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FILE - In this April 6, 2017, file photo, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks in New York. The Justice Department’s internal watchdog is expected to criticize the FBI’s handling of the Clinton... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on a report by the Justice Department's internal watchdog on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. (all times local):
2:55 p.m.
Former FBI Director James Comey says he disagrees with some of the conclusions of the Justice Department's inspector general about his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
But Comey says in a tweet that he respects the inspector general's work and believes the conclusions are "reasonable." He says "people of good faith" can see the "unprecedented situation differently."
Comey's comments come in response to the public release of a report that is heavily critical of his decisions in the probe. The report says Comey was insubordinate and departed from established protocol numerous times.
The report does find that Comey's actions were not politically motivated to help either candidate.
Comey also wrote an opinion piece in The New York Times responding to the report's findings.
__
2:40 p.m.
An FBI investigator who worked on probes into Hillary Clinton's emails and into Russian interference in the 2016 election told an FBI lawyer "we'll stop" Donald Trump from becoming president.
The inflammatory texts between Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page are highlighted in the report by the Justice Department's inspector general, which is critical of former FBI director James Comey's handling of the investigations.
According to the report, Page texted Strzok in August 2016: "(Trump's) not ever going to become president, right? Right?!"
Strzok responded: "No. No he won't. We'll stop it."
The report says the watchdog "did not find documentary or testimonial evidence" that political bias directly affected parts of the probe, it says Page and Strzok's conduct "cast a cloud over the entire FBI investigation."
__
2:05 p.m.
The Justice Department has issued a stinging rebuke to the FBI for its handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
The report released Thursday calls former FBI Director James Comey "insubordinate" and says his actions were "extraordinary."
But the report, by the department's watchdog, does not find evidence that Comey was motivated by political bias or preference in his decisions.
The report criticized Comey for publicly announcing his recommendation against criminal charges for Clinton. It also faulted him for alerting Congress days before the 2016 election that the investigation was being reopened because of newly discovered emails.
President Donald Trump has been eager for the report in hopes that it would vindicate his decision to fire Comey and undermine special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
__
12:15 p.m.
The Justice Department's watchdog faults former FBI Director James Comey for breaking with established protocol in his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. But it found that his decisions were not driven by political bias.
The report also criticizes Comey for not keeping then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other Justice Department superiors properly informed about his handling of the investigation.
That's according to a person familiar with the report's conclusions who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The person was not authorized to speak on the record because the report is not yet public.
The report's findings are set to be made public later Thursday. It represents the culmination of an 18-month review into one of the most consequential FBI investigations in recent history.
__ Chad Day in Washington
___
12:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump was expected to receive a briefing at the White House on a report from the Justice Department's internal watchdog on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was spotted entering the West Wing on Thursday. White House officials have not yet confirmed that Rosenstein will be conducting the briefing.
The inspector general's detailed report is set to be released later in the day. It will look at how the nonpartisan law enforcement agency became entangled in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump is expected to use the report to renew his attack against two former top FBI officials — Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe.
___
11:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump is bashing the special counsel investigation into Russian election meddling as a "pile of garbage" ahead of the release of a highly anticipated report looking into the Justice Department's conduct during the 2016 election.
Trump says in a pair of tweets that now that he's back from his summit with North Korea, "the thought process must sadly go back to the Witch Hunt."
Trump is yet again insisting there was "No Collusion and No Obstruction of the fabricated No Crime" and is accusing Democrats of making up "a phony crime," paying "a fortune to make the crime sound real," and then "Collud(ing) to make this pile of garbage take on life in Fake News!"
The report by the Justice Department's internal watchdog is being released Thursday afternoon and is expected to criticize the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
___
11:35 a.m.
Two Republican-led House committees say their own monthslong probe into the now-closed FBI investigation of Hillary Clinton's emails has so far shown "questionable decision-making" by the agency.
A document listing preliminary conclusions was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of a separate report from the Justice Department's internal watchdog. That much-anticipated report is due to be released Thursday afternoon. It is expected to criticize the FBI's handling of the investigation.
Republicans on the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees say they have "substantial questions about whether DOJ and FBI properly analyzed and interpreted the law surrounding mishandling of classified information." They charge that the FBI did not follow legal precedent and treated the Clinton probe differently from other cases.
The Republicans allege bias against Donald Trump in his campaign against Clinton.
— Mary Clare Jalonick
___
1 a.m.
The Justice Department's internal watchdog is releasing its much-anticipated report on the FBI's handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation.
The report being issued Thursday afternoon is the culmination of an 18-month review of one of the most consequential FBI investigations in recent history.
Its findings will revive debate about whether FBI actions affected the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and contributed to Clinton's loss to Donald Trump.
Trump's supporters have eagerly awaited the report in hopes that it would skewer the judgment of James Comey, who was fired as FBI director last year.
Among the actions scrutinized is Comey's decision to publicly announce his recommendation against prosecuting Clinton, and his disclosure to Congress days before the election that the investigation was being revived because of newly discovered emails. ||||| President Donald Trump exploded presumably in response to a Washington Post report detailing FBI Agent Peter Strzok’s willingness to testify before Congress, attacking Strzok and the FBI in a Sunday tweetstorm.
Why was the FBI giving so much information to the Fake News Media. They are not supposed to be doing that, and knowing the enemy of the people Fake News, they put their own spin on it – truth doesn’t matter to them! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
Why was the FBI’s sick loser, Peter Strzok, working on the totally discredited Mueller team of 13 Angry & Conflicted Democrats, when Strzok was giving Crooked Hillary a free pass yet telling his lover, lawyer Lisa Page, that “we’ll stop” Trump from becoming President? Witch Hunt! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
“The highest level of bias I’ve ever witnessed in any law enforcement officer.” Trey Gowdy on the FBI’s own, Peter Strzok. Also remember that they all worked for Slippery James Comey and that Comey is best friends with Robert Mueller. A really sick deal, isn’t it? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2018
Strzok was removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team for sending texts indicating his personal anti-Trump views during the summer of 2017. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — An FBI agent who was removed from special counsel Robert Mueller's team after sending anti-Trump text messages says he is willing to testify before Congress.
A lawyer for Peter Strzok (STRUCK) told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte in a letter Sunday that his client is willing to testify before his panel or any other committee that invites him.
Strzok was criticized in a recent Justice Department inspector general report for creating an appearance of conflict because of text messages he traded with another FBI employee.
Strzok was involved in the Hillary Clinton email investigation and was later added to Mueller's team. He was removed last summer once the messages were discovered.
His lawyer, Aitan Goelman, has said bias didn't affect his client's investigative decisions. | – The FBI agent who was nixed from the Mueller probe team over texts that disparaged President Trump says he's willing to testify about his side of the story. Per the AP, a lawyer for Peter Strzok told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte in a letter Sunday that his client is willing to testify before his panel or any other committee that invites him. Strzok was criticized in a recent Justice Department inspector general report for creating an appearance of conflict because of text messages he traded with another FBI employee. Strzok was involved in the Hillary Clinton email investigation and was later added to Mueller's team. He was removed last summer once the messages were discovered. Strzok's attorney has said bias didn't affect his client's investigative decisions. As TPM notes, Trump's subsequent tweets on Sunday suggest he was less than thrilled with the announcement. "Why was the FBI’s sick loser, Peter Strzok, working on the totally discredited Mueller team of 13 Angry & Conflicted Democrats, when Strzok was giving Crooked Hillary a free pass yet telling his lover, lawyer Lisa Page, that 'we’ll stop' Trump from becoming President? Witch Hunt!" Trump fumed hours after Strzok's letter went public. Per the AP, the inflammatory texts are among details highlighted in the report by the Justice Department's inspector general, which is critical of former FBI director James Comey's handling of the investigations. |
KRASNODAR, September 16 (RIA Novosti) – A 36-year-old Russian woman has been detained on suspicion of murdering a 21-year-old woman for dancing with her boyfriend at a birthday party, investigators said Monday.
The suspect became jealous when she saw her boyfriend dancing with a 21-year-old guest at a birthday party in a local cafe, a statement on the Krasnodar Territory investigative committee site said.
She then “took a knife, approached the dancing woman and stabbed her twice,” the statement said.
The 21-year-old was taken to hospital but later died from the injuries sustained, the statement said.
If found guilty, the suspect faces up to 15 years in prison. ||||| ROSTOV-ON-DON, September 16 (RIA Novosti) – A “passionate argument” about 18th-century Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, renowned for his treatises on ethics, “deteriorated into a fistfight” between two men waiting in line for beer during an outdoor City Day event in the southern Russian metropolis of Rostov-on-Don, police said Monday.
The argument ended when one of the debaters pulled out an air gun and shot the other in the head, local police said in a statement. The shooter then fled the scene but was later detained, police said. The other man’s wound was not critical, but he was hospitalized, the statement said, without disclosing any names. Local media said the men were in their late 20s.
The attacker now faces up to a decade in prison for intentional infliction of serious bodily harm, police said. That sentence would give him time to more thoroughly study the works of Kant, who contemplated a universal law of morality. ||||| An argument in southern Russia over philosopher Immanuel Kant, the author of "Critique of Pure Reason," devolved into pure mayhem when one debater shot the other.
The state news agency RIA Novosti on Monday cited police in the city of Rostov-on-Don as saying the argument took place in a small store and deteriorated into a fistfight. One participant pulled out a small nonlethal pistol and fired repeatedly.
The victim was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening. The weapon fired plastic bullets or blanks. Neither person was identified.
It was not clear which of Kant's ideas may have triggered the violence. | – A spate of odd news today concerning attacks in Russia: one on a dance floor, three in a cemetery, and another over a philosopher. Two 20-something men in line for beers at a festival in southern Russia, got in a heated dispute about 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant. The feud "deteriorated into a fistfight," police said today, and one of the men eventually shot the other in the head with an air gun—multiple times, the AP notes. The victim survived; the attacker could be in prison for a decade, RIA Novosti adds. Police arrested a 36-year-old woman after she allegedly stabbed another woman at a birthday party; the 21-year-old victim was apparently dancing with the attacker's boyfriend, RIA Novosti reports. The alleged attacker "took a knife, approached the dancing woman, and stabbed her twice," investigators say. The victim died in the hospital. A guilty verdict could mean 15 years in prison for the suspect. A man has been convicted of killing his mother, brother, and father in a cemetery. They were reportedly living in the graveyard after he evicted them, and when his mother accused him of the eviction, he hit her. His brother stepped in, and the man ended up stabbing both of them—and killing his father, who'd seen the attack. The suspect has been sentenced to life in prison, RIA Novosti reports. |
The Equifax breach that exposed sensitive data for as many as 143 million US consumers was accomplished by exploiting a Web application vulnerability that had been patched more than two months earlier, officials with the credit reporting service said Thursday.
"Equifax has been intensely investigating the scope of the intrusion with the assistance of a leading, independent cybersecurity firm to determine what information was accessed and who has been impacted," company officials wrote in an update posted online . "We know that criminals exploited a US website application vulnerability. The vulnerability was Apache Struts CVE-2017-5638. We continue to work with law enforcement as part of our criminal investigation, and have shared indicators of compromise with law enforcement."
The flaw in the Apache Struts framework was fixed on March 6. Three days later, the bug was already under mass attack by hackers who were exploiting the flaw to install rogue applications on Web servers. Five days after that, the exploits showed few signs of letting up . Equifax has said the breach on its site occurred in mid-May, more than two months after the flaw came to light and a patch was available.
Thursday's disclosure strongly suggests that Equifax failed to update its Web applications, despite demonstrable proof that the bug gave real-world attackers an easy way to take control of sensitive sites. An Equifax representative didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on this possibility.
As Ars warned in March, patching the security hole was labor intensive and difficult, in part because it involved downloading an updated version of Struts and then using it to rebuild all apps that used older, buggy Struts versions. Some websites may depend on dozens or even hundreds of such apps, which may be scattered across dozens of servers on multiple continents. Once rebuilt, the apps must be extensively tested before going into production to ensure they don't break key functions on the site.
Equifax's update confirms a report published last week by a firm called Baird Equity Research. It provided no source for the claim that Equifax was breached through an unidentified Apache Struts vulnerability. Two days later, the Apache Software Foundation issued a statement saying it didn't know one way or the other if a Struts vulnerability was involved. CVE-2017-5638 is separate from CVE-2017-9805, an Apache Struts vulnerability that was patched last week.
Apache Struts is a framework for developing Java-based apps that run both front-end and back-end Web servers. It is relied on heavily by banks, government agencies, large Internet companies, and Fortune 500 companies. Experian, one of the three big credit reporting services, and annualcreditreport.com, which provides free credit reports, both reportedly rely on Apache Struts as well.
Up to now, Equifax has said only that criminals exploited an unspecified application vulnerability on its US site to gain access to certain files. Now, we know that the flaw was in Apache Struts and had been fixed months before the breach occurred. ||||| Capping a week of incompetence, failures, and general shady behavior in responding to its massive data breach, Equifax has confirmed that attackers entered its system in mid-May through a web-application vulnerability that had a patch available in March. In other words, the credit-reporting giant had more than two months to take precautions that would have defended the personal data of 143 million people from being exposed. It didn't.
As the security community processes the news and scrutinizes Equifax's cybersecurity posture, numerous doubts have surfaced about the organization's competence as a data steward. The company took six weeks to notify the public after finding out about the breach. Even then, the site that Equifax set up in response to address questions and offer free credit monitoring was itself riddled with vulnerabilities. And as security journalist Brian Krebs first reported, a web portal for handling credit-report disputes from customers in Argentina used the embarrassingly inadequate credentials of "admin/admin." Equifax took the platform down on Tuesday. But observers say the ongoing discoveries increasingly paint a picture of negligence—especially in Equifax's failure to protect itself against a known flaw with a ready fix.
A 'Relatively Easy' Hack
The vulnerability that attackers exploited to access Equifax's system was in the Apache Struts web-application software, a widely used enterprise platform. The Apache Software Foundation said in a statement on Saturday (when rumors swirled that the March Struts bug might be to blame) that, though it was sorry if attackers exploited a bug in its software to breach Equifax, it always recommends that users regularly patch and update their Apache Struts platforms. "Most breaches we become aware of are caused by failure to update software components that are known to be vulnerable for months or even years," René Gielen, the vice president of Apache Struts, wrote.
In this case, Equifax had ample opportunity to update.
"This vulnerability was disclosed back in March. There were clear and simple instructions of how to remedy the situation. The responsibility is then on companies to have procedures in place to follow such advice promptly," says Bas van Schaik, a product manager and researcher at Semmle, an analytics security firm. "The fact that Equifax was subsequently attacked in May means that Equifax did not follow that advice. Had they done so this breach would not have occurred."
Penetration testers and other security researchers say that it would have been simple for an attacker to exploit the flaw and get into the system. "Once they identified Equifax's systems as vulnerable, actually exploiting the vulnerability to gain access to the Equifax servers and network will unfortunately have been relatively easy," says van Schaik, who recently discovered and disclosed a different Apache Struts bug. "It's hard to say how difficult it will have been for the attackers to get their hands on customer data once they found their way into Equifax's servers and network. But the timeline suggests that time was on the attackers' side."
After exploiting the vulnerability to gain a foothold, the attackers may have found scores of unprotected data immediately or may have worked over time—between mid-May and the end of July—to gain more and more access to Equifax's systems. "Generally when you successfully exploit a web-application bug like this you will become the system user who owns the web server process," says Alex McGeorge, the head of threat intelligence at the security firm Immunity. "Security best practices dictate that this user have as little privilege as possible on the server itself, since security vulnerabilities in web applications and web servers are so commonly exploited." In practice, though, McGeorge says that hackers could have found credentials or other information in plaintext right away if Equifax didn't have proper protections in place.
Mounting Concerns
The company's attempts at damage control have been boilerplate at best. "Equifax has been intensely investigating the scope of the intrusion with the assistance of a leading, independent cybersecurity firm to determine what information was accessed and who has been impacted," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "We continue to work with law enforcement as part of our criminal investigation."
Lawmakers are planning two hearings to scrutinize the situation, though, and have requested detailed information about the breach from Equifax. Dozens of people whose personal data was exposed have already filed lawsuits against the company. Peter Kaplan, the acting director of public affairs at the Federal Trade Commission, told WIRED in a statement that "the FTC typically does not comment on ongoing investigations. However, in light of the intense public interest and the potential impact of this matter, I can confirm that FTC staff is investigating the Equifax data breach." And politicians have additionally called on federal watchdog and protection agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to initiate their own investigations.
Equifax will suffer scrutiny and losses because of the breach, but the real victims are the individuals whose data was potentially compromised. And Equifax has particular responsibility to protect its consumer data, since much of it doesn't even come from customers who directly choose to do business with the firm, but surfaces instead from credit check requests for anyone living and working in the US. "I am concerned," Immunity's McGeorge says. "This is a thing that you use whether you realize it or not, because all commerce data goes through them. You do have a stake in this." | – Remember that massive Equifax data breach that exposed the names, security numbers, and more of 143 million US consumers? It now appears Equifax had "clear and simple instructions" on how to avoid it and more than two months to follow them. The credit reporting company announced Thursday that hackers exploited a vulnerability in the Apache Struts web application between May and July, Ars Technica reports. But here's the thing: A patch to fix that particular vulnerability had been available for more than two months by that point. "This vulnerability was disclosed back in March," a researcher at an analytics security firm tells Wired. "There were clear and simple instructions of how to remedy the situation." Not only was a patch available to Equifax, but there were public reports back in March of hackers exploiting websites that hadn't yet fixed the Apache Struts vulnerability. The New York Times reports it's unclear why Equifax didn't patch the vulnerability. "Most breaches we become aware of are caused by failure to update software components that are known to be vulnerable for months or even years," Wired quotes the vice president of Apache Struts as saying. Experts say it would have been fairly easy for hackers to exploit the vulnerability with Equifax having not patched it. |
Getty Hillary Clinton: 'Another conspiracy theory'
A seemingly frustrated Hillary Clinton strove on Sunday to link the latest flap over her personal email server with the string of scandals and attacks Republicans raised against her in the 1990s.
“During the ’90s, I was subjected to the same kind of barrage,” the former first lady said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” noting that New York voters elected her a senator despite the attacks.
Story Continued Below
“When I ran for the Senate, they overlooked all of that,” the former secretary of state and front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination continued. “I was elected senator after going through years of back and forth.”
After a series of questions from host Chuck Todd about her emails, including a new charge that a recently released email exchange with former CIA director and retired Gen. David Petraeus occurred earlier than she acknowledged using her personal account, an exasperated-sounding Clinton asked Todd whether his next question would be about “another conspiracy theory.”
She rejected the notion that her decision to use a personal email server as secretary of state was meant to evade public records searches, noting that congressional investigators unearthed many of her emails before she released them because they were obtainable through public systems. She acknowledged, however, the “drip, drip, drip” of accusations leveled at her, but couldn’t guarantee when they would stop.
“There’s only so much I can control,” Clinton said, characterizing her responses as entailing “more transparency and more information than anybody I’m aware of that’s ever served in the government.”
She used a personal email server, she said, because her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had set it up in their house after leaving office.
Clinton also defended herself on Sunday from charges that she’s altered her positions on issues like same-sex marriage, the Iraq War and the Keystone XL pipeline out of political expedience.
“I just don’t think that reflects … my assessment of issues, and I don’t think it reflects how people who are thoughtful actually conduct their lives,” she said, suggesting she takes positions based on the information available to her at the time.
Authors: ||||| WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday the politically damaging "drip, drip, drip" of revelations about her use of a private email server is out of her control and she is unsure when the controversy might end.
Clinton, who has seen her lead shrivel in the race for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said she has tried to be as open as possible and take responsibility for the email flap.
"It is like a drip, drip, drip. That's why I said there is only so much I can control," Clinton told NBC's "Meet the Press."
But asked if she could reassure nervous Democrats that no new email revelations would arise, she said: "I can't predict to you what the Republicans will come up with, what sort of charges and claims they might make."
Clinton compared criticism about her use of private email instead of a government account while she was secretary of state to the flood of controversies and Republican-led investigations that marked the presidency of her husband Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
"I have been involved from the receiving side in a lot of these accusations," Clinton said. "In fact as you might remember during the 90s there were a bunch of them. All of them turned out to be not true."
Clinton has apologized for the email set-up and said it was a mistake. She gave 55,000 pages of work-related emails to the State Department last year but eliminated about 30,000 emails she said were personal. On Sunday, she said she did not help her lawyers determine which ones to turn over.
"I did not want to be looking over their shoulder," she said, calling accusations she was trying to avoid transparency laws "ridiculous".
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll on Sunday found Clinton's lead over top rival Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, has dwindled to 7 percentage points, 42 percent to 35 percent, amid the controversy.
Asked about the hit in polls, Clinton said "what I have tried to do in explaining this is provide more transparency and more information than anybody I'm aware of who has ever served in government."
The most recent revelation was a report on Friday about an email exchange with David Petraeus, then commander of U.S. Central Command, that she did not turn over and which occurred before she said she had set up her personal account.
Clinton could not explain why the email chain had just surfaced. She said the private server was already in her house because her husband had set it up after leaving office, and she added her account to it.
"What we had available at the time was turned over," she said. "I wasn't that focused on my email server."
Clinton also was asked to defend her shifting positions in recent years on issues like the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which she announced last week she would oppose. She had refrained from taking a stance for months, saying she wanted President Barack Obama to make his decision before she weighed in.
"It was frankly, uncomfortable to have so many people asking me and my saying, I'm waiting and waiting and waiting," she said.
(Editing by Andrew Roche and Eric Walsh) | – Lamenting the "drip, drip, drip" of the private email server heard 'round the world, Hillary Clinton said Sunday that the current scandal roiling Clintonland isn't the first—and probably won't be the last. "I have been involved from the receiving side in a lot of these accusations," Clinton said, per Reuters. "In fact as you might remember during the '90s there were a bunch of them. All of them turned out to be not true." Acknowledging that "there is only so much I can control," she told Meet the Press that she also has no idea what new accusations might be coming down the pike. "I can't predict to you what the Republicans will come up with, what sort of charges and claims they might make." Rather, she says, "what I have tried to do in explaining this is provide more transparency and more information than anybody I'm aware of who has ever served in government." At one point, she dismissed claims of being less than transparent "ridiculous." Politico notes Clinton's apparent exasperation with the issue, at one point asking interviewer Chuck Todd if his next question would involve "another conspiracy theory." |
Image copyright Reuters Image caption SeaWorld ended its controversial orca breeding programme in 2016
SeaWorld and its former boss have agreed to pay more than $5m to settle claims they misled investors over the impact of documentary film Blackfish.
The firm and James Atchison downplayed the effect on the firm's reputation and business, the US regulator said.
The 2013 US film was about a performing killer whale at the marine park called Tilikum, and depicted keeping orcas in captivity as cruel and dangerous.
The negative publicity led to a drop in visitor numbers at SeaWorld.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, SeaWorld and Mr Atchison made "untrue and misleading statements or omissions" in regulatory filings, earnings releases and calls from December 2013 before acknowledging the effect on attendance on 13 August 2014.
The revelation led to a sharp drop in SeaWorld's share price - almost a third in one day.
"This case underscores the need for a company to provide investors with timely and accurate information that has an adverse impact on its business," said Steven Peikin, co-director of the SEC enforcement division.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption SeaWorld has previously said it will phase out its live orca shows
SeaWorld and Mr Atchison have agreed to pay $4m (£3m) and $1m respectively to settle the claims, but have not admitted or denied the SEC's findings.
Mr Atchison resigned as chief executive in early 2015.
In a statement on behalf of itself and Mr Atchison, SeaWorld said it was pleased to settle, and to continue focusing on customers, rescuing animals and providing "world-class animal care".
SeaWorld has struggled to reverse the impact from Blackfish, with falling sales and visitor numbers leading it to report a $20m loss for its 2017 financial year.
SeaWorld, which has 12 parks across the US, ended its controversial orca breeding programme in 2016 and has also said it would phase out its live orca shows. ||||| The former chief executive of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. will pay more than $1 million to settle charges that he wasn’t upfront with investors about the impact that a critical documentary film would have on the theme-park operator’s business.
James Atchison, the ex-CEO of SeaWorld, made untrue and misleading statements or withheld information about what the film, called “Blackfish,” would mean for SeaWorld’s prospects between late December 2013 and mid-August 2014, according to a suit filed by the Securities and Exchange... | – SeaWorld will pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the theme park misled investors by downplaying the impact that the 2013 documentary Blackfish had on its reputation and business. Per the Wall Street Journal, former CEO James Atchison will also pay more than $1 million as part of a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which claimed "untrue and misleading statements or omissions" in communications between December 2013 and mid-August 2014, when SeaWorld acknowledged a drop in attendance tied to the documentary painting orca captivity as cruel. Its share price then dropped by almost a third in one day, reports the BBC. SeaWorld and Atchison did not admit to or deny the claims, per the Journal. |
LONDON (AP) — George Clooney and his fiancee have posted a legal notice declaring their intention to marry in Italy.
Clooney and Beirut-born London lawyer Amal Alamuddin announced their engagement in April, though the pair has not yet announced a date for their nuptials.
A spokesman at the register office at London's Chelsea Old Town Hall confirmed Thursday that the couple posted a legal document for a British national who is marrying abroad. A photo of the notice published by the Daily Mirror newspaper showed the pair's names, ages and occupations. It also showed they plan a wedding in Italy.
The document has been taken down after being on display for the requisite 21 days.
It's the second marriage for Clooney, 53, and the first for Alamuddin, 36. ||||| George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin are getting closer and closer to becoming man and wife.
The engaged couple obtained their marriage license in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, U.K., according to a picture of the license obtained by dlisted.com.
READ: See Amal Alamuddin's Stunning Engagement Ring From George Clooney
RELATED: George Clooney on Fiancée Amal Alamuddin: 'I’m Marrying Up'
The document, which is posted outside Chelsea Town Hall, says George Timothy Clooney, 53, will wed Amal Ranzi Alamuddin, 36, and lists to location of the nuptials as Italy.
It is not unusual for marriage licenses to be posted behind the glass outside the town hall when a couple might get married in London, where Alamuddin practices law and is based.
Clooney, who popped the question in April to his beautiful barrister fiancée, recently told Variety, "I’m marrying up." ||||| Giving notice of marriage
See additional information on marriage of same sex couples.
By law you have to give a notice of marriage, which is a formal declaration of your intention to marry. You are both required to give a notice of marriage and there is a standard fee for this. If you live in Manchester you must give notice to the Manchester Registration Service. If either or both of you live in another district, then you must give your notice(s) at your local register office(s) (unless advised otherwise for example, if either of you is a non-EEA National - see information for non-EEA Nationals at the bottom of the page).
Prior to giving notice you must have lived in the district where you are giving notice for a minimum of 7 full days.
Please note that the marriage can only take place at the venue you name on the notice of marriage. If you were to change the venue it would be necessary to give, and pay for, fresh notices of marriage; so, you need to have chosen your venue before you give notice. More information about the ceremonies and venues available in Manchester can be found using the section links on this page.
(You can provisionally book your ceremony up to two years in advance, if it is taking place in an approved premises in Manchester, or in the Pankhurst Suite.)
To make an appointment to give a notice of marriage at Manchester Register Office, you can:
make an appointment online.
telephone us on 0161 234 5005 (please note that this is a very busy line. If you have difficulty getting through, you can send us an email with details of your enquiry and include your daytime telephone number in case we need to phone you back: registeroffice@manchester.gov.uk)
How much notice do we need to give?
You cannot give a notice of marriage more than 12 months before the date of marriage. A marriage cannot take place until 28 full days after you have given the notice. There is now a referral and investigation scheme in place, whereby all non-EEA nationals without settled status, or a marriage or civil partnership visa, will be referred to the Home Office Immigration for further investigation. Please note that if you are unable to provide evidence that you have the appropriate immigration status your case will be referred to the Home Office Immigration for further investigation. Those within scope of the referral scheme may have the waiting period extended from 28 days to 70 days if their case is still being considered. Please note: If your notice is referred for further investigation, staff at the Manchester Register Office will not be able to provide you with any progress reports. You will need to contact the Home Office about your referral at MarriageReferralTeamGeneral@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Couples wishing to marry in the Church of England or Church in Wales where one or both are non-EEA national(s) will be required to give their notice of marriage at a designated register office.
What do we need to produce?
You will need to make an appointment online, by phone or by calling in to the office.
At your appointment you will need to bring:
1. The current fee (see ceremonies and fees information)
2. Passport photographs for each of you if either, or both, of you have a marriage or civil partnership visa or you are in scope of the referral and investigation scheme (see above, under "How much notice do we need to give")
3. Evidence of name, surname, date of birth and nationality
One of the following original documents (or groups of documents) must be provided, for each person giving notice, at the time of giving notice
A valid passport
A valid national identity card issued by an EEA state or Switzerland
Both a certificate of registration as a British Citizen granted by the Secretary of State and one of the first six documents listed under “4. Evidence of place of residence” , below.
a certificate of registration as a British Citizen granted by the Secretary of State and one of the documents listed under , below. If born in the UK before 1 January 1983 – both a birth certificate and one of the first six documents listed under “4. Evidence of place of residence” , below.
1 January 1983 – a birth certificate and one of the documents listed under , below. If born in the UK on or after 1 January 1983 – all of the following must be provided - a full birth certificate showing parents details and one of the first six documents listed under “4. Evidence of place of residence” , below, and evidence of either parents’ British Citizenship or settled status at the time of the person's birth (e.g. a passport describing the relevant parent as a British citizen or indicating that he or she had indefinite leave to enter or remain). If British Citizenship is claimed through the person’s father, the parents’ marriage certificate will also need to be provided.
1 January 1983 – of the following must be provided - a full birth certificate showing parents details one of the documents listed under , below, evidence of either parents’ British Citizenship or settled status at the time of the person's birth (e.g. a passport describing the relevant parent as a British citizen or indicating that he or she had indefinite leave to enter or remain). If British Citizenship is claimed through the person’s father, the parents’ marriage certificate will also need to be provided. A valid biometric immigration document
A valid travel document
4. Evidence of place of residence
One of the following original documents must be provided, for each person giving notice, at the time of giving notice. (Please note this must be evidence of the address you have resided at, for a minimum of 7 full days, immediately prior to the date on which notice of marriage is given. For example, if you are entering the country from abroad on the first of the month, the first possible date to give notice would be the 9th. If you are unclear about this, please contact the Ceremony Team and we'll be happy to help you to work out the correct date to give notice.)
A utility bill dated no more than three months before the date of notice
before the date of notice A bank or building society statement or passbook dated no more than one month before the date of notice. If you use on-line banking you can print a copy of your most recent statement and show the officer that you are able to log into your account on-line using your mobile phone, ipad etc. Alternatively you can order a bank statement from the bank prior to your appointment.
before the date of notice. If you use on-line banking you can print a copy of your most recent statement show the officer that you are able to log into your account on-line using your mobile phone, ipad etc. Alternatively you can order a bank statement from the bank prior to your appointment. A council tax bill dated no more than one year before the date of notice
before the date of notice A mortgage statement dated no more than one year before the date of notice
before the date of notice A current residential tenancy agreement
A valid driving licence, including a provisional licence
A letter from the owner or proprietor of the address which is the person’s place of residence, which confirms that the person has resided at the address for a minimum of 7 full days immediately prior to the date on which notice of marriage is given. The letter must also state the full name and address of the person writing the letter and that the person writing the letter is the owner or proprietor, and it needs to be signed and dated by that person.
5. Evidence of ending a previous marriage or civil partnership
One of the following original documents must be provided, for each person giving notice, where relevant, at the time of giving notice.
A decree absolute or decree of nullity of marriage granted by a court of civil jurisdiction in England or Wales
A dissolution order or nullity order obtained in England or Wales in accordance with part 2 of the Civil Partnership Act 2004
A document or documents, confirming divorce, annulment or dissolution outside the UK. (Please note: as of 1 November 2017 we are legally required to take a fee for all divorces / dissolutions that took place outside of the British Isles. The fee is for the consideration of the document and does not guarantee that the document will be approved. Some divorces / dissolutions will be approved at your notice appointment and the fee for this is £50.00 . However, in a lot of cases the documentation will need to be considered by the General Register Office and the fee for this is £75.00 . Unfortunately we are unable to determine which fee will be payable until you provide the documentation at your appointment.)
we are legally required to take a fee for all divorces / dissolutions that took place outside of the British Isles. The fee is for the consideration of the document and does not guarantee that the document will be approved. Some divorces / dissolutions will be approved at your notice appointment and the fee for this is . However, in a lot of cases the documentation will need to be considered by the General Register Office and the fee for this is . Unfortunately we are unable to determine which fee will be payable until you provide the documentation at your appointment.) A death certificate. Note: If the person giving notice isn’t mentioned on the death certificate as the spouse or civil partner, a marriage or civil partnership certificate will also be required
6. If you have changed your name by deed poll or statutory declaration you will need to provide those documents.
Please note: All documentation must be original. We cannot accept photocopied documentation.
Where any document listed above was created outside the UK and is not in English, a full third party translation must be provided. The person who provides the translation must include a statement to confirm that it is a true translation of the document and must sign and date it and include their name and contact details (address and telephone number).
If either you or your partner are subject to immigration control, you must both give notice, together, at a Designated Register Office. Manchester Register Office has been given the status of Designated Register Office by the Home Office.
A full list of Designated Register Offices in England and Wales can be found on the Gov.uk website.
Immediately prior to giving notice you must have lived in one district within England or Wales for a minimum of 7 full days. (For example, if you are entering the country from abroad on the first of the month, the first possible date to give notice would be the 9th. If you are unclear about this, please contact the Ceremony Team and we'll be happy to help you to work out the correct date to give notice.)
Please note you cannot move between districts in the 7 full days immediately prior to the date on which notice of marriage is given.
Before making an appointment to give notice, please make sure that you have read and understood all the information on this page, particularly the information, above, about what you need to bring with you to the notice appointment.
Visa requirements
Please note: if you are entering the UK for the purpose of marrying or entering into civil partnership you must check with the UKVI that you have the correct visa to do so; this would usually be a marriage or civil partnership visa. Officers at Manchester Registration Service are unable to offer any advice regarding immigration matters.
Abuse of immigration laws
We are working with the Home Office to identify marriages and civil partnerships which seek to abuse UK immigration laws.
Anybody found to be arranging, facilitating or entering into a marriage or civil partnership solely to gain permission to stay in the UK risks arrest or prosecution. Foreign nationals may also face deportation and be barred from re-entering the UK for up to 14 years. | – This is really happening. George Timothy Clooney, 53, and Amal Ramzi Alamuddin, 36, will soon be tying the knot in Italy, according to the marriage license recently spotted outside Chelsea Old Town Hall in London, reports the AP. A register office spokesman confirmed "that the couple posted a legal document for a British national who is marrying abroad." The license, which was sealed behind glass, also noted the couple's occupations: Alamuddin practices law in London, notes ABC News, and Clooney is listed as, well, "actor and director." The license was taken down after its required 21 days on display, notes the AP—but Dlisted has a photo of what appears to be the document. |
Adult Swim A McDonald's chef says he's looking into bringing back a cult classic McNuggets sauce after a cartoon demanded its return.
On Saturday, Adult Swim aired the first new episode of "Rick and Morty" since 2015 as an April Fools' Day treat for loyal fans.
The episode ended with a plea from mad scientist Rick for McDonald's to bring back its Szechuan McNugget sauce, a plum sauce that was available for a limited time in 1998 to promote the Disney movie "Mulan."
"I'm not driven by avenging my dead family," Rick says in the episode's closing minutes. "I'm driven by finding that McNugget sauce. I want that 'Mulan' McNugget Sauce. ... That's my series arc, Morty. If it takes nine seasons, I want that McNugget Szechuan sauce."
After the episode, it became clear that "Rick and Morty" fans and writers were just as determined as Rick to bring back the sauce — and that McDonald's might be open to their demands. A Change.org petition calling for the return of the sauce received more than 13,500 signatures by Monday morning.
A corporate chef at McDonald's tweeted at Business Insider's Ashley Lutz saying he'd "see what I can do."
McDonald's will be presented with a convenient opportunity to bring back the sauce when a live-action remake of "Mulan" is released in November 2018. ||||| This post contains spoilers for the new season-three episode of Rick and Morty. On October 4, 2015, the Adult Swim animated sci-fi series Rick and Morty aired its season-two finale. The episode, “The Wedding Squanchers,” built to a Red Wedding-esque massacre on a planet 6,000 light-years away from Earth, and an interstellar manhunt that drove the dysfunctional central family, the Smiths, and their mad-scientist patriarch Rick Sanchez into hiding. But the episode ended with Rick, an alleged terrorist, secretly turning himself over to the Galactic Federation police to protect his daughter, Beth, and his grandkids Morty and Summer. For a comedy that could be so silly and surreal (characters often have names like “Mr. Poopybutthole” and “King Flippy Nips”), locking up a repentant Rick to the soundtrack of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” was a decidedly dispirited, yet moving, way to end the season. Since then, fans had been clamoring for official news of when season three would start; in response, they’d been getting little more than teaser clips and coy tweets from the show’s creators, Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon. But on Saturday, amid this growing impatience, Adult Swim dropped a terrific and outrageous new episode titled “The Rickshank Redemption,” effectively kicking off season three on April Fool’s Day. Since there was no real advance notice, most fans didn’t see it coming, but maybe they should have: In the epilogue to the season-two finale, viewers were told to expect season three “in, like, a year and a half.” Sure enough, as some keen observers noted, the new episode arrived a year and a half later, almost to the day. It was hard to tell, though, whether the episode’s release was a supreme act of trolling or a genuine gift—and whether, in fact, it had been precisely planned this way all along. Related Story Rick and Morty’s Biggest Twist: It Has a Heart The long awaited third-season premiere—in both the style of its release and the substance of its story—is a deeply fitting return for a show that takes delight in constantly unsettling its viewers’ notions of a fixed reality. Most Rick and Morty episodes see Rick, an alcoholic genius, and his increasingly jaded teenage grandson Morty going on violent, funny, and philosophically-minded adventures that can involve virtual simulations, multiverse-exploring, and space-time manipulation. “The Rickshank Redemption,” too, features plenty of twists and high-concept sci-fi, but what’s especially eyebrow-raising is how neatly it seems to resolve its season-two dilemma. Rick handily breaks out of intergalactic prison and, for the most part, wins back his family by the closing credits. It’s all accomplished via some exciting set pieces and moments of real emotional tension, but something seems amiss. It’s hard not to wonder: Is the new episode some kind of fever dream that takes place in Rick’s mind as he wastes away in prison? Is it just a high-octane way to kick off the new season and put old story threads quickly to bed? Is it both—or is it something else entirely?
Despite these questions, the premiere episode is perfectly enjoyable even when taken at face value. It opens in a diner with Rick miraculously freed from prison and eating breakfast with Beth, her husband Jerry, Morty, and Summer. Of course, it’s quickly revealed that Rick is still incarcerated. He and an insect-like Galactic Federation agent (Nathan Fillion) are hooked up to a brain analyzer, and their consciousnesses are chatting inside a manifestation of Rick’s cerebellum. The rest of the episode follows Rick’s inventive attempts to not only escape, but also topple the entire Galactic Federation empire, which has taken over Earth. At the same time, Morty (who’s seemingly fed up with his grandfather’s neglect) and Summer (who’s deeply loyal to him) try to track him down. It’s an exhilarating ride filled with some of the most vivid animation and smartest writing the show has deployed so far. Still—and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing—the episode at times feels like a compressed remix of old Rick and Morty moments. There’s the Inception-like storyline (first used in season one, episode two, “Lawnmower Dog”); the simulation plot (used most similarly in season one’s “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!”); Rick’s manic final soliloquy (directly mirroring the monologue at the end of the pilot); Jerry enjoying career success in a reality Rick helped engineer (also “M. Night Shaym-Aliens!”); Morty’s sudden, vicious rage (“Look Who’s Purging Now”); the return of the Council of Ricks (“Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind”); a fatal standoff that accidentally goes well (“Total Rickall”); and a trip to Cronenberg World, the reality that Rick and Morty destroyed with an experiment gone wrong (“Rick Potion #9”). The series regularly revisits characters or moments from previous episodes, but the mash-up feel here was hard ignore. ||||| 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 | – More than 20,000 supporters have signed a petition calling for McDonald's to bring back a special sauce for its Chicken McNuggets, and it's thanks to a cult-favorite cartoon. Rick and Morty, a popular animated series co-created by Dan Harmon for the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim roster, hasn't put up a new episode since October 2015, when it aired its second-season finale, the Atlantic notes. So fans were giddy with excitement Saturday when the network unexpectedly aired the first show of Season Three—and the episode's final moments had an additional surprise. Per Business Insider, Rick, who plays the mad-scientist title character, revealed his innermost motivations, and they involved a plum sauce the fast-food chain hasn't offered in nearly 20 years. "I want that 'Mulan' McNugget Sauce. ... That's my series arc, Morty," he tells his grandson. "If it takes nine seasons, I want that McNugget Szechuan sauce." What the deranged patriarch referred to is a condiment McDonald's offered as part of a co-branding effort with Disney in 1998 to push its movie Mulan. The special sauce is now making an appearance on eBay—though the listings mostly appear to be Rick and Morty-inspired jokes—and the show's writers even put out a plea on Twitter, asking McDonald's: "You wanna get in on this? Call me." The restaurant account's reply: "McNugga Lubba Dub Dub" (a twist on one of Rick's catchphrase); a top Mickey D's chef also said, "I'll see what I can do." Business Insider notes a live-action version of Mulan is due out in late 2018, so ... the McNugget's in your court now, McDonald's. (The chain is trying its hand at "cleaner" nuggets.) |
Hacker group Anonymous (aka OperationLeaks on Twitter) just released what they say is a trove of damning documents on Bank of America.
You can find them here: bankofamericasuck.com
Remember, at this point, we can't verify whether they are legitimate or not, but Gawker's Adrien Chen, who has sources within Anonymous, suggest there's something real to the leaks.
Anonymous says the emails deal with BofA's mortgage practices, but the source is not an employee of Bank of America proper -- the source is a former employee from Balboa Insurance, a firm which used to be owned by BofA.
Click here to see what Bank of America says about the emails >
As you will see below, we believe that the evidence that is supposed to be so damning is a series of emails showing that employees of Balboa asked for certain loan identifying numbers to be deleted, and they were.
Anonymous said late Sunday evening, however, "this is part 1 of the Emails." So perhaps more incriminating correspondence is to come. And to be honest, these messages could be incredibly damaging, but we're not mortgage specialists and don't know if this is or isn't common in the field. The beauty is, you can see and decide for yourself at bankofamericasuck.com.
But for those who want a simple explanation, here's a summary of the content.
The Source
The ex-Balboa employee tells Anonymous that what he/she sends will be enough to,
crack [BofA's] armor, and put a bad light on a $700 mil cash deal they need to pay back the government while ruining their already strained relationship with GMAC, one of their largest clients. Trust me... it'll piss them off plenty.
The source then sends over a paystub, an unemployment form, a letter from HR upon dismissal and his/her last paystub and an ID badge.
He/she also describes his/herself:
My name is (Anonymous). For the last 7 years, I worked in the Insurance/Mortgage industry for a company called Balboa Insurance. Many of you do not know who Balboa Insurance Group is, but if you’ve ever had a loan for an automobile, farm equipment, mobile home, or residential or commercial property, we knew you. In fact, we probably charged you money…a lot of money…for insurance you didn’t even need.
Balboa Insurance Group, and it’s largest competitor, the market leader Assurant, is in the business of insurance tracking and Force Placed Insurance... What this means is that when you sign your name on the dotted line for your loan, the lienholder has certain insurance requirements that must be met for the life of the lien. Your lender (including, amongst others, GMAC... IndyMac... HSBC... Wells Fargo/Wachovia... Bank of America) then outsources the tracking of your loan with them to a company like Balboa Insurance.
The Emails
Next comes the emails that are supposed to be so damaging. The set of emails just released shows conversational exchanges between Balboa employees.
