured, came from at least 24 countries.)

Amazon's much-anticipated plan to offer video streaming of recent movies and TV shows is finally out. Right now, the service, which lets users watch 5,000 pieces of "prime eligible" content from their laptops or other devices, is open only to paying members of Amazon Prime, the company's fast-track shipping service. An annual premium subscription to Prime costs $79 a year. A year of Netflix's $7.99-a-month streaming-only plan costs consumers more than $95. Netflix still has the advantage of a bigger catalogue, estimated around 20,000 movies and TV shows, but 5,000 is just Amazon's initial offering. Netflix's early success with consumers has saddled the company with a big, fat bull's-eye on its back. Internet service providers are trying to charge higher fees to tax Netflix for sucking up their bandwidth. Cable companies and TV and movie networks are charging higher fees and levying longer wait times so that Netflix can't cut into the big advertising revenues that come with newer, prime programming. It remains to be seen whether they'll play nicer with a tech behemoth with a market cap of $83 billion. But for now, we're going to remain loyal to the company that makes it easier for us to find Robot Apocalypse Fantasies With a Strong Female Lead. Amazon launches Prime instant videos, unlimited streaming for Prime subscribers [Engadget] Related: Despite Soaring Stocks, Netflix Might Be in for a Bumpy Ride ||||| The online retailer will comp Prime members video-streaming access to 5,000 movies. This is just one of the ways Amazon can challenge Netflix. Amazon said today that it is offering Amazon Prime members free, instant streaming of more than 5,000 movies and TV shows. In a press release, the company said the feature will be offered at no additional cost above the $79 that Prime members already pay annually. The movies and TV shows can be watched instantly on Macs, PCs, and nearly 200 models of Internet-connected devices, Amazon said. Amazon Prime is a membership program that offers customers free two-day shipping. Some of the movies and TV shows that Amazon will stream include "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," "Syriana," "Doctor Who," and "Farscape." Dan Rayburn, an analyst covering Web video for consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, gets the shout-out for calling this one early. Three weeks ago, Rayburn told CNET that Amazon has the money and audience to stimulate interest in a video service by, say, streaming movies for free to Amazon Prime members. "Millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy the convenience of free Two-Day Shipping," Robbie Schwietzer, vice president of Amazon Prime, said in a statement. "Adding unlimited instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows at no additional cost is a great way to give members even more value." Hulu, Netflix, Apple and Google are just some of the companies competing in the online movie distribution market. Rayburn is a big believer that Amazon is one of the companies best positioned to take on Netflix, the Web's top movie rental service. With this offering, Amazon beats Netflix and Hulu on price--both charge $7.99 subscription streaming-only subscription fees--and because Amazon doesn't force commercials on Prime members, it's providing a better viewing experience than Hulu. In midday trading following Amazon's announcement, Netflix shares were down $10 or 4 percent to $224. Can Amazon take down Netflix? Click the photo to read the story. (Credit: Screenshot by Greg Sandoval/CNET) Amazon was once the Web's top source of DVDs and CDs and has since seen the market recreated when iTunes began selling song downloads and Netflix started streaming video. But Amazon still enjoys a large and loyal following--more than 65 million visitors log on to the company's site each month. With this kind of audience and Amazon's deep pockets, Rayburn said Amazon could also conceivably give away a Roku-like box or some other dedicated device to enable Prime members to watch streaming Amazon video on their TVs. But how Amazon fares in acquiring content will be interesting to see. Some in Hollywood see the current crop of Internet providers as a threat. Executives from some of the top film companies and media conglomerates have complained that Netflix's streaming service isn't a profitable-enough channel and competes with distribution partners that generate more cash for content creators. Amazon does, however, have a relationship with the studios going back over a decade, when the company used to be a large distributor of DVDs. ||||| Choose a category that best describes the issue that you are having with the search: Choose a category… I need to talk to customer service. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. How do I filter or sort my search ? Something is broken. A picture or description looks wrong. Could you add a feature ? Could you start carrying a product not listed here ? Choose a category…

– Amazon threw down the gauntlet against Netflix today, offering its own streaming movie service. From now on, subscribers to Amazon Prime—which offers customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year—will also get access to more than 5,000 movies and TV shows, CNET reports. You can see the launch titles here. Amazon’s catalog isn’t yet on par with Netflix’s, which contains around 20,000 streaming titles, Daily Intel observes, but that’s just an opening salvo, and Amazon is already beating Netflix on price—a full year of Netflix’s digital-only package clocks in at more than $95, and won’t earn you free shipping on a single coffee table book.

The front of the McLaren F1 supercar was wrecked in the collision with the rear of a Rover Metro in Lancashire at 1400 BST on Monday. The star's brother says it is his first accident The star, also famous for his role as Edmund Blackadder in the eponymous TV series, reportedly asked police not to name him following the accident in the 230mph supercar. Mr Atkinson's brother Rodney said the star - whose Mr Bean character drives a Mini rather than a high-powered sports car - was "an absolute fanatic" about cars. He said: "The faster they are the more he likes them. He's a very good driver, there's no doubt about it, and this is the first accident I have heard of involving him. "Obviously, we are relieved he is uninjured." Mr Atkinson's sports car, which can travel from 0-60mph in just 3.2 seconds, is not the only prestige vehicle he has owned. He has also driven Aston Martins, Rolls Royces, Lancias and Mercedes. The McLaren car was delivered to his Oxfordshire home in 1997. ||||| For the Formula One team, see McLaren The McLaren F1 is a sports car designed and manufactured by McLaren Cars. Originally a concept conceived by Gordon Murray, he convinced Ron Dennis to back the project and engaged Peter Stevens to design the exterior and interior of the car. On 31 March 1998, the XP5 prototype with modified rev limiter set the Guinness World Record for the world's fastest production car, reaching 240.1 mph (386.4 km/h), surpassing the modified Jaguar XJ220's 217.1 mph (349 km/h) record from 1992. The McLaren's record lasted until the Koenigsegg CCR surpassed it in 2005, followed by the Bugatti Veyron. Only low production volume cars like the 1993 Dauer 962 Le Mans which attained 251.4 mph (404.6 km/h) in 1998 were faster.[2][3] The car features numerous proprietary designs and technologies; it is lighter and has a more streamlined structure than many modern sports cars, despite having one seat more than most similar sports cars, with the driver's seat located in the centre (and slightly forward) of two passengers' seating positions, providing driver visibility superior to that of a conventional seating layout. It features a powerful engine and is somewhat track oriented, but not to the degree that it compromises everyday usability and comfort. It was conceived as an exercise in creating what its designers hoped would be considered the ultimate road car. Despite not having been designed as a track machine, a modified race car edition of the vehicle won several races, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995, where it faced purpose-built prototype race cars. Production began in 1992 and ended in 1998. In all, 106 cars were manufactured, with some variations in the design.[4] In 1994, the British car magazine Autocar stated in a road test regarding the F1, "The McLaren F1 is the finest driving machine yet built for the public road." They further stated, "The F1 will be remembered as one of the great events in the history of the car, and it may possibly be the fastest production road car the world will ever see."[5] In 2005, Channel4 placed the car at number one on their list of the 100 greatest cars, calling it "the greatest automotive achievement of all time". In popular culture, the McLaren F1 has earned its spot as 'The greatest automobile ever created' and 'The Most Excellent Sports Car Of All Time' amongst a wide variety of car enthusiasts and lovers.[6] Notable past and present McLaren F1 owners include Elon Musk,[7] Jay Leno,[8] George Harrison,[9] and the Sultan of Brunei.[10] In the April 2017 issue of Top Gear Magazine, the McLaren F1 was listed as one of the fastest naturally aspirated cars currently available in the world, and in the same league as the more modern vehicles such as the Ferrari Enzo and Aston Martin One-77 despite being produced and engineered 10 years prior the Ferrari Enzo and 17 years prior the Aston Martin One-77.[11] Design and implementation [ edit ] The logo of McLaren F1 McLaren F1 Chief engineer Gordon Murray's design concept was a common one among designers of high-performance cars: low weight and high power. This was achieved through use of high-tech and expensive materials such as carbon fibre, titanium, gold, magnesium and kevlar. The F1 was the first production car to use a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis.[12] The three seat setup inside an F1 Gordon Murray had been thinking of a three-seat sports car since his youth. When Murray was waiting for a flight home from the Italian Grand Prix in 1988, he drew a sketch of a three-seater sports car and proposed it to Ron Dennis. He pitched the idea of creating the ultimate road car, a concept that would be heavily influenced by the company's Formula One experience and technology and thus reflect that skill and knowledge through the McLaren F1. Murray declared that "During this time, we were able to visit Honda's Tochigi Research Center with Ayrton Senna. The visit related to the fact that at the time, McLaren's F1 Grand Prix cars were using Honda engines. Although it's true I had thought it would have been better to put a larger engine, the moment I drove the Honda NSX, all the benchmark cars—Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini—I had been using as references in the development of my car vanished from my mind. Of course the car we would create, the McLaren F1, needed to be faster than the NSX, but the NSX's ride quality and handling would become our new design target. Being a fan of Honda engines, I later went to Honda's Tochigi Research Center on two occasions and requested that they consider building for the McLaren F1 a 4.5 litre V10 or V12. I asked, I tried to persuade them, but in the end could not convince them to do it, and the McLaren F1 ended up equipped with a BMW engine."[13] Later, a pair of Ultima MK3 kit cars, chassis numbers 12 and 13, "Albert" and "Edward", the last two MK3s, were used as "mules" to test various components and concepts before the first cars were built. Number 12 was used to test the gearbox with a 7.4 litre Chevrolet V8, plus various other components such as the seats and the brakes. Number 13 was the test of the V12, plus exhaust and cooling system. When McLaren was done with the cars they destroyed both of them to keep away the specialist magazines and because they did not want the car to be associated with "kit cars".[14] The car was first unveiled at a launch show, 28 May 1992, at The Sporting Club in Monaco. The production version remained the same as the original prototype (XP1) except for the wing mirror which, on the XP1, was mounted at the top of the A-pillar. This car was deemed not road legal as it had no indicators at the front; McLaren was forced to make changes on the car as a result (some cars, including Ralph Lauren's, were sent back to McLaren and fitted with the prototype mirrors). The original wing mirrors also incorporated a pair of indicators which other car manufacturers would adopt several years later. The car's safety levels were first proved when during a testing in Namibia in April 1993, a test driver wearing just shorts and a T-shirt hit a rock and rolled the first prototype car several times. The driver managed to escape unscathed. Later in the year, the second prototype (XP2) was specially built for crashtesting and passed with the front wheel arch untouched. Engine [ edit ] History [ edit ] The McLaren F1's engine compartment contains the mid-mounted BMW S70/2 engine and uses gold foil as a heat shield in the exhaust compartment Gordon Murray insisted that the engine for this car be naturally aspirated to increase reliability and driver control. Turbochargers and superchargers increase power but they increase complexity and can decrease reliability as well as introducing an additional aspect of latency and loss of feedback. The ability of the driver to maintain maximum control of the engine is thus compromised. Murray initially approached Honda for a powerplant with, 558 PS (550 bhp; 410 kW) 600 mm (23.6 in) block length and a total weight of 250 kg (551 lb), it should be derived from the Formula One powerplant in the then-dominating McLaren/Honda cars. When Honda refused, Isuzu, then planning an entry into Formula One, had a 3.5-litre V12 engine being tested in a Lotus chassis. The company was very interested in having the engine fitted into the F1. However, the designers wanted an engine with a proven design and a racing pedigree.[15] Specifications [ edit ] Gordon Murray then approached BMW, which took an interest, and the motorsport division BMW M headed by engine expert Paul Rosche[16] designed and built Murray a 6,064 cc (6.1 L; 370.0 cu in) 60º V12 engine called the BMW S70/2.[17] At 627 PS (618 bhp; 461 kW)[18][19] and 266 kg (586 lb) the BMW engine ended up 14% more powerful and 16 kg (35 lb) heavier than Gordon Murray's original specifications, with the same block length. It has an aluminium alloy block and heads, with bore x stroke of 86 mm × 87 mm (3.39 in × 3.43 in) DOHC with variable valve timing (a relatively new and unproven technology for the time) for maximum flexibility of control over the 4 valves per cylinder, and a chain drive for the camshafts for maximum reliability. The engine uses a dry sump oil lubrication system. The carbon fibre body panels and monocoque required significant heat insulation in the engine compartment, so Murray's solution was to line the engine bay with a highly efficient heat-reflector: gold foil. Approximately 16 g (0.8 ounce) of gold was used in each car.[20] The road version used a compression ratio of 11:1 to produce a maximum power output of 627 PS (618 bhp; 461 kW) at 7,400 rpm and 479 lb⋅ft (650 N⋅m) at 5,600 rpm of torque.[21][22] The engine has a redline rev limiter set at 7,500 rpm. In contrast to raw engine power, a car's power-to-weight ratio is a better method of quantifying acceleration performance than the peak output of the vehicle's powerplant. The standard F1 achieves 550 hp/ton (403 kW/tonne), or just 4.0 lb/hp. The cam carriers, covers, oil sump, dry sump, and housings for the camshaft control are made of magnesium castings. The intake control features twelve individual butterfly valves and the exhaust system has four Inconel catalysts with individual Lambda-Sondion controls. The camshafts are continuously variable for increased performance, using a system very closely based on BMW's VANOS variable timing system for the BMW M3;[23] it is a hydraulically actuated phasing mechanism which retards the inlet cam relative to the exhaust cam at low revs, which reduces the valve overlap and provides for increased idle stability and increased low-speed torque. At higher rpm the valve overlap is increased by computer control to 42 degrees (compare 25 degrees on the M3)[23] for increased airflow into the cylinders and thus increased performance. To allow the fuel to atomise fully, the engine uses two Lucas injectors per cylinder, with the first injector located close to the inlet valve – operating at low engine rpm – while the second is located higher up the inlet tract – operating at higher rpm. The dynamic transition between the two devices is controlled by the engine computer.[23] Each cylinder has its own miniature ignition coil. The closed-loop fuel injection is sequential. The engine has no knock sensor as the predicted combustion conditions would not cause this to be a problem. The pistons are forged in aluminium. Every cylinder bore has a Nikasil coating giving it a high degree of wear resistance.[23] From 1998 to 2000, the Le Mans–winning BMW V12 LMR sports car used a similar S70/2 engine. The engine was given a short development time, causing the BMW design team to use only trusted technology from prior design and implementation experience. The engine does not use titanium valves or connecting rods. Variable intake geometry was considered but rejected on grounds of unnecessary complication.[23] As for fuel consumption, the engine achieves on average 15.2 mpg (15 L/100 km), at worst 9.3 mpg (25 L/100 km) and at best 23.4 mpg (10 L/100 km).[5] McLaren F1 with all user accessible compartments opened Chassis and body [ edit ] The McLaren F1 was the first production road car to use a complete carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) monocoque chassis structure.[24] Aluminium and magnesium were used for attachment points for the suspension system, inserted directly into the CFRP.[25] The car features a central driving position – the driver's seat is located in the middle, ahead of the fuel tank and ahead of the engine, with a passenger seat slightly behind and on each side.[26] The doors on the vehicle move up and out when opened, and are thus of the butterfly type, also called Dihedral doors. Gordon Murray's design for the doors was inspired by a Toyota Sera.[27] The engine produces high temperatures under full application and thus causes a high temperature variation in the engine bay from no operation to normal and full operation. CFRP becomes mechanically stressed over time from high heat transfer effects and thus the engine bay was not constructed from CFRP.[28] Aerodynamics [ edit ] The overall drag coefficient on the standard McLaren F1 is 0.32,[29] compared with 0.36 for the faster Bugatti Veyron, and 0.357 for the SSC Ultimate Aero TT, which was the fastest production car from 2007 to 2010. The vehicle's frontal area is 1.79 square metres, and the S·Cd figure is 0.57. Because the machine features active aerodynamics[30][20][31] these are the figures presented in the most streamlined configuration. The normal McLaren F1 features no wings to produce downforce (compare the LM and GTR editions); however, the overall design of the underbody of the McLaren F1 in addition to a rear diffuser exploits ground effect to improve downforce which is increased through the use of two electric Kevlar fans to further decrease the pressure under the car.[32] A "high downforce mode" can be turned on and off by the driver.[32] At the top of the vehicle, there is an air intake to direct high pressure air to the engine with a low pressure exit point at the top of the very rear.[32] Under each door is a small air intake to provide cooling for the oil tank and some of the electronics.[32] The airflow created by the electric fans not only increases downforce, but the airflow that is created is further exploited through design, by being directed through the engine bay to provide additional cooling for the engine and the ECU.[32] At the front, there are ducts assisted by a Kevlar electric suction fan for cooling of the front brakes.[32] There is a small dynamic rear spoiler on the tail of the vehicle, which will adjust dynamically and automatically attempt to balance the centre of gravity of the car under braking[20] – which will be shifted forward when the brakes are applied. Upon activation of the spoiler, a high pressure zone is created in front of the flap, and this high pressure zone is exploited—two air intakes are revealed upon application that will allow the high pressure airflow to enter ducts that route air to aid in cooling the rear brakes.[32] The spoiler increases the overall drag coefficient from 0.32 to 0.39 and is activated at speeds equal to or above 40 mph (64 km/h) by brake line pressure.[23] Suspension [ edit ] Steve Randle, who was the car's dynamicist, was appointed responsible for the design of the suspension system of the McLaren F1.[23] It was decided that the ride should be comfortable yet performance-oriented, but not as stiff and low as that of a true track machine, as that would imply reduction in practical use and comfort as well as increasing noise and vibration, which would be a contradictory design choice in relation to the former set premise – the goal of creating the ultimate road car. From inception, the design of the F1 had a strong focus on adjusting the mass of the car as near the middle as possible by extensive manipulation of placement of, among other things, the engine, fuel and driver, allowing for a low polar moment of inertia in yaw. The F1 has 42% of its weight at the front and 58% at the rear,[23] this figure changes less than 1% with the fuel load. The distance between the mass centroid of the car and the suspension roll centre were designed to be the same front and rear to avoid unwanted weight transfer effects. Computer controlled dynamic suspension were considered but not applied due to the inherent increase in weight, increased complexity and loss of predictability of the vehicle. Damper and spring specifications: 90 mm (3.5 in) bump, 80 mm (3.1 in) rebound with bounce frequency at 1.43 Hz at front and 1.80 Hz at the rear.[23] Despite being sports oriented, these figures imply a soft ride and inherently decrease track performance. As can be seen from the McLaren F1 LM and the McLaren F1 GTR track variants, the track performance potential is much higher than that in the standard F1 road car due to fact that car should be comfortable and usable in everyday conditions. The suspension is a double wishbone system with an unusual design. Longitudinal wheel compliance is included without loss of wheel control, which allows the wheel to travel backwards when it hits a bump – increasing the comfort of the ride. Castor wind-off at the front during braking is handled by McLaren's proprietary Ground Plane Shear Centre – the wishbones on either side in the subframe are fixed in rigid plane bearings and connected to the body by four independent bushes which are 25 times more stiff radially than axially.[23] This solution provides for a castor wind-off measured to 1.02 degrees per g of braking deceleration. Compare the Honda NSX at 2.91 degrees per g, the Porsche 928 S at 3.60 degrees per g and the Jaguar XJ6 at 4.30 degrees per g respectively. The difference in toe and camber values are also of very small under lateral force application. Inclined Shear Axis is used at the rear of the machine provides measurements of 0.04 degrees per g of change in toe-in under braking and 0.08 degrees per g of toe-out under traction.[23] When developing the suspension system the facility of electro-hydraulic kinematics and compliance at Anthony Best Dynamics was employed to measure the performance of the suspension on a Jaguar XJR16, a Porsche 928S and a Honda NSX to use as references. Steering knuckles and the top wishbone/bell crank are also specially manufactured in an aluminium alloy. The wishbones are machined from a solid aluminium alloy with CNC machines.[23] Tyres [ edit ] The McLaren F1 uses 235/45ZR17 front tyres and 315/45ZR17 rear tyres.[30] These are specially designed and developed solely for the McLaren F1 by Goodyear and Michelin. The tyres are mounted on 17-by-9-inch (430 mm × 230 mm) front, and 17-by-11.5-inch (430 mm × 290 mm) rear five-spoke cast magnesium wheels, coated with a protective paint and secured by magnesium retention pins.[26] The turning circle from kerb to kerb is 13 m (43 ft), allowing the driver 2 turns from lock to lock. Brakes [ edit ] The F1 features unassisted, vented and cross-drilled brake discs made by Brembo. Front size is 332 mm (13.1 in) and at the rear 305 mm (12.0 in).[30][23] The callipers are all four-pot, opposed piston types, and are made of aluminium.[23] The rear brake callipers do not feature any handbrake functionality, however there is a mechanically actuated, fist-type callipers which is computer controlled and thus serves as a handbrake. To increase calliper stiffness, the callipers are machined from one single solid piece (in contrast to the more common being bolted together from two halves). Pedal travel is slightly over one inch. Activation of the rear spoiler will allow the air pressure generated at the back of the vehicle to force air into the cooling ducts located at either end of the spoiler which become uncovered upon application of it. Servo-assisted ABS brakes were ruled out as they would imply increased mass, complexity and reduced brake feel; however at the cost of increasing the required skill of the driver.[23] Gordon Murray attempted to utilise carbon brakes for the F1, but found the technology not mature enough at the time;[28] with one of the major culprits being that of a proportional relationship between brake disc temperature and friction—i.e. stopping power—thus resulting in relatively poor brake performance without an initial warm-up of the brakes before use.[33] Since carbon brakes have a more simplified application envelope in pure racing environments, this allows for the racing edition of the car, the F1 GTR, to feature ceramic carbon brakes.[16] Gearbox and powertrain [ edit ] The standard McLaren F1 has a transverse 6-speed manual gearbox with an AP carbon triple-plate clutch[30] contained in an aluminium housing. The second generation GTR edition has a magnesium housing.[16] Both the standard edition and the 'McLaren F1 LM' have the following gear ratios: 3.23:1, 2.19:1, 1.71:1, 1.39:1, 1.16:1, 0.93:1, with a final drive of 2.37:1, the final gear is offset from the side of the clutch.[30] The gearbox is proprietary and was developed by Weismann.[34] The Torsen LSD (Limited Slip Differential) has a 40% lock.[30] The McLaren F1 has an aluminium flywheel that has only the dimensions and mass absolutely needed to allow the torque from the engine to be transmitted. This is done in order to decrease rotational inertia and increase responsiveness of the system, resulting in faster gear changes and better throttle feedback. This is possible due to the F1 engine lacking secondary vibrational couples and featuring a torsional vibration damper by BMW.[23] Interior and equipment [ edit ] 1996 McLaren F1 side luggage compartment Standard equipment on the stock McLaren F1 includes full cabin air conditioning, a rarity on most sports cars and a system design which Murray again credited to the Honda NSX, a car he had owned and driven himself for 7 years without ever needing to change the AC automatic setting.[citation needed] Further comfort features included SeKurit electric defrost/demist windscreen and side glass, electric window lifts, remote central locking, Kenwood 10-disc CD stereo system, cabin access release for opening panels, cabin storage compartment, four-lamp high performance headlight system, rear fog and reversing lights, courtesy lights in all compartments, map reading lights and a gold-plated Facom titanium tool kit and first aid kit (both stored in the car).[35] In addition, tailored, proprietary luggage bags specially designed to fit the vehicle's carpeted storage compartments, including a tailored golf bag, were standard equipment.[26] Airbags are not present in the car.[5][16] Each customer was given a special edition TAG Heuer 6000 Chronometer wristwatch with its serial number scripted below the centre stem.[36] All features of the F1 were, according to Gordon Murray, obsessed over including the interior.[28] The metal plates fitted to improve aesthetics of the cockpit are claimed to be 20 thousandths of an inch (0.5 mm) thick to save weight.[28] The driver's seat of the McLaren F1 is custom fitted to the specifications desired by the customer for optimal fit and comfort; the seats are handmade from CFRP and covered in light Connolly leather.[26] By design, the F1 steering column cannot be adjusted; however, prior to production each customer specifies the exact preferred position of the steering wheel and thus the steering column is tailored by default to those owner settings. The same holds true for the pedals, which are not adjustable after the car has left the factory, but are tailored to each specific customer.[5] During its pre-production stage, McLaren commissioned Kenwood, the team's supplier of radio equipment, to create a lightweight car audio system for the car; Kenwood, between 1992 and 1998 used the F1 to promote its products in print advertisements, calendars and brochure covers. Each car's audio system was especially designed to tailor to an individual's listening taste, however radio was omitted because Murray never listened to the radio. Purchase and maintenance [ edit ] Only 106 cars were manufactured: 5 prototypes (XP1, XP2, XP3, XP4, XP5), 64 road versions (F1), 1 tuned prototype (XP1 LM), 5 tuned versions (LM), 1 longtail prototype (XPGT), 2 longtail versions (GT), and 28 racecars (GTR). Production began in 1992 and ended in 1998.[4] At the time of production, each car took around three and a half months to make.[5] Although production stopped in 1998, McLaren still maintains an extensive support and service network for the F1. Every standard F1 has a modem which allows customer care to remotely fetch information from the ECU of the car in order to assist the customer in the event of a mechanical vehicle failure.[37] There are eight[38] authorised service centres throughout the world, and McLaren will on occasion fly a specialised technician to the owner of the car or the service centre. All of the technicians have undergone dedicated training in service of the McLaren F1. In cases where major structural damage has occurred, the car can be returned to McLaren directly for repair.[38] Performance [ edit ] The F1 remains one of the fastest production cars ever made; as of July 2013 it is succeeded by very few cars, including the Koenigsegg CCR,[39] the Bugatti Veyron,[40] the SSC Ultimate Aero TT,[41] and the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. However, all of the higher top speed machines use forced induction to reach their respective top speeds, whereas the McLaren F1 is naturally aspirated. McLaren F1 has a power to weight ratio of 1.79 kg (3.95 lb) per horsepower. Acceleration (Test By Autocar Magazine) [ edit ] 0–30 mph (48 km/h): 1.8 s [42] 0–40 mph (64 km/h): 2.3 s [42] 0–50 mph (80 km/h): 2.7 s [42] 0–60 mph (97 km/h): 3.2 s [42] 0–70 mph (113 km/h): 3.9 s [42] 0–80 mph (129 km/h): 4.5 s [42] 0–90 mph (145 km/h): 5.6 s [42] 0–100 mph (161 km/h): 6.3 s [42] 0–110 mph (177 km/h): 7.2 s [42] 0–120 mph (193 km/h): 9.2 s [42] 0–124.3 mph (200 km/h): 9.4 s [43] 0–130 mph (209 km/h): 10.4 s [42] 0–140 mph (225 km/h): 11.2 s [42] 0–150 mph (241 km/h): 12.8 s [42] 0–160 mph (257 km/h): 14.6 s [42] 0–170 mph (274 km/h): 17.2 s [42] 0–180 mph (290 km/h): 20.3 s [42] 0–190 mph (306 km/h): 23.8 s [42] 0–200 mph (322 km/h): 28 s [42] 30–50 mph (48–80 km/h): 1.8 s, using 3rd/4th gear [42] 30–70 mph (48–113 km/h): 2.1 s, using 3rd/4th gear [42] 40–60 mph (64–97 km/h): 2.3 s, using 4th/5th gear [42] 50–70 mph (80–113 km/h): 2.8 s, using 5th gear [42] 180–200 mph (290–322 km/h): 7.6 s, using 6th gear [42] 0–400 m (0.25 mi): 11.045 s at 138 mph (222 km/h) [44] 0–1,000 m (0.62 mi): 19.548 s at 276.41 km/h (171.75 mph)[44] Acceleration (On a customer car) [ edit ] Braking and handling [ edit ] 30–0 mph (48–0 km/h): 9.7 m / 31.83 ft [46] 50–0 mph (80–0 km/h): 25.2 m / 82.68 ft [46] 70–0 mph (112–0 km/h): 49 m / 162 ft [42] Skidpad Lateral Acceleration: 1.2[47]–1.3g[15] Track tests [ edit ] Tsukuba Circuit, time trial : 1:04.62 (Driven by Naoki Hattori in Best Motoring) on a hot lap with humid (92%) weather and some miss shifting. [48] Which means that lap time can be improved to 59s with ideal conditions and if miss shifts were corrected as said by Best Motoring (who tested it) on Facebook. [49] : 1:04.62 (Driven by Naoki Hattori in Best Motoring) on a hot lap with humid (92%) weather and some miss shifting. Which means that lap time can be improved to 59s with ideal conditions and if miss shifts were corrected as said by Best Motoring (who tested it) on Facebook. Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, 2-mile (3.2 km) banked circuit, top speed test : An average speed of 195.3 mph (314.3 km/h), with a maximum speed of 200.8 mph (323.2 km/h) (driven by Tiff Needell using the XP5 prototype). [50] : An average speed of 195.3 mph (314.3 km/h), with a maximum speed of 200.8 mph (323.2 km/h) (driven by Tiff Needell using the XP5 prototype). MIRA, 2.82-mile (4.54 km) banked circuit, top speed test : An average speed of 168 mph (270 km/h), with a maximum speed of 196.2 mph (315.8 km/h) (driven by Peter Taylor). [50] : An average speed of 168 mph (270 km/h), with a maximum speed of 196.2 mph (315.8 km/h) (driven by Peter Taylor). Bedford Autodrome West Circuit Post 2006 Hot Lap: 1:21.20 done by Evo magazine with a custom modified McLaren F1(with same tyres as Enzo) on 10 January 2007 which was faster than a Ferrari Enzo lap of 1:21.30 [51] Estoril circuit lap is 1:55.9 in 1994 (4.36 km) configuration of the track with 3 people on board in July 1994. [52] [53] Mclaren F1 XP4 prototype was tested by Tiff Needell on TopGear at Goodwood track. [54] He said that its handling was superb and precise. The car reaches same part of the GoodWood that is woodcote corner from 6:53 to 8:18 of the video so expect the laptime to be around 1:25 (it may vary as it is estimation from video). [54] He said that its handling was superb and precise. The car reaches same part of the GoodWood that is woodcote corner from 6:53 to 8:18 of the video so expect the laptime to be around 1:25 (it may vary as it is estimation from video). The 1st lap of Nurburgring was completed by Jonathan Palmer in the XP4 prototype, where he reached a maximum of 200 mph (322 km/h) on the track.[55] Record claims [ edit ] The title of "world's fastest production road car" was constantly in contention, especially because the term "production car" is not well-defined. In August 1993 McLaren tested the XP3 prototype – which had only about 580 hp – at Nardo. They calculated a top speed of 231 mph from the data recording inside the car.[56] The British magazine Autocar was given access and tested the XP5 prototype in May 1994. They wrote:"Had we enough tarmac, we have no doubt that it would finally stop accelerating at its rev-limiter in top which, taking tyre growth into account, would be somewhere the far side of 230mph."[46] Car and Driver wrote in their August 1994 issue ("Courtesy of Autocar & Motor" written in the box with performance numbers): "Top speed? The F1 runs into the 7500 rpm redline in sixth at 221 mph—but it's still accelerating. Gordon Murray, the F1's designer, is convinced that with taller gearing, the car is capable of at least 230 mph."[42] On 31 March 1998 Andy Wallace drove the five-year-old XP5 prototype at Volkswagen's test track in Ehra-Lessien, setting a new production car world record of independently measured 240.1 mph (386.4 km/h) two-way average (peak speed 243 mph(391 km/h) measured by McLaren)[57] with the rev-limiter raised to 8300 rpm.[30][58] It's said that the certified 240.1 mph were converted from 386.7 km/h which is almost 240.3 mph if converted more precisely, so top speeds in the 240.1–240.3 mph (386.4–386.7 km/h) range can be read from various sources. Depending on the definition of "production car" it was dethroned in November 1998 by the Dauer 962 Le Mans (404.6 km/h (251.4 mph) in Ehra-Lessien)[2][59] or in April 2007 by the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 (408.47 km/h (253.81 mph) in Ehra-Lessien).[40] Motorsports [ edit ] Following its initial launch as a road car, motorsports teams convinced McLaren to build racing versions of the F1 to compete in international series. Three different versions of the race car were developed from 1995 to 1997.[60] Many F1 GTRs, after the cars were no longer eligible in international racing series, were converted to street use. By adding mufflers, passenger seats, adjusting the suspension for more ground clearance for public streets, and removing the air restrictors, the cars were able to be registered for road use. F1 GTR 1995 [ edit ] Built at the request of race teams, such as those owned by Ray Bellm and Thomas Bscher, in order to compete in the BPR Global GT Series, the McLaren F1 GTR was a custom-built race car which introduced a modified engine management system that increased power output — however, air-restrictors mandated by racing regulations reduced the power back to 600 hp (608 PS; 447 kW) at 7,500 rpm.[61] The car's extensive modifications included changes to body panels, suspension, aerodynamics and the interior. The F1 GTR would go on to take its greatest achievement with first, third, fourth, fifth, and 13th places in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, beating out custom built prototype sports cars.[60] In total, nine F1 GTRs were built for the 1995 season.[61] The 1995 version of F1 GTR created so much downforce that it was claimed to run along the ceiling at 100 mph (160 km/h).[62] F1 GTR 1996 [ edit ] To follow up on the success of the F1 GTR into 1996, McLaren further developed the 1995 model, leading to a size increase but weight decrease.[60] Nine more F1 GTRs were built to 1996 spec, while some 1995 cars were still campaigned by privateers. F1 GTR 1996 chassis #14R is notable as being the first non-Japanese car to win a race in the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC).[63] The car was driven by David Brabham and John Nielsen. The weight was reduced with around 37 kg (82 lb) from the 1995 GTR but the engine was kept detuned at 600 hp (608 PS; 447 kW) to comply with racing regulations.[18] F1 GTR 1997 [ edit ] With the 2 F1 GT homologation street version s produced, McLaren could now develop the F1 GTR for the 1997 season. Weight was further reduced and a sequential gearbox was added.[60] The engine was slightly destroked to 6.0 L instead of the previous 6.1 L. Due to the heavily modified bodywork, the F1 GTR 1997 is often referred to as the "Longtail" thanks to the rear bodywork being extended to increase downforce. A total of ten F1 GTR 1997 were built for the 1997 season. The weight was reduced to a total of 910 kg (2,010 lb).[60] Variants [ edit ] Total production Variant Road Prototype Race Total F1 64 5 69 F1 LM 5 1 6 F1 GT 2 1 3 F1 GTR 28 28 Total 71 7 28 106 The McLaren F1 road car, of which 64 were originally sold, saw several different modifications over its production span which were badged as different models. Of the road versions, 21 are reportedly in the United States. The company maintains a database to match up prospective sellers and buyers of the cars. Prototypes [ edit ] McLaren XP3 prototype, photographed during testing in 1993. The car is now owned by Gordon Murray A McLaren F1 with the wing mirrors mounted on the A-pillar as on the prototypes Prior to the sale of the first McLaren F1s, five prototypes were built, carrying the numbers XP1 through XP5.[64] These cars carried minor subtle differences between each other as well as between the production road cars. Contrary to common misunderstanding, XP1, the first ever running prototype, was never publicly unveiled. The XP1 was never painted (with bare carbon fibre exterior) and later destroyed in an accident in Namibia. The car unveiled at the Monaco 1992 event was actually a "Clinic Model", aesthetically convincing but without a powertrain. XP2 was used for crash testing (sporting a blue colour during the test) and also destroyed. As it was a crash test car, it didn't have full interior equipment or a powertrain. XP3 did durability testing, XP4 stress tested the gearbox system and XP5 was a publicity car. The XP3 has been in Murray's ownership since the completion of the programme, XP4 was seen by many viewers of Top Gear when reviewed by Tiff Needell in the mid-1990s and later on sold to a private owner, while XP5 went on to be used in McLaren's famous top speed run and is still owned by McLaren. Ameritech [ edit ] This version of the McLaren F1 is modified in order to obtain road legality in the United States. These modifications include the deletion of side seats, the replacement of headlights, a heightened bumper and dampened performance figures including handling and braking compared to the European F1, due to road legality issues. It weighs in at 1,288.2 kg (2,840 lb). Performance [ edit ] Performance figures as tested by Road And Track Magazine in 1997:[65] Performance figures are lower than a regular F1 in all aspects (apart from 0–30 mph (0–48 km/h)) relating to performance. As Mario Andretti noted in a top speed comparison test after hitting the rev limiter at 217.7 mph (350.4 km/h) on Ameritech F1, the Ameritech F1 is fully capable of pulling a seventh gear, thus with a higher gear ratio or a seventh gear the car would probably be able to reach an even greater top speed.[66] Acceleration figures [ edit ] Braking [ edit ] 60–0 mph: 127 ft [65] 80–0 mph: 215 ft[65] Handling [ edit ] Skidpad 200 ft: 0.86g [65] Slalom 700 ft Speed: 64.5 mph[65] F1 LM [ edit ] The McLaren F1 XP1 LM prototype on display The McLaren F1 LM (LM for Le Mans) is a series of five special cars which were built in honour of the five McLaren F1 GTRs which finished the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans, including the winning car.[68] The weight was reduced by approximately 76 kg (167.6 lb) to a total of 1,062 kg (2,341 lb) – achieved by having no interior noise suppression, no audio system, a stripped-down base interior, no fan-assisted ground effect and no dynamic rear wing. The car also had a different transaxle, various aerodynamic modifications, specially designed 18-inch (457 mm) magnesium alloy wheels and upgraded gearbox. The F1 LM used the same engine as the 1995 F1 GTR, but without race-mandated restrictors, to produce 680 hp (507 kW; 689 PS). It had a top speed of 225 mph (362 km/h), which is less than the standard version because of added aerodynamic drag, despite identical gear ratios. In the place of the small dynamic rear wing there is a considerably larger, fixed CFRP rear wing mounted on the back of the vehicle. The LM has the following specifications: Peak torque of 705 N⋅m (520 lbf⋅ft) at 4,500 rpm Peak power of 680 PS (500 kW; 670 hp) at 7,800 rpm A redline at 8,500 rpm Total weight of 1,062 kg (2,341 lb) which gives the car a 110.16 bhp (82 kW; 112 PS) per litre ratio.[69] While McLaren has never claimed specific acceleration figures for the LM, Motortrend recorded traction-limited times of 0–60 mph in 3.9s and 0–100 mph in 6.7s.[62] The LM was once the holder of the 0–100–0 mph record, which it completed in 11.5 seconds when driven by Andy Wallace at the disused airbase RAF Alconbury in Cambridgeshire.[70] The F1 LMs can be identified by their Papaya Orange paint. They were painted in this colour in memory of, and tribute to, Bruce McLaren, whose race colour was Papaya Orange. Two of the chassis were painted in Black with Grey trim similar to the Ueno Clinic sponsored Le Mans 24 Hours winning car. These cars were bought by the Sultan of Brunei as such, also feature horizontal stripes down the sides in yellow, red and blue. Although only five F1 LMs were sold, a sixth chassis exists in the form of XP1 LM, the prototype for modifications to the existing F1 to form the new F1 LM. This car is also painted Papaya Orange and is retained by McLaren. F1 GT [ edit ] The final incarnation of the road car, the F1 GT was meant as a homologation special. With increased competition from homologated sports cars from Porsche and Mercedes-Benz in the former BPR Global GT Series and new FIA GT Championship, McLaren required extensive modification to the F1 GTR in order to remain competitive. These modifications were so vast that McLaren would be required to build a production road-legal car on which the new race cars would be based. The F1 GT featured the same extended rear bodywork as the GTRs for increased downforce and reduced drag, yet lacked the rear wing that had been seen on the F1 LM.[72] The downforce generated by the longer tail was found to be sufficient to not require the wing. The front end was also similar to the racing car, with extra louvers and the wheel arches widened to fit larger wheels. The interior was modified and a racing steering wheel was included in place of the standard unit. The F1 GTs were built from standard F1 road car chassis, retaining their production numbers. The prototype GT, known as XPGT, was F1 chassis #056, and is still kept by McLaren. The company technically only needed to build one car and did not even have to sell it. However, demand from customers drove McLaren to build two production versions that were sold. The customer F1 GTs were chassis #054 and #058. It weighs 1120 kg which is 20 kg lighter than Standard F1 and has the top speed above 240 mph (386 km/h) although this was never tested. References [ edit ] ||||| Rowan Atkinson was rushed to hospital last night after crashing his ultra rare £2million sports car. The Mr Bean star lost control of the 230mph McLaren F1 after wet weather hit much of the country last night. The supercar spun several times before hitting a tree and a lamppost, coming to a rest at the roadside before bursting into flames. One onlooker said: “Rowan is lucky to be alive considering the state of the car.” When emergency services arrived at the scene, Atkinson, whose character Mr Bean drives an old Mini, was sitting in a passing motorist’s car. The actor, 56, suffered shoulder injuries in the crash, which happened at about 7.30pm on the A605 in Cambridgeshire. Paramedics took him to Peterborough City Hospital for treatment and firefighters made the car safe to be towed away by McLaren recovery experts. Atkinson, who is well-known as a fast car enthusiast, bought the McLaren, one of only 65 in existence, to celebrate the success of the Mr Bean movie and its value has since soared to around £2million. He also owns vintage and classic cars including Aston Martins and Rolls Royces, has written articles for car magazines and recently appeared as the Star In A Reasonably Priced Car on the BBC’s Top Gear. It is the second time he has crashed his F1. The front of the car was damaged in a collision in Forton, Lancs, in 1999. ||||| British media say actor Rowan Atkinson, famed for his "Mr. Bean" television shows and films, is recovering in hospital after crashing his supercar. The 56-year-old comedian, also known for the "Blackadder" historical comedy shows, was expected to be discharged on Friday after treatment for a shoulder injury, the Daily Mirror reported. Atkinson's spokesman could not immediately be reached. Police and firefighters both said that a vehicle crashed late Thursday close to Haddon, a village about 85 miles (137km) north of London. The car struck a tree, a lamppost and caught fire, authorities said. Firefighters said the driver was not trapped and he was taken to hospital. Atkinson was driving his McLaren F1 supercar _ one of the world's fastest road cars, the newspaper said.

– The comic know around the world as nerdy Mr. Bean is recovering in a British hospital after crashing his McLaren F1 supercar and striking a tree and lamppost before the vehicle burst into flames. Rowan Atkinson is "lucky to be alive considering the state of the car," said a witness. The actor suffered only a minor shoulder injury in the wreck some 85 miles north of London, reports AP. Authorities are investigating the cause of the crash, but some media reported that Atkinson spun out on a portion of rain-slicked highway. Atkinson also crashed the car in 1999, rear-ending a Land Rover. He bought the sports car, which can reach speeds of 230 mph, to celebrate the success of Mr. Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie. It's only one of 65 street versions ever made and is valued at more than $2 million, reports the Mirror. While his character Mr. Bean putts along in a Mini-Cooper, Atkinson is a fan of luxury sports cars, and has also owned Aston Martins, Mercedes, and Rolls Royces.

On Monday night, I walked into FirstEnergy Stadium having absolutely no clue what was going to happen during the national anthem. When it began, I saw a group of Browns players kneeling and was proud. A few moments later, I noticed that No. 87—my husband, Seth—was among them, and I was even prouder. That moment reconfirmed a few things that I knew: that the many in-depth conversations about race that Seth and I had—that every interracial couple must have had—resonated and took root with him; that he knew this was bigger than just one-on-one chatting with me over dinner or coffee; and that he gets it, beyond a simple desire to be protective of me as his wife. While I understand (and am deeply proud) that Seth is the first white NFL player to kneel during a demonstration like this (on Sept. 4, 2016, Megan Rapinoe, a U.S. women’s soccer player, was the first white professional athlete to do so), I would like to push back against some of the attention he’s been getting that portrays him as some sort of white savior to a movement that was started and has been carried on by black football players for about a year now. I am grateful for the widespread support and praise that Seth is getting for his actions, but I would like to offer a humble reminder that a man—a black man—literally lost his job for taking a knee, week after week, on his own. Colin Kaepernick bravely took a step and began a movement throughout the NFL, and he suffered a ridiculous amount of hate and threats and ultimately lost his life’s work in the sport he loves. We should not see Seth’s participation as legitimizing this movement. Rather, he chose to be an ally of his black teammates. To center the focus of Monday’s demonstration solely on Seth is to distract from what our real focus should be: listening to the experiences and the voices of the black people who are using their platforms to continue to bring the issue of racism in the U.S. to the forefront. Seth, as a white individual, never has and never will truly have to feel the weight and burden of racial discrimination and racial oppression. No white person does or will. But all white people should care and take a stand against its prevalence in this country. Advertisement What I hope to see from this is a shift in the conversation to Seth’s black teammates, who realistically have to carry that burden all the time. I am discouraged by this idea that acknowledging and fighting against racism is a distraction that must be stored away in order to be a good football player. I wholeheartedly reject that narrative. Black players in the NFL cannot just turn their concern on and off in order to be able to focus more on football. White players shouldn’t, either. Racism is a day-to-day reality, and I hope that, instead of holding Seth up on a pedestal, the response will be to do what he did: listen to the voices of the black people in your life, and choose to support them as they seek to make their voices heard. To the people who are looking at pictures of us and saying, “Oh, well, that makes sense,” I offer a dramatic eye roll. People on Twitter have insinuated that it’s simply my appearance that inspired Seth to kneel with his teammates, or that I must’ve threatened Seth with leaving him or refusing to have sex with him if he didn’t join the demonstration. To even joke in this way is gross. Seth didn’t do what he did simply to obtain a gold star from his wife. His actions on Monday night were not the equivalent of him bringing home a bouquet of flowers after I’ve had a rough day. Advertisement In his interview after Monday night’s game, Seth said, “I myself will be raising children that don’t look like me, and I want to do my part as well to do everything I can to raise them in a better environment than we have right now.” I don’t think either of us foresaw that this choice to share about his personal life would become the go-to narrative to explain Seth’s actions in their entirety. Seth understands how racism systematically oppresses people across this entire nation. He understands that to be complacent about it is not just unacceptable as a “black wife’s” husband; Seth supported his teammates because it was the right thing to do, it was the godly thing to do and it was the responsible thing to do. If I were white, he should have done the same, and I am confident that he would have. In the last few days, we have seen a lot of the same comments that have been expressed since Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem: people imploring players to stand up because it is disrespectful to the flag, to the country, and to active military and veterans. But what Kaepernick did (and what various NFL players are continuing this season) is something we should see as real patriotism. They are engaging critically with the national anthem and this country’s articulated ideals; they are consciously observing the reality of our country’s current state; and they are using their platforms to publicly hold the country in which they live accountable to the ideals it is supposed to be upholding. Advertisement To be complacent that the U.S. strives to be “the land of the free” while so many of its citizens of color are being oppressed for their race is unpatriotic and irresponsible. I applaud those who realize that and do something about it rather than ignore it. Erica Harris DeValve recently graduated from Princeton University and will begin pursuing her master’s in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary this fall with a focus on the intersection of race and Christianity in the U.S. ||||| Monday night's preseason game between the Browns and Giants won't be remembered because Cleveland eked out the win, but because 12 Browns players took a knee during the national anthem to protest social injustice. The group included tight end Seth DeValve, thought to be the first white player to kneel during the anthem. DeValve, a 2016 fourth-round pick out of Princeton who is married to an African-American woman, said recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, that left one woman dead and 19 injured, factored into his decision to join his teammates in protest. "I myself will be raising children that don't look like me, and I want to do my part as well to do everything I can to raise them in a better environment than we have right now," DeValve said, via ESPN.com. "So I wanted to take the opportunity with my teammates during the anthem to pray for our country and also to draw attention to the fact that we have work to do." DeValve's decision to kneel comes days after Seahawks center Justin Britt, who is white, stood next to kneeling teammate Michael Bennett and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It saddens me that in 2017 we have to do something like that," DeValve said. "I personally would like to say that I love this country. I love our national anthem. I'm very grateful to the men and women who have given their lives and give a lot every day to protect this courtly and serve this country. I want to honor them as much as I can. "The United States is the greatest country in the world. It is because it provides opportunities to citizens that no other country does. The issue is that it doesn't provide equal opportunity to everybody. I wanted to support my African-American teammates today who wanted to take a knee." Five more Browns' players stood nearby in solidarity and put their hands on the shoulders of those kneeling. Woah. A ton of Browns kneeling during the national anthem here pic.twitter.com/Qv6qSPs6kX — Jordan Zirm (@clevezirm) August 22, 2017 Last week, Browns coach Hue Jackson said that he didn't want his team to protest during the anthem, but he later clarified his remarks and said he wouldn't be against it if any of his player decided to kneel. "My personal feeling is that over the last season, we've seen players come under unfair scrutiny for protesting during the anthem, mainly because the focus has become on whether or not a player is being disrespectful to the flag or military and not on the issue and cause attempting to be addressed by the protest," Jackson said in a statement. "The intent of my comments was not to discourage individual expression from our players in light of a cause that moves them to personal expression. I'm disheartened that I gave anyone that impression because I did not speak with enough clarity." By Monday evening the Browns issued this statement: "As an organization, we have a profound respect for our country's national anthem, flag and the servicemen and servicewomen in the United States and abroad. We feel it's important for our team to join in this great tradition and special moment of recognition. At the same time we also respect the great liberties afforded by our country including the freedom of personal expression." And Jackson told reporters after the game, "We respect our players; we respect the flag. Those guys came to me and talked to me about it before they ever made a decision to do it." The players didn't know if this was a one-time event or if they'll protest during the anthem in the weeks to come.

– On Monday night, a dozen or so Cleveland Browns players kneeled during the national anthem and formed a prayer circle, among them 24-year-old tight end Seth DeValve, ID'd as the first white NFLer to take a knee during such a demonstration for social injustice. DeValve's wife, Erica Harris DeValve, says in an op-ed for The Root's Very Smart Brothas that she's "deeply proud" of her husband—and she says that that moment "reconfirmed" for her that her husband had thoughtfully absorbed all of the conversations about race they'd had as an interracial couple. But she wants to "push back" on putting Seth "on a pedestal" and making him into some kind of "white savior," when Colin Kaepernick and other black players have been carrying the movement against racial discrimination and oppression along for the better part of the last year. "I would like to offer a humble reminder that a man—a black man—literally lost his job for taking a knee, week after week, on his own," she writes. "Colin Kaepernick bravely took a step and began a movement ... and he suffered a ridiculous amount of hate and threats and ultimately lost his life's work in the sport he loves." She says that Seth's actions weren't just because he's married to a black woman—"If I were white, he should have done the same, and I am confident that he would have"—and that white people should "listen to the voices of the black people in your life, and choose to support them as they seek to make their voices heard." But she wants to turn the attention back to black players, who "have to carry that burden all the time." "We should not see Seth's participation as legitimizing this movement," she notes. "Rather, he chose to be an ally of his black teammates." More here.

CLOSE The trial case against Paul Manafort over money laundering and tax evasion has entered jury deliberations. Kevin Johnson reports from Alexandria, Va. USA TODAY epa06951198 Kevin Downing (L), Jay Nanavati (2-L), Richard Westing (C), Thomas Zehnle (2-R) and Brian Ketcham (L), attorneys representing former US Predisent Donald J. Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort, arrive to US District Court for the ongoing Manafort trial in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, 15 August 2018. Manafort is facing over a dozen charges including tax evasion and bank fraud. EPA-EFE/SHAWN THEW ORG XMIT: STX01 (Photo: SHAWN THEW, EPA-EFE) ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The jury in the tax and bank fraud trial of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, headed home for the weekend without reaching a verdict. The panel will reconvene Monday. A juror sent a note to U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III requesting a 5 p.m. recess because of a previously scheduled "event." The nature of the event was not disclosed. Ellis approved the request. Earlier on Friday, the judge said he was "optimistic that the case might end soon." On Thursday, jurors deliberated for more than six hours and recessed after submitting four questions to Ellis, including a request for a redefinition of "reasonable doubt." The panel must determine guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict Manafort on the 18 counts of tax and bank fraud lodged against him. Separately, Ellis raised eyebrows Friday when he revealed that he had received unspecified threats during the trial and is under the protection of U.S. marshals. The judge made the disclosure during a separate hearing in which a coalition of news organizations sought the identities of jurors serving in the Manafort case. Because of the intense public interest in the case and the emotion it has generated--including the threats against the 78-year-old jurist – Ellis said he would refuse to release the jurors' identities, at least for now. The news organizations also appealed for the release of transcripts of secret bench conferences during the case involving prosecutors and Manafort's attorneys. Ellis said many of those transcripts, with the exception of a discussion about the ongoing investigation by Russia special counsel Robert Mueller, would be made public at the end of the trial. Some of the matters, Ellis acknowledged Friday, involved unspecified issues related to the jury. More: Manafort trial: Jury asks judge to redefine 'reasonable doubt' during first day of deliberations More: Manafort trial: Why 'reasonable doubt' is hard to define in courtrooms Prosecutors and defense attorneys have huddled privately numerous times throughout the trial, and only rarely have the contents of those meetings been disclosed. He acknowledged the challenge from news organizations Friday, and heard an argument from attorney Matthew Kelley, representing the news organizations. "A thirsty press is essential to a free country," Ellis said in open court, after the jury had retired to resume deliberations. But much of Friday involved a game of waiting. As courthouse employees passed in and out of the courtroom Friday afternoon, reporters played cards and read books and newspapers. A line of photographers and television crews remained stationed out front of the Albert V. Bryan Courthouse. More: Five key points that could sway the jury in Paul Manafort's trial — and determine his fate More: Paul Manafort trial: Judge T.S. Ellis III known as taskmaster, unafraid to speak his mind Manafort is facing life in prison if he's found guilty on all of the 18 counts laid against him. The harshest sentence is likely if he's found guilty in the alleged bank fraud scheme prosecutors outlined during the trial. Prosecutors offered documents and witnesses who testified that Manafort lied about his income and debt while seeking bank loans and directed his associates to doctor documents. In all, prosecutors have alleged that Manafort fraudulently secured more than $20 million in bank loans. As President Trump was leaving the White House Friday and while jurors were still deliberating, the president attacked the Manafort trial and called it "very sad." He wouldn't discuss whether he'd consider pardoning Manafort if he was found guilty on any counts. "When you look at what’s going on there, I think it’s a very sad day for our country," the president said. "He worked for me for a very short period of time. But you know what? He happens to be a very good person. Trump added: "And I think it’s very sad what they’ve done to Paul Manafort." CLOSE President Donald Trump refused to say whether he would pardon Paul Manafort, calling him a "very good person" as he left the White House for New York. Trump also again called out Turkey, saying the country has been a "problem for a long time." (Aug. 17) AP Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2Mi49jX ||||| Paul Manafort's wife Kathleen Manafort, second from right, walks next to Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni, right, as they arrive at federal court for the second day of jury deliberations in the trial of... (Associated Press) Paul Manafort's wife Kathleen Manafort, second from right, walks next to Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni, right, as they arrive at federal court for the second day of jury deliberations in the trial of the former Trump camaign chairman, in Alexandria, Va., Friday, Aug. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn... (Associated Press) ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The judge in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's fraud trial refused Friday to release the names of jurors, saying he has received threats and fears for their safety as well. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III revealed his concerns in explaining why he doesn't intend to make jurors' names public at the end of the trial, now in the second day of jury deliberations. Shortly after the hearing, the jury sent a new note to the judge asking to stop work half an hour early Friday, at 5 p.m., because a juror had an event to attend. A coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, filed a motion requesting the names of jurors, as well as access to sealed transcripts of bench conferences that have occurred during the three-week trial. Jury lists are presumed to be public unless a judge articulates a reason for keeping them secret. Eliis said during a hearing Friday afternoon he is concerned for the "peace and safety of the jurors." "I've received criticism and threats," Ellis said. "I imagine they would, too." The judge said he is currently under the protection of U.S. marshals. He declined to delve into specifics, but said he's been taken aback by the level of interest in the trial. Also Friday, President Donald Trump issued a fresh defense of Manafort, calling him a "very good person." Manafort is accused of hiding from the IRS millions that he made advising Russia-backed politicians in Ukraine, and then lying to banks to get loans when the money dried up. He faces 18 felony counts on tax evasion and bank fraud. "I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad," Trump told reporters at the White House. "When you look at what's going on, I think it's a very sad day for our country," he said. "He worked for me for a very short period of time. But you know what, he happens to be a very good person and I think it's very sad what they've done to Paul Manafort." The financial fraud trial is the first courtroom test of the ongoing Russia probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller. While allegations of collusion are still being investigated, evidence of bank fraud and tax evasion unearthed during the probe has cast doubt on the integrity of Trump's closest advisers during the campaign. But Manafort's fate was far from clear. The case calls on the dozen jurors to follow the complexities of foreign bank accounts and shell companies, loan regulations and tax rules. It exposed details about the lavish lifestyle of the onetime political insider, including a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich leather and $900,000 spent at a boutique retailer in New York via international wire transfer. The jury ended its first day of deliberations with a series of questions to the judge, including a request to "redefine" reasonable doubt. The questions came after roughly seven hours of deliberation, delivered in a handwritten note to Ellis. Along with the question on reasonable doubt, the jury asked about the list of exhibits, rules for reporting foreign bank accounts and the definition of "shelf companies," a term used during the trial to describe some of the foreign companies used by Manafort. Ellis told the jurors they need to rely on their collective memory of the evidence to answer most questions. As for reasonable doubt, he described it as "a doubt based on reason" and told jurors it does not require proof "beyond all doubt." Manafort's defense countered that he wasn't culpable because he left the particulars of his finances to others. "When you follow the trail of Mr. Manafort's money, it is littered with lies," prosecutor Greg Andres said in his final argument earlier this week. In his defense, Manafort's attorneys told jurors to question the entirety of the prosecution's case as they sought to tarnish the credibility of Manafort's longtime protege — and government witness — Rick Gates. Prosecutors say Manafort earned some $60 million consulting for the Russia-backed political party in Ukraine, and hid at least $16 million in income from the IRS between 2010 and 2014. They say Manafort declared only some of his foreign income on his federal income tax returns and repeatedly failed to disclose millions of dollars that streamed into the U.S. to pay for luxury items, services and property. ___ AP writers Darlene Superville and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report. Online: https://apnews.com/8b1cea8ba9ba49f98e06c77782add2ba

– Paul Manafort won't learn his fate this week. The jury weighing charges against him has gone home for the day and won't return until Monday. US District Judge TS Ellis III allowed the panel to leave at 5pm because one of the jurors had a scheduled "event" to attend, reports USA Today. Earlier, the judge refused journalists' request to release the names of jurors, with Ellis saying he had received threats and feared they would, too. Also on Friday, President Trump weighed in on his former campaign manager. "I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad," Trump told reporters at the White House, per the AP. "When you look at what's going on, I think it's a very sad day for our country," he said. "He worked for me for a very short period of time. But you know what, he happens to be a very good person and I think it's very sad what they've done to Paul Manafort." The case calls on jurors to follow the complexities of foreign bank accounts and shell companies, loan regulations, and tax rules. It exposed details about the lavish lifestyle of the onetime political insider, including a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich leather and $900,000 spent at a boutique retailer in New York via international wire transfer. The jury ended its first day of deliberations Thursday with a series of questions to the judge, including a request to "redefine" reasonable doubt.

Mitch McConnell Got Everything He Wanted. But at What Cost? Mr. Trump has turned out to be the one thing the Senate Republican leader can’t control. ||||| The corporate and media sites of The New York Times (NYT) experienced a lengthy outage on Wednesday that a source close to the matter said appeared to be caused by a cyber attack, although the newspaper cited a scheduled maintenance update. The outage began around 11:30 a.m. ET and service appeared to be restored at about 1 p.m. ET. The source, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue, said the newspaper had been huddling with outside security professionals to assess the threat. On its official Twitter account, the New York Times said it was “experiencing a server issue that has resulted in our e-mail and Web site being unavailable." The newspaper had said it believed the outage was the result of an "internal issue." New York Times officials said Wednesday afternoon it was "a failure during regular maintenance of NYTimes.com and not the result of a cyberattack." In a note apologizing to customers on its website, the Times said the outage "occurred within seconds of a scheduled maintenance update, which we believe was the cause." The company, which has been the target of Chinese hackers in the past, did not directly respond to multiple requests for comment from FOX Business. Cedric Leighton, a former National Security Agency official, said: "My suspicion leads me to believe that this is not really an internal issue. This is something that goes way beyond that." Leighton said it is "very rare" for an internal issue to cause this kind of damage, although he noted it is possible that someone who has internal access "could have planted malicious code." “Sometimes cyber attacks look like normal server problems. Just like when you’re missing your wallet -- was it theft or absent mindedness?” said Carl Herberger, vice president of security solutions at Radware (RDWR). Other security experts cautioned that the outage could have been caused by an internal issue, perhaps some glitch within a central control system due to the fact that email and websites are often operated on different systems. “There’s a strong likelihood that someone internally [messed] up and also probably as good of a chance that it could have been external,” said Dov Yoran, CEO of malware analysis and threat intelligence firm Threat Grid. Yoran pointed to the “internal” outages experienced by Amazon (AMZN) in 2012, where glitches in one data center caused the cloud application of Amazon and other companies to temporarily go off line. But he said it could take some time to find the precise cause of the Times’ outage. The initial response to a distributed denial of service [DDoS] or similar attacks can sometimes cause websites to go down. Leighton says an external stimulant like malware may be exasperated internally once the victim tries to shut it down. “This isn’t them just flipping something over. You don’t do a systems refresh in the middle of the news day,” said Christopher Bronk, a senior fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute. Both the newspaper, NYTimes.com, and its corporate site, NYTco.com, were down at about 11:30 a.m. ET. The outage, which appeared as "HTTP 503 Service Unavailable," was also reported on Sitedown.co. Shares of the New York Times Co. fell 1.67% to close at $12.05 on Wednesday. It’s not clear who may have been behind the latest apparent intrusion for the Times. “They have obviously been compromised before. It doesn’t take much to rent a botnet and do an attack that just consumes the bandwidth and resources,” said Ron Gula, CEO of cyber-security firm Tenable Network Security and a former National Security Agency official. “Is someone unhappy about an article, the Times itself or the U.S. government and they see the Times as an extension of the government?” said Gula. Website outages of this type have been increasingly common at major consumer websites, including those of U.S. banks like J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC). “Whatever the events of today might be, they are pointing at an environment in which all organizations need to be mindful of the increased risk of cyber attacks,” said Harriet Pearson, a partner at law firm Hogan Lovells. Attacks "can come from inside, they can come from outside. They can be sudden or only detected after a while. The kind of defenses organizations need have to be comprehensive," she said. We are having technical problems on http://t.co/lAgdG2fKQL - please follow @RobertMackey for Twitter updates on Egypt crackdown — NYTimes Lede Blog (@thelede) August 14, 2013 Follow Matt Egan on Twitter @MattMEgan5 Follow Jennifer Booton on Twitter at @Jbooton

– The New York Times website went dark today for about two hours, but all seems back to normal now. The site went down about 11:10am Eastern, and the newspaper issued a tweet blaming an "internal issue, which we expect to be resolved soon." The site came back online about 1:15 pm. Fox Business News quoted an anonymous source who blamed a cyber attack—the site has been hit previously—but the Times later reiterated that it was a routine maintenance issue gone awry. At least staffers kept a sense of humor about the whole thing.

Marjorie Clark, widow of the Army Band bugler known for the so called “Broken Taps” at JFK's funeral, holds a photo of her husband at her home in Lovell, Maine. (Carl D. Walsh/Novus Select) From the hillside grave site in Arlington National Cemetery, Army Sgt. Keith Clark could see John F. Kennedy’s vast funeral cortege crossing Memorial Bridge toward him. He could see the flag-wrapped coffin, the six white horses pulling the caisson, the endless line of black automobiles bearing the world’s dignitaries. He could hear the cadence of the muffled drums. It was Nov. 25, 1963. Clark, 36, the Army bugler assigned to sound taps at the funeral, had been waiting in the cold for hours. A perfectionist and superb musician, he had just played taps for the president on Veterans Day two weeks earlier. Now he had the most important and solitary task of his life: Sound the 24 notes of the venerable melody that would close the nation’s wrenching, four-day farewell to its assassinated president. But the pressure, the cold and the wait told on Sgt. Clark that day 50 years ago this month. A lone, flubbed note played by Keith Clark, the bugler at President John F. Kennedy's funeral, continues to reverberate. The Fold introduces you to the meticulous man behind the brass instrument. (The Washington Post) And with the whole nation and much of the world listening, Clark fumbled the sixth note of taps, which falls on the word “sun” in the lyrics, “Day is done. Gone the sun . . .” Some said it sounded almost like a sob, befitting the moment. Back home, in Arlington, though, his wife and four daughters, watching TV in the basement, let out a groan. Clark went on to finish flawlessly. His flub has gone down in bugling history as the poignant “broken note” of the Kennedy funeral. It was a testament to the anguish of the day, and to the human truth that under duress, even the best can make a mistake. After the funeral, Clark got letters from all over the country, sympathizing. One was from a 9-year-old Ohio boy named Eddie Hunter, who played in a school band. “Anybody is bound to make a tiny mistake in front of millions upon millions of people,” he wrote. Clark, who kept that letter, died in 2002 at the age of 74. On Saturday, family and friends — including Hunter, now 60 — plan to join the U.S. Army Band and 100 buglers to pay tribute to Clark at Arlington Cemetery, where he is buried on a commanding hilltop. It seems a fitting salute, one of his daughters said, to a dedicated musician who, had he nailed taps that day, might be utterly forgotten. “The JFK funeral, the actual funeral ceremony . . . involved some of the most iconic moments of the entire four-day tragedy,” said James Swanson, whose new book, “End of Days,” chronicles the assassination. “One of the most memorable sights and sounds at President Kennedy’s funeral was the broken note of the bugle,” said Swanson, who is scheduled to speak at the Clark commemoration. “That was really the climax of that weekend,” he said. “Nonstop television for four days . . . And after all the words — millions of words by commentators, published in newspapers, published in magazines, the tragedy ends with a single bugle call.” “That broken note sort of symbolized what that weekend meant to the American people,” he said. “It’s like a human cry. It’s like the bugle was weeping. . . . It was really the perfect ending to those four days.” But to Clark and his family, it was a mistake. “My dad had played taps thousands of times, and I mean thousands of times . . . and never missed a note,” said his eldest daughter, Nancy McColley, 64, of Port Charlotte, Fla. He “always strove for perfection.” She said she has a memory of him coming home and flinging his hat in frustration. His wife, Marjorie Clark, 90, remembers the children confronting him, and one saying, “Why did you make a mistake?” Clark, himself, later said: “I missed a note under pressure,” according to a 1988 Associated Press story. “It’s something you don’t like, but it’s something that can happen to a trumpet player.” “You never really get over it,” he said. After the funeral, Clark recalled, Arlington buglers missed the jinxed note regularly. In 1963, Clark was the principal bugler in the Army Band. He was “THE guy, who is to do all the big ceremonies, ” said Jari Villanueva, a retired Air Force bugler and bugle historian. “They always pick the best player, the person who can stand up to the pressure of high-profile events,” he said. Clark played Memorial Day ceremonies, Veterans Day ceremonies. He played at Arlington funerals and at the Tomb of the Unknowns. There, on Nov. 11, 1963, he sounded taps a few feet from President Kennedy — 11 days before the Nov. 22 assassination in Dallas. Clark, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich., “was a prodigy,” Villanueva said. His father was a professional flute player. And Clark attended the University of Michigan and the Interlochen Arts Academy, near Traverse City. He joined the elite, Fort Myer-based Army Band, “Pershing’s Own,” in 1946. He met his wife, and they raised four daughters in Arlington County. Villanueva, who said he interviewed Clark by mail and telephone before he died, said Clark was a devoutly religious man and Sunday school teacher who had a collection of 9,000 hymnals. Indeed, Clark was in his attic library with his collection when his daughter, Sandra Masse, then 10, came home from school and called up the stairs that the president had been shot. Learning of Kennedy’s death, and figuring he might be summoned to duty, Clark immediately went out and got a haircut. But when the tragic weekend passed with no call, he thought funeral organizers might have gotten a Navy bugler because the president had served in the Navy, Villanueva said. Then, at 2:30 a.m. Monday, the day of the funeral, the phone rang at Clark’s home with the orders: He would sound taps at the funeral. Amid the frenzy of making arrangements, organizers didn’t realize until the last minute that they had no bugler. But Clark, a balding man who wore dark horn-rimmed glasses, was ready. When he reported to the cemetery in his dress blue uniform and white gloves, and with his elegant brass bugle, Villanueva said, he was shown an X on the grass where he was to stand. He was alarmed because it was within a few feet of the rifle party, which would be firing practically right in his ears just before he played. Then, he was told he was to play into a microphone. He refused. Villanueva said Clark always played for the widow at a funeral and didn’t like to use a microphone. He began his wait. “His spot is located on the slope below the Custis-Lee Mansion,” Villanueva said. “He’s got the perfect view of what’s happening. He can actually see the Memorial Bridge from there. So you can hear the procession coming. You see the procession coming.” Clark watched the cortege enter the cemetery, Villanueva said. He watched the body bearers lug the mahogany coffin to the grave and heard the gravelly voiced Roman Catholic Cardinal Richard Cushing pray over “our beloved Jack Kennedy.” The deafening rifle volleys were fired, and then it was time for taps. “For any bugler, when the time comes . . . everything stops,” Villanueva said. “Everything becomes very quiet. It is just you.” Clark raised the sparkling bugle with gloved hands and began. Villanueva said Clark often thought at such moments of the Bible verse from St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye . . . the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” When Clark finished playing, he whipped the bugle under his left arm and saluted. ||||| 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.

– Army Sgt. Keith Clark was by all accounts a brilliant bugler, but a big reason his name endures today (in bugle circles, anyway) is because of a famous mistake. The Washington Post explains that Clark very publicly botched the sixth note of the 24-note "Taps" at JFK's Nov. 25, 1963, funeral. It wasn't just any broken note, though: "Some said it sounded almost like a sob, befitting the moment," writes Michael E. Ruane. In his defense, Clark had been waiting to play in the cold for hours—and much of the world was watching. "I missed a note under pressure," he said years later. "You never really get over it." Clark, who died in 2002, got letters of support from all over the country after his flub, and the empathy continues this weekend: On Saturday, the US Army Band and 100 buglers will play at his grave in Arlington. Read Ruane's full story on the note and the bugler here.