The following codes pertain to the emails, so use as reference:
SOR = System of Record Rembrandt/Tracksource = Insurance tracking systems DTN = Document Tracking Number. A number assigned to all incoming/outgoing documents (letters, insurance documents, etc)
The first email asks for a group of GMAC DTN's to have their "images removed from Tracksource/Rembrandt." The relevant DTNs are included in the email -- there's between 50-100 of them.
In reply, a Balboa employee says that the DTN's cannot be removed from the Rembrandt, but that the loan numbers can be removed so "the documents will not show as matched to those loans." But she adds that she needs upper management approval before she moves forward, since it's an unusual request.
Then it gets approved. And then, one of the Balboa employees voices their concern. He says,
"I'm just a little concerned about the impact this has on the department and the company. Why are we removing all record of this error? We have told Denise Cahen, and there is always going to be the paper trail when one of these sent documents come back. this to me seems to be a huge red flag for the auditors... when the auditor sees the erroneous letter but no SOR trail or scanned doc on the corrected letter... What am I missing? This just doesn't seem right to me.
We suspect this is the type of email that Anonymous believes shows BofA fraud:
Click here to see why these emails prove nothing interesting, and to see what what Bank of America says about the emails >
Wikileaks, Anonymous and Bank of America
Up until now, everyone assumed that whatever secret document drop, dropped on BofA, would come from Wikileaks. But that threat seems to have fizzled, at least temporarily.
This hacker group, which is unconnected but sympathetic to Wikileaks, want to expose "corruption and fraud" at BofA with its document drop, and says emails from this former employee of the bank will prove mortgage fraud.
OperationLeaks has been teasing followers for days now with tweets that it received documents about BofA from a disgruntled employee, like this one:
He Just told me he have GMAC emails showing BoA order to mix loan numbers to not match it's Documents.. to foreclose on Americans.. Shame
Then on Sunday, Anonymous said, in a series of tweets:
I Got a email from a person claiming he worked at BoA and was demoted then fired after telling a SVP he seen something wrong in the system.
GO Anonymous hackers site >
Get the latest Bank of America stock price here. ||||| By Joe Rauch
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Anonymous, a hacker group sympathetic to WikiLeaks, released on Monday emails that it obtained from someone who said he is a former Bank of America Corp employee.
In the emails dating from November 2010, people that appear to be employees of a Balboa Insurance, a Bank of America insurance unit, discuss removing documents from loan files for a group of insured properties.
Neither the emails nor correspondence released by Anonymous indicate the reason behind the electronic record keeping discussion.
A representative of Anonymous told Reuters on Sunday the documents relate to the issue of whether Bank of America has improperly foreclosed on homes. The representative added that he had not seen the documents, but he has been briefed on their contents.
Consumer groups have accused major U.S. lenders of foreclosing on many homes without having proper documentation in place.
A BofA spokesman said on Sunday the documents were clerical and administrative documents stolen by a former Balboa Insurance employee, and were not related to foreclosures.
"We are confident that his extravagant assertions are untrue," the spokesman said. ||||| The Official Bank of America consumer opinion site.
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by 09-24-2016, 05:17 AMby chenhaoxuan06 | – A trove of leaked documents apparently reveals that Bank of America may have been involved in a scheme to bilk homeowners—a claim the bank rigorously denies. Hacker group Anonymous, which leaked the documents, says that more damning information is on the way, reports Business Insider. The emails, which allegedly come from an ex-employee of BoA subsidiary Balboa Insurance, apparently show the bank, insurance providers, and mortgage brokers all knew of a scheme to cancel people's insurance agreements, forcing homeowners to buy much more expensive mortgage insurance far above normal requirements. Often, this would also lead to home foreclosures. Anonymous put BoA in its crosshairs last December after the bank cut off contributor payments to WikiLeaks. The hacker group has created bankofamericasucks.com,and promises to post more damning leaks. Bank of America, however, called the leaked materials non-foreclosure related clerical and administrative documents, telling Reuters: "We are confident that his extravagant assertions are untrue." |
Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Tapes obtained by CNN of interrogations of a group of U.S. servicemen charged with unprovoked killings of Afghan civilians describe gruesome scenes of cold-blooded murder.
"So we met this guy by his compound, so Gibbs walked him out, set him in place, was like standing here," says Cpl. Jeremy Morlock, detailing how, on patrol earlier this year and under the command of his sergeant, Calvin R. Gibbs, he and others took an Afghan man from his home and killed him.
"So, he was fully cooperating?" the military investigator asks on the tapes in a May 2010 interview.
"Yeah," Morlock responds.
Investigator: "Was he armed?"
Morlock: "No, not that we were aware of."
Investigator: "So, you pulled him out of his place?"
Morlock: "I don't think he was inside. He was by his little hut area ... and Gibbs sent in a couple of people."
Investigator: "Where did they stand him, next to a wall?"
Morlock: "Yeah, he was kinda next to a wall ... where Gibbs could get behind a wall when the grenade went off. And then he kind of placed me and [Spc. Adam] Winfield off over here so we had a clean line of sight for this guy and, you know, he pulled out one of his grenades, an American grenade, popped it, throws the grenade and tells me and Winfield, 'Alright, wax this guy. Kill this guy, kill this guy.'"
Investigator: "Did you see him present any weapons? Was he aggressive toward you at all?"
Morlock: "No, not at all. Nothing, he wasn't a threat."
Morlock is accused of killing three Afghan civilian men -- two by shooting -- between January and May of this year. The third was the killing he described above.
The charging papers from the U.S. military paint a picture of a band of rogue soldiers, smoking hash, bored and plotting and carrying out murders of Afghan civilians for sport.
Gibbs is also accused of having kept fingers and leg bones as souvenirs, according to the documents. A soldier who tried to blow the whistle was beaten and threatened, some soldiers said.
Some of the soldiers took photographs of each other next to the Afghans after they had been shot, CNN has learned.
According to the military documents, some of the soldiers were involved in throwing grenades at civilians.
Morlock's civilian attorney, Michael Waddington, did not deny that his client killed for sport. "That's what it sounds like," he told CNN.
Waddington said his 22-year-old client was brain-damaged from prior IED attacks, was using prescription drugs and smoking hashish and was under the influence of and in fear of his commanding officer, who is also charged. He called Gibbs "the ringleader behind this."
Authorities allege Gibbs kept finger bones, leg bones and a tooth from Afghan corpses. Another soldier allegedly kept a skull from a corpse, according to charging documents.
Gibbs' attorney did not return CNN's calls.
Several soldiers are charged with taking pictures of the corpses, and one soldier is charged with with stabbing a corpse.
Other soldiers charged said they were afraid of Gibbs and admitted smoking hashish laced with opium nearly every day.
Cpl. Emmitt Quintal, who is charged with trying to interfere with a military investigation and drug abuse, told the Army investigator the whole deployment was using drugs on "bad days, stressful days, days when we needed to escape."
Quintal told investigators in May that the platoon -- under Gibbs' direction -- went to the barracks of a man who they believed was a snitch and beat him up.
After the beating, Quintal said on the tape, "Gibbs sat down casually and told [him] if he snitched again he would kill him and that he had killed people before and that he had no problem killing again. At that time, Sgt. Gibbs had a cloth. He opened it and dropped it and three human body fingers fell on the ground. At that point, I really lost my head."
Quintal's attorney did not return a call from CNN.
In all, Morlock is charged with three counts of murder. He is accused of killing Afghan civilian Gul Mudin in January with a grenade and rifle; killing civilian Mullah Adahdad in May in a similar manner; and shooting to death Marach Agha in February.
On Monday, Morlock and his attorney attended an Article 32 hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.
At the hearing, to determine whether the military has enough evidence against Morlock to proceed with a court-martial, Army Special Agent Anderson D. Wagner testified that Morlock admitted in interrogations last May to being involved in the murders.
In his client's defense, Waddington suggested that Morlock was under the influence of drugs when he spoke with Wagner and that he should not have been interviewed until a later time. Morlock was being transferred through Kandahar for assessment of traumatic brain injury when the interview took place, Waddington said.
But Wagner testified that Morlock appeared lucid and articulate during the interview.
Still, Wagner acknowledged that there was no direct evidence Morlock was responsible for the killings, since no autopsies were performed.
Adam Kelly, another soldier under Gibbs, told investigators that the staff sergeant had a stash of guns and other items that could be planted on murder victims and that the other soldiers feared him.
"If Gibbs knew I was sitting here in front of this camera right now, there is no doubt in my mind that he would [expletive], that he would take me out," he said.
Kelly himself is not charged with murder. His attorney did not return a call from CNN.
The Pentagon has not commented on any of the cases. Instead, it sent CNN a statement about the videos:
"Disclosure of the video recordings to the public at this juncture is troubling because it could adversely affect the fair and just administration of the military justice process," the statement says.
Pretrial investigation hearings for five of the soldiers are scheduled over the next several weeks. Seven other soldiers are facing lesser charges, ranging from covering up the killings and mutilating corpses to drug use.
All of the men were members of a 2nd Infantry Division brigade operating near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010.
The five facing murder charges are Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska; Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, of Billings, Montana; Pfc. Andrew Holmes of Boise, Idaho; Spc. Adam Winfield, of Cape Coral, Florida; and Spc. Michael Wagnon, of Las Vegas, Nevada. They are all from the 5th Stryker Brigade.
Winfield's attorney, Eric Montalvo, told CNN in an e-mail that his client "is not guilty of premeditated murder, and that's as clear as I can be."
He said the videotape "doesn't tell the whole story. ... It is sort of what they molded him into."
CNN's Kathleen Johnston, Courtney Yager, Scott Zamost and Todd Schwarzschild contributed to this story. ||||| A soldier's videotaped statements describing how he and his colleagues randomly killed three Afghan civilians came under scrutiny Monday at a hearing into one of the most serious war-crimes cases from the war in Afghanistan.
Cpl. Jeremy Morlock of Wasilla, Alaska, is among five Stryker soldiers charged with premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit premeditated murder. In interviews with Army investigators, he described a plot led by Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs to randomly kill civilians for sport while on patrol in Kandahar Province.
Prosecutors have also alleged that members of the platoon mutilated Afghan corpses and even collected fingers and other body parts, and that some posed for photos with Afghan corpses. Morlock talked about how they threw a grenade at a civilian to "wax him."
Morlock's attorneys are seeking to suppress the statements, saying they were made under the influence of muscle relaxants, sleeping pills and anti-nausea medicine prescribed for repeat concussions suffered during war. Morlock was being evacuated from Afghanistan for apparent traumatic brain injury when he was questioned in May.
They also blasted Army doctors and U.S. policy in a news conference, saying they didn't understand how a cornucopia of drugs could possibly render a brain-damaged soldier battle-ready. Morlock sustained his first concussion from a roadside bomb last November, and that's when the first drugs were prescribed, they said.
"This lad was all juiced up and it was by Army doctors," said attorney Geoffrey Nathan. "Why didn't they just recall him?"
Army Special Agent Anderson D. Wagner testified that Morlock was articulate during the interviews and that his account was corroborated by others in the unit. The hearing will determine whether the case proceeds to a court martial; Morlock and the others could face the death penalty if convicted.
"He made good eye contact. He was able to recount events that happened several months ago," Wagner said by audio feed from Kandahar.
Prosecutors listed 18 witnesses for Monday's hearing. Fourteen of them asserted their right to remain silent, including other defendants and 1st Lt. Roman G. Ligsay, who has been removed as leader of the platoon but is not charged.
Morlock's lawyers conceded they don't know specifically what drugs Morlock was taking at the time of the killings. Hashish smoking was rampant in the unit, and in some cases it may have been laced with opium, they said. The silence of other witnesses makes it hard for them to verify what drugs, prescribed or not, Morlock might have been on at the time of the killings, they said.
Portions of Morlock's interviews were aired by ABC News, and The Associated Press has reviewed statements he made under oath in which he claimed Gibbs _ the highest ranking soldier accused _ planned "scenarios" during which they could kill civilians. For example, Morlock said, if they came across someone in a village that had previously been flagged as having Taliban influence, they could toss a grenade at the civilian and claim they had been responding to a threat.
Gibbs also illicitly collected "drop weapons" that could be placed by the bodies to make them appear to be combatants, Morlock and others said.
"Gibbs had pure hatred for all Afghanis and constantly referred to them as savages," Morlock said in the statement reviewed by the AP. "Sometime after Christmas 2009, Gibbs gave me a (fragmentation) grenade and told me that if the situation presented itself that we should go ahead and run with the grenade scenario that he had briefed to us."
A few weeks later, in January, the first of the killings was carried out, followed by one in February and one in early May. In each, prosecutors say, Morlock and Gibbs enlisted one other soldier to be involved. Lawyers for those three say they either deny involvement or that their participation was unwitting.
Gibbs' attorney says all three killings were "appropriate engagements."
The case raised serious questions about the Army's handling of it. Spc. Adam Winfield, who is charged in the final killing, sent troubling Facebook messages home to his parents in Florida after the first killing. He wrote that he was being threatened to keep his mouth shut about it and that he didn't know what to do.
His father made nearly half a dozen calls to military officials that day, and he said he warned them about the ongoing plot and the threats against his son.
But no suspects were arrested until May, when a witness in a drug case in the unit alerted investigators to what he considered unjustified killings.
In cross-examination of Wagner and another investigator, Morlock's attorney, Michael Waddington, questioned the lack of forensic investigation into the killings. He pressed them on whether they really knew who killed which civilian, and why they had not exhumed the bodies or seized the weapons of the accused.
Wagner responded that investigators likely would have had trouble locating the bodies, and even if they did, it would be difficult to exhume them without upsetting local citizens.
"If it was on U.S. soil we would have done it, no question," he said. "It's not the United States. Everything we do has repercussions."
____
Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| The allegations are reminiscent of the military's darkest days in Vietnam.
Again, young GI's caught up in a difficult war are accused of widespread drug use and the random killing of innocent civilians, apparently for sport or thrills.
But the parents of one of the five soldiers charged with the premeditated murder of unarmed Afghans say that before one of the murders they tried to warn the Army and a U.S. Senator – and no one helped.
Now their son, 20-year-old specialist Adam Winfield, is charged with taking part in a killing three months after the Winfield family tried to blow the whistle.
The soldiers were serving at Forward Operating Base Ramrod in southern Afghanistan. On a videotaped confession obtained by ABC News, one of the soldiers, Corporal Jeremy Morlock, described how his Sergeant, Calvin Gibbs, had the men in his unit pick out civilians at random and then kill them with grenades and rifle fire.
"Gibbs called it like, 'Hey you guys wanna, you guys wanna wax this guy or what?' And you know, he set it up, like, he grabbed the dude."
Morlock told how Gibbs allegedly threw a grenade at the civilian, and then told Morlock and the others, 'Wax this guy. You know, kill this guy, kill this guy.' "
Morlock said that killing people came "too easy" to Gibbs. ""He just really doesn't have any problems with f___ing killing these, these people, to be honest."
Morlock also told investigators he believed that Gibbs was crazy and wouldn't hesitate to silence witnesses.
"If Gibbs knew that I was sitting in front of this camera right now," said Morlock, "there's no doubt in my mind that he'd f------ take me out if he had to."
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE INTERVIEW WITH MORLOCK
'The Threats Are Already Coming My Way'
In February, Adam Winfield told his parents back home in Florida about the grenade incident via Facebook.
"Did you not understand what I just told you what people did in my platoon?" wrote Adam.
"Murder," responded his mother, Emma.
"Yeah, an innocent dude," answered Adam. "I want to do something about it. The only problem is I don't feel safe here telling anyone."
Adam said that there was a rumor that he was going to talk and "the threats are already coming my way." His mother then told him she would "do the right thing" and get him some help. Adam suggested she contact the Army, and she said "ok."
As Chris Winfield, Adam's father, told ABC News in an interview, "The guy that was doing this was his superior. This was his staff sergeant."
"[Adam] said that if he told anybody over there," said Chris Winfield, " that this particular individual was keeping an eye on him. And he would never make it past that night. He would never make it home.
The Winfields say they called six different Army offices and Senator Bill Nelson, D.-Fla., to get help.
Chris Winfield said he left at least four messages. "I said my son is in Afghanistan. . . . He's in the front lines. There's a rogue sergeant out there apparently killing innocent victims. And my son found out about this. And they're threatening him because he might say something. And I said you gotta get him out of there. You need to call me back, please."
At the command center at Fort Lewis, Washington, the headquarters for his son's division, Winfield says he finally got a sergeant on the line, with a disappointing response.
Recalls Winfield, "The sergeant came back to me and said, 'You know, it's a terrible situation, but from our end, it's a he-said, she said conversation. And there's nothing we can do about it.
"I was floored," said Winfield.
Sen. Nelson's office told ABC News they had no record of a call from the Winfields.
Gibbs Becomes Suspicious of Winfield
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Gibbs was becoming suspicious of Winfield, according to other soldiers.
An Army investigator asked Cpl. Morlock during his taped confession if he thought Gibbs was serious about maybe having to "take out" Winfield.
"Oh, f___ yeah, for sure, definitely," answered Morlock.
"So you didn't take that as a joke," said the investigator, "or like maybe it was just bull____."
"[Gibbs] doesn't bulls____," said Morlock. "He doesn't need to."
Chris Winfield told ABC News he gave his son a message from the Army. " I told him, this is what they told us to do, you know, duck. Keep your head down. Stay away from this guy. Do the best you can. You know? And it's tough. As a parent, you know? I didn't expect him to come home."
Adam Winfield did come home, but he is now charged with pre-meditated murder. Three months after trying to blow the whistle, he says Sergeant Gibbs forced him to take part in another murder.
He claims he aimed his rifle over the body of the Afghan victim.
Said Emma Winfield, "It's heartbreaking. You know, again, I'm so thankful that he made it out of there alive. But he doesn't deserve to be treated the way he's been treated. When in February, he reached out. And as parents we did what we could do. And we will probably always regret that we didn't do more."
"But we were working from the place that he was afraid for his life," said Emma. "And we weren't going to do anything to risk his life. And now, in essence, we're just fighting for his life. And fighting for justice to be done."
'A Serial Killer'
At Fort Lewis Monday, the military held its first hearing on the case, as lawyers for Corporal Morlock sought to have the videotaped confession kept out of evidence, maintaining he only played along during the murders, and that he was heavily medicated with prescription drugs during the interview.
"My client did not kill anyone," said Waddington. "He did not use any bullets or grenades to kill any of those individuals."
Waddington said his client had little choice but to go along with Gibbs. "If your sergeant says, 'Let's go to this village, we're going to sweep this village and he throws a grenade at someone, and threatens you that if you're not on his team and you're a possible snitch and you're going to get beaten or killed by him, then you're going to role play along with it."
A lawyer for Sergeant Gibbs declined to comment on the case, but it is clear the other soldiers will seek to blame him for forcing them to participate. Eric Montalvo, the lawyer for Adam Winfield, told ABC News that he believes Gibbs is "essentially a serial killer," calling him "Mansonesque."
The military says the investigation of the murders also led to the discovery of widespread drug use at Forward Operating Base Ramrod.
Corporal Emmitt Quintal, one of the men charged, blamed the drug use on "Bad days, stressful days, days that we just needed to escape" in a taped interview with Army investigators.
Asked how frequently the men used drugs to escape, Quintal responded, "I'd say probably anywhere from three to four, every three to four days."
The Winfields say they believe their son Adam was a good soldier.
"You know, he's a good kid," said Chris Winfield.
CLICK HERE to follow the ABC News Investigative Team's coverage on Twitter.
"That was put in a horrific situation," added his wife, "with you know, a lack of command out in the field. And a failure of the military to be responsive to a cry for help."
The military now confirms it is investigating the allegations that the parents of Adam Winfield tried back in February to warn the Army that both innocent Afghan civilians, and U.S. soldiers, were being put at risk.
Click Here for the Blotter Homepage. | – Soldiers charged with murdering Afghan civilians for kicks are blaming a "crazy" sergeant that the parents of one said they warned the Army about. In a chilling videotaped interrogation, Corporal Jeremy Morlock recounts being ordered to kill civilians during heroin-, opium-, and hash-fueled raids. At one point, Sergeant Calvin Gibbs tossed a grenade at an unarmed civilian and ordered: "Wax this guy," Morlock recalled. "Gibbs had pure hatred for all Afghans and constantly referred to them as savages," he added in a statement. Another witness said that "if Gibbs knew that I was sitting in front of this camera right now, there's no doubt in my mind that he'd f***king take me out," reports CNN. The family of another of the five soldiers charged with murder, specialist Adam Winfield, said he told his parents to report Gibbs because Winfield feared he'd be killed if he did, reports ABC News. The Winfields say they contacted six Army offices and their US senator, but nothing was apparently done about Gibbs." I said my son is in Afghanistan. There's a rogue sergeant out there apparently killing innocent victims," recounted Winfield's father, Christopher. He said one sergeant told him it's a "he said" situation and that nothing could be done. "I was floored," said Winfield. Army officials say they are investigating the Winfield's information. |
The Latest: Trump returns to White House after Florida break
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Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Image 1 of 7 President Donald Trump together with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump waves as he returns to the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, from a holiday break at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. less President Donald Trump together with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump waves as he returns to the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, from a holiday break at his Mar-a-Lago estate ... more Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP Image 2 of 7 President Donald Trump waves as he arrives to board Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, in West Palm Beach, Fla., to return to Washington. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives to board Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, in West Palm Beach, Fla., to return to Washington. Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Image 3 of 7 First lady Melania Trump looks on as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after arriving for a New Year's Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. First lady Melania Trump looks on as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters after arriving for a New Year's Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Image 4 of 7 President Donald Trump arrives for a New Year's Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. President Donald Trump arrives for a New Year's Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Image 5 of 7 Image 6 of 7 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron arrive for a New Year's Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and their son Barron arrive for a New Year's Eve gala at his Mar-a-Lago resort Sunday, Dec. 31, 2017, in Palm Beach, Fla. Photo: Evan Vucci, AP Image 7 of 7 The Latest: Trump returns to White House after Florida break 1 / 7 Back to Gallery
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump, who has been at his winter home in Palm Beach, Fla. (all times local):
7 p.m.
President Donald Trump has returned to the White House after a holiday break at his South Florida estate.
The president faces a hefty legislative to-do list with the new year, plus critical midterm elections and perilous threats abroad.
Trump is starting his second year in office after a lengthy visit to Mar-a-Lago, capped by a New Year's Eve bash.
Before his departure Monday, the president fired off angry tweets at Iran and Pakistan, slamming Islamabad for "lies & deceit" and saying the country had played U.S. leaders for "fools." That's a reference to frustrations that Pakistan isn't doing enough to control militants.
On Iran, Trump kept up his drumbeat in support of widespread anti-government protests there.
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___
5:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump is returning to Washington after a holiday respite at his South Florida estate. He's already sent his first tweets of the New Year, criticizing the governments of Iran and Pakistan.
Trump says Iran is "failing at every level," and he is voicing his support for the protesters there. On the subject of Pakistan, Trump tweets that Pakistan has given the U.S. nothing but "lies and deceit" for many years in spite of receiving billions of dollars in aid.
Also on the first day of the new year, Trump hosted two professional golfers, Fred Funk and his son Taylor Funk.
Trump visited his golf club most days during his Christmas and New Year's break at Mar-a-Lago. Last week he invited Coast Guard members to golf and have lunch.
___
9:45 a.m.
President Donald Trump is kicking off the new year at one of his Florida golf clubs, where he is hosting two professional golfers.
The White House said Monday that Trump was with Fred Funk and his son Taylor Funk.
Trump has been spending the holidays at his Palm Beach private club, heading to his nearby golf club most days. Last week he invited Coast Guard members to golf and have lunch.
Trump will return to Washington later Monday.
___
8:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump says Iran is "failing at every level," and he is voicing his support for the protesters there, saying it is "TIME FOR CHANGE."
Trump says on Twitter Monday: "Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!"
The protests began Thursday in Mashhad over economic issues and have since expanded to several cities. Hundreds of people have been arrested.
While some have shared Trump's tweets, many in Iran distrust him as he's refused to re-certify the nuclear deal and because his travel bans have blocked Iranians from getting U.S. visas.
___
7:40 a.m.
President Donald Trump began the New Year by sending an angry, early morning tweet criticizing Pakistan.
Trump tweeted: "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!"
It was not immediately clear why Trump opted to tweet on Pakistan. The U.S. has long accused Islamabad of allowing militants to operate relatively freely in Pakistan's border regions to carry out operations in neighboring Afghanistan.
___
3 a.m.
Bidding farewell to 2017 with a lavish party at his private club, President Donald Trump predicted 2018 will be a "tremendous year."
Trump said Sunday that the stock market will continue to rise and that companies are going to continue to come into the U.S., at "a rapid clip." He also cited several accomplishments, including the tax overhaul, opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, and repealing the individual mandate from the national health care law.
"It will be a fantastic 2018," a tuxedoed Trump said, as he entered the gilded ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, accompanied by first lady Melania Trump and son Barron. ||||| The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more! ||||| Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration. The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE! | – If President Trump's New Year's resolution was to get tough on Pakistan and Iran, he's off to a great start. If it was to tone down his use of Twitter, not so much. Trump laid into Pakistan in his first tweet of the year, saying the US "has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools." He added: "They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!" The tweet follows reports that Trump is considering cutting off aid to Pakistan. Khawaja Asif, Pakistan's foreign affairs minister, says the country is preparing a response to Trump that will let the world know the difference "between facts and fiction," the Hill reports. In a second Monday morning tweet, Trump slammed Iran amid reports that at least 12 people had been killed in anti-government protests. "Iran is failing at every level despite the terrible deal made with them by the Obama Administration," he tweeted. "The great Iranian people have been repressed for many years. They are hungry for food & for freedom. Along with human rights, the wealth of Iran is being looted. TIME FOR CHANGE!" The White House says Trump, who celebrated New Year's Eve at an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, plans to host father-and-son pro golfers Fred and Taylor Funk at the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach Monday before returning to Washington later in the day, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. |
PARIS (AP) — France's Interior Ministry said the Paris rally for unity against terrorism on Sunday was the largest demonstration in France's history — a march organized to show harmony after three days of attacks that left 17 dead.
Photos of victims of the Paris terror attacks and a poster reading 'Berlin is Charlie' have been placed with flowers and candles in front of the French embassy in Berlin Sunday Jan. 11, 2015.... (Associated Press)
The crowd gather during a march in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of people marched through Paris on Sunday in a massive show of unity and defiance in the face of terrorism... (Associated Press)
A woman takes a selfie as the crowd gathers on Bastille square, in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of people marched through Paris on Sunday in a massive show of unity and... (Associated Press)
People hold a symbolic pencil aloft, declaring "Not Afraid" during a public demonstration in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. A rally of defiance and sorrow, protected by an unparalleled level of security,... (Associated Press)
Calling the rally "unprecedented," the ministry said the demonstrators were so numerous they spread beyond the official march route, making them impossible to count.
French media estimate up to 3 million are taking part, more than the numbers who took to Paris streets when the Allies liberated the city from the Nazis in World War II.
"It's a different world today," said Parisian Michel Thiebault, 70. He was among a crowd wildly cheering police as their vans made their way through the crowd — a sound unheard of at the frequent protests held in France, where police and demonstrators are often at odds.
Their arms linked, more than 40 world leaders headed the somber procession, setting aside their differences for a manifestation that French President Francois Hollande said turned the city into "the capital of the world."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood near Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also marched.
Demonstrations were also held in cities around France and around the world.
The deadly attacks on a satirical newspaper, kosher market and police marked a turning point for France that some compared to Sept. 11. In the weeks and months ahead, the cruelty will test how attached the French — an estimated 5 million of whom are Muslims — really are to their liberties and to each other.
"Our entire country will rise up toward something better," Hollande said.
The aftermath of the attacks remained raw, with video emerging of one of the gunmen killed during police raids pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and detailing how the attacks were going to unfold. Also, a new shooting was linked to that gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, who was killed Friday along with the brothers behind a massacre at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in nearly simultaneous raids by security forces.
___
Sylvie Corbet, Trung Latieule, Oleg Cetinic, John Leicester and Elaine Ganley contributed from Paris. Aron Heller contributed from Jerusalem. ||||| PARIS (AP) — Tens of thousands of people including more than 40 world leaders streamed into the heart of Paris on Sunday for a rally of national unity to honor the 17 victims of three days of terror.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, left, waves to the public as he enters in his car during a demonstration organized by members of the Union of French Jewish students outside a kosher grocery store... (Associated Press)
Members of the Union of French Jewish students hold posters with the first names of the victims during a demonstration outside a kosher grocery store where four hostages were killed on Friday in Paris,... (Associated Press)
The aftermath of the attacks remained raw, with video emerging of one of the gunmen killed during police raids pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and detailing how the attacks were going to unfold. Also, a new shooting was linked to that gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, who was killed Friday along with the brothers behind a massacre at satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in nearly simultaneous raids by security forces.
"Today, Paris is the capital of the world," said French President Francois Hollande . "Our entire country will rise up toward something better."
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were among the leaders attending, as were top representatives of Russia and Ukraine.
Rallies were also planned in London, Madrid and New York — all attacked by al-Qaida-linked extremists — as well as Cairo, Sydney, Stockholm, Tokyo and elsewhere.
"We are all Charlie, we are all police, we are all Jews of France," Prime Minister Manuel Valls declared on Saturday, referring to the victims of the attacks that included employees at Charlie Hebdo, shoppers at a kosher grocery and three police officers.
The three days of terror began Wednesday when brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi stormed the newsroom of Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen said it directed the attack by the masked gunmen to avenge the honor of the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the weekly's satire. On Thursday, police said Coulibaly killed a policewoman on the outskirts of Paris and on Friday, the attackers converged.
While the Kouachi brothers holed up in a printing plant near Charles de Gaulle airport, Coulibaly seized hostages inside a kosher market. It all ended at dusk Friday with near-simultaneous raids at the printing plant and the market that left all three gunmen dead. Four hostages at the market were also killed.
Five people who were held in connection with the attacks were freed late Saturday, leaving no one in custody, according to the Paris prosecutor's office. The widow of the man who attacked the kosher market is still being sought and was last traced near the Turkey-Syrian border.
Early Sunday, police in Germany detained two men suspected of an arson attack against a newspaper that republished the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. No one was injured in that attack.
"The terrorists want two things: they want to scare us and they want to divide us. We must do the opposite. We must stand up and we must stay united," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told French TV channel iTele on Sunday.
It was France's deadliest terrorist attack in decades, and the country remains on high alert while investigators determine whether the attackers were part of a larger extremist network. More than 5,500 police and soldiers were being deployed on Sunday across France, about half of them to protect the march. The others were guarding synagogues, mosques, schools and other sites around France.
"I hope that we will again be able to say we are happy to be Jews in France," said Haim Korsia, the chief rabbi in France, who planned to attend the rally.
"I hope that at the end of the day everyone is united. Everyone, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists," added Zakaria Moumni, who was at Republique early Sunday. "We are humans first of all. And nobody deserves to be murdered like that. Nobody."
At an international conference in India, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the world stood with the people of France "not just in anger and in outrage, but in solidarity and commitment to the cause of confronting extremism and in the cause that extremists fear so much and that has always united our countries: freedom."
Posthumous video emerged Sunday of Coulibaly, who prosecutors said was newly linked by ballistics tests to a third shooting — the Wednesday attack on a jogger in a Paris suburb that left the 32-year-old man gravely injured. In the video, Coulibaly speaks fluent French and broken Arabic, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and detailing the terror operation he said was about to unfold.
The Kouachi brothers claimed the attacks were planned and financed by al-Qaida in Yemen.
___
Oleg Cetinic and Elaine Ganley contributed from Paris. Aron Heller contributed from Jerusalem. ||||| Paris is on high alert as world leaders converge on the city for a march expected to draw millions of people in a demonstration of national unity.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls predicted the huge turnout to honour the 17 people killed in attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a kosher supermarket and the police.
He told thousands gathered near the scene of the deadly supermarket siege on Saturday: "I have no doubt that millions of citizens will come to express their love of liberty, their love of fraternity."
As the crowds started to gather, French President Francois Hollande said: "Today, Paris is the capital of the world."
"The entire country will rise up," he told ministers, according to AFP news agency.
1 / 29 Gallery: Unity March Over France Attacks Huge crowds are gathering for the unity march in Paris, in protest at this week's terror attacks. Continue through for more images...
With the country's national security threat system still at the highest level and a suspected member of the terror cell behind the attacks on the run, France has deployed thousands of police and troops to protect the capital.
More than 5,500 police and military personnel will be deployed, including 2,200 to guard the route of the march, which will run for 1.9 miles (3km) from the historic Place de la Republique to Place de la Nation.
Police marksmen will be stationed on roofs in the area ahead of the start of the march at 3pm (2pm UK time).
Play video "Route Of Paris Unity March" Video: Route Of Paris Unity March
Some 2,000 police officers and 1,350 soldiers will be stationed at other locations around the city, including at places of worship, media outlets and public buildings.
As the crowd marches, 150 plain clothes detectives will mingle among them and a security perimeter will be enforced, with roads and some metro stations closed.
Public transport is free all day to encourage people to attend without cars.
Play video "How Paris Events Unfolded" Video: How Paris Events Unfolded
In London, landmarks including Tower Bridge and Trafalgar Square will display the colours of the French national flag from 4pm.
Around 50 world leaders are due to take part in the Paris march, including David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Ahead of the event, Mr Cameron wrote on Twitter: "I'm on my way to Paris to march with the French people. The #CharlieHebdo murders will not crush our spirit or our values."
Play video "Special Report: Paris Attacks" Video: Special Report: Paris Attacks
Home Secretary Theresa May is in Paris for a meeting of European interior ministers to discuss security measures across the continent in the wake of the attacks.
The far-right Front National has hit out after its leader Marine Le Pen was not invited to join the country's main political leaders at the march.
Ms Le Pen has urged her supporters to shun the event and stage regional demonstrations.
1 / 14 Gallery: Faces Of French Terror Victims Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier, 47, had received death threats in the past and was living under police protection. Known as Charb, He and his nine colleagues, along with the two policemen were killed at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris
More than 700,000 people have already taken part in rallies across France this weekend.
Brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi and their associate Amedy Coulibaly were shot dead by police on Friday as a three-day reign of terror was brought to an end.
Authorities are hunting Coulibaly's "armed and dangerous" partner Hayat Boumeddiene - but may have their work cut out after it emerged she left for Turkey on 2 January and may have travelled to Syria.
Play video "Full Interview: Print Factory Owner" Video: Full Interview: Print Factory Owner
A German newspaper in the city of Hamburg that reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed from Charlie Hebdo was the target of an arson attack on Sunday. No-one was injured.
:: There will be full coverage of the march on Sky News. See it on skynews.com, our mobile apps and on Sky News - channels Sky 501, Virgin Media 602, Freesat 202, Freeview 132. | – Leaders from across the globe descended on Paris today to stand by the side of French President Francois Hollande, as hordes of his countrymen crowded into the capital's iconic Republique Square to defiantly proclaim "Je Suis Charlie" in a rally to honor the 17 killed over the course of three horrifying days this week. "Paris is the capital of the world today," proclaimed Hollande before the start of the march, as per Sky News. "The whole country will stand up." He was joined by some 40 leaders ranging from David Cameron and Angela Merkel to Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas; the United States sent outgoing AG Eric Holder. France's Interior Ministry says it's the biggest such demonstration in the nation's history, calling it "unprecedented" even in a nation known for its demonstrating; attendance estimates vary widely, with some French media putting the number at 3 million demonstrators. The Interior Ministry says the event was so heavily attended that it's impossible to tell. Similar rallies were planned in London, Madrid, and New York—which the AP notes have all been attacked by extremists linked to al-Qaeda—as well as Cairo, Sydney, Stockholm, Tokyo. The rally comes as French prosecutors today revealed that one of the gunmen had also been linked to the shooting of a female jogger; video also surfaced of Amedy Coulibaly pledging his allegiance to ISIS. The BBC has a live blog of the Paris rally here. |
Erin Andrews is a married woman!
Andrews’ rep confirms to PEOPLE that the Andrews and Jarret Stoll were married in Montana on Saturday at a sunset ceremony. The duo said their vows in front of an intimate group of friends and family and then celebrated with a reception — all designed by celebrity wedding planner Yifat Oren. Andrews wore a stunning gown designed by Carolina Herrera.
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The Dancing with the Stars host and Stoll – a 34-year-old former NHL star – started dating in 2012, and the sportscaster confirmed their engagement in December of last year.
Tori Pintar
Stoll popped the question at Disneyland’s exclusive Club 33 over the holidays. Andrews told Good Morning America of the proposal, “We went there for Christmas to see the Christmas decorations, and we had a lovely dinner there, and he did it right there at dinner at Disneyland. I was bawling like a child.”
RELATED: Erin Andrews Shows Off Her Engagement Ring
Ahead of the nuptials, Andrews showed off a beautiful sunset in the western state on Instagram, writing only, “Stop.”
Earlier this year, Andrews told Extra that Stoll had really helmed wedding planning, joking, “You know, my man is the bridezilla!”
FROM COINAGE: Tips for Planning a Wedding on a Budget
She continued, “He is Pinteresting. I’m in Dallas Cowboy meetings, and he’s sending me, ‘Hey babe, I saw this on Pinterest,’ and I’m like, ‘Hey babe, will you let me get through Super Bowl?’ “ | – Sportscaster Erin Andrews and former NHL player Jarret Stoll have tied the knot. The AP reports that the 39-year-old Fox Sports sideline reporter and Dancing with the Stars co-host married the 35-year-old Stoll over the weekend. People magazine first reported the nuptials. According to the magazine, the wedding was held Saturday at sunset in Montana in front of a small group of family and friends. Andrews wore a gown designed by Carolina Herrera. The couple, who started dating in 2012, got engaged in December at Disneyland. Andrews described the proposal to ABC's Good Morning America in January, saying: "We went there for Christmas to see the Christmas decorations, and we had a lovely dinner there, and he did it right there at dinner at Disneyland. I was bawling like a child." (Andrews revealed she had cervical cancer last year.) |
The seed for Wide00014 was:
- Slash pages from every domain on the web:
-- a ranking of all URLs that have more than one incoming inter-domain link (rank was determined by number of incoming links using Wide00012 inter domain links)
-- up to a maximum of 100 most highly ranked URLs per domain
- Top ranked pages (up to a max of 100) from every linked-to domain using the Wide00012 inter-domain navigational link graph ||||| The seed for this crawl was a list of every host in the Wayback Machine
This crawl was run at a level 1 (URLs including their embeds, plus the URLs of all outbound links including their embeds)
The WARC files associated with this crawl are not currently available to the general public. | – After four years, Roger Ebert is finally getting his voice back—and he debuted it yesterday during his appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in a touching segment. The program that simulates his voice was created by a Scottish company that used Ebert’s DVD commentaries to re-create his speech, the Chicago Tribune reports. "It still needs improvement but at least it sounds like me," said Ebert in his familiar voice. "In first grade, they said I talked too much. And now I still can." Chaz, his wife of 18 years, cried and called it “incredible,” asking her husband what he thought of it. “Uncanny,” he said. “A good feeling.” You can also view the clip here. |
KAVIK RIVER CAMP, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's North Slope was hit Sunday by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the region, the state's seismologist said.
At 6:58 a.m. Sunday, the magnitude 6,.4 earthquake struck an area 42 miles (67 kilometers) east of Kavik River Camp and 343 miles (551 kilometers) northeast of Fairbanks, the state's second-biggest city. The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake had a depth of about 6 miles (9.9 kilometers.)
State seismologist Mike West told the Anchorage Daily News that the earthquake was the biggest recorded in the North Slope by a substantial amount. "This is a very significant event that will take us some time to understand," he told the Daily News.
The previous most powerful quake in the North Slope was in 1995 at magnitude 5.2, West told the newspaper.
The jump from a 5.2 to Sunday's 6.4 is significant because earthquakes rapidly grow in strength as magnitude rises, he said. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake is 15.8 times bigger and 63.1 times stronger than a 5.2 earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"That's why at 6.4 this changes how we think about the region," West said. "It's a little early to say how, but it's safe to say this earthquake will cause a re-evaluation of the seismic potential of that area."
Later Sunday, another magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit at 1:15 p.m. near the city of Kaktovik on Alaska's North Slope, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter was (65 kilometers) southwest of Kaktovik, which has about 290 people.
The magnitude 6.4 earthquake that hit Sunday morning was felt by workers at the oil-production facilities in and around Prudhoe Bay, the Daily News reported.
The newspaper says that Alyeska Pipeline said the earthquake did not damage the trans-Alaska pipeline. The company says in a tweet that "there are no operational concerns" related to the earthquake, but the pipeline will be inspected.
Several aftershocks were reported across northern Alaska.
The Alaska Earthquake Center says the earthquakes were felt across the eastern part of the state's North Slope Borough and as far south as metro Fairbanks. The center adds that there are no reports of damage. ||||| A magnitude 6.4 earthquake rattled a remote region of Alaska's North Slope southeast of Prudhoe Bay Sunday morning. The state seismologist called it the biggest quake ever recorded in the region.
No damage was reported, nor were there any apparent impacts to the oil-production facilities and pipeline networks to the northwest, according to officials and employees working in the area.
It's an unusual location for an earthquake in Alaska of that size. The quake was centered in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, about 52 miles southwest of Kaktovik on the Beaufort Sea coast, 85 miles southeast of Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay, and about 100 miles north of Arctic Village, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center.
The earthquake was widely felt in Kaktovik and by people who work in North Slope oil facilities.
Mike West, the state seismologist, called it the North Slope's biggest earthquake ever recorded, by a sizable amount.
"This is a very significant event that will take us some time to understand," he said.
Unusually large North Slope earthquake at 6:58am, near the Beaufort Sea coast. Right now we have the magnitude at 6.4. Location is very remote, so there are no known or expected human impacts. We'll share info as we put it together. — AK Earthquake Center (@AKearthquake) August 12, 2018
It hit at 6:58 a.m. and occurred at a depth of about 6 miles, the center said. It spawned a "vigorous aftershock sequence" that included a nearby 6.0 earthquake at 1:15 p.m. – the second-largest earthquake ever recorded on the North Slope, behind the new record, according to a statement from the earthquake center.
The epicenter of Sunday morning's quake was just north of the Sadlerochit Mountains, according to the earthquake center.
Kaktovik, on the Beaufort Sea coast, is the nearest community. Resident George Kaleak Sr., 53, said his family was just waking up when they felt the earthquake.
"All of a sudden our whole house started shaking, our beds, everything," he said. "It was pretty bad. I felt small earthquakes but this was the biggest I ever felt."
The initial shaking lasted more than 10 seconds, followed by aftershocks. One resident in the village of 250 reported glass items falling and breaking in the house, but there were no reports of injuries or damage, said Kaleak, deputy adviser to the mayor.
"It was some experience," he said.
Alyeska Pipeline said there was no impact to the trans-Alaska pipeline, and that "there are no operational concerns" related to the quake, though there will be inspections of the pipeline.
There was no impact to TAPS operations and there are no operational concerns following this morning's 6.1 earthquake near the North Slope. Per Alyeska protocol, there will be inspections of the pipeline and facilities along the northern segment of TAPS. — Alyeska Pipeline (@AlyeskaPipeline) August 12, 2018
Through our partnership with Alyeska, we have instruments at pump stations along the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Via Lea Gardine, this figure shows ground motion from the M6.4 quake as it traveled from the Beaufort Sea south to the Gulf of Alaska. pic.twitter.com/aAobIKt0q7 — AK Earthquake Center (@AKearthquake) August 12, 2018
There are no known impacts to BP facilities on the North Slope, according to an email from Megan Baldino, a BP Alaska spokeswoman. The company operates the more than 40-year-old Prudhoe Bay oil field and smaller North Slope fields.
"At this time there are no reported impacts to BP facilities on the North Slope. Our teams did walk-throughs this morning and for now everything appears to be fine," Baldino said in an email.