A cartoon-like drawing of a robbery suspect widely dubbed the the worst police sketch ever, has, rather incredibly, contributed to an arrest. The sketch depicting a man with an almost perfectly spherical head and a vaguely perplexed expression was panned across social media and online news sites upon release last week. The Lamar County Sheriff’s Department was even forced to defend the fit, asserting that the drawing, created by an experienced police artist, was a composite sketch and not a likeness. The department has however had the last laugh after an officer thought the suspect's description, sketch and crime matched the profile of a local man known to police, eParisExtra.com reports. Glenn Edwin Rundles, 32, from Paris, Texas has now been arrested in connection with the knife point robbery of two women in the area. He had been arrested and bailed on unrelated charges days before the officer spotted the similarities. Rundles is now being held on charges of aggravated robbery, along with indecent exposure, burglary of a habitation, criminal mischief and evading arrest. His bail has been set at $135,000. Here’s the full description given by the victims, which admittedly wasn’t all that much for the artist to go on: “6 foot tall or a little taller, approximately 25 to 30 years old with no or very thin facial hair, and a muscular build. “His nose was straight with no flare in the nostrils. He has short black hair and a round face, with tattoos covering both arms and a tattoo on the left side of his neck.” ||||| The suspect is Glenn Edwin Rundles, 32, who was arrested on Jan. 28 for allegedly robbing two women at knifepoint on Jan. 16, in Paris, Texas, the Houston Chronicle reported. Rundles is being held on charges of aggravated robbery, indecent exposure, burglary of a habitation, criminal mischief and evading arrest when he attempted to escape from the police serving him a second warrant, eParis Extra.com reported. ||||| Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Image 1 of 32 The sketch of the suspect which went viral. (Lamar County Sheriff's Department) The sketch of the suspect which went viral. (Lamar County Sheriff's Department) Image 2 of 32 Glenn Edwin Rundles Check out these other awkward police sketches... (Lamar County Sheriff's Department) Glenn Edwin Rundles Check out these other awkward police sketches... (Lamar County Sheriff's Department) Image 3 of 32 Click through the gallery to see some of the funniest police sketches we've ever seen. Click through the gallery to see some of the funniest police sketches we've ever seen. Photo: Courtesy Image 4 of 32 | Dodgers fan with cold face robs man at gunpoint Rosenberg are asking the public to help identify a suspect who robbed a man at gunpoint Saturday, Jan. 17 at an apartment complex in Rosenberg. (Read More) The robbery occurred about 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot at the 3101 Place Apartments on Vista Drive, according to the Rosenberg Police Department. Police said the victim was taking his daughter out of their car when a man approached him, pulled out a black, long-barreled revolver and demanded money. When the victim complied, the suspect left. Judging by this mugshot, the man is a huge Los Angeles Dodgers fan who frequently has a cold face. For more of the weirdest, most unhelpful or otherwise sketchy police sketches, check out these mugshots ... less Rosenberg are asking the public to help identify a suspect who robbed a man at gunpoint Saturday, Jan. 17 at an apartment complex in Rosenberg. (Read More) The robbery occurred about 6:30 p.m. in the parking ... more Photo: Rosenberg Police Image 6 of 32 The Port Lavaca Police Department says this was a mask the perpetrator was wearing, but we haven't ruled out Satan entirely. The Port Lavaca Police Department says this was a mask the perpetrator was wearing, but we haven't ruled out Satan entirely. Image 7 of 32 This suspect is accused of wearing John Lennon's glasses. This suspect is accused of wearing John Lennon's glasses. Photo: SLPD Image 8 of 32 He's not much to look at, but he is a heck of a dresser. He's not much to look at, but he is a heck of a dresser. Photo: Carl Court, Associated Press Image 9 of 32 Not sure if that's a hood, or a really creepy ear-to-ear smile. Not sure if that's a hood, or a really creepy ear-to-ear smile. Photo: CrimeStoppers Image 10 of 32 This sketch put more detail into the folds of the bandana than any of the few facial details show. Thanks, sketch - you've been very helpful. This sketch put more detail into the folds of the bandana than any of the few facial details show. Thanks, sketch - you've been very helpful. Image 11 of 32 Wonder what's worse: getting caught, or being described with "big love handles" in your police sketch. Wonder what's worse: getting caught, or being described with "big love handles" in your police sketch. Image 12 of 32 So basically Fort Bend County law enforcement is looking for an androgynous being in a druid robe with a neck laceration that could make his/her/its head fall off at any time. So basically Fort Bend County law enforcement is looking for an androgynous being in a druid robe with a neck laceration that could make his/her/its head fall off at any time. Photo: Fort Bend County Crime Stoppers Image 13 of 32 This would not be the photo we'd suggest for this suspect's Match.com profile ... though it does provide lots of extra details. This would not be the photo we'd suggest for this suspect's Match.com profile ... though it does provide lots of extra details. Photo: HPD Image 14 of 32 We're guessing this suspect does a lot of arm wrestling ... and not a lot of eyebrow tweezing. We're guessing this suspect does a lot of arm wrestling ... and not a lot of eyebrow tweezing. Image 15 of 32 Suspect was last seen looking completely ridiculous. Suspect was last seen looking completely ridiculous. Photo: FBI Image 16 of 32 So basically we're looking for someone with eyes. So basically we're looking for someone with eyes. Photo: Houston Police Department Image 17 of 32 This artist didn't make effective use of the amount of paper he had. This artist didn't make effective use of the amount of paper he had. Photo: City Of Galveston Image 18 of 32 This suspect wouldn't stand still in the center of frame while he was being drawn. There's no other explanation for why he's so off-center. This suspect wouldn't stand still in the center of frame while he was being drawn. There's no other explanation for why he's so off-center. Photo: HPD Image 19 of 32 He may be "husky," but at least he's husky and "muscular." He may be "husky," but at least he's husky and "muscular." Photo: Houston PD Image 20 of 32 It's nice to know this guy loves his mom, but was he wearing a hat and had hair on the side of his head, or was he not wearing a hat and had a mohawk? Also, shouldn't the sketch that shows his whole face be the bigger shot, not the one with just his ear? less It's nice to know this guy loves his mom, but was he wearing a hat and had hair on the side of his head, or was he not wearing a hat and had a mohawk? Also, shouldn't the sketch that shows his whole face be the ... more Photo: Harris County SO Image 21 of 32 So you're saying he's a Celtics fans? So you're saying he's a Celtics fans? Photo: Harris County SO Image 22 of 32 He may be a "fat guy" but he's rocking those hipster glasses. He may be a "fat guy" but he's rocking those hipster glasses. Photo: HPD Image 23 of 32 Suspect is described as having a face like an upside-down acorn. Suspect is described as having a face like an upside-down acorn. Photo: Uncredited, Associated Press Image 24 of 32 This well-drawn hipster was in trouble with the law before it was cool. This well-drawn hipster was in trouble with the law before it was cool. Photo: Portland Police Department Image 25 of 32 Police describe this suspect as a "social butterfly." Really. Police describe this suspect as a "social butterfly." Really. Photo: Harris County Sheriff's Office Image 26 of 32 This suspect was described as having a "little beer belly." This suspect was described as having a "little beer belly." Photo: Cody Duty Image 27 of 32 Be on the lookout for anyone wearing a hoodie and glasses, because it's probably the guy. Be on the lookout for anyone wearing a hoodie and glasses, because it's probably the guy. Photo: Handout Image 28 of 32 Suspect is described as heavily airbrushed with one ear three times the size as the other. Suspect is described as heavily airbrushed with one ear three times the size as the other. Photo: FBI Image 29 of 32 It bothers us that the sketch artist decided to make this suspect look so dreamy and then all but dotted the 'i' in her name with a heart. It bothers us that the sketch artist decided to make this suspect look so dreamy and then all but dotted the 'i' in her name with a heart. Photo: HCSO Image 30 of 32 Suspect is described as looking like Winston from "Ghostbusters." Suspect is described as looking like Winston from "Ghostbusters." Photo: Crime Stoppers Image 31 of 32 less The Lamar County Sheriff's Department says that this man –or cartoon, or Muppet, actually, we're not sure from the drawing – robbed two women at knife point earlier this month in Paris, Texas ( full story here ). Hopefully, police have more to go on than this, ahem, "drawing." Check out more of some of the weirdest police sketches and descriptions ever. The Lamar County Sheriff's Department says that this man –or cartoon, or Muppet, actually, we're not sure from the drawing – robbed two women at knife point earlier this month in Paris, Texas ( full story ... more

– The world laughed a few weeks back when the Lamar County Sheriff's Office in Texas issued a sketch of a suspect sought in an armed robbery—because it looked more like a Muppet than a human, explains the Houston Chronicle. (It's either among the "greatest" or the "worst" police sketches of all time, says BuzzFeed and the Independent, respectively.) Well, the world isn't laughing anymore. Or at least, it's not laughing at the sketch artist, just the newly arrested suspect. Police in Paris, Texas, arrested Glenn Edwin Rundles, 32, when an officer familiar with him thought he fit the bill. Rundles is accused of robbing two women at knifepoint, and it was their descriptions that informed the composite sketch. Rundles apparently saw a similarity, too. "He started to try and hide his identity after he saw the sketch in the papers, and even had the tattoo on his neck covered up with another design," says a local deputy.

(CNN) An Illinois park is investigating after a woman accused one of its police officers of standing by as a man harassed her for wearing a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag, saying it was un-American. Mia Irizarry says she was trying to celebrate her 24th birthday in the Forest Preserves of Cook County last month when the man approached her asking her why she was wearing the sleeveless Puerto Rico flag shirt, which also had "Puerto Rico" written below the neckline. Irizarry recorded the encounter on her phone, saying she felt threatened, and posted the video to Facebook. On Monday, Forest Preserves of Cook County tweeted that it was aware of the June 14 incident and video. ‏"After the incident, we immediately launched an investigation pursuant to our personnel policies into the response of our officer," it said, in a series of posts on Twitter. The officer resigned Wednesday, the forest agency said. The investigation into the incident continues, the agency said. Timothy G. Trybus, the reportedly intoxicated individual involved in the incident, was arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct, according to a police report. He is scheduled for his first court appearance August 1, the Cook County Circuit Court said. He will be represented by a public defender, but one has not been assigned to him yet, the public defender's office said. CNN has attempted to reach Trybus for comment. "All people are welcome in the Forest Preserves of Cook County and no one should feel unsafe while visiting our preserves," the agency said. All people are welcome in the Forest Preserves of Cook County and no one should feel unsafe while visiting our preserves. — Forest Preserves (@FPDCC) July 9, 2018 On Tuesday, park spokeswoman Stacina Stagner said investigators will interview the officer this week about the incident. She said the investigation would wrap up soon, but did not elaborate on a timeline. On Wednesday, Cook County Commissioner Jesús "Chuy" García called for elevated hate crime charges against Trybus. "A charge for simple assault or disorderly conduct is not sufficient," García said. "We cannot allow that ugly rhetoric to be the norm in Cook County." CNN has called the state attorney's office for comment on possible consideration of hate crime charges. García said Forest Preserves should speed up its investigation and discipline the officer involved, "up to and including termination." 'Officer, I feel uncomfortable' In the footage, a man can be seen approaching Irizarry saying: "You should not be wearing that in the United States of America." He gets closer to her and asks "Are you a citizen? Are you a United States citizen?" Irizarry can be heard saying that Puerto Rico is part of the United States and the man approaches her multiple times. Irizarry asks a park police officer to help, saying, "I am renting this area and he's harassing me about the shirt that I'm wearing." Later she says: "Officer, I feel entirely uncomfortable, can you remove ... please officer" as the officer is seen walking away from her. Then she says: "Officer, I'm renting, I paid for a permit for this area. I do not feel comfortable with him here, is there anything you can do?" The officer can then be seen talking to the man who gesticulates back and tells him to "shut the f*** up." Female officer steps in More police arrive and Irizarry says she still doesn't feel safe. The man resumes his abuse, saying: "You're not American, if you were American you wouldn't wear that. You know that right?" A female officer asks to see his ID and can be heard telling him that he's intoxicated, to which he replies, "Well that's your judgment." She explains that Irizarry has a permit and she warns him that he could be arrested "for not being compliant." "You don't come here harassing people," the officer continues. "People have just as much right to be here as you and when you're drunk, you don't belong here." The female officer then speaks with Irizarry, who gives her version of the incident and the officer explains that they were called to the area after a report that a man was choking a woman. Eventually the first officer on the scene takes notes of Irizarry's account of the incident and says that he was at the scene due to the separate incident, noting that she was not being attacked though acknowledging she felt threatened. Irizarry can be heard explaining to the officer that the incident began when they had asked the group the man was in if they could move as they had a permit for the area. She said the group politely complied but her Puerto Rico shirt appeared to act as a trigger to the man. JUST WATCHED Gov. Rossello: Harassment due to poor education Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Gov. Rossello: Harassment due to poor education 01:08 Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello was on CNN's Erin Burnett "OutFront" on Tuesday night discussing the incident. He said he was "shocked, appalled and disgusted" when he watched the video. "This was an attack of an American citizen on another American citizen," he said. "Puerto Ricans have been part of the United States and we've been fighting wars with other fellow Americans. We are proud US citizens. People need to understand that." US commonwealth Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth with its own constitution, rather than a state. Puerto Rican residents have been American citizens since 1917 and have the right to vote in US presidential primaries, but not in presidential elections. The Trump administration has received criticism for its treatment of Puerto Rico, particularly for its response after Hurricane Maria struck last September. ||||| CHICAGO (AP) — A park police officer in Chicago has been assigned to desk duty while officials investigate his response to a woman who said she was being harassed for wearing a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag. The woman complained that a man at Caldwell Woods was questioning her citizenship and telling her she shouldn't be wearing the shirt. Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth. Video of the June 14 incident shows the officer didn't respond. More officers arrived and arrested the man, who was described as drunk. Caldwell Woods is part of the Forest Preserves of Cook County. The agency tweeted Monday that an investigation of the officer is ongoing. It says all visitors should feel safe. Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, wants the officer fired.

– A park police officer in Chicago has been assigned to desk duty while officials investigate his response to a woman who said she was being harassed for wearing a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag, the AP reports. Mia Irizarry complained that a man at Caldwell Woods, where she was celebrating her 24th birthday, was questioning her citizenship and telling her she shouldn't be wearing the shirt. Puerto Rico is a US commonwealth. Video of the June 14 incident shows the officer didn't respond. More officers arrived and arrested the man, who was described as drunk. He's been charged with assault and disorderly conduct, CNN reports. Caldwell Woods is part of the Forest Preserves of Cook County. The agency tweeted Monday that an investigation of the officer is ongoing. It says all visitors should feel safe. Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, wants the officer fired.

A year after a video was posted to YouTube showing a man riding a moose, two Fort St. John, B.C., men have been charged under the Wildlife Act. The video, shot from a motor boat, caused an uproar on social media. It shows a moose being chased across a shallow body of water, before a man jumps onto the animal and rides it for 15 seconds before falling off. Others on the boat can be heard laughing. In a Facebook post Thursday, the Conservation Officer Service says that a yearlong investigation has led to two suspects being charged with three counts, including harassing wildlife, attempting to capture wildlife and hunting big game while the animal is swimming. The men were tracked down after the body of water in the video was identified as Tuchodi Lakes near Fort Nelson. The men — who were not named — are due to appear in court in Fort Nelson on Aug. 8. ||||| Conservation Officers have charged two Fort St. John men with harassing wildlife after they filmed themselves jumping onto the back of a moose on a lake near Fort Nelson. In June 2015, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service was forwarded a video of a man jumping from the prow of a boat onto the back of a swimming moose and riding it for several seconds. Wolftracker TV, a conservation group, posted the video on YouTube, generating national media attention. As of this post, the video had more than two million views. article continues below Officers later identified the lake as Tuchodi Lakes north of Fort St. John. Investigators believed the video had been taken the previous summer, based on snowpack on the mountains surrounding the lake. A conservation group, Wolftracker TV, posted the video on YouTube last year, generating a flurry of media attention. - See more at: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/local-news/two-charged-in-moose-rider-incident-1.2291798#sthash.ZICiPIFf.dpuf A conservation group, Wolftracker TV, posted the video on YouTube last year, generating a flurry of media attention. - See more at: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/local-news/two-charged-in-moose-rider-incident-1.2291798#sthash.ZICiPIFf.dpuf A conservation group, Wolftracker TV, posted the video on YouTube last year, generating a flurry of media attention. - See more at: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/local-news/two-charged-in-moose-rider-incident-1.2291798#sthash.ZICiPIFf.dpuf A conservation group, Wolftracker TV, posted the video on YouTube last year, generating a flurry of media attention. - See more at: http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/news/local-news/two-charged-in-moose-rider-incident-1.2291798#sthash.ZICiPIFf.dpuf "As a result of the year-long COS investigation, a report to Crown Counsel was submitted recommending charges against two males from Fort St. John," the service wrote in a release. In a conference call with media June 30, Conservation Officer deputy chief Chris Doyle announced charges had been laid "in the moose rider investigation." The men have been charged with harassing wildlife with the use of a boat, attempting to capture wildlife and "hunting big game that is swimming." The two will appear in Fort Nelson Provincial Court August 8. According to court records, they are Bradley Dale Crook, born 1985, and Jaysun Allan Pinkerton, born 1983. —this is a developing story that will be updated as information becomes available. With files from the Prince George Citizen. ||||| Published on Jun 20, 2015 EXCELLENT NEWS!!! CHARGED In June 2015 the COS received a public complaint relating to a video posted on social media of a male jumping from a boat onto the back of a moose. The COS identified the lake in the video as, Tuchodi Lakes near the town of Fort Nelson, BC. As a result of the year-long COS investigation, a Report to Crown Counsel was submitted recommending charges against 2 males from Fort St. John. The two suspects have now been charged with 3 counts under The Wildlife Act for the following: • S 27(3) harass wildlife with the use of a boat; • S 29 attempt to capture wildlife; and • S 30 hunt big game that is swimming. A First appearance date was set for August 08, 2016 at 14:00 in Fort Nelson Provincial Court. This moron is going to be charged with harassing wildlife. This is what NOT to do. Yes- this has been reported to the CO service

– Perhaps you imagined a man riding a moose was a common sight in Canada. Quite the contrary, it's actually a criminal offense—as two British Columbia men have learned. A year after a video was posted to YouTube showing a man jumping from a boat onto the back of a swimming moose and "riding" it for a few seconds, authorities say they've charged Bradley Crook and Jaysun Pinkerton with harassing wildlife, attempting to capture wildlife, and hunting big game while the animal is swimming, per the Dawson Creek Mirror. The video—in which boaters are heard laughing, and one remarks, "I've never seen something so awesome"—was posted by a conservation group and sparked an uproar on social media, reports the CBC. It has since been viewed 2 million times. During its year-long investigation, BC's Conservation Officer Service says it identified the body of water in the video as Tuchodi Lakes north of Fort St. John, where the accused live. It isn't clear what led police to Crook and Pinkerton, who are due in court on Aug. 8.

HEROINE It took Hannah 13 years to come to terms with what Erlis Chaisson had done to her. That’s when she devised a way to make him pay for his crime. Hannah sat down on a park bench and shared a cigarette with the man who had molested her as a little girl. “Can I have one?” she asked Erlis Chaisson. It was 5 p.m. on a warm September 2014 day in Granbury, Texas, and the 25-year-old woman had asked Chaisson to meet to talk about the years of sexual abuse he inflicted upon her beginning at age 8. “Are you sorry that you did it?” she asked him. “I mean, I understand you’re—you’re putting, trying to put all the blame on me,” Chaisson said, over the sound of water splashing from a nearby fountain. “Lines got crossed. Our emotions got mixed and misread. Didn’t mean for none of it to—to go as far as it did. “The dick has no conscience, and there’s no explanation for it,” he said, as the two sat under an oak tree. “If you had a penis, you would know.” What Hannah did know is that a taped confession could put Chaisson behind bars. The little girl he abused grew up to be a cop, armed with an audio-recorder shoved inside her bra. For protection, she brought a gun and another cop who was parked nearby in a pickup truck. “I’ve always, always wanted to be a detective,” Hannah told The Daily Beast, on the condition she be identified using a pseudonym. “I was fresh out of the academy. It was kind of, ‘If he’s going to talk, he’s going to talk’—how do I prove it? “I thought to myself: I’m the difference between him and prison.” A week earlier, Hannah had gone to McLennan County Sheriff’s Detective Brad Bond to pursue her case against Chaisson. She spoke in painstaking detail of how, over four years, Chaisson, a family member, rubbed his penis in between her legs, performed oral sex on her, and guided her hand up and down his penis. Those descriptions would make it into a police report, then an arrest warrant, and finally a courtroom. After talking to Bond, she hatched the plan to meet with Chaisson. Hannah said she was nervous about whether the sting would go according to plan. What if the wind obscured the confession? What if the recorder came loose or made a noise? “My heart was racing,” Hannah said, but she was also prepared. “We had hand signals and everything,” she said of the other officer, whose truck was within eyesight. It worked. “He was talking like he was talking to his best friend,” she said. “Six times, he confessed—in the first hour and a half of that recording.” Get The Beast In Your Inbox! Daily Digest Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast. Cheat Sheet A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't). By clicking "Subscribe," you agree to have read the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Subscribe Thank You! You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason Chaisson repeatedly implicated himself, telling Hannah, “I always stopped myself before I went too far,” and “It takes two.” He also repeatedly blamed Hannah for what he did. “You need to control your curiosity. I wasn’t supposed to be the friend you played nasty with,” Chaisson said. “I’d be laying on the couch and then you got that look in your eyes,” Chaisson said. “I’d pull the covers up and you’d come run in and jump under there and back up all the way to me. “In the mornings, cuddle up to you, scratch your back… I shouldn’t have put myself in those positions.” Chaisson, who was in his thirties and working as a contractor at the time of the abuse, added, “I mean, anybody would have got confused.” Hannah rarely interjected during the conversation, adding at one point: “I was so little.” “I don’t think it’s fair to blame an 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-, 12-year-old for that because it wasn’t my fault,” she said. “You’d come in my bedroom, though, when I was asleep. That didn’t have to happen.” “I kept you a virgin, didn’t I?” Chaisson said. “Sweetheart, you was young and curious, and I was old enough to know better but too young to care. That’s the only way I can say it.” According to prosecutor Gabrielle Massey, when Chaisson entered Hannah’s life in the mid-1990s, he was already a registered sex offender who’d served time in Louisiana on two counts of molestation of a juvenile. That victim was also 8 years old. “Most people understood what he’d done,” Massey told The Daily Beast, about Chaisson’s life after his first jail term. “Nobody protected children from him.” Chaisson left jail in 1994 and began molesting Hannah about a year later, Massey said. When Hannah was 12, the abuse stopped. By that time, she was living in a community near Waco. “By all accounts, once a girl reaches puberty, he had no desire to molest them again,” Massey said. At Chaisson’s trial last month, Hannah told the jury that her abuse had become a “deep, dark secret” she held in a “closet” for 17 years and had affected her relationships as an adult. Once she sought therapy and became a law-enforcement officer, Hannah said she realized she had to catch him. “My job is in law enforcement. I’m held to a higher standard. I just want to protect people, and how can I do that if I can’t even protect myself?” she said on the stand in 19th State District Court in Waco. “I felt like a weight lifted over my shoulders after I testified the first time,” Hannah told The Daily Beast. “I no longer have to hide the secret or bear the responsibility of it.” Powerful as her testimony was, the recordings were decisive. “I don’t think you can hear that recording—no matter who you are—and have it not have an impact on you,” Massey said. It is unusual, she noted—even for a sex offender—to show no remorse and to speak as blatantly as he did in the recorded conversation. “It’s just a callous acceptance of ‘This is who I am’ and no apology for it.” “We don’t ever get stuff like that,” Det. Bond told The Daily Beast in an interview. “It’s better than a confession. Even when they confess, they don’t give us all of the details. It was even better.” Still, Bond said he wouldn’t encourage ordinary citizens to take the same approach. “With her training and status, and with a fellow officer with her, I felt like we were doing everything we could to ensure her safety,” he added. “Obviously, this is not a situation we would put most victims in,” Massey noted. “But she felt very compelled to go have that conversation with him—this is very extraordinary.” According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, after listening to the recording, jurors last month convicted Chaisson of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency by contact. He was sentenced to life in prison, in addition to two seven-year sentences that Judge Ralph Strother ordered to be served consecutively. (He won’t be eligible for parole for at least 42 years, the Tribune-Herald reports.) One other victim testified during Hannah’s trial, but others came forward to Hannah and to the prosecutors during the McLennan County investigation. “I could spend the rest of my career trying these cases, if I had the jurisdiction,” Massey said. Though Hannah was empowered by her police training to take an active role in catching Chaisson, it was also an emotional decision. “She did struggle with it a whole lot,” Massey said. “This is someone that she loved and cared for and has been part of her family for many, many years. Although she feels relieved, she’s still very sad that it ever had to come to this.” “In our conversation that day in the park, you were right,” Hannah wrote in her victim-impact statement to Chaisson. “You did come into our lives for a reason, and that reason was to fulfill your need for a family and love… But love should not hurt.” ||||| A jury found a registered sex offender guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child. According to McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna, the jury found Erlis J. Chaisson guilty and the punishment phase was underway. The 47-year-old faced one count of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child by contact. The Assistant DA said according to the indictment, Chaisson started abusing the victim in 2000. By that point, he was already a registered sex offender. The Texas Department of Public Safety said he was convicted in 1993 of molesting a girl in Louisiana. Copyright KXXV 2016. All rights reserved.

– A Texas woman molested for four years as a child brought her abuser to justice as a cop more than a decade later, the Daily Beast reports. The unnamed victim says Erlis Chaisson, a family member, started sexually abusing her in the mid-'90s when she was 8 years old. According to KXXV, Chaisson had already been convicted of molesting another 8-year-old girl a few years earlier. In 2014, the victim contacted Chaisson and told him she was going to counseling and wanted to talk about the abuse, the Waco Tribune reports. Chaisson agreed to meet. He didn't know she was a Texas police officer, and he also didn't know she was wearing a wire. Chaisson would confess six times over the first 90 minutes of their conversation. Prosecutors say Chaisson was shockingly forthcoming in his conversation with the victim, which was played in its entirety for jurors. He accused the victim of "trying to put all the blame on me" while simultaneously blaming her for wanting the abuse. He also blamed his own genitals. "The d--- has no conscience," the Daily Beast quotes Chaisson as saying on the recording. "If you had a penis, you would know." The victim says her "heart was racing" during Chaisson's confession. "He was talking like he was talking to his best friend," she says. Because it wasn't his first such offense, a jury sentenced the 47-year-old Chaisson to life in prison last month. (Hundreds of doctors keep practicing after sexually abusing patients.)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In one of the stranger chapters of Mexico's drug war, angry people in a southern town kidnapped the mother of a gang leader to demand the release of their loved ones. The government of Guerrero state said Tuesday that it was sending about 220 soldiers and police to try to defuse the situation in Totolapan. The town has been controlled for years by a drug gang boss whose proper name is Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, but who is better known as "El Tequilero." De Alamonte has lived up to his nickname, which translates roughly as "The Tequila Drinker." In his only known public appearance, he was captured on video drinking with the town's mayor-elect. De Alamonte mumbles inaudibly and has to be held up in a sitting position by one of his henchmen. In recent months, his gang - also known as the Tequileros -has been fighting turf battles with other gangs in the area. Last week, the Tequileros allegedly kidnapped several inhabitants of Totolapan who they wanted to extort or whom they suspected of supporting a rival. In response, a few dozen men appeared this week in the streets of Totolapan waving shotguns and hunting rifles. In a video, the men carry banners calling for action against El Tequilero and identify themselves as a "self-defense" force, as vigilantes are known in the region. "We urgently demand the release of the kidnap victims," a masked man says in a statement read on the video. "We are a legitimate self-defense force of the people." Among the Tequileros' kidnap victims was a local construction engineer, Isauro de la Paz Duque, who was snatched on Sunday by men who had threatened to kill him. On Monday, a woman who identified herself as De la Paz Duque's wife said on a video that townspeople had El Tequilero's mother and would exchange the woman for her husband. "We have your mother here, Mr. Tequilero," she said. "I propose an exchange: I'll give you your mother if you give me my husband, but I want him safe and sound." The state government said in a statement that a negotiating team had been sent to establish contact with the family of the missing engineer and the vigilantes and to set up a search team. "The goal of the team is to ensure that no injury is done to the missing person, nor to the mother of the head of the Tequileros gang, who has apparently been taken by the self-defense forces," the statement said. The government later confirmed that about five of the two dozen people being held by the vigilantes had been freed, but those freed did not include the gang boss' mother. After hours of negotiations with a committee of townspeople, the government agreed to have state police oversee the exchange of the mother, identified as "Mrs. Felix del Monte," for the kidnapped engineer. The townspeople also agreed to turn over their remaining captives — all suspected members of the gang — to police, with the understanding they would be investigated or charged. In late November, the Guerrero government said El Tequilero was believed to have been wounded and was hiding out with his kidnap victims in the mountains. The state attorney general headed an extensive manhunt using helicopters and troops on the ground in an unsuccessful effort to locate the gang leader. The area is a hotbed of drug trafficking, killings and extortion. It is the foot of the mountains that produce much of Mexico's opium poppy crop. Totolapan is considered so dangerous that many outlying hamlets in the township have been abandoned by fearful residents. In 2014, the battered body of the parish priest, the Rev. Ascension Acuna Osorio, was found floating in the Balsas river near the town. The emergence of vigilante groups, also known as self-styled "community police," has become a headache for Guerrero's government. Authorities say they understand residents' frustration but note the groups often wind up kidnapping suspects, fighting among themselves or preventing police from doing their work. "The truth is, they are not really community forces, nor are they police," Gov. Hector Astudillo said earlier. "They are armed groups that unfortunately carry out acts ... that generate more violence and confrontation, rather than help." On Tuesday, Astudillo said, "This is something that has to end — that every time somebody gets the idea into their head of kidnapping somebody, they kidnap them." ||||| Residents of another Guerrero town arm themselves against crime gang Residents of a town in Guerrero declared themselves in self-defense mode on Sunday and by Monday they had nabbed the mother of a crime gang leader. ADVERTISEMENT “We’ve got his mom,” said the wife of an engineer who was kidnapped late Sunday afternoon in Valle de Luz, where citizens promptly rallied in response and declared they would mount an armed defense against the Tequileros gang, notorious for kidnappings and other crimes. The wife of Isauro de Paz Duque told a press conference that the gang had threatened to kill her husband, but “we have his mother here, the mother of the man called El Tequilero.” She offered to exchange Raybel Jacobo de Almonte’s mother for her husband before tearfully accusing Guerrero Governor Héctor Astudillo of turning a blind eye to crime in the municipality and declaring him responsible. De Almonte has been wanted by authorities since a mass kidnapping took place three weeks ago in Ajuchitlán del Progreso. The gang, which split from the Beltrán Leyva cartel, is relatively new, but its leader is a suspect in the 2014 assassination of a San Miguel Totolapan councilor. Valle de Luz, located in the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan, is not the first community to rise up in arms against the gang. San Jerónimo El Grande did the same last month. ADVERTISEMENT Following Sunday’s rally, residents rounded up several people they accuse of collaborating with the gang, along with the alleged mother of its boss and a municipal councilor, and occupied the local police offices. A sign at the rally contained a message addressed to the governor and President Enrique Peña Nieto advising that the town was tired of the executions, kidnappings and extortion carried out by Los Tequileros. “. . . today we have decided to defend our families and our lives and our property with our own hands.” Source: Milenio (sp), Reforma (sp) Stories from our archives that you might enjoy

– The way to a Mexican gang leader's heart isn't his stomach—it's his mom. At least, that's what vigilantes in a Mexican town in southern Guerrero state are banking on, holding hostage the mother of drug kingpin Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, aka "El Tequilero," as well as about two dozen other people thought to be in his gang, the AP reports. The ongoing incident in the municipality of San Miguel Totolapan has included mass kidnappings of Totolapan residents by de Almonte's gang, including Sunday's abduction of engineer Isauro de la Paz Duque. "We have your mother here, Mr. Tequilero," de la Paz Duque's wife said on a video Monday. "I propose an exchange: I'll give you your mother if you give me my husband, but I want him safe and sound." Five of the townspeople's abductees have reportedly been freed already, though de Almonte's mother doesn't appear to be one. The vigilantes took to the street Sunday waving guns and anti-de Almonte banners, per a video. "We urgently demand the release of the kidnap victims," a masked man says. "We are a legitimate self-defense force of the people." By Monday, de Almonte's mother had been abducted, Mexico News Daily reports. But though officials understand that residents are fed up with crime, they're discouraging the rogue assistance. "[These] are armed groups that unfortunately carry out acts … that generate more violence and confrontation," Guerrero Gov. Hector Astudillo tells the AP. "This is something that has to end—that every time somebody gets the idea into their head of kidnapping somebody, they kidnap them." A government team has convinced the vigilantes to let them manage the swap of de Almonte's mom for de la Paz Duque, as well as to release remaining hostages to the cops. (A massive abduction took place at an upscale Mexican restaurant.)

TORONTO (AP) — Mike Tyson directed an expletive-filled rant at a Canadian television anchor in a live interview Wednesday after the host brought up the former heavyweight champion's conviction for sexual assault. CP24 news anchor Nathan Downer asked Tyson about his meeting with Toronto's scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford, who recently returned to work after a rehab stint. Ford is seeking re-election. Downer asked: "Some of your critics would say, 'There's a race for mayor. We know you're a convicted rapist. This could hurt his campaign.' How would respond to that?" Tyson calls Downer negative before saying, "It's so interesting, you come off like a nice guy," then insulting the anchor with a string of profanity. Downer then puts up his hands and says "Hey, come on. We're doing live TV now." Tyson responds: "I don't care. What are you going to do about it?" Downer then asks Tyson about his one-man show "Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth." Tyson appeared on CP24 with the Canadian promoter of the show. Tyson tells Downer the show it "speaks for itself" before the promoter talks about it. Downer then asks Tyson if it is more nerve-wracking appearing on stage than boxing. Tyson responds that it's more nerve-wracking appearing on the news show before insulting him again. "Come on, Mike," Downer responds. Tyson insults him again before Downer wraps up the interview and thanks Tyson for coming as Tyson swears at him. Tyson served three years of a six-year sentence in the 1990s for raping a teenage beauty-pageant contestant. In a tweet after the incident, Downer said it was unfortunate his question hurt Tyson's feelings and that it wasn't his intention. "I'm okay everybody," Downer tweeted. Downer apologized for the language and followed that up with another tweet. "No ill will toward Mike Tyson. He lashed out at me and that's okay. Not taking it personally." ||||| Mayor Rob Ford has found himself a new spokesman for his “nobody’s perfect” redemption narrative: former boxing champion Mike Tyson. Tyson, who has been convicted of rape and other crimes, met with Ford for more than 40minutes in the mayor’s city hall office on Tuesday afternoon. When they emerged, Tyson offered a full-throated defence of a man he called “the best mayor in Toronto’s history.” Former boxer Mike Tyson, in Toronto to perform his one-man show, drops in on Rob Ford on Tuesday afternoon. ( Keith Beaty / Toronto Star ) Ford returned the favour — praising, defending and likening himself to an eccentric fighter with a face tattoo who famously bit off part of an opponent’s ear. “We’re cut from the same cloth,” Ford said. “There’s no nonsense. I respect him.” When a reporter asked about Tyson’s past, Ford returned to his familiar refrain: “And you guys are perfect?” He said he has “idolized” Tyson since he was a teenager. Article Continued Below The bizarre hallway spectacle, which attracted both Ford supporters and Tyson fans, took place during a mayoral election campaign in which Ford’s rivals have accused him of turning city hall into a “circus” and spending more time acting like a “celebrity” than leading the city. Five participants in the Rob Ford Must Go sit-in outside the mayor’s office pointedly turned their backs on the journalists who waited for Tyson’s arrival. They expressed displeasure with both the coverage and the Ford-Tyson summit itself. Tyson was convicted of rape in 1992 and assault in 1998. He pleaded guilty in 2007 to cocaine possession and driving under the influence. His ex-wife, Robin Givens, has accused him of domestic violence; he has not been convicted. “We’re welcoming a rapist and a wife-beater to city hall with open arms, and he’s banned in the U.K. for those charges. It’s just not acceptable to me,” said protester Carmen Celestini. Ford was asked earlier in the day whether he has any qualms about meeting with someone who has been convicted of rape. He said: “I’m not going to comment on his personal life.” Many of Tyson’s remarks echoed Ford’s own talking points of past and present. Tyson said “we all make mistakes,” that Ford has “overcome adversity,” and that Ford has a troubled past only because he has been under “24-hour surveillance” by the media. “He’s a human being,” Tyson told a reporter. “We have no idea what you do behind closed doors, what your habits are.” Article Continued Below Tyson said he doesn’t know “anything” about Ford’s history of racial slurs. He joked about the violent caught-on-video Ford tirade in which Tyson’s name is mentioned by someone off camera as Ford threatens to kill an unnamed adversary. Tyson is in town to perform his one-man show, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night. According to Ford, Tyson requested the 2 p.m. meeting. “I’ve just never met the man before, and interested in seeing what he has to say,” Ford said. Ford has met at city hall with comedian Dave Chappelle, Toronto rapper Snow, banned-for-life former sprinter Ben Johnson, and Trailer Park Boys actor Sam Tarasco, who hosts a marijuana-smoking show. He also used the Johnson meeting to promote his message of second chances.

– Just one day after a meeting in which Mike Tyson gushed that Rob Ford was "the best mayor in Toronto’s history," according to the Toronto Star, the former boxing champ took a different attitude with a Canadian TV anchor who asked a touchy question, the AP reports. CP24's Nathan Downer asked Tyson about his meeting with Ford before dropping his Q-bomb: "Some of your critics would say, 'There's a race for mayor. We know you're a convicted rapist. This could hurt his campaign.' How would [you] respond to that?'" Tyson's retort, notes the Star: "It's so interesting that you come across as a nice guy, but you're really a piece of s---." Downer later tweeted, "I'm OK everybody. [Unfortunately] my question hurt Mike Tyson's feelings. That was not my [intention]."

Published on Dec 20, 2013 n a time when beauty is defined by supermodels, success is defined by wealth, and fame is deified by how many followers you have on social media, Lizzie Velasquez asks the question how do you define yourself? Once labeled, "The Worlds Ugliest Woman," Lizzie decided to turn things around and create her own definitions of what she defines as beauty and happiness. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in local community. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I Choose To Be Happy Lizzie Velasquez at TEDxYouth@Austin http://youtu.be/sohGDfNQV7M ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tweet Me: https://twitter.com/littlelizziev Instagram: @littlelizziev Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/user/lizzitach... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fan Mail P.O Box 150096 Austin, TX 78715-0096 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Royalty Free Music by http://audiomicro.com/royalty-free-music Sound Effects by http://audiomicro.com/sound-effects ||||| A woman who was bullied for the way she looks is the focus of a new film that premieres at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas on Saturday. What started as a search for music online - purely homework procrastination - would change Lizzie Velasquez's life. She was 17 when she stumbled across a YouTube video entitled "The World's Ugliest Woman". What she didn't expect was that the woman featured in the video would be her. It was an eight-second clip and had been watched over four million times. She didn't realise it was her until it started playing. "I was shocked," Velasquez recalls, "but it wasn't until I started to read the comments that my stomach really sank." "Why would her parents keep her?!" read one of the comments, "kill it with fire" said another. And they continued on and on. Some commentators said she should kill herself, and one said people would go blind if they saw her on the street. Velasquez couldn't help but read every comment, and she says there were thousands. "I cried for many nights - as a teenager I thought my life was over," she says. "I couldn't bring myself to talk to anybody about it, I didn't tell any of my friends, I was just so shocked that it had happened." Velasquez was already used to being bullied daily for the way she looks. Born with two rare conditions - Marfan and lipodystrophy - she is unable to gain weight, no matter how much she eats. When she started kindergarten she remembers how classmates recoiled from her, afraid. Now 26 she is 5ft 2in and weighs about 60lbs (27kg). She is totally blind in her right eye and visually impaired in the other, and was in and out of hospital growing up with a number of health problems - eye surgery, ear surgery, complete foot reconstruction, bone density tests, and a number of blood tests as doctors tried to decipher what her condition was. It wasn't until last year that they managed to put a name to it. She lacks energy at times because of her conditions, and takes a long time to fight off infections such as bronchitis. She is currently undergoing heart scans to determine whether or not Marfan syndrome has caused any defects, and she was admitted to hospital in November unable to keep down food due to a problem with her oesophagus. She also has a recurring problem with her right foot which easily fractures due to a lack of fat on the sole, but is adamant she doesn't let it get her down. "When I was a teenager I would look in the mirror and wish I could wash away my syndrome," she says. "I hated it because it caused so much pain in my life. Being a 13-year-old girl who is constantly picked on is unbearable." When she was born, Velasquez, from Texas, weighed just 2lb 10oz (1.2kg) and doctors told her parents that, in all probability, they would have to take care of her for the rest of her life and didn't know what her life expectancy was. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A woman who was bullied for the way she looks becomes an online celebrity Full of instant love for their daughter, Velasquez's parents, Rita and Lupe, say they never thought "why is this happening to us", and just wanted to get her home, to start her life. It's because of this attitude that Velasquez credits her parents entirely for her ability to think positively when she was being bullied at school or stared at and mocked in the streets. As a child they told her to go to school with her head held high, smile, and be nice to everyone, no matter how they treated her. It's a message that has stuck and she says now that she happily forgives the person who posted that YouTube video nine years ago. "I don't know what they're going through," she says. "While my life may be hard at times, they could be going through something much worse." Velasquez decided she could try to make a change. She started her own YouTube channel to let people know who the person behind the "World's Ugliest Woman" video really was, and to teach others they, too, could be confident in their own skin. Image copyright James Ambler/Barcroft USA Image caption Doctors didn't know what Lizzie Velasquez's condition was when she was born She currently has about 240,000 subscribers to her channel and a TED talk she was subsequently asked to give in Austin in 2013 entitled "How do you define yourself?" has over seven million views on YouTube. She says that the community that has built up around her online presence has been amazing, and she sees people posting comments who have been bullied saying she makes them feel able to seek help, speak to somebody, or stand up to the bullies. Going further, she has teamed up with Tina Meier whose daughter Megan took her own life after being bullied online, and together they are campaigning US Representatives of Congress to vote for the first federal anti-bullying bill. It would mean that all schools would have to start recording every instance of bullying and would be provided with funds to put towards anti-bullying efforts. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Lizzie received positive praise for her TED talk And now Velasquez's life and anti-bullying work is the focus of a new documentary due to premiere at SXSW. Sara Hirsh Bordo, the director of the film, says that it is not just about Velasquez's story but is a universal story, for everybody who has been bullied. "Her experience of triumphing adversity and making it to the other side of a painful experience is universal," she says. "As soon as Lizzie became more open and honest - whether it was her TED talk or her YouTube videos - it was clear that people were thirsty for a story where somebody stands up and says I'm not going to be a victim, I'm going to make a change." A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story premieres at SXSW on 14 March. Follow @BBCOuch on Twitter and on Facebook, and listen to our monthly talk show ||||| Clear all videos from this list

– "I thought everyone looked like me." That's how Lizzie Velasquez viewed herself growing up—until she was 17 and accidentally found a terrible video on YouTube. It was an eight-second clip of her entitled "The World's Ugliest Woman," and to her horror it had more than 4 million views and what she says were thousands of nasty comments, the BBC notes. "Why would her parents keep her?!" one reportedly read. "Kill it with fire," another commenter posted. It was in that moment that Velasquez, who has two rare conditions known as Marfan syndrome and lipodystrophy, realized how different she was perceived to be. "I cried for many nights," she says, per the BBC. "As a teenager, I thought my life was over." Far from it: Today, at the age of 26, Velasquez is an anti-bullying advocate and the subject of A Brave Heart, a documentary that debuted over the weekend at the SXSW festival. Velasquez's conditions have caused physical problems throughout her life, including an inability to gain weight (she's now 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 60 pounds or so), blindness in one eye and limited vision in the other, fatigue, and difficulty getting over sickness, the BBC reports. And the discovery of the YouTube video was painful—but the positive attitude her parents instilled in her helped her move past the hurt and even forgive the person who put the video up. Now Velasquez has her own YouTube channel with close to a quarter-million subscribers, has given a TED talk on defining your own beauty, and has joined with the mom of Megan Meier—a teen who killed herself after being bullied online—to lobby Congress for a federal anti-bullying bill. "Her experience of triumphing adversity and making it to the other side of a painful experience is universal," the director of A Brave Heart tells the broadcaster.

As Democrats neared completion on a health care reform bill, Senate Republicans launched an offensive Wednesday to stall the debate, signaling their intent to use every procedural tool necessary to prevent passage before Christmas. Senate Republicans forced the Senate clerk to read a 767-page amendment establishing a government-financed health care system, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) – but Sanders cut off the reading in the third hour by withdrawing his bill. “We want to do what can to defeat the bill,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), a member of the Senate Republican leadership. "We are going to do everything we can in terms of the rights we have to stop the bill from passing." Sanders criticized Republicans for “trying to bring the United States government to a halt." The GOP move appeared to be the opening shot in a Republican attempt to delay the bill past Christmas. And while Democrats were able to halt the reading by pulling Sanders’ amendment, they won’t be to do the same when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) presents an amendment containing a compromise he hopes will win 60 votes. Sanders offered the amendment and asked to dispense with the reading of it, which is almost always agreed to by unanimous consent. But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) objected - it takes only one senator - forcing the reading. Sanders called it a "bit absurd" that Coburn was objecting. And Coburn insisted he wasn't intentionally stalling the bill. "We're going to understand what single payer is all about and read the bill," he said. Coburn’s move would have prevented senators from offering, debating or voting on any other amendments. While it might seem like the reading would set back efforts to finish the bill by Christmas, the timetable doesn't really depend on what happens on the floor. It depends entirely on Reid's ability to reach a compromise on the bill that can pick up 60 votes to thwart any filibuster. Before forcing the reading, Coburn asked to certify that every senator has read and understands the bill. But Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said it would be impossible for the Senate to certify that all its members understand the bill. Sanders called it a "a stalling tactic on the part of Republicans." "Sen. Coburn is so impressed by the Medicare-for-all, single-payer program that he apparently feels all the people of our country have to hear every single word for the next many, many hours about how the single payer program would be the only way to bring universal, comprehensive, cost-effective health care to all Americans," he said. " I really do appreciate his desire to make Americans know this. I think he may have overdone it a bit." Reid has a tight timeline if he hopes to pass the bill by Christmas. Under the rosiest scenario, he needs to begin taking the procedural steps by Friday to end the debate – and it would still take until Dec. 23 or 24 until the bill reaches final passage. This scenario depends on whether Reid receives a cost analysis from the Congressional Budget Office within the next day, which is not guaranteed. Undecided senators have said they need to review the analysis before committing their vote. But as Wednesday’s event signified, Republicans do not intend to cooperate. They can also force a reading of the “manager’s amendment,” which will include the compromise that Reid struck in order to win 60 votes. It is likely to be a lengthy document, as well. Thune would not say whether Republicans planned to force more readings. “I do think we are aware of what those opportunities and options are for us,” he said. “And the goal here is to defeat this thing.” Reid told reporters that the forced reading of the bill is having a side effect: it is slowing down the Senate’s efforts to get to a Pentagon spending bill. He said that Sanders was prepared to take a voice vote on the amendment, and also insisted that the bill would get out of the Senate this year. “We’re going to finish this bill before we leave here, and everybody knows that, Democrats know it. I think the Republicans are beginning to realize I,” Reid said. “It’s just too bad that they are using these types of things, but I accept it, I’m not complaining, I just think it shows the American people how they’ve been stalling for all these months – now they’re holding up the defense bill as we’re waiting to get that from the House.” -- Carrie Budoff Brown, Chris Frates and Manu Raju comments closed permalink ||||| Heeeeeeeere we go. Right now in the Senate chamber, GOP delay tactics on the Democratic health care reform bill are in full swing. The Senate clerk is reading out aloud the text of an amendment by Sen. Bernie Sanders that would insert a single-payer system into the health care bill. The process of verbally entering amendments into the official record is typically waived, but a senator – in this case Republican Sen. Tom Coburn – can force it to happen. The Sanders amendment is particularly long at 767 pages. I think it might actually be the longest amendment offered so far, making it a prime target for Republicans looking for a way to slow down Democratic process on the health care bill. That Coburn is using the rules of the Senate against the Democrats should come as no surprise. As Mark Leibovich reported in the New York Times in October: As the health care overhaul heads to the Senate floor, Mr. Coburn is preparing for what he considers a career pinnacle of havoc. Enacting the proposal, he says, would be catastrophic, and so if precedent holds, he will try to hinder it with every annoying tool in his arsenal: filing amendments (he has done that 508 times since joining the Senate, second only to John McCain’s 542 in that period), undertaking filibusters and objecting strenuously. “When it comes to obstructing bills, he is part of a very tiny pantheon in the history of the Senate,” said Ross Baker, a Senate historian at Rutgers University. To Mr. Coburn, charges of obstructionism are a mark of honor he will wear as proudly as ever in the coming weeks. “My mission is to frame this health care debate in terms of the fiscal ruin of this country,” said the 61-year-old Mr. Coburn, who recently railed on the Senate floor that the federal debt was “waterboarding” his five grandchildren. “I have instructed my staff to clear my schedule for every minute that bill is on the floor.” The Sanders single payer provision is a “message amendment” that has no chance of passing, but it’s what some left-wingers consider ideal health care reform, which also makes it an ideal target for GOP obstructionism. The clerk started reading the amendment at 12 p.m. EST and is now on page 40. Guesses on when the Senate might get back to regular business?

– Pity the poor Senate clerk's office, which finds itself at the center of parliamentary games. Staffers spent nearly three hours today reading aloud an amendment—a move forced by Republican Tom Coburn to gum up the works—before independent Bernie Sanders angrily yanked it back. They had gotten only to page 139 of the 767-page measure, which included phrases such as "maxillofacial region" and "dental prophylaxis." The move may just be the beginning of the delaying tactics by the GOP, reports Politico. The Sanders amendment, which would have inserted a single-payer system into the bill, had no chance of passing, notes Time. But Democrats won't have the luxury of pulling back Harry Reid's eventual offering if Republicans force that to be read aloud.

Claims that US diplomats suffered mysterious brain injuries after being targeted with a secret weapon in Cuba have been challenged by neurologists and other brain specialists. A medical report commissioned by the US government, published in March, found that staff at the US embassy in Havana suffered concussion-like brain damage after hearing strange noises in homes and hotels, but doctors from the US, the UK and Germany have contested the conclusions. In four separate letters to the Journal of the American Medical Association, which published the original medical study, groups of doctors specialising in neurology, neuropsychiatry and neuropsychology described what they believed were major flaws in the study. Cuba says 'undefined sounds' at home left US embassy official feeling ill Read more Among the criticisms, published on Tuesday, are that the University of Pennsylvania team which assessed the diplomats misinterpreted test results, overlooked common disorders that might have made the workers feel sick, or dismissed psychological explanations for their symptoms. Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania defended their report in a formal response in the journal, but the specialists told the Guardian they stood by their criticisms. The US withdrew more than half of its Havana diplomats last year and expelled 15 Cubans after 24 embassy staff and family reported a bizarre list of symptoms, ranging from headaches, dizziness and difficulties in sleeping, to problems with concentration, balance, vision and hearing. Many said their symptoms developed after they heard strange noises, described as cicada-like chirps, grinding, or the buffeting caused by an open window in the car. The accounts led Washington to claim the diplomats had been victims of “acoustic attacks”, though an FBI investigation found no evidence that sonic weapons were involved. Physicists have voiced doubts that such weapons were even feasible. At the request of the US government, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania ran checks on 21 diplomats and investigated six with a further 37 tests. Led by Doug Smith, the director of the university’s centre for brain injury, the team concluded that the patients had concussion-like injuries caused by damage to “widespread brain networks”. The state department now cites the medical report on its travel advice pages and urges people to reconsider visiting Cuba. The doctors who contacted the journal disagreed with the diagnosis. Robert Shura, a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist at Salisbury veterans affairs medical centre in North Carolina, and two colleagues, said Smith’s team had misinterpreted cognitive tests performed on the diplomats. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Doctors said Smith’s team too easily dismissed functional neurological disorders such as “acoustic shock”, which affects telephone operators who hear sudden loud noises in their headsets. Photograph: Lauren Hurley/PA It is standard practice to compare people’s scores on such tests with others in the population. A score in the bottom 5% would typically mean there is a problem. But Shura pointed out that the diplomats were found to be “impaired” if they scored in the bottom 40% in any one of the tests. In their letter, the doctors said it was “inappropriate” to conclude that any of the patients were impaired. “It is more likely than not that all six of the patients whose data are reported had normal neuropsychological profiles,” Shura told the Guardian. Other specialists have published the same criticism. In another letter, doctors including Gerard Gianoli from the Ear and Balance Institute in Louisiana argued that the test results pointed to inner ear damage rather than concussion and called for more thorough testing. “Given that almost all of the patients complained of hearing loss and balance problems, I am extremely suspicious of an inner ear insult in this group of patients,” Gianoli said. “I do wish they would be more thoroughly evaluated.” Cuba ‘sonic attack’ conspiracy theories and flawed science | Letter Read more In a third letter to the journal, Jon Stone, a consultant neurologist, and Alan Carson, a consultant neuropsychiatrist, both at the University of Edinburgh, argue with Stoyan Popkirov, a neurologist in Bochum, that Smith’s team too easily dismissed so-called functional neurological disorders. These can be triggered by sudden noises which, combined with anxiety and heightened attention, lead to real and persistent neurological problems. One such disorder is the “acoustic shock” that affects telephone operators who hear sudden loud noises in their headsets. “Functional neurological disorders are common genuine disorders that can affect anyone, including hardworking diplomatic staff,” the doctors wrote. In a further letter, Robert Bartholomew, an Auckland-based expert on mass psychogenic illness, argued that Smith’s team failed to rule out a psychological explanation for the sickness affecting the diplomats. Mass psychogenic illness arises in stressful situations, but can start slowly and last for months and years, he wrote, and often features neurological symptoms. “There are several cases in the annals of mass psychogenic illness that parallel the audio perceptions and symptoms reported in the Cuban embassy subjects,” he said. In response, the University of Pennsylvania team stood by their report, adding that they did not have room to give full details of every test they performed. More brain scans are underway in the hope that the images will “identify structural brain changes that may underlie the neurological manifestations”, they wrote. Smith did not respond to a request for comment. ||||| Ten scientists have published letters in the Journal of the American Medical Association criticizing the first medical review of the US diplomats in Cuba who were reportedly targets of a “sonic attack.” In letters published by JAMA on Tuesday, the scientists complained that the authors of a February study in the journal failed to include “mass hysteria” as one of the possible causes of the symptoms that the diplomats reported. Such “mass psychological outbreaks” usually take place in high-stress environments, and all involved begin exhibiting the similar, real physical symptoms. The critics also said the study’s authors did not include information on whether the diplomats had known one another, and included no testing on hearing and balance — even though “a presumed sonic weapon attack would affect the inner ear more preferentially than any other part of the body, including the brain.” The inner ear is critical to balance. The letters are the latest broadside in what has become a contentious scientific battle that has raged since the Trump administration first used the reports of “sonic attacks” on diplomats in Cuba to justify withdrawing diplomats from the island, expelling Cuban diplomats from Washington, cutting back on contacts between the United States and Cuba, and advising US citizens not to travel to the island. Some scientists challenged the State Department’s assertions that some sort of sonic attack was responsible for the vague symptoms diplomats complained of, including hearing loss and cloudy thinking, and the US government eventually stopped using the word “attack” to describe what took place. But the US also declared that Havana was too dangerous to allow diplomats’ families to live there. The February JAMA article was touted as the first scientific assessment of the evidence. In it, University of Pennsylvania researchers ruled out a sonic attack, neurological illness from a tropical virus, or poisoning as possible explanations. Rather, the 21 individuals they examined showed a “constellation” of symptoms that suggested concussions, without the head trauma. “If you didn’t know their history, they would look to you like other concussion patients,” the study’s lead author, Randel Swanson, told BuzzFeed News at the time. The study also said they displayed cognitive dysfunction and abnormalities. The letters published Tuesday were all critical of the authors’ conclusions. Written by physicians and researchers from a variety of states and nations, the letters questioned the assessment, saying the authors had not done critical tests and had improperly interpreted the results of cognitive tests. Crucially, according to one expert, the Penn team had failed to consider evidence that the illness could be a form of a mass psychological outbreak — for which there is no immediate external cause. Robert Bartholomew, an American-born medical sociologist at Botany Downs Secondary College in New Zealand, and a main proponent of the idea that diplomats were or are suffering a psychological outbreak, argued that the authors of the study were unduly dismissive of “mass psychogenic illness,” also known as “mass hysteria,” because there was no rapid onset and recovery. “However,” Bartholomew wrote, “the second most common type of mass psychogenic illness begins slowly and persists for months or years and often features neurological symptoms.” Bartholomew also criticized the study’s lack of “social network analysis” — determining whether patients actually knew one another. For a mass psychological outbreak to occur, the individuals involved would have needed to know one another; the study notes that some of the individuals involved did not know one another. But Bartholomew said relying on the patients for that information was inadequate since the study took place 203 days after the first victims reported their symptoms. They may have misremembered contacts, or, he argues, the patients didn’t actually need to know one another personally. They only needed to know others were ill. Earlier this year, a US government employee in China reported similar symptoms, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the two cases were “very similar and entirely consistent.” Other scientists and doctors — from Edinburgh, UK; Bochum, Germany; Salisbury, North Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Covington, Louisiana; and New Brunswick, New Jersey — wrote in too. Gerard Gianoli and James Soileau of the Ear and Balance Institute in Covington, joined by P. Ashley Wackym of Rutgers University's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, noted that the study didn’t include testing on hearing and balance, even though “a presumed sonic weapon attack would affect the inner ear more preferentially than any other part of the body, including the brain.” Robert Shura and Holly Miska of the Salisbury Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Jason Kacmarski of the Veterans Affairs Eastern Colorado Health Care System criticized the study for what they said was its “improper interpretation of objective cognitive test results.” They write that the University of Pennsylvania researchers chose a more “liberal cutoff” to define impairment than would normally be used in research settings. Their conclusion that the patients “had significant areas of cognitive weakness and/or impairment,” they write, is based on a “misapplication of common interpretive classification systems.” The letters also challenged the idea that a disorder or mass psychogenic illness is somehow less real or more the fault of the individuals involved than, say, a concussion. “Although diagnostic caution is warranted, functional neurological disorders are common genuine disorders that can affect anyone,” wrote Jon Stone and Alan Carson of Edinburgh and Stoyan Popkirov of Bochum, adding, “including hardworking diplomatic staff.” In a response published in JAMA immediately below the letters, the University of Pennsylvania team defended its work, writing that the chronic symptoms they found “are entirely different” from those seen in mass psychogenic disorders. They also said they “must continue to withhold certain sensitive information,” although they do not say why and do admit the US State Department cleared the study as a public health matter. The US government has sent FBI agents to Cuba to study the illness, but has yet to reach a conclusion on its cause. In July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined the investigation into what injured the diplomats. The Cuban Embassy in Washington did not immediately reply to request for comment. The American Foreign Service Association, which represents US diplomats, would not comment prior to publication of the letters, which they had not seen. JAMA declined to comment on why the criticism was published six months after the study, or whether the US government pressured it into publishing the study in the first place.

– Something made a slew of American diplomats in Cuba sick last year, and scientists still aren't sure what it was. A major study commissioned by the US government found that diplomats suffered concussion-like symptoms, and many of them reported hearing strange noises before falling ill. Now, however, four separate letters by scientists in the US and several other nations are challenging that initial study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, reports the Guardian. The critics, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, say the Penn researchers misinterpreted results and too easily dismissed causes such as a "mass psychogenic illness." The Penn researchers, meanwhile, are standing by their work and say additional research continues. Highlights: Psychological? Robert Bartholomew, a US scientist who works in New Zealand, makes the case for a "mass psychogenic illness," also known as mass hysteria, reports BuzzFeed. The Cuban illnesses have all the hallmarks, he says, and he faults the Penn researchers for not investigating how closely the victims knew each other, and perhaps fed off each other in terms of symptoms. Inner ear: Another critic faults the first study for not focusing more on potential inner ear trouble. "Almost all of the patients complained of hearing loss and balance problems," writes Gerard Gianoli of Louisana's Ear and Balance Institute. “I do wish they would be more thoroughly evaluated.” Cognitive results: The Penn researchers found that some victims suffered cognitive damage, but another researcher thinks they're wrong. The Penn scientists considered subjects "impaired" if they scored in the bottom 40% of tests; the more accepted benchmark would be closer to 5%.