ExxonMobil, operator of Point Thomson, the closest oil field to the epicenter, said no damage was reported.
"All staff are accounted for, and the Point Thomson team has completed an initial site assessment with no damage or impact reported," wrote ExxonMobil spokesman John Moore.
Workers in Deadhorse, the industrial center serving North Slope oil fields, said they hadn't heard of any damage or injuries.
Bob Rieth, a station manager at Northern Air Maintenance Services, said he was in a second-floor room on the phone for work when the building he was in started rocking.
He thought the shaking had to do with a state construction project next door, but looked out his window and saw the workers standing around, looking at each other.
"It was like, 'Oh, this is actually an earthquake," said Rieth. "The building's steel beams made noise as they were flexing, which is a bit disconcerting as I'm standing there getting ready to brush my teeth."
Rieth said he's only felt one other earthquake on the Slope in 14 years of working there.
"That was a little shaker that hardly got anyone's attention," he said.
Dawn Foster, a technician for AT&T who has worked on the Slope for six years, said she was in the bathroom in her room at the Aurora Hotel in Deadhorse when the building started moving.
"I'm like, 'Wait, I'm in an earthquake,' " Foster said. "I felt vulnerable. My next reaction was, 'I better hurry up and get out of here.' "
The rolling lasted about 30 seconds, said Foster. It was the first earthquake she's felt on the Slope.
"Nothing fell over, nothing fell down, so it was not extreme," she said. "It was more a rocking than a jolt."
As Foster spoke with a reporter by phone several hours after the earthquake, she said she felt another aftershock.
"Wow, I feel a little movement on the back deck at work, and this building never moves," she said.
The previous strongest quake in the area was in 1995 at magnitude 5.2. Another in 2010 was at 5.1 magnitude, West said.
The jump from a 5.2 to Sunday's 6.4 is a significant difference because earthquakes rapidly grow in strength as magnitude rises, West said.
"That's why at 6.4 this changes how we think about the region," West said. "It's a little early to say how, but it's safe to say this earthquake will cause a re-evaluation of the seismic potential of that area."
Quick update on the human impacts. We have no reports of damage or injuries. Alyeska reports no impacts to the pipeline. We have felt reports from Kaktovik, Deadhorse, Nuiqsut and even a few from Fairbanks, so this was felt across a very wide area. — AK Earthquake Center (@AKearthquake) August 12, 2018
The work to analyze the temblor has already begun, said West, reached at the geological center Sunday morning.
"We'll understand a whole lot more about this earthquake as the days unfold, (exactly) how deep it was, the fault on which it occurred, its orientation, how long a rupture it was," he said.
Mechanism for today's M6.4 earthquake was strike-slip, as we would expect in that region. It falls within a broad north-south zone of activity about 240mi long and 120mi wide from the Beaufort Sea down to the Tintina Fault. It is the largest quake ever recorded in that area. — AK Earthquake Center (@AKearthquake) August 12, 2018
Earthquake monitoring has been pretty "spotty" in the region until a couple years ago, when the National Science Foundation began a seismicity-related project in the area. West said. But this isn't a case of better detection leading to a new record.
West said even the older earthquakes above magnitude 5 would have been detected by instruments elsewhere around the world. | – Alaska's North Slope was hit Sunday by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the region, the state's seismologist says. At 6:58am Sunday, the magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck an area 42 miles east of Kavik River Camp and 343 miles northeast of Fairbanks, the state's second-biggest city, the AP reports. The US Geological Survey says the earthquake had a depth of about 6 miles. State seismologist Mike West tells the Anchorage Daily News that the earthquake was the biggest recorded in the North Slope by a substantial amount. "This is a very significant event that will take us some time to understand," he says. The previous most powerful quake in the North Slope was in 1995 at magnitude 5.2, West says. The jump from a 5.2 to Sunday's 6.4 is significant because earthquakes rapidly grow in strength as magnitude rises, he says. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake is 15.8 times bigger and 63.1 times stronger than a 5.2 earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey. "That's why at 6.4 this changes how we think about the region," West says "It's a little early to say how, but it's safe to say this earthquake will cause a re-evaluation of the seismic potential of that area." Later Sunday, another magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit at 1:15pm near the city of Kaktovik on Alaska's North Slope, the US Geological Survey says. |
The Brothers Grimm, who published their first volume of fairytales on December 20, 1812, had a vision. They wanted to honor a piece of German cultural history that looked like it was going to be lost forever.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Germany was divided by political unrest, power struggles and military occupations. That troubled Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. They longed for a united nation.
So they began to research their native language and gather folk tales and myths. In doing so, they founded an entire field of research and wrote hundreds of works, including milestones such as "The German Dictionary," "German Mythology" and "German Grammar."
Lack of recognition
The Brothers Grimm were controversial figures among their contemporary scholars
The Brothers Grimm created pioneering works of their time. There weren't any German language institutes for them to consult and no publishing houses fighting over the rights to their fairytales. The brothers could never have known how successful their stories would eventually become.
"What's even more astounding is the fact that they were so perseverant with their language research," said Steffen Martus, who's written a detailed double biography of the Brothers Grimm.
Their determination paid off. Their fairytales are now world famous and the brothers are regarded as the founding fathers of German language and literature studies.
Yet the Brothers Grimm were undeterred by the lack of recognition they initially received for their work - they always did their own thing. Their father died when they were just 10 and 11 years old, and they quickly adopted the role of heads of the family.
At 17, Jacob moved to Marburg to study law and his younger brother Wilhelm joined him one year later. After a few semesters, Jacob quit his studies and they both began with their independent research.
A memorial to the Brothers Grimm is located in the German city of Kassel
However, they were never penniless academics. Over the course of their lives, the brothers earned a living as librarians, journalists, diplomats, and later as professors. But their first love remained Old German studies and collecting folk legends and fairytales.
The Brothers Grimm had already published their first books by the ages of 25 and 26, including "Old Danish Heroic Lays, Ballads, and Folktales" by Wilhelm and "About Old German Master Singing" by Jacob.
Provocative newcomers
But what were the Brothers Grimm like as people? That's a question that Andreas Döring, the director of the Youth Theater Göttingen, has also asked himself. This year he's brought the Brothers Grimm to life on stage.
Döring trawled through historical letters and documents in order to get a picture of what type of people the brothers were.
"They were very offensive characters, they were workaholics, moralists and freaks," he explained.
They were known for their acerbic and pig-headed manner, especially when it came to their research. Aside from that, "they had a strong urge to provoke" and were a thorn in the sides of their contemporary scholars.
An edition of the brother's 'The German Dictionary' dating back to 1854
There were terrible disputes and many were curious about the two controversial newcomers. Their area of research was entirely new and many aged scholars remained skeptical.
But the Brothers Grimm remained undeterred. They were an unbeatable team, despite their differences. Wilhelm was supposedly the more charming and social of the two, while Jacob had a tendency to be stern and introverted.
But they were there for each throughout their lives, Döring said. "They accepted one another how they were and always stuck together - it was real brotherly love."
Life's work
The Brothers Grimm worked tirelessly until their deaths. Wilhelm died in 1859 at the age of 73 and Jacob died in 1863 aged 78.
But they were unable to finish their biggest project, "The German Dictionary," which was completed by German linguistics scholars 100 years later.
It was a formidable undertaking - as formidable as the Brothers Grimm themselves. ||||| The Google homepage celebrates the 200th anniversary of the first edition of 'Grimm's Fairy Tales,' a collection of stories which transformed Western literature. Here's a quick look at the men who worked tirelessly for 50 years to assemble the tales.
Head over to Google's homepage on Thursday and you'll enjoy a scrollable comic strip telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The doodle celebrates the 200th anniversary of "Grimm's Fairy Tales," a compendium of European folk tales first published in 1812 by German brothers Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm.
You've probably heard of the Brothers Grimm before, but the lives of the two brothers were every bit as interesting (and, in some places, as dark) as the folk tales they canonized.
Today we know Jacob and Wilhelm mainly for the collection of fairy tales bearing their name, but the brothers were also accomplished linguists and historians. Jacob, the older brother, was born in 1785 in Hanau, Germany, to wealthy parents; Wilhelm was born about thirteen months later. The brothers' father, a lawyer, died suddenly when they were still children, and the family suddenly went from enjoying a large house with servants to relying on financial support from extended family.
Because they had no father, Jacob and Wilhelm grew close to each other. They attended the University of Marburg, where their law professor introduced them to philology -- the study of language in historical texts. Because of their family's poverty, Jacob and Wilhelm were excluded from the school's social life -- which drove them to pursue their studies more energetically.
After college, both brothers worked as librarians in the town of Kassel. Neither Grimm earned much at his job, but their jobs gave them enough time to continue studying, and in 1806 they began writing down the folk tales they heard around Kassel. At first, the brothers were more interested in the stories' research value than their entertainment value -- Jacob was especially concerned with how German had evolved from languages of the past, and even went on to develop "Grimm's Law," which describes how consonants changed over time to give rise to modern German.
The Grimms published the first volume of their collected folk tales -- called "Children's and Household Tales" -- in 1812, and a second volume in 1814. Though they continued to write scholarly books and articles on linguistics and medieval studies, their folk tales gained them the most recognition, and they even received honorary doctorates from their alma mater.
By the way, if you've ever read "Grimm's Fairy Tales" and felt they were a little dark for kids, you have German culture during the early 1800s to thank. After the book was published it attracted criticism for its sexual content, so the brothers edited these themes out of subsequent editions. But because the violence of the stories wasn't frowned upon in the same way, it was retained and in some cases even increased.
In 1825 Wilhelm married Henriette Wild, whose family had supplied the Grimm brothers with some of the best stories for their folk tale collection. Jacob never married, but apparently lived happily with the new couple -- one scholar noted that the brothers "both live[d] in the same house, and in such harmony and community that one might almost imagine the children were common property." The brothers moved to Gottingen in 1830, where they established the field of Germanic studies at the University of Gottingen and continued to publish books on mythology and linguistics, while simultaneously editing their collection of folk tales.
The brothers' academic careers were upset in 1837, though, by some political upheaval. When King Ernest Augustus I demanded oaths of allegiance from university professors and other civil servants, Jacob and Wilhelm refused. They were fired from their posts, along with five other professors, and three of the group -- including Jacob -- were deported. He moved back to Kassel and was joined by Wilhelm, but the brothers once again found themselves impoverished, and had to rely on the financial support of friends.
In 1840 their fortunes changed when both Jacob and Wilhelm received job offers from the University of Berlin. There, they continued their research; further polished their folk tale collection, now in its third edition; and also worked on a comprehensive German language dictionary. Jacob retired from the university in 1848 to focus on his studies, and Wilhelm followed in 1852.
The two brothers continued working together for the rest of their lives. When Wilhelm died in 1859, the Grimms' collection of folk tales had reached its 7th edition and had grown to 200 tales-- including "Hansel and Gretel," "Rapunzel," and "Snow White" -- plus 10 "Children's Legends." Jacob, deeply saddened by his brother's death, became more withdrawn until his death in 1863.
The Grimm's collection of folklore had already been popular during their lifetimes, but it went on to become one of the most celebrated works of German literature and the basis for countless books and movies during the next two centuries. On the list of the best-selling authors of all time, some figures place the Grimms in third place -- preceded only by Shakespeare and the Bible.
For more on how technology intersects daily life, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut. | – Today is the 200th anniversary of the first publication of Grimm's Fairy Tales—but while most people know many of those European folk tales, far fewer know about the odd German brothers, Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm, who compiled them. The brothers were born into wealth, but the death of their father when they were still children sent the family into poverty, reliant on handouts from relatives, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Hard times made the brothers extremely close, and even after Wilhelm got married in 1825, one scholar notes that the brothers "both live[d] in the same house, and in such harmony and community that one might almost imagine the children were common property." After university, both brothers worked as librarians in Kassel, where they started writing down local folk tales around 1806, publishing their first book of 86 stories under the title Children's and Household Tales. "They were very offensive characters, they were workaholics, moralists, and freaks," said one expert on the Grimms, according to Deutsche Welle. Wilhelm died in 1859, sending Jacob into a depression that lasted until he, too, died in 1863. |
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. ||||| Sam Schmidt regained control of his passion with a powerful puff that left spectators in the dust Wednesday.
Shortly after becoming the first person in the nation to receive a restricted driver’s license for a semi-autonomous vehicle, the paralyzed former IndyCar driver blew into a tube that allowed him to speed off in a modified 2016 Corvette Z06.
“My dream since I was 5 years old was to be an Indy race car driver,” said Schmidt, a Henderson resident who made 27 career starts until he crashed during a test run in January 2000 at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida.
The accident severely injured his spinal cord, and he was diagnosed as a quadriplegic.
“It wasn’t my wife’s dream, it wasn’t my family’s dream, but what that dream has put them through these last 17 years hasn’t been great,” Schmidt said. “To work as hard as we’ve worked, and have them stick by me and to do this today is enough.”
Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison presented Schmidt with the special driver’s license in front of about 100 spectators gathered for a ceremony and demonstration held in the shadow of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Schmidt logged his first victory as an Indy Racing League driver in 1999.
Schmidt was giddy as a teenager, likening the experience to receiving his first driver’s license at the age of 16.
Arrow Electronics, a Fortune 500 company in Colorado, began developing the technology in 2014 that now allows Schmidt to drive. Schmidt has demonstrated the vehicle at several high-profile events, hitting a top speed of 152 mph at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.
A headset worn by Schmidt will largely control the vehicle, a semi-autonomous motorcar known as SAM. Blowing into a tube attached to the headset allows Schmidt to accelerate; inhaling allows him to brake.
Four infrared cameras mounted on the Corvette’s dashboard follow Schmidt’s head movements, allowing him to steer.
“When you think a car like this is only helping one person, you quickly find out it helps many and it even helps our country,” said Mike Long, president and CEO of Arrow Electronics.
“Together, we’ve rapidly taken the SAM car from ‘might-be-possible’ to fully practical,” Long said. “Innovation provides freedom, and that’s what Sam just got and that’s what the state of Nevada is helping us give him.”
Over the past year, Arrow Electronics and Schmidt have worked with the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles to update regulations that provide safety buffers that would allow Schmidt to drive on state roads while also maintaining safety for motorists.
Schmidt’s restricted license requires him to have a passenger at all times, said Jude Hurin, administrator of the management services and programs division for the Nevada DMV.
As a result, the modified Corvette’s console allows that passenger to take complete control of the vehicle, if necessary.
Additionally, a “pilot vehicle” must drive in front of Schmidt’s car, serving as a barrier for other cars using Nevada’s roads. If Schmidt’s passenger wasn’t able to take over, the idea is that the Corvette would run into the pilot vehicle, Hurin said. If another motorist gets in between them, then Schmidt’s passenger must take control of the Corvette until it’s reunited with the pilot vehicle.
“We’ve opened the door for Arrow, so the next step for them is to keep improving the technology,” Hurin said. “Our hope is to get them to partner with a manufacturer in the future to take this to the next level of providing this to all citizens.”
Contact Art Marroquin at amarroquin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Find @AMarroquin_LV on Twitter. | – Ever since he was a little boy, Sam Schmidt wanted to race cars. He was living that dream, driving in the Indy Racing League when a crash on a test run in Orlando severed his spinal cord in 2000, leaving him paralyzed in all four limbs. On Wednesday, however, Schmidt was back in the driver's seat, blowing into a tube that allowed him to speed away in a modified sports car, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Schmidt, 52, has become the first person in the US to be issued a license to drive a semi-autonomous vehicle. The restricted license allows him to hit the Nevada streets in his specialty 2016 Corvette Z06, though with a licensed driver in the passenger seat and only when following a pilot car. Schmidt controls the vehicle through head movements registered by four infrared cameras mounted on the dash. He accelerates by breathing into a tube and brakes by inhaling. The disabled community is eagerly awaiting fully driverless cars, which are expected to hit US roads in the next five to 10 years, the AP reports. "It's coming. We're looking for something to help us get that level of independence," says Schmidt. But independent driving won't come cheap. Schmidt's $80,000 car was modified by Arrow Electronics, which spent another six figures to pimp it out with computers, sensors, a passenger-side brake, and other necessities. Arrow hopes other companies will borrow its technology and build on what it's done. (New 'tongue ring' helps quadriplegics control wheelchairs.) |
In an interview with Time magazine, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney pledged six percent unemployment by the end of his first term in office.
“I can tell you that over a period of four years, by virtue of the policies that we’d put in place, we’d get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent, and perhaps a little lower,” he told Mark Halperin.
Unemployment currently stands at 8.1 percent.
Romney first pledged 5.9 percent unemployment when he released his economic plan in September of 2011, but he has not repeated the number since.
The candidate said earlier this month, when April job numbers were released, that “anything near 8 percent or over 4 percent is not cause for celebration.”
Setting a high-profile, specific goal could be risky for Romney should he win this fall. But during the campaign, it’s a specific, ambitious marker he can use to highlight what he believes to be the failed economic policies of the current president. And current CBO and OMB projections suggest unemployment will fall to about 6 percent in 2016.
Romney and other Republicans have repeatedly claimed that Obama promised the stimulus would keep unemployment below 8 percent. That number was a projection from Obama’s economic advisers outlining various stimulus scenarios, written before the president took office.
Should he win, Romney said he hopes to start working on the economy right away. “My preference would be to have the opportunity to do that after the election as opposed to have the President in a lame-duck session try and create a solution that may not be in keeping with the new administration,” he said.
Asked if he welcomed scrutiny of his record at the private equity firm Bain Capital, Romney replied that he would focus on Obama’s record.
“[T]he American people are interested in, not so much in the history of where I was at Bain Capital, or that I have understanding of the private sector, but instead, has the President made things better for the American people?” he said. But, Romney added, “having been in the private sector for twenty five years gives me a perspective on how jobs are created.” ||||| 6 years ago
(CNN) - After repeatedly pinning the president for the unemployment level, which now sits at 8.1%, Mitt Romney pledged he could cut the rate by two points if he makes it to the White House.
"I can tell you that over a period of four years, by virtue of the policies that we'd put in place, we'd get the unemployment rate down to 6%, and perhaps a little lower," the presumptive GOP nominee said in a TIME interview published Wednesday.
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
The number marked the first time Romney had talked about a specific rate during this election cycle, although he listed 5.9% as the number he would strive for in his 59-point economic plan released in September.
And economic forecasts suggest he may not be too far off. Based on the current rate of growth, the jobless rate is expected to fall to around 7% by the end of 2015, and 5.5% by the end of 2017, according to reports by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Romney has used the unemployment rate as a main line of attack against President Barack Obama. His campaign frequently points to a 2009 interview in which the president said if his administration could not get the economy turned around in three years, "then there is going to be a one-term proposition."
At the worst of the recession, the unemployment rate reached 10% in October 2009, nine months after Obama took office. It has gradually dropped to its current rate at just over 8%, though some experts attribute the lower rate to the fact that more Americans are leaving the workforce.
The CBO expects the rate to remain above 8% for the rest of this year and next year.
In a conference call Wednesday, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt pointed to those predictions in criticizing Romney's statement.
"Government economists have been clear that under current law their projection today is that unemployment will hit 6% by that point," LaBolt said.
He went on to cite recent remarks in which Romney, chiding the president for his job creation record, said any unemployment figure above 4% was not worth celebrating.
"What I think was interesting about this is that Romney moved goal posts in a matter of weeks," LaBolt said. "He said he was going to get it down to 4% several weeks ago, now he's at 6%, he's already moved the goal posts on a critical promise he made."
In his previous remarks, Romney did not explicitly say he would reduce the unemployment rate to 4%. At a campaign stop in Pittsburgh in May, he said "anything over 8%, anything near 8%, anything over 4% is not cause for celebration."
Also see:
Obama campaign expands Bain attack and general election ad buys
Poll: Romney takes lead in Florida
Palin endorses Utah's Hatch in Senate race
Arkansas, Kentucky primaries pose challenge for Obama ||||| In a 36-minute Wednesday Manhattan interview with Mark Halperin, Romney pushes back on President Obama’s Bain attack, predicts he can drive unemployment down to six percent by the end of his first term and says he wants Washington to sit still during the lame-duck session.
Romney contrasts his record at Bain Capital with President Obama’s record in office.
Romney explains how his business background makes him better qualified to be Commander-in-Chief.
Part One:
Part Two:
GOP frontrunner says he will have unemployment down to six percent by the end of his first term.
Read Romney’s complete answer on Bain Capital here.
Read the candidate on the fiscal cliff here.
Read the complete transcript of the interview here. | – Talk about an ambitious campaign promise: Mitt Romney today assures the American people that should he be elected, the unemployment rate would fall to 6% during his first term. "I can tell you that over a period of four years, by virtue of the policies that we'd put in place, we'd get the unemployment rate down to 6%, and perhaps a little lower," he tells Time in an interview picked up by CNN and the Washington Post. The Congressional Budget Office expects the unemployment level, currently at 8.1%, to remain above 8% through next year. But based on the current rate of growth, it is predicted to hit 7% by the end of 2015 and 5.5% by the end of 2017, meaning Romney may actually see his dream come true—regardless of whether he's elected. While Romney has mentioned a specific unemployment goal before—5.9% when he released his economic plan—he hasn't repeated that number since September 2011. |
A 9-year-old boy was killed near his Virginia home after he tried to fight off a teenager as he sexually assaulted the child’s 11-year-old sister, police said.
The little boy and his sister were playing near some railroad tracks in the backyard of their Brandon Road home in Richmond when a teenaged boy suddenly attacked the girl about 6:30 p.m. Thursday, WRIC-TV reported.
“From what I understand, the sister was raped and (the brother) tried to save her,” the children’s aunt, Jacqueline Smith, told the news station.
“And he was hit in the head with a brick and killed.”
Jaqueline Smith said her nephew, 9, was killed by a teenaged fiend who sexually assaulted the child’s 11-year-old sister. (WTVR)
Police were called after the bleeding girl was spotted running out of the woods naked, Smith said.
The little boy died before help arrived.
Emergency workers took her to a hospital, where she was being treated for lacerations and bruising to her face and body.
The victim initially gave police a false description of the suspect, who threatened the teen before she was rescued. But police later tracked down the alleged creep, described only as a teenaged boy, and took him into custody.
No charges had been filed as of Friday morning.
The attack left the neighborhood stunned.
Police investigate the scene where a 9-year-old boy was killed while trying to defend his 11-year-old sister after she was sexually assaulted near their Richmond home. (WTVR) Police said a teenaged boy was arrested for killing a 9-year-old boy who was trying to defend his 11-year-old sister during a sexual assault on Thursday. (WTVR) Police said a teenaged boy was arrested for killing a 9-year-old boy who was trying to defend his 11-year-old sister during a sexual assault on Thursday.
“This is surprising for any neighborhood,” Smith told the local CBS affiliate. “This is crazy.”
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Richmond Police detectives have identified and located a juvenile teen male who is currently being medically evaluated in connection with Thursday night's homicide and assault on the 200 block of Brandon Road that left a young boy dead.Around 6:30 p.m. on May 1, police responded to a report of an assault on two children under 13. One child, 8-year-old Martin Cobb of Richmond, was killed while the other was taken to the hospital.The children's stepfather and aunt say Cobb and his 12-year-old sister were in their backyard, playing near some railroad tracks. They say a man walking on the tracks sexually assaulted the girl and cut her face. Young Martin tried to intervene and that's when their family members say the man threw a rock at his head. He died instantly.Initially, police were given information that the suspect was an adult white male with scraggly facial hair, but it was later determined that the victim had been threatened and intimidated by the suspect, who is a teenage black male. Warrants have been obtained for the suspect's arrest.Stunned neighbors and friends watched as police transformed their street into a crime scene. The devastated neighborhood had nowhere else to turn but prayer. Many gathered in a circle to pray and comfort one another."This is a neighborhood that has been torn and stricken and actually destroyed," said family friend Markeita Boyd. "My heart hurts tonight."The 12-year-old girl is at the hospital recovering, and family members say she's shocked and traumatized, as are the children's parents."Our hearts are heavy tonight," said neighbor Derik Jones. "Our hearts go out to this family. Our hearts go out to this community."Martin Cobb was a student at Redd Elementary School. Richmond Public Schools sent a statement extending thoughts and prayers to the victim's family: "Our top priority is ensuring the safety and well-being of our students and staff," it says. "Crisis counselors are currently in place and will continue to be made available to support our Redd Elementary School family and community during this difficult time."RPS also said, "We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our Redd Elementary School students, and extend our thoughts and prayers to the victim's family and friends,"Across the Richmond area, Martin is being hailed a hero. On Friday afternoon, Chesterfield County/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers, Inc. tweeted, "Our 1000th Tweet- #RVA's Greatest Superhero... Heroes Live Forever," along with a picture of the boy.Martin's mother, Sharain Spruill, couldn't hold back tears as she spoke about her son, who she lovingly called "Marty," to ABC 8News Reporter Mark Tenia on Friday."You the man of the house, protect the ladies, and he tried to protect his sister, and he got killed," Spruill said. "He was a happy child, happy ... my baby, my only boy."Spruill added that her little boy loved to play with his toy cars.Pastor Theodore Hughey says he knows the victims well and the suspect. He is filled with confusion as to what happened."I could not grasp why anything of this nature would take place, and I even ask the question, 'Why?'" he said. "The only thing I could say is mercy be shown to him; I don't know what provoked him."Hughey and friends of the family say Martin and his sister were inseperable."You never saw one without the other," Hughey said. "Even if they rode a bicycle, both of them were on the same bicycle. So, you couldn't get them apart from each other."A prayer vigil for Martin will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at Abundant Life Church at 201 Brandon Road, Richmond, Va. 23224."For something like this to happen, it's really shaken the entire community," Hughey said. "Whatever areas we have to help [the family] with, we're going to be there for them."A memorial fund has also been set up in Cobb's honor. If you would like to donate, contact any Wells Fargo bank and tell them you would like to donate to the "Keys for Marty Foundation." A formal White House petition has been filed, asking the Obama administration to posthumously recognize Martin for his efforts to save his sister.Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Metro Richmond Crime Stoppers by calling 804-780-1000 or texting “iTip” followed by the tip to 274637.Stay with ABC 8News on air, online and on the go for updates on this developing story as they become available. | – A gut-wrenching case out of Richmond, Virginia, though the details remain murky: Family members say an 8-year-old boy was killed via a rock or brick to the head when he tried to fight off a teen who was sexually assaulting his 12-year-old sister. The siblings were playing near railroad tracks in their backyard last night when, relatives say, a teenage boy attacked the girl, WRIC reports. "From what I understand, the sister was raped and (the brother) tried to save her," the children's aunt says, per the New York Daily News. "And he was hit in the head with a brick and killed." Police began a manhunt after the girl was seen running out of the woods naked and bleeding. And though the victim initially gave police a false description of her attacker as a white man with facial hair—police say she did so because the suspect threatened her before fleeing—police eventually tracked down a black, teenage male, WWBT reports. "Nobody expects something like this to happen to the babies in their family," says a relative. As for the young girl, "She's just traumatized." (In a similar tragedy over the weekend, a Good Samaritan was killed while chasing down a woman's assailant.) |
Uber plans to add a panic button to its mobile app in Chicago that users can press to alert police if they feel threatened.
Uber’s Midwest Regional Manager Andrew Macdonald could not offer a specific time frame on when the feature would make its local debut while addressing the Sun-Times editorial board Thursday. He said it would happen in the “next several months.”
Uber General Manager Chris Taylor said it was unclear if Chicago would be the first U.S. city to test the safety device but noted that “as it is perfected, it will become something that is more broadly used.”
The panic button was first implemented in India earlier this month following rape allegations against an Uber driver.
Two Uber drivers in Chicago were charged in recent months with sexually assaulting a passenger.
The upcoming safety measure was alternately referred to as an SOS button or a panic button by Uber officials Thursday.
The measure would be in addition to a sort of secret shopper program that was rolled out in January in Chicago. It employs 10 off-duty Chicago Police officers to take Uber rides one day a month and report back on the experience.
Uber drivers, who provide about 2 million rides a month in Chicago, have been warned the program exists, which creates a deterrent effect, said Phillip Cardenas, Uber’s head of safety. But the off-duty officers do not feign conditions that leave riders most vulnerable: intoxicated very late at night, Taylor said.
First-time users in Illinois, since January, also get a safety lesson in how to use Uber in the form of a screen pop-up on the app.
Cardenas said rider feedback via the Uber app is also constantly monitored. Simply using the word “creepy” to describe an “Uber” driver would likely cause officials at the company to disable the driver’s account and investigate.
Cardenas noted that background checks that are conducted by Uber look seven years back into a potential driver’s criminal history — two years more than required by the city. He described Uber’s background check practice as a “gold standard” of the industry and equated it to the process used by one of the nation’s largest daycare providers.
Perhaps the greatest safeguard, though, is the fact that both rider and driver provide large amounts of personal information to Uber, and both are being tracked by GPS during the course of a ride.
“The reality of it is, if you have bad intent, an Uber trip is the worst place to commit a crime,” Macdonald said. “To put it crassly, you’re going to get caught.”
Editor’s note: This post was updated to correct the spelling of Andrew Macdonald’s name. ||||| After reinstating its presence in India, Uber introduces two new safety features to protect customers from drivers.
Uber's ride-hailing service has added two additional safety features for customers in India after once again coming under fire due to a sexual assault allegation against one of its drivers.
Following the charges, Uber and all other web-based taxi services were banned in several cities in India, including the capital, Delhi. Despite frequent claims that is a technology company, not a transportation service, Uber applied for a taxi license and is back in business.
The additional safety features add two levels of security that riders can choose to use.
One is the “send status” feature which allows drivers to send a message providing the driver’s photo, vehicle details, and GPS tracking location to up to five pre-selected emergency contacts. Recipients will then be able to track the location of the car without incurring any additional SMS charges. This is essentially an extension of the “send my ETA (estimated time of arrival)” feature that was added last year.
The second safety precaution is the SOS button. The SOS button appears in the top right of the screen, and if pushed twice – the app asks for a confirmation that you indeed meant to push it– will automatically dial the local authorities.
While these new functions may prove helpful, the larger issue may be with the screening process for drivers in India.
While Uber has claimed that it goes above and beyond the local requirements for screening drivers, but deputy commissioner with the Delhi police Madhur Verma is not convinced.
"Every violation by Uber will be evaluated and we will go for legal recourse," Verma told Reuters, following the rape allegations in December.
The man accused of raping a passenger in India was a repeat offender and had previously done time in jail for rape. According to the screening standards that Uber employs in the United States, that charge should have ruled him out as a driver.
Uber's policy specifically states that drivers must not have been convicted of any sexual offenses in the past seven years. But Uber does not use the same standards in India. The record of the rapist’s past was there, but Uber didn’t look for it.
Currently the new safety features are only available in India.
Last month, Uber added a safe ride checklist for Boston and Chicago customers after sexual assault complaints from customers in both cities. The feature has yet to be extended to other cities or countries.
It is unclear whether the safety features added in India, or those in Boston and Chicago, will become available in a larger pool of customers.
The blog post in which Uber announced the additions to its India service said “We are proud to pilot these features across all cities in India, and we will roll out additional safety features in other cities and countries in the coming months – stay tuned for updates.” | – Uber is adding a safety feature for customers in Chicago—they'll be able to press a "panic button" as part of the Uber app if they feel threatened by a driver, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. Of course, the very fact that Uber feels compelled to roll out an SOS button isn't such great news, but the company is trying to ease concerns after two drivers in the city were accused of sexually assaulting passengers in recent months. The button is expected to be in place within the year, and it follows the rollout of a similar button, for similar reasons, in India earlier this month. The idea is to allow passengers to alert police quickly if they're endangered, and it appears that Chicago will be the first US city to have such a feature in place. The company already provides a "safe ride checklist" for passengers in Chicago and Boston, notes the Christian Science Monitor. The safety features can help, but the Monitor notes that the real issue is making sure that drivers are adequately screened. (Uber may soon start using "robo-cabs.") |
A father and daughter have today been jailed for the manslaughter of a vulnerable woman who they attacked after she burst a football which landed in her garden.
William Gary Jelly (47) and Natalie Bollen (29) were convicted unanimously by a jury at Leicester Crown Court, in May, of causing the death of Kelly Machin.
Miss Machin, 34, died from internal bleeding days after being assaulted at her home in Waldwick Close, Leicester Forest East, on August 23 last year.
Pictures: These are the faces of dad and daughter who killed woman in burst ball row
Jelly, formerly of Impey Close, Broughton Astley, was jailed for seven years.
Bollen, a mother of four, of Waldwick Close, was also jailed for seven years.
Bollen shouted and stormed out of the dock during the sentencing.
Judge Nicholas QC said: "You went to Kelly Machin's home when both were in an irate and volatile state of mind."
He said both showed little remorse.
"Whether her death was painful we cannot know, but it was certainly lonely."
The incident flared amidst a background of dispute between Miss Machin, an alcoholic, and Miss Bollen - who sought revenge when the victim returned her children's football over the garden fence in a burst condition.
In a rage Bollen and her dad confronted Miss Machin, bursting into her home with Bollen behaving violently and Jelly pushing her over a coffee table - which caused rib fractures that led to fatal internal bleeding several days later.
Bollen's barrister, John Cammegh, mitigating, said: "It was an impetuous moment of madness on the part of Miss Bollen.
"She lost her temper.
"Things had been boiling for a long time - she simply snapped.
"Sadly the consequences were far beyond anything she could have imagined and is something she will be eternally ashamed of and will regret forever.
"She's terribly, terribly sorry to the family of the deceased for what happened."
He said Bollen was previously the victim of domestic abuse, having suffered a fractured skull and other injuries during an earlier relationship, and was herself vulnerable.
William Mousley QC, for Jelly, said: "It's a very unusual case - as a result of a single angry push - and he's responsible for the wholly unforeseen death of Kelly Machin.
"He initially went there to do the right thing by his vulnerable daughter and then did the wrong thing and lost his control in the way he did."
Jelly, a grandfather, who ran a satellite equipment installation business, wanted to express "understanding for the loss and pain" suffered by the victim's family, said his barrister. ||||| Image copyright Leicestershire police Image caption Natalie Bollen and William Jelly had not shown "any remorse", according to the judge
A father and daughter who launched a fatal attack on a neighbour who punctured a child's football have each been jailed for seven years.
Natalie Bollen and William Jelly assaulted Kelly Machin, 34, on the day she deflated the ball using a knife.
Ms Machin, who had been fed up with balls landing in her back garden in Leicester, died two weeks after the attack, which happened on 23 August.
Bollen, 28, and Jelly, 48, were convicted of manslaughter last month.
Live updates from the East Midlands
Sentencing them at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said that neither had shown "any remorse" for having caused Ms Machin's death.
'Almost triumphant'
"After these events you, Natalie Bollen, sought to protect your father knowing he had been responsible for pushing over Kelly Machin - you denied he had been present," said the judge.
"You also seemed to have been pleased with what you and your father had done, boasting in messages that you had assaulted Kelly Machin.
"After Kelly Machin's death you, Natalie Bollen, responded to a text message in an almost triumphant way; 'Yep, dead and gone'."
Image copyright Leicestershire Police Image caption Kelly Machin died about two weeks after the attack
The court heard that Ms Machin had been concerned about the excessive noise made by Bollen's children, and bothered by them regularly kicking balls into her garden.
On 23 August, she punctured a ball with a knife, which led to a confrontation in which she was punched by Bollen and pushed or punched to the ground by Jelly.
The court heard how they barged their way into Ms Machin's house uninvited.
Her injuries were assessed by paramedics, but she was not admitted to hospital.
She continued experiencing severe pain and was eventually taken to hospital on 28 August, but her injuries were regarded as not requiring emergency treatment.
But Ms Machin, who lived two doors down from Bollen in Waldwick Close, was found dead at her home on 5 September, having died "alone and in pain" either on 3 or 4 September.
The court heard that rib injuries had caused 1.9 litres of blood to gradually accumulate around her heart, which stopped working.
Judge Dean described it as an "unusual case" and said that Ms Machin was a "vulnerable individual".
He said the impact of her death had been "profound" and would be enduring for her family.
Det Ch Insp Martin Smalley said: "A seemingly minor incident resulted in a person losing their life.
"The defendants' actions on that day were excessive and they attacked Kelly without regard for the consequences."
How did Kelly die?
On 23 August 2016, Natalie Bollen pounded on Kelly Machin's door along, with several other people, shouting: "You might not come out now Kelly, but I'm gonna kill ya."
About 20 minutes later, Bollen barged into the house along with her father William Jelly
They punched and hit Kelly in her living room - causing her to fall and hit the coffee table which resulted in her breaking five ribs
She called 999 after the attack and complained of pain in her back
She was seen by paramedics but did not go to hospital
She called for an ambulance several times in the next few days and eventually went to hospital on 29 August where she had a CT scan
Doctors were not able to discuss the results with her as she had already left the hospital
They wanted to perform a small operation to stop internal bleeding but Kelly seemed worried about that option ||||| A judge told a father and daughter they showed "no remorse" for causing the death of a vulnerable woman in her home.
The fatal attack happened because of a row between neighbours about a child's football being returned over a garden fence, in a burst condition.
The victim, Kelly Machin (34), of Waldwick Close, Leicester Forest East, was found dead on the sofa of her home, several days after the assault.
The culprits, Natalie Bollen (29) and her dad, William Jelly (47), were each jailed for seven years.
Read more: Jailed: Dad and daughter who killed vulnerable neighbour in burst ball row
Sentencing at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: "On May 4 this year, after a short trial, you were both convicted of the manslaughter – the unlawful killing – of Kelly Machin.
"You aren't to be punished for the fact you had a trial, but a trial might have been an opportunity to demonstrate some remorse, even whilst maintaining your innocence.
"You, Natalie Bollen, demonstrated little but your capacity for self-pity during the trial, whilst you, William Jelly, sought to transfer the blame to your daughter, to Kelly Machin and to her friend, Winston Hinds.
"You were both at pains to say you hadn't acted together, claims that were quite ludicrous in the light of the evidence the jury heard.
"Neither of you showed any remorse for you, together, having caused Kelly Machin's death.
"This is an unusual case"
"Kelly Machin was an alcoholic and it seems clear that she could be erratic in her behaviour.
"She wasn't quite a next-door neighbour to Natalie Bollen, but their gardens adjoined one another and that in itself brought them into contact and, sometimes, conflict."
He said there were previous clashes between the two women, with complaints to the police from both sides.
The judge added: "The police recognised Kelly Machin to be a vulnerable individual you, Natalie Bollen, did not."
He said Bollen's behaviour towards the victim was "histrionic."
He said: "Shallow volatile emotions and attention-seeking behaviour, seem to me, to characterise her behaviour towards Kelly Machin."
On August 23 last year, Bollen was having a BBQ in her back garden with family and friends when one of Bollen's children accidentally sent a football into Miss Machin's garden – which she punctured with a knife before throwing it back.
Read more: Pictures released of dad and daughter who killed vulnerable neighbour in burst ball row
The judge said: "Miss Machin may well have been exasperated by balls coming into her garden, but this is the sort of mundane irritation that adults should be able to deal with without drama.
"Perhaps because of the antagonism between her and Natalie Bollen, perhaps because of drink, perhaps because of a combination of the two, Kelly Machin acted as she did.
"She shouldn't have done.
"This was the trigger for what was to play out later that day."
"You reacted hysterically"
He added: "In keeping with her character, Natalie Bollen reacted hysterically to Kelly Machin's behaviour.
"She and others at the BBQ marched round to Kelly Machin's door intending to confront her…she (Bollen) couldn't contain her anger.
"This mob, led by Natalie Bollen, were abusive and threatening and it's clear Kelly Machin was afraid."
Miss Machin did not answer the door and called the police before the group dispersed.
She phoned her good friend, Winston Hinds, who came to see her at about 6.45pm.
Bollen saw Mr Hinds arriving and told him she was going to "bang out" Miss Machin.
Judge Dean said: "As William Jelly arrived at Waldwick Close, Natalie Bollen was just about to make her way, once more, to Kelly Machin's home."
Read more: Grand Union Canal could hold secret to 100-year murder mystery
The father and daughter went together and although little may have been said, the judge said there was a "mutual understanding" that both were going to try at least to aggressively confront Kelly.
He said: "Both of you were in an irate and volatile state of mind."
The judge said he took into account that although Miss Machin was vulnerable, she had behaved "provocatively" that day by bursting the child's ball.
He told the defendants: "When you banged on the door 10 or so times, Winston Hinds opened it but you weren't interested in speaking to him – you wanted to get to Kelly Machin.
"That you did by pushing, barging and punching your way in so that you were face-to-face with Kelly Machin.
"You, Natalie Bollen, punched Kelly three times before you, William Jelly, violently pushed her causing her to fall backwards so that she fell heavily on to the edge of a low and solid coffee table.
"It was this fall that caused the injuries to Kelly that were sadly to prove fatal.
"The menace of the situation you both created is evident from the recording of the 999 call initiated at 18:53."
Jelly: "Stay away, cos I'm telling you, if you've never crossed me, I'm the worst person that you f****** cross and I don't care who you've got here."
Miss Machin is heard crying out in pain, on the 999 call being quoted by the judge.
"Now there's a f******* warning"
Bollen is heard shouting, before leaving: "Now that's a f****** warning."
Judge Dean continued: "You had no weapons and the actual force used wasn't great."
He said Jelly should have been a more restraining influence upon his daughter but acted, if anything, more aggressively.
Afterwards, Bollen appeared "pleased" with what she and her father had done, boasting about the assault in text messages to a friend.
The judge said: "After Kelly Machin's death you, Natalie Bollen, responded to a text message in an almost triumphal way 'Yep, dead and gone.'
"Bizarrely, when you, William Jelly, found out that Kelly Machin had died, you took photos of the inside of Miss Machin's home (through the window) – it seems likely you were considering how you might avoid responsibility for what you'd done.
"Kelly Machin suffered five fractures to her ribs.
"These injuries were immediately painful and they were painful over the following days.
"She sought treatment but continued to suffer pain and discomfort and she was clearly in her final days very frightened by the continuing problems she was experiencing.
"Miss Machin died as a consequence of internal bleeding from the area of her fractured ribs.
"Her suffering was prolonged and distressing.
"It seems likely she died soon after her phone was last used and some time before her body was found (by Mr Hinds) on September 5.
"Whether her death was painful we cannot know, but it was certainly lonely.
"I've read and considered a most poignant victim personal statement from Kelly's mother, Karen.
"Kelly was only 34 when she died.
"I hope it's enough for me to say that the grief caused by Kelly's death has been profound and will be enduring.
"The harm caused by the actions of the defendant s couldn't be greater.
"Natalie Bollen has written a letter to me.
"She does express remorse in the letter but she still, as she did during the trial, seeks to blame others – including the police – for what happened."
He said he accepted the defendants did not pose a risk of causing harm in the future.
The judge likened the case to a 'one punch manslaughter' where there was relatively low level violence leading to unintended consequences.
He said that Bollen, a mother-of-four, continued to have mental health difficulties and has had "hardships" in her life, which included domestic violence from a former partner.
The court heard that Bollen's mother had now taken over the care of her children.
He said that Jelly, a granddad, formerly of Broughton Astley, had "real problems" with his physical health.
He told the court: "I don't doubt there are positive sides to the characters of each defendant."
The judge referred, at the end of sentencing, to the fact Mr Jelly collapsed with a serious health problem in the dock, during the trial in May, for which he received hospital treatment.
Judge Dean said he wanted to "thank and commend" the quick actions of the dock officers on that day as they "may have saved Mr Jelly's life" before the paramedics arrived.