HERRIN, Ill. --Police say family of a missing southern Illinois woman received a text from her phone that read, "Help." It was the last time anyone has heard from Delia Ann Stacey of Herrin. She vanished Dec. 28 after leaving her family's home on foot to meet a friend around 11 a.m., according to the Herrin Police Department. Family received the text from her phone later that day reading only, "Help," police say. Family reported her missing around 5:30 p.m. Investigators haven't been able to pinpoint her location using the cellphone. Stacey is described as five feet, six inches tall and 130 pounds, with auburn hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a gray shirt and jeans. Anyone with information is asked to call Herrin Police at 618-942-4132. ||||| Crystal Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five, was last seen at her from Bardstown, Kentucky home on July 3, by her live-in boyfriend, 34-year-old Brooks Houck. Bardstown is a small city located roughly 60 miles southwest of Lexington. Rogers' maroon 2007 Chevy Impala was found abandoned with a flat tire along Kentucky's Bluegrass Parkway two days after she disappeared. Her keys, purse and cell phone were reportedly found inside the car. Investigators have since named Houck a suspect in his girlfriend's disappearance. Crystal Rogers is described as a white female, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 150 pounds, with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact the Nelson County Sheriff's Office at 502-348-1840. READ: Search For Missing Mom Crystal Rogers Eerily Similar To Aunt's 1979 Disappearance Crystal Rogers Rogers' maroon 2007 Chevy Impala was found abandoned with a flat tire along Kentucky's Bluegrass Parkway two days after she disappeared. Her keys, purse and cell phone were reportedly found inside the car. Investigators have since named Houck a suspect in his girlfriend's disappearance. Crystal Rogers is described as a white female, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 150 pounds, with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact the Nelson County Sheriff's Office at 502-348-1840. READ: Search For Missing Mom Crystal Rogers Eerily Similar To Aunt's 1979 Disappearance Crystal Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five, was last seen at her from Bardstown, Kentucky home on July 3, by her live-in boyfriend, 34-year-old Brooks Houck. Bardstown is a small city located roughly 60 miles southwest of Lexington.Rogers' maroon 2007 Chevy Impala was found abandoned with a flat tire along Kentucky's Bluegrass Parkway two days after she disappeared. Her keys, purse and cell phone were reportedly found inside the car.Investigators have since named Houck a suspect in his girlfriend's disappearance.Crystal Rogers is described as a white female, 5 feet 9 inches tall, 150 pounds, with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact the Nelson County Sheriff's Office at 502-348-1840. Facebook image Sidney "Sid" Cranston Jr. The 40-year-old was last seen having lunch with a friend at a property in the 1700 block of Club Avenue. Cranston left after lunch and presumably went to show a 10-acre property he owned to some potential clients. The identities of those clients are not known. What happened to Cranston after his lunch remains a mystery. In the days that followed Cranston's disappearance, jewelry belonging to Cranston was sold at a local pawn shop. The Kingman Police Department has declined to elaborate on the sale. While the police are not revealing many details, Chris Cranston has hired a private investigator. He said he's learned that phone records indicate his brother's cell phone pinged a tower near the Hualapai Mountains on the afternoon of his disappearance. The area of those pings is where Chris and other volunteers have been focusing much of their search efforts. Mystery READ: Mystery Surrounds Missing Arizona Realtor Sidney Cranston Sidney "Sid" Cranston Jr., a real estate investor in Kingman, Arizona, mysteriously disappeared on June 16, 2015.The 40-year-old was last seen having lunch with a friend at a property in the 1700 block of Club Avenue.Cranston left after lunch and presumably went to show a 10-acre property he owned to some potential clients. The identities of those clients are not known. What happened to Cranston after his lunch remains a mystery.In the days that followed Cranston's disappearance, jewelry belonging to Cranston was sold at a local pawn shop. The Kingman Police Department has declined to elaborate on the sale.While the police are not revealing many details, Chris Cranston has hired a private investigator. He said he's learned that phone records indicate his brother's cell phone pinged a tower near the Hualapai Mountains on the afternoon of his disappearance. The area of those pings is where Chris and other volunteers have been focusing much of their search efforts. Mystery Chris Cranston image Tamala Wells The mystery deepened when the Pontiac Wells had supposedly been driving was found abandoned just a few blocks from her home. In an interview with HuffPost, the father of Wells' daughter denied any involvement in Wells' disappearance, but he didn't deny how he feels about the mother of his child -- or about the child herself. "She gives me a headache," Rickey Tennant said. "[Wells] used to give me a headache, but I dealt with it, and I'm looking at it right now as 'one headache is better than two headaches.'" READ: Ex-Boyfriend Calls Missing Woman One Less '€˜Headache' Tamala Wells, of Detroit, Michigan, disappeared on August 6, 2012. Her mother, Donna Wells-Davis, learned of her daughter's disappearance on Aug. 7, 2012, when she received a phone call from her granddaughter, who was then 6 years old. The little girl said that her mom, then 33, had gone out the previous night and never returned.The mystery deepened when the Pontiac Wells had supposedly been driving was found abandoned just a few blocks from her home.In an interview with HuffPost, the father of Wells' daughter denied any involvement in Wells' disappearance, but he didn't deny how he feels about the mother of his child -- or about the child herself."She gives me a headache," Rickey Tennant said. "[Wells] used to give me a headache, but I dealt with it, and I'm looking at it right now as 'one headache is better than two headaches.'" Donna Wells-Davis image David Neily David Neily disappeared in Mendocino County, Calif., on April 14, 2006. Additional information can be found at this link: www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/donald-cavanaugh-david-neily-missing_n_4319266.html Neily was 69 years old when he was last seen. He was 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighed 150 pounds, and had gray hair, green eyes and a white beard. He suffered from stunted growth due to a heart murmur, and as a result his legs were not proportional to his body. Anyone with information asked to call Sgt. Jason Caudillo at (707) 468-3423 or the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Anonymous tip line at (707) 234-2100. Lisa Hodanish image Jason Ellis Jason Ellis, of Indianapolis, has been missing since Dec. 3, 2006. According to Project Jason , Ellis disappeared from an apartment he shared with two roommates. One of the roommates allegedly told police that Ellis, then 20, had left and taken his belongings with him. However, Ellis' last two paychecks were untouched and his car was still parked at the residence. In 2010, authorities told local media that they suspect Ellis is the victim of a homicide, but investigators did not elaborate. At the time of his disappearance, Ellis was 160 pounds and 6 feet 1 inch tall. He had a tattoo of his mother's name, Neatrice, on his chest, tattoos of Scooby and Scrappy Doo on his left arm, and a tattoo of a maple leaf and his name on his right arm. Anyone with information regarding Ellis' disappearance is asked to call the Indianapolis Police Department at (317) 413-7440. Indianapolis Police Department image Ann Marie Newark Authorities in New Braunfels, Texas, are trying to locate 53-year-old Ann Newark. According to the San Antonio Express-News , she was last seen on Sept. 12 leaving her New Braunfels home after a brief argument with a family member. Authorities said Newark suffers from depression and is believed to be armed with a handgun. She is described as 5 feet 2 inches tall and 160 pounds. She has blonde shoulder-length hair, hazel eyes and a scar on her throat. Anyone with information about Newark's whereabouts is asked to contact the New Braunfels Police Department at (830) 221-4100. New Braunfels Police Department image Dara Hagans Dara Hagans, 32, of Wilmington, Del., was last seen on Oct. 16, when she left the Christiana Care healthcare facility on West 14th Street. According to Black & Missing Foundation Inc. , Hagans suffers from a unspecified medical condition and there is a “genuine concern for her safety and welfare.” She may be operating a blue 2005 Ford Focus with Delaware registration 595519. Hagans is described as 200 pounds and 5 feet 3 inches tall. She has black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call (877) 972-2634. Black & Missing Foundation Inc. image Chad Cookson WTNH.com reports that Connecticut police are trying to locate Chad Cookson. The 44-year-old from Naugatuck was last heard from on Aug. 22, when he spoke with his son by telephone. Cookson's son told police his father was depressed because of the recent death of his mother. Cookson is described as 250 pounds and 5 feet 10 inches tall. He has brown hair and brown eyes. His vehicle, a red 2001 Pontiac Montana, with license plate 705-FET, is also missing. Anyone with information on Chad Cookson's whereabouts is asked to contact the Naugatuck Police Department at (203) 729-5221. Naugatuck Police Department image William Culbreath William Culbreath, 77, of Volusia County, Fla., was last seen on Oct. 17, when he left his Deltona home to go to a doctor's appointment in Orange City. Culbreath’s wife reported him missing when he did not return. According to police, Culbreath could be suffering from delusions. A description of the missing man has not been released. Investigators also are trying to locate his black 1997 Ford van with a gray stripe and Florida license tag number VA6257. Anyone with information about Culbreath's whereabouts is asked to contact the Volusia County Sheriff's Office at (407) 323-0151. Volusia County Sheriff's Office image Erik Lamberg Erik Lamberg, 51, of Hermosa Beach, Calif., has not been seen since May 28, 2013, when he checked out of a hotel in Laytonville. His vehicle was later found abandoned in Northern California. Despite several searches, authorities have been unable to locate the missing computer security technician. Lamberg is described as 6 feet 5 inches tall, 200 pounds with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. Anyone who may have seen Lamberg or has information about his whereabouts is asked to call the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office at (707) 463-4086. A website and Facebook page have been created to share information in the case. Samantha Lamberg image Tametre Taylor The Associated Press reports that Tennessee police are trying to locate Tametre Taylor. The 40-year-old from Memphis was last heard from on Oct. 11, when she spoke with her pastor by telephone. No additional details have been released. Anyone with information on Taylor’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Memphis Police Department at (901) 545-2677. Memphis Police Department image Robert Mayer Robert Mayer, 46, of Dix Hills, N.Y., has not been seen since June 14. Robert Mayer's red 2004 Pontiac GTO was found in the parking lot of the Long Island Rail Road's Deer Park station the day after he disappeared. The keys were not inside the vehicle and according to Mayer's wife, the driver's seat was adjusted much farther forward than her husband typically kept it. Mayer is described as a white male, 6 feet 1 inch tall and about 200 pounds. He has brown hair and green-hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray polo-type work shirt with a J.C. Electrical logo, light blue jeans and black work boots. His left middle finger is missing the tip. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives at (631) 854-8252. Mayer's family is offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to his discovery. For more information, visit www.helpfindrobertmayer.com Ida Mayer image Diane Miller Authorities in Clayton County, Ga., are seeking the public's help in locating 58-year-old Diane Miller. According to WXIA-TV Atlanta , Miller was last seen leaving her home on Sept. 29. Her caregiver reported her missing on Oct. 9. Authorities said Miller is schizophrenic and suffers from bipolar disorder. Investigators do not believe she has her medicine with her. No physical description of Miller has been released. She was reportedly last seen wearing a blue/black sweater and black pants. Anyone with information is asked to call the Clayton County Police Department at (678) 878-5642. Clayton County Police Department image Kenneth Lawson Patricia Bryan has been looking for her father, Kenneth Lawson, since June 6. The 76-year-old was last seen at his home in Union Point, Ga. A number of exhaustive searches have been conducted. "We have had no leads on the whereabouts of my father," Bryan said. "He was not always in a state of confusion. He would have moments were he would check out or not know where he was, but this was not all the time. Up till my father went missing, I didn't realize just how many people with dementia and Alzheimer's went missing on a daily basis. The media does not do them justice." Patricia Bryan image Willie Michael Wheaton Willie Michael Wheaton, 57, was last seen at a Greyhound bus station in Jackson, Miss., on the evening of June 17, 2006. Wheaton boarded a bus that was en route to Sacramento, Calif., but it is unknown if he ever arrived. For more information, visit Blackandmissinginc.com Blackandmissinginc.com image Jennifer Kesse Jennifer Kesse has been missing from Orlando, Fla., since Jan. 24, 2006. It is believed she was abducted from her apartment complex early that morning. On Jan. 26, 2006, Kesse's car was found abandoned at a condominium complex located roughly 1 mile down the road from where she lived. Valuables were found inside the vehicle, leading police to believe Kesse was not the victim of a robbery or carjacking. Police bloodhounds tracked a scent from where the car was found back to Kesse's condo, but the trail ended there. At the time of her disappearance, Jennifer Kesse was 24 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 135 pounds. She had shoulder-length sandy blonde hair and green eyes. Anyone with information in the case or who would like to donate to search efforts can do so at Findjenniferkesse.com . Tipsters can also call anonymously at 800-423-8477. Drew Kesse image Jacob Tipp Jacob "Jake" Lipp, 27, is missing from North Huntingdon, Pa., last seen Dec. 16 in Pittsburgh by his girlfriend. Lipp and his girlfriend were at Static Bar when they got into a fight and the girlfriend drove off, leaving Lipp at the McDonald's on Penn Avenue around 3 a.m. She came back to get him and he was gone. He has not been seen since. Lipp is 5 feet 6 inches, 160 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. (Missing Persons Of America) Missing Persons Of America image Lauren Spierer Lauren Spierer, 20, was last seen around 4:30 a.m. on June 3, 2011, just a few blocks from her apartment in Bloomington, Ind. Earlier in the night, Spierer had visited Kilroy's, a nearby sports bar that closes at 3 a.m. When she left the establishment, she left behind her shoes and cell phone, police said. After leaving the bar, Spierer reportedly went to the apartment of Corey Rossman, a fellow college student at the university, before deciding to walk home. What happened to her after that remains a mystery. She was reported missing less than 12 hours later. Bloomington police, Indiana University police, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, Indiana State Police and the FBI have all conducted searches for Spierer. Lauren Spierer is described as a white female, 4 feet 11 inches tall with a slender build. She has blue eyes and blond hair. She was last seen wearing a white tank top with a light-colored shirt over it and black stretch pants. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call Bloomington Police at 812-339-4477. Handout image Carlos Diaz Carlos Diaz, of Bronx, N.Y., disappeared on Dec. 23, 1986, after he went out to bury a family pet. He has not been seen since. He is described as a Hispanic male with brown hair and brown eyes. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 170 pounds at the time of his disappearance. He has a tattoo of the initials C.D. on his left hand. For more information, visit Findthemissing.org Findthemissing.org image Vilet Torrez Vilet Patricia Torrez, 38, of Miramar, Fla., was last seen by a friend she met for dinner on the night of March 30, 2012. Authorities have declined to comment on where Torrez went for dinner and will not release the name of the person she was with. Torrez's movements after the dinner are also unknown, but the vehicle she was driving was later found at her residence in the 12900 block of Southwest 28th Court, a gated community off Miramar Parkway. Torrez was scheduled to work March 31 at her job with Bath Fitter in Doral, but she did not show up or call in. On April 2, Torrez was reported missing. Her estranged husband, Cid Torrez, has since been named a person of interest in her disappearance. Torrez is 5 feet 3 inches, weighs 125 to 130 pounds, and has black hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information about her disappearance is asked to call Miramar police at (954) 602-4000 or Broward Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS. Handout image Michelle Parker Michelle Parker, 33, vanished on Nov. 17, 2011, the same day that her appearance with her ex-fiance, Dale Smith, aired on "The People's Court." The couple was in dispute over a $5,000 engagement ring. After hearing both sides, Judge Marilyn Milian ordered Parker to pay Smith $2,500. A few hours after the episode aired, Parker dropped her 3-year-old twins off at Smith's condo for scheduled visitation. Parker's 2008 black Hummer H3 was found the following day in a parking lot on the west side of Orlando. Decals for Parker's Glow mobile tanning business had been removed from the windows, police said. Police initially said that Smith was cooperating and was not considered a suspect, but during a later press conference he was named the primary suspect in Parker's disappearance. For more information, visit Find Michelle Parker Handout image Nieko Lisi Nieko Lisi, 18, lives in Jasper, N.Y., about 40 miles from Elmira. According to relatives, Lisi was en route to Buffalo when he disappeared. He was last seen around 2 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2011, when he and friend Robert Knight, 20, stopped at Lisi's uncle's home in Addison, N.Y. Knight arrived at his parents' home in Michigan on the morning of Oct. 1, 2011. He allegedly told family members Lisi had dropped him off, but no one physically saw Lisi, police said. Lisi's family reported him missing and on Oct. 5, Michigan police went to talk to Knight about his friend's whereabouts. According to WETM-TV, Knight "suffered some sort of ailment" during police questioning and was hospitalized. Knight was released from the hospital on Oct. 9. The next day, Knight was found dead in his parents' home. Lisi is described as a white male, 5-foot-10-inches tall and 160 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He has a tattoo of Chinese writing on the back of his right arm, a large angel on his right side and a large woman with a devil's tail on his left side. He was last seen wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a silver cross necklace. Anyone with information about Lisi's whereabouts is asked to call New York State Police at (607) 776- 6866. Lisi's family is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to his whereabouts. Rachael Davis image Kelly Armstrong Kelly Armstrong, mother of a 2-year-old son, has been missing from Kokomo, Ind., since August 2011. Family members became concerned when they were unable to reach her. A missing person report was filed on Sept. 26, 2011. In February 2012, authorities charged Armstrong's boyfriend, Travis Funke, with voluntary manslaughter in her death. According to an arrest affidavit, Funke allegedly told investigators he killed Armstrong around the first of July, placing a plastic bag on her head, wrapping her in a tarp and putting her in a trash tote. The garbage container was supposedly picked up later that same day. Investigators spent six days sifting through 6,000 tons of trash at the local landfill, but were unable to locate Armstrong's remains. Armstrong's father, David Armstrong, doubts Funke's version of events. People interested in helping search or donating funds can do so at Operationfindkelly.yolasite.com . Anyone with information is asked to contact Kokomo police at 765-459-5101. Shelly Rush image Robyn Gardner Robyn Gardner was last seen in Oranjestad, Aruba, on Aug. 2, 2011, traveling with Gary Giordano, an acquaintance she met on a dating website. Giordano claimed Gardner was swept out to sea while snorkeling in waters off Baby Beach. Giordano, 50, allegedly told police he had noticed a current pulling them out to sea and signaled to Gardner that they should return to shore. But when he got to dry land, she was nowhere to be found. Authorities conducted an extensive search of the area, but were unable to locate the 35-year-old Maryland woman's body. On Aug. 5, police took Giordano into custody before he left Aruba. Authorities held Giordano for four months in Gardner's disappearance, but he was released without charges in early December. Gardner vanished in the same Aruban town where teenager Natalee Holloway disappeared in May 2005. Gardner's whereabouts, like Holloway's, remain a mystery. For more information, visit the Robyn Gardner Full Coverage page. Handout image William "Billy" Disilvestro Billy Disilvestro, 28, has been missing since Feb. 7, 2011, when his grandmother dropped him off at a friend's house in Hamilton, Ohio. At about 2:30 a.m., DiSilvestro placed two calls -- one to his mother and one to his grandmother. Both calls went unanswered. What happened to DiSilvestro after that remains a mystery. According to police, the friend said DiSilvestro left the house after attempting to contact his mother and grandmother -- presumably for a ride. It is believed he was headed to his grandmother's house about 2 miles away, which would take him through a forested area called Milikin Woods. Authorities have conducted several searches of the area, but have yet to find any sign of the missing man. DiSilvestro is described as a white male, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing jeans and a gray winter coat with fur around the hood. DiSilvestro has several tattoos, including the word SMOKE across his back, Jesus carrying a cross on his upper right arm, and a large angel on his upper left arm. Anyone with information regarding this case should contact the Butler County Sheriff's Office at 513-785-1300. Debbie Estes image Susan Powell Susan Powell was reported missing by her family on Dec. 7, 2009, when she failed to show up for her job as a stockbroker at Wells Fargo Financial. Her husband, Josh Powell, told police he had been camping with their two children, then ages 2 and 4, and had last seen his wife around midnight. Suspicious of his story, investigators named Powell a "person of interest" in his wife's disappearance. Not long after, Powell and his two children moved back to his hometown of Puyallup, Wash. On Feb. 5, 2012, police say Josh Powell attacked his two boys, Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, with a hatchet and then set his home on fire, killing the three of them in a gas-fueled explosion. Since that time, a mountain of evidence has emerged that supports law enforcement's decision to name Powell the prime suspect in his wife's disappearance. Nevertheless, her whereabouts remain a mystery. Handout image Natalee Holloway Natalee Holloway, 18, from Mountain Brook, Ala., disappeared May 30, 2005, while on a trip to Aruba to celebrate her high school graduation. Holloway's classmates said they last saw her leaving Carlos 'n Charlie's nightclub with Joran van der Sloot, then a 17-year-old Dutch honors student living in Aruba, and his two friends, Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. All three young men would be arrested in the case, but they were released without being charged. On Jan. 13, 2012, van der Sloot, now 24, was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the slaying of Stephany Flores on May 30, 2010. The Peruvian business student was found dead in van der Sloot's hotel room in Lima that year. Van der Sloot was charged with first-degree murder and robbery in the case. Holloway's body has never been found. Handout image Lakeisha Nichole Archie Lakeisha Nichole Archie was last seen on Aug. 5, 2002. A family member dropped her off at a residence in the vicinity of Park Street and Buckeye in Sidney, Ohio, and she has not been seen since. Archie has a tattoo that reads "Lakeisha" on the right side of her neck, a tattoo of a black panther on her left forearm and tattoos of claws on each breast. For more information, visit Blackandmissinginc.com Blackandmissinginc.com image Jessie Foster Jessie Foster has not been seen since March 29, 2006. According to her mother, Foster was living in Kamloops, British Columbia, in the spring of 2005, when she began traveling to the United States. In May 2005, the then 21-year-old ended up going to Las Vegas. While in Las Vegas, Foster met a man and the two were quickly engaged to be married. The man was reportedly wealthy and the two lived together in a million-dollar home. In 2006, Foster stopped calling her family. Concerned, they contacted her fiance and he allegedly said Foster had left him in April 2006. Foster's family promptly reported her missing to police, but with few clues to follow, the case quickly went cold. Foster is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and 120 pounds, with blonde hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call Las Vegas Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477. Foster's mother also maintains a website devoted to the case, which can be found at jessiefoster.ca . According to the site, a $50,000 dollar reward is being offered for information in the case. Glendene Grant image Jesse Ross Jesse Warren Ross was a 19-year-old sophomore when he vanished on Nov. 21, 2006, while attending a mock United Nations conference in Chicago. According to police, Ross was last seen at about 2:30 a.m., leaving the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, where a conference dance was held. Surveillance footage from the hotel does not indicate Ross was intoxicated when he left. He was likely heading to his hotel, the Four Points Sheraton, about 10 minutes away. What happened to Ross after he left remains a mystery. For more information, visit Findjesseross.com Findjesseross.com image Brittanee Drexel Brittanee Drexel, 17, was last seen by friends on April 25, 2009, when she left the Bar Harbor Hotel in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to meet friends at the nearby BlueWater Resort. Surveillance footage shows Drexel arriving at the resort, then leaving roughly 10 minutes later. What happened to her after that is a mystery. For more information, visit Helpfindbrittanee.com Helpfindbrittanee.com image Corrie Anderson Corrie Anderson, a 36-year-old mother of three from Chautauqua County, N.Y., was last seen at about 1 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2008. Family members reported Anderson missing at about 3:45 p.m. that day, when she failed to show up at her son's school for a meeting. Two days later, a hunter discovered Anderson's car abandoned about 2 miles from her house. Authorities used ATVs, helicopters and dogs to search areas of interest in the case, but there's been no sign of Anderson. For more information, visit Findcorrie.com Findcorrie.com image John James Morris John James Morris, 38, was last seen on July 30, 2007, in the driveway of his ex-boyfriend's residence on Whites Ferry Road in Dickerson, Md. According to police, Morris' ex-boyfriend was out of town on the day John stopped by to pick up his belongings. Morris has not used his credit card or cell phone since and, according to his family, he did not have his ADD (attention deficit disorder) medication with him when he disappeared. For more information, visit Findjohnmorris.com Findjohnmorris.com image Ahren Benjamin Barnard Ahren Barnard was last seen in Boise, Idaho, on Dec. 4, 2004. He dropped his young son off for the evening with the child's mother and presumably drove home. His car was later found parked in his driveway, but he has not been seen since. For more information, visit Helpfindahren.com Helpfindahren.com image Roxanne Paltauf Roxanne Paltauf was 18 years old on July 7, 2006, when she disappeared from the Budget Inn hotel in Austin, Texas. According to Roxanne's mother, Elizabeth Harris, Roxanne had been staying at the hotel with her boyfriend. The couple had an argument and, according to the boyfriend, she left the hotel, leaving all of her belongings behind. For more information, visit Find Roxanne Paltauf Elizabeth Harris image William "Billy" Smolinski William "Billy" Smolinski, was a 31-year-old resident of Waterbury, Conn., when he disappeared Aug. 24, 2004. Smolinski told a neighbor he was going out of town for a few days to look at a vehicle. He has not been seen since and his truck was later found in his driveway. His keys and wallet were found inside. Investigators searched Smolinski's home and truck, and conducted several interviews but found no clues suggesting what might have happened to him. For more information, visit Justice4billy.com Justice4billy.com image Ray Gricar An esteemed district attorney, Ray Gricar was 59 years old in April 2005 when he vanished. He had served as the district attorney of Centre County, Pa., for nearly 20 years and was preparing to retire at the end of the year. On the morning of April 15, 2005, Gricar called his girlfriend, Patty Fornicola, and told her he was going for a drive on Route 192 toward Lewisburg. The following day, Gricar's red and white 2004 Mini Cooper was found locked and abandoned in a Lewisburg parking lot, not far from the Susquehanna River. Gricar's laptop was later found in the river but authorities never found any sign of the missing DA. For more information, read "Case of Missing Pa. District Attorney Baffles Police, Family" Handout image Jason "J.J." Jolkowski Jason Jolkowski was 19 when he disappeared on June 13, 2001, in Omaha, Neb. Jolkowski, an employee at a local restaurant, received a call from his boss that morning and was asked to come in early. Jolkowski's car was in the shop so he arranged to meet a coworker at Benson High School, seven blocks from his home. It is believed that Jolkowski got dressed in his work uniform and then set off for the school. Somewhere along the way, he vanished without a trace. Jolkowski's mother, Kelly Jolkowski, has since founded Project Jason, a nonprofit organization created to assist the families of missing adults and children. For more information, visit Projectjason.org Projectjason.org image Donald Cavanaugh Donald "JC" Cavanaugh was reported missing in Mendocino County, Calif., in March 2005. Additional information can be found at this link: www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/21/donald-cavanaugh-david-neily-missing_n_4319266.html At the time of his disappearance, Cavanaugh was 63, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 140 pounds. He had gray hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information asked to contact Sgt. Jason Caudillo at (707) 468-3423 or the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office Anonymous tip line at (707) 234-2100. Mendocino County Sheriff's Office image ||||| CHICAGO — The Illinois National Guard was ordered into action Friday and hundreds of people urged to flee rising floodwaters, as the death toll from days of heavy rain in the U.S. Midwest mounted. Swathes of the United States have been buffeted in the last week by tornadoes, storms and torrential rain, while the U.S. East Coast has seen unseasonably warm weather over the holiday season. Missouri and Illinois have been particularly hard hit from the record-breaking and relentless deluge in the past week. The death toll from the flooding in the Midwest rose to 23, CNN said. Fifteen of the dead were in Missouri and eight in Illinois. But the toll could rise, with increasing concerns about the fate of two missing Illinois teenagers last seen several days ago. One of them, Delia Ann Stacey, 18, was last heard of on Monday, when she sent a text message to her family saying simply “Help,” the Herrin Police Department said in a statement on Facebook. “Further contact with Stacey via her phone has been unsuccessful, as has the use of all resources available in determining its location,” it said. There were growing fears, too, for residents in southern Illinois, where the rising Mississippi River reportedly topped a levee, putting several towns and rural communities at risk. Hundreds of people were urged to evacuate. Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, who toured some of the affected communities, tweeted: “I have ordered Illinois National Guard soldiers into active duty to aid local efforts to save lives and mitigate flood damage in Southern Illinois.” Forecasters warned that southern U.S. states were in increasing danger in the days to come. “Major flooding is occurring or forecast on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and tributaries in Missouri, Illinois, and Kentucky, with record flooding at several locations,” the National Weather Service said. “Major flooding is also occurring on the Arkansas River and tributaries in Arkansas. Floodwaters will move downstream over the next couple of weeks, with significant river flooding expected for the lower Mississippi into mid-January.” There was some relief, however, in the St. Louis area of Missouri, where flooding was at last receding. For many, the big cleanup now begins. The more unfortunate saw their homes wiped out. “We’re just basically homeless. We have nowhere to go,” Damon Thorne, 44, told ABC News. He and his 60-year-old mother Linda were staying at a Red Cross shelter at a church after their mobile home park in Arnold, Missouri was washed away by the surging Meramec River. ||||| Notice You must log in to continue. ||||| 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 southern Illinois teenager has been missing since Monday and authorities are extremely worried by the last text message she sent to her family: "Help." The Monday evening message was the last time anybody heard from Delia Ann Stacey, 18, who left her home on foot that morning around 11, saying she was going to meet a friend, CBS News reports. Police say further efforts to contact the teen or locate the phone have been unsuccessful, and she has been added to the National Crime Information Center Database as a missing person, the Southern reports. In a Facebook post, the Herrin Police Department describes Stacey as a 5-foot-6 white female, about 130 pounds with auburn hair and brown eyes, who was last seen wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans. Authorities have not said whether they suspect foul play in the teen's disappearance, notes the Huffington Post. The Tico Times, meanwhile, mentions the disappearance in the context of the record-breaking rain and subsequent flooding that recently deluged the region.

August 20, 2011 Toronto, Ontario Dear Friends, Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination. Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue. I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected. I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election. A few additional thoughts: To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer. To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government. To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election. To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all. To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future. And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done. My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world. All my very best, Jack Layton ||||| Family, friends and colleagues are remembering NDP Leader Jack Layton as news starts to sink in that the politician known for his warmth and personality has died. Friends and political foes alike praised Layton on Monday for his warmth, optimism and respect for opponents. People who squared off politically against Layton, including former prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, as well as Prime Minister Stephen Harper and interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae, all spoke warmly about the NDP leader's commitment to Canadians. Layton, who led Canada's Official Opposition, died early Monday morning at his Toronto home after a battle with cancer. He was 61. Layton's wife, Olivia Chow, and his children, Sarah and Michael Layton, issued a statement announcing his death. "We deeply regret to inform you that the Honourable Jack Layton, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, passed away at 4:45 am today, Monday August 22. He passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family and loved ones," the statement read. State funeral Saturday Layton will be honoured with a state funeral Saturday in Toronto, senior NDP officials have told CBC News. The government protocol office is working with the NDP and family of the NDP leader on exactly what the funeral will be. Condolence books will be set up in Ottawa on Parliament Hill and in Toronto at city hall. Others will be located in NDP constituency offices across the country. On Monday, mourners, many bearing flowers and other tributes, arrived at Layton's Toronto constituency office. Friends and areas residents also arrived at his home on the quiet side street where he lived with Chow. Social media was used to quickly organize public tributes, including gatherings on Parliament Hill, and a rally in Toronto. Later Monday evening, several hundred people came together for a vigil outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. On Monday evening, hundreds of people were near the Centennial Flame at Parliament Hill, many leaving flowers, cans of Orange Crush that symbolize the NDP's official colour, and notes. The crowd, many bearing candles, sang O Canada as the sun set. The family released a letter from Layton to Canadians just after noon. Layton had been battling new cancer Layton's death comes less than a month after he announced to the country that he was fighting a new form of cancer and was taking time off for treatment. Layton had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in late 2009 and underwent treatment for it. He continued working throughout that time and also battled a broken hip earlier this year. Layton used a cane for much of his time on the campaign trail this spring as he led the NDP to a historic victory on May 2. His party claimed 103 seats, and was propelled to official Opposition status. Layton and his party were getting used to their new roles in Parliament but he did not appear to be in good health near the end of June. He said he felt pain and stiffness, he underwent tests and they confirmed he had a new form of cancer. He did not disclose what kind of cancer. Layton's chief of staff, Anne McGrath, said Monday that Layton's condition took a quick turn for the worse Sunday night. She spent a few hours with him Saturday and had a sense that he was losing a battle, but says his campaign slogan – don't let them tell you it can't be done – was also a personal slogan. "It is a huge loss. It is a huge loss for me personally, but it's a huge loss also for our party and our country," she said. McGrath worked with Layton for nearly a decade. "There's no question that my heart is broken," she said. McGrath said Layton was thinking about what it would mean for the party if he died. When they spoke on Saturday, they talked about upcoming events like the party's annual caucus retreat in September and what Parliament would be like if he weren't there. Layton always liked to be presented with options, McGrath told Evan Solomon on CBC's Power & Politics, including a plan for what would happen if he died. "He was very, very practical and he was very much wanting to know that we were going to be able to continue and we were going to be strong," she said. After the news of Layton's death emerged shortly after 8 a.m. ET, friends, colleagues and Canadians reacted quickly and with shock, sadness and tears. The flag on the Peace Tower was lowered to half-mast. Harper saddened by news Layton's last letter "My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world," Jack Layton writes just days before his death. Read more Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Layton will be remembered for the force of his personality and his dedication to public life. Speaking from the foyer of the House of Commons, Harper said the two leaders had always talked about getting together to jam. "I will always regret the jam session that never was. That is a reminder, I think, that we must always make time for friends, family and loved ones, while we still can," he said. In a statement earlier Monday, Harper saluted Layton's contribution to public life and said it would be sorely missed. "I know one thing: Jack gave his fight against cancer everything he had. Indeed, Jack never backed down from any fight," he said. Tributes to Layton poured in from across party lines. Rae said the news took his breath away and that Layton's death is not just a loss for the NDP, but for all Canadians. "It's a loss for the country because he was a political guy who believed strongly in politics and who had a lot of resilience and a lot of guts," Rae told CBC News. NDP colleagues shocked Longtime NDP leader and MP Ed Broadbent told CBC News he sensed the end was coming, but was still shocked when he got the call Monday morning. "In each and every election, he moved us forward ... he wanted a reason in politics," Broadbent said. "Canada has lost a great politician. A man who believed in working for the public good. And I've lost a personal friend." Interim NDP Leader Nycole Turmel spoke of one of Layton's favourite quotes from Tommy Douglas, the founder of the CCF, the NDP's forerunner. Layton included the quote in every email he sent: “Courage my friends, ‘tis never too late to build a better world.” "Jack was a courageous man. It was his leadership that inspired me, and so many others, to run for office," Turmel said in her statement. "We – members of Parliament, New Democrats and Canadians – need to pull together now and carry on his fight to make this country a better place." NDP deputy leader Libby Davies, fighting back tears, said Layton's death is "an incredible loss." "Jack was not only a great leader of the NDP, he's someone that Canadians across the country came to love. We feel a tremendous sense of loss and grief," she said. Davies said Layton brought a sense of humanity to Canadian politics and in his career and his life, especially his battle with cancer, "he gave it his all." "We have only love and respect for everything that he did and he leaves some really important legacies in Canadian politics," she said. The NDP appointed Turmel to take over for Layton temporarily. Layton wanted to be back at work in time for Parliament's fall session in mid-September. Jack Layton, speaking at the NDP's 50th anniversary convention in June, led his party past the Liberals to become the Official Opposition during the spring election. Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press Douglas' daughter, Shirley, says Layton was the same whether he was in a crowded room or meeting people one-on-one. "Everywhere I've gone, people said 'You know, we've got a leader who cared'," she told CBC News. Douglas says she's worried about Chow. "That's the one person I keep thinking about all morning," she said. "They were so close and when a marriage that is as close as that one ... it's a terrible thing to see that marriage broken apart by this. I just couldn't say enough to her. She's a tremendous woman on her own." The leader of the Official Opposition announced on July 25 he was stepping away from the job to concentrate on his cancer treatment. He told Canadians he had recently been diagnosed with a new form of cancer, in addition to the prostate cancer he had earlier battled.

– Jack Layton has died of cancer barely three months after leading the New Democratic Party to its strongest-ever result in Canada. The 61-year-old, who shocked the country only a few weeks ago when he announced he was stepping aside as the official opposition leader because of health issues, died yesterday of an undisclosed form of cancer and will receive a state funeral, the CBC reports. Tributes to Layton, who led the social democratic party for nine years, have poured in from across the political spectrum. After his death, Layton's family released a final letter to Canadians in which he addressed his battle with cancer and his vision for a better Canada. "To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope," he wrote. "Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer."

A host of hardy microbes may be living miles beneath the ocean floor, new research suggests. Complex chemical compounds found in the rocks spewed from oceanic mud volcanoes suggest microbial life-forms may be dwelling some 32,800 feet (10,000 meters) beneath the seafloor. Though scientists have not yet found a smoking gun proving that life exists in these subterranean depths, similar chemical compounds have been found in other places where hardy microbes cling to life. "Although we cannot pinpoint the exact origin of the organic matter, chemical analysis of the constituents resembles molecular signatures that could be produced by microbial life deep within or below the mud volcano," the researchers wrote in the study. For more than two decades, scientists have known that life lurks beneath the Earth's crust. For instance, in 2010, scientists found microbes nearly 0.75 miles (1,391 m) beneath the planet's surface, in the mysterious gabbroic layer of Earth's crust, the deepest portion of the crust that lies above the oozing mantle. The mucky sediment in the ocean's crust may also teem with microbes that live in a thriving community, according to a 2013 study. Still other work has shown that microbes live in the watery portions of the Earth's mantle, which lies even deeper. The deeper that scientists have looked, the deeper life has seemed to go. [Photo Timeline: How the Earth Formed] In the new study, which was published yesterday (April 10) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers ventured to the remote reaches of the South Chamorro Seamount, an underwater volcano close to the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean. The seamount is part of a vast string of ocean-buried volcanoes that span the 1,740-mile-long (2,800 kilometers) subduction zone from Tokyo to Guam, where the Pacific plate is diving beneath the Philippine Sea plate. To search for possible life signs beneath the seafloor, the team sampled serpentinite taken from just beneath the ocean-floor surface. Serpentinite is a greenish rock that forms when mantle rock called olivine reacts with water, producing methane and gases that some microbes consume as food. The team estimated that the serpentinite came from more than 12.4 miles (20 km) deep. Other work has tied the presence of serpentine rocks to primitive microbes. The team found chemical traces that could have been associated with amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, although other organic processes can also produce these signatures, the researchers wrote in the paper. Other traces of organic matter with complicated chemical structures were also found, as well as tiny flecks of nickel-iron alloys that are often formed by primitive microbes in hydrothermal vent areas. "We suggest, based on the similarities with molecular signatures of bacteria-derived biopolymers, that the organic matter may represent remnants of microbial life within or even below the mud volcanoes," the researchers wrote in the paper. At this tectonically active part of the ocean, ocean water, oceanic crust, mantle and sediments are all churned and transported into a region in the mantle called the forearc mantle. From there, fluids may seep through fractures and fissures into the oceanic plate and mantle lying on top of it. This combination of fluid and rock may have provided the Goldilocks environment needed for microbes to thrive, the researchers explained. Though it's not clear exactly how deep microbes could dwell (if there are any such microbes), the team did a rough calculation to estimate that limit. Past research showed that life can survive at temperatures as hot as 251 degrees Fahrenheit (122 degrees Celsius) and at pressures 10,000 times higher than atmospheric levels. Using a simple model for temperature and pressure, the team estimated that primitive microbes such as Archaea could dwell up to 32,800 feet (10,000 m) below the surface. Originally published on Live Science. ||||| On Earth circa four billion years ago, life was hard. Frequent asteroid strikes turned parts of the planet into molten rock. Food and livable spaces were few and far between. What was a microbe to do to survive? Some very early life could have made it by staying deep—living as far as six miles below the seafloor. That’s the implication from a new study that found signs of microbes alive today below the deepest place on Earth, the vast underwater canyon called the Mariana Trench. (Also see pictures that reveal one of the last unexplored places on Earth near the Mariana Trench.) The trench is part of a subduction zone, where the Pacific tectonic plate slips beneath the Philippine Sea plate. The surrounding seafloor is littered with hydrothermal vents and mud volcanoes, churning out ingredients from the deep Earth. View Images A remotely-operated vehicle prepares to take a sample from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Photograph by Schmidt Ocean Institute In the new study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers sampled mineral-rich mud from the South Chamorro seamount, a mud volcano near the Mariana Trench fueled by the subduction zone below it. Though the team did not find intact microbes, they did discover tantalizing traces of organic material, which may add to evidence that life can survive in the most extreme of environments. “This is another hint at a great, deep biosphere on our planet,” says study leader Oliver Plümper, a researcher at the Netherlands’ Utrecht University. “It could be huge or very small, but there is definitely something going on that we don’t understand yet.” Life may be able to survive so deep because subduction zones are relatively cool; magma doesn’t hit the sinking crust until it reaches a lower point in the mantle. As such, Plümper extrapolated that the known temperature limit of life—around 250 degrees Fahrenheit—wouldn’t come until a depth of at least six miles below the ocean floor. WATCH: SOUNDING THE DEEPEST SPOT ON EARTH Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench near Guam is the deepest spot on Earth. How do we know? We didn’t look for it. We listened. That could make these microbes the deepest life known on our planet, trumping microbes found in seafloor sediment as much as three miles down. "I think the main take-home of this paper is how this has the potential to place life at some of the deepest environments on the planet,” says Matthew Schrenk, a geomicrobiologist at Michigan State University who studies the microbial ecosystems that live off serpentinization. “If we’re looking for the depth limits of the biosphere, this could extend it by a lot.” MINERAL POWER Plümper’s team examined organic material found in serpentine, a class of minerals formed when olivine in the upper mantle reacts with water pushed up from within the subduction zone. The combination produces hydrogen and methane gas, which microbes can use as food. Known as serpentinization, this process creates habitats for microbes elsewhere, including at seafloor hydrothermal vents. (See "Deepest Volcanic Sea Vents Found; 'Like Another World.'") View Images Serpentine is a class of minerals formed when olivine in the planet's upper mantle reacts with water. Photograph by De Agostini Picture Library, De Agostini, Getty Images Now, the team thinks they may have found waste produced by gas-munching microbes from even deeper realms. Lab tests found that the hydrocarbons and lipids from the mud volcanoes are highly similar to waste material produced by other bacteria. But the study team acknowledges that nothing is definitive for now. “These organic molecules definitely hint toward life, but the source of that life, as the authors admit, is not clear yet,” says Frieder Klein, a researcher studying serpentinization at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Outside sources of organics were a concern during the study. Among other checks, the minerals tested negative for carbonate, which would form if seawater from closer to the surface had been in contact with water within the subduction zone. Klein called the paper’s findings “truly remarkable,” but noted there was still a chance the organic material could have come from another source, like the crust itself. It is also possible that the organic material was produced without help from biology at all, in a natural version of the process humans use to make synthetic oil and fuel. However, this alternate possibility would still be an exciting one, according to the research team. “If it can do that, it is amazing in itself,” says Plümper, who notes that the mud volcanoes where the serpentine formed are thought to have existed when life on Earth got its start. “Then we know that geologic process can create complex organic molecules.” ALIENS IN THE DEEP? Once scientists started looking for serpentinization in the 1960s, they started finding it everywhere—at the places where continents crash together and the molten margins where they form, at hydrothermal vents, and even within mountain ranges that were once deep rock and ancient seafloor. Given how common it is on our own planet, serpentinization—and its potential to support extreme life-forms—has caught the attention of those looking for life on other worlds. “There is a direct link between this process we study on Earth and the processes that are possibly happening elsewhere in solar system,” Klein says. Two promising candidates are Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Both are covered in ice but are thought to have briny liquid oceans extending deep below their surfaces. Enceladus has also shown some hints of tectonic activity, which is needed to create the sort of subduction zones Plümper and his team studied, thought that speculation hasn’t yet been confirmed. (See "Vast Ocean Underlies Ice on Saturn's Moon Enceladus.") “Wherever olivine occurs on a rocky planet, serpentinization probably occurs,” says Plümper. “In the absence of photosynthesis, it could provide some material to support life.” However, astrobiologists hoping to visit other worlds in search of deep microbial life would face the same problem scientists like Plümper contend with here on Earth: Unable to reach the depths where this life might hide, scientists must interpret the hints coming out of geysers, rocks, and other samples extracted from the deep. ||||| Credit: Oliver Plümper, Utrecht University (Phys.org)—An international team of researchers has found possible evidence of life ten kilometers below the sea floor in the Mariana Trench. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes samples of serpentine they collected from hydrothermal vents and the material they found in it that offers evidence of life living farther below the surface than was thought. The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of any of the world's oceans. Its lowest point is 10,994 meters below sea level. It is located southwest of Japan, and has been an area of scrutiny ever since the development of underwater pilotless craft called Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs). Prior research has shown that the trench formed due to the Pacific tectonic plate sliding beneath the Philippines plate, making it a subduction zone. In this new effort, the researchers used an ROV to extract 46 samples of serpentine from the ocean floor near the South Chamorro mud volcano, which they brought back to their lab for study. Serpentine is a mineral that forms when olivine in the upper mantle meets water pushed up from a subduction zone. Such reactions produce methane gas and hydrogen, which the researchers note could be used as a food source by microbes. Serpentine is pushed to the surface of the sea floor by hydrothermal vents, where the researchers found it. Upon examination of their serpentine samples, the researchers found trace amounts of organic material that was very similar to that produced by microbes living in more accessible places. That suggests, the team notes, it is possible that the serpentine samples are evidence of life living far below the surface. The team used data from prior studies to calculate how far below the sea floor the serpentine was formed, which allowed them estimate just how far down the possible microbes might live—approximately ten kilometers below the sea floor. The team acknowledges that their findings are not proof of life below the sea floor; other processes have been known to produce both serpentine and the organic matter, but, they note, it does suggest it is possible. Explore further: Remotely operated vehicle finds heterotrophs abundant in deepest part of the ocean More information: Oliver Plümper et al. Subduction zone forearc serpentinites as incubators for deep microbial life, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2017). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1612147114 Abstract Serpentinization-fueled systems in the cool, hydrated forearc mantle of subduction zones may provide an environment that supports deep chemolithoautotrophic life. Here, we examine serpentinite clasts expelled from mud volcanoes above the Izu–Bonin–Mariana subduction zone forearc (Pacific Ocean) that contain complex organic matter and nanosized Ni–Fe alloys. Using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy, we determined that the organic matter consists of a mixture of aliphatic and aromatic compounds and functional groups such as amides. Although an abiotic or subduction slab-derived fluid origin cannot be excluded, the similarities between the molecular signatures identified in the clasts and those of bacteria-derived biopolymers from other serpentinizing systems hint at the possibility of deep microbial life within the forearc. To test this hypothesis, we coupled the currently known temperature limit for life, 122 °C, with a heat conduction model that predicts a potential depth limit for life within the forearc at ∼10,000 m below the seafloor. This is deeper than the 122 °C isotherm in known oceanic serpentinizing regions and an order of magnitude deeper than the downhole temperature at the serpentinized Atlantis Massif oceanic core complex, Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We suggest that the organic-rich serpentinites may be indicators for microbial life deep within or below the mud volcano. Thus, the hydrated forearc mantle may represent one of Earth's largest hidden microbial ecosystems. These types of protected ecosystems may have allowed the deep biosphere to thrive, despite violent phases during Earth's history such as the late heavy bombardment and global mass extinctions. ||||| Significance We document organic matter encapsulated in rock clasts from a oceanic serpentinite mud volcano above the Izu–Bonin–Mariana subduction zone (Pacific Ocean). Although we cannot pinpoint the exact origin of the organic matter, chemical analysis of the constituents resembles molecular signatures that could be produced by microbial life deep within or below the mud volcano. Considering the known temperature limit for life, 122 °C, and the subduction zone forearc geotherm where such mud volcanoes are located, we estimate that life could exist as deep as ∼10,000 m below the seafloor. This is considerably deeper than other active serpentinizing regions such as midocean ridges and could have provided sheltered ecosystems for life to survive the more violent phases of Earth’s history. Abstract Serpentinization-fueled systems in the cool, hydrated forearc mantle of subduction zones may provide an environment that supports deep chemolithoautotrophic life. Here, we examine serpentinite clasts expelled from mud volcanoes above the Izu–Bonin–Mariana subduction zone forearc (Pacific Ocean) that contain complex organic matter and nanosized Ni–Fe alloys. Using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy, we determined that the organic matter consists of a mixture of aliphatic and aromatic compounds and functional groups such as amides. Although an abiotic or subduction slab-derived fluid origin cannot be excluded, the similarities between the molecular signatures identified in the clasts and those of bacteria-derived biopolymers from other serpentinizing systems hint at the possibility of deep microbial life within the forearc. To test this hypothesis, we coupled the currently known temperature limit for life, 122 °C, with a heat conduction model that predicts a potential depth limit for life within the forearc at ∼10,000 m below the seafloor. This is deeper than the 122 °C isotherm in known oceanic serpentinizing regions and an order of magnitude deeper than the downhole temperature at the serpentinized Atlantis Massif oceanic core complex, Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We suggest that the organic-rich serpentinites may be indicators for microbial life deep within or below the mud volcano. Thus, the hydrated forearc mantle may represent one of Earth’s largest hidden microbial ecosystems. These types of protected ecosystems may have allowed the deep biosphere to thrive, despite violent phases during Earth’s history such as the late heavy bombardment and global mass extinctions. Microbial life may be sustained within the lithosphere by mineral-mediated chemical reactions that provide usable energy resources (1). For example, redox-coupled reactions during serpentinization, the formation of serpentine [(Mg,Fe) 3 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4 ] through mantle olivine [(Mg,Fe) 2 SiO 4 ] hydration, generate substantial amounts of H 2 (2). Although serpentinization leads to extreme pH conditions and limited nutrient and electron acceptor availability (1), microgenomic studies of serpentinization-fueled hydrothermal deep-sea vents and continental fluid seeps show evidence for microbial H 2 and CH 4 utilization (1, 3⇓–5). Furthermore, micrometer-sized organic matter has been detected in dredged seafloor serpentinites (6) and in subseafloor mixing zones between seawater and serpentinization-derived fluid (7). The former study suggests that serpentinization-fueled microbial communities may use solid electron acceptors, particularly ferric iron from magnetite (Fe 2 O 3 ) or other Fe(III)-bearing minerals, such as andradite garnets [Ca 3 Fe(III) 2 Si 3 O 12 ] (8). However, the architecture of potentially habitable domains within Earth’s hydrated mantle rocks remains largely unknown. Understanding the possible relationship between mineral reactions and biological activity requires identification of in situ signatures of the deep biosphere that allow us to plunge beneath the Earth’s surface to assess its extent and how mineral reactions may support or even form life. Serpentinite clasts recovered from the South Chamorro mud volcano [13°47′N, 146°00′E; Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 195] above the Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) subduction zone (9) (Fig. 1) can potentially provide just such a window into the deep biosphere. The mud volcanoes source their serpentine from >20-km depth via deep-reaching forearc faults, where serpentinite gouges mix with slab-derived fluids before buoyantly rising toward the seafloor (10). Fig. 1. Location of the South Chamorro serpentinite mud volcano and the Izu–Bonin–Mariana (IBM) subduction zone (modified from ref. 11). (A) Bathymetry map of the Mariana arc-basin system displaying the location of the South Chamorro Seamount (Leg 195) in relation to the volcanic islands such as Guam. Approximately 50 km south of the seamount the water depth exceeds 8 km highlighting the trench of the IBM subduction zone that runs approximately north to southwest. (B) Three-dimensional view of the South Chamorro Seamount, depicting the location of ODP Site 1200. The subducting Pacific slab beneath the serpentinite mud volcano is in ∼20-km depth. IBM Subduction Zone and Serpentinite Mud Volcanism The IBM subduction zone is a convergent plate margin ranging over ∼2,800 km from near Tokyo (Japan) to south of Guam (Mariana Islands; Fig. 1). The IBM is located along the eastern margin of the Philippine Sea Plate in the Western Pacific Ocean and formed due to the subduction of the Pacific Plate under the Philippine Sea Plate (11). The southern boundary is marked by the intersection of the IBM trench with the Palau–Kyushu Ridge at 11°N. The northern boundary is at 35°20′N close to southern Honshu, Japan (12). The eastern boundary extends along a deep-sea trench and ranges in depth from 3 km at the Ogasawara Plateau (trench entrance) to ∼11-km depth within the Challenger Deep—the deepest site in the world. The Mariana forearc is pervasively faulted by tectonic activity and only minor sediment accretion occurs along the margin (9, 13). As the Pacific Plate descends, oceanic upper mantle, oceanic crust, overlaying sediment, and water are transported into the forearc mantle. Some of this material is transferred from the subducting slab into the overlying mantle and oceanic plate, where large quantities of fluids rise through faults and fractures, carrying dissolved constituents from the subducting slab. These fluids can either vent as cold springs onto the seafloor (14) or hydrate and serpentinize the mantle wedge. The latter is supported by deep-sea drilling and geophysical measurements showing that at least part of the Mariana forearc mantle wedge is hydrated (15, 16). Within the deep-reaching forearc faults, serpentinite fault gouges mix with the rising slab-derived fluids. This mud–rock mixture buoyantly rises in conduits along fault planes until it extrudes onto the seafloor to form various kilometer-scale seamounts, that is, mud volcanoes, predominantly composed of serpentinite, situated on the outer forearc of the Mariana margin (e.g., ref. 17) (Fig. 1B). The mud volcanoes are located in a trench-parallel zone ∼30–100 km arcward of the trench axis and reach up to 50 km in diameter and over 2 km in height (17, 18). Unconsolidated flows of clay- to silt-sized serpentinite mud enclose up to boulder-sized rock clasts of variably serpentinized mantle peridotite and subordinately blueschist-facies fragments (18). The samples studied here are recovered from drill cores taken from the South Chamorro serpentine mud volcano (13°47′N, 146°00′E; Fig. 1B) drilled during ODP Leg 195 (19). The seamount is a partly collapsed, roughly conical structure ∼2-km high and ∼20-km wide with active serpentine/blueschist mud volcanism. The subducting slab beneath the serpentinite mud volcano is at ∼20-km depth (14, 18). SI Raman Spectroscopy Raman spectra of organic matter were collected using a Kaiser HoloLab Series 5000 equipped with a diode-pumped solid-state laser (785 nm) (Utrecht University). Hyperspectral mapping was performed with a Horiba Scientific LabRam HR800 (Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn). Raman scattering was excited with a diode-pumped solid-state laser (784 nm) with less than 40 mW at the sample surface. A 100× objective with a numerical aperture of 0.9 was used resulting in a diffraction-limited lateral resolution of ∼1 µm. The confocal hole was set to 1,000 μm, resulting in a depth resolution of a few micrometers. The scattered Raman light was collected in a 180° backscattering geometry by an electron-multiplier charged coupled device detector after passing through a 100-μm (single measurements) or 200-µm (mapping) spectrometer entrance slit and being dispersed by a grating of 600 grooves per millimeter, yielding a spectral resolution of 1.7 and 2.3 cm−1, respectively, as determined from the width of Ne lines. The spectrometer was calibrated with the first-order Si Raman band at 520.7 cm−1 and Ne lines. The total acquisition time varied between 900 and 1,200 s for single measurements and 25 × 0.5 s for mapping. Normalization of Raman spectrum to the most intense epoxy band at 815 cm−1 shows no contribution of bands from the epoxy resin (Fig. S1). This is evident by the absence of epoxy bands (arrow in Fig. S1) between 950 and 1,000 cm−1 in the sample spectra. The false-color Raman image shown in Fig. 2G is generated from the spectra recorded for each pixel of the image by color-coding the ratio between the integrated intensity of an organic vibrational modes near 639 cm−1 and a serpentine mode at 690 cm−1 (Fig. S2). Warm colors reflect a high content of organic material within the analyzed volume, whereas blue colors mark regions with low or undetectable organic material. Spectra were collected over an area of 60 × 60 µm2 with a step size of 0.5 µm, resulting in 7,200 spectra. The resulting map is shown in Fig. S4. To obtain reduced or R(ω) intensities for future comparison that are independent from the instrument, the laboratory temperature, and the excitation wavenumber, ν e , and thus directly proportional to relative scattering activity, the Raman spectra from the mesh core were also corrected for (i) the instrument response function (white light correction); (ii) the excitation frequency dependence, that is, by the scattering factor, (ν e − ν)3, with ν being the wavenumber of the scattered light (intensities were measured in photons per second); and (iii) the temperature effect, that is, by the Bose–Einstein temperature factor, 1 − exp(−hνc/kT), with h, c, k, and T being the Planck constant, the speed of light, the Boltzmann constant, and the temperature, respectively. The corrected spectra were deconvoluted by least-squares fitting Gauss–Lorentz functions along with a linear background that was subtracted after the least-squares fit (Fig. S5 and Table S1). The error of the reported band positions is smaller than 0.1 cm−1. Raman evaluation of the serpentine polymorphs present in the rim and core structures was conducted by examining the water vibration region at ∼3,600 cm−1. Raman spectra taken, using the 785-nm laser, showed no evidence for the OH bands due to the low scattering efficiency of these bands with this laser. Therefore, the 532-nm coherent compass sapphire laser of a WITec alpha 300R was used for the OH band analysis of serpentine group minerals. The analysis was conducted with a 50× long working distance lens with a 0.55 numerical aperture in backscattering geometry to the sample. After the scattered Raman light passed through a pinhole of 20 µm, the light was dispersed on a grating of 1,800 grooves per millimeter, resulting in a spectral resolution of 1.1 cm−1 in the spectral region of interest, measured using a built-in calibration light source. Fig. S1. Epoxy-normalized Raman spectrum of sample E7H2-5 (28.70 mbsf). All spectra were normalized to highest intensity epoxy Raman mode (815 cm−1), showing that epoxy does not contribute to the observed Raman spectra of the identified organic molecules. Fig. S2. Representative Raman spectra of the mesh core and rim region taken from the area in which hyperspectral imaging was performed. Bands marked with an asterisk belong to lizardite/chrysotile. All other bands reflect complex organic material (see main text and Table S1). Fig. S3. Representative Raman spectra of OH-stretching modes, fingerprinting lizardite and chrysotile (e.g., ref. 64) typically found in the mesh rim and core regions, respectively, of the serpentinite clasts. Fig. S4. (A) Backscattered electron image showing the location of the Raman map. (B) Shown is the distribution of organics within the mesh core and rim. I org and I serp are the integrated intensities of the bands near 639 and 690 cm−1, respectively. Fig. S5. Raman spectrum as shown in Fig. S2 from the mesh core, but with reduced intensities R(ω) that were obtained by correcting the measured intensities for the instrumental response function, temperature effects, the excitation frequency dependence, and background (for more details, see Methods in the main text). Also shown is the deconvolution of the spectrum obtained from least-squares fitting individual Gauss–Lorentzian functions (gray curves) to the data. The red curve represents the sum curve. The residuals of the fitting procedure are also shown. Table S1. Band positions, band widths (FWHM), and relative intensities of Raman bands observed from the mesh core region SI Opaque Mineral Grain Analysis Fig. S6 shows the distribution of opaque mineral grains (high backscattering intensity in Fig. S6A) within the serpentinites clasts. Several FIB-SEM sections were prepared across the mesh rim–core interfaces, where Fig. S6B shows a representative high angle annular dark field (HAADF) image highlighting three nanoparticles with high intensity (overview image in main-text Fig. 3C). The intensity in an HAADF image scales with atomic number, implying that the nanoparticles are atomically heavier than the surrounding serpentine grains. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (Fig. S6C) reveals that the nanoparticle exist exclusively of Ni and Fe in a ∼2:1 ratio. Together with chemical analysis conducted on the micrometer-scale in a scanning electron microscope, the microstructural association of the particles within the serpentinites, and the limited possibilities of potential mineral phases with Ni and Fe in a ∼2:1 ratio (65), we conclude that the nanoparticles are awaruite (Ni 2 Fe–Ni 3 Fe). Fig. S6. A is a backscattered electron (BSE) image taken in a scanning electron microscope showing the distribution of opaque minerals (high backscattering intensity). B is a high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) image taken with transmission electron microscope in scanning mode. The corresponding EDX analysis of a nanosized awaruite grain is shown in C. The Cu Kβ peaks originates from the FIB section sample holder. The Mg Kα, Si Kα, and Ο Kα peaks are a minor contribution from the surrounding serpentine grains. Depth Limit for Microbial Life Within Subduction Zone Forearcs To test whether microbial life is a feasible source of the organic matter observed, we need to establish an estimate for the depth limit for life within the Mariana forearc. As microbial organisms can survive temperatures as high as 122 °C (32) and pressures into the gigapascal range (33), we estimated the potential depth limit for microbial life in this region using a one-dimensional steady-state heat conduction model (34) (SI Estimation of the Maximum Depth for the Current Temperature Limit for Life). In this calculation, heat is transferred in one direction without consideration of minor advective heat flow through the ascending mud or heat generated through the exothermic serpentinization reaction. Both of these processes are expected to only play a minor role. Particularly heat through serpentinization has been shown to be nearly negligible (35). Assuming no variations in temperature or heat flow, the basic equation of conductive heat transfer theory is a statement of conservation of energy and can be written as follows: T = T 0 + q 0 k y − ρ H 2 k y 2 , [1]where T and T 0 are the temperature at depth and at the ocean floor, y is the depth in meters below seafloor, q 0 is the surface heat flow (0.03 W⋅m−2), k is the thermal rock conductivity (2.9 W⋅m−1⋅K−1), ρ is the density (2,900 kg⋅m−3, partially serpentinized peridotite), and H is the current mean mantle heat generation rate due to radioactive decay (7.42 × 10−12 W⋅kg−1) (34). At relatively shallow forearc depths, H will only play a minor role. Rearranging the equation above to solve for y at a given temperature (i.e., the known temperature limit for life at 122 °C) results in the following: y ± = q o ± 2 T 0 H k ρ − 2 H k ρ T + q o 2 H ρ , [2]where y + is a nonphysical solution and thus disregarded. Surface heat flow values of the Mariana forearc were taken from measurements acquired during the Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 60 (36). Thermal conductivity values of serpentinites are based on measurements taken during ODP 209 (37) and an average value of 2.9 W⋅m−1⋅K−1 is used. Using these values, the maximum depth for the 122 °C isotherm varies between ∼8,000 and 15,000 mbsf (Fig. 5C). These depth estimates are based on surface heat flow values of 0.03–0.04 W⋅m−2 that agree with the observed depression of isotherms in most forearc mantle wedges, even those of relatively hot origin such as the Cascadia subduction zone (38, 39). Moreover, our thermal calculations are in agreement with more complex geodynamic models (40, 41), confirming that the 122 °C isotherm is reached at ∼10,000 mbsf in forearcs. Hence, current serpentinization-fueled microbial life within subduction zone forearcs could be supported down to these depths and corresponding pressure (∼0.34 GPa; Fig. 5). In contrast, habitable zones in the vicinity of oceanic spreading centers are limited to the first hundred meters to few kilometers below the seafloor. The exact location of the 122 °C isotherm will likely vary in depth at and around the spreading center as a result of the ridge architecture, heat flux, and hydrothermal circulation (42, 43). The downhole temperature within the International Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Hole U1309D at Atlantis Massif oceanic core complex (Mid-Atlantic Ridge) places the 122 °C upper temperature limit for microbial life at ∼1,000 mbsf (44). This is one order of magnitude less than compared with our estimated limit of life in the Mariana subduction zone forearc. As the serpentinite mud originates directly from the forearc mantle wedge (>20-km depth), the model indicates the potential for a biosphere deep within the forearc. This makes the Mariana serpentinite clasts a natural laboratory of prime interest when searching for habitable zones of life deep within the lithosphere. Fig. 5. Conceptual model of a deep biosphere environment within the IBM subduction zone forearc with limit for serpentinization-fueled microbial life estimated at 10,000 mbsf based on the known upper temperature limit for life (122 °C) (34) and our heat conduction model. A shows a cross-sectional sketch of the IBM forearc. Fluid release from the subducting plate results in partial forearc mantle serpentinization. Tectonic activity causes mud–rock mixture to rise buoyantly in conduits along fault planes until it protrudes onto the seafloor to form massive serpentinite mud volcanoes (up to 50-km diameter and >2 km above the surrounding seafloor). The sketch in B displays a conceptual serpentinization evolution model and the depth range for possible subsurface microbial colonization. C and D show results of the one-dimensional heat conduction model (SI Estimation of the Maximum Depth for the Current Temperature Limit for Life), where C shows the maximum depth as a function of surface heat flow at constant thermal conductivity (partially serpentinized peridotite) below which microbial life is theoretically possible. D displays the influence of surface heat flow and thermal conductivity, at an average depth of 12,000 mbsf, on the upper temperature limit for life. SI Estimation of the Maximum Depth for the Current Temperature Limit for Life A sketch of the one-dimensional steady-state heat conduction model to estimate the maximum depth for the current temperature limit for life in subduction zone forearcs is found in Fig. S7. Fig. S7. Sketch of the one-dimensional steady state heat conduction model (modified after ref. 34). Sustaining Microbial Life Within Subduction Zone Forearcs To sustain deep microbial life within a solid rock framework requires energy resources that can either migrate or be produced close to areas suitable for colonization. There is little to no chemical benefit for microbes to interact directly with serpentine minerals; thus, other life-supporting energy-generating pathways need to be present. Microgenomic studies show evidence for microbial H 2 and CH 4 utilization in serpentinizing systems with known microbial colonization. Indeed, several studies (e.g., ref. 5) indicate that Archaea found up to 20 mbsf within the South Chamorro mud volcano are fueled by deeply derived CH 4 -enriched fluids. Experiments suggest that H 2 produced during low-temperature serpentinization (<200 °C) (45) could react with a carbon source to form CH 4 on catalytic mineral surfaces. Investigations of naturally occurring abiogenic CH 4 indicate that abiotic hydrocarbon synthesis can potentially take place at temperatures as low as ∼120 °C (46). However, there are contrasting experimental results concerning the formation and synthesis kinetics of CH 4 production at (very) low temperatures (47⇓–49). In hydrothermal experiments, awaruite has been identified as a possible CH 4 production catalyst (50). The awaruite grains observed here are nanosized (Fig. 3C) and, therefore, have a high surface area-to-volume ratio, which should enhance their catalytic activity (51). Thus, nanosized alloys could have facilitated CH 4 production over geologically relevant timescales below the upper temperature limit for life (122 °C). In near-surface serpentinizing systems, hydrothermal fluids can mix with, for example, seawater, resulting in disequilibria that may provide the energy and substrates needed to support chemolithoautotrophic life (7). In contrast, a slowly ascending serpentinite mud along deep-reaching forearc faults may allow the system to remain much closer to equilibrium, regulating the activities of H 2 , CH 4 , CO 2 , and the Fe(II)/Fe(III) ratio in the solids and fluids limiting energy sources. Nielsen et al. (25), however, documented the occurrence of rodingite within the Mariana serpentinite mud volcanoes derived from in situ alteration within the forearc mantle. These rocks suggest hydrothermal interactions between mafic and ultramafic units and together with simultaneous serpentinization may be the source of fluids that can produce disequilibrium environments. An additional source of externally derived fluids could come directly from the subducting slab and would thus be in disequilibrium with the overriding forearc wedge. These fluids are most likely different in composition compared with serpentinizing systems at midocean ridges or passive margins. Kelemen and Manning (52) recently reevaluated the global carbon flux through subduction zones and estimated that several million tons of carbon per year could be released from subducting slabs into the overriding forearc wedge. Therefore, these fluids could provide the carbon source needed for abiotic hydrocarbon synthesis or even directly contribute organic molecules to the forearc and thus the serpentinite clasts. If the organic matter reported here was sourced from the subduction slab alone, we would expect the same level of maturation and thus evidence for the same functional groups. However, we observe the absence of specific Raman bands [N(C–C)] in clasts from different depths (Fig. 2F). Various studies have shown that subduction zone dehydration reactions across a range of temperatures (200–600 °C) and pressures release nitrogen that is able to enter the overriding forearc directly or travel with the expelled fluids upward through the subduction zone channel (53⇓–55). Moreover, recent thermodynamic calculations of the nitrogen speciation in aqueous fluids under upper mantle conditions suggest that the oxidized mantle wedge of subduction zones favors nitrogen over ammonium (NH 4 +), promoting outgassing rather than mineral trapping of nitrogen (56). Thus, the actions of mud volcanoes as conduits for slab-derived fluids may provide missing resources that would otherwise be limiting factors for life in the forearc mantle or contribute nitrogen to the abiogenic synthesis of more complex organic compounds. To rigorously evaluate the energy sources for microbial life within the subduction zone forearc, better constraints are needed for the fluid influxes from the subduction zone and how these slab-derived fluids interact with the forearc. Increasing sophisticated fluid speciation models coupled to fluid–rock interaction simulations and experiments at high pressures and temperatures (56, 57) will provide critical insights into this problem. Implications Although the origin of the organic matter cannot be unequivocally identified, we suggest, based on the similarities with molecular signatures of bacteria-derived biopolymers, that the organic matter may represent remnants of microbial life within or even below the mud volcanoes. Our simple model supports this hypothesis, showing that the temperature window for life could extend deep into the forearc. Hence, the identification of complex organic matter recovered from depths of up to 110.07 mbsf may be evidence for life in an oceanic serpentinite-hosted rock formation from depths likely far exceeding the drill core depth, where serpentinite-supported life has not yet been documented. Thus far, evidence for microbial communities within the Mariana mud volcanoes has only been indirectly detected in fluid samples no deeper than 20 mbsf (5, 24). There are a variety of examples indicating that microbial life can colonize shallow serpentinization-fueled environments and use abiogenically produced H 2 and CH 4 (1, 3⇓–5), but microbial life within the deep subsurface, for example, deep within the Mariana forearc, with no connection to the Earth’s surface, may have little resemblance with presently known serpentinization-fueled ecosystems. In any case, if life is present in the subduction zone forearc, it has far-reaching implications as recent studies suggest that environments resembling those both within and below the Mariana serpentinite mud volcanoes were already present on the early Earth (58, 59). Thus, even if modern-type subduction was not fully established in the Hadean and Archean, Mariana forearc-like deep subsurface environments may have allowed early forms of life to thrive, despite violent phases such as the so-called Late Heavy Bombardment, a period of intensive meteorite bombardment around 3.9 Ga (60). Even if only a small amount of the global forearc mantle hosts microbial life, fluctuations in the total subduction zone length (61) could have significant consequences for the deep carbon budget. During these fluctuations, fluid flow through subduction zone forearc regions, visible in the form of serpentinite mud volcanism, are a crucial connection between the deep biosphere and surface world, influencing geochemical fluxes throughout Earth’s history. Only if we keep exploring the windows into the deep subsurface, such as the serpentinite clasts presented here, will we be able to establish a full budget of Earth’s deep carbon and the potential for a subsurface biosphere. Methods Sample Preparation. Drilling during ODP Leg 195 was executed with the support of inorganic drilling mud (mainly sepiolite) and seawater. Immediately after the core was recovered, a 6-in. length of whole-round core was cut and refrigerated. Samples (diameter, 4.25 cm) were removed from the whole-round core using a piston core sampler. These subcores were loaded into a Manheim squeezer for the analysis of physical properties (62). The applied axial pressure (6.3 MPa) under drained conditions is insufficient to cause pore collapse within individual clasts. From the “squeeze cakes,” 1/4 rounds were extracted for further onshore analysis and stored in a nonsterile fashion. Serpentinite clasts, hundreds of micrometers to a few millimeters in size, were extracted from these mud-pellets rounds by dissolution in distilled water and hand picking under a binocular microscope. Clasts were mounted in 1-in. round sections using epoxy resin and polished to expose the internal structures. The samples were not subjected to a vacuum impregnation step to avoid the penetration of epoxy into open spaces. For Raman spectroscopic details of the epoxy, SI Raman Spectroscopy. To avoid laboratory contamination before microstructural and microchemical investigations, the samples were treated with 5% sodium hypochlorite and repolished using a diamond paste and concentrated ethanol to expose fresh sample surfaces. Subsequently, samples were again treated with 5% sodium hypochlorite. ToF-SIMS. Element distribution maps were obtained using an ION-TOF ToF-SIMS IV instrument at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC). The 25-kV 69Ga+ primary ion column was operated in a low-current bunched mode with a cycle time of 45 μs, allowing for a mass resolution (full width half-maximum) of 4,600 at nominal mass 61 u (C 2 H 5 S)+. To remove surface contamination, an area four times larger than the analytical field of view was sputter-cleaned with a 3-keV Ar+ ion beam before the actual measurement. FIB-SEM and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations on Pt-coated specimens were carried out in a JEOL JCM-6000. A FEI Nova Nanolab FIB-SEM was used to acquire nanotomography volumes (voxel size, 2.5 × 2.5 × 10 nm) and to extract electron transparent foils for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). FIB-SEM nanotomography was carried out at an acceleration voltage of 2 kV and a beam current of 0.21 nA. The nanotomography volumes were visualized and analyzed using Avizo 9. TEM investigations were executed in a FEI Tecnai 20F operated at 200 kV equipped with a high-angle annular dark field (HAADF) detector and an energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy system. Raman Spectroscopy. Raman spectra of organic matter were collected using a near-infrared (784/785 nm) laser of a Horiba Scientific LabRam HR800 and a Kaiser HoloLab Series 5000. Hyperspectral Raman mapping of the organic matter distribution was executed with a lateral resolution of ∼1 µm and a spectral resolution of 2.3 cm−1. Analysis of the “fingerprinting” serpentine OH bands was performed using a 532-nm laser of a WITec alpha 300R. Further information about instrument settings and Raman spectra analysis is found in SI Raman Spectroscopy. Acknowledgments We thank T. Ludwig for discussion. O.P. was supported by Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research Veni Grant 863.13.006, H.E.K. by the European Union Fellowship PIOF-GA-2012-328731, T.Z. by the German Science Foundation (ZA285/5), and Y.L. by the Utrecht University Sustainability Program. For I.P.S., Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 195 participation and post-cruise research were funded by Joint Oceanographic Institutes/US Science Advisory Committee (Schlanger Fellowship) and the UK International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Program via the Natural Environment Research Council (NE/M007782/1). Footnotes Author contributions: O.P. designed research; O.P., H.E.K., T.G., Y.L., S.P., I.P.S., D.R., and T.Z. performed research; T.G., Y.L., D.R., and T.Z. contributed analytic tools; O.P., H.E.K., T.G., Y.L., S.P., D.R., and T.Z. analyzed data; and O.P., H.E.K., and T.Z. wrote the paper. The authors declare no conflict of interest. This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1612147114/-/DCSupplemental. Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.

– A team of researchers may have discovered evidence of the deepest life on Earth (and we're not talking college freshmen taking their first philosophy class). According to a study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, there may be microbes living up to six miles under the seafloor. Researchers used a remotely operated vehicle to retrieve 46 samples of a rock called serpentine from a mud volcano near the Mariana Trench—the deepest place on Earth—southwest of Japan, Phys.org reports. According to Live Science, the serpentine may have originated more than 12 miles under the seafloor before being spewed out by the mud volcano. While the serpentine didn't contain any actual microbes, researchers did find what National Geographic calls "tantalizing traces of organic material." Due to the particulars of the subduction zone at the Mariana Trench, the researchers believe the microbes could have survived up to six miles below the seafloor before the pressure and heat became too much. They believe the organisms could survive on the methane and hydrogen produced when serpentine forms. "This is another hint at a great, deep biosphere on our planet," study lead Oliver Plümper says. (Near the ocean's deepest spot, scientists heard a 3.5-second symphony.)