Miss Machin's family, who attended the trial and sentencing hearing, declined to comment afterwards.
| – Her lawyer described it as "an impetuous moment of madness," one that Natalie Bollen will now atone for with seven years of her life. Bollen, 28, and her father William Jelly, 48, were sentenced Wednesday to seven years in jail for a fatal assault on Bollen's neighbor, Kelly Machin, reports the Leicester Mercury. Machin, 34, punctured a soccer ball that landed in her garden and threw it back into Bollen's yard in Leicester, England, on Aug. 23 of last year. That led to an attack during which Bollen punched Machin and Jelly pushed her, causing her to fall into a coffee table. Machin, who broke several ribs and did seek medical help, was found dead in her home almost two weeks later; she died of internal bleeding, with half a gallon of blood around her heart, per the BBC. Bollen's lawyer said "things had been boiling for a long time"—both women had filed complaints with police regarding the other—and his client "simply snapped." He added "the consequences were far beyond anything she could have imagined and is something she will be eternally ashamed of and will regret forever." However, the judge said neither Bollen nor Jelly "showed any remorse" for their actions. He said Bollen boasted about the assault to friends and seemed "almost triumphant" at Machin's death. He also cited Machin's call to police, on which Bollen can be heard shouting, "Now there's a [expletive] warning," per the Leicester Mercury. Jelly is heard saying, "I'm the worst person that you [expletive] cross." (This man's quest for Facebook likes landed him in prison.) |
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has hailed its overhaul of federal pollution restrictions on coal-burning power plants as creating new jobs, eliminating burdensome government regulations and ending what President Trump has long described as a “war on coal.”
The administration’s own analysis, however, revealed on Tuesday that the new rules could also lead to as many as 1,400 premature deaths annually by 2030 from an increase in the extremely fine particulate matter that is linked to heart and lung disease, up to 15,000 new cases of upper respiratory problems, a rise in bronchitis, and tens of thousands of missed school days.
Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency, which crafted the regulation, said that other rules governing pollution could be used to reduce those numbers.
“We love clean, beautiful West Virginia coal,” Mr. Trump said at a political rally Tuesday evening in West Virginia, the heart of American coal country. “And you know, that’s indestructible stuff. In times of war, in times of conflict, you can blow up those windmills, they fall down real quick. You can blow up pipelines, they go like this,” he said, making a hand gesture. “You can do a lot of things to those solar panels, but you know what you can’t hurt? Coal.” ||||| President Donald Trump speaks during an event to salute U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in the East Room of the White House... (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to salute U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in the East Room of the White House... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Trump administration's plan to relax restrictions on greenhouse gas emission from coal-fired power plants (all times local):
9:30 a.m.
The Trump administration has proposed a major rollback in Obama-era restrictions on climate-changing emissions from coal-fired power plants.
The plan announced Tuesday gives the states more discretion in choosing how to regulate pollution from the plants.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the move "promotes energy independence." Environmental groups say it will harm the fight against global warming.
The move targets a major climate change effort of the Obama administration, which sought to reduce release of climate-changing emissions and other pollutants from the coal-fired power plants.
An EPA statement calls the Obama plan "burdensome."
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6:30 a.m.
The Trump administration is preparing a plan to give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
The Environmental Protection Agency says states will be given guidelines for setting performance standards for existing coal-fired power plants.
A summary of the plan and people familiar with it tell The Associated Press that the administration also will let states relax pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades.
The plan is rolling back President Barack Obama's effort to slow global warming. His plan restricted greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Details of the plan are being released Tuesday morning, and President Donald Trump is expected to promote the new policy during a trip Tuesday evening to Charleston, West Virginia. ||||| Related Actions Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
In December 2017, EPA issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to solicit information from the public about a potential future rulemaking to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing electric utility generating units (EGUs), commonly called power plants. Repealing the Clean Power Plan
In October 2017, EPA proposed to repeal the Clean Power Plan because it exceeded EPA's authority.
On August 21, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule which would establish emission guidelines for states to develop plans to address greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. The ACE rule would replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan, which EPA has proposed to repeal because it exceeded EPA's authority. The Clean Power Plan was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court and has never gone into effect.
The ACE rule has several components: a determination of the best system of emission reduction for greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, a list of “candidate technologies” states can use when developing their plans, a new preliminary applicability test for determining whether a physical or operational change made to a power plant may be a “major modification” triggering New Source Review, and new implementing regulations for emission guidelines under Clean Air Act section 111(d). | – President Trump visits West Virginia Tuesday, and it's a safe bet he'll be trumpeting the proposal his administration just unveiled to ease up on coal plants. The Affordable Clean Energy Rule would roll back an Obama-era plan on emissions deemed too heavy-handed by the Trump administration, reports the Washington Post. Under the Trump plan, states—and not the federal EPA—would have the authority to regulate the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, per the AP. "The ACE Rule would restore the rule of law and empower states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide modern, reliable, and affordable energy for all Americans," says acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler in a statement. The New York Times, meanwhile, digs into the fine print and finds one aspect of the new rule unlikely to be celebrated: a prediction of more premature deaths. For starters, within the reams of technical analysis accompanying the plan is the assertion that, when compared to the Obama plan, "implementing the proposed rule is expected to increase emissions of carbon dioxide and the level of emissions of certain pollutants in the atmosphere that adversely affect human health." And while the Obama plan said it would help prevent up to 3,600 premature deaths annually by 2030, the EPA now predicts the nation will see between 470 and 1,400 premature deaths annually by that same year. The reason is an expected uptick in particulates in the air known as PM 2.5, which have been linked to heart disease, lung disease, asthma, and bronchitis. (Meanwhile, the Trump administration is preparing for a big fight on fuel standards with California.) |
No staff from the Honor Code Office, which investigates student conduct, will be located in the same office as Title IX workers, who provide services to victims of sexual violence. Creating a new physical space to separate the offices is one of five recommendations being adopted immediately.
Title IX staff will be charged with ensuring that information they receive from alleged victims will not be shared with the Honor Code Office without their consent. And students who report sexual assaults will no longer face having their conduct at the time questioned for possible Honor Code violations.
Scrutiny of BYU's policies began in April, when then-student Madi Barney spoke out at a campus rape awareness conference about how Title IX personnel treated students who reported sexual assaults. She later launched an online petition for the university to adopt an amnesty policy and allow victims of sexual assault to report crimes without fear of school discipline.
"I am very happy with the results of the study, and I'm even happier that BYU has agreed to implement all 23 of the study's recommendations," Barney said Wednesday. "I am encouraged that BYU has said that these policies are living, growing and ongoing. I want BYU, and the community, to continue to look for ways we can help and support survivors."
Kelsey Bourgeois, who organized an April demonstration to deliver Barney's petition to campus administrators and has said she was raped while attending BYU, said she was "thrilled" by the changes.
"I even cried a little bit," she said. "I was so happy."
More than 50 people have told The Salt Lake Tribune they were sexually assaulted while attending BYU. A majority said they did not report the assaults, most of them citing fears that they would be disciplined for Honor Code violations. In several cases, students said their assailants explicitly raised the threat of school discipline to prevent reports.
A dozen current and former students interviewed by The Tribune said they were investigated for Honor Code violations in connection with sexual abuses against them. Students said school officials probed their conduct, reviewing curfew violations, what they were wearing, and even their communications with others about the Honor Code process — although the students had said they had not consented to sex.
The Honor Code at BYU, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, forbids alcohol and coffee, restricts contact between male and female students, imposes a strict dress code, and bans expressions of romantic affection between people of the same gender.
BYU said in a statement that a new amnesty clause will not become policy until it is reviewed by the Student, Faculty and Administrative Advisory Councils, but the university will start giving that protection to victims now.
President Kevin Worthen announced the changes in an email sent to students, staff and faculty Wednesday morning, saying victims of sexual assault "have been through a devastating experience, and they are looking for our help and support. We have an obligation not only to provide that support, both emotionally and spiritually, but also to create an environment where sexual assault is eliminated.
"We do not have all the answers to this problem, which is a nationwide issue affecting all colleges and universities," Worthen wrote. "But this report provides an excellent framework on which to build."
—
'Lack of sensitivity'
The advisory council, formed by BYU in May, outlined a number of problems it uncovered during its months of research, many stemming from overlap in the Honor Code and Title IX offices.
There is confusion about how to report a sexual assault, whom to report to and what resources are offered on campus, students told the council.
Until 2013, Title IX personnel were housed within the Honor Code Office. Today, the Title IX coordinator's office is next to the associate dean who oversees Honor Code investigations, with a Title IX investigator housed in the same suite.
The two offices also use the same tracking system for casework, and though a "firewall" was created to separate the investigations, "some Honor Code cases were mislabeled as Title IX cases," the group found.
In recent years, as the role of Title IX has grown at BYU, employees from departments such as athletics and the university police were working in the Title IX Office, as well as in their original positions. And Honor Code Office staff had been asked to investigate Title IX reports as well as Honor Code cases.
The report acknowledges that some employees may have brought "biases, attitudes ... and assumptions" to Title IX duties that may have resulted in a "lack of sensitivity" when looking into sexual assault reports.
At the April forum on rape awareness where Barney spoke out, then-Title IX coordinator Sarah Westerberg said her office would "not apologize" for addressing Honor Code violations, even though she acknowledged a "chilling" effect on sex crime reporting, according to several students who attended the event.
Student Life Vice President Janet Scharman, a member of the study group, said Westerberg will no longer be the Title IX coordinator. Instead, she will continue to serve as associate dean of students, while a new full-time coordinator will oversee the Title IX Office.
Two current full-time Title IX investigators will continue in their roles, Scharman said.
The advisory council recommends that the school "make it as clear as we possibly can that if there has been a sexual assault, that the place to go is to report it to the Title IX Office."
Council member Julie Valentine, a BYU nursing professor whose research focuses on sexual assault, said the group found that while some victims reported that their ecclesiastical leaders — upon whom Mormon students rely for an endorsement to remain enrolled — had been among the most helpful, "we also heard the opposite." Victims reported the same inconsistencies from law enforcement, prosecutors and other segments of society, she noted.
"We need to have these discussions at all levels of society and all levels of our church," she said.
Church spokesman Eric Hawkins wrote in an email: "We haven't yet received those findings, but look forward to doing so. Information of this nature has been helpful in the past to inform training for local leaders."
—
Dueling priorities
Splitting up the Honor Code and Title IX Offices, adopting an amnesty policy and adding an on-campus victim advocate — another recommendation being implemented immediately — will be huge benefits to students, said Kortney Hughes, victims' services program coordinator for the Provo Police Department.
"We knew they would do the right thing, that there would be positive changes," Hughes said. "But this is outstanding … I really think this is a step in the right direction, and it will start earning that trust back from students and the victims."
Madeline MacDonald, a former student who said she was investigated by the Honor Code Office after she reported sexual violence, said she was "really encouraged" by the recommendations, including the amnesty clause. But the admission that information was shared between the Title IX and Honor Code offices was alarming, she said.
MacDonald also said she was concerned that the report did not suggest new training or guidelines for bishops who may work with BYU students. The report recommends only that the council's findings "regarding ecclesiastical leaders' varied responses to sexual-assault reports" be shared with the LDS Church.
"The fact that bishops have complete [control over an endorsement], it should be under university control in some way," she said. "Either stop bishops from doing this or give them all intense training."
Barney also said there's still work to be done.
"I want there to be a system in place to make sure that the policies are properly implemented," she said. "And that there is a way for students who are going through the Title IX process to complain, if they feel they need to."
The council's recommendations reflect current best practices in the higher education community, according to S. Daniel Carter, a board member for SurvJustice, which provides legal assistance to victims of sexual violence.
"These are the types of things that institutions across the country, over the last four or five years, have been implementing," Carter said.
But BYU also has a history of investigating and punishing students who report sexual violence, Carter said. The amnesty policy, he said, "goes a very long way to mitigating the chilling effect that fear of reprisal has on survivors."
Scharman said the discussion about adopting an amnesty provision brought "the questions that I think anyone would raise here at BYU: Are we not caring about the Honor Code?"
Ultimately, she said, two factors led to what she described as unanimous support for amnesty: that many sexual assaults go unreported, and a 2002 study that found 60 percent of perpetrators are repeat offenders.
In a draft statement of an amnesty clause, the group wrote that students would not be disciplined for Honor Code violations that occurred "at or near the time of the reported sexual misconduct."
For "other Honor Code violations that are not directly related to the incident but which may be discovered as a result of the investigatory process," BYU will offer "leniency."
Bourgeois said the "leniency" language gave her some unease. BYU student JC Hamilton was likewise unsure what "leniency" means.
"It appears that there could be discipline, but they could be lighter about it," he said. "I think that could possibly be a loophole."
Still, Hamilton said, "I do feel like BYU in good faith is making it very clear that they care more about preventing sexual assault than they do about punishing prior violations."
Amnesty also would be extended to gay and lesbian students reporting sexual assaults, Scharman said.
Andy, a former student who asked to be identified by only his first name, said he felt the changes could have come sooner, but still applauded the school. He was put on "withheld suspension" for a year when he was a 17-year-old freshman, after he said his bishop instructed him to tell Honor Code enforcers about his relationship with a 25-year-old man who, Andy said, raped him while they were dating.
"I feel good that LGBT students who are victims won't be punished for having been in the LGBT situation when the assault happened," he said. "I still don't trust BYU completely. They say they're going to do this. We'll see if they actually do."
—
Pending investigations
The university's study is one of several investigations stemming from allegations by BYU students, particularly Barney, about how the school handled their sexual assault complaints.
Barney was a sophomore when she reported to Provo police that she had been raped. A Utah County sheriff's deputy gave her police file to school officials and told them she'd broken the Honor Code.
Prosecutors advised Barney not to cooperate with the school's investigation of her conduct while the criminal rape case was pending, and the school banned her from enrolling in future classes.
Barney also filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, which in August notified BYU it was investigating how the school handled Barney's case. The Provo school is the third in Utah to be added to a list of about 200 colleges facing review under Title IX, the law that forbids sex-based discrimination at all schools that receive federal funding. The University of Utah and Westminster College, a private Salt Lake City liberal arts school, also are under investigation.
Barney's case also has spurred a state investigation into how BYU police access and share law enforcement records. Documents obtained by The Tribune appear to contradict statements by campus police that their department is separate from the Honor Code Office and does not report conduct violations to the school.
BYU's study group met during the summer with outside experts on campus rape and studied sexual assault reporting procedures at more than 80 universities. It also reviewed statements on Barney's petition and 3,200 responses on a feedback website created by the school. The group also included Ben Ogles, the dean of BYU's College of Family, Home and Social Sciences; and Sandra Rogers, the international vice president at BYU and a former dean of BYU's College of Nursing.
Tribune staffers Benjamin Wood and Rachel Piper contributed to this story. |||||
Protesters stand in solidarity with rape victims in April on the campus of Brigham Young University during a sexual assault awareness demonstration in Provo, Utah. (Rick Bowmer/AP)
Students who report being sexually assaulted at Brigham Young University will no longer face the possibility of punishment for honor code violations, such as drinking or extramarital sex.
The nation’s preeminent Mormon university announced the new amnesty policy on Wednesday, acceding to a demand from many activists who saw peril for the victims of sexual assault at the conservative religious institution in Utah.
“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students. This is particularly true for those who have been the victims of sexual assault,” the university’s president Kevin J. Worthen wrote in a letter to students and staff on Wednesday. “They have been through a devastating experience, and they are looking for our help and support.”
[The Mormon university in Virginia that set an example on amnesty for BYU]
BYU student Madi Barney drew attention to the university’s handling of sexual assault last year, when she wrote in a petition that when she reported to police that she had been raped, the school investigated her for breaking the honor code. More than 117,000 people signed her petition, and other students reported that they too had been afraid to report sexual assaults because they might themselves be penalized because they were drinking at the time, or they had previously consented to extramarital sex, both of which are against the rules at BYU.
The university formed a committee in the spring to make recommendations on its sexual assault policies, and on Wednesday, Worthen announced that he was accepting the committee’s ideas, including the amnesty policy.
The policy will protect students who report being assaulted, as well as witnesses who report assaults, the advisory council’s chair Janet S. Scharman said in a Q&A on the university website Wednesday.
Scharman, who is the vice president for student life, said the goal of the amnesty policy is to persuade more students to report sexual assaults. “Sexual assault is underreported. We cannot offer help and support to those traumatized by such a crime if we are not aware that such a crime has occurred,” she said.
[‘Mormon and Gay’? The Mormon church’s new message is that you can be both.]
Worthen also announced Wednesday that the school will locate its Title IX Office, which handles sexual assault complaints, in a new space separate from the Honor Code Office, and will employ a full-time Title IX coordinator instead of the current part-time officer, and a new victim advocate. The Title IX Office will not be allowed to share information with the Honor Code Office unless the victim agrees to it.
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A new Mormon temple opens in Philadelphia, offering a glimpse in a secret shrine
Why Donald Trump could lose red Utah: Mormons have found another candidate | – Students claimed earlier this year that Brigham Young University silenced victims of sexual assault by focusing investigations on whether a victim had broken school rules prior to the assault. No more. The Mormon college in Utah says it will adopt 23 recommendations from an internal advisory committee regarding sexual assault, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. Among the changes: An office that provides services to victims will be separated from one that investigates school conduct, a new victims' advocate will be hired, and victims and witnesses will not be punished if they violated the school's Honor Code—say by drinking or consenting to premarital sex around the time of the assault, per the Washington Post. The goal is to encourage more students to report assaults, says the advisory council's chair. "We cannot offer help and support to those traumatized by such a crime if we are not aware that such a crime has occurred," she says. "By having an amnesty clause, we hopefully will let [victims] know that they should not hold any self-blame, that we are here to provide help to them," adds a nursing professor and council member. Two victims who previously spoke out against the school's policies welcome the changes but say more are needed, per the AP. For example, the policies don't suggest new training on how Mormon bishops handle being told about sexual assault. Brigham Young says it will discuss concerns with the church. |
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On the heels of Indiana's controversial religious freedom law, Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday gave final approval to a similar measure — and the governor says he'll sign it.
The Arkansas House voted 67-21 to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which follows the state senate's approval of the bill Friday. Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office did not immediately respond to the bill's passing, but has previously said he would sign it into law when it reaches his desk. His spokesman said the governor would make a statement Wednesday.
Protesters gathered outside the governor's mansion in Little Rock on Tuesday morning in anticipation of the House vote.
Arkansas-based mega-retailer Walmart also came out against the bill, and urged the governor to veto it.
"Today's passage of HB1228 threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusion present throughout the state of Arkansas and does not reflect the values we proudly uphold," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
The Indiana law, enacted last week, and the proposed Arkansas law were presented as ways to keep government from infringing on religion. But opponents say they could be used as cover for discrimination, allowing businesses to refuse to serve gay and lesbian customers.
Tim Cook, the openly gay CEO of Apple, led widespread corporate opposition to the law in Indiana, and the NCAA, which is staging the Final Four in Indianapolis this week, hinted that it would think twice about bringing future events there.
The governors of New York, Connecticut and Washington suspended some government travel from their states to Indiana.
"They knew what they were doing. They were going to make it legal to refuse to serve gay men and women," Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy told MSNBC on Tuesday. "Somebody has to call them on it."
The CEO of Acxiom, a data services company with headquarters in Little Rock, wrote in an open letter to Gov. Hutchinson that the bill "inflicts pain on some of our citizens and disgrace upon us all."
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And protesters at the Capitol on Monday held signs saying "Discrimination is not a Christian Value" and "Discrimination is a Disease."
Hutchinson, a Republican, told NBC affiliate KARK that the bill in his state is meant to strike a balance between religious freedom and equal protection of the law. "This bill tries to do that, and it's not that complicated," he said.
Sexual orientation is not covered by anti-discrimination laws in either state.
After the Arkansas bill passed, Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Tuesday approved the title language of a ballot proposal that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state's civil rights act, clearing the way for supporters to start gathering signatures.
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Nineteen other states and the federal government have religious freedom laws. The federal law was signed in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.
But legal experts have said that the Indiana and Arkansas laws could open a wider berth for discrimination because they allow businesses to use the religious claim to fight lawsuits brought by people — would-be customers, for example — and not just government action.
In North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, said on Monday that he would not sign a religious freedom bill working through the Legislature.
"What is the problem they're trying to solve?" he asked during a radio interview, according to The News & Observer newspaper of Raleigh. "I haven't seen it at this point in time."
A religious freedom bill has stalled in Georgia.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. ||||| A bill that supporters say advances religious freedom got final approval in the Arkansas House on Tuesday, sparking protests from opponents who say the legislation can be used to discriminate against gays.
This story is only available from the Arkansas Online archives. Stories can be purchased individually for $2.95. Click here to search for this story in the archives. ||||| On Tuesday, the Arkansas state House of Representatives approved a final version of a "religious freedom" bill similar to the one that has caused an uproar in Indiana. Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) has said he'll sign it.
"Similar," in the context of these politically fraught bills, is probably too vague a descriptor. Wondering how it differed concretely from the Indiana bill, we reached out to professor Katherine Franke of Columbia Law School, who also serves as faculty director of the school's Public Rights / Private Conscience Project. As the debate over the bill in Indiana moved forward, Franke was one of several dozen signatories to a letter to the state's legislature, asking for changes that might prevent the effects that critics most fear.
Those possible negative effects have centered around how the legislation in Indiana might allow businesses to deny services to customers based on the religious beliefs of the business owners -- and, more specifically, that it would allow Christian business owners to deny services to gay customers. (Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) has asked for 'clarification' from the legislature to prevent that from happening.)
Franke indicated that the Arkansas bill has a way in which it better addresses critics' concerns than the Indiana one, a way in which the two are the same, and a way in which Arkansas' bill is much worse.
How the bills are the same
"The Arkansas bill, like the Indiana bill, has a very broad definition of a 'person' who can assert religious liberty rights under the statute," Franke said, "and that definition is much broader than the federal definition, even as the Supreme Court recently interpreted it in Hobby Lobby," the 2014 case that considered whether or not a business could deny coverage for contraception based on the religious beliefs of its owners. "It's not just natural humans, people like you and me, but corporations of any kind. The federal court interpreted it only to apply to closely held corporations where the ownership is a small family and they all share the same religious commitments or beliefs."
In Arkansas and Indiana, in other words, any business of any size can say that its religious liberty rights are being infringed, even if the corporation is, say, Walmart, the ownership of which is far from small. (Walmart actually came out in opposition to the bill.) This is why the scenario offered at the outset, of a business denying service to a gay couple, is so resonant. In Indiana and Arkansas, that business can claim infringement on its religious rights.
How Arkansas' bill is more to critics' liking than Indiana's
"The Indiana bill says that the person" -- again, meaning an actual person or a corporate person -- "has to allege a substantial burden on a religious belief," Franke said, "but it also protects where there is a likely burden on a sincerely held religious belief. So if there's a possibility down the road of a burden on your faith or your religious belief, you can exert an exemption."
Think of it like the movie "Minority Report." In that film, a law enforcement body intervened in crime that were foreseen, stopping the perpetrator before he or she could act. The Indiana bill works somewhat similarly, allowing lawsuits intended to prevent religious rights from being infringed, before the infringement happens. "That is an extremely radical idea," Franke said, "that you could bring a lawsuit on a conjecture of a future injury." Arkansas' bill doesn't include this language.
How Arkansas' bill is less to critics' liking than Indiana's
"What the state has to prove under the Arkansas bill in order to overcome an assertion of a religious exemption" -- that is, in order to allow a law to trump concerns of religious liberties -- "is that the interest it's furthering with the law is 'essential," explained Franke. At the federal level, the government can allow a law to trump the religious liberty standard if the state's interest is compelling -- a looser standard that allows for things like occupational safety to trump religious exemptions.
"It sounds like not a very big difference with that one word, but what that one word does is make it much more difficult for the state to say that this is an important public interest that they're advancing," Franke explained.
The history of religious exemptions, Franke said, has traditionally been that they protect the rights of religious minorities. She offered several examples, including the desire of the Amish to be exempt from laws mandating that children go to public schools. In the 1990 case of Employment Division v. Smith, the Supreme Court, in a majority opinion from Justice Scalia, said that exemptions couldn't be used to avoid the requirements of generally applicable laws. It was the Smith case that prompted Congress to pass its Religious Freedom Restoration Act in the early 1990s, reinstating protections for minority religious practice -- in cases where no third party is being injured. That, she noted, is a key differentiator between the RFRA bills in Arkansas and Indiana and at the federal level: A third party might suffer injury from the exercise of a person's religious liberty.
"Religious liberty is not an absolute right. No right secured by the Constitution is an absolute right," she noted. "We always balance these rights against other important government interests and public interests."
"The way these RFRA laws are written, it sounds like these are absolute rights that trump any other state interest," Franke said. "And that's what's problematic about them." ||||| CLOSE Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is calling for changes to a religious objection measure facing a backlash from businesses and gay rights groups, saying it wasn't intended to allow discrimination based on sexual orientation. (April 1) AP
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, right, answers reporters' questions as Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, listens at the state Capitol in Little Rock on Wednesday. (Photo: Danny Johnston, AP)
LITTLE ROCK — As local and state leaders and organizations pressured Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to veto House Bill 1228 — the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — the governor said Wednesday he won't sign the bill in its current form.
The full House passed the "religious freedom" bill Tuesday afternoon after three concurred amendments passed the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. The measure was sponsored by Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Hindsville. Hutchinson had said he would sign the bill into law.
Ballinger said the governor has five days from the time he received the bill — not including Sunday — to act. He said that if Hutchinson does nothing, HB1228 will go into law; he has to veto the bill to prevent that.
The Republican governor said the bill wasn't intended to allow discrimination based on sexual orientation.
"It has been my intention all along to have House Bill 1228 to mirror the federal act," Hutchinson said Wednesday. "The bill that is on my desk at the present time does not ... mirror the federal law."
He was referring to the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed by President Clinton in 1993.
"I asked that changes be made in the legislation. I've asked leaders in the General Assembly to recall the bill so that it mirrors the federal religious act," Hutchinson said.
He wants lawmakers to either recall the bill or pass a follow-up measure to make the proposal more closely mirror the federal law. He wants the bill to make sure it reflects the values of the people of Arkansas and minimizes discrimination in the workplace.
Hutchinson didn't specifically call for changes that would prohibit the law from being used to deny services to someone, but he said he didn't believe the bill was intended to do so.
I am committed to signing a RFRA law, and I have asked the legislature for it to mirror Federal law. — Gov. Asa Hutchinson (@AsaHutchinson) April 1, 2015
"This law that is under consideration does not extend discrimination," Hutchinson said.
In speaking about the divisiveness of the issue, Hutchinson said there was a divide in his own house. His son Seth signed the petition urging him to veto the bill.
"This is a bill that in ordinary times would not be controversial, but these are not ordinary times," he said.
"I want to make it clear that Arkansas wants to be a place of tolerance," Hutchinson said.
Before Wednesday's news conference, many organizations raised concerns about what the measure could mean for business in the Natural State.
Retail giant Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville, posted a statement to Twitter on Tuesday saying HB 1228 does not reflect the company's values and urged Hutchinson to veto the legislation.
The bill as written would prevent state and local governments from infringing upon religious beliefs without a "compelling" interest. Supporters maintain it is not a discriminatory bill, but opponents say it will allow widespread discrimination against gays and lesbians.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a similar measure into law last week and is seeing widespread criticism by businesses and organizations.
Monday, Acxiom, one of Arkansas' largest employers and a longtime supporter of workplace diversity, announced the marketing technology company's firm opposition to the bill. In a letter to the governor, the company wrote, "The bill inflicts pain on some of our citizens and disgrace upon us all."
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola encouraged Hutchinson to veto the bill. In a news release Tuesday he stated, "Any piece of legislation that is so divisive cannot possibly be good for the state of Arkansas and its people."
Barbara Hall of Little Rock, right, cheers with about 200 other demonstrators on the steps of the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock Tuesday. (Photo: Danny Johnston, AP)
"There certainly is that impression that it would be a negative step," state economic forecaster Michael Pakko said. He said it's not clear whether there would be drastic implications for the state if the bill becomes law, but it would affect some business decisions, especially for companies that have taken a stance against the bill.
"There is a likelihood this bill would cause confusion more than anything else, and that alone could have some negative impact on the economy," Pakko said.
"It's just not the way to do business, and we're not going to do it that way," said North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce CEO Terry Hartwick.
He said discrimination has never been an issue in the area, and he doesn't understand why it's become an issue now.
"We're here to serve, and that's the way a chamber should be, to take in anybody. We're open for business, to do business as usual and to satisfy that customer, whomever they shall be," Hartwick said.
The Little Rock Chamber of Commerce also objected to the the bill, simply stating, "This is bad for business and bad for Arkansas."
Contributing: The Associated Press.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1bPd99o | – With Indiana still feeling the heat over its Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Arkansas inches up to the fire: State lawmakers yesterday approved House Bill 1228—its own RFRA—and sent it along to Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is being called upon by many to veto the bill. Among that many: Bentonville-based Walmart, whose @WalmartNewsroom account last night tweeted a statement from CEO Doug McMillon urging a veto and noting the company's "core basic belief of respect for the individual." KTHV reports Walmart isn't the first to make such a request: Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, that city's Chamber of Commerce, and major employer Acxiom Corp. have all voiced their opposition. So will Hutchinson sign? KTHV says yes. The New York Times reports he had been uneasy with a previous version but quotes him as later saying he would sign a bill into law should it hit his desk "in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states." Arkansas Online reports that his rep yesterday reported having no new comments; NBC News adds Hutchinson will make a statement today. The Times and the Washington Post take a look at the subtle ways Arkansas' law differs from Indiana's, and they call out one word that doesn't appear in Indiana's bill: "essential." As the Post explains, "At the federal level, the government can allow a law to trump the religious liberty standard if the state's interest is compelling—a looser standard that allows for things like occupational safety to trump religious exemptions." |
Is 'Tuna Scrape' The 'Pink Slime' Of Sushi?
i itoggle caption iStockphoto.com iStockphoto.com
The fact that there has been a salmonella outbreak among people who eat sushi isn't super surprising; raw seafood does pose more health risks than cooked fish.
But the fact that the fish implicated in the outbreak is something called "tuna scrape" sure got our attention here at The Salt.
According to the Food and Drug Administration's recall notice, tuna scrape is "tuna backmeat, which is specifically scraped off from the bones, and looks like a ground product." In other words, tuna hamburger.
The product, Nakaochi Scrape, was sold frozen to restaurants and supermarkets, which used it to make sushi, particularly spicy tuna rolls. Of the 116 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia who have fallen ill so far, many reported they had eaten spicy tuna rolls. The distributor has recalled 58,828 pounds of the stuff.
Given all the commotion over "pink slime," a derogatory moniker for processed beef trimmings, the notion of frozen tuna goo being used to make sushi is less than appetizing. But is it any more dangerous than regular sushi?
To find out, we called up Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. He was just about to jet off to a big food safety conference in China.
This was the first he had heard of tuna scrape. But, he added, "There are a lot of things we haven't heard of that the industry is doing."
He said there are two things to consider when thinking about health and ground up fish. The first is the fact that the tuna scrape is served raw. "My rule of thumb is that raw food of animal origin should be cooked before it's eaten."
The second issue is whether grinding the fish creates the potential for more problems. That's been the case with hamburger, because contamination from one carcass can be spread through an entire batch. "For chicken, turkey and beef, the ground product tends to be more contaminated than the whole cuts," Doyle says.
Is that also true for fish? "I don't think enough research has been done on these products," he responds.
There's also a third thing to consider in this case. Just because a food has been frozen doesn't mean it's germ-free.
Freezing is good at killing parasites, Doyle says, but bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella often snooze through a freezing, emerging from their slumber just as dangerous as before. Evidently the Salmonella bareilly that have sickened the people in this current outbreak just love chilling.
So there you have it. Raw fish, not as safe as cooked fish. Ground-up raw fish, who knows?
Given that the fish in the recall was imported, and fish is the No. 1 culprit in outbreaks caused by imported food, maybe it's time to lay off the spicy tuna rolls.
More than three-quarters of seafood consumed in the United States is imported. ||||| Last Friday, a week after announcing they were investigating an ongoing multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to sushi, federal public health officials were able to pinpoint the likely source of the bacteria that has now sickened at least 141 people. The suspect? Something called Nakaochi Scrape distributed by Moon Marine Corporation USA.
Nakaochi Scrape, as described by the Food and Drug Administration, is “tuna backmeat, which is specifically scraped off the bones, and looks like a ground product.”
This description has prompted several media outlets to compare scraped tuna with the controversial lean finely textured beef (LFTB) – also known as “pink slime” – that has captured headlines recently.
So what is Nakaochi Scrape? Is it indeed the fish version of LFTB (a.k.a., “Pink Slime”), which is produced by taking leftover scraps from a beef carcass, separating the meat from the fat, sinews and gristle in a heated centrifuge, grinding the meat and then treating it with ammonia? While both products are separated from bones, the similarities seem to end there.
Tuna scrape is the part of the fish that remains after the filets have been removed as whole cuts. Once a knife has been run down both sides of the spine to cut off the filets, meat close to the bone missed by the blade is then scraped out with a spoon-like device. After being collected in this way, it is sometimes chopped into smaller bits but no more processing is done.
“I don’t think it’s a fair comparison at all,” says Ken Gall, Extension Associate at Cornell University and member of the National Seafood HACCP Alliance Steering Committee, referring to the comparison between tuna scrape and LFTB. “[LFTB] is a product that’s treated, and treated in a way to sterilize it, which is going to coagulate protein and be a whole different process.”
Tuna Scrape in the Food Supply
However, fish scrape is not a commonly recognized food. Indeed no sushi vendor offers “spicy tuna scraped from fish backbone roll.” So where is scraped fish meat in our food supply?
Raw fish scrape is served in many Japanese dishes, sometimes over rice, sometimes in sushi rolls and sometimes on its own.
Some scrape is served fresh at restaurants, where chefs may remove the backbone meat themselves.
Just because it’s not part of the filet doesn’t mean back scrape is an inherently “worse” part of the fish, says Harry Yoshimura, owner of Mutual Fish Company, Inc., a well-known and respected Seattle-based seafood market.
“Usually meat around the bone tastes very, very good,” he says. “And when you get a good fish, it’s really terrific.”
The quality of tuna scrape, says Yoshimura, depends on the fish it came from and how it was prepared.
Moon Marine’s Nakaoshi Scrape was imported from India, where it was processed and frozen before shipping.
Frozen imported fish products are usually sold at cheaper prices than domestic fresh fish, says Yoshimura, a sign that they probably — although not necessarily — come from a lower-grade fish.
FDA was not able to supply Food Safety News with data on how much tuna scrape is imported into the U.S. each year. The agency also reported in an e-mailed statement that it “does not have data on the frequency of use of this product in sushi.”
Fish Scrape and Food Safety
What about the safety of scraped fish product? Is raw tuna scrape known as a particularly risky food?
“The more contact (a food has) with the environment — and this is true with ground beef or turkey or chicken, too — if there is surface contamination it is going to be spread throughout the product, so then rather than having an isolated contaminated spot you just mixed it up into the whole unit,” explains Gall.
Tuna scrape is “first and foremost, a ready-to-eat product that is raw and not going to be cooked before it’s consumed, so that automatically puts it in a higher risk category,” he adds.
Seafood sold in the United States must be processed according to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans, under which processors identify possible contamination points and then take proper sanitation measures at each of those steps.
Gall, who created and manages the National Seafood HACCP Internet training course, says foreign seafood suppliers are also required to have a HACCP system in place before they can sell their products to the U.S.
Because the United States imports 80 percent of the seafood eaten domestically and only 1 percent of that food is inspected by FDA, a large part of the seafood safety system relies on adherence to HACCP plans and on importers testing to ensure that incoming product is not contaminated.
But while the government’s investigation is ongoing in the multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to tuna scrape, says Gall, it’s “anyone’s guess” as to where the safety system broke down in this case.
One possibility is that the contamination likely happened before the scrape was shipped and came from an environmental source such as contaminated water or an employee carrying the bacteria.
Yoshimura points out that it is harder to verify the quality of seafood processed abroad. “With some of this imported stuff, you don’t know what condition the fish was in or what condition they’re scraping the meat in,” he notes.
Whether Moon Marine Corporation tested the product once it arrived in the U.S. has not been disclosed.
“If it was known that the company was going to be selling to sushi restaurants and/or grocery stores knowing that it’s a higher-risk product, you would expect more testing to occur,” says Gall.
Raw Tuna Outbreak – Not The First Time
While tuna scrape doesn’t come to mind as a typical source of a foodborne illness in the U.S., it is not raw tuna’s first go-around with food poisoning.
In October of 2007, consumption of previously frozen raw ahi tuna was linked to a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Paratyphi B that sickened 44 people. The tuna was imported from Indonesia and distributed by a company in the U.S.
In 2010, frozen raw ahi tuna was again linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Paratyphi B, which sickened 23. That product was thought to have originated in Asia.
In October of last year, Osamu Corp. of Gardena, CA recalled hundreds of cases of frozen ground tuna after federal inspectors found decomposition in several samples and elevated histamine levels in the fish collected from one retail location. The toxin sickened 3 people, all of whom had purchased sushi at the same location.
Gall speculates that this latest, larger outbreak linked to sushi may serve as a warning to the sushi industry to adhere to safety protocols and strengthen verification procedures.
“It may be a wake-up call that you’ve got to pay the same attention [to sushi products] as you always have to raw material,” he says.
Yoshimura cautions that while tuna scrape is now gaining some notoriety, it does not have a huge market presence.
“With one situation like (the outbreak), you could blow the whole thing out of proportion when there isn’t that much of the stuff available,” he notes.
According to Yoshimura, the lesson here is to know where your product comes from and how it was made.
For more information about the ongoing Salmonella Bareilly outbreak and recalled product, click here. | – First came "pink slime," the processed beef too dubious even for McDonald's. Now "tuna scrape" might be poised to become the seafood equivalent. With a recent salmonella outbreak being linked to tuna scrape—ground backmeat scraped from the bones of the fish—people are asking whether this fish product is fit for human consumption, reports NPR. Raw meat, after all, is generally riskier than cooked, and ground products are at greater risk for contamination. "I don't think enough research has been done on these products," one food safety expert says. But others say the comparison is unfair. While tuna scrape comes from the leftovers bones of fish, much the way pink slime comes from meat left over on a cow's carcass, the similarities end there, says Food Safety News. Tuna scrape is removed with a spoon-like device and no further processing occurs, unlike pink slime, which is cooked, sent through a centrifuge, and sprayed with ammonia. "I don't think it's a fair comparison at all," said one seafood expert. |
The purpose of this document is to summarize a joint statement to the Bitcoin community regarding Mt.Gox.
This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt.Gox was the result of one company’s actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and the digital currency industry. There are hundreds of trustworthy and responsible companies involved in bitcoin. These companies will continue to build the future of money by making bitcoin more secure and easy to use for consumers and merchants. As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today. Mtgox has confirmed its issues in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community
We are confident, however, that strong Bitcoin companies, led by highly competent teams and backed by credible investors, will continue to thrive, and to fulfill the promise that bitcoin offers as the future of payment in the Internet age.
In order to re-establish the trust squandered by the failings of Mt. Gox, responsible bitcoin exchanges are working together and are committed to the future of bitcoin and the security of all customer funds. As part of the effort to re-assure customers, the following services will be coordinating efforts over the coming days to publicly reassure customers and the general public that all funds continue to be held in a safe and secure manner: Coinbase, Kraken, BitStamp, Circle, and BTC China.
We strongly believe in transparent, thoughtful, and comprehensive consumer protection measures. We pledge to lead the way.
Bitcoin operators, whether they be exchanges, wallet services or payment providers, play a critical custodial role over the bitcoin they hold as assets for their customers. Acting as a custodian should require a high-bar, including appropriate security safeguards that are independently audited and tested on a regular basis, adequate balance sheets and reserves as commercial entities, transparent and accountable customer disclosures, and clear policies to not use customer assets for proprietary trading or for margin loans in leveraged trading.
The following industry leaders stand by this statement:
Fred Ehrsam and Brian Armstrong — Founders of Coinbase
Jesse Powell — CEO of Kraken
Nejc Kodrič — CEO of Bitstamp.net
Bobby Lee — CEO of BTC China
Nicolas Cary — CEO of Blockchain.info
Jeremy Allaire — CEO of Circle ||||| Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, has gone offline, apparently after losing hundreds of millions of dollars due to a years-long hacking effort that went unnoticed by the company.
The hacking attack is detailed in a leaked “crisis strategy draft” plan, apparently created by Gox and published Monday by Ryan Selkis, a bitcoin entrepreneur and blogger (see below). According to the document, the exchange is insolvent after losing 744,408 bitcoins — worth about $350 million at Monday’s trading prices. The plan paints a bleak picture of the exchange’s finances and outlines an arbitrage scheme to restore the exchange to solvency. “The reality is that Mt. Gox can go bankrupt at any moment, and certainly deserves to as a company,” the document states.
WIRED couldn’t confirm the authenticity of the document. Reached Monday night, a Gox representative declined to comment on the document and referred us to the company’s webpage, before abruptly hanging up. But the website went offline a few hours after the company suspended trading on its exchange, and if the document is indeed authentic, the situation it described could reverberate across the world of bitcoin and possibly hamper the future of the digital currency.
Bitcoin insiders had been bracing for the worst from Mt. Gox for weeks, but the magnitude of the apparent theft — which would be the largest bitcoin heist ever — and the company’s alleged plan to replenish its stock of bitcoins took even seasoned bitcoiners by surprise. “Gox is the worst-run business in the history of the world,” said Roger Ver, in an instant message interview. Ver is a bitcoin advocate who lives across the street from Mt. Gox’s Tokyo offices and tried to help out the troubled exchange the last time it was hacked, back in 2011.
“Gox is the worst-run business in the history of the world”
–Roger Ver, bitcoin advocate
A coalition of bitcoin businesses — including bitcoin wallet-makers Coinbase and Blockchain — quickly put out a statement as news of the hack spread. “This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt. Gox was the result of one company’s abhorrent actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and the digital currency industry,” they said. “There are hundreds of trustworthy and responsible companies involved in bitcoin.”
As WIRED reported earlier, Gox has been in trouble since U.S. authorities seized $5 million of the company’s U.S. assets last year. Gox had been operating in the U.S. without the proper money transmission permits. Since that seizure, customers had reported months-long delays in receiving cash for their bitcoins, and earlier this month, Gox suspended all withdrawals, blaming a bug in its bitcoin wallet software.
Now, according to the alleged leaked document, it looks like hackers had been exploiting that bug for two years, and even removing bitcoins from supposedly secure “cold” wallets that the company had stored offline. Typically, cold wallets are disconnected from the internet and cannot be emptied by online attackers. However, the “cold storage has been wiped out due to a leak in the hot wallet,” the document states.
Gox’s collapse is another black eye to a virtual currency that’s been struggling to go legit. Last month, Charlie Shrem, the CEO of U.S. bitcoin exchanger Bitinstant, was arrested on money laundering charges. Both Shrem and Gox CEO Mark Karpeles had been board members with the Bitcoin Foundation, the digital currency’s lobbying and software development group. Both have now stepped down. But according to the alleged Mt. Gox document, the bitcoin world faces even bigger problems that the loss of these two men. “This could be the end of bitcoin,” the document reads, “at least for most of the public.”
MtGox Situation: Crisis Strategy Draft by twobitidiot ||||| The most prominent Bitcoin exchange appeared to be on the verge of collapse late Monday, raising questions about the future of a volatile marketplace.
On Monday night, a number of leading Bitcoin companies jointly announced that Mt. Gox, the largest exchange for most of Bitcoin’s existence, was planning to file for bankruptcy after months of technological problems and what appeared to have been a major theft. A document circulating widely in the Bitcoin world said the company had lost 744,000 Bitcoins in a theft that had gone unnoticed for years. That would be about 6 percent of the 12.4 million Bitcoins in circulation.
While Mt. Gox did not respond to numerous requests for comments, and the companies issuing the statement scrambled to determine the exact situation at Mt. Gox, which is based in Japan, the news helped push the price of a single Bitcoin below $500 for the first time since November, when it began a spike that took it above $1,200.
But at the same time that the news about Mt. Gox was emerging, a New York firm announced plans to create an exchange that could draw the world’s largest banks into the virtual currency market for the first time.
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The new exchange is being put together by SecondMarket, which rose to fame a few years ago after creating a platform for buying and selling shares of companies like Twitter and Facebook before they went public.
Without the trouble at Mt. Gox, the SecondMarket plans would have been seen as a major boon for virtual currencies, providing a potential entry point into the Bitcoin market for large banks, which have so far avoided virtual currencies as their price has skyrocketed.
Barry Silbert, SecondMarket’s chief executive, said that he had already talked with several banks and financial companies about joining the new exchange, along with financial regulators, and that he hoped to have it in operation this summer.
But plans for any new venture will be tested by the collapse of Mt. Gox, which could shake the faith of early Bitcoin adopters. Ryan Galt, a blogger who writes frequently about Bitcoin and was one of the first to circulate the news about Mt. Gox, wrote on Monday: “I do believe that this is one of the existential threats to Bitcoin that many have feared and have personally sold all of my Bitcoin holdings.”
On Monday, Mt. Gox took down all of its previous posts on Twitter, one day after its chief executive, Mark Karpeles, resigned from the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for virtual currencies.
A statement from the chief executives of Bitcoin companies like Coinbase, Circle, Blockchain.info and Payward, said that the “tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt. Gox was the result of one company’s abhorrent actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of Bitcoin and the digital currency industry.”
The events are in keeping with the stark ups and downs of Bitcoin’s short existence.
Released in 2009 by an anonymous creator known as Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin program runs on the computers of anyone who joins in, and it is set to release only 21 million coins in regular increments. The coins can be moved between digital wallets using secret passwords.
While Bitcoin fans have said the technology could provide a revolutionary new way of moving money around the world, skeptics have viewed it variously as a Ponzi scheme or an investment susceptible to fraud and theft.
Many leading names in the Bitcoin community were still trying to determine the scope and potential consequences of the troubles at Mt. Gox. A document detailing the purported theft, labeled “Crisis Strategy Draft,” appeared to come from Mt. Gox.
While officials at the Bitcoin Foundation could not verify the origins of the document, they were preparing for the closure of Mt. Gox.
Patrick Murck, the foundation’s general counsel, said that “this incident just demonstrates the need for initiatives by responsible individuals and responsible members of the Bitcoin community like what’s being described” in SecondMarket’s initiative.
Mt. Gox’s difficulties this week are only the latest in a long line of problems at the Tokyo-based exchange. Created in 2010, Mt. Gox quickly became the most popular place to buy and sell Bitcoins. But the firm has suffered several intrusions and technological mishaps, which have led to steep declines in the currency’s price. A few weeks ago the company stopped allowing its customers to withdraw Bitcoins after it said it had discovered a flaw in some of the basic Bitcoin computer code.
While other exchanges were briefly hit by problems, they came back online. Mt. Gox never opened up again, prompting speculation about its future.
Until now, the major Bitcoin exchanges have all allowed anyone from the public to buy and sell virtual currency. SecondMarket’s plan is to create a platform more like the New York Stock Exchange, where only large institutions can join and trade.
Mr. Silbert says he will only open the exchange once they have several regulated financial institutions signed on as members. His hope, he says, is to give them partial ownership so that they have an incentive to trade there.
For much of Bitcoin’s life, banks have viewed the virtual currency with either derision or dismissiveness.
Recently, though, a number of banks have released research reports that have been less negative. A December report from Bank of America said that virtual currencies could become an important new part of the payment system, allowing money to move more cheaply than it does with credit cards and money transmitters like Western Union.
The statement from the Bitcoin companies on Monday night, which was not signed by Mr. Silbert, said that “in order to re-establish the trust squandered by the failings of Mt. Gox, responsible Bitcoin exchanges are working together and are committed to the future of Bitcoin and the security of all customer funds.” ||||| The issues at Mt.Gox caused anger in the bitcoin community with some customers taking to social media to express their dissatisfaction amid rumors that the company could be concealing financial difficulties. An unverified document circulating online claims that Mt.Gox has lost 744,408 bitcoins (worth around $350 million) due to theft related to the trading fault.
At 10 a.m. London time Tuesday, the source code for Mt.Gox's website changed, indicating an announcement could soon be uploaded.
Meanwhile, several other major exchanges from the bitcoin community released a joint statement on Monday, trying to restore confidence in the digital currency and distance themselves from the troubled Japan-based exchange. The statement initially featured details regarding the insolvency of Mt.Gox but were later removed.
"As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today. Mt.Gox has confirmed its issues in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community," it said.
Bobby Lee, CEO of BTC China, one of the exchanges responsible for the statement, said it had been changed because of a lack of "verifiable evidence" by the organizations, even though he believed that it had reliable information to suggest that Mt.Gox was insolvent. Technology blog Re/code reported that a spokesperson for the group had confirmed that Mt.Gox "will file bankruptcy in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community."
The Bitcoin Foundation, which aims to help promote and protect the alternative currency, issued a statement stating that it was shocked to learn about Mt Gox's "alleged insolvency."
(Read more: Bitcoin exchange to resume withdrawals after slump)
"While we are unable to comment on whether or not Mt.Gox's business operations employed operational best practices and reasonable accounting procedures, we can assure the public that the bitcoin protocol is functioning properly," it said. Mt.Gox was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC.
The Wall Street Journal asked Karpeles last Monday about the company's solvency or protection for customers' funds. Karpeles replied that the matter is "confidential," adding that the company had discussed its business model with Japanese authorities "to ensure that we are operating within the law here."
The price of bitcoin fell to $425 by 6 a.m. London time, according to CoinDesk which tracks the price on a selection of major exchanges, after starting the day at $545, but rebounded shortly afterward. The price of the currency on Mt.Gox had fallen to around $100 before the exchange's website became inaccessible. | – Things have gone from bad to abysmal at Mt. Gox, long the largest and most popular Bitcoin exchange: Its CEO on Sunday resigned from the board of the Bitcoin Foundation; a day later the exchange deleted all of its tweets and went offline, displaying only a blank page, as an unverified document leaked that indicated it has been the victim of a debilitating theft, reports the AP. Mt. Gox initially suspended withdrawals earlier this month after discovering a bug in the Bitcoin software that hackers could exploit. Apparently hackers had been exploiting that bug, unnoticed, for two years, ultimately stealing 744,408 Bitcoins from the exchange, Wired reports, citing a leaked "crisis strategy draft plan" said to be created by Mt. Gox but not independently confirmed as authentic. If the document is genuine, that's a theft equivalent to about $350 million at yesterday's prices and the largest Bitcoin theft ever, representing about 6% of the 12.4 million Bitcoins in circulation, reports the New York Times. Yesterday six major exchanges issued a joint statement meant to shore up confidence in the currency, writing, "As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today." CNBC reports the statement initially suggested Mt. Gox was insolvent, but that detail was later removed due to a lack of "verifiable evidence." |
While talking openly with New Jersey's governor, Chris Christie, Oprah asks if he thinks Congress will ever not be at war (based on a quote from Governor Christie). Watch him share his thoughts on Washington politics and President Barack Obama's chances for re-election. ||||| In this Oct. 27, 2011 photo released by Harpo Inc., Oprah Winfrey, center, poses with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, right, and his wife Mary Pat during an interview at the Christie home in Mendham,... (Associated Press)
In this Oct. 27, 2011 photo released by Harpo Inc., Oprah Winfrey, right, listens to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during an interview for "Oprah's Next Chapter", airing Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 on OWN.... (Associated Press)
Apparently, that's also the way to steal New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's heart.
In an interview with talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, set to air this weekend, the hefty GOP governor said he knew that he had found a partner for life in wife Mary Pat when she suggested making an illicit late-night doughnut run.
The governor and Winfrey also dished about their struggle with weight and presidential politics. A full transcript of the interview was obtained in advance by The Associated Press. The hour-long interview, filmed at Christie's home in Mendham, is scheduled to air Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Asked by Winfrey what drew him to Mary Pat, whom he met at the University of Delaware in the 1980s when they were both involved in student government, he said it was her independence, her faith, and because she was fun.
"She was fun in a different way than I'd ever experienced with anybody I'd ever dated. She was very spontaneous," Christie told Winfrey.
"Spontaneous like?" Winfrey asked.
"Let's go break into the kitchen in the dining hall at college because we smell that they are baking doughnuts for the next morning," he recalled Mary Pat saying. "So let's sneak in and steal some of the doughnuts now."
Christie and Winfrey spoke at length about controlling their weight and managing the criticism surrounding it; specifically what it feels like to be on the short end of a Dave Letterman fat joke.
"It didn't bother you?" Winfrey asked. "Because let me tell you, when David Letterman was making jokes about me, it bothered me."
"I think I was girded for it, Oprah, I really do," Christie responded, saying he had developed "a shell about it."
The conversation also hit more serious overtones as Winfrey asked him, Mary Pat and their four children _ Andrew, 18, Sarah, 15, Patrick, 11, and Bridget, 8 _ about the pressure of being asked to run for president.
Sarah lamented to Winfrey about being banned from having a Facebook page.
"By the way, who backed us up on you not having a Facebook account?" Christie pointed out.
"Mark Zuckerberg," co-creator of the social networking site, Sarah answered, reluctantly.
Christie, Zuckerberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, appeared on Winfrey's talk show in September 2010 to announce that Facebook was pledging a $100 million donation to the Newark public schools.
Christie said he wanted his daughter to wait until she was a little older, given his position, so that she can better handle the "opportunity for mischief" that Facebook provides _ a position he said Zuckerberg supported.
While Booker, who has been rumored as a potential candidate to run against Christie in 2013, is close to Winfrey and her best friend, Gayle King, Christie met the daytime icon for the first time at the taping of the show about Facebook's donation.
Christie had been in office less than a year when he first met Winfrey. Elected in a Democratic-leaning New Jersey 2009, Christie quickly became YouTube sensation and darling of the Republican party for his blunt style, and pressure quickly mounted for him to run for the White House in 2012. He briefly considered changing his mind against running this fall, but didn't and instead endorsed Mitt Romney, whom he has been campaigning hard for ever since.
Winfrey, who openly endorsed Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential elections, asked Christie what advice Christie he had for the president and what he thought Obama's chances for re-election were.
Surprisingly, Christie warned that those who underestimate Obama as a campaigner do so at their own peril.
"He is as good a politician as I've ever seen ... he's really good at it. And I think he's very charismatic. And I think he's genuine. I think what he says he believes he believes. That's a very dangerous politician."
But Christie was quick to say that Obama was weak in governing, and needed to work on his relationships with adversaries _ something Christie has credited with helping him pass major changes to New Jersey's pension and health benefits systems.
"If he had asked me a year ago, I would have said, "So, Mr. President, make John Boehner your best friend in the whole world. Have him over for dinner. Have him for golf regularly. Call him on the phone talk, to him, charm him, make him your pal."
So why didn't he run for the White House himself?
Christie said he wasn't sure that his "true compass" thought he was ready.
"Is that compass telling you that you may be ready four years from now?" Winfrey asked.
"Who knows? It depends on who wins. Is the president re-elected? Does a Republican win? I don't know," Christie said. "But in terms of me, I'll be much more ready four years from now than I am now."
___
Online:
Interview clips: http://bit.ly/xvAr23 | – Chris Christie had surprisingly positive words for Barack Obama in a recent sit-down with Oprah Winfrey, calling him "very charismatic" and "genuine." Asked about the president's chances for re-election, Christie replied, "I think those who underestimate Barack Obama underestimate him at their own peril. He is as good a politician as I've ever seen. ... I think what he says he believes, he believes. That's a very dangerous politician." The interview airs Sunday at 9pm EST on Oprah's Next Chapter, but the AP has a preview. Christie did, of course, also have some critiques for Obama: "The only person who can call a truce, when Congress is at war at itself, is the president," he says in a preview clip on Oprah.com, adding that Washington is not showing a willingness to compromise right now, and "the only person who can make that happen is the president." He should have made adversaries like John Boehner his "best friend in the whole world," Christie suggests. Click for more from the interview, in which Christie also discusses why he didn't run for president, his struggle with weight, Facebook, and donuts. |
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 are seven worldwide species of sea turtle, with six of those found in the United States. Sea turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act, due to threats from marine debris, bycatch, destruction of their habitat and boat strikes. PHOTOS: Lost Years Of Sea Turtles Uncovered
At the Miami Seaquarium, kids get a chance to touch one of two loggerhead sea turtles that are prepared to be released back into the wild at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park after undergoing rehabilitation. NEWS: Huge North Sea Plankton Bloom Seen From Space
Members of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society get ready to release a green sea turtle. The turtle, 45 years old and weighing 150 kilograms, was rescued from a fishing trap and released after undergoing medical attention. A tracking device was fixed on the turtle's back in order to help study the animal's movement in territorial waters. PHOTOS: Life On The Ocean Floor Garbage Patch
This map shows the Hawksbill turtles' migration range. The turtles are capable of traveling hundreds to thousands of miles between nesting beaches and foraging areas, which are comparable to migrations of green and loggerhead turtles. NEWS: Strange, Carnivorous Sponge Found In Deep Sea
Although sea turtles live most of their lives in the ocean, adult females must return to beaches to lay their eggs. PHOTOS: Life in Australia's Great Barrier Reef
Once they hit the water, hatchlings must swim quickly to escape near-shore predators. And curious humans. VIDEO: Octopi Have a Brain in Every Tentacle
A loggerhead turtle hatchling races for the Mediterranean Sea after leaving a protected hatchery in Mikhmoret, north of Netanya, Israel. PHOTOS: Sharks, Marine Mammals Hang in Paradise
Every morning during the nesting season for green and loggerhead turtles, ecologists from Israel's Nature and Parks Authority search the Mediterranean coastline for nests. They empty the nests and transplant the fragile eggs to protected hatcheries along the coast. Two months later, removed from man-made obstacles and protected from their natural predators -- crabs, foxes and birds -- the hatchlings enter the sea. Some will return more than 20 years later to the same beach and lay their eggs. PHOTOS: The Surprising World of Sea Squirts
Sea Turtle Week is June 16-20, but, hey, you already knew that. To celebrate these wide-ranging swimmers, we take a look at their journey from beach to sea -- and back again. Green turtles (above) are the largest of the hard-shell sea turtles, despite having a small head, and can weigh up to 350 pounds (135-160 kilograms). They can grow to 3 feet in length. 30 Days Of The Ocean: Photos
A newly discovered 240-million-year-old turtle suggests that turtles are more closely related to snakes than anyone ever thought, and it also reveals how turtles first evolved their shells.
"Grandfather turtle," as it has been named, could help to solve longstanding debates about the amazing family tree of all turtles. One theory is that turtles are living dinosaurs, as birds are, but this study, published in Nature, concludes that turtles are more closely related to lizards and snakes.
While it's hard to imagine a slow and hefty turtle slithering on the ground, senior author Hans-Dieter Sues points out, "Snakes are just a large group of legless lizards."
Photos: Sea Turtles From Shell to Surf
Play Video Real Life Sea Monsters Sea monsters are real! Laci dives to the ocean's deepest depths and uncovers the coolest (and most terrifying) creatures in the sea! DNews Video
He added that the ancestor that gave rise to turtles would have been "a small, superficially lizard-like reptile with expanded trunk ribs."
Sues and colleague Rainer Schoch analyzed the remains of Grandfather turtle (Pappochelys rosinae), which were found at Schumann quarry in Germany. Based on the anatomy, they do classify turtles as being a "diapsid," a group that includes dinosaurs, birds, pterosaurs, other extinct species, crocodiles, lizards, snakes and the tuatara, which is a lizard-like reptile.
Sues and Schoch, however, believe that turtles are far more related to lizards and snakes than they are to the other major diapsid lineage, which includes dinosaurs and birds.
Eight-inch-long Grandfather turtle did not have a shell, but it certainly had the makings of one, given its broad "T"-shaped ribs and a hard wall of bones along its belly.
Lost Years of Sea Turtles Uncovered
"This configuration of the ribs would have immobilized them and led to the development of a novel way of breathing in turtles," Sues said. "Modern developmental studies indicate that the turtle shell formed from bony outgrowths of the vertebrae and ribs."
As for why this happened, the researchers theorize that the turtle shell may have originally developed in water-dwelling reptiles.
"Its main role would have been all-around protection of the vital organs," Sues said, adding that the shell initially might have also "helped with buoyancy control by making the animal heavier." | – For at least a century, scientists have puzzled over the turtle. Thanks to a gap in the fossil record between 260 million and 220 million years ago, it's unclear how the turtle got its shell and to whom it's most closely related. Now a fossil from 240 million years ago, found at a quarry in Germany, fills in some missing links—including that turtles appear more closely related to snakes and lizards than crocodiles and birds, researchers report in the journal Nature. Dubbed "grandfather turtle," the remains of Pappochelys rosinae reveal a shell-less 8-inch reptile whose tail accounted for half its total length, reports Discovery. P. rosinae did have the makings of a shell, with T-shaped ribs and hard webbing along its belly. (Full shells didn't appear until around 214 million years ago, reports Discover, perhaps when the turtle's ancestors were water-dwelling and needed to protect their major organs as well as control buoyancy.) The grandfather turtle's skull also resembles snake and lizard skulls more than archosaurs, a group that includes crocodiles and birds. But the mystery persists: In spite of this latest anatomical evidence, one researcher admits that "molecular data places turtles closer to crocodylians and birds." (This turtle is near extinction.) |
Yesterday while I got my hair cut, my wife witnessed something in Starbucks (while she hung out with Lily, waiting for me) that she felt couldn’t go unnoticed or unmentioned. Her letter says it all, but I wanted to share this open letter to Starbucks corporate office as a plea for awareness and solidarity. Please forward this link on… and please leave comments to show your support. Let’s all let Starbucks know that this is not OK. Missy keeps saying that a stranger to us, Jeffrey, had a HORRIBLE day yesterday, let’s see if we can make his (and others’) todays and tomorrows better.
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Dear Starbucks,
I am writing this letter to you as a loyal customer with concerns. I know probably 90% of the letters you receive trying to solicit something from you probably start the same way, but this is different. When I say, I am a loyal customer I mean you have had me for the better part of my adult life, hook, line and sinker. I will spend the extra $2.50 for a cup of your coffee. When I worked in Hoboken I would walk an extra three blocks for your coffee, walking past a Dunkin Donuts, Panera, Macdonalds and two bodegas to purchase from you. Every morning I drink my coffee out of one of your ceramic mugs and I have for years. A dozen of them line my shelves, (even the poorly conceived “Father’s Day” argyle mugs from 2005 that have metal bottoms which means I can’t pop it in the microwave to reheat) I only buy Starbucks for my home consuption. When you roll out a new product, I flock to your nearest location like a moth to a flame. I mourned the loss of the Chantico and I even rushed out to try that banana mocha abomination (a match made in hell) blindly following your suggestions like a lemming. I know, and speak your “lingo” that grates on me like nails on a chalk board and is sometimes so complicated I feel like I speak a second language. I even, as much as I am ashamed to admit it, buy most of the adult contemporary CDs you peddle in the front of the store. By the time I reach the front of the line somehow the newest James Taylor CD or whatever swing jazz collection you put together seems like something I can no longer live without. I am your disciple. I am part of the Starbucks machine. I am your dream customer because whatever your company puts into the market, I have and I would have continued to buy. I never felt bad about my commitment to your chain either because I felt like you were a company that was ethically sound. Your commitment to free trade, The Starbucks Charitable Foundation, your appearance as a diverse work environment. These are all things that I as a customer felt good about. I felt like I was supporting a company that although huge, I felt you were doing your best to “do good” and leave a positive mark on the world.
That was the case, until yesterday.
Which is why I am writing to you today.
The sentiments above, about me being a loyal customer were not written to solicit anything from you. I do not want free coffee or a refund. I ask, as a loyal customer for the past 15 years that I have your attention. Your time and consideration.
Yesterday when I walked into your Centereach, Long Island location I saw one of the most brazen and unapologetic displays of homophobia I have ever witnessed in my entire life. What was most concerning about it was it was perpetuated by not one, not two but THREE of your employees and it was directed towards a fourth employee. I don’t know this man, but I know his name is Jeffrey because the woman (who seemed to be in charge of this circus) loudly scolded, spoke to in a condescending manner, humiliated, and then let go. In the middle of your store. Two feet away from my table. Then when Jeffrey, who was visibly shaken went to the bathroom to collect him self, the women at the table went on a long, ranting homophobic rant that lasted about five minutes. This rant transpired two feet away from my table where I sat with my daughter. A three year old child, with two mothers. I have never, in my entire life seem such a gross and unapologetic display of ignorance and intolerance. The most horrific aspect of it was that it was by someone that your corporation put into a position of power. I have never, ever in ANY context seen ANYTHING so unprofessional in my entire life. I was horrified that my daughter was exposed to that.
The whole incident spanned about 15-20 minuets. It looked like it was a sit down discussion about something that had happened in the store, an earlier problem. What that was, I couldn’t be certain. I do know however, the fact that Jeffery’s sexuality was brought into the conversation (and it obviously was for me to know about it) is inappropriate. The woman (Who I will refer to going forward as the “Manager” although she may have been someone from Human Resources) spoke to him in a sharp condescending manner. She told him that they were not interested in his politics or beliefs and his thoughts were down right offensive to his co-workers. They did not want to hear about his personal life. When Jeffrey pointed out that they ALL talked about their personal lives (during the course of the conversation I learned that the manager had a daughter that went to tennis camp and another one of the women had a birthday coming up so the irony and the hypocrisy of that statement was mind blowing.) That his beliefs were not welcome at Starbucks. She went on, an on and on talking about leadership building workshops where she learned to “Keep it to herself” (again I will remind you of tennis camp). She was even so condescending to tell him,
“It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but ten years from now you will thank me for this…”
For what? For for letting him go for speaking about his personal life? For learning to put up with bigotry in the work place?
She kept reminding him, “You are not fired but….” as if to say, you are not fired but you are really not welcome here anymore. I assume this was a clever HR move so he would not be able to collect unemployment. He told her that he felt like he was being FORCED to leave because he felt like the “problems” at that location were not being addressed and the workplace had turned into a hostile environment. She in turn told him that if he was not, “Part of the solution, he was the problem.”and his two weeks notice would not be needed. He asked if he would be marked by the corporation as “un-hireable”
She smugly looked at him and said,
“Well I don’t know. It’s not looking good for you.”
Basically threatening his professional future.
Know, I am not going to swear by what the original confrontation was. I only heard bits and pieces, but I know that worker was attacked and humiliated on the middle of your shop floor. I don’t care what his offense was, that sort of business should be conducted in a back room. I also know, the “manager” was not willing to listen to him and personally attacked him several times with snide, condescending comments. Telling him, in the subtext of her words that he was “Less than” and his personal belief system was no longer welcome at the shop.
The event got more horrific, when he, who had kept his composure through the entire incident, not once raising his voice despite being attacked, got up from the table to go to the bathroom to cry in private.
Then the three women turned on him like Vultures.
“I’m done. I’m done. Nobody wants to hear it anymore. I don’t care who he is dating. I don’t want to hear about it.”
“He should not get upset at the things people say to him. He should be used to it. It’s not like he turned gay yesterday.”
“I used to listen to it, now I’m just sick of hearing about it.”
“Nobody does, but it’s over now. You won’t have to hear about it anymore.”
It went on, and on and on.
The focus of their discussion then when he left the table, was not about an incident that occurred in the previous days. It was about how they were intolerant to his lifestyle, nobody wanted to hear about the fact that he was gay, they didn’t want to be exposed to that. The focus was not about his poor performance as an employee but their intolerance towards him as a person. I sat at there at my table with the impression that,
This man, this Starbucks employee was losing his job, because he was gay.
Whether that was the case or not. Whatever Jeffrey’s offense might have been… that is how one of your loyal customers perceived the events as they transpired based on the actions and the statements of your “manager”. She was bigoted, intolerant, insensitive and no matter how upset she was at Jeffrey, her comments and sentiments should not have been overheard by one of your customers, gay or not.
So I guess the biggest irony is, that nobody in the Starbucks that afternoon wanted to hear her politics, the very thing she was scolding Jeffrey for.
When Jeffrey returned from the bathroom she asked him for his keys. She was pretending to be sensitive and offered him her card if he needed to talk. Which disgusted me because, she was anything but concerned for his well being.
I followed Jeffery out of the store horrified by what I had just witnessed.
I said to him, “That was unreal. That was “bullshit” and I was so sorry.
He walked away at first, then he approached me and said, “Thank you.”
I hugged him and he said,
“I came to this company because I thought it was supposed to be better. I thought that it was a positive and tolerant work place to work. I was passed over for promotions, they hired from the outside, I fought against their vendetta. I couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t have a chance here.”
I hugged him again.
Disgusted that something so ugly, so cruel could happen in this day in age in America and that the perpetrator was basically patting herself on the back. Not caring that she had not only destroyed this man’s life, but that she also humiliated him and threatened his future. She was going to sleep soundly that night. She was going to get away with her gross display of how disgusting one human can be to another if they have a position of power and slap a fake smile across their face.
I walked away from Jeffrey and I started to cry. At how cruel we can still be to each other. How awful I felt for him. I strapped my daughter into her car seat and I thought about how in this society we are so self congratulating as we scream to the rafters promising our children,
“It gets better!”
I found myself wondering, “Better than what?”
What I saw on that Starbucks floor was pretty awful.
I have had friends tell me, to boycott. I have had other friends tell me that Starbucks is a positive and tolerant corporation. The latter has always been my impression. I don’t think this is how Starbucks wants themselves represented. However, I think you should be aware of the people who you currently have representing you and the way they are doing it. I am hoping by bringing this to your attention, you will do the right thing. As you can tell by the tone of my letter I am not a political activist. I am not militant and I do not have an axe to grind nor am I looking for a soap box. I’m pretty boring to be quite honest with you. I do not even march in pride parades and I swear I own not a single thing that has a rainbow on it. I don’t celebrate my diversity, That’s simply not the type of person that I am. In fact, I’m more the type to wallow in how mediocre I am. I am an average American who just so happens to be gay. I live my life, I raise my family and I hope to also leave a mark on this world that is positive. I do not like seeing anyone hurt, abused and degraded. I know that should go without saying, a sentiment akin to “All babies should be fed.” but after yesterday, and what I witnessed, I feel like it has to be said.
I want to still be able to walk into a Starbucks with my head held high. I want to drink your drinks, speak your code and even buy your newest record releases, even though they make me feel middle aged and unhip… and feel good about it.
I want you to restore my faith that you are the company I always thought you were.
Please don’t let this incident go unnoticed. Do something, anything you can to make this right. Please protect your (former) employee. Take a step, and take action to protect basic human dignity. To protect equal rights and equality. Please do something. I don’t want you to lose my business forever.
A loyal customer,
Missy Alison
631- xxx-xxxx
************
Edited to add: we have been contacted by Starbucks. Please see updates here: https://lilfamilyblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/starbucks-update-part-1/
I can’t reply to every comment here, but if you’re a media outlet, Missy is available for interview. If you have questions, Please contact me directly at LilFamilyBlog @ gmail dot com.
Thank you so much, everyone!
Love,
Dana ||||| On Sunday, a woman named Missy Alison went to a Starbucks in the Long Island, N.Y. town of Centereach for a Mocha-choco-loco-hobo-latte, and while there witnessed what she calls "one of the most brazen and unapologetic displays of homophobia I have ever witnessed in my entire life." She wrote an outraged letter to the company, which her wife published on the Internet. The company noticed!
Alison's letter describes a scene in which a gay male employee named Jeffrey is reprimanded by another, female employee in front of everyone in the cafe. When he goes to the bathroom to escape the haranguing, the castigatrix and two other employees allegedly go on "a long, ranting homophobic rant" about him and his sexual life, which apparently vexed them so very much:
...the fact that Jeffery's sexuality was brought into the conversation (and it obviously was for me to know about it) is inappropriate. The woman (Who I will refer to going forward as the "Manager" although she may have been someone from Human Resources) spoke to him in a sharp condescending manner. She told him that they were not interested in his politics or beliefs and his thoughts were down right offensive to his co-workers. They did not want to hear about his personal life. When Jeffrey pointed out that they ALL talked about their personal lives ... [...] The focus of their discussion then when he left the table, was not about an incident that occurred in the previous days. It was about how they were intolerant to his lifestyle, nobody wanted to hear about the fact that he was gay, they didn't want to be exposed to that.
Alison admits that she "only heard bits and pieces" of the full conversation between the staffers and Jeffrey, "but I know that worker was attacked and humiliated on the middle of your shop floor. I don't care what his offense was, that sort of business should be conducted in a back room." In the end, she writes, Jeffrey had to hand his keys over to the yelling woman and left.
Alison followed Jeffrey out and consoled him. And then she wrote her letter, which has been making the Internet rounds as well as and the mainstream news. Bloggers recounted the story in their own words—sometimes in ways that seem to implicate the entire company. One blog post, for example, features the headline, "Patron: I Watched Starbucks Fire An Employee 2 Feet From Me For Being Gay." Ooooh, that doesn't sound good. Meanwhile, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article is titled, "Starbucks accused of anti-gay behavior"; how inconveniently vague! One could interpret the headline to refer to a company-wide policy—not a couple of chuckleheads in a single location.
On Tuesday, a representative for Starbucks posted a response to Alison's letter on the company website. Titled, "Our Dedication to Embrace Diversity," the statement says Starbucks is investigating the Jeffrey incident, and also spells out all the nice things the company's done for LGBTQ people over the years—from offering domestic partner benefits, to participating in LGBTQ events. (One thing not mentioned: its gay-friendly cups.) The company has dealt with charges of discrimination against gay people in the past, but in general gets high marks from organizations like the Human Rights Campaign, which lists it as a "Best" workplace for LGBTQ people.
A Starbucks spokesman told the Post-Intelligencer that "What [Alison] saw and what she heard wasn't exactly what was going on"; Jeffrey the Employee "quit of his own, "without coercion." Maybe so, but that still doesn't address the issue of why the employees were handling private matters in public. In any case, the company is pressing on with its damage-control initiative—responding to many of the Twitterers who ask about what the company plans to do re: Alison's letter. "[P]lease know that we are getting to the bottom of this and we do stand by our policies," says one Starbucks tweet.
Overall, Starbucks has been doing a much better job at handling its Jeffrey-related PR nightmare than its competitor, McDonald's, has been dealing with "Seriously McDonalds," its discrimination-related hoax-scandal problem from the weekend. Where Starbucks has responded to concerned people one-by-one in an earnest voice, and directed the public to its equally earnest company statement, all that McDonald's seems to have done is respond to an inquiry from Mashable and post a tweet about diversity. Read into that what you will.
What's the next chapter in Starbuck's story? Well, the company will continue investigating, and people will continue tweeting and blogging, and Jeffrey—sounds like he might be suing, if a letter sent to Alison and her wife is legit. Story developing, as they say.
[Lil Family Blog, Post-Intelligencer. Image via Marcopako/via Flickr.] ||||| At Starbucks, we pride ourselves on being a great place to work. We are deeply dedicated to our core values – to embrace diversity and treat each other with respect and dignity. We’re committed to providing an inclusive, supportive and safe work environment for everyone. Moreover, we look for ways in which we can honor and celebrate the diversity of our partners as they, too, represent the communities that are home to our stores.
We are disheartened by the allegations reported in an East Coast Starbucks store and are taking immediate measures to investigate and take any steps necessary to make this right. The actions reported do not correspond with our values, who we are as a company or the beliefs we try to instill in our partners.
Starbucks has supported the LGBT community for many years, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. We have one of the largest Employer Resource Groups for LGBT employees in the United States helping to raise awareness about issues in the communities in which we live and work. Our benefits program has always offered domestic partner benefits in the United States and Canada, and Starbucks partners actively participate and organize local LGBT events in their communities. We’re also very proud of the 100% score we received on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. We will continue to work very closely with this organization and others on topics relevant to the community.
UPDATE: Many of you have asked to hear specifically what, if any, disciplinary actions are taken as a result of our investigations into this incident. As this is a personnel matter, it is our policy not to provide such details regarding those steps. | – Starbucks is in hot water after a customer witnessed what she calls “one of the most brazen and unapologetic displays of homophobia I have ever witnessed in my entire life” at one of its Long Island locations. Missy Alison wrote an open letter to the company, which her wife posted on their blog, describing how she witnessed a gay employee being dressed down in full view of everyone in the store. When the employee went to the bathroom to compose himself, the other employees allegedly went on “a long, ranting homophobic rant” about why they were sick of hearing about his homosexuality. The employee ultimately handed over his keys and left, sans job. Gawker notes that the media were quick to imply the entire company is at fault (sample headline: “Patron: I Watched Starbucks Fire An Employee 2 Feet From Me For Being Gay.”), though Starbucks in general is known as an LGBTQ-friendly workplace. And the company was quick to respond, posting a letter this week noting that it is investigating the incident and is “committed to providing an inclusive, supportive, and safe work environment for everyone.” Starbucks even responded to individual tweeters, writes Lauri Apple on Gawker—overall, it’s doing a much better job at damage control than, say, McDonald’s. |
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Actress Rooney Mara has been cast as Tiger Lily in 'Pan,' a Peter Pan reboot.
Rooney Mara is on her way to Neverland, but not everyone is happy about it.
The 28-year-old actress will play Tiger Lily in "Pan," a live-action adaptation of "Peter Pan" helmed by "Atonement" director Joe Wright, Variety reported.
Mara joins Hugh Jackman and Garrett Hedlund in the film, a twist on the classic fairytale. In the world of "Pan," Peter is an orphan kidnapped by pirates and taken to Neverland where he must face off against Blackbeard.
But Mara's casting as Native American princess Tiger Lily provoked a backlash among Twitter users and Internet commenters, who felt that the role should have gone to an actress of color.
Rooney Mara's casting unleashed a torrent of backlash against the studio for whitewashing the part of Tiger Lily, a Native American princess.
"Rooney Mara is an incredibly gifted, insightful artist. But come on. You couldn't find a Native American actress to play Tiger Lily?!?!" one user wrote.
"Rooney Mara cast as Tiger Lily in new Peter Pan film because there are clearly no Native American actresses," another wrote.
Perhaps anticipating backlash, the studio pointed out to Variety that the Tiger Lily of "Pan" would be a different version of the Disney character.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for DIFF After the studio considered actresses Lupita Nyong'o and Adele Esxarchopoulos for the role of Tiger Lily, it chose Rooney Mara, pictured.
"The studio took on exhaustive search in finding the right girl to play Lily, looking at other actresses such as Lupita Nyong'o and 'Blue is the Warmest Color' thespian Adele Exarchopoulos before going out to Mara for the role," Variety reported.
"The world being created is multiracial/international — and a very different character than previously imagined." ||||| Warner Bros. has tapped Rooney Mara to play Tiger Lily in its Peter Pan origin tale “Pan.”
Hugh Jackman and Garrett Hedlund are also on board with Joe Wright set to direct.
Sources say an open casting is being held to fill the role of Pan, as the character is between 10 and 12 years old.
Jason Fuchs penned the script with Greg Berlanti, Paul Webster and Sarah Schechter producing. Courtenay Valenti is overseeing for the studio.
The film will be a new take on the classic story. It is set during World War II and follows an orphan named Peter who is kidnapped by pirates and brought to Neverland, where he discovers he’s destined to save the land from the pirate Blackbeard.
The world being created is multi-racial/international – and a very different character than previously imagined.
The studio took on an exhaustive search in finding the right girl to play Lily looking at other actresses such as Lupita Nyonog’o and “Blue is the Warmest Color” thesp Adele Exarchopoulos before going out to Mara for the role.
WB dated the film for July 17, 2015, and sees it as a franchise that can appeal to the “Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings” fanbase.
Mara just started production on the Todd Haynes pic “Carol” starring Cate Blanchett and was most recently seen in Warner Bros.’ “Her.” She is repped by WME and Management 360. | – Rooney Mara was recently cast as Tiger Lily in the Peter Pan origin movie Pan, Variety reported this week, and as the New York Daily News notes, the backlash has been fierce. Commenters and Twitter users were quick to point out that Mara is white, while Tiger Lily is Native American. "Rooney Mara cast as Tiger Lily in new Peter Pan film because there are clearly no Native American actresses," reads one representative tweet. The studio did tell Variety it considered other actresses including Lupita Nyonog’o and Adele Exarchopoulos for the role, and that the film's world (set during WWII) will be "multi-racial/international." But on Jezebel, Callie Beusman writes, "The movie will also star Garrett Hedlund (white person) and Hugh Jackman (white person). So, yeah, it kind of goes without saying, but a bunch of white people does not a 'multi-racial/international' fictional world make. And rewriting a character as white in order to squash complaints that you didn't hire a Native American actor is pretty s----y." The role of Peter has yet to be cast. |
Patrick Tschopp/Harvard Medical School A python embryo with budding genitals and vestigial limb-buds.
When the first animals scrambled out of the water to live on land, they needed limbs and lungs. And something else: a new way to reproduce.
On terra firma, prospective parents no longer had the luxury of an aquatic environment where eggs could be laid and sperm released over them.
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Evolution elegantly solved the problem, but the solution did not always take the same form. Crocodiles, birds, and mammals have one penis. Lizards and snakes have two.
The sex organs of animals are some of evolution’s most diverse handiwork. Yet until now, scientists have not understood exactly how they evolved and took shape at the earliest stages of development.
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers at Harvard Medical School have begun to unravel how genitals form. Their tools range from standard biomedical techniques, such as examining which genes are flipped on during embryonic development, to Frankenstein-like surgeries in which they performed surgical transplants to see whether they could trigger genitals to bud in unusual, out-of-the-way spots.
The researchers found that genitals develop from the same cells that give rise to hind legs in lizards or that form the remnants of limb buds in snakes. In mammals and birds, a different set of cells closer to the tail area give rise to genitalia. Despite the different source materials, they found the process of genitalia formation is deeply similar among those creatures, triggered by the same basic genetic programs and signals. That process is, in turn, similar to the way limbs form, suggesting that genitals and limbs share evolutionary origins.
“It’s clearly really basic research, mostly about evolution and development. But what is interesting is it has been known in the medical field that babies that are born with malformations in their limbs often also have malformations in their genitalia,” said Patrick Tschopp, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard who led the research. “We knew there was some sort of genetic link between the two, and this could provide some information about where these genetic links are.”
Tschopp began working on the question in Clifford Tabin’s genetics laboratory at Harvard, where researchers study how animals evolved different forms. A colleague studying limb development had been trying to figure out whether snakes lacked the basic developmental mechanism that gave rise to limbs.
Tschopp got interested when researchers noticed the cellular program that gave rise to snakes’ unusual, two-pronged genitalia looked very similar to limb development.
The researchers began to study which genes were responsible for the development of genitals and to pinpoint the cells in the embryo from which they originated.
Once it was clear that two different sets of cells were the origins of genitals, they tried to figure out why. They noted that the cloaca, a precursor to the gut, varied in its position in reptiles and mammals, and theorized that the origin of the genitals might be due to signals sent by the cloaca to surrounding cells.
When they transplanted a cloaca onto the cells that typically give rise to hind limbs in a chicken embryo, they were able to cause genital-like buds to form there.
That shows genitalia were not passed from a common ancestor to reptiles, mammals, and birds, but they are biologically related in a deep way, formed in response to signals from the same ancient source: the cloaca.
Dr. Martin Cohn, a professor of developmental biology at the University of Florida, simultaneously published a paper in the journal Scientific Reports reporting that genitals start as two buds that eventually migrate toward the center line of the body. In some animals, such as the chick embryos Cohn studied most recently, they join up. In others they don’t, creating the bizarre double “hemipenes” of reptiles.
Despite the fact that scientists are interested in studying the origins of genitalia for purely scientific reasons, both scientists said it makes for better fodder when people ask about their work.
“In terms of the questions, I’m most interested in how changes in gene regulation can shape evolution,” Tschopp said. “But working on external genitalia makes for better cocktail conversations than before, when I [worked] on digits.” ||||| Image copyright Spl Image caption Lizard males have paired genitals called hemipenes - now research shows their genetic origin comes from limbs
In order for vertebrates to evolve from the sea to the land, some drastic evolutionary changes were needed.
Their ancient sea-dwelling ancestors had no need for external sex organs whereas their land relatives did.
Now a new study offers insights into the genetic changes that allowed land-dwelling animals to develop sex organs.
The Nature research suggests the key to the origin of genitalia lies in the limbs, at least in snakes and lizards.
For their genitals - called hemipenes - to develop, a signalling centre instructs the relevant genes to switch on.
Initially the researchers wanted to understand why snakes do not develop limbs but then soon discovered that the earliest stages of genital development closely resembled limb formation.
By misplacing a molecular signal you can misguide these cells in their developmental trajectory Dr Patrick Tschopp, Harvard University
They found that when a given nudge, embryonic limb cells of lizards and snakes could then be turned into genitals. In mice, tail bud cells could be manipulated in a similar way.
'Genital fate'
The team did this by moving the position of "a signalling source" called the cloaca - a transient embryonic structure which gives off signalling molecules informing genes to switch on or off.
"It demonstrates that there is a flexibility with what kind of cells can get recruited during development to form genitalia," explained lead author of the research, Dr Patrick Tschopp from the Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, US.
Image copyright Patrick Tschopp Image caption The hemipenes (genitalia) bud can be seen at the tail end (bottom right) of this house snake embryo
"What we were able to show is that if you ectopically transplant this cloaca into either limb or tail bud cells, these cells respond in a way that reflect their development being redirected to a genital fate," he added.
"In other words, by misplacing a molecular signal you can misguide these cells in their developmental trajectory," Dr Tschopp told BBC News.
In order to change these cells' fates, they traced the cell populations that form genital organs during development.
Recruiting cells
Then they analysed the genetic components of the embryonic cells to identify which genes were turned on and off by extracting and sequencing RNA molecules, the messengers from each gene.
The study also found that in mice, the sex organs had genetic origins in the tail bud. The researchers say that this occurred due to a differing position of the cloaca which changed the cells it could "recruit" to form genitalia.
Dr Tschopp explained that genital evolution was another adaptive measure vital for living on land, in a similar way to how limbs have an evolutionary origin in fish fins.
Commenting on the paper, developmental biologist Dr Liang Ma of Washington University in St Louis, US, said the work was fantastic, and that it was highly important for the fields of both genitalia and limb research.
Image copyright Spl
"This paper dealt with the longstanding unresolved issue of the origin of genitalia. It turns out that the mouse is the odd one out, it was not similar to the snakes or the chicken.
"This paper provides a new twist to a previous hypothesis that genitals and limbs share a deep homology [shared ancestry], it provides formal evidence of how this co-evolution between the two structures can happen in an organism."
In a related study published in journal Scientific Reports, a team looked at the embryonic origins of chicken genitals. They used fluorescent dyes to label small populations of cells in the chicken embryo and follow them to development.
Evolutionary origins
They found that two paired populations of cells are brought together into one structure to form the chicken's sex organs.
Co-author of this paper, Prof Martin Cohn of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland, US, said that because the evolution of external genitals occurred more rapidly than any other organ, there was a tremendous amount of diversity of anatomical form. "Because of the rapid evolution, people don't really understand how it's controlled.
"Taken together, I think the papers highlight a very deep evolutionary conservation of the earliest steps in genital development. It appears that the way all amniotes, including reptiles, birds and mammals, build their genitalia is very similar.
"What these molecular and genomic tools allow us to do is compare the degree of relatedness, not only of the structures and the organisms, but of the genetic pathways that build those structures," Prof Cohn added.
Follow Melissa on twitter ||||| A house snake embryo at six days after oviposition (after eggs are deposited or laid). The right genitalia bud can be seen near the tail end of the embryo.
Animal penises vary widely -- snakes and lizards have two while birds and humans have one -- yet a new study finds that they function the same way and express similar genes.
The research, reported in the journal Nature, helps explain the genesis of external genitalia. It turns out that reptile and mammal genitalia have at least some things in common.
The researchers found that the development of limbs and external genitalia are linked. In snakes and lizards, the external genitalia are made from the same tissue from which the reptile’s hind limbs (or remnants, as with snakes) originate.