Bitcoin’s value crossed the $15,000 threshold for the first time today, marking another milestone in its dizzying ascent. In recent months, the cryptocurrency has undergone a staggering increase in value; surging from roughly $3,500 in mid-September to its current price. And at the start of the year, a single Bitcoin was worth less than $800. What happens next is anyone’s guess, and most analysts are united only in their uncertainty over the cryptocurrency’s future. Bitcoin long ago stopped being useful for actually buying things (partly because of its rocketing value and partly because of achingly-slow transaction times), so the questions facing speculators are: is this a bubble? And if so, when will it burst? Some traders figure we’re getting close, and are preparing to short Bitcoin; that is, make bets that its value will decrease in the future. “[It’s] one of the greatest shorting opportunities ever,” cryptocurrency Lou Kerner told Bloomberg earlier this week. “You have a lot of zealotry, and a lot of people, including me, who think it’s the greatest thing to ever happen in the history of mankind. You have a lot of people who think it’s a bubble and a Ponzi scheme. It turns out both of them can’t be right.” Although the general trend for Bitcoin’s valuation is only up, the cryptocurrency has been extremely volatile. On November 29th, for example, its value fell 20 percent in less than an hour and half; dropping from over $11,000 a tick above $9000. For true believers, such blips are only temporary, but skeptics caution that any plunge could end up being permanent. After crossing $15,000 earlier today it’s value quickly dipped down to around $14,800. Read more: 2017 is the year cryptocurrency joined the financial system Bitcoin’s skyrocketing valuation has also brought with it a new problem: energy costs. It takes enormous amounts of power to sustain the Bitcoin network, and, according to a report from Ars Technica, it’s estimated that the cryptocurrency currently consumes as much electricity annually as the whole of Denmark. Predicting exactly how this consumption will rise or fall in the future is difficult (it depends on things like the rate at which new bitcoins are mined and the number of transactions), but given that Bitcoin only currently has use as a speculative asset class, it seems unsustainable. Meanwhile, financial experts are struggling to make sense of the phenomenon as a whole. One analyst quoted by the Financial Times, Walter Zimmerman, suggests that the best way to look at Bitcoin is as an absurd video game with no boundaries. “Users of other currencies find utility in a stable value. But not here in Bitcoin world,” writes Zimmerman. “The reality of Bitcoin is that users are also players. And the objective of this game is the highest possible score.” But how much higher can it go? ||||| FILE - In this April 7, 2014, file photo, Bitcoin logos are displayed at the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. A federal regulator gave the go ahead on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, to the... (Associated Press) FILE - In this April 7, 2014, file photo, Bitcoin logos are displayed at the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. A federal regulator gave the go ahead on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, to the... (Associated Press) NEW YORK (AP) — A federal regulator gave the go ahead on Friday to the CME Group to start trading bitcoin futures later this month, the first time the digital currency will be traded on a Wall Street exchange and subject to federal oversight. The CME Group, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, will start trading bitcoin futures Dec. 18, the company said. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission, the primary regulator for exchanges like the CME, gave approval for the exchange to create bitcoin futures after six weeks of discussions. The CME Group is using a process known as "self-certification," which is when an exchange pledges that the new instruments will not break any federal securities laws. The price of bitcoin futures will be based on the price the digital currency is going for on four major bitcoin exchanges — Bitstamp, GDAX, itBit and Kraken. Due to its volatility, bitcoin futures will be subject higher margin levels and intraday price limits, the CME said. The move will subject some of the bitcoin market to federal regulation for the first time. It will also open up bitcoin trading to a larger group of investors and traders, who have been reluctant to purchase the virtual currency on the private exchanges. Bitcoin has gained more mainstream attention lately as its price has soared on the private exchanges. It was trading Friday at around $10,500, after being worth roughly $1,000 at the beginning of the year. ||||| SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email Bitcoin surged past $16,000 for the first time on Thursday, with frenzied demand to trade the cryptocurrency buckling one of the largest exchanges just days before the first U.S. futures contracts begin trading. Bitcoin’s rally of more than $3,000 in the past 24 hours continues to defy its legions of skeptics, as mainstream demand for the world’s largest cryptocurrency explodes. Investors flocking to open new accounts or place orders Thursday left Coinbase, the largest U.S. exchange, warning of outages and slow transactions. Trezor, a wallet service, tweeted that it’s having “minor issues” with its servers, while Bitfinex, the largest bitcoin exchange in the world, said on Twitter that it has been under a denial of service attack for several days and that it recently got worse. Bitcoin listed at $16,395 as of 1:15 p.m. in Bloomberg pricing that is a composite of exchanges. That takes its rally this year past 1,500 percent and its market capitalization is now at $274 billion. On Thursday it topped out at $16,777.08 after starting the day at $13,363.25. “This is irrational exuberance,” Royal Bank of Scotland Chairman Howard John Davies said in an interview on Bloomberg TV on Thursday. “This is a very, very unusual market, that shows we’re not in a normal two-way trading market.” Daily price swings of that magnitude and weakness at the exchanges underscored concerns raised Wednesday by some of the world’s biggest brokerages, which told regulators the contracts have been rushed to market without enough due diligence. The new bitcoin derivatives products are slated to begin trading this month and are expected to boost mainstream demand. On a day such as Thursday, trading would pause under proposed daily price-swing limitations. The slowdown on exchanges also highlighted the disparate pricing that can occur. The surging demand on Coinbase sent prices as high as $19,697 at 11:23 a.m., higher by more than $3,000 than other exchanges. Coinbase added at least 300,000 users since just before the Thanksgiving holiday. The company had 13.3 million users as of Nov. 26, up from 13 million on Nov. 22 and 10.6 million two months ago. Davies agreed with the brokerages’ concerns that exchanges which are set to offer bitcoin futures and options have failed to get enough feedback from market participants on margin levels, trading limits, stress tests and clearing. Those warnings were laid out in an open letter via the Futures Industry Association on Wednesday. Cboe Global Markets Inc. has said it will start trading bitcoin futures on Dec. 10, while CME Group Inc.’s contracts are set to debut on Dec. 18. Nasdaq Inc. is planning to offer futures in 2018, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cantor Fitzgerald LP’s Cantor Exchange is creating a bitcoin derivative, and startup LedgerX already offers options. ASX Ltd., the main exchange operator for equities and derivatives in Australia, on Thursday said it will start using blockchain, the technology that underlies bitcoin, to process equity transactions. The digital currency also got a boost from a successful test of a technology that will attempt to ease congestion in purchases of the digital currency. Lightning Network, as the technology is known, was conceived to move some transactions away from the blockchain, by allowing buyers and sellers to transact privately and later broadcast their activity to the public network. The price of bitcoin cash fell on the news, slumping 9.1 percent to $1,342.86, according to prices on coinmarketcap.com. The cryptocurrency rival offers a separate solution to bitcoin’s congestion issue. See here for more coverage of bitcoin’s volatile ride: Bitcoin Mining Service NiceHash Says Hackers Emptied Its Wallet Bitcoin Frenzy Like No Other Has Koreans Paying 23% Premium What the Central Banks Are Saying About Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin Volatility Intensifies as Exchanges Struggle With Demand All About Bitcoin, Blockchain and Their Crypto World: QuickTake — With assistance by Matthew Leising ||||| FILE - In this Monday, April 7, 2014, file photo, a bitcoin logo is displayed at the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. The bitcoin miner NiceHash says it is investigating a security... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Monday, April 7, 2014, file photo, a bitcoin logo is displayed at the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. The bitcoin miner NiceHash says it is investigating a security breach and the theft of the contents of the NiceHash "bitcoin wallet." The company said Thursday,... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Monday, April 7, 2014, file photo, a bitcoin logo is displayed at the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. The bitcoin miner NiceHash says it is investigating a security breach and the theft of the contents of the NiceHash "bitcoin wallet." The company said Thursday,... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Monday, April 7, 2014, file photo, a bitcoin logo is displayed at the Inside Bitcoins conference and trade show in New York. The bitcoin miner NiceHash says it is investigating a security... (Associated Press) TOKYO (AP) — A bitcoin mining company in Slovenia has been hacked for the possible theft of tens of millions of dollars, just days before the virtual currency, which hit a record above $15,000 on Thursday, is due to start trading on major U.S. exchanges. NiceHash, a company that mines bitcoins on behalf of customers, said it is investigating a security breach and will stop operating for 24 hours while it verifies how many bitcoins were taken. Research company Coindesk said that a wallet address referred to by NiceHash users indicates that about 4,700 bitcoins had been stolen. At Thursday's record price of about $15,000, that puts the value at over $70 million. There was no immediate response from NiceHash to an emailed request for more details. "The incident has been reported to the relevant authorities and law enforcement and we are cooperating with them as a matter of urgency," it said. The statement urged users to change their online passwords. Slovenian police are investigating the case together with authorities in other states, spokesman Bostjan Lindav said, without providing details. The hack will put a spotlight on the security of bitcoin just as the trading community prepares for the currency to start trading on two established U.S. exchanges. Futures for bitcoin will start trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange on Sunday evening and on crosstown rival CME Group's platforms later in the month. That has increased the sense among some investors that bitcoin is gaining in mainstream legitimacy after several countries, like China, tried to stifle the virtual currency. As a result, the price of bitcoin has jumped in the past year, particularly so in recent weeks. On Thursday it surged to over $15,000, up $1,300 in less than a day, according to Coindesk. At the start of the year, one bitcoin was worth less than $1,000. Bitcoin is the world's most popular virtual currency. Such currencies are not tied to a bank or government and allow users to spend money anonymously. They are basically lines of computer code that are digitally signed each time they are traded. A debate is raging on the merits of such currencies. Some say they serve merely to facilitate money laundering and illicit, anonymous payments. Others say they can be helpful methods of payment, such as in crisis situations where national currencies have collapsed. Miners of bitcoins and other virtual currencies help keep the systems honest by having their computers keep a global running tally of transactions. That prevents cheaters from spending the same digital coin twice. Online security is a vital concern for such dealings. In Japan, following the failure of a bitcoin exchange called Mt. Gox, new laws were enacted to regulate bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Mt. Gox shut down in February 2014, saying it lost about 850,000 bitcoins, possibly to hackers. ___ Ali Zerdin in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and Carlo Piovano in London contributed to this story. ||||| Markets Insider Bitcoin rises above $16,000 for the first time on Thursday. The digital currency has risen $4,000 in the past 48 hours. LONDON — Bitcoin passed $16,000 per coin for the first time on Thursday, just 24 hours after clearing $14,000 for the first time ever. Bitcoin hit $16,000 at around 4.05 p.m. GMT (11.05 a.m. ET) on Thursday. It had passed $15,000 for the first time at about 10.50 a.m. GMT (5.50 a.m. ET) on Thursday and passed $14,000 for the first time late on Wednesday. Bitcoin continues to break its own record highs against the dollar and has now risen by over $4,000 over the past 48 hours. It has gained well over 1,000% across 2017. Neil Wilson, a senior analyst at ETX Capital, said in an email: "We're running out of new things to say about this - the price action is exceptional and something that is without any parallels. It's a bubble for sure in its dynamic, we just don't know when or how it will collapse." The incredible rise means the total value of the cryptocurrency market has now passed $400 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com. The market surpassed $300 billion just 10 days ago. Bitcoin represents 63% of the value of the entire market, according to CoinMarketCap.com. The latest bull run began in earnest at the end of October when CME Group, the world's biggest exchange operator, announced plans to launch bitcoin futures contracts that would give institutional investors exposure to the new asset class. The rival Cboe is beating CME Group to the punch, launching its future contracts on Monday. The Royal Bank of Scotland's chairman, Sir Howard Davies, said on Bloomberg TV on Thursday that he was concerned bitcoin was "a frothy investment bubble." "All the authorities can do is put up the sign from Dante's Inferno — 'Abandon hope all ye who enter here'," Davies said, according to The Guardian, which reported the comments. "That's what's needed, and it need to come from the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England at the same time."

– To say it's a meteoric rise isn't too hyperbolic. Bitcoin hit $15,000 early Thursday, just 12 hours after it passed the $14,000 mark, reports Business Insider, which puts the digital currency's 36-hour increase at more than $3,000. To illustrate the massive growth another way: 10 days ago, the cryptocurrency market as a whole was worth $300 billion; now it's above $400 billion, per CoinMarketCap.com. The quote of the day on the subject comes from Royal Bank of Scotland chair Sir Howard Davies, who called the whole situation "irrational exuberance" in comments to Bloomberg and warned, "All the authorities can do is put up the sign from Dante's Inferno: 'Abandon hope all ye who enter here.'" Per the Guardian, Davies couldn't identify a "rational reason" for the rise, but CoinDesk shares the "primary theory," which boils down to the fact that bitcoin futures will begin trading for the first time this month and "big institutional money" is getting in on the game. As the AP earlier reported, the CME Group, which owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, got the OK on Friday to begin trading bitcoin futures on Dec. 18; CBOE Global Markets will do so as well. But is it a bubble, and if so, when will it burst? The Verge reports some traders suspect the answer is soon, and are planning to short Bitcoin, "that is, make bets that its value will decrease in the future." Meanwhile, one unfortunate bitcoin headline today: The AP reports Slovenian bitcoin mining company NiceHash was hacked, and $70 million in bitcoin may have been stolen.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The J.M. Smucker Co. is withdrawing some shipments of dog food amid reports that it could be tainted with traces of a drug used to euthanize animals. The company said Thursday it is pulling back shipments of several varieties of wet canned Gravy Train , Kibble 'N Bits , Skippy and Ol' Roy brands. It said it is investigating how the euthanasia drug pentobarbital got into its supply chain and is focusing on a single supplier of a minor ingredient used at one manufacturing facility. The recalls come after WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., said it tested 15 cans of Gravy Train. It found nine cans, or 60 percent of the sample, tested positive for pentobarbital. Smucker cited experts noting that the low levels of the drug cited in the report do not pose a threat to pets. "However, the presence of this substance at any level is not acceptable to us and not up to our quality standards," said the company, which is based in Orrville, Ohio. It said it does not use meat from euthanized animals in its pet food. ||||| New Year’s Eve 2016 was no celebration for Nikki Mael and her family. “Nobody should have to go through what we went through,” said Mael. “Nobody. Not fair. I mean, I would give anything to see Talula again.” Within minutes of sharing a can of Evanger’s pet food among her five dogs, she was racing the lifeless animals to the emergency vet. UPDATE: Dog foods pulled from shelves nationwide after ABC7 investigation finds euthanasia drug “They were falling over. They were running into the walls. They were convulsing,” said Mael. The vets told her they weren’t sure what was going on, but that things didn’t look good. Hours later, devastating news. “They said Talula wasn’t going to make it,” said Mael, choking back tears. Desperate for answers, the family sent the remainder of the food to a specialized lab and drove Talulah’s lifeless body to a veterinary pathologist for a postmortem examination. “Poisoning from the dog food. That’s what killed her,” said Mael. But it wasn’t just any poison. It was pentobarbital: A lethal drug, most commonly used to euthanize dogs, cats and some horses. The deadly toxin is never permitted to kill animals that are part of the food supply and would violate federal law if it was. “Pet food violates federal law, is openly allowed by the FDA to violate federal law, billion dollar a year companies are making profit selling illegal adulterated products to unknowing consumers in the US every day,” said Susan Thixton, a pet food consumer advocate who’s been studying and writing about the pet food industry for decades. “Consumers have no information, “ said Thixton. “A consumer has to become a private detective to learn what’s really in their food.” So we decided to find out. We partnered with Ellipse Analytics, a lab that specializes in testing food for contaminants. “I think you have a duty to understand what you’re selling to human beings and pets, and I think that the obligation is on you to understand what is, and is not, in your product,” said lab founder, Kevin Hicks. We tested 62 samples of wet dog food, across more than two-dozen brands for the euthanasia drug pentobarbital. After months of tests and re-tests, one brand repeatedly came back positive for pentobarbital. In total, we tested 15 cans of Gravy Train. Nine cans — 60-percent of the sample — were positive for pentobarbital. And while the levels detected were not lethal, under federal law they are also not permitted at any concentration. Gravy Train is made by Big Heart Pet Foods and owned by Smucker’s. According to Neilsen data, it accounts for more than $40 million of the company’s annual revenue. Big Heart Brands is also the maker of Meow Mix, Milk Bone, Kibbles’n Bits, 9 Lives, Natural Balance, Pup-Peroni, Gravy Train, Nature’s Recipe, Canine Carry Outs, Milo’s Kitchen, Alley Cat, Jerky Treats, Meaty Bone, Pounce and Snausages. The Big Heart website touts “high-quality food” that meets “rigorous evaluation and testing requirements.” So how is pentobarbital, a drug not allowed to be used on animals intended for food, getting into the food? “It comes from euthanasia of animals using that euthanasia drug,” said Dr. Nicholas Dodman, chief scientific officer for The Center for Canine Behavior Studies and former director of the Animal Behavior Program at Tufts University. “So, these animals could be dogs, they could be cats, they could be horses - but how is it getting into the pet food? If they say it doesn’t come from dogs, cats and horses where does it come from? It doesn’t come from outer space.” Dodman says the level of pentobarbital in the food is really beside the point. “Whether it’s doing something or nothing, what’s it doing there? Where did it come from? If they don’t like the explanation that it's coming from animals that have been euthanized, what is their explanation as to how it gets in?” asked Dodman. We asked that question of both the FDA and Smucker’s as part of a request for an on-camera interview. Neither answered. Smucker’s declined our request for an on-camera interview and declined to answer any of our questions we provided to them, but gave us a statement which in part, says “We launched and are conducting a thorough investigation, including working closely with our suppliers, to determine the accuracy of these results and the methodology used.” The FDA, just a short distance from the WJLA studios, also declined repeated requests for an on-camera interview. Instead of speaking to us, and answering our questions, they suggested we contact the Pet Food Institute, which is the trade organization that represents 98 percent of the pet food industry. We asked them to reconsider that response to which they replied that it “will investigate the matter and take appropriate enforcement action.” One possibility as to how pentobarbital is getting into food? Experts tell us animals that have been euthanized are picked up by renderers who process the carcasses - which may be blended into pet food. In a 2004 report to Congress, sources for rendered materials were identified as, among other things, "dead animals from farms, animal shelters and other facilities." Under federal law, these are adulterated ingredients. Adulterated ingredients, which are defined partly as: “an animal which has died otherwise than by slaughter,” are illegal in all food for humans and animals. Yet in its own compliance policy, the FDA acknowledges it is violating the law and states: “pet food consisting of material from diseased animals or animals which have died otherwise than by slaughter, which is in violation of 402(a)(5) will be considered fit for animal consumption.” “The FDA tells industry ‘Yeah, it’s a violation of law, but go ahead, we’re not going to do anything,’” said Thixton. In a written request, we asked the FDA to explain its policy that is allowing adulterated ingredients into pet food. They did not provide an answer. As for Nikki Mael and her family, she says their confidence as consumers has been irreparably damaged. “I don't trust any dog food companies anymore. And reading that the law’s not enforced and it’s just kind of, ‘they do their own thing,’ I need to make sure that they’re eating human grade food.” Since Talula’s death, Nikki’s been making pet food at home, so she knows exactly what’s in it. She’s also the lead on a class action lawsuit against Evanger’s, the company that made the food the FDA attributes to Talula’s death. We tested several cans of Evanger’s for our report and those cans came back negative. “I miss Talula a lot. Not fair. But I hope that other animals can be saved by this,” said Mael. If you want to contact the FDA, Smucker’s or Big Heart Brands regarding this issue: FDA: 888-463-6332 Smucker’s: 888-550-9555 Big Heart Brands: 415-247-3000 Behind the scenes: How an analytical lab tests for contaminants in pet food: ||||| Feb. 16, 2018 -- The FDA on Friday warned pet owners that several popular brands of dog food has been found to include small amounts of a drug used to euthanize animals. The agency says it is investigating how pentobarbital wound up in certain shipments of Gravy Train, Kibbles 'N Bits, Ol’ Roy, and Skippy canned wet dog food. "The FDA’s preliminary evaluation of the testing results of Gravy Train samples indicates that the low level of pentobarbital present in the withdrawn products is unlikely to pose a health risk to pets," the agency says in its advisory. "However, pentobarbital should never be present in pet food and products containing any amount of pentobarbital are considered to be adulterated." J.M. Smucker Co., owner of the brands in question, said it has pulled specific shipments of Gravy Train, Kibbles 'N Bits, Ol’ Roy, and Skippy canned wet dog food. The move, which is not considered an official recall, came after a Washington, D.C., television station said it had several varieties of dog food tested in an independent lab. Those results, WJLA said, found several products that tested positive for pentobarbital. Pentobarbital is a barbiturate drug that is most commonly used in animals as a sedative, anesthetic, or for euthanasia, the FDA says. An agency spokeswoman told WebMD on Wednesday that the FDA is "thoroughly reviewing" the state's results and that the "agency will determine appropriate action." “Veterinarians and animal nutrition specialists, as well as the FDA, have confirmed that extremely low levels of pentobarbital, like the levels reported to be in select shipments, do not pose a threat to pet safety,” J.M. Smucker Co. spokesman Ray Hancart told WebMD in a statement. “However, the presence of this substance at any level is not acceptable to us and not up to our quality standards. We sincerely apologize for the concern this has caused.” Hancart says customers with questions or concerns can call 800-828-9980 or email the company through its website. Hancart says the company continues to investigate and is “extremely disappointed that pentobarbital was introduced to our supply chain.” ||||| An independent investigation, conducted by ABC7, looking into what’s in your dog’s food was followed by recalls from a major pet food company. According to ABC7, the ABC-affiliate launched the deep dive into dog food after the death of a Washougal, Washington, dog named Talula. Nikki Mael’s four dogs all became ill after eating a can of Evanger’s pet food on New Year’s Eve 2016. Distraught, the owner rushed all of her canines to the vet for treatment; all but Talula pulled through. Get push notifications with news, features and more. Mael sent the remainder of her dogs’ food to a lab for testing. The lab uncovered that the dog food contained pentobarbital, “a lethal drug, most commonly used to euthanize dogs, cats and some horses.” The use of pentobarbital is not permitted in animal meat used for food supply, so it should not show up in any pet or human food. The FDA later cautioned pet owners against feeding their pets Evanger’s shortly after Talula’s death, but Susan Thixton, a pet food consumer advocate, told ABC7 that unusual substances can end up in your pets’ food regularly. “Consumers have no information,” said Thixton. “A consumer has to become a private detective to learn what’s really in their food.” To save pet owners the aforementioned detective work, ABC7 partnered with Ellipse Analytics, a lab specializing in food testing, to test pet food. The station tested 62 samples of wet dog food from over 24 brands for pentobarbital multiple times over several months. Only one brand of food, Gravy Train, repeatedly tested positive for trace amounts of the euthanasia drug. Sixty percent of the Gravy Train samples came back positive. And while the amount of pentobarbital found was not a lethal level, any trace of the drug is not permitted in pet food. Gravy Train is made by the company Big Heart Pet Foods, which is owned by Smucker’s. Big Heart Brands is also responsible for the production of Meow Mix, Milk Bone, Kibbles’n Bits, 9 Lives, Natural Balance, Pup-Peroni, Nature’s Recipe, Canine Carry Outs, Milo’s Kitchen, Alley Cat, Jerky Treats, Meaty Bone, Pounce and Snausages. The question still remains how the drug made its way into the food, since it is often only found in the systems of cats, horses and dogs put down by the drug. Some worry this means these animals are being put into pet food, reports ABC 7, while others are more concerned that the drug is there at all and what its presence means about the quality of the food we are feeding our pets. Shortly after ABC7 shared its findings, Smucker’s announced Wednesday that it is voluntarily recalling shipments of Gravy Train, Kibbles ‘N Bits, Ol’ Roy, and Skippy dog food over concerns about the presence of pentobarbital, according to WebMD. “Veterinarians and animal nutrition specialists, as well as the FDA, have confirmed that extremely low levels of pentobarbital, like the levels reported to be in select shipments, do not pose a threat to pet safety,” J.M. Smucker Co. spokesman Ray Hancart told WebMD in a statement. “However, the presence of this substance at any level is not acceptable to us and not up to our quality standards. We sincerely apologize for the concern this has caused.” The products affected by this recall are listed below. Customers with questions or concerns about their pet’s food can call 800-828-9980 or email the company through its website. Gravy Train canned/wet dog food• Gravy Train 13.2 oz. with T-Bone Flavor Chunks (UPC: 7910052541)• Gravy Train 13.2 oz. with Beef Strips (UPC: 7910052542) Kibbles ‘N Bits canned/wet dog food• Kibbles ‘N Bits 13.2 oz. Burger Bacon Cheese and Turkey Bacon Vegetable Variety 12-Pack (UPC: 7910010377; 7910010378) • Gravy Train 13.2 oz. with Lamb and Rice Chunks (UPC: 7910052543)• Gravy Train 13.2 oz. with Beef Chunks (UPC: 7910034417)• Gravy Train 13.2 oz. with Chicken Chunks (UPC: 7910034418)• Gravy Train 13.2 oz. Chunks in Gravy Stew (UPC: 7910051933)• Gravy Train 13.2 oz. Chicken, Beef & Liver Medley (UPC: 7910051934)• Gravy Train 13.2 oz. Chunks in Gravy with Beef Chunks (UPC: 7910034417)• Gravy Train 22 oz. with Chicken Chunks (UPC: 7910051645)• Gravy Train 22 oz. with Beef Chunks (UPC: 7910051647)• KibblesN Bits 13.2 oz. Burger Bacon Cheese and Turkey Bacon Vegetable Variety 12-Pack (UPC: 7910010377; 7910010378) • Kibbles ‘N Bits 13.2 oz. Beef, Chicken, Vegetable, Meatball Pasta and Turkey Bacon Vegetable Variety Pack (UPC: 7910010382; 7910048367; 7910010378) • Kibbles ‘N Bits 13.2 oz. Beef, Chicken, Vegetable, Burger Bacon Cheese and Beef Vegetable Variety Pack (UPC: 7910010380; 7910010377; 7910010375) • Kibbles ‘N Bits 13.2 oz. Wet Variety Pack (UPC: 791001037; 7910048367) • Kibbles ‘N Bits 13.2 oz. Chef’s Choice Bistro Tender Cuts with Real Beef & Vegetable in Gravy (UPC: 7910010375) • Kibbles ‘N Bits 13.2 oz. Chef’s Choice Bistro Tender Cuts with Real Turkey, Bacon & Vegetable in Gravy (UPC: 7910010378) • Kibbles ‘N Bits 13.2 oz. Chef’s Choice Homestyle Tender Slices with Real Beef, Chicken & Vegetables in Gravy (UPC: 7910010380) Skippy canned/wet dog food • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Select Cuts in Gravy with Beef & Bone Marrow (UPC: 7910071860) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Select Cuts with Burgers & Cheese Bits (UPC: 7910050243) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Chunks in Gravy with Smoky Turkey & Bacon (UPC: 7910050246) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Chunks in Gravy with Beef & Chicken (UPC: 7910050247) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Chunks in Gravy 3 in 1 Chicken, Beef & Liver (UPC: 7910050248) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Chunks in Gravy Chunky Stew (UPC: 7910050249) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Strips in Gravy with Chicken (UPC: 7910050244) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Chunks in Gravy with Beef (UPC: 7910050250) • Skippy 13.2 oz. Premium Strips in Gravy with Beef (UPC: 7910050245) Ol’ Roy canned/wet dog food• Ol’ Roy 13.2 oz. Turkey Bacon Strips (UPC: 8113117570)

– Four brands of dog food under the JM Smucker Co. umbrella have been recalled after a DC TV station tested one of the brands and found traces of a euthanizing drug used on dogs, cats, and horses in 60% of the samples. The AP reports that shipments of cans of Gravy Train, Kibble 'N Bits, Skippy, and Ol' Roy wet food have been pulled back after pentobarbital was found in nine of the 15 cans of Gravy Train that WJLA tested. The station, which commissioned a lab specializing in food testing for contaminants, also tested around two dozen other brands over several months, but there were no significant findings. People notes that Gravy Train is produced by the Smucker Co.'s Big Heart Pet Brands, which also makes Meow Mix, 9Lives, and Pounce pet edibles. The investigation was spurred after the death of a Washington state woman's dog a year ago. All four of Nikki Mael's dogs got sick on New Year's Eve 2016 after eating canned Evanger's dog food, and one, Talula, didn't make it. Mael sent the food out for testing, and the lab found it contained pentobarbital, which is banned from use in pet or human food. Efforts are now focused on how the pentobarbital got into the Gravy Train samples, with the FDA jumping into the investigation; the AP notes a supplier that provides one of the brand's lesser ingredients is being looked at. One somewhat stomach-churning possibility being bandied about: animals that were put down somehow ended up in the pet food. A rep from JM Smucker tells WebMD "extremely low levels" of pentobarbital aren't risky for animals, but that "the presence of this substance at any level is not acceptable to us and not up to our quality standards." (The FDA also warned about bones for dogs.)

The former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya has claimed that social media is “destroying how society works”. For two years, I have had a blog on Facebook that celebrates difference and encourages the building of community, and Palihapitiya’s characterisation of social media is not one I recognise. So ubiquitous and influential has social media become that it is easy to forget that we are still in the early dawn of its age. When cars were as old as social media is now, there were no seatbelts, no airbags, no driving tests, and no breathalysers. Safety measures and design features that we take for granted were totally unimaginable. The first pedestrian to be killed by a car in the UK, Bridget Driscoll, was killed by a car travelling at four miles per hour. Witnesses said she had frozen in front of the vehicle and seemed “bewildered”. In 2017, we are no longer bewildered by cars travelling at four miles an hour. We have adapted to what was once new technology, and the road death rate in the UK continues to fall year after year, even as the number of cars on our roads continues to rise. Road deaths in 2016 were 1792 – less than a fifth of what they were in 1941, when deaths peaked at 9,169. All new technologies are subject to cynicism. When umbrellas first arrived in the UK, users reported being abused and called “Frenchmen” in the street. But just as we got used to umbrellas and cars, there are now millions of people who are starting to develop ways to make social media the safe, empowering, life-enhancing tool that they believe it can be. Mark Zuckerberg announces AR plans for Facebook I have had the privilege of meeting some of these people through my blog. People like Maz Saleem, whose father Mohammed was murdered in a terrorist attack in Birmingham in 2013. Maz founded a page on Facebook called “Education for Peace in Remembrance of Mohammed Saleem RIP” which fights against Islamophobia and stands up for the rights of refugees. The page now has more than 18,000 followers. Before social media, Maz Saleem would have had to appeal to a powerful person – probably white, probably male, probably not a Muslim – to get permission to be heard. In the social media age, the power is all hers. I have written about Martyn Hett, who used social media to create funny videos about Coronation Street, to promote his mum’s craft fair and to entertain millions of people. When Martyn was killed in the Manchester Arena bombing, my post encouraging people to #BeMoreMartyn went viral and encouraged thousands of people to be braver, to leave abusive relationships, to change jobs, or, in the case of one woman, to post a photograph of her beautiful disabled son, when previously she had been too afraid to do so. Martyn Hett used social media to make the world a better place, and through social media he has continued to make people’s lives better even after death. UK news in pictures 45 show all UK news in pictures 1/45 14 January 2018 Glen Durrant celebrates with the trophy after victory during day nine of the BDO World Professional Darts Championship 2018 at The Lakeside PA 2/45 13 January 2018 The Whittlesea Straw Bear festival in Cambridgeshire celebrates the old Fenland plough custom of parading straw bears around the town every January. This Festival happens on the first weekend after Plough Monday. The procession, led by the Straw Bear, has over 250 dancers, musicians and performers. They perform traditional Molly, Morris, Clog and Sword dancing. Rex 3/45 12 January 2018 Workers look at the Madame Tussauds wax figure of US President Donald Trump outside the new US Embassy in Nine Elms, London, after Mr Trump confirmed he will not travel to the UK to open the new building - and hit out at the location of the 1.2 billion dollar (£886 million) project. Writing on Twitter, Trump said he thought the embassy's move from Grosvenor Square in the prestigious Mayfair district of central London to Nine Elms, south of the Thames, was a "bad deal". PA 4/45 11 January 2018 British Prime Minister Theresa May watches birds from inside a bird hide with school children at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's (WWT) ahead of a speech to launch the government's environment plan in London. Campaigners on January 11 criticised Theresa May's plan to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste within 25 years, calling it a "missed opportunity" that lacked the necessary urgency. The government will extend a charge on plastic bags to all businesses and encourage supermarkets to introduce plastic-free aisles, May said in speech. AFP/Getty 5/45 10 January 2018 Cirque du Soleil 'OVO' dress rehearsal at the Royal Albert Hall Rex 6/45 9 January 2018 Prime Minister Theresa May leads her first cabinet meeting of the new year at 10 Downing street PA 7/45 8 January 2018 Journalist Carrie Gracie speaks to the media outside the BBC in London after she turned down a £45,000 rise, describing the offer as a "botched solution" to the problem of unequal pay at the BBC. Gracie said she told the corporation she wanted equality, rather than more money, and was determined not to help the organisation "perpetuate a failing pay structure by discriminating against women" PA 8/45 7 January 2018 A man reads a newspaper as he takes part in the annual 'No Trousers On The Tube Day' (No Pants Subway Ride) at Liverpool Street Station. Started in 2002 with only seven participants, the day is now marked in over 60 cities around the world. The idea behind "No Pants" is that random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter, without wearing trousers. The participants wear all of the usual winter clothing on their top half such as hats, scarves and gloves and do not acknowledge each other's similar state of undress. AFP/Getty 9/45 6 January 2018 League Two side Coventry City celebrate victory over Premier League side Stoke in the FA Cup third round PA 10/45 5 January 2018 A commendation ceremony takes place at Manchester Town Hall to recognise the actions of police and rail staff following the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena in May 2017 PA 11/45 4 January 2018 Stuart (no surname given) with his possessions in a bus stop near Windsor Castle, Berkshire. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she disagrees with Tory council leader Simon Dudley, who called on police to clear rough sleepers from Windsor before the royal wedding PA 12/45 3 January 2018 Storm Eleanor lashed the UK with violent storm-force winds of up to 100mph PA 13/45 2 January 2018 Members of National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) hold a demonstration against rail fare increases outside Kings Cross Railway Station, London. Average rail ticket prices across Britain have risen by 3.4 percent, the biggest increase to rail fares for five years EPA 14/45 1 January 2018 A man takes part in the Mappleton Bridge Jump, an annual unofficial tradition where those willing jump from Okeover bridge on New Years Day into the River Dove PA 15/45 31 December 2017 Passing clouds creating beautiful colours in Wimbledon on the last sunset of the year Rex 16/45 30 December 2017 One person was taken to hospital after a fire broke out on the ninth floor of a building in Joiner Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter mcr_cabbie/Twitter 17/45 29 December 2017 Heavy snow, rain, thunderstorms and wind have caused disruption across much of Britain as a band of "severe" weather rolled across the country. Travelers were warned of dangerous roads conditions, with Highways England advising road users to pack shovels, food and water if they do venture out. The weather didn't just affect travel however, camels on a farm near Richmond, North Yorkshire and various other animals are having to deal with the cold weather PA 18/45 28 December 2017 Alastair Cook celebrates after reaching his double-century during the third day of the fourth Ashes cricket test match Reuters 19/45 27 December 2017 Sheep are driven to another field in the Cotswolds after overnight snow caused travel disruptions across parts of the UK PA 20/45 26 December 2017 Harry Kane celebrates after scoring his third goal, Tottenham's fifth, during the Boxing day Premier League match against Southampton at Wembley. He broke Alan Shearer’s record of 36 Premier League goals in a calendar year, scoring 39 from 36 matches. Kane also finished 2017 as Europe’s leading scorer ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who has 54 goals from 63 appearances in all competitions. Harry Kane has 56 from 52. AFP/Getty 21/45 25 December 2017 Swimmers get out of the water after taking part in the Christmas Day Serpentine swim in Hyde Park, London Reuters 22/45 24 December 2017 Stuart Broad of England bowls during a nets session at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia. The fourth Ashes test starts on Boxing Day Getty 23/45 23 December 2017 Staff members console each other as they survey the damage after a fire destroyed a number of buildings at London Zoo. An aardvark has died and four meerkats are missing. Eight zoo workers have been treated by paramedics after a desperate attempt to save the animals from the blaze, which broke out in a petting area. 24/45 22 December 2017 Druids, pagans and revellers gather in the centre of Stonehenge, hoping to see the sun rise, as they take part in a winter solstice ceremony at the ancient neolithic monument of Stonehenge. Despite a forecast for cloud and rain, a large crowd gathered at the famous historic stone circle, to celebrate the sunrise closest to the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. The event is claimed to be more important in the pagan calendar than the summer solstice, because it marks the 're-birth' of the Sun for the New Year. Getty Images 25/45 21 December 2017 Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, British Defence Minister Gavin Williamson in the presence of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May sign a treaty between the Republic of Poland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on cooperation in the field of defense and security EPA 26/45 20 December 2017 A protester wears a 'STOP BREXIT' hat outside the Palace of Westminster Reuters 27/45 19 December 2017 The Choristers of St Paul's rehearse for a series of services and concerts over the Christmas season at St Paul's Cathedral in London REUTERS 28/45 18 December 2017 Joe Root, the England captain is interviewed after Australia regained the Ashes. England lost by an innings and 41 run runs in the third test at the WACA in Perth Getty 29/45 17 December 2017 Photos of Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been jailed in Iran, on display at their home in north London. Mr Ratcliffe says he believes there is "still a chance" she may be released from an Iranian prison in time for a dream Christmas together. PA 30/45 16 December 2017 Oxford Street in London is filled with shoppers with 8 shopping days before Christmas Rex 31/45 15 December 2017 Jonny Bairstow of England headbutts his helmet to celebrate his century during day two of the Third Test match in the 2017/18 Ashes Series between Australia and England at the WACA in Perth, Australia. Bairstow was embroiled in controversy at the beginning of the tour after lightly headbutting Australian opening batsman Cameron Bancroft in an exchange in a bar 32/45 14 December 2017 People at the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA 33/45 13 December 2017 Wax figures of Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wearing a Christmas Jumper at Madame Tussauds EPA 34/45 12 December 2017 Victims and family of victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, Nicholas Burton (left), Sandra Ruiz (second right), Karim Mussilhy (right) and a girl who asked not be named (second left), hand in a petition to Downing Street, asking for an overhaul of the public inquiry. PA 35/45 11 December 2017 A homeless man on the streets of Manchester. Many people are spending the night on the streets in freezing temperatures as the Met Office continues to issue weather warnings across the country. The Shelter charity has said that more than 300,000 are now homeless across Britain, equating to the population of a city the size of Newcastle Getty 36/45 10 December 2017 Pedestrians walk over the Millennium Bridge with St Paul's Cathedral pictured in the background as snow falls AFP/Getty Images 37/45 9 December 2017 British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, left, and Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, right, with interpreter at centre, during their meeting in Tehran, Iran. Johnson is expected to discuss the fate of detained British-Iranian woman Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow Iran's government. AP 38/45 8 December 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker address a press conference at the European Commission in Brussels AFP/Getty Images 39/45 7 December 2017 Nick Dunn, one of the so-called Chennai Six is greeted by his sister Lisa as he arrives at Newcastle Airport after being released from India after serving four years in jail on weapons charges. PA 40/45 6 December 2017 Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (L) greets Nigeria's ambassador to the United Kingdom, George Adesola Oguntade (C), and his wife, Modupe Oguntade, during a private audience at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty 41/45 5 December 2017 800 abandoned buckets appear at Potters Field Park, London, in a moving tribute to the 800 children who die every day, on average, due to a lack of clean water and sanitation. Just one bucket in the installation, part of WaterAid’s #Untapped appeal, could hold almost enough safe drinking water for one child for a week. Every £1 donated to the #Untapped appeal until 31st January 2018 will be matched by the UK Government. WaterAid / Ollie Dixon 42/45 4 December 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May smiles to European Union President Donald Tusk as she attends Brexit negotiations' meetings AFP/Getty 43/45 3 December 2017 The last Supermoon of 2017 sets over Whitley Bay, Northumberland PA 44/45 2 December 2017 The crowd reacts as England's Dawid Malan fails to stop a boundary during the first day of the second Ashes test match REUTERS 45/45 1 December 2017 England manager, Gareth Southgate, jokes with Belgium manager, Roberto Martinez, after their sides were drawn in the same group during the Final Draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia Getty Images People like Maz and Martyn appreciate that what social media lacks in factual accuracy, it makes up for in its ability to build relationships. Social media is a tool, and like all tools, whether its effects are good or bad lies entirely in how it is used. To claim that social media is destroying society is like claiming that bricks are the cause of Trump's border wall or that turkeys and crackers are the reason we have family arguments at Christmas. Social media is a way of managing our relationships, but it is not responsible for the quality of those relationships. We are. By improving our skills of communication, by making social media a place to contribute, to organise, and to pull together, it may yet be the most glorious invention we have ever created. We hold the keys, the compasses, the maps, and the directions. Where we end up is entirely in our hands. ||||| CLOSE It's hard to imagine any more user growth for Facebook now that over 2 billion users are on the platform. Video provided by TheStreet Newslook ‘Brain hacking’ Internet monopolies menace public health, democracy, writes Roger McNamee. Facebook and Alphabet stocks (Photo: Mark Lennihan, AP) I invested in Google and Facebook years before their first revenue and profited enormously. I was an early adviser to Facebook’s team, but I am terrified by the damage being done by these Internet monopolies. Technology has transformed our lives in countless ways, mostly for the better. Thanks to the now ubiquitous smartphone, tech touches us from the moment we wake up until we go to sleep. While the convenience of smartphones has many benefits, the unintended consequences of well-intentioned product choices have become a menace to public health and to democracy. Facebook and Google get their revenue from advertising, the effectiveness of which depends on gaining and maintaining consumer attention. Borrowing techniques from the gambling industry, Facebook, Google and others exploit human nature, creating addictive behaviors that compel consumers to check for new messages, respond to notifications, and seek validation from technologies whose only goal is to generate profits for their owners. More: Legal automation spells relief for lower-income Americans, hard times for lawyers More: Please do not let your employer microchip you The people at Facebook and Google believe that giving consumers more of what they want and like is worthy of praise, not criticism. What they fail to recognize is that their products are not making consumers happier or more successful. Like gambling, nicotine, alcohol or heroin, Facebook and Google — most importantly through its YouTube subsidiary — produce short-term happiness with serious negative consequences in the long term. Users fail to recognize the warning signs of addiction until it is too late. There are only 24 hours in a day, and technology companies are making a play for all them. The CEO of Netflix recently noted that his company’s primary competitor is sleep. How does this work? A 2013 study found that average consumers check their smartphones 150 times a day. And that number has probably grown. People spend 50 minutes a day on Facebook. Other social apps such as Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter combine to take up still more time. Those companies maintain a profile on every user, which grows every time you like, share, search, shop or post a photo. Google also is analyzing credit card records of millions of people. As a result, the big Internet companies know more about you than you know about yourself, which gives them huge power to influence you, to persuade you to do things that serve their economic interests. Facebook, Google and others compete for each consumer’s attention, reinforcing biases and reducing the diversity of ideas to which each is exposed. The degree of harm grows over time. Consider a recent story from Australia, where someone at Facebook told advertisers that they had the ability to target teens who were sad or depressed, which made them more susceptible to advertising. In the United States, Facebook once demonstrated its ability to make users happier or sadder by manipulating their news feed. While it did not turn either capability into a product, the fact remains that Facebook influences the emotional state of users every moment of every day. Former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris calls this "brain hacking." More: We need answers in Democrats' congressional IT drama POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media The fault here is not with search and social networking, per se. Those services have enormous value. The fault lies with advertising business models that drive companies to maximize attention at all costs, leading to ever more aggressive brain hacking. The Facebook application has 2 billion active users around the world. Google’s YouTube has 1.5 billion. These numbers are comparable to Christianity and Islam, respectively, giving Facebook and Google influence greater than most First World countries. They are too big and too global to be held accountable. Other attention-based apps — including Instagram, WhatsApp, WeChat, SnapChat and Twitter — also have user bases between 100 million and 1.3 billion. Not all their users have had their brains hacked, but all are on that path. And there are no watchdogs. Anyone who wants to pay for access to addicted users can work with Facebook and YouTube. Lots of bad people have done it. One firm was caught using Facebook tools to spy on law abiding citizens. A federal agency confronted Facebook about the use of its tools by financial firms to discriminate based on race in the housing market. America’s intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in our election and that Facebook was a key platform for spreading misinformation. For the price of a few fighter aircraft, Russia won an information war against us. Incentives being what they are, we cannot expect Internet monopolies to police themselves. There is little government regulation and no appetite to change that. If we want to stop brain hacking, consumers will have to force changes at Facebook and Google. Roger McNamee is the managing director and a co-founder of Elevation Partners, and investment partnership focused on media/entertainment content and consumer technology. You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @USATOpinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com. Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wphsDl ||||| Be smart: Parker's I-was-there account provides priceless perspective in the rising debate about the power and effects of the social networks, which now have scale and reach unknown in human history. He's worried enough that he's sounding the alarm. Sean Parker, the founding president of Facebook, gave me a candid insider's look at how social networks purposely hook and potentially hurt our brains. Parker, 38, now founder and chair of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, spoke yesterday at an Axios event at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, about accelerating cancer innovation. In the green room, Parker mentioned that he has become "something of a conscientious objector" on social media. By the time he left the stage, he jokingly said Mark Zuckerberg will probably block his account after reading this: "When Facebook was getting going, I had these people who would come up to me and they would say, 'I'm not on social media.' And I would say, 'OK. You know, you will be.' And then they would say, 'No, no, no. I value my real-life interactions. I value the moment. I value presence. I value intimacy.' And I would say, ... 'We'll get you eventually.'" "I don't know if I really understood the consequences of what I was saying, because [of] the unintended consequences of a network when it grows to a billion or 2 billion people and ... it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other ... It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains." "The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, ... was all about: 'How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?'" "And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that's going to get you to contribute more content, and that's going to get you ... more likes and comments." "It's a social-validation feedback loop ... exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology." "The inventors, creators — it's me, it's Mark [Zuckerberg], it's Kevin Systrom on Instagram, it's all of these people — understood this consciously. And we did it anyway." P.S. Parker, on life science allowing us to "live much longer, more productive lives": "Because I'm a billionaire, I'm going to have access to better health care so ... I'm going to be like 160 and I'm going to be part of this, like, class of immortal overlords. [Laughter] Because, you know the [Warren Buffett] expression about compound interest. ... [G]ive us billionaires an extra hundred years and you'll know what ... wealth disparity looks like." Go deeper: See the video of Parker's comments. Go deeper: Joe Biden rips Trump's "phony nationalism". Sign up for Axios newsletters to get our Smart Brevity delivered to your inbox every morning. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Chamath Palihapitiya worked at Facebook at a time when it was growing rapidly Facebook has responded to a former executive who said the social network, and other services like it, was "ripping society apart". Chamath Palihapitiya made the comments last month but were circulated widely online on Monday. Facebook took the unusual step of issuing a statement to defend itself. A spokesperson said Mr Palihapitiya had not worked at Facebook for more than six years. "When Chamath was at Facebook we were focused on building new social media experiences and growing Facebook around the world. Facebook was a very different company back then and as we have grown we have realised how our responsibilities have grown too." Mr Palihapitiya, who was Facebook's vice-president for user growth, is now a prominent venture capitalist. He is the latest member of an influential chorus worried about the true impact of the "like" culture - a feeling that too many people turn to social networks for validation and happiness. "We have created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works," Mr Palihapitiya said. He is not alone. Sean Parker, Facebook's first president and the architect of much of its early commercial development, recently expressed regret about the part he played in Facebook's history. “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains," he told Mike Allen from US news site Axios. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Sean Parker shares his concerns about social media "We take our role very seriously and we are working hard to improve," Facebook's statement continued. "We've done a lot of work and research with outside experts and academics to understand the effects of our service on well-being, and we're using it to inform our product development. "We are also making significant investments more in people, technology and processes, and – as Mark Zuckerberg said on the last earnings call – we are willing to reduce our profitability to make sure the right investments are made." Despite these prominent figures voicing their concerns, Facebook's business strategy is pressing ahead. Last week it launched Messenger Kids, its first app for children under the age of 13, a group previously not officially allowed on Facebook (though many often worked around the trivial measures preventing them from signing up). The launch of Messenger Kids came with the cautious blessing of several organisations that aim to protect children online and elsewhere. However, UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted in response: "Stay away from my kids please Facebook and act responsibly." Facebook's statement suggests the company may be devising a strategy to hit back against criticism as we enter 2018. The new year is set to bring many challenges for the firm as it also contends with the persistent issue of fake news and propaganda on the platform. I predict we'll see a worldwide marketing campaign highlighting the good Facebook does in bringing communities together. The company's aim must be to demonstrate that the positive contribution to society will be seen to greatly outweigh the negative. Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC You can reach Dave securely through encrypted messaging app Signal on: +1 (628) 400-7370