In mammals, on the other hand, they are made from what’s known as “tail-bud” tissue. This is a knob of embryonic tissue that contributes to the formation of the posterior part of our and other mammals’ bodies.
"While mammal and reptile genitalia are not homologous in that they are derived from different tissue, they do share a 'deep homology' in that they are derived from the same genetic program and induced by the same ancestral set of molecular signals," lead author Clifford Tabin said in a press release.
Tabin, a professor at Harvard Medical School's Department of Genetics, and his team examined how genitalia first develop in the embryos of certain animals, including snakes and chickens.
Before the genitalia emerge, the embryonic cloaca (tissue that eventually develops into the urinary and gut tracts) issues molecular signals that tell neighboring cells and tissues to form into external genitalia. The researchers discovered that the cloaca's location determines which tissues receive the signal first.
In reptiles, the cloaca is located closer to the hind limb tissues. In mammals, the cloaca is closer to the tail-bud, helping to explain why those regions later support the development of external genitals.
Another cool aspect of the research: It shows how much snakes have evolved over the years. Snakes used to have legs -- they likely evolved from a lizard that either burrowed on land or swam in the ocean. The legs must have disturbed the movement, rendering them useless over time.
Although snake legs are long gone, snakes' external genitalia emerge near where their hind legs used to be. | – Most guys probably don't sit around the locker room pondering the finer points of how the male penis evolved, so leave this one to Harvard researchers: The mystery is solved thanks to … lizard limbs. Yup, Harvard scientists investigating the origin of external genitalia have found a link relating to the development of limbs in a variety of animals. Scientists initially hoped to discover why snakes didn't grow limbs, the Boston Globe reports. But they instead found that embryonic cells—which produce hind limbs in lizards, limb buds in snakes, and "tail-bud" tissue in mammals—form genitalia with a signal from something called a cloaca. As Discovery reports, cloaca is "tissue that eventually develops into the urinary and gut tracts." When they transplanted a cloaca onto hind limb cells in a chicken embryo, eureka—genital-like buds formed. "It demonstrates that there is a flexibility with what kind of cells can get recruited during development to form genitalia," the lead author tells the BBC of his research in Nature. He says the link may help explain why "babies that are born with malformations in their limbs often also have malformations in their genitalia." While snakes and lizards have two penises, "it appears that the way all amniotes, including reptiles, birds, and mammals, build their genitalia is very similar," a researcher says. The Globe adds that external genitalia developed when animals moved from sea to land, rendering water-borne fertilization obsolete. (Another study finds sex is 385 million years old.) |
SALT LAKE CITY — A judge has ordered polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and his Utah-based church to pay a former child bride millions in a lawsuit.
In a ruling handed down Tuesday and obtained by FOX 13, Elissa Wall was awarded more than $16 million in damages stemming from her marriage at age 14 to her cousin back in 2001 in a ceremony presided over by Jeffs.
“The judgment handed down by the Court is a big step forward in the fight for a strong and unmovable statement to the world that no one, especially children, can be sexually exploited and abused in the name of religion,” Wall said in a statement to FOX 13. “The message sent by this judgment of justice and accountability will hopefully be heard as a loud and clear warning to anyone who would choose to act in the same manner as that of Warren Jeffs and the FLDS Church.”
Wall called it a victory for “thousands of victims of abuse,” but said she can now “focus on building a better future for myself and my children.”
“I will never give up advocating for the voiceless and working tireless to assist in rebuilding the lives of those recovering from any kind of abuse in the name of religion,” she said.
In the ruling, 3rd District Court Judge Keith Kelly was blunt in his determination of what happened to Wall.
“Warren Jeffs exercised this absolute control, power and authority over (Wall’s) life so that he could require her, as a young girl, to enter into an unlawful spiritual marriage,” he wrote.
Wall was the star witness in Utah’s criminal prosecution of Jeffs. His conviction of rape as an accomplice was overturned by the state supreme court. He is currently serving a life sentence in Texas for child sex assault related to underage “marriages.”
“The conduct of Warren Jeffs and the FLDS Church was so extreme that it went beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society,” Judge Kelly wrote.
Wall sued Jeffs more than a decade ago over the marriage seeking as much as $40 million at one point in her personal injury lawsuit. Jeffs and the FLDS Church refused to respond to the lawsuit and Judge Kelly found them in default.
The judgment will allow her to pursue the church and its various interests across the country to collect. The judge wrote that he estimated Jeffs, the Hildale-based FLDS Church and its real-estate arm, the United Effort Plan Trust, to have assets of more than $110 million (Wall settled with the court-controlled UEP previously).
Judge Kelly awarded Wall $4 million in damages, and another $12 million in punitive damages.
“Elissa Wall is one of the very few who is willing to continue to hold the FLDS Church and its fallen leader Warren Jeffs accountable for its practices of Church sanctioned underage rape. She is a hero for her perseverance,” Wall’s attorney, Alan Mortensen, told FOX 13.
“This judgment, based upon substantial evidence, is one further step to hold the FLDS Church and Warren Jeffs accountable for its past conduct relating to innocent minor girls and in deterring any future aberrant behaviors.”
Read the judge’s default finding against Warren Jeffs and the FLDS Church here: ||||| ST. GEORGE — A man charged with rape following his "spiritual marriage" to a 14-year-old cousin pleaded guilty to reduced charges Friday and was sentenced to probation and a month in jail.
Allen Glade Steed, 29, who was originally facing a single charge of first-degree felony rape, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of solemnization of a prohibited marriage, and entered a plea in abeyance to a second charge of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Both are third-degree felonies.
After entering his plea, Steed was immediately sentenced. Fifth District Judge G. Rand Beacham ordered him to serve three years of probation, spend 30 days in jail and pay two $5,000 fines.
Because Steed entered a plea in abeyance to the charge of unlawful sex with a minor, the charge will eventually be dismissed if he complies with all the terms of his probation.
"This is a good day," said Elissa Wall, who Steed married in 2001 when she was just 14. "I'm grateful for where we're at."
That marriage led to the prosecution and conviction of Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, who presided over the marriage and advised the girl to give herself "mind, body and soul and obey without question," according to court documents. Wall, who is now an adult, testified that she had expressed concerns before the union, stating that she felt she was too young for marriage and that she wished to marry someone other than her cousin.
She said Jeffs and other family members told her before her marriage, and after, to obey the prophet and her husband.
"Allen will truly never understand the magnitude of the scars that I will carry for the rest of my life," Wall said after the hearing. "And Warren Jeffs will never understand the scars and the ways that he has destroyed thousands of people's lives, including mine."
Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said he reached a settlement with Steed "in recognition of the unique difference between Allen Steed and Warren Jeffs in their level of moral culpability."
"It was a recognition of the control that Warren had over Allen and the fact that Allen wouldn't have been in this relationship if it weren't for Warren Jeffs," he said.
Wall said she understands that Steed was just following what he had been taught to do.
"Yes, I do believe Allen in many ways is a victim of Warren and his power and his control," she said. "That was the only environment he knew also. He was cultured and created to become what he was."
"He's very relieved to put this chapter behind him," Steed's attorney, Jim Bradshaw, said of his client. "I think its a resolution that all sides agreed was fair."
Jeffs, the leader of the Utah-based polygamous sect, was sentenced to two consecutive prison terms of five years to life in prison on two counts of accomplice to rape for presiding over the spiritual marriage of Wall and Steed, who was 19 years old at the time.
Jeffs' conviction, however, was overturned by the Utah Supreme Court in July of 2010 on the grounds that a jury instruction erroneously focused the jury on Jeffs' relationship with Wall rather than Steed's relationship with the girl. The trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that Jeffs could not be found guilty as an accomplice to rape unless Jeffs specifically intended for Steed to have non-consensual sex with Wall.
Belnap said his office has not yet determined if it will re-try Jeffs' case. Jeffs has since been extradited to Texas to face various charges there.
"What we ultimately end up doing, we don't know yet," he said Friday. "It could depend on what happens in Texas."
Wall said it was difficult to see Steed again, but she is pleased that the case is now resolved. "I feel like I can truly close it and move forward," she said.
In Texas, Jeffs faces charges of bigamy, aggravated sexual assault and assault for incidents involving underage girls at the church's YFZ Ranch near Eldorado. The charges stem from information gleaned from records seized during a raid in April 2008.
"I'm sure he will get what he deserves," Wall said of Jeffs. "I'm sure he will be held accountable." | – Warren Jeffs must pay $16 million to a woman he pressured to marry her cousin when she was just 14. Elissa Wall, a child bride within the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was awarded $4 million in damages and $12 million in punitive damages Tuesday, some 12 years after filing an initial lawsuit, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. It accused Jeffs of arranging the 2001 marriage of Wall to her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, and pressuring the pair to have children. Wall went on to have miscarriages and a stillbirth. Utah judge Keith Kelly said the conduct of Jeffs—who didn't defend himself—"was so extreme that it went beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society," per Fox 13. Jeffs—serving life in prison for child sex assault following a trial in which Wall testified against him—was previously convicted as an accomplice to rape for presiding over Wall's marriage. However, that conviction was overturned in 2010 over improper instructions given to the jury, per the Deseret News. Steed pleaded guilty to solemnization of a prohibited marriage and pleaded no contest to unlawful sexual activity with a minor in 2011; he received 30 days in jail, three years of probation, and was ordered to pay $10,000, the Deseret News previously reported. Following Tuesday's decision, Wall's lawyer suggested the $16 million come from FLDS assets across North America "so the church feels the pain of what their doctrine has been as to the rape of young girls." (A year after a slippery escape, Jeffs' brother was caught in June.) |
Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured. We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date. As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.
We present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever made by developing and combining global data on production, use, and end-of-life fate of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives into a comprehensive material flow model. The analysis includes thermoplastics, thermosets, polyurethanes (PURs), elastomers, coatings, and sealants but focuses on the most prevalent resins and fibers: high-density polyethylene (PE), low-density and linear low-density PE, polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinylchloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and PUR resins; and polyester, polyamide, and acrylic (PP&A) fibers. The pure polymer is mixed with additives to enhance the properties of the material.
The vast majority of monomers used to make plastics, such as ethylene and propylene, are derived from fossil hydrocarbons. None of the commonly used plastics are biodegradable. As a result, they accumulate, rather than decompose, in landfills or the natural environment ( 6 ). The only way to permanently eliminate plastic waste is by destructive thermal treatment, such as combustion or pyrolysis. Thus, near-permanent contamination of the natural environment with plastic waste is a growing concern. Plastic debris has been found in all major ocean basins ( 6 ), with an estimated 4 to 12 million metric tons (Mt) of plastic waste generated on land entering the marine environment in 2010 alone ( 3 ). Contamination of freshwater systems and terrestrial habitats is also increasingly reported ( 7 – 9 ), as is environmental contamination with synthetic fibers ( 9 , 10 ). Plastic waste is now so ubiquitous in the environment that it has been suggested as a geological indicator of the proposed Anthropocene era ( 11 ).
Instead, plastics’ largest market is packaging, an application whose growth was accelerated by a global shift from reusable to single-use containers. As a result, the share of plastics in municipal solid waste (by mass) increased from less than 1% in 1960 to more than 10% by 2005 in middle- and high-income countries ( 3 ). At the same time, global solid waste generation, which is strongly correlated with gross national income per capita, has grown steadily over the past five decades ( 4 , 5 ).
A world without plastics, or synthetic organic polymers, seems unimaginable today, yet their large-scale production and use only dates back to ~1950. Although the first synthetic plastics, such as Bakelite, appeared in the early 20th century, widespread use of plastics outside of the military did not occur until after World War II. The ensuing rapid growth in plastics production is extraordinary, surpassing most other man-made materials. Notable exceptions are materials that are used extensively in the construction sector, such as steel and cement ( 1 , 2 ).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Global production of resins and fibers increased from 2 Mt in 1950 to 380 Mt in 2015, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4% (table S1), roughly 2.5 times the CAGR of the global gross domestic product during that period (12, 13). The total amount of resins and fibers manufactured from 1950 through 2015 is 7800 Mt. Half of this—3900 Mt—was produced in just the past 13 years. Today, China alone accounts for 28% of global resin and 68% of global PP&A fiber production (13–15). Bio-based or biodegradable plastics currently have a global production capacity of only 4 Mt and are excluded from this analysis (16).
We compiled production statistics for resins, fibers, and additives from a variety of industry sources and synthesized them according to type and consuming sector (table S2 and figs. S1 and S2) (12–24). Data on fiber and additives production are not readily available and have typically been omitted until now. On average, we find that nonfiber plastics contain 93% polymer resin and 7% additives by mass. When including additives in the calculation, the amount of nonfiber plastics (henceforth defined as resins plus additives) manufactured since 1950 increases to 7300 Mt. PP&A fibers add another 1000 Mt. Plasticizers, fillers, and flame retardants account for about three quarters of all additives (table S3). The largest groups in total nonfiber plastics production are PE (36%), PP (21%), and PVC (12%), followed by PET, PUR, and PS (<10% each). Polyester, most of which is PET, accounts for 70% of all PP&A fiber production. Together, these seven groups account for 92% of all plastics ever made. Approximately 42% of all nonfiber plastics have been used for packaging, which is predominantly composed of PE, PP, and PET. The building and construction sector, which has used 69% of all PVC, is the next largest consuming sector, using 19% of all nonfiber plastics (table S2).
We combined plastic production data with product lifetime distributions for eight different industrial use sectors, or product categories, to model how long plastics are in use before they reach the end of their useful lifetimes and are discarded (22, 25–29). We assumed log-normal distributions with means ranging from less than 1 year, for packaging, to decades, for building and construction (Fig. 1). This is a commonly used modeling approach to estimating waste generation for specific materials (22, 25, 26). A more direct way to measure plastic waste generation is to combine solid waste generation data with waste characterization information, as in the study of Jambeck et al. (3). However, for many countries, these data are not available in the detail and quality required for the present analysis.
Fig. 1 Product lifetime distributions for the eight industrial use sectors plotted as log-normal probability distribution functions (PDF). Note that sectors other and textiles have the same PDF.
We estimate that in 2015, 407 Mt of primary plastics (plastics manufactured from virgin materials) entered the use phase, whereas 302 Mt left it. Thus, in 2015, 105 Mt were added to the in-use stock. For comparison, we estimate that plastic waste generation in 2010 was 274 Mt, which is equal to the independently derived estimate of 275 Mt by Jambeck et al. (3). The different product lifetimes lead to a substantial shift in industrial use sector and polymer type between plastics entering and leaving use in any given year (tables S4 and S5 and figs. S1 to S4). Most of the packaging plastics leave use the same year they are produced, whereas construction plastics leaving use were produced decades earlier, when production quantities were much lower. For example, in 2015, 42% of primary nonfiber plastics produced (146 Mt) entered use as packaging and 19% (65 Mt) as construction, whereas nonfiber plastic waste leaving use was 54% packaging (141 Mt) and only 5% construction (12 Mt). Similarly, in 2015, PVC accounted for 11% of nonfiber plastics production (38 Mt) and only 6% of nonfiber plastic waste generation (16 Mt).
By the end of 2015, all plastic waste ever generated from primary plastics had reached 5800 Mt, 700 Mt of which were PP&A fibers. There are essentially three different fates for plastic waste. First, it can be recycled or reprocessed into a secondary material (22, 26). Recycling delays, rather than avoids, final disposal. It reduces future plastic waste generation only if it displaces primary plastic production (30); however, because of its counterfactual nature, this displacement is extremely difficult to establish (31). Furthermore, contamination and the mixing of polymer types generate secondary plastics of limited or low technical and economic value. Second, plastics can be destroyed thermally. Although there are emerging technologies, such as pyrolysis, which extracts fuel from plastic waste, to date, virtually all thermal destruction has been by incineration, with or without energy recovery. The environmental and health impacts of waste incinerators strongly depend on emission control technology, as well as incinerator design and operation. Finally, plastics can be discarded and either contained in a managed system, such as sanitary landfills, or left uncontained in open dumps or in the natural environment.
We estimate that 2500 Mt of plastics—or 30% of all plastics ever produced—are currently in use. Between 1950 and 2015, cumulative waste generation of primary and secondary (recycled) plastic waste amounted to 6300 Mt. Of this, approximately 800 Mt (12%) of plastics have been incinerated and 600 Mt (9%) have been recycled, only 10% of which have been recycled more than once. Around 4900 Mt—60% of all plastics ever produced—were discarded and are accumulating in landfills or in the natural environment (Fig. 2). Of this, 600 Mt were PP&A fibers. None of the mass-produced plastics biodegrade in any meaningful way; however, sunlight weakens the materials, causing fragmentation into particles known to reach millimeters or micrometers in size (32). Research into the environmental impacts of these “microplastics” in marine and freshwater environments has accelerated in recent years (33), but little is known about the impacts of plastic waste in land-based ecosystems.
Fig. 2 Global production, use, and fate of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives (1950 to 2015; in million metric tons).
Before 1980, plastic recycling and incineration were negligible. Since then, only nonfiber plastics have been subject to significant recycling efforts. The following results apply to nonfiber plastic only: Global recycling and incineration rates have slowly increased to account for 18 and 24%, respectively, of nonfiber plastic waste generated in 2014 (figs. S5 and S6). On the basis of limited available data, the highest recycling rates in 2014 were in Europe (30%) and China (25%), whereas in the United States, plastic recycling has remained steady at 9% since 2012 (12, 13, 34–36). In Europe and China, incineration rates have increased over time to reach 40 and 30%, respectively, in 2014 (13, 35). However, in the United States, nonfiber plastics incineration peaked at 21% in 1995 before decreasing to 16% in 2014 as recycling rates increased, with discard rates remaining constant at 75% during that time period (34). Waste management information for 52 other countries suggests that in 2014, the rest of the world had recycling and incineration rates similar to those of the United States (37). To date, end-of-life textiles (fiber products) do not experience significant recycling rates and are thus incinerated or discarded together with other solid waste.
Primary plastics production data describe a robust time trend throughout its entire history. If production were to continue on this curve, humankind will have produced 26,000 Mt of resins, 6000 Mt of PP&A fibers, and 2000 Mt of additives by the end of 2050. Assuming consistent use patterns and projecting current global waste management trends to 2050 (fig. S7), 9000 Mt of plastic waste will have been recycled, 12,000 Mt incinerated, and 12,000 Mt discarded in landfills or the natural environment (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3 Cumulative plastic waste generation and disposal (in million metric tons). Solid lines show historical data from 1950 to 2015; dashed lines show projections of historical trends to 2050.
Any material flow analysis of this kind requires multiple assumptions or simplifications, which are listed in Materials and Methods, and is subject to considerable uncertainty; as such, all cumulative results are rounded to the nearest 100 Mt. The largest sources of uncertainty are the lifetime distributions of the product categories and the plastic incineration and recycling rates outside of Europe and the United States. Increasing/decreasing the mean lifetimes of all product categories by 1 SD changes the cumulative primary plastic waste generation (for 1950 to 2015) from 5900 to 4600/6200 Mt or by −4/+5%. Increasing/decreasing current global incineration and recycling rates by 5%, and adjusting the time trends accordingly, changes the cumulative discarded plastic waste from 4900 (for 1950 to 2015) to 4500/5200 Mt or by −8/+6%.
The growth of plastics production in the past 65 years has substantially outpaced any other manufactured material. The same properties that make plastics so versatile in innumerable applications—durability and resistance to degradation—make these materials difficult or impossible for nature to assimilate. Thus, without a well-designed and tailor-made management strategy for end-of-life plastics, humans are conducting a singular uncontrolled experiment on a global scale, in which billions of metric tons of material will accumulate across all major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the planet. The relative advantages and disadvantages of dematerialization, substitution, reuse, material recycling, waste-to-energy, and conversion technologies must be carefully considered to design the best solutions to the environmental challenges posed by the enormous and sustained global growth in plastics production and use. ||||| More than 9 billion tons of plastic have been made since the 1950s, and the vast majority of it has been thrown in the trash, says a new study.
The paper says it is the first attempt to measure the total amount of plastic produced since the beginning of mass plastic production in the middle of the 20th century.
A team of researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of Georgia, and the Sea Education Association, say that although plastic materials such as Bakelite were in use in the early 20th century, the material's popularity began to rapidly rise after World War II, making it one of the most commonly used man-made materials.
For example, the researchers estimated that the amount of plastic in use now is 30 percent of all the plastic ever produced.
While that has brought its benefits, such as lower-cost materials or capabilities like water resistance, our love of plastic has also produced a lot of trash. About 7 billion tons of it, by their estimate.
And as of 2015, only 9 percent of the plastic waste produced ended up recycled, and another 12 percent was incinerated, the researchers found in their report. The remaining 79 percent has built up in landfills or ended up elsewhere in the environment.
The team published their results in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday.
To make their estimates, the researchers cobbled together datasets on global plastic production, such as global annual pure polymer (resin) production data from 1950 to 2015, published by the Plastics Europe Market Research Group, and global annual plastic fiber production data from 1970 to 2015 published by The Fiber Year and Tecnon OrbiChem.
Disposal data came from sources such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PlasticsEurope, the World Bank, and the China Statistical Yearbook.
All three researchers on this study were part of a team that estimated in 2015 that between 5 million and 13 million metric tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. In this new study, the team said plastics are found in every major ocean basin in the world.
"The growth of plastics production in the past 65 years has substantially outpaced any other manufactured material," the paper said. "The same properties that make plastics so versatile in innumerable applications — durability and resistance to degradation — make these materials difficult or impossible for nature to assimilate. Thus, without a well-designed and tailor-made management strategy for end-of-life plastics, humans are conducting a singular uncontrolled experiment on a global scale, in which billions of metric tons of material will accumulate across all major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the planet."
They recommend carefully considering the advantages and disadvantages of various strategies for managing plastic, such as reusing or recycling, substituting other materials, or using waste-to-energy or technologies for converting the materials into other substances.
Correction: Some of the researchers are from the Sea Education Association. An earlier version misstated the organization's name. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Science reporter Victoria Gill looks at why there is so much plastic on beaches
US scientists have calculated the total amount of plastic ever made and put the number at 8.3 billion tonnes.
It is an astonishing mass of material that has essentially been created only in the last 65 years or so.
The 8.3 billion tonnes is as heavy as 25,000 Empire State Buildings in New York, or a billion elephants.
The great issue is that plastic items, like packaging, tend to be used for very short periods before being discarded.
More than 70% of the total production is now in waste streams, sent largely to landfill - although too much of it just litters the wider environment, including the oceans.
"We are rapidly heading towards 'Planet Plastic', and if we don't want to live on that kind of world then we may have to rethink how we use some materials, in particular plastic," Dr Roland Geyer told BBC News.
A paper authored by the industrial ecologist from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and colleagues appears in the journal Science Advances. It is described as the first truly global assessment of how much plastic has been manufactured, how the material in all its forms is used, and where it ends up. Here are some of its key numbers.
8,300 million tonnes of virgin plastics have been produced
Half of this material was made in just the past 13 years
About 30% of the historic production remains in use today
Of the discarded plastic, roughly 9% has been recycled
Some 12% has been incinerated, but 79% has gone to landfill
Shortest-use items are packaging, typically less than a year
Longest-use products are found in construction and machinery
Current trends point to 12 billion tonnes of waste by 2050
Recycling rates in 2014: Europe (30%), China (25%), US (9%)
There is no question that plastics are a wonder material. Their adaptability and durability have seen their production and use accelerate past most other manmade materials apart from steel, cement and brick.
From the start of mass-manufacturing in the 1950s, the polymers are now all around us - incorporated into everything from food wrapping and clothing, to aeroplane parts and flame retardants. But it is precisely plastics' amazing qualities that now present a burgeoning problem.
None of the commonly used plastics are biodegradable. The only way to permanently dispose of their waste is to destructively heat it - through a decomposition process known as pyrolysis or through simple incineration; although the latter is complicated by health and emissions concerns.
In the meantime, the waste mounts up. There is enough plastic debris out there right now, Geyer and colleagues say, to cover an entire country the size of Argentina. The team's hope is that their new analysis will give added impetus to the conversation about how best to deal with the plastics issue.
"Our mantra is you can't manage what you don't measure," Dr Geyer said. "So, our idea was to put the numbers out there without us telling the world what the world should be doing, but really just to start a real, concerted discussion."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lauren Singer wants to help you achieve a zero-waste life
Recycling rates are increasing and novel chemistry has some biodegradable alternatives, but manufacturing new plastic is so cheap the virgin product is hard to dislodge.
The same team - which includes Jenna Jambeck from the University of Georgia and Kara Lavender Law from the Sea Education Association at Woods Hole - produced the seminal report in 2015 that quantified the total amount of plastic waste escaping to the oceans each year: eight million tonnes.
This particular waste flow is probably the one that has generated most concern of late because of the clear evidence now that some of this discarded material is getting into the food chain as fish and other marine creatures ingest small polymer fragments.
Dr Erik van Sebille from Utrecht University in the Netherlands is an oceanographer who tracks plastics in our seas. Of the new report, he said: "We're facing a tsunami of plastic waste, and we need to deal with that.
"The global waste industry needs to get its act together and make sure that the ever-increasing amounts of plastic waste generated don't end up in the environment.
"We need a radical shift in how we deal with plastic waste. On current trends, it will take until 2060 before more plastic gets recycled than landfilled and lost to the environment. That clearly is too slow; we can't wait that long," he told BBC News.
And Richard Thompson, professor of marine biology at Plymouth University, UK, commented: "If plastic products are designed with recyclability in mind they can be recycled many times over. Some would say a bottle could be recycled 20 times. That's a substantial reduction in waste. At the moment poor design limits us."
To illustrate that point, Dr Geyer said: "The holy grail of recycling is to keep material in use and in the loop for ever if you can. But it turns out in our study that actually 90% of that material that did get recycled - which I think we calculated was 600 million tonnes - only got recycled once."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption One route to higher rates of recycling would be better design, says Prof Richard Thompson
Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos | – A new study puts a number on the amount of plastic the planet has manufactured in the roughly 65 years we've been cranking it out: 9 billion tons. If you're struggling to visualize that weight, the BBC helps out: That's as heavy as 25,000 Empire State Buildings or 1 billion elephants. The researchers behind it—who hail from the University of California-Santa Barbara, the University of Georgia, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, reports CNBC—call theirs "the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured." Their paper, published in Science Advances, is replete with numbers: For instance, some 4.3 billion of the tons, or nearly half, were produced in the last 13 years alone. In 2014, 24% of plastic waste was incinerated and 18% recycled. But the long view isn't pretty: When looking at all plastics made through 2015, only 12% had been burned and 9% recycled, meaning 79% of plastic waste was left sitting in landfills or other locations (like in our oceans). The US recycling rate, meanwhile, is behind that of Europe (30%) and even China (25%). In the case of packaging, the "end of [plastics'] useful lifetimes" comes in less than a year; for building and construction, it's decades. The researchers' somewhat gloomy assessment: "Without a well-designed and tailor-made management strategy for end-of-life plastics, humans are conducting a singular uncontrolled experiment on a global scale, in which billions of metric tons of material will accumulate across all major terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on the planet." (Plastic bottles could rival the threat of climate change.) |
Project Southern Tempest netted 678 gang members connected to international drug syndicates. It's a sign that the US is trying to help in the war against Mexican cartels.
As the wars against drug cartels rage in Mexico, US immigration and customs officials on Tuesday sought to show that they are doing their part to choke the drug trade north of the border, too.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents announced the results of Project Southern Tempest, their latest gang sweep in 168 American cities from Atlanta to South Salt Lake, Utah. The tally: 678 gang members with affiliations to 133 different gangs arrested during the past two weeks.
Project Southern Tempest is part of ICE's Operation Community Shield, a five-year fight that unites federal, state, and local law enforcement against gangs with ties to international drug syndicates – primarily those in Mexico. Southern Tempest notched the 20,000th arrest of the program.
It is a message to Mexican officials that the US trying to hold up its end of the bargain. "A Mexican criticism that we hear is, 'Why isn't the US doing more to fight the cartels north of the border?' " says David Shirk, director of the Transborder Institute at the University of California-San Diego.
Project Southern Tempest shows that "is exactly what ICE and other US government agencies are trying to do," he adds.
ICE director John Morton sought to emphasize this point. The "intensity couldn't be higher," Mr. Morton said. Among the American gangs linked to the international drug trade and targeted by ICE: MS-13, Latin Kings, The Bloods, and Jamaican Posse.
The problem for ICE, however, is that it can't control the fundamental driver of the entire equation: American demand for illegal drugs. These gang members "are breaking the law and are a threat to US communities, but ... in the end, you can arrest people all day long, and as long as the market demand remains strong there will be new entrepreneurs who rise to satisfy that demand," says Mr. Shirk of the Transborder Institute.
For their part, law-enforcement officials said during a Project Southern Tempest teleconference Tuesday that they were grateful for ICE efforts. For instance, US Attorney Sally Yates of Georgia described ICE's assistance in bringing to justice 26 MS-13 gang members in the Atlanta area, including a group of carjackers who hit a young girl with a baseball bat while trying to steal a PT Cruiser.
"These people are up to the worst sort of violent crimes in the communities they live in," said Morton. "These guys aren't in book clubs, they're in violent street gangs."
The ambush killing of an ICE agent, Jaime Zapata, in Mexico on Feb. 15 raised the concern that Mexican drug gangs have radicalized to the point that they no longer fear what Morton called America's "long hard arm of the law."
Though Morton said Mr. Zapata's shooting did not appear have a direct connection to Project Southern Tempest, ICE has agents in 47 countries supporting Operation Community Shield. ICE arrested three men in Dallas on Monday in connection with Zapata's murder.
Morton said ICE remains undeterred. The agency, he said, expects to make more arrest announcements soon, all in the attempt to help the Mexican government shorten the reach of the cartels.
"We'll do everything we can to bring the cartels down," Morton said. "It's not going to be easy, it's not going to solve everything overnight ... but just stay tuned." ||||| A sweeping federal takedown today confirms that Mexican drug cartels have penetrated the United States and have affiliated drug gangs on the streets of hundreds of American cities, federal officials said.
A total of 678 alleged gang members from 168 cities were arrested by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) task force targeting gangs with ties to drug trafficking organizations.
More than 46 percent of those arrested were affiliated with 13 different Mexican drug trafficking organizations, ICE officials said. Of the 678 arrested, 447 were charged with criminal offenses and 421 were foreign nationals.
The operation, Project Southern Tempest, was conducted from December 2010 through the end of February. In addition to the arrests, the operation also seized 86 firearms, large quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana, and more than $70,000 in cash, according to ICE officials.
"These transnational gangs are a direct threat to our safety," ICE Director John Morton said at an afternoon news conference. "We have to go after them hammer and tong."
Morton said transnational gangs are not only working the drug trade, but are frequently working in human smuggling, weapons smuggling and other crimes with a nexus to the border.
Morton pointed to the example of Rodimiro Burquez-Cortez, a Mexican national and Surenos gang member who was deported once, but re-entered the country and now faces narcotics and weapons charges. His criminal convictions included illegal re-entry, assault, DWI, carrying a concealed weapon and drug possession.
Another suspect arrested in the sweep, Shawn Allison, a Jamaican, is a member of the Jamaican Posse whose rap sheet includes convictions for possession with intent to distribute and criminal contempt, according to ICE. Now Allison faces an even more serious charge: attempted murder.
"These are not people we want walking our streets," Morton said. "They have turned to a life of violence."
Project Southern Tempest is the latest in a series of federal task force operations targeting drug gangs. The operations include local police in dozens of U.S. cities, including Atlanta.
Sally Yates, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said today that since task force operations began in 2005, they have resulted in charges in seven murder cases, at least five carjackings and several armed robberies in the Atlanta area alone.
In one of the carjacking incidents in Atlanta, gang members hit a young girl across the face with a baseball bat, Yates said.
Federal officials point out these gang bangers are not just operating in big urban centers. Project Southern Tempest arrests include alleged drug gangsters picked up in places like Reading, Pa., Provo, Utah, and Oceanside, Calif.
South Salt Lake, Utah, is not usually thought of as a hotbed of drug gang activity, but Chris Snyder, the police chief there, said today his jurisdiction has seen a surprising amount of gang crime.
"The drug dealers targeted in this operation have no regard for the law ... and degrade the quality of life in our communities," Snyder said. "Our goal in partnering with ICE and other law enforcement agencies is to make our cities safer." | – A vast multi-city gang sweep shows the extent to which Mexican drug cartels have penetrated American cities—and, say federal officials, the extent to which the government is willing to go to take them down. Some 678 gang members, including 421 nationals, were busted in 168 cities during Project Southern Tempest, ABC reports. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities say nearly half of those arrested were linked to Mexican drug gangs. "These transnational gangs are a direct threat to our safety," ICE Director John Morton said. "We have to go after them hammer and tong." Analysts, however, say ICE's problem is that it can't do anything about America's demand for illegal drugs. "In the end, you can arrest people all day long, and as long as the market demand remains strong there will be new entrepreneurs who rise to satisfy that demand," the director of the Transborder Institute tells the Christian Science Monitor. |
As talks with Iran stretch past a previously set deadline, the White House is discussing its options in case of failure to reach a nuclear deal. Photo: AP
The White House began discussing its options in case of failure to reach a nuclear deal with Iran as faltering talks fueled criticism of President Barack Obama’s negotiating strategy.
Iranian officials and Secretary of State John Kerry continued their quest for an agreement in the Swiss city of Lausanne. But American lawmakers seized on the lack of progress late Wednesday to renew calls for tough new sanctions.
The... ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption The talks at Lausanne's Beau-Rivage Palace hotel will be extended to Thursday
Talks on Iran's nuclear programme will continue until at least Thursday morning, two days after the original deadline, the US says.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has extended his stay to continue negotiations, officials say.
However, a number of foreign ministers have left the talks and China warned compromise was essential, otherwise "all previous efforts will be wasted".
A deal would curb the nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
Negotiations between the so-called P5+1 - the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany - and Iran continued on Wednesday at Lausanne's Beau-Rivage Palace hotel after overrunning the self-imposed deadline of 31 March to reach a deal.
On Wednesday evening, a US state department spokeswoman said: "We continue to make progress, but have not reached a political understanding. Therefore, Secretary Kerry will remain in Lausanne until at least Thursday morning to continue the negotiations."
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is also returning to Lausanne. He had previously said he would return to the talks as soon as it was "useful".
The P5+1 deal seeks to ensure Iran could not assemble a nuclear weapon in less than a year. The Iranians insist that they have no such ambition.
'Fingers crossed'
Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC: "I think we have a broad framework of understanding, but there are still some key issues that have to be worked through.
"Some of them are quite detailed and technical so there is still quite a lot of work to do but we are on it now and we'll keep going at it.
Mr Hammond stressed again that he would not sign up to a "bad deal".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Philip Hammond said there was still a lot of work to be done
Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier he hoped an agreement could be finalised on Wednesday
Image copyright EPA Image caption President Obama was briefed about the talks late on Tuesday
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that "one can say with relative certainty that we at the minister level have reached an agreement in principle on all key aspects of the final settlement of this issue". He has now left the talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that "quite a bit" had been accomplished.
He and Mr Kerry held bilateral talks on Wednesday.
However, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday admitted that "problems" remained, saying there could not be a deal without a "framework for the removal of all sanctions".
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC looks at how hard it is to actually build a nuclear bomb
The BBC's Barbara Plett Usher in Lausanne says Mr Araqchi suggested there might be a joint press statement on the progress made and the continuing efforts to try to draft a solution.
This sounds less than the framework on political parameters which the negotiators had been targeting, our correspondent says.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who has now left Lausanne, issued a note of caution.
A Chinese statement read: "It is important to give political guidance to the negotiations... it is important to narrow down the differences.
"If the negotiations are stuck, all previous efforts will be wasted. All parties must be prepared to meet each other half way to reach an agreement."
Analysis: Barbara Plett Usher, BBC state department correspondent
This is a fluid situation, with little information leaking out of the talks and expectations veering between an imminent deal or none at all.
All negotiators keep saying there has been progress, but not enough yet for an agreement.
The key sticking points are well known: the limits on Iran's freedom to conduct advanced nuclear research and a framework for lifting UN sanctions. These are more complicated than US and European economic sanctions, because they directly target Iran's nuclear programme and would be more difficult to re-impose once lifted.
But the main difficulty might be the competing approaches of the two main negotiators, the Americans and the Iranians.
The Obama administration needs as much detail as possible in this preliminary accord to counter opponents in Congress. The Iranians want as little as possible to keep critics quiet while they focus on getting a final comprehensive settlement.
Any agreement would set the stage for further talks aimed at achieving a comprehensive accord by 30 June.
On Wednesday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said again that the concessions offered to Iran in Lausanne would ensure a "bad deal" that endangered Israel, the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Sticking points
After months of negotiations, the basic outline of an agreement is well known.
Iran would scale its nuclear programme and subject it to rigorous inspection for at least 10 years. In exchange, there would be an easing and eventual end of crippling UN, US and EU sanctions.
However, there are some issues yet to be resolved. These are thought to include:
Length of restrictions - Iran's nuclear activities would be strictly limited for at least 10 years. After that, Iran wants all limits to be lifted. The P5+1 says they should be removed progressively over the following five years
- Iran's nuclear activities would be strictly limited for at least 10 years. After that, Iran wants all limits to be lifted. The P5+1 says they should be removed progressively over the following five years Sanctions relief - Iran wants the UN sanctions suspended soon after an agreement. The P5+1 says they should be eased in a phased manner, with restrictions on imports of nuclear-related technology remaining for years
- Iran wants the UN sanctions suspended soon after an agreement. The P5+1 says they should be eased in a phased manner, with restrictions on imports of nuclear-related technology remaining for years Non-compliance - The US and its European allies want a mechanism that would allow suspended UN sanctions to be put back into effect rapidly if Iran reneges on a deal. Russia reportedly accepts this, but wants to ensure its Security Council veto rights are protected
- The US and its European allies want a mechanism that would allow suspended UN sanctions to be put back into effect rapidly if Iran reneges on a deal. Russia reportedly accepts this, but wants to ensure its Security Council veto rights are protected Centrifuges - Iran wants to develop advanced centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster and in greater quantities
Iran's key nuclear sites | – Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program resumed in Switzerland today but were almost immediately beset by competing claims, just hours after diplomats abandoned a March 31 deadline to reach a deal outline and agreed to press on. Eager to avoid a collapse in the discussions, the US and others claimed late yesterday that enough progress had been made to warrant an extension after six days of intense bartering. But the foreign ministers of China, France, and Russia all departed Lausanne overnight, although the significance of their absence was not clear, and the prospects for agreement remained uncertain. Iran's deputy foreign minister said lead negotiators would release a joint statement by the end of the day declaring that progress had been made but containing no specifics. A senior Western official quickly pushed back, saying that nothing about a statement had been decided and that Iran's negotiating partners would not accept a document that contained no details. As the Wall Street Journal notes, nuclear talks with Iran have now passed their intended deadline three times in less than a year—and the paper calls the three aforementioned overnight departures "a sign that a breakthrough wasn't imminent." But senior Western officials are still saying they're hopeful they can do what's needed to finalize the framework that would carry them toward a comprehensive deal by June 30, and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zari pledged to stay "as long as necessary" to clear the remaining hurdles. The BBC sees four: How long the restrictions last: Iran wants limits completely lifted after a decade; the six world powers involved want to lift them gradually after that decade mark. When sanctions will be suspended: Iran wants relief quickly; the six again favor a gradual approach. What will happen if Iran doesn't comply with the deal: UN sanctions, and quickly. Russia is apparently on board but wants to retain its Security Council veto rights. Last but not least, centrifuges: Iran wants to be able to enrich more uranium, more quickly. |
Before getting suspended, Roger Stone tweeted that CNN's Don Lemon was "dumber than dog sh--" and deserved to be mocked and punished. Roger Stone vows legal action over Twitter suspension
President Donald Trump's longtime associate Roger Stone said "the battle against free speech has just begun" as the political provocateur tangles with Twitter over his account's suspension.
"This is a strange way to do business and part and parcel of the systematic effort by the tech left to censor and silence conservative voices," Stone said Sunday in an email to POLITICO.
Story Continued Below
Stone added that after communicating with "prominent telecommunication attorneys," he has decided to bring legal action against Twitter. It's not clear what the basis for that action would be.
Stone lashed out at CNN anchor Don Lemon and others on Friday night, seemingly responding to reports that an indictment from special prosecutor Robert Mueller was imminent in the ongoing probe into the Trump election campaign's alleged ties to Russia.
Stone tweeted that Lemon was "dumber than dog sh--" and deserved to be mocked and punished.
For his part, Stone said a bevy of threats have been levied against him and his family on the platform.
"I have been inundated on Twitter with death threats, threats to kill my wife, my family, my children and even my dogs yet Twitter seems unconcerned with these bloggers."
Responding to reports that he could be kicked off the platform for good, Stone said he was told his suspension would be for "three hours and 22 minutes" and that Twitter representatives have never informed him of a permanent ban.
On Saturday, a Twitter spokesperson highlighted the social media site's policies against harassment and abuse, and incitement for others to harass. A Twitter spokesperson was not immediately available to respond to Stone's claims.
Under Twitter's current guidelines, Stone could face a permanent suspension.
While he does not have an official White House role, Stone was reported to be actively lobbying the president recently over his decision to release the remaining sealed and redacted documents surrounding the JFK assassination.
||||| “I’ll be baaaack!!”
Roger Stone is in full-on cartoon-villain mode since being banned by Twitter on Saturday night, vowing to sue the company and characterizing their dispute as a battle for free speech itself.
“I’ll be baaaaaak,” the sometimes adviser to President Donald Trump wrote in a text message to New York. “They will soon learn they have bitten off more than they can chew.”
He wouldn’t disclose when he plans to sue, saying only that it’ll be “when I am ready to.” But he added, “I am advised I have a very strong legal case. Twitter wants to avoid being regulated like a utility. No one has been willing to file the antitrust case. I am.” (While most antitrust cases are brought by the government, private parties can bring them too, under certain circumstances. Whether Stone would have the standing to do so is a separate question, of course.)
More important, he said, “I also know a little bit about generating publicity.”
Stone at first believed the ban would be temporary, but subsequent reports indicate it’s permanent.
Stone told New York he was “uncertain why” he’d been banned, but the prevailing view on Twitter is that it was the graphic insults he spent much of Friday evening lobbing at reporters and commentators following the news that special counsel Robert Mueller had filed the first charges in the Russia probe. (Asked who Stone believes will be indicted, he mockingly suggested: “Manafort’s driver for double parking.” Stone, who’s already testified before Congress regarding potential collusion with Russia, is a longtime friend and former business partner of Manafort’s.) A spokesperson for Twitter directed BuzzFeed to its terms of service by way of explanation for the decision.
During his Twitter rant, Stone called CNN anchor Don Lemon “dumber than dog shit,” “a dull witted arrogant partyboi,” and an “ignorant lying covksucker.” He said Lemon “must be confronted, humiliated, mocked and punished.” He also labeled New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow a “fast talking arrogant fake news piece of shit.”
In tone and content, the tweets were not dissimilar to many other things Stone has said on the social-media platform over the years. He’s often as colorful as he is offensive and vitriolic, calling critics “fat” or “ugly” or “stupid.” He often focuses his ire on members of the media. (Last week, he used his account to call for a boycott of this reporter, complete with a hashtag.) Although one clear difference on Friday was the volume of tweets he sent.
In the media, following his removal, Stone complained about being banned while users who he claims have threatened him, his family, and his little dogs, too, continue to tweet freely. He said on Saturday that he believes his removal from the platform is “because I am Roger Stone.” | – Roger Stone has been suspended from Twitter—and he says it's a move that the site will bitterly regret. "They will soon learn they have bitten off more than they can chew," the outspoken President Trump ally tells New York. Stone says he plans to bring an antitrust case against Twitter, and he knows "a little bit about generating publicity." "I am advised I have a very strong legal case," he says. "Twitter wants to avoid being regulated like a utility. No one has been willing to file the antitrust case. I am." Stone—whose suspension now appears to be permanent, not temporary as initially thought—was kicked off the site Saturday, the day after he launched a tirade against CNN anchors and other journalists, calling Don Lemon an "ignorant lying covksucker [sic]." Stone tells Politico that the "battle against free speech has just begun." "This is a strange way to do business and part and parcel of the systematic effort by the tech left to censor and silence conservative voices," he says, adding that Twitter seems "unconcerned" by "threats to kill my wife, my family, my children, and even my dogs." (Earlier this year, Stone said any politician who voted to impeach Trump would "endanger their own life.") |
The Pakistani Taliban chose the ruthless commander who planned the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai as the militant group's new leader Thursday, and it ruled out holding peace talks with the government.
FILE - In this Friday, Sept. 27, 2013 file photo, Malala Yousafzai addresses students and faculty after receiving the 2013 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. A... (Associated Press)
Mullah Fazlullah was unanimously appointed the new chief by the Taliban's leadership council, or shura, after several days of deliberation, said the head of the shura, Asmatullah Shaheen Bhitani. Militants fired AK-47 assault rifles and anti-aircraft guns into the air to celebrate.
The decision came less than a week after a U.S. drone strike killed leader Hakimullah Mehsud in the North Waziristan tribal area near the Afghan border.
Even though Mehsud was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Pakistani civilians and security forces, his Nov. 1 killing outraged Pakistani officials. They accused the U.S. of sabotaging the government's attempt to strike a peace deal with the militants _ although many analysts doubted a deal was likely.
The government said the drone strike came a day before it planned to send a delegation of clerics to formally invite the Pakistani Taliban to hold peace talks.
Bhitani, the Taliban shura leader, ruled out holding peace talks with the government, accusing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of selling out the group when he met with President Barack Obama in Washington on Oct. 23.
"We will take revenge on Pakistan for the martyrdom of Hakimullah," Bhitani told The Associated Press by telephone from an undisclosed location in North Waziristan, where the shura met.
Pakistani officials have criticized U.S. drone strikes in public, saying they violate the country's sovereignty and kill too many civilians. But the government is known to have secretly supported at least some of the attacks.
Fazlullah has served as the Pakistani Taliban's leader in the northwest Swat Valley but is believed to be hiding in neighboring Afghanistan. He rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islam, earning him the nickname "Mullah Radio."
His group began to infiltrate the valley in 2007 and spread fear among residents by beheading opponents, blowing up schools, forcing men to grow beards and preventing women from going to markets. A military offensive in 2009 pushed the group out of the valley, and Fazlullah escaped to Afghanistan.
Fazlullah and his group carried out the attack on teenage activist Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in the head while on her way home from school in October 2012. She was attacked after speaking out against the Taliban over its interpretation of Islam, which limits girls' access to education.
The shooting sparked international outrage. Malala was flown to the United Kingdom, where she underwent surgery to repair the damage to her skull. She has emerged as an even more vocal critic of the Taliban and advocate for girls' education, earning her many international awards. She delivered a speech at the United Nations in New York and was considered a front-runner for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.
Fazlullah also claimed responsibility for the deaths of a Pakistani army general and two other soldiers in a roadside bombing near the Afghan border in September. The killings outraged the military and raised questions about whether the Taliban had any real interest in negotiating peace.
Fazlullah is the first leader of the Pakistani Taliban not to come from the Mehsud tribe based in the South Waziristan tribal area. The group's first leader, Baitullah Mehsud, also was killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2009.
Some Mehsud commanders were unhappy with the decision to appoint Fazlullah but eventually agreed under pressure from some of the group's senior members, said a Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists. ||||| Pakistani Taliban fighters hold weapons as they receive training in Ladda, South Waziristan tribal region, in this still image taken from a video, shot between December 9 to December 14, 2011.
MIRANSHAH/PESHAWAR, Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban rejected the idea of peace talks with the government after electing hardline commander Mullah Fazlullah, whose men shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai last year, as their new leader on Thursday.
The rise of Fazlullah, known for his fierce Islamist views, by the Taliban Shura council follows the Killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, the previous leader or ameer, in a U.S. drone strike on November 1.
Mehsud and his allies had been tentatively open to the concept of ceasefire talks with the government, but Fazlullah's emergence as the new chief changes that picture.
"There will be no more talks as Mullah Fazlullah is already against negotiations with the Pakistan government," Shahidullah Shahid, a Taliban spokesman, told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location in neighboring Afghanistan.
"All governments play double games with us. In the name of peace talks, they deceived us and killed our people. We are one hundred percent sure that Pakistan fully supports the United States in its drone strikes."
The Pakistani Taliban insurgency is fighting to topple Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government and impose Sharia law in the nuclear-armed nation.
Attacks have been on the rise since Sharif came to power in May promising a negotiated end to violence, a concern for global powers already unnerved by the possible security implications of the withdrawal of most U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan in 2014.
No meaningful talks have taken place since Sharif's election and Fazlullah's rise could signal the start of a new period of uncertainty and violence in the already unstable region.
Speaking to Reuters, Shahid said the new ameer had taken over the decision-making process within the Taliban with immediate effect and would soon decide whether to avenge the death of Mehsud with a new campaign of bombings and killings.
MULLAH RADIO
Nicknamed Mullah Radio for his fiery Islamist radio broadcasts in Swat valley, Fazlullah is considered hardline even within the Pakistani Taliban movement itself.
Born in 1976, he gained prominence in 2004 when he set up an underground FM radio station in the deeply conservative Swat valley to promote fundamentalist and anti-Western ideas.
He and his fighters took over the valley in 2009 and imposed strict Islamic rule. Fazlullah opposes polio vaccinations which he has described as a Jewish and Christian conspiracy to harm Muslims, and ordered the closure of girls' schools.
Malala, who openly criticized the Taliban and campaigned for womens' right to education, is a symbol of everything he has been fighting against.
Outraged by the Taliban, the then-11-year-old kept a blog under a pen name and later launched a full-fledged campaign for girls' education.
Fazlullah's men shot and wounded her last year, instantly turning Malala into a global hero. She was airlifted to Britain for medical treatment and now lives with her family in the northern city of Birmingham. The Taliban have said it will kill her if she came back.
Fazlullah's troops melted away across the mountainous border into Afghanistan in 2009 after a military offensive by the Pakistan army which now controls the area. Fazlullah is believed to be in Nuristan province.
(This version of the story removes double time reference 'on Thursday' in first paragraph)
(Writing by Maria Golovnina, additional reporting by Saud Mehsud and Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Angus MacSwan) | – The Pakistani Taliban needed a new leader after its last chief was killed in a drone strike, and it has chosen the hardline commander who targeted Malala Yousafzai. Mullah Fazlullah's men tried to assassinate the education activist last year, and he will be the "new ameer," a Taliban spokesperson tells Reuters today. The spokesperson also declared there will be "no more" peace talks with the government, as the new leader "is already against negotiations." (Pakistan had expressed concerns that would be the case.) Fazlullah's nickname is "Mullah Radio" because of his passionate and fiercely Islamist radio broadcasts, offered up on an underground radio station he set up in 2004, and even his fellow Taliban members consider him hardline. He particularly fights against girls' education. His appointment by the leadership council was unanimous, the AP reports. |
Kelly Hoover, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office, told The Times "some of the documents appear to be copies of reports that were authored by Sheriff's Office" along with evidentiary photographs taken by Sheriff's Office personnel. But she cautioned that they are interspersed with content that appears to be obtained off the Internet or through other sources. The sheriff's material, she added, had case numbers on it. ||||| Paris Jackson is standing by her late father.
On Tuesday, Radar Online claimed that they had documents that listed items collected from Michael Jackson’s home dating back to a 2003 search in connection to his child molestation investigation.
RELATED: When authorities searched Michael Jackson’s home in 2003, they found a treasure trove of photos that will make you sick
“The documents exposed Jackson as a manipulative, drug-and-sex-crazed predator who used blood, gore, sexually explicit images of animal sacrifice and perverse adult sex acts to bend children to his will,” a source revealed to Radar Online. “He also had disgusting and downright shocking images of child torture, adult and child nudity, female bondage and sadomasochism.”
Late Tuesday night, Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, took to social media in defense of her late father.
RELATED: Paris Jackson had a special message for the haters after they criticized her on Father’s Day
“Unfortunately, negativity will always sell. I urge you all to ignore the trash & the parasites who make a career trying to slander my father,” she wrote, adding, “the most pure people are always torn down… It will continue to be proven that my beloved dad has always been and forever will be innocent.”
Unfortunately negativity will always sell. I urge you all to ignore the trash & the parasites who make a career trying to slander my father. — Paris Jacksoη (@ParisJackson) June 22, 2016
The most pure people are always torn down.. It will continue to be proven that my beloved dad has always been and forever will be innocent. — Paris Jacksoη (@ParisJackson) June 22, 2016
She also shared an image of her “#mood” on Twitter and Instagram.
The photo is a still-shot from Michael Jackson’s 1995 music video for “Scream,” and it pretty much speaks for itself.
Jackson has been known to show her love for her late father publicly on social media. She also shares images of her childhood and has even created a few new memories using Photoshop. | – Radar Online claims to have obtained official documents depicting the “images of pornography, animal torture, S&M, and gore” that Michael Jackson allegedly used while molesting children at Neverland Ranch. “The documents exposed Jackson as a manipulative, drug-and-sex-crazed predator who used blood, gore, sexually explicit images of animal sacrifice, and perverse adult sex acts to bend children to his will,” Radar quotes an anonymous investigator as saying. The images apparently included child pornography, even "sexy" pictures of Jackson's nephews in their underwear, Jezebel reports. There were also images of "child torture" and children's faces superimposed on adult bodies. According to Vanity Fair, these types of images are used to make children easier to abuse. Radar claims it got the documents from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office. A sheriff's office spokesperson tells the Los Angeles Times that some of the documents "appear to be copies of reports" from the sheriff's office. But others look like they were taken off the internet or from some other source. The spokesperson notes that sheriff's office documents have case numbers on them. The sheriff's office denies releasing any documents. Jackson was charged with child molestation in 2003, with his cache of pornography allegedly discovered that same year. He was acquitted in 2005 after, according to Jezebel, paying $200 million in "hush money" to at least 20 people. Jackson died in 2009. (Click to see what Paris Jackson has to say about this report.) |
Bones so frail it would be impossible to walk and room for only half a liver: Shocking research reveals what life would be like if a REAL woman had Barbie's body
If Barbie was a real woman she'd be forced to walk on all fours and would be physically incapable of lifting her over-sized head - perhaps a far cry from what the designers of Mattel envisioned.
A disturbing chart that converts the doll's body scale into a real-life human being's reveals the outrageous proportions that transforms her into something out of a Sci-Fi movie.
Starting from the top down, Barbie's head would be two inches larger than the average American woman's while resting on a neck twice as long and six inches thinner.
From these measurements she'd be entirely incapable of lifting her head.
Mutant: The above picture shows how if Barbie's physical measurements were given to a real woman she'd only have room for half a liver and a few inches of intestine in her body, but room for a bigger brain
Her 16-inch waist would also be four inches thinner than her head, leaving room for only half a liver and a few inches of intestine.
Like her fragile 3.5 inch wrists, her 6-inch ankles would prevent her from heavy lifting. Then, as far as holding up her entire body - despite so much of it missing - it'd be an entirely impossible feat requiring her to walk on all fours.
That method of mobility is further supported, strictly theoretically, by her children's size three feet.
The graphs released by Rehabs.com , a site for locating mental health treatment centers in the U.S., aims to point out the outrageous physical characteristics of a doll seen for more than 50 years as a role model for girls.
'That would be one dope 21st birthday!' The Barbie collector demanded her 'own Barbie BUT with my actual body type' including cellulite since '95% of ALL women have it!'
What are the odds? Among the above chart's findings, it tells how the odds of finding a single woman with the same tall and thin neck as Barbie is one out of 4.3 billion
One of a kind: Mattel previously defended Barbie's slim figure because of the bulk her clothes' seams, snaps and zippers add
In addition to comparing Barbie's body proportions to the average American woman's, it also compares them to the average anorexic woman.
Further stressing Barbie's one-of-a-kind body, while considering the sizes of both average American women and anorexic women, Rehabs.com found the odds of finding a single woman with the same naturally tall and thin neck like Barbie is one out of 4.3 billion.
Similarly finding a woman with Barbie's waist would be one out of every 2.4 billion.
Men are not left out from their comparison though, with awareness paid to the physical proportions of Ken dolls, said to be generally closer to a reality than Barbie's.
Barbie's size has long been controversial with Mattel previously defending her slim figure because of the bulk her clothes' seams, snaps and zippers added.
In 1998 the dolls' waist was expanded and bust made smaller, said to reflect a more 'real' female body type. ||||| Since her inception 55 years ago, Barbie's gotten a lot of flack for how her freakish proportions negatively affect girls' body image and even lead to at least one tragic case of a woman literally trying to transform herself into the doll. Last month, Barbie's lead designer defended the doll’s proportions in an interview with Co.Design. But new research suggests it's not just body image that Barbie impacts negatively—it's a girl's career aspirations, too.
A new study called "Boys Can Be Anything: Effect of Barbie Play on Girls' Career Cognitions" is, according to researchers Aurora Sherman of Oregon State University and Eileen Zurbriggen of the University of California, Santa Cruz, the first attempt to quantify how this freakishly proportioned doll influences girls’ ideas of their futures.
Thirty-seven girls aged four through seven were assigned to play for five minutes with one of three toys: a Doctor Barbie, a Fashion Barbie, or a Mrs. Potato Head doll, who has all the sex appeal of a, uh, potato. After playtime, the girls were shown 10 photographs of various professions and asked how many they thought they could do in the future, and how many they thought boys could do.
The girls who had played with homely Mrs. Potato Head reportedly believed they could go on to do just as many jobs as their male peers. But those who had played with Barbie, regardless of whether she was dressed as a doctor or a fashion model, saw themselves as having fewer career options than boys.
"Perhaps Barbie can 'Be Anything' as the advertising for this doll suggests, but girls who play with her may not apply these possibilities to themselves," Sherman says. "Something about the type of doll, not characteristics of the participants, causes the difference in career aspirations."
What about playing with Barbie makes girls doubt their future career possibilities? The researchers believe their study suggests that even young girls can recognize the sexualized nature of Barbie and her unrealistic body shape, and that these things can inform a girl's understanding of gender roles. But they admit they need to look more into why this occurs.
The sample size in this study was small, the length of playtime short, and the researchers only optioned 10 careers. But if researchers could build on this initial study and solidly prove that Barbie’s influence is a negative one, maybe Mattel would at least consent to giving the poor doll enough room for a liver. ||||| Happy Birthday, Barbie! The world's most famous doll turns 55 today and she's looking fab, without even the tiniest hint of plastic surgery! (We couldn't help ourselves.)
She's really come into her own now that she's well into her fifties and boy, is she aging gracefully or what?
Wearing a slightly updated version of the swimsuit she first wore at her world debut in 1959's New York Toy Fair, Barbie is modeling alongside the likes of supermodels Lily Aldrin and Chrissy Teigen in Sports Illustrated's 50th Anniversary Swimsuit Issue. We wonder how she keeps her figure?
Her appearance has caused a bit of a stir from bloggers and parents who are worried about the message Barbie sends to young girls about body image. Barbie herself had to put forth a statement about her daring decision to become a Sports Illustrated covergirl, with the hashtag, "#unapologetic."
Every year Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit drums up conversation and controversy...In 2014, does any women in the issue seriously need permission to appear there?...The word "model like the word "Barbie," is often dismissed as a poseable plaything with nothing to say. And yet those featured are women who have broken barriers. established empires, built brands, branched out...Today, truly anything is possible for a girl...Pink isn't the problem. "Barbie" dolls aren't the problems. Models choosing to pose in a bikini aren't a problem. The assumption that women of any age should only be part of who they are in order to succeed is the problem.
Whether you love her or hate her, the iconic doll has certainly earned her place in history. Here are some things that will probably surprise you about the 55-year-old and change the way you see her:
1) She's got something in common with Hillary Clinton.
Drive. Check. Leadership. Check. Presidential dreams? Check. Barbie has run for president a total of six times! She first ran in the early 90s and hasn't given up since. Talk about persistence.
2) We're not really sure what her real hair color is, nowadays.
The style chameleon has had at least 50 different hair colors in her lifetime, from her signature platinum blonde, to red, brown, to yes, it would appear, white. Silver power!
3) She's still got it.
More than half a century after her creation, Barbie is still an incredibly popular toy across the globe. In 1959, 300,000 dolls were sold. Now in 2014, a Barbie doll is purchased every three seconds somewhere in the 150 countries where they are sold.
4) She likes younger men.
Barbie was created March 9, 1959. Her beau, Ken, wasn't born for another two years and two days to be exact. We'd like to think she'd be a cougar.
5) Her real name is...
In true 1950s style, Barbie's real name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. She was named after founder Ruth Handler's daughter. It was one of the most popular baby names of the 1950s.
6) She was made to promote girl power.
"My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be. Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices," creator Ruth Handler said.
Today, Barbie continues to preach girl power, trying to show girls they can be whatever they dream of becoming. In just 55 years, she's managed to have a whopping 150 careers. "Isn't it time we teach girls to celebrate who they are? Isn't there room for capable and captivating? It's time to stop boxing in potential. Be free to launch a career in a swimsuit, lead a company while gorgeous, or wear pink to an interview at MIT. The reality of today is that girls can go anywhere and be anything," Barbie said in a release.
The reality of today is that girls can go anywhere and be anything. They should celebrate who they are and never have to apologize for it.
— Barbie (@Barbie) February 22, 2014
She's tweeting up a storm and is also active on Facebook with the most followers of any doll. Ha. Take that American Girl!
8) She's the same age as...
If Barbie were a real-life person, she'd be the same age as other celebs born in 1959, like Emma Thompson, Marie Osmond, and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Wow.
9) Like any baby boomer, she's witnessed plenty of historic moments and changes in the modern era.
Barbie's life can only be described as colorful. She came into existence around the era of old-school glamour, became an astronaut during the space race, discoed her way through the 1970s, broke the "plastic ceiling" as a woman in business in the 1980s, entered politics in the 1990s, and even survived a high-profile breakup in 2004. She's gone from just a pretty face to becoming an athlete, teacher, vet, and even a Naval officer. She really has proven she won't be confined by a box.
Happy Birthday, Barbie! | – Barbie might be trying to show a brainier side, but little girls who play with the iconic dolls are learning more than anatomic impossibility: They're also lowering their career aspirations, reports Fast Company. A new study—conducted on an admittedly small scale of 37 4- to 7-year-olds who spent a few minutes playing with Doctor Barbie, Fashion Barbie, or Mrs. Potato Head—finds that when shown photos of 10 professions, only those who played with the dowdy potato emerged believing they could follow just as many career paths as boys. Those who played with either type of Barbie saw diminished career options for themselves. "Something about the type of doll, not characteristics of the participants, causes the difference in career aspirations," says study co-author Aurora Sherman. The authors, who admit deeper study is needed, theorize that girls are forming their ideas about gender roles from Barbie's sexual-yet-anatomically-impossible nature. For writer Carey Dunne, if further research could "solidly prove that Barbie's influence is a negative one, maybe Mattel would at least consent to giving the poor doll enough room for a liver." But don't think that Barbie is going the way of a super-skinny dinosaur anytime soon: Huffington Post notes that the doll turned 55 yesterday. |
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin girl stabbed 19 times, allegedly by classmates trying to please a fictional online character, has received a military Purple Heart from an anonymous donor.
The girl's family had asked that well-wishers send her purple hearts, reflecting her favorite color and shape, and the 12-year-old was inundated with paper hearts from across the country. Then one person sent her the real thing.
The girl's family said Tuesday that the medal came with a card that read: "The only heart I could find! Be strong!"
The military awards the Purple Heart to veterans wounded or killed in action.
Investigators say the girl nearly died in May after being lured to a park and attacked by two 12-year-old girls after a sleepover in Waukesha, outside Milwaukee. She's now recovering at home. ||||| The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the armed forces of the U.S. who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action. It is specifica lly a combat decoration.
The organization now known as the "Military Order of the Purple Heart," was formed in 1932 for the protection and mutual interest of all who have received the decoration. Composed exclusively of Purple Heart recipients, it is the only veterans service organization comprised strictly of “combat” veterans.
Funds for welfare, rehabilitation and/or service work carried on by the organization are derived through the collection of used household items, the operation of thrift stores, through the donation of automobiles and, at the community level, from the annual distribution of its official flower, the Purple Heart Viola. Violas are assembled by disabled and needy veterans, many of whom receive little or no compensation from other sources. Thus, your contribution to our programs serve are two-fold. First, they help the veterans who participate in these endeavors and, secondly, they enable the organization to do many things on behalf of hospitalized and needy veterans and their families.
Wives, mothers, daughters and adopted daughters of Purple Heart recipients are eligible to belong to the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, which also does important work nationally and locally in veterans' hospitals. | – Since her release from the hospital in June, the 12-year-old girl from Wisconsin who was stabbed 19 times (allegedly by two friends) in a “Slender Man”-inspired attack has received gifts and cards from all over the world—many of them made out of purple hearts, the girl’s favorite color and shape, says the AP. But one anonymous donor decided she deserved the real deal and sent the child a bona fide Purple Heart medal, accompanied by a note that simply said, “The only heart I could find—be strong!” The decoration is awarded to US servicemembers wounded or killed in action. A spokesman for the girl’s family tells ABC News that sifting through the daily deluge of well-wishes has been “therapeutic” for her. But the receipt of the Purple Heart proved exceptionally touching. “The gift really resonates with the family because they are still dealing with wounds, emotionally and physically, from the events of May 31." One person not surprised is John Scocos, secretary of Wisconsin's VA. “It does not surprise me that a decorated veteran unselfishly gave this amazingly brave and courageous little girl something from his or her heart,” he says in a statement cited by Reuters. The family thanks the donor (veteran or not), saying that they’ve “been so touched and moved by this act of kindness that they would like to personally thank the individual, publicly or privately, for the gift and for their sacrifice for our country." |
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BEIJING — Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, ordered officials across the country on Friday to avert the kind of events that led to the deaths of four children who drank pesticide this week, possibly to kill themselves, in an impoverished corner of the southwest.
The youths, three sisters and a brother between the ages of 5 and 13, were among the many “left-behind children” in China. Their father was a migrant worker who sought jobs elsewhere and had been away from home for long periods of time, while their mother had also been absent for some reason in recent years. The siblings lived in a house in Guizhou Province, one of the poorest areas in China; their village, Cizhu, is under the administration of the city of Bijie.
Because of a strict household registration system in China, many people cannot receive meaningful social benefits if they live and work outside their hometowns. So migrant workers often leave their children behind to be raised by grandparents or other relatives, because the children are not eligible for proper schooling and health care in other cities.
An initial police investigation explored the possibility that the children had committed suicide, according to state news media reports. At 11 p.m. on Tuesday, someone found the boy, 13, lying in front of his three-story home, according to a report in China Youth Daily. About 20 minutes later, local officials and health workers arrived and discovered that the boy was dying. His sisters, ages 5, 8 and 9, were nearby. The girls were brought to a hospital, but they died there.
The brief official news reports on Mr. Li’s orders had few details and did not mention when or where he had given them. The report by Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said that Mr. Li had mentioned there would be “strict punishments and severe consequences” if officials were found to be delinquent in taking care of the needy.
A district government under Bijie City announced online on Friday that two lower-level officials had been dismissed from their posts and that three others had been suspended and were under investigation. The report also said six other people would be punished after the investigation was concluded.
The China Youth Daily article said that some villagers had considered the four children introverted and had noted that the parents were often absent or would fight with each other when they were home together.
One villager, Pan Ling, told the newspaper that the children’s father, Zhang Fangqi, began working in other places in China years ago. The mother left home in 2013, Mr. Pan said. She came back to visit the children last year, and the father was home over the Lunar New Year holiday in February. But he left again two weeks after the end of the holiday to seek work, the paper reported.
On Friday, Guizhou Province published a report online that said the family had lived for years in Hainan, another southern province, before moving back to Bijie in 2011. While in Hainan, the father, Mr. Zhang, and his wife, Ren Xifen, beat the children, the report said. The beatings by the father were so brutal that the arm of the son, Zhang Qigang, was dislocated on one occasion, and his ears were torn, the report said. After the couple moved back, Mr. Zhang regularly beat Ms. Ren, and she ended up in the hospital at least once, the report said.
When the couple left Bijie separately, the boy took care of his three sisters and the family’s pigs. Local officials and other villagers said the family was more prosperous than others in the area. The parents had saved some money from government benefits, and their home was worth about $16,000, the official report said. But one relative told The Paper, an investigative news organization, that the family had no money and that the children had to grind corn to eat the flour because they were so poor.
After 2013, when both parents left Bijie, the four children’s personalities changed, the report said. They would stay in their home with the door locked and not open it even when relatives tried visiting, the report said.
Mr. Zhang and Ms. Ren could not be reached for comment on Friday.
In November 2012, five boys died in a trash bin in Bijie after they sought shelter there from the cold. They had started a fire with charcoal inside to warm themselves and died from carbon monoxide poisoning. ||||| Police investigating the deaths of four Chinese children who drank pesticide after being abandoned by their migrant worker parents say they have found a suicide note near the eldest victim’s body.
“Thanks for your kindness. I know you mean well for us, but we should go now,” the note said, according to the state-run China News Service.
The four siblings, a boy and three girls aged five to 14, were found dead on Tuesday at their home in a rural village outside the city of Bijie in Guizhou, one of China’s poorest provinces.
Initial reports suggested they had poisoned themselves after their parents abandoned them and left the village to find work elsewhere.
There are an estimated 60 million “left behind” children in China, who are often put into the care of elderly relatives or unsupervised when their parents migrate to the cities looking for work.
The mother of the four children returned to the village on Friday from Guangdong province, China’s manufacturing heartland, where she had been working in a toy factory.
“I did not shoulder my responsibility for them,” Ren Xifen, 32, told China’s official Xinhua news agency, after arriving home to see her children’s bodies before their cremation.
“I have truly failed them,” she added, according to the China Youth Daily newspaper. “How I wish I could go with them.”
Ren admitted she had left them behind in early 2014 after a dispute with her husband involving domestic violence. “I didn’t dare not go home,” she said.
In March this year, the siblings found themselves completely alone after their father also left the village. “I am illiterate and cannot even write my own name. I wanted them to perform well in school, unlike me, living a hard life,” Ren said.
State-controlled media outlets have sought to downplay the government’s possible responsibility for the tragedy, but at least two local officials have been sacked.
Facing public outrage over the deaths, China’s prime minister, Li Keqiang, was forced to step in on Friday to promise an urgent inquiry. “Such a tragedy cannot be allowed to happen again,” he said.
Investigating officers have determined it was a mass suicide, Xinhua reported on Saturday, citing the letter police said they had found at the children’s home. Liu Xin, a senior police officer, told the China News Service his team had used handwriting analysis to determine that the couple’s 14-year-old son had written the note.
“I made a vow that I wouldn’t live over the age of 15,” the note said, according to the news agency. “I’m 14 now. I dream about death, and yet that dream never comes true. Today it must finally come true.”
Chinese bloggers reacted to claims about the existence of a suicide note with suspicion. “It is still uncertain whether there is a note or whether its contents have been tampered with,” Xu Xin, a law professor from the Beijing Institute of Technology, wrote on Weibo, China’s equivalent to Twitter.
The deaths are the second tragedy involving “left behind” children in Bijie in recent years. In 2012, five young boys from the same area died after lighting a fire in a dustbin inside which they had taken shelter from the cold.
Additional reporting by Luna Lin ||||| GUIYANG, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Friday marked a grim, tear-filled reunion for Ren Xifen and her four children, who died last week after drinking pesticide in southwest China's Guizhou province.
Ren, 32, returned to her hometown of Cizhu village in Qixingguan District, Bijie City, to visit the bodies of her children on Friday, after working and living in south China's Guangdong province for more than a year.
Her children, aged 5 to 13, died after swallowing pesticide on Tuesday in their home in Bijie, one of the poorest areas in the mountainous province. The police determined it was a mass suicide. The bodies were cremated on Friday.
Ren admits she made only one phone call to her husband and children shortly after arriving in Guangdong in March 2014. Since then, she has not contacted the children.
"I did not shoulder my responsibility for them. I had to come back for a final look at them," Ren said in an interview with Xinhua on Friday.
"If there were one more chance, I would have made proper arrangements for them at any cost."
A government employee who accompanied Ren to the visitation said she had been weeping most of the day.
Ren left home to work at a toy plant in Guangdong after a long and bitter dispute with her husband Zhang Fangqi. Zhang moved away from the village in March this year, leaving the children behind.
Local officials have been searching for him in Guangdong following the children's deaths.
Ren said she had high expectations for her only son, the oldest of the siblings.
"He was very lovable. Everyone liked him," Ren recalled, describing him as diligent.
"I am illiterate and cannot even write my own name. I wanted them to perform well in school, unlike me, living a hard life."
But the frequent quarrels between Ren and her husband disrupted family life. Ren said she had not returned to see the children for fear of being beaten by her husband, although she missed them very much.
While investigating the deaths, police found a note from the son which read "thanks for your kindness, but it is time for us to go..."
China has more than 60 million children in rural areas who are left to live with relatives, usually grandparents, as the country's urbanization drive draws millions of parents away from their rural homes to cities for work.
It has become such a common occurrence that they are now referred to as "left-behind children".
In the case of Ren's family, no grandparents were still alive to watch the children, so they were left to fend for themselves, receiving money remitted from the father to a bank account entrusted to the oldest child.
Such arrangements are not uncommon. According to a 2013 report released by the All-China Women's Federation, nearly 3.4 percent of all left-behind children live alone, often falling victims to tragedies such as suicide and human traffickers.
"I hope my family's tragedy will not occur again. If parents take care of their children and guide them, such tragedies will not happen," Ren said.
In 2012, five street children - also from Bijie - died of carbon monoxide poisoning after burning charcoal for warmth in a roadside dumpster.
The unfortunate incident reflects the lack of adequate parental care and social services for thousands of left-behind children.
Following the news of the most recent deaths, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged strengthened supervision on relevant affairs, calling on government departments responsible to do solid and meticulous work in caring for those in need.
Li said such tragedies should not happen over and over again, and negligent officials should be held accountable.
Several local officials have been fired or suspended because of the latest tragedy. | – Four children who fatally drank pesticide last week in China were apparently abandoned by their parents, and investigators now report they found a suicide note near the body of the oldest child, per the Guardian. The youngsters, whose ages ranged from 5 to 13 or 14, were said to have been distraught after their parents left them in their rural home in one of China's poorest provinces, while they sought work in urban areas. "I dream about death, and yet that dream never comes true," China News Service says the note read, per the Guardian. "Today it must finally come true." Meanwhile, China Premier Li Keqiang has demanded an inquiry, proclaiming "such a tragedy cannot be allowed to happen again." The Guardian notes there are about 60 million of these "left behind" children in China, abandoned when their parents leave them with relatives or on their own so they can find work in cities. The New York Times points out China's rigid social-benefits system, which prevents children from receiving certain benefits, like health care and schooling, if they live outside their hometowns. In the case of these four children, their mother was said to be working in a toy factory in Guangdong province and had been afraid to come home for at least a year due to past domestic violence incidents, per both the Guardian and Xinhua; the Times cites a government report that says the kids were beaten by both parents, and that the father also "regularly" beat the mother. The father left the family home in March to find work elsewhere, the Guardian notes. The children's mother came back to see her children's bodies before they were cremated Friday and told Xinhua that "I did not shoulder my responsibility for them," adding to the China Youth Daily newspaper that "I have truly failed them. How I wish I could go with them." |
It’s official: The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union.
On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May submitted notice to the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, that her country would be departing his union under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. This marks the formal beginning of EU and UK negotiations over what the British and EU relationship will look like after Britain leaves. If the negotiations don’t produce any agreement, then the UK will simply be kicked out of all EU agreements — including, most notably, the EU’s internal free trade and free migration agreements.
That outcome, often referred to as a “hard Brexit,” would be a disaster. Many of the 3.5 million EU citizens living in the UK would no longer be sure if they could legally remain in Britain. The British economy would be at serious risk: About 44 percent of British exports go to the EU, so new UK-EU trade barriers could well cause a new British recession.
So what’s about to happen is two years of intense negotiations to try to avoid that outcome. The goal will be to develop a compromise deal on key controversies, like migration, that would allow for a “soft Brexit” — one in which the UK retains some access to the EU’s single market.
But the EU and the UK are starting very far apart, with diametrically opposed goals on the fundamental issues. And because all 27 remaining EU countries and the European Parliament need to agree to a final deal, there are all sorts of reasons it could get vetoed. A ton of unpredictable events, ranging from the French far-right candidate winning a presidential election to Donald Trump offering Britain a trade deal, could upend the negotiations entirely between now and 2018.
The point, in short, is that Britain has just armed the clock on a ticking time bomb. And nobody knows if it will be defused.
What we know is about to happen
Now that Prime Minister May has officially given notice to Tusk, the next step is to begin negotiations about the negotiations. In about a month, the UK and EU will formally sit down to come to terms on how the negotiations will work.
“Most of the formal stuff that will be agreed upon in the big meetings has already been penciled in,” Tim Oliver, an expert on the EU at the London School of Economics, tells me. “But that doesn’t mean they can overcome the sticking points about what issues to consider, what order to consider them, and so forth.”
Ultimately, Oliver believes, “nothing substantive” will be agreed upon until after the French presidential election in April and the German parliamentary election in late September. That’s because the French and Germans are, by far, the two most important EU member states. Without a firm sense of who their leaders will be in the coming years, it will be impossible to know what terms the EU might agree to.
After these elections, the real negotiating will begin. The EU and UK will need to come to agreements on the final terms of the UK’s departure from the EU. Some key issues include:
Whether the UK will receive any kind of free trade deal with the EU, or whether it will simply be treated like any other country, subject to the tariffs permitted by World Trade Organization rules
Whether British financial services, a vital part of both the UK and EU economies, will be permitted to continue operating without restriction on the continent
Whether the UK will continue to permit unrestricted migration of EU citizens (other than Croatians) into the UK, which it currently does as part of the European Economic Area, and vice versa
What rights current EU citizens living in the UK will have to remain and continue working in the UK, and vice versa
Whether the UK will continue to abide by the huge number of EU regulations and laws, and continue to submit to the European Court of Justice on trade disputes with EU states
Once those issues are substantively agreed to, the UK and EU will need to work out a transition plan. If the final deal limits UK access to European markets, for example, they will need to work out how many years it will be before European tariffs on British goods go up. If EU migration to the UK is going to be restricted, they’ll need to figure out when the UK is allowed to start applying those restrictions and how strict their migration limits can be in the near term.
The transition issue is important because the UK and the EU are deeply linked. UK products, for example, are currently built according to EU regulations. If the UK isn’t going to be governed by those rules anymore, UK companies will need some time to adjust — to redesign their products for a more heavily non-European market.
If the UK and the EU Commission, the EU’s executive branch, manage to come to an agreement about all of this, things still aren’t done. Every EU member state then needs to agree to this final arrangement, as does a majority of the European Parliament.
Theoretically, the two-year provision of Article 50 creates an incentive for this to get negotiated quickly, as a hard Brexit benefits no one.
“It would certainly be a worse economic problem for the UK than the EU, but it would be a very bad economic problem for the EU,” Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, says.
But at the same time, it’s very plausible that a deal won’t be made within that time. The EU is too large and bureaucratic, and the number of veto points too large, for something this complex to be resolved quickly.
“One of the most difficult things in these negotiations is the fact that even if the EU wanted now to do a good deal with the UK, it almost certainly couldn’t do it within those two years,” Oliver says. “The EU isn’t equipped, really, to negotiate a speedy exit.”
If two years pass without a deal being reached, the EU and Britain may jointly decide to temporarily extend all existing EU agreements with Britain — making it an EU country in all but name — until final status negotiations are finished. That means we could be at the beginning of a very, very long negotiating process.
Britain and the EU want opposite things
The best way to think about the negotiations is a kind of push-pull over three main issues: migration, trade, and sovereignty.
The Schengen Agreement requires that every EU country agree to let citizens of other EU countries live and work within its borders. This led to a large influx of EU migrants to the UK, especially after poorer post-communist countries joined the EU in 2004.
Backlash to this immigration was a key driving force behind the Brexit referendum’s success; 62 percent of "Leave" voters, according to a poll of 12,000 Britons, said that immigration was "a force for ill" in the UK. Prime Minister May vowed, in a January 2017 speech outlining her Brexit policy, to “get control of the number of people coming to Britain from the EU.”
Another key reason for Brexit was frustration with EU control over British laws. Leave voters saw EU institutions, like the European Court of Justice, as limiting British control over vital concerns like industry regulations. May vowed in her Brexit speech that “we will take back control of our laws and bring an end to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in Britain.”
Yet at the same time, the UK wants to maintain its access to the EU common market, arguably the key benefit to remaining in the EU. It wants the economic privileges of remaining in the EU without the politically controversial international laws and permissive migration rules.
It’s a sort of “have our cake and eat it too” demand, and the EU is having none of it.
“The EU has been very strongly signaling that they’re just not going to give access to the common market without the free movement of labor,” Shapiro says. “That would really damage the very central notion of the common market, and it would also give incentives for other countries to ask for all kinds of opt-outs.”
Which means the EU arguably has an incentive to make Brexit as painful a process as possible.
Public opinion has swung against the EU since the Great Recession and subsequent eurozone economic crisis. Right-wing populist movements — all of which are deeply hostile to the EU — are rising around the continent. The EU needs to explain why these populists are wrong — to show that if a country leaves the EU, it will suffer. If it lets Britain leave with a sweetheart deal, then far-right politicians in countries like Greece and France could argue that they could depart the EU with ease. If more countries do leave, the whole union could theoretically start to unravel.
So a deal that’s really good for the UK economy and popular with UK voters is objectively bad for the future of the European Union. That means the two sides are starting very far apart.
Ultimately, the only way to avoid a painful, hard Brexit will be for both sides to compromise somewhat — to come to mutually acceptable agreements on migration, sovereignty, and trade. This isn’t terribly complex as a matter of policy: One could imagine some kind of compromise where Britain retains favorable trade rights with the EU and agrees to give EU immigrants special rights in Britain. But politically, such an agreement would involve painful compromises for both sides, meaning that even successful negotiations will likely be fraught and angry for a time.
“I can see a real crunch where both sides reach an impasse, and they have to back off — take a significant break,” Oliver says. “It’s not so much complex [policy]; it’s political willingness by both sides to agree to certain ideas.”
There are many ways this whole thing could go sideways
To add to the fundamental difficulty of the negotiations, there are lots of events outside of the Brexit process that could change the dynamics of entire negotiation.
The first, and most obvious, is the upcoming French election. It’s possible, the polling data suggests, that far-right populist Marine Le Pen could win the presidency. Not likely — most polls have her losing to her top rival, Emmanuel Macron, by a fairly large margin — but still possible.
Le Pen is staunchly anti-EU; her campaign is promising to take France off the euro within six months of victory. If she wins, then one of the most powerful countries in the EU will have become fundamentally hostile to the institution, shifting the internal balance of power in the EU in a way that’s likely to strengthen Britain’s bargaining position.
“Everything ... completely goes out the window if Marine Le Pen is elected,” Shapiro says. “It completely changes the incentives of what’s, right now, the most hard-line [anti] Brexit state — and obviously one of the most powerful actors in the EU.”
There’s also the not-small matter of the United States. Donald Trump has repeatedly endorsed the UK vote to leave, even referring to himself as “Mr. Brexit” during the campaign. If he were to offer the UK a favorable free trade deal with the US upon its departure from the EU, that could lessen the economic pain of Brexit considerably — and strengthen Britain’s negotiating hand by making a hard Brexit more palatable for the UK.
On the EU’s side, there’s the not-insignificant matter of the United Kingdom’s viability as a country. The UK is technically made up of four separate “countries” — England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland — that currently function more like US states. Yet Scotland and Northern Ireland both voted to stay in the EU, and political leaders in both countries have threatened to leave the UK as a result of Brexit.
Of the two, Scotland is the more pressing problem. The most popular party there is the pro-independence Scottish National Party; just one day before the official Article 50 announcement, Scotland’s parliament passed a vote in favor of holding (another) referendum on Scottish independence. This puts pressure on May to come to some kind of deal that preserves a stronger relationship with the EU.
“It’s the issue of Scottish independence, and another referendum, that genuinely does scare Theresa May — because she does not want to be the prime minister that loses Scotland and sees the breakup of the United Kingdom,” Oliver says.
Finally, you add on top of that all the different incentives of the EU’s 27 member states. While many are likely to agree to whatever agreement the UK and the European Commission arrive at, some might not. Spain, for instance, is using the vote to stake a claim to Gibraltar — a peninsula on Spain’s southern coast long controlled by Britain. Poland and Hungary are run by deeply euroskeptical parties who might push for a deal that weakens the EU as an organization.
The point, then, is that this is an immensely complicated negotiation with a ton of moving parts. Not only are the two main parties involved very far apart on the core points of disagreement, but there are lots of other actors who have the ability to throw a monkey wrench into the proceedings.
That means the odds of the worst possible outcome — a hard Brexit — are higher than you might think. Not inevitable, or even necessarily likely, as nobody really wants it. Rather, it’s just that the negotiations are so involved that any number of unforeseeable things could end up dooming them.
“Some people thought, actually, Brexit’s not really gonna happen; she [May] wants a soft Brexit,” Oliver says. “But this has been in the cards for a while. People are slowly waking up to this.”
CORRECTION: This article originally identified the UK as part of the EU’s Schengen Agreement. Free movement between the UK and (most) EU countries is instead provided for under the European Economic Area. ||||| 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 ||||| Donald Tusk has accepted Theresa May's Article 50 letter and Britain has begun the process of leaving the EU.
The President of the European Council said in his statement to Britain: "we already miss you. Thank you and goodbye".
Many Remainers on social media became emotional at the EU's reaction to Brexit.
Among these was JK Rowling, who tweeted: "When your ex is so noble about the break up you'd almost rather they threw a drink in your face".
Others commented on the farewell statement Mr Tusk made: ||||| Reuters Soon, the Union Jack won’t be flying at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels.
LONDON (MarketWatch) — It was a quiet, low-key moment, with little drama or fanfare. At 12:30 today, Sir Tim Barrow, Britain’s permanent representative to the European Union, left a routine meeting of EU ambassadors to personally deliver a letter on behalf of the British government to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council.
Article 50, which will begin the two-year process of leaving the EU, was finally triggered.
But the lack of ceremony should not obscure the importance of the moment. In truth, triggering Article 50 will change both Britain and the European Union profoundly. It will strengthen the U.K. economy, while also accelerating its decoupling from the rest of Europe. It will make the EU work better, and perhaps even rescue the euro EURUSD, -0.0176% , yet also make it as lesser force in the world.
And it will accelerate the shift of power away from the Atlantic towards the Pacific. The final verdict of history remains to be seen, of course — but after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, it may turn to be the second major geopolitical event of the 21st century.
In the months ahead, there will be a huge amount of attention devoted to the minute details of the divorce settlement. How much will Britain have to pay before it can leave, and what kind of share will it get of the assets it has built up over the 40 years of its membership? What kind of access will it have to the Single Market, and on what terms? Will European companies still be able to sell their products tariff-free in Britain?
At times, there will be bitter and unpleasant rows. In the end, the chances are that no deal will be reached, at least within the two-year time frame, and Britain will end up trading with Europe on the same basis as South Korea or Japan.
In time, however, as with any divorce, all that will be forgotten, and both sides to the separation will go their separate ways, and forge their own future. So, measured over decades rather than months or years, what difference will the U.K. leaving make?
Here are three big trends to watch.
First, the British economy will be stronger — but different. The consensus among the economic establishment that Brexit would fatally weaken the U.K. has turned out to be as misguided as most elite opinion. In fact, Britain seems to have emerged so far in slightly better shape. A major currency devaluation has helped its struggling export industries. Companies are still investing — only this week, Qatar sunk another £5 billion into the country.
The economy is still growing. Some jobs and industries will be lost, but others will be gained — and net-net, Britain will come out slightly ahead.
What will happen is that the economy will change. There are many reasons why the U.K. is leaving the EU, but one of them is that its economy has been drifting away from the rest of the continent for a long time already. The EU accounts for 44% of its exports, down from 55% a decade ago — an incredibly rapid decline, given the normally glacial pace at which trade flows change.
Leaving the EU is going to accelerate that. Expect that trade share to go down to 30% or less in the decade ahead. Expect as well for Britain to become a lower tax, lighter regulation commercial hub. The U.K. will never be the Singapore of Europe that some of the Brexit champions hope for. Even leaving aside the greyer skies, it is too big for that. But it will be something a lot closer to it.
Second, the EU will be more unified — but also diminished. In the wake of the vote, many thought it might just be the first country to leave. Unless there is a surprise victory for Marine Le Pen in France, that does not look very likely now — and the likely winner of that election, Emmanuel Macron, is a strong champion of closer integration.
In fact, the U.K.’s departure appears to have made the rest of the continent appreciate the Union even more. And with the U.K. gone, it will lose a truculent opponent of deeper sovereignty. The EU is likely to stride forward to something far closer to a single state — which, as it happens, is exactly what the euro needs if it is to survive. In that sense, the EU will be stronger.
That said, it will also be a smaller entity. Keep in mind that Britian, on current trends, will overtake Germany as Europe’s biggest economy by the 2030s. An EU that doesn’t include the continent’s biggest nation — and its most powerful military capability — can’t really claim to speak for the whole of Europe. It will just represent one part of it — and that is smaller claim.
Finally, real power will now be negotiated between the United States and China. For much of the last 60 years, the EU has aspired to be a genuine superpower. At least some of its champions explicitly saw it as rivalling and indeed replacing the U.S. as the major force in the world — that was part of the thinking behind creating a single currency that could rival the dollar.
Without the U.K., that is not going to happen now. Instead, it will left to the U.S. and China to vie with one another for global dominance. That will be the only genuine geopolitical conflict of any real importance. A small, less important EU will ensure that the story of the 21st century will be determined by what happens in the Pacific.
Europe and the Atlantic will be a sideshow — an interesting sideshow, to be sure, but a sideshow all the same.
What happens over two-year divorce negotiations does not matter that much. The rows will be forgotten fairly quickly. Over the medium term, both the U.K. and the EU will be very different after this week — and that process has a long, long way to run. ||||| 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. ||||| Magnus Bergström/KAW Foundation
When the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union on 23 June last year, the decision triggered a period of intense soul-searching and uncertainty, not least for a research community with strong and long-standing financial and social links to the continent. Worries about science funding, residency rights and even about racist attacks took root in laboratories across the country.
But the vote also marked the beginning of a phoney war: little of substance could be done or said by the government until it triggered the previously obscure ‘Article 50’ clause, in the EU’s governing treaty, to start the official process of leaving (see 'A slow divorce'). On 29 March, Theresa May will do just that. Nature has spoken to eight people whose lives have been changed by the ‘leave’ vote, to see what their experiences tell us about how science will progress, post-Brexit.
Simone Immler: I’m moving to Britain, despite Brexit
Ian Chapman: I spend half of my time dealing with Brexit
Gerry Gilmore: I’m probably out of a job, but my concern is for the next generation
Jernej Ule: I may leave the UK — if I have to
Marino Zerial: Come to Germany, where funding is good
Anna Scaife: All we have left is uncertainty
Mike Galsworthy: Scientists need to offer their vision for Brexit
Dominic Shellard: Now is not the time for academics to feel powerless
I’m moving to Britain, despite Brexit
Simone Immler, evolutionary biologist, Uppsala University, Sweden
On 10 June last year, Immler interviewed for her dream job, a permanent position studying the evolution of sex, at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, UK. Immler, who is Swiss, and her Israeli husband both run labs at Uppsala University — but the UEA was dangling a pair of positions in front of them.
Then, two weeks later, the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU. “We said, ‘This can’t be true’,” Immler recalls. But after reassurance from friends in the United Kingdom that the nation would still be welcoming to immigrants, she and her husband, evolutionary biologist Alexei Maklakov, decided to make the leap. Their family moved to the United Kingdom this month.
Despite uncertainties over the outcome of Article 50 negotiations, Immler is taking a ‘glass-half-full’ perspective. She hopes that the United Kingdom will follow the example of Israel, a non-EU country that pays into funding bodies such as the European Research Council, from which both she and her husband receive support. She will maintain a lab in Uppsala for another year, so that graduate students and postdocs can continue their projects there. But as a former postdoc at the University of Sheffield, UK, she knows the benefits of free movement across Europe, and worries that she will struggle to draw graduate students and postdocs from a large pool of young scientists.
“I’m generally optimistic,” Immler says. “It would have to come to extreme measures for us to leave again. Life would have to become very difficult for non-Brits in Britain, and we’re still hopefully quite far from that.”
I spend half of my time dealing with Brexit
Ian Chapman, chief executive officer, Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Abingdon, UK
UK Atomic Energy Authority
The morning after the United Kingdom’s referendum on its membership in the EU, as other staff at the UK national laboratory for fusion-energy research walked around in a daze, Chapman was hastily making plans. His interview for a job to head the centre — which hosts the EU-funded Joint European Torus (JET) — was just days away, and the centre’s future was suddenly up in the air. “I’d made a load of preparations for things I wanted to say, and then I summarily had to rip them all up and start again,” he says.
Chapman got the job. He is now tasked with leading JET through the tumult and managing a skittish staff of around 550. The physicist estimates that at least half of his time is spent dealing with the impact of Brexit.
His main goal is to keep JET — a facility that holds the world record for fusion power — running beyond the end of its current contract in December 2018. Another is to maintain the United Kingdom’s involvement in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in southern France, for which JET is a test bed. Both tasks got harder in January, when the UK government announced that, as part of the country’s withdrawal from the EU, it would also pull out of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), the body that distributes EU fusion funding and manages the United Kingdom’s membership of ITER.
A slow divorce The months after the UK vote to leave the European Union have been a rollercoaster for scientists. 23 June 2016 United Kingdom votes to leave the EU. 18 November House of Commons science select committee says that all EU researchers living in the United Kingdom should be given the right to stay. 21 November UK government promises extra £2 billion (US$2.5 billion) per year in research and development spending by 2020. 17 January 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May lists “science and innovation” as 1 of 12 priorities in Brexit negotiations. 24 January Supreme Court rules that Parliament must vote on Brexit. 26 January Physicists shocked when government says that leaving the EU will also mean leaving the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). 16 March Bill allowing government to trigger Article 50 is passed. 29 March UK government is expected to trigger Article 50.
The decision wasn’t a complete surprise, says Chapman. But it came without warning or an obvious plan for how to maintain the United Kingdom’s fusion programme after the nation leaves Euratom. Chapman is now collecting data to help the government to work out the implications of various ways forward, which range from becoming an associate member of Euratom to funding an independent programme of research.
He also fills his hours by settling staff members’ nerves. Scientists at JET are preparing for a 2019 dress rehearsal of a fuel mix that ITER will eventually use, which should see JET break its own fusion record — but it may never happen. Routine negotiations to extend JET’s contract are on ice.
The uncertainty has not yet triggered a mass exodus, says Chapman, but some top-level staff members have accepted positions elsewhere, and candidates have rejected job offers, citing questions over JET’s future.
Despite these uncertainties, Chapman thinks that the government understands what is at stake and says that it has been responsive. But the United Kingdom’s fusion community needs a concrete signal from the government — and soon. “There’s a time window beyond which the disquiet will ratchet up, and we will start to haemorrhage capacity,” says Chapman. “That will be hugely damaging, for us as an organization and for the entire fusion community.”
I’m probably out of a job, but my concern is for the next generation
Gerry Gilmore, experimental philosopher, University of Cambridge, UK
Gerry Gilmore
Brexit is likely to put Gilmore out of one of his jobs. As scientific coordinator of Opticon, EU's Optical Infrared Coordination Network for Astronomy, he plans to hand control of the centre to an institution in an EU member state.
“It’s not even a question of us making that decision,” he says. “The UK government made the decision. Now, every grant coordinated from the UK has to leave.”
Opticon makes telescope time available to scientists across Europe and develops telescope technology, including real-time observation, electronic controls and superfast cameras. Because the consortium is funded by the European Union, Gilmore fears that the United Kingdom will lose access to the brain power that it needs to stay ahead in a competitive field.
Opticon also helps to set the long-term strategic agenda of telescope-based research and infrastructure across the EU, and Gilmore worries that the United Kingdom will soon have little say in such matters.
Gilmore’s European Research Council grant is also on the line as a result of Brexit, but his main concerns lie with young researchers. He fears that the next generation of UK scientists will have to shape their careers in a greatly diminished environment, as will European researchers who could lose access to UK universities.
Universities such as Cambridge also stand to lose funding if no deal granting them access to Horizon 2020, the European Commission’s research-funding programme, is negotiated. Opticon received €8.5 million (US$9.2 million) from the EU between 2013 and 2016 alone. Even if the UK government tops up national research funding to compensate for the loss of European programmes, Gilmore says, it can never replace the inspiration that British scientists gain from working with European colleagues.
“It’s simple — if the UK leaves the EU, its scientists leave,” he says. “It’s just an incredibly stupid decision.”
I may leave the UK — if I have to
Jernej Ule, molecular biologist, Francis Crick Institute, London
Marcus Rockoff/MPI-IE
Later this year, Ule’s laboratory will welcome a rare specimen — a Brit. The rest of his team hail from Switzerland, Spain, France, Italy, elsewhere in Europe and beyond, and Ule is a Slovenian citizen who has lived in the United Kingdom for a decade. “My identity is European, not Slovenian or English,” he says. “I don’t want to choose countries — it’s a bit too narrow for how I work.”
Last August, Ule’s group was among the first to move into the Francis Crick Institute, a gleaming new £700-million ($880-million) super-lab in central London. The researchers still feel a buzz when they arrive for work, but “when it comes to Brexit, the conversation turns a bit gloomy”, Ule says.
Brexit’s threat to freedom of movement is a hot topic in the lab, as is continued access to EU funding. Half of the group receives money from the European Research Council, and Ule fears the financial hit if the United Kingdom loses access to EU research funding after Brexit. But even if national funders make up the lost cash, Ule says, vying with Europe’s top researchers for EU grants also helps the lab to stay at the cutting edge. “National funding agencies don’t care if you’re the second best, as long as you’re the best in the UK,” he says.
Ule doesn’t plan to leave Britain, but says that could change if a ‘hard Brexit’ — which may put an end to EU citizens’ easy passage to and from the country — puts limits on the openness he feels his lab represents. “If it’s something that goes against my principles, then I would consider going elsewhere.”
Come to Germany, where funding is good
Marino Zerial, director, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
MPI-CBG
Brexit could be a boon for European research, at least in the short term, predicts Zerial. “The UK is becoming less attractive to do research, and so more people are going to consider countries in mainland Europe — particularly Germany, where the funding is so good.”
Germany’s research and development spending relative to its gross domestic product is among the highest in Europe.
Zerial expects to see an increase in applications to the large, international graduate school that is jointly run by his institute with the Technical University of Dresden, as well as in applications for postdoc and group-leader positions. “It’ll be to our benefit.”
But Brexit will hurt European science in the long run, he says. “When you lose an important piece of the European science landscape like the UK, it makes the European community weaker.”
He worries that there could be fewer funding opportunities in the United Kingdom for collaborative research with institutes in mainland Europe — and that remaining opportunities might face much more bureaucracy. “European Union funding, whatever its weaknesses, supports loads of projects, and the community treasures very much the collaborations involved,” he says.
All we have left is uncertainty
Anna Scaife, astrophysicist, University of Manchester, UK
SKA Organisation
“People treat you differently now,” says Scaife. Since the referendum, her European colleagues have been wary about starting new collaborations, owing to the uncertainty that now hangs over potential projects with UK citizens.
This cautiousness extends to both sides. Scaife and her colleagues are hesitant to participate in EU calls for proposals. She fears that she might become a liability to her colleagues’ applications to Horizon 2020, because of the extra risk of having a British institution on board. “That would be the worst thing — to see a project lose, and worry that you might be responsible,” she says.
Brexit is a constant topic of discussion in Scaife’s department, which works closely with many European organizations, including CERN, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland, and the Atacama Large Millimetre Array in Chile, an international facility run in large part by the European Southern Observatory. Without access to EU funding and the expertise of European colleagues, Scaife worries that the United Kingdom will be sidelined in future projects. “Our networks, our contacts will continue to be able to collaborate. All we have left is uncertainty.”
But what hurts Scaife most is seeing European colleagues being made to feel unwelcome in their UK home. Some areas of greater Manchester voted ‘leave’ by a large margin, and since the referendum, many international researchers have been subjected to anti-European and anti-immigrant abuse, she says. “These people contribute to the intellectual capital of our country, so it is hard to understand that hostility. And colleagues find it very distressing.”
For Scaife, the idea that extra spending from the UK government could make up for shortfalls in EU funding and the loss of the United Kingdom’s welcoming culture is preposterous. She says that collaboration is the lubricant that drives the nation’s ideas machine. Without access to the brightest people, and without creating a positive environment for European scientists, she warns, the United Kingdom is playing a dangerous game of isolationism.
Scientists need to offer their vision for Brexit
Mike Galsworthy, co-founder, Scientists for EU
Gavin Black Photography
On the night of the Brexit referendum, Galsworthy watched the results come in from the ‘Britain Stronger In Europe’ campaign war room. A former research-policy analyst, Galsworthy had co-founded Scientists for EU to ensure that scientists’ voices were prominent in campaign efforts to persuade Britons to vote ‘remain’. When he returned from a television interview around midnight, after the results had begun to swing pro-Brexit, the mood had grown decidedly grimmer, Galsworthy says — “and it stayed grimmer”.
Galsworthy, who works full time for Scientists for EU, was ready for the outcome. “My main concern was to document what this means for the UK science community,” he says. Within a few weeks, Scientists for EU had collected more than 400 complaints from the research community: infrastructure and hiring freezes, foreigners turning down jobs in the United Kingdom — “dozens of stories of impact”, Galsworthy says.
Despite being on the losing side of the referendum, Galsworthy considers that his campaign to give scientists a louder voice has been successful. Before the 2015 general election, science was not on the political agenda, he says. “Science is certainly on the political radar now.” The UK government has tried to address scientists’ concerns by announcing £2 billion ($2.5 billion) per year of new funding for research by 2020, and guaranteeing support of existing EU research grants, also up to 2020, that might be jeopardized by Brexit.
But more broadly, the government has tarnished the United Kingdom’s image in the eyes of many scientists in Britain and beyond, Galsworthy says. Researchers’ concerns were not alleviated when Prime Minister Theresa May said, in a recent speech, “If you believe you're a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere.”
“This was something that doubled down on the hurt of Brexit and the fracturing that it caused, and went straight to the identity of the science community,” says Galsworthy. “She was oblivious.”
With the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU still deeply uncertain, he now hopes to galvanize researchers to offer their own vision for what science in the United Kingdom and Europe should look like. Brexit, he maintains, is an existential threat to the region’s role as a global hub for science — “unless we can be smart enough to sidestep this”.
Now is not the time for academics to feel powerless
Dominic Shellard, vice-chancellor, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
Andy Gotts
The morning after the UK voted to leave the EU, Shellard called a meeting at De Montfort University. A thousand people turned up at just a few hours’ notice.
“There were lots of very distressed people,” he says. “There were staff who were in tears. One Polish student asked me whether I could write him a letter. I said, ‘What do you need a letter for?’. He said ‘I’m going home to Poland this weekend and I need a letter to give to the border guards at Heathrow to let me back into the country.’”
Like many university vice-chancellors in the United Kingdom, Shellard does not want the nation to leave the EU. As in other UK universities, significant percentages of his staff, his students and his research funding come from the EU. In the wake of the vote, the university sector has been wracked with nerves about all three of these elements being damaged.
Whereas some vice-chancellors have taken to writing to newspapers or issuing pleas for protection, Shellard launched a campaign he called #LoveInternational, to reassure existing and potential staff and students from the EU, as well as to protect their residency rights.
His tactics included holding a 24-hour vigil in support of EU staff and students — and more broadly against intolerance globally. Shellard also toured Europe, talking to concerned people in Nicosia, Warsaw, Stockholm, Vilnius and Berlin.
Similar to many in academia, Shellard stresses the need for universities to obtain certainty on three key issues: the rights of EU nationals residing in the United Kingdom, the status of EU students at UK universities, and European research funding. However, he doubts that universities will be at the top of the government’s priority list now that negotiations are starting.
His message to the academic community is this: instead of waiting for someone else to do something, “You can make a difference. You can engage. You mustn’t feel impotent.” ||||| Photo
LONDON — Only hours before Britain is to embark on its momentous journey out of the European Union, Scotland’s Parliament on Tuesday underscored one of the risks along that path by voting to demand a new referendum on Scottish independence.
By a vote of 69 to 59, members of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh approved plans to request a referendum on independence that could take place just before Britain completes its withdrawal from the European Union, a process known as Brexit.
That timing has already been rejected by Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, who must agree to any legally binding referendum on Scotland’s future.
Nevertheless, the Scottish Parliament’s vote sets the stage for a constitutional tussle between London and Edinburgh, and it illustrates the far-reaching, and destabilizing, consequences of Britain’s divisive decision in June to withdraw from the European Union. In that referendum, 52 percent of voters chose to leave the European Union.
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But Scotland voted, 62 percent to 38 percent, to remain in the bloc, illustrating a divergence between Scottish and English politics that poses an existential risk to Britain. In Northern Ireland, too, a majority voted to remain in the European Union, amid fears that a withdrawal could weaken the peace process there.
The Scottish vote came on the eve of a historic day for a British government intent on disentangling itself from more than four decades of European integration.
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On Wednesday, Mrs. May is expected to send formal notification of Britain’s desire to leave the bloc by invoking Article 50 of its governing treaty.
Late Tuesday, Mrs. May’s office issued a photograph of the prime minister signing the letter; its delivery will start the clock on a negotiation scheduled to last two years. During that time, Mrs. May aims to agree to divorce terms and to negotiate a new economic relationship with the countries that remain in the European Union.
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In a speech that she is expected to deliver on Wednesday, she will argue that as Britons “face the opportunities ahead of us on this momentous journey, our shared values, interests and ambitions can — and must — bring us together,” according to excerpts issued by her office.
Mrs. May will also promise that, in negotiations, she will “represent every person in the whole United Kingdom,” including citizens of countries in the European Union who have made Britain their home.
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As she embarks on the talks to leave the bloc, Mrs. May knows that one of her many challenges is to secure a deal that helps avert a breakup of Britain.
But because of her control over the timing, a referendum on Scottish independence is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
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The vote on Tuesday empowers Scotland’s pro-independence first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to formally request a referendum, but she already knows Mrs. May’s answer: not now.
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The British government plans to withhold agreement at least until it has secured its departure from the bloc, scheduled for the first half of 2019.
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On Tuesday, David Mundell, the British government’s Scottish secretary, seemed to push the timetable further by saying that government “won’t be entering into any negotiations at all until the Brexit process is complete.” That hints at a date beyond the British withdrawal and after any further transitional period, perhaps several years later.
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Nevertheless, Britain’s vote has given Ms. Sturgeon’s governing Scottish National Party a reason to demand another independence referendum, less than three years after it lost the last one in 2014.
At that time, Scots were told that if they voted to leave Britain, they would lose their place in the European Union. They may now lose it anyway. Ms. Sturgeon argued that Scots should have the right to choose between Brexit “or becoming an independent country, able to chart our own course and create a true partnership of equals across these islands.”
Ms. Sturgeon argues that the shape of any Brexit deal should be known by autumn 2018. Scots should then have the opportunity to try, through independence, to stay in the European Union, or at least in its single market and customs union, she has said.
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But with London intent on blocking a referendum anytime soon, Ms. Sturgeon’s best hope may be for Mrs. May’s stalling tactics to backfire — annoying Scots enough to persuade a majority to support independence if they finally have the chance to vote. ||||| Theresa May did not refer directly to Gibraltar in her Article 50 letter | Pool photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images | Pool photo by Christopher Furlong/WPA via Getty How Europe’s press reacted to Brexit Trigger Day What Europe’s papers had to say about Britain triggering Article 50 divorce talks.
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s move on Wednesday to formally notify the EU of Britain’s intention to quit the bloc had U.K. red tops celebrating, the French press worrying of the “consequences of the break” and Germans warning the divorce “could be expensive for the British.”
In Britain, most papers used an image of May signing the Article 50 letter to the EU for their front pages. The Daily Express was joyous, proclaiming: “Dear EU, we’re leaving you,” while the Sun said “Dover and out” to the Continent. The Daily Mail chirped: “Freedom!”
The left-leaning Independent took a more somber view of the day, leading with a story on “Ex-business secretaries urge May to reject ‘nightmare’ hard Brexit.”
One of the few papers not to use the picture of May, the Guardian went instead with a striking jigsaw-puzzle inspired image, noting: “Today Britain steps into the unknown.”
A steely-eyed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the front page of the Scotsman, which declared: “Scottish parliament backs call for independence referendum,” continuing: “But Theresa May says no to indyref2 despite Holyrood vote.”
The Scottish Daily Mail was less restrained: “As SNP (and their Green stooges) force through Holyrood support for a referendum, U.K. ministers’ resolve hardens. No new vote on independence for five years.”
Across the Channel in France, in a relatively small front page story, Le Monde wrote: “Brexit: the consequences of the break.” Le Figaro marked the occasion with the headline: “29 March 2017: The day the U.K. says goodbye to Europe.”
In Germany, Spiegel Online led with the headline: “May’s five-front battle begins,” before talking down the PM’s chances of success. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung also couldn’t resist a pot-shot, warning the affair “could be expensive for the British.”
Over in Portugal, Público led with a shadowed image of a statue of Winston Churchill overlooking Big Ben. In Spain, La Vanguardia wrote that May had signed away “44 years of ties with the EU.” El Pais took a dramatic route, proclaiming London had initiated a process that would “mark the future of Europe.” It continued: “We leave poetry behind: from today onwards, it’s time for prose.”
Belgium’s Le Soir carried the headline: “Theresa May signs the end of the Europe of 28.”
INDEPENDENT DIGITAL Ex-business secretaries urge May to reject EU hard Brexit #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/55eAqK3a1u — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 28, 2017
GUARDIAN: Today Britain steps into the unknown #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/uY63zlSVtn — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 28, 2017
THE SCOTSMAN: Scottish Parliament backs call for independence referendum #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/yKwhT8CcVh — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 28, 2017
SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL: No new vote on independence for FIVE years #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/AyWBii7cXz — Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) March 28, 2017 ||||| The starter’s pistol has fired. British Prime Minister Theresa May has officially triggered “Article 50” of the Lisbon Treaty, initiating a two-year process of negotiations to bring the United Kingdom out of the European Union.
When 52% of the British electorate voted to leave the E.U. in June 2016, few realized just what a fiendishly complicated process it would be. After four decades of European integration, the bloc has buried its tendrils deep within every facet of British life — from its economy to its legal system. The process of Brexit begins in the shadow of great uncertainties for the United Kingdom, its citizens and its residents.
In truth, there are hundreds of unanswered questions about what Brexit will mean to Britain and to Europe. Here are just a few of them:
Leaving the E.U.
Vote Leave supporters cheer as the results come in at a referendum party at Millbank Tower in central London early on June 24, 2016. Geoff Caddick—AFP/Getty Images
What will it cost the U.K. to leave the E.U.?
€60 billion, if the E.U’s senior diplomats get their way. The sum would cover the U.K.’s long-term commitments, such as contributions for pensions and regional development projects that won’t be completed until long after Brexit. The U.K. will try to whittle that down by negotiation, and may look to offset at least part of it against its sizable claims on E.U. institutions, such as its 16% stake in the European Investment Bank, worth nearly €40 billion (see below).
Does Britain have enough negotiators?
Britain hasn’t been in charge of its own trade policy for 44 years and there is a global shortage of trade negotiators. An initial review suggested the U.K. Has only about 20 experts in this field — against 600 highly experienced negotiators in the E.U. The U.K.’s business department has advertised for 300 negotiators and trade specialists. The fear is that strict pay structures will mean obvious candidates in lucrative roles with top law firms will snub working for the public sector.
Where will Brexit negotiations take place?
Almost certainly in Brussels, in the new Europa building. The psychedelic, egg-shaped, eco-friendly home for the European Council and Council of the European Union was designed by Belgian architect Philippe Samyn and brought into use at the beginning of the year. Officials are said to be uncertain about what to do with the U.K. delegation rooms once Brexit happens.
How long will they take?
A very long time. Article 50 begins the formal, two-year process of negotiation only on the terms of withdrawal from the European Union. It can only be extended by agreement with all 27 remaining European Union states. The U.K. hopes to have a framework for the post-Brexit relationship with the EU in place by the end of that process, in April 2019, but many believe that will not be settled for many years. Senior European figures say these talks — on trade, laws, markets, security and more — could take up to a decade, according to former EU ambassador to the U.K. Ivan Rogers. It’s highly likely we’ll still be talking about Brexit in the mid-20s.
Could Queen Elizabeth halt the process?
Theoretically yes, but in reality it would never happen. All bills, including Article 50, need royal assent — in other words, the Queen has to formally agree to make the bill into an Act of Parliament (law). The Queen is also due to introduce a ‘Great Repeal Bill’ in her next Queen’s Speech, which will repeal the European Communities Act 1972, ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the U.K. and enshrining all existing E.U. law into British law. If the Queen were to refuse to give her assent to either, it would spark a constitutional crisis. The last time a monarch did so was in 1707, so anti-Brexiteers needn’t get their hopes up.
Is there any way individual Brits could opt to stay in the E.U.?
The idea of ‘associate E.U. membership’ has been raised, but it’s not likely to go anywhere. Charles Goerens, the European Parliament lawmaker from Luxembourg who came up with the idea, argues this remains a “realistic” aim. This would see Brits who want to work in the bloc granted this status and given a vote in European Parliament elections, while keeping their U.K. passport. British remain campaigners love the idea, but it is likely to be vetoed by May because it will create a two-tier system. Others in the E.U. are far from convinced that it would work.
Could Brexit lead to greater xenophobia towards E.U. migrants?
Reported incidents of religiously or racially motivated crimes in England and Wales was up 41% in July – just after the referendum – on the same no the previous year, according to Home Office figures. Nick Clegg, the pro-E.U. former deputy prime minister, tells TIME: “A Spanish woman in my constituency who has lived in England for many, many years who was talking Spanish to her young son had someone, for the first time, tell her ‘you should be going home’. There’s a sort of everyday nastiness, much of which is not recorded but has clearly increased very sharply – some very nasty people feel that their dark tendencies have been legitimized.” The fear is the start of The Article 50 process could see these prejudices unleashed again.
The Union
British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 27, 2017. Russell Cheyne—WPA Pool/Getty Images
What happens to Scotland?
Scotland voted overwhelmingly – 62% to 38% – to remain in the E.U. and its government is seeking a way to opt out of Brexit. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has paved the way for a second independence referendum not even three years after Scots narrowly rejected secession from the U.K. She argues Brexit means there is a “material change” that justifies another vote. May has refused to yield to Sturgeon’s demands for a special deal that would give Scotland continued membership of the E.U.’s Single Market. The Scottish Parliament voted on March 28 to hold a second referendum between Autumn 2018 and Spring 2019, by which time the economic risks of Brexit will be coming into ever sharper focus.
What happens to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland?
After two decades of peace, the fear is that Brexit will create a hard border between a Northern Ireland that is part of the U.K. and a Republic that will remain within the E.U. Britain’s exit from the E.U.’s Customs Union has raised the prospect of physical checks on, for example, trucks carrying goods between Northern Ireland and the Republic. However, lawmakers are hopeful that Ireland will be made a special case and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has argued the E.U. does not want any hard border to be put in place.
What happens to Gibraltar?
Spain has sought to use Brexit as an excuse to turbocharge its long-term desire to take back ‘The Rock’, a peninsular within its borders that has belong to the U.K. since the 18th century. The territory was the most pro-remaining slither voting district, with 96% voting to stay. Spain has suggested a joint sovereignty deal to protect Gibraltar’s ties with the E.U., but foreign minister Alfonso Dastis has acknowledged this is unlikely due to Britain’s refusal to negotiate.
What happens to the Channel Islands?
The most southerly part of the British Isles are self-governing Crown Dependencies and not part of the E.U. However, their key financial services industries do risk losing a degree of access to E.U. markets, making it harder for them to compete with the likes of Ireland and Luxembourg, which have likewise specialized in providing ‘offshore’ services to international companies and investors. Jersey’s financiers have been advising the British government on how the City of London could continue to serve their European customers.
Could cities in Britain opt out of Brexit?
Unlikely, given that it would violate the territorial integrity of the U.K., as well as being impossible to enforce in practice. What to do with an E.U. worker who is allowed to live and work in London, if his or her business suddenly relocated to, for example, Manchester or Edinburgh? Elected mayors, a relatively new feature of political life in the U.K., are trying to develop their own plans, notably in London. Ultimately though, rights of migration and residence are highly likely to be decided at national level.
Coming and Going
British tourists play pool at a English bar in Benalmadena, Spain, on March 17, 2016. Spain is Europe's top destination for British expats. David Ramos—Getty Images
What happens to citizens of the U.K. currently living in the E.U. and vice versa?
The House of Lords has defied the Government, voting for an amendment to the Brexit bill that will protect the rights of E.U. nationals living in the U.K. This is further than May wants to go and the government is likely to overturn this amendment when the bill is voted on next. The Prime Minister is looking to nail down a reciprocal deal for the rights of Brits in Europe before making any full commitment to E.U. citizens, but some lawmakers fear this means both groups will end up as “bargaining chips.”
What happens to British pensioners living in the E.U.?
Around 1.2 million Brits are estimated to live in other E.U. member states. Like expats anywhere in the world, they are still entitled to the state pension. What is unclear is whether they will still qualify for increases in payments under what is know as the ‘triple lock’: pensions can go up in line each year with whatever is higher of average earnings, inflation, or 2.5%. However, the U.K. will have to broker a social security deal with the E.U. to make sure triple lock increases are still allowed, otherwise new ex-pat retirees will see their pensions frozen at their initial rate.
Can E.U. citizens allowed to stay after Article 50 expect access to the N.H.S.?
All E.U. citizens in the U.K. have access to the N.H.S. at present, despite a little-known rule that residents who are students or not employed but with plenty of money should have already taken out comprehensive health insurance. The Brexit campaign was partly based on the strain that immigration puts on the N.H.S., so unlimited access – particularly for the recently-arrived – is clearly at risk under the future arrangements. There are fears that even those who have lived in the U.K. for longer than five years might have to fill in an 85-page application form for permanent residency that will give them this access. Reciprocal access of U.K. citizens to E.U. health care systems could also become more complicated.
Will British citizens have to get visas to travel to Europe?
Unlikely, given how much money is at stake in both directions. E.U. citizens spent nearly 7.3 billion pounds visiting the U.K. in 2015, and countries such as Spain and Greece will resist anything that hit their tourism businesses. Still, May’s insistence on a hard Brexit theoretically risks the need for visas to even neighboring France. The E.U. has in recent years worked towards abolishing visas rather than introducing them, not least to support its tourism industry.
What will happen to the Channel Tunnel?
Trains will keep running from London to Paris and Brussels, but the Eurostar company is expecting Brexit to hit its bottom line. In evidence to Parliament executives said there were “no” benefits for the company to Brexit. Indeed, Eurostar’s business case might be undermined through any unforeseen additional costs Brexit could impose. The company has also blamed the economic consequences of the Brexit on a recent reduction of services, but, long-term, the impact is expected to be minimal.
The Economy
Andrew Thorpe collects milk from his van for an order during his early morning milk doorstep delivery service in Ilkley, Britain, on May 16, 2016. Matthew Lloyd—Bloomberg/Getty Images
What happens to banks in London?
France is trying to woo City of London bankers to Paris. HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver said in January that around 1,000 of its staff would move from the British to French capital, while UBS said about a fifth of its 5,000 British staff could go, most likely to Germany’s financial centre, Frankfurt. Dublin and Luxembourg are among other centers hoping to take a slice of the U.K.’s huge banking industry, but Britain retains advantages of history and geography and hopes to keep the sector largely intact.
What will happen to the U.K. car industry, almost all of which is foreign-owned?
Car manufacturers have warned May that the introduction of tariffs would result in job and sale losses for an industry that is booming, with output at its highest level of production since 1999. Four-fifths of all cars made in the U.K. are exported and over half of those go to the E.U., so Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, warned a deal that is as close to the Single Market as possible is vital. Nissan has announced an expansion of is plant in Sunderland in the North-east of England, but GM’s plants in the U.K. look vulnerable after the sale of its European operations to French-based PSA Group.
What will happen to Britain’s farmers?
Farmers are worried their industry will be hit by a 60% loss of income in the form of E.U. subsidies, a situation that Informa Agribusiness Intelligence has warned could see 90% of farms collapse. U.K. ministers have vowed to maintain subsidies to 2020, a year after Brexit negotiations are completed, but thereafter the focus will be on how trade deals will change the sector. There are fears the U.S. will flood the market with cheap beef treated with hormones that were, in effect, banned by the E.U., while a deal with New Zealand could see sheep farm businesses wrecked by cheap imports.
What will happen to Britain’s fishing industry?
The House of Lords reported in December that the U.K.’s fishing industry would need continued access to E.U. markets in order to remain viable. The U.K.’s fishing industry strongly disagrees, and is keen on defending exclusive access to U.K. waters. A deal granting access would be controversial, because re-establishing U.K. control of these waters, ceded in the 1970s, was a major aim among more hardened Brexiteers.
Will Brexit impact British astronauts?
Probably not. Britain is currently a member of the European Space Agency, so there are fears its departure from the E.U. would deny astronauts like former International Space Station resident Tim Peake from making the journey into orbit. But the space flight program is distinct from the E.U., to the extent that Canada is an associate member. British business minister Jesse Norman has confirmed that the U.K.’s future involvement in the ESA will be “handled separately from E.U. discussions.” The E.U. states should be happy with this, given the U.K. is one of the agency’s biggest budget contributors.
What will happen to European football players playing in the U.K.?
Players from E.U. countries will enjoy the same rights to reside and work in the U.K. as any E.U. citizen. Clubs currently have to apply for work permits for players from outside the European Economic Area (REF), and the baseline assumption is that this regime will apply to all non-U.K. players after Brexit. Broadly speaking, permits are easier to get for players who already represent their countries. Applying that principle to E.U. players won’t affect top-level recruitment much, but could limit the signing of young players for club academies.
Will Scotch Whisky cost more?
Depends where you live. Neither the E.U. nor the U.S., the two biggest export markets for Scottish distillers, impose import tariffs under WTO rules, so there is no direct risk there. Prices may rise in countries with which the E.U. has a free-trade agreement (FTA). The 2008 E.U.-Korea FTA, for example, phased out import tariffs on spirits completely (cheese-makers weren’t so lucky, being limited to quotas of tariff-free imports). Just as important as tariffs are FTA provisions that stop other countries from letting cheap local substitutes be labelled as “Scotch.” The U.K. will have to renegotiate tariffs, quotas and brand protection mechanisms in any new deals.
Will the U.K. have to regulate its own nuclear industry?
Yes — but not because of Brexit. Euratom is a 60-year-old agency designed to develop the E.U.’s nuclear energy market. It is legally distinct from the E.U., so there was shock when the U.K. Government sneaked out news recently that it would leave Euratom, which is thought to help provide a fifth of the country’s electricity. Critics say the referendum did not give a mandate for this change, while British regulators, already short of nuclear experts, will have to take over Euratom’s regulatory role and replace treaties it has with the likes of the U.S.
Will E.U. workers in skill shortage industries, such as fruit picking and construction, be allowed to stay in the U.K.?
Even many Brexiteers believe a system of permits will have to be developed for industries that have relied on, in particular, cheap Eastern European workers since the E.U. was expanded in the early 2000s. The fruit-picking industry is heavily lobbying lawmakers, because 95% of its seasonal workforce are from the E.U. However, there is the prospect they will not want to stay if the pound remains weak against the euro. It could prove more financially rewarding for them to exercise their free movement rights in other wealthy E.U. countries.
Is it too risky to take a job in U.K. if you’re a Brit right now?
If the job is fairly short-term, no. Article 50 negotiations will last two years, while May’s push for a transitional period between the divorce settlement and absolute Brexit should offer a few years of additional clarity and certainty on job rights.
The Finances
A television displays Theresa May's Brexit speech as traders monitor financial data on the trading floor at broker ETX Capital in London on Jan. 17, 2017. Luke MacGregor—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Will the U.K. still qualify for European Investment Bank (EIB) loans?
Not under the current rules, but the Luxembourg-based EIB has said it’s willing to change them to keep the ship steady. The EIB is a state-backed development bank that lends chiefly to infrastructure projects and indirectly backs programs for lending to small and medium-sized businesses. The U.K., which has some big infrastructure projects in the offing, is rare among E.U. states for not having a state-backed development bank of its own, and may have to tweak its own rules for similar lending by commercial banks to support credit availability.
Will central banks continue to hold sterling as a reserve currency?
The pound’s role as a reserve currency is already minimal, and Deutsche Bank said in January that it will become “increasingly irrelevant” as a global reserve currency (similar forecasts were made prior to the launch of the euro). Central banks no longer need pounds to cover their countries’ trade with the U.K., although Britain’s status as a stable, law-based democracy will mean that sterling remains an attractive store of value, at least if it can avoid further depreciation in the foreign exchange market. But a loss of capital inflows would make it much harder to cover the U.K.’s current account deficit, running at nearly 100 billion pounds a year.
Could Britain slash taxes on goods and services?
The E.U. runs a common V.A.T. system, so the U.K. will be free to introduce new rates for certain goods and services. This could give Britain a huge competitive advantage over its continental neighbors, given attempts to make practical improvements to V.A.T. for insurers and banks have been caught up in Brussels bureaucracy. In theory, Britain could scrap the levy on many products altogether, but it is the second biggest source of tax revenue so this highly unlikely.
What about corporation tax?
The government cut the standard rate of corporate income tax to 19% from 20% in this year’s budget, and pre-announced a further cut to 17% in 2020, the lowest among the G20 group of major industrial and emerging economies. The move aims at incentivising business to stay in the U.K. post-Brexit. Theresa May has hinted that the U.K. could cut it even further if the E.U. chose to punish it for Brexit by refusing favorable trade terms, although some have warned that openly engaging in tax competition could be counterproductive, hardening attitudes against Britain in other member states.
What happens to British university funding?
May seems to be pushing for U.K. to remain part of the E.U.’s Horizon program, which funds university research projects, through a bespoke arrangement. However, vice-chancellors of British institutions have already reported that they are being kicked off as lead universities on cross-border studies and that leading academics are looking to leave or prospective European lecturers think the U.K. is too risky a place to work. Former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg says British academics and universities will struggle while they “haven’t got the faintest idea what the status” of the U.K. will ultimately be.
Rules and Regulations
Pedestrians pass over London Bridge on Feb. 8, 2017. The city's poor air quality set a modern record at the end of January. Chris Ratcliffe—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Is the U.K. planning to loosen environmental regulations to stay competitive?
This is uncertain. The U.K.’s environmental and climate change standards and policies are embedded in E.U. law, but after Brexit, Britain will no longer take part in agreeing these fixed regulations and would be able to loosen its own. The E.U.’s emissions trading scheme and the U.K.’s own Climate Change Levy are both unpopular with various business sectors, but the more the U.K. loosens such regulations, the more it will expose itself to E.U. countermeasures to stop would be cast as environmental “dumping.”
What about labor laws?
Theresa May has promised to maintain E.U. labor laws — such as the expansion of discrimination categories in employment law such as age, sexual orientation and religion— through the “Great Repeal Bill,” which turns all existing E.U. rules into domestic law. The Trade Unions Congress, the body representing the majority of Britain’s trade unions, has nonetheless warned that workers rights could be eroded if Britain’s follows through on its threat to turn into a low tax and low regulation haven if it does not get a fair deal from the E.U. But it is unclear how the government will go down this route in reality and according to the OECD’s employment index, Britain is the least regulated labor market in the E.U., meaning there is already very little in terms to labor laws to be loosened.
Is the U.K. likely to loosen food safety standards?
There is a worry among politicians and campaigners that food safety standards will be weakened in the attempt to forge quick trade deals with foreign countries, like the U.S., criticized for their lax regulatory environments. The National Farmers Union is keen for those standards to not be watered down if they leave the E.U. But if other countries with low food safety standards begin to import cheaper produce to the U.K., the NFU is mindful that regulations in the U.K. will have to be changed in order to keep its producers competitive
How will the E.U. and U.K. resolve trade disputes in future?
Today, when British and European companies and governments argue over things like patents, food labelling or the clearing of trades in financial derivatives, the E.U. Court of Justice in Luxembourg is the court of last resort. That will have to change when the U.K. leaves the E.U.’s single market. New trading arrangements need a new legal framework for dispute resolution. The depth and breadth of cross-border trade between the E.U. and U.K. demands a solution that is faster and more specific than the World Trade Organization, but the issue so central to sovereignty concerns at the heart of Brexit, and so fiendishly complex, that a diplomatic and legal miracle will be needed to engineer an arrangement as straightforward as the existing one.
Law and Order
Europol Director Rob Wainwright speaks during the large international consultations with representatives of the Global Counterterrorism Forum and the anti-ISIS coalition in the fight against terror at the Europol headquarters in The Hague on Jan. 11, 2016. Jerry Lampen—AFP/Getty Images
Will Britain continue to share national security data with the E.U.?
The security threats to the U.K. — from Islamist terror, Russian infiltration or organized crime — are to a large degree the same as those facing the E.U., so it’s no surprise that Theresa May has already pledged that cooperation on security will be a key part of the future relationship. The U.K. ‘opted in’ to a new intelligence-sharing program in November, five months after the referendum. Intelligence-gathering — including a unique degree of collaboration with the U.S. – is one of the biggest assets that the U.K. brings to the negotiations, and May will hope to get cooperation in matters going well beyond national security in return for sharing its secrets.
Will E.U. criminals face extradition from the U.K?
A speculative ‘yes’ says Steve Peers, an expert on E.U. law from the University of Essex. The U.K could follow countries, like Norway and Iceland, which are not a part of the E.U., but have created extradition treaties that are “more or less” the same as the European Arrest Warrant (EAW)— which is an E.U.-wide system that makes it easier to extradite people wanted for serious crimes. Leaving the E.U. might also make it easier to deport European criminal defendants who recently moved to the U.K. and committed crimes on British soil. But authorities may face roadblocks deporting criminals who are long-term residents of the U.K., as it could contravene local human rights laws.
Will Britain stay in Europol, the E.U.’s law enforcement body?
Probably. It has already opted to stay in Europol since leaving. The U.K.’s police minister Brandon Lewis said “the reality of cross-border crime remains” even if the U.K. is leaving the E.U. It seems May would like to find an accommodation to stay close to Europol. For example, the U.S. is an associate member and does not have to adhere to European Court of Justice rules.
Will Britain have to tighten its customs borders?
Undoubtedly, and it might make life difficult for importers. British ports alone will have to hire thousands of extra staff to check products from the E.U. that could previously pass through easily, haulage firms have warned. This red tape is likely to delay E.U. goods entering Britain by a day, a huge problem for a manufacturing industry that relies on the ‘just-in-time’ production model of getting parts in and out of factories quickly. ||||| London (CNN) Brexit officially began Wednesday after UK Prime Minister Theresa May triggered Article 50 , kicking off Britain's withdrawal from the European Union and the painstaking legislative to-do list that comes