– Headlines focused this week on an ex-Facebook exec who warned last month about the platform he helped grow, and now the social network is clapping back. Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's former VP of user growth, said at a Stanford Graduate School of Business appearance he feels "tremendous guilt" over what Facebook is doing to society, he doesn't let his kids "use this s---," and everyone else should probably take a "hard break" from social media. In what the BBC deems an "unusual step," Facebook has some pushback on his words. "When Chamath was at Facebook we were focused on building new social media experiences and growing Facebook around the world," a rep noted, adding Palihapitiya hasn't worked there for years. "Facebook was a very different company back then, and as we have grown we have realized how our responsibilities have grown, too." Palihapitiya hasn't been alone in his advocate-turned-critic role. In an August op-ed in USA Today, Roger McNamee, an early investor in Google and Facebook, wrote the "unintended consequences" of technologies such as social media "have become a menace to public health and to democracy." And last month, Sean Parker, Facebook's first president, told Mike Allen at Axios a network like Facebook "literally changes your relationship with society, with each other. … God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains" (which means reaction to Facebook's new app for kids should be interesting). But an Independent op-ed by Emlyn Pearce says blaming society's ills on Facebook "is like claiming that bricks are the cause of Trump's border wall." "Social media is a way of managing our relationships, but it is not responsible for the quality of those relationships," he writes. "We are."

National Enquirer publishes photo it alleges shows Whitney Houston in casket: Has a line been crossed? Whitney Houston (AP) The National Enquirer sparked outrage Wednesday when it released a cover featuring a photo purportedly showing the late Whitney Houston in a gold casket. The existence of the Enquirer's photo, which the tabloid claims was taken at Whigham Funeral Home in New Jersey, was reported by several outlets. Some, including Jezebel and the Fox 411 blog, republished the photo at the top of their posts without any warning. The Daily Mail published the photo with the body blurred out. (If you’d like to see the photo to gain context, it can be viewed here.The photo will not be published on Celebritology.) It’s not known how the Enquirer obtained the photo. Requests for comment from Houston’s publicist and Whigham Funeral Home have not been returned. (Update: Funeral home owner Carolyn Whigham told the Chicago Tribune, “I am very angry, very upset, just like the family, just like the fans. ... We don't like it because it implicates us. Whitney was a personal friend to me and my family. We would not do that.”) Even without verification, the photo is shocking and disturbing. But it’s not surprising that it has been published. The Enquirer published a photo of Elvis Presley in his casket on its cover in 1977. The issue sold 6.5 million copies, according to the Sun-Sentinel. More recently, a photo of Michael Jackson’s lifeless body was shown during the trial of doctor Conrad Murray. It was then republished in the media. In the opinion of this writer, a line has been crossed. It seems highly unethical to me to publish a photo of this nature in the first place, but especially without permission from the person’s family. That seems to be the consensus on Twitter, as well. But where should the line be drawn to begin with? Houston’s funeral, held Saturday at a Newark Church, was live streamed by the Associated Press with permission from the family. Celebritology embedded the live stream and then wrote posts about the service. CNN, one of the cable networks to broadcast the funeral, averaged five million viewers during the three and a half hour period when it took place, according to the New York Times. The AP’s stream had nearly 2 million unique visitors. Clearly, there was a demand to watch it. The BBC was forced to defend its decision to cover the funeral service after it received 34 complaints, saying “it reflected the significant interest in her sudden death as well as acknowledging the impact she had as a global recording artist.” Other outlets, including Entertainment Weekly and ABC News, took it a step further and chose to live blog the service. EW was slammed for the decision in the comments section of a post announcing the live blog (Example: “A live-blog of someone's funeral is not only tacky, it's grotesquely inappropriate.”) The comments on that post have since been disabled. The commenters on ABC News did not seem to object to the live blog. Wire services, like Getty and the AP, have made available photos of guests outside the funeral service, Houston’s casket and the hearse it was carried in. This is clearly not the same as what the Enquirer has done. But are these photos necessary? This isn’t to say that there’s never a reason to publish photos of the dead. The Washington Post and several other outlets ran photos of a bloodied Moammar Gaddafi before he died online and in print. The Guardian’s Roy Greensdale defended his paper’s decision to do the same: “With the pictures all over the net, it would have seemed strange for newspapers to ignore them. Editors would appear to be failing in their duty to report on the reality of Gaddafi's death (more properly, execution). ... It was news - gruesome, grisly, ghastly (choose your own shock adjective) news - and the images told a story of brutality and mob chaos that could not be explained in words alone.” Do you think the National Enquirer crossed a line? How do you feel about the coverage of Houston’s death? Tell us in the comments. ||||| By Daniel Gates The National Enquirer frequently sets the bar very, very low. But the tabloid really crossed the line this week when it decided to publish a cover story featuring a photo of Whitney Houston in an open casket at the Whigham Funeral Home in New Jersey before her burial last weekend. That’s right: The magazine somehow thought it was appropriate to put an unauthorized picture of the late singer’s dead body on every newsstand in America. It’s not appropriate. Actually, it’s astoundingly poor taste and low stooping, even by the Enquirer’s standards. And it represents the very worst of predatory paparazzi culture. There’s no reason why the public at large needs to see Houston’s lifeless body. Almost as jaw-dropping as the decision to show the photo itself is the Enquirer’s total lack of self-awareness in “reporting” on Houston’s private viewing. The tabloid says Houston was “finally at peace after a tumultuous and troubled life in the spotlight.” But the Enquirer invaded that “peace” by sticking cameras into the casket. The mag adds, “This was the emotional private viewing that her legions of fans never saw, a time for Whitney’s loved ones to say a heartfelt goodbye with their tears and prayers.” And the Enquirer trampled on those loved ones’ final moments with Houston, turning what should have been an out-of-view private time for reflection into tabloid spectacle. PHOTOS – Whitney Houston As She SHOULD Be Remembered Follow @GossipCop on Twitter! Like us on Facebook!

– Has the National Enquirer crossed a line? Many were horrified when the tabloid published a photo it claims is the body of Whitney Houston shown in an open gold coffin. The pic was taken at the Whigham Funeral Home in New Jersey, according to Enquirer editors, who have not revealed how it was obtained. "Inside her private viewing," boasts a headline for the story, which says the singer was buried in $500,000 worth of jewelry, her "favorite purple dress," and gold slippers. Houston's nickname, "Nippy," and two treble clefs are written in blue script on the white lining of the casket. The Washington Post's Celebritolgy blog calls the Houston photo "shocking and disturbing," while the Gossip Cop website says it "represents the very worst of predatory paparazzi culture." The shot is not all that unique for the Enquirer. It infamously published a photo of Elvis Presley in his casket on its cover in 1977—and sold 6.5 million copies. Other media outlets weren't particularly delicate about funeral coverage. AP streamed the entire funeral live—with permission from the family—while ABC News and Entertainment Weekly offered live blogs of the services (one commenter called EW's live blog "tacky" and "grotesquely inappropriate"). CNN's more-than-three-hour coverage of the services drew 5 million viewers. But the BBC had to defend its extensive coverage to complainers, saying “it reflected the significant interest in her sudden death as well as acknowledging the impact she had as a global recording artist.”

Friday is the second day of the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference - an annual gathering in Washington, D.C. where members of the GOP meet to cement their ideology and try out potential presidential nominees for the coming years. Today Republican party leaders and celebrities will speak at the conference, including Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. Read background about the event here. Refresh this page for live updates and behind-the-scenes looks throughout the day. All times are in Eastern Standard Time. 5:04 p.m. The Songs of CPAC Looking to recreate the CPAC 2013 experience in your own home? We've got your essential listening in this Spotify playlist with songs heard at the conference. So far it includes Fun! - Some Nights - Some Nights Little Texas - God Blessed Texas - God Blessed Texas Coldplay - Viva La Vida - Viva La Vida Kid Rock - Born Free - Born Free Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man - Little Lion Man One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful We'll be adding more as we hear more at CPAC, so be sure to subscribe. Did you hear a song we missed? Tweet it to @ABCPolitics. Back to the Top 4:33 p.m. What Romney Missed Mitt Romney's appearance at CPAC left some questions unanswered. ABC's Shushannah Walshe points out that the former Republican candidate didn't weigh in on any of the big issues facing his party like immigration, gun control or same sex marriage. He also didn't apologize or explain why he lost last November. Party favorite Marco Rubio also left immigration untouched in his speech at CPAC yesterday. Instead Rubio talked about climate change and science. But he also touched on two hotter issues - abortion and gay marriage - saying his view on them don't make him " a bigot." Back to the Top 3:33 p.m. Romney's Mistakes ABC's Shushannah Walshe reports: In his first public speech since losing the presidential election, a humbled Mitt Romney addressed a crowd of conservatives who supported his 2012 campaign and told them his loss "prepared" them for "larger victories" ahead. Just over four months since his defeat, he said it was up to the group at the conservative confab to "make sure that we learn from my mistakes… and from our mistakes, so that we can win the victories this people and this nation depend upon." Romney told the supportive crowd at CPAC that he "left the race disappointed." The former GOP nominee has kept a low profile since his loss in November and said he is "sorry that I will not be your president," but he assured the group of conservatives he will be their "co-worker and I will work shoulder to shoulder with you." "Each of us in our own way will have to step up and meet our responsibility," Romney, dressed in a blue tie, said. "In the end, we will win just as we have won before, and for the same reason: because our cause is right…and just." Read more on Romney's speech from Walshe here. Back to the Top 3:19 p.m. Should Republicans Back Immigration? ABC's Shushannah Walshe went behind the scenes at CPAC asking those in the know five important questions. The first was on an issue that has advocates on both sides of the aisle fired up: should the GOP weigh in on immigration reform legislation? Overwhelmingly, conservatives said they should. Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, said "Absolutely." " And they should do it because of conservative principles. I don't agree with those who say we should embrace immigration, support immigration reform because we have to move to the center or water down our message. I think we have to reclaim this issue because we're conservative, and if we're for the free market, if we're for the family we should be for immigration reform," Aguilar told Walshe. Republican donor and philanthropist Foster Friess said there's a part of immigration reform he could jump on board with. "I think the number one thing Republicans can get behind is one thing- guest worker permits," Friess told Walshe Thursday. "Forget about all the other issues, what you do with the people here and when you send them back. Everyone pretty well agrees if you catch someone at 6 a.m. in the morning, you send them back at 9 a.m. Then the question becomes, what if you catch them a year later or two years later? "I think if you minimize those issues and talk on one single issue - like Clinton said 'it's the economy, stupid.' If we get guest worker permits as the number one key issue that will drive the inclination of people to embrace our point of view, where the Democrats will oppose that very, very viciously." For Steve Bannon, Executive Chairman of the Breitbart New Network, the answer was a conditional yes. "As long as it's sensible," Bannon said. "Look, conservatives and Republicans we have to sort out the immigration issue in our country. It's about how we sort it out." Read what others said on the immigration question and more issues from Walshe here. Back to the Top 2:39 p.m. Pro-Hillary Clinton Group Calls Mitch McConnell Remarks 'Sexist' And 'Despicable' ABC News' Michael Falcone reports: A pro-Hillary Clinton group, Ready for Hillary, formed to encourage the former Secretary of State and first lady to run for president in 2016, lashed out at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for his comments at CPAC earlier today. "Don't tell me Democrats are the party of the future, when their presidential ticket for 2016 is shaping up to look like a rerun of the Golden Girls," McConnell said, referring to Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden. Ready for Hillary Communications Director Seth Bringman called the line "blatant sexism." "Senator McConnell's comments mark the kickoff of a despicable, sexist attack on Hillary that we have expected for a long time," Bringman said in a statement. "McConnell and many of his fellow Republicans are the ones who want to take women's rights back to decades before the Golden Girls first aired. They know that Hillary is the most qualified candidate - of any age or gender - and that she would be the most effective president. They can't have a debate about the issues or the qualifications of their own candidates, so they resort to blatant sexism. It needs to stop here and now." Back to the Top 2:34 p.m. Transcript: Mitt Romney's Speech 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney spoke at CPAC this afternoon. Click the photo to see his prepared remarks. (Image credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo) Back to the Top 2:28 p.m. Trump Takes on Apple Earlier this morning American businessman Donald Trump took on another American icon at CPAC in his insistence that America needs to increase its manufacturing industry. "We have to take back our jobs from China," Trump said. "When Apple talks about Apple building all of this stuff and we're all so proud of Apple, they build virtually a hundred percent of their product in China. So China should be more proud of Apple than we are, to be totally honest with you." Trump also confessed to buying his own electronics from overseas manufacturers. "I buy all my televisions from South Korea, I'm sorry to say. I just ordered 3,000 units, 3,000 televisions," Trump said. "We don't make them in our country anymore. I get criticized, 'Oh, why didn't you buy them here?' You can't buy them here. We don't make televisions in this country." The reach of Trump's speech might have been limited by its spot in the early morning hours of the conference schedule for Friday. New York Magazine published photos showing Trump's audience mostly made up of empty chairs. Back to the Top 1:50 p.m. Young Conservatives Divided Over Gay Marriage Most conservatives oppose same-sex marriage, but in the past few months some have come out in favor of lifting the ban that limits marriage to a man and a woman, most recently with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, voicing his support today. In light of Portman's announcement, ABC's Shushannah Walshe asked college students attending CPAC this year what their feelings were on same-sex marriage. Their answers reflected some of the division within the party. Caitlin Baalke, 21 from Seattle Pacific University, said she was "pro gay marriage." " I do have a lot of friends that just happen to be of different sexual orientations, and I find that government being involved in that sort of thing isn't really something that's really necessary," Baalke told Walshe. "I find there's bigger issues that the government should be dealing with, and when it comes down to your sexual preference or gender and that sort of thing it's really your own personal choice." Kaylin Bugos, 20 of the University of Maryland, said she too had gay friends, but attributed her views on same-sex marriage to her conservative belief in small government. " I think the government needs less involvement in people's lives and so they shouldn't really be involved in marriage. So it doesn't matter if I personally support or am against it. Government-wise I think it's fine," Bugos said. " I've had that opinion before I met anyone gay. Grew up in South Carolina and I had the same opinion there. That's how I feel." But Patrick O'Neil, 20 of Northeastern University, believes legalizing same-sex marriage would overstep the federal government's bounds. "Personally I believe that marriage is something that's between a man and a woman, and I don't believe that the government really has the right to change that, because marriage isn't really…a governmental institution," O'Neil told Walshe at CPAC Friday. "I don't think they have the right to really change what marriage is. I don't think that they have that power, because then that implies that they have the right to reach into other nongovernmental things and really change what they are and then it really loses definition, when you can call something whatever you want. But I do believe that civil unions, if states would elect to do them, would be fine, because that would be giving legal benefits to same-sex couples, treating them equally under the law." Chris Schneeweiss, 21 and of Northeastern also voiced support for civil unions, taking issue with the word "marriage." "I think that same-sex couples should have all the benefits and everything of marriage that heterosexual couples have, but I don't think you should call it marriage, because it takes on sort of a religious connotation," Schneeweiss said. "That you know challenges a lot of peoples' views of religion." Emil Bruch thought the federal government should preserve its current stance but leave the door open for states to legalize same-sex marriage. "I want to give states more power, therefore if the state decides to legalize same-sex marriage, they can do that," Bruch said. "But on the federal level, I agree that marriage is between a man and a woman." Back to the Top 1:41 p.m. Costumes Make a Political Point (Image Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA) ABC's Chris Good reports: One of the weirder things about the nation's largest political conference is that a not insignificant number of people attend costumed. They can be found milling about the crowd, posing for pictures, promoting various groups, and generally standing out amid the thousands of who've packed the halls of the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md., for this year's Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual confab held in the D.C. area. Red ties are in abundance, as most attendees are dressed up in suits, blazers, loafers, dresses and heels. But not everyone. Read more about the creative costumes at CPAC from Good here. Back to the Top 1:31 p.m. Nikki Haley Vows No Medicaid Expansion in South Carolina In her introduction of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley vowed to oppose President Obama's recommendations to expand Medicaid in her state. "They're trying to grow and tell us that we have to bust our budgets and expand Medicaid," Haley told the audience at 2013 CPAC. "Not in South Carolina. As long as I am the governor of South Carolina, we will not expand Medicaid on President Obama's watch. We will not expand Medicaid ever, we are going to make sure that we take care of the people that we know best to take care, and we don't need Washington's help to do it." Eight Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, have broken with their party to support Medicaid expansion in their states. Back to the Top 12:14 p.m. NRA President Tells Biden, 'Keep Your Advice, We'll Keep Our Guns' ABC News' Arlette Saenz reports: In his speech at CPAC, the National Rifle Association's Wayne LaPierre mocked the vice president for his advice that women should fire a shotgun two times in the air if they are faced by an attacker and accused the vice president and the White House of having "lost their minds." "The vice president of the United States also told women facing an attack to just empty their shotguns in the air," LaPierre, the executive vice president of the NRA, said. "Honestly, have they lost their minds over at the White House? No doubt the violent predators would love to face a woman with a shotgun that's empty." "You keep your advice, we'll keep our guns," LaPierre said to applause. Biden doled out his shotgun advice last month in an online forum with "Parents" magazine when he encouraged people to "Buy a shotgun" to protect themselves, but LaPierre gave a recommendation of his own Friday about how a woman should fend off a potential rapist. "The one thing a violent rapist deserves to face is a woman with a gun," LaPierre said. Read more about LaPierre from Saenz here. Back to the Top 11:09 a.m. - The Portman Effect Someone you won't see at CPAC: Rob Portman. The Ohio Republican announced Thursday night that he would be supporting gay marriage, something not likely to go over extremely well among the social conservatives at CPAC. On Thursday, Marco Rubio mentioned the issue and his opposition to gay marriage. "Just because I believe that states should have the rights to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot," said Rubio in a call for mutual respect. Here are 13 More Republicans You Won't See at CPAC . Friday, 10:44 a.m. - Mitt Meets CPAC ABC News' Michael Falcone reports: Mitt Romney is poised to deliver his first major speech since losing the 2012 election today at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. He offered a preview of his post-election thoughts during a recent interview on Fox News Sunday, but his remarks to the gathering (scheduled for 1 p.m. EST on Friday) will be his chance to set a tone for his future role within the Republican Party. "As the guy who lost the election, I'm not in a position to tell everyone else how to win," Romney said on Fox, but added: "I'm not going to disappear." It was at the same conference in 2008 that Romney dropped out of that year's Republican presidential primary. And last year it was at CPAC where he declared himself "a severely conservative Republican governor." Thursday, 10:05 p.m. - Gay Republicans Find a Venue at CPAC ABC's Chris Good reports: Despite not being invited, a gay Republican group found its way into conservatives' biggest annual conference, anyway. Much has been made of the Conservative Political Action Conference's (CPAC) decision not to invite GOProud, a prominent gay Republican group. Along with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, GOProud is one of the conference's two most notable absences caused by ideological differences with conference organizers. Read more about who wasn't invited to CPAC this year here. GOProud found a venue there, nonetheless. At a panel hosted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, entitled, "A Rainbow on the Right: Growing the Coalition, Bringing Tolerance Out of the Closet," GOProud's leadership and supporters voiced their discontent with the conservative movement - before a packed, standing-room-only conference room at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, Md., with a bar wheeled in to serve attendees after the gay politics talk was over. "There are a few in our movement who just don't like gay people," said GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia. "And in 2013, that's just not OK." Read more about last night's panel discussion from Chris Good here. Awesome panel! Thank you to everyone who attended. The gays won #CPAC2013 tonight! — JimmyLaSalvia (@JimmyLaSalvia) March 15, 2013 Curated by ABC's Sarah Parnass and Z. Byron Wolf ||||| Associated Press As the 2016 contender, GOP libertarian spokesman, and son of Ron prepares to give a speech at Howard University about the history of black voters and the Republican Party, it's impossible not to be curious about which story he decides to tell: the one in which the GOP just forgot to campaign for black votes, or the one in which the GOP made a bad bet on racism and is trying to fix it. ||||| Maybe they're just invisble. Behold, the scene at Donald Trump’s CPAC speech this morning in the main ballroom. Empty seats were everywhere, although it’s not entirely Trump’s fault. He was given an 8:45 a.m. speaking slot, the very first of the day. Many CPAC attendees aren’t even out of bed yet. Still, Trump was invited not because of his conservative bona fides (he’s donated more money over the years to Democrats than to Republicans), but because he’s supposedly a crowd-pleasing draw. The VIP section next to the podium. Photo: Dan Amira “Mr. Trump’s previous CPAC appearance was hugely popular among our attendees and we expect it will be even more popular this year,” Al Cardenas, the head of the American Conservative Union, said earlier this month when he announced Trump’s invitation. The speech itself was mildly received. There were a few moments of scattered clapping, some chuckling. The biggest applause came when Trump suggested, once again, that we "take" Iraq’s oil and use the proceeds to pay a million dollars each to the families of the American soldiers who died in the war. Trump meandered from topic to topic, but the one unifying theme of the speech was the greatness of Trump. "I’ve made over $8 billion," he declared at one point, for some reason. Referring to a country club he just bought, Trump said, "I’m going to fix it. I’m going to make it incredible." "He would have had five more minutes to talk if he had stopped putting ‘I’ and ‘me’ in there and came up with some solutions instead of promoting himself," a man in the audience told us afterwards. ||||| Romney represents the GOP's old guard as younger Republicans such as Marco Rubio and Rand Paul are in spotlight at conservative event. Mitt Romney thanked activists at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference for supporting his failed presidential campaign. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP) Story Highlights The 2012 GOP presidential nominee has kept a low profile since losing election Romney was viewed warily by conservatives in two White House bids More than a dozen 2016 White House hopefuls are speaking at conference Mitt Romney returned to the stage where he once proclaimed himself "severely conservative" to thank thousands of activists for supporting his unsuccessful White House bid. In remarks Friday to the Conservative Political Action Conference, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee touted the problem solving done by GOP governors such as Nikki Haley of South Carolina and expressed his optimism for the future of the conservative movement. "It's fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party," he said. "I utterly reject pessimism. We may have lost Nov. 7, but we have not lost the country we love, and we have not lost our way." STORY: Paul Ryan talks budget at CPAC Romney told the audience, who enthusiastically stood and cheered as he came onstage, that he was "sorry" he would not be their president. "But I will be your co-worker, and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you," he said. "In the end, we will win just as we have won before, and for the same reason: because our cause is right ... and just." The event known as CPAC often shines the spotlight on the up-and-comers of the Republican Party and is a critical proving ground for presidential hopefuls. More than a dozen potential 2016 presidential candidates — including Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, Rep. Paul Ryan and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — are all on this year's program and represent a new generation of Republican leaders. The emergence of the GOP's new guard is part of what makes the speech by Romney, who turned 66 years old this week, interesting. The other is that during the former Massachusetts governor's two unsuccessful presidential campaigns, he was viewed warily by conservatives for his changing views on issues such as abortion. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, whose own presidential bid fizzled last year, got in a jab at his 2012 Republican rival during his CPAC remarks Thursday as he criticized the news media for suggesting the losing GOP presidential campaigns of 2008 and 2012 represented a defeat for conservatism. MORE: NRA chief denounces background checks at CPAC "That might be true if Republicans had actually nominated conservative candidates," said Perry, who is considering another White House bid in 2016. Rubio and Paul both called for a new message from their party during their CPAC speeches — one that would attract younger and more diverse voters to the GOP fold. Rubio, who was considered as a possible Romney running mate, even implicitly criticized Romney's dismissal of 47% of the electorate when he said the nation doesn't have "too many people who want too much from government." Romney acknowledged Friday he might not be the best person to give advice to Republicans because of his defeat in November, but he said he still wants to try to help expand the GOP tent. "A conservative vision can attract a majority of Americans," he said, heralding the work of GOP governors such as Michigan's Rick Snyder. "They're winning elections but more importantly, they're solving problems." Romney is no stranger to using CPAC as a venue to deliver major addresses. Last year's comment that he was "severely conservative" came as he was wrestling with Rick Santorum for the GOP nomination. In 2008, he chose to end his presidential campaign with a speech to CPAC. (Contributing: Jackie Kucinich) ||||| European Pressphoto Agency Donald Trump at CPAC 2013 Donald Trump opened the second day of the CPAC conservative jamboree with a bang, saying the country and the Republican Party were both “in very serious trouble.” In a rambling 13-minute address at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington, the real-estate magnate and would-be presidential candidate tossed out a few prescriptions for the country and his party, few of which drew better than chuckles and a smattering of applause from the crowd. Criticism of the GOP “gets nastier the more conservative you get,” he said, without clarifying whether the nastiness was worth it. The GOP is doomed, he said, if it thinks it can run on a platform of fixing Medicare and Medicaid, he said. And no matter what stance the party takes on amending the country’s immigration laws, every illegal immigrant now in the U.S. will end up voting for the Democratic Party if they are allowed to become citizens. “It is just the way it works,” Mr. Trump said, adding that the country needs “to let in more people from Europe.” He then laid down a few foreign policy proposals. “We have to go take back our jobs from China,” he said. And the U.S. should go and take Iraq’s oil to reimburse taxpayers for the $1.5 trillion he said the U.S. spent on the war the war there, which he said got the country “nothing” in return. He also castigated Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has repeatedly said the GOP has to stop leaving the impression that is “the stupid party.” “What a horrible statement to make,” he said. “That is a horrible statement that will come back to haunt you.” Mr. Trump was followed on the stage by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who made no mention of the first speaker. But he did dismiss the idea that his party was in peril. “Let me add my voice to the post election chorus: It is time to unite,” the Kentucky Republican told the audience. Watch highlights from Mr. Trump’s speech at CPAC: More Thursday’s Roundup: GOP Rallies for a Rebound Fed’s Fisher Takes on ‘Too Big to Fail’ at CPAC Guide: Who’s Speaking at CPAC 2013 Related: Highlights From Rand Paul’s Speech at CPAC 2013 Related: Highlights From Marco Rubio’s Speech at CPAC 2013

– Mitt Romney didn't exactly get an all-star slot at the CPAC convention, but he used his 15 minutes this afternoon to thank the group for its support ("You touched my heart again") and to express confidence that Republicans, and the country, will bounce back, reports USA Today. "It's fashionable in some circles to be pessimistic about America, about conservative solutions, about the Republican Party," he said. "I utterly reject pessimism. We may have lost Nov. 7, but we have not lost the country we love and we have not lost our way." Romney said the party should look to its strong stable of GOP governors for its new path, adding that while he's sorry he lost, "I will be your co-worker and stand shoulder to shoulder with you." Earlier, Donald Trump opened day two with what the Wall Street Journal calls a "rambling" speech in which he warned that the GOP is in "serious trouble," criticized Karl Rove's failed Super PAC efforts, and said that Romney the candidate should have bragged more about his accomplishments. The Daily Intel's take: "The speech itself was mildly received. There were a few moments of scattered clapping, some chuckling. The biggest applause came when Trump suggested, once again, that we 'take' Iraq's oil and use the proceeds to pay a million dollars each to the families of the American soldiers who died in the war. Trump meandered from topic to topic, but the one unifying theme of the speech was the greatness of Trump." The AtlanticWire has extensive coverage of the convention here and ABC News here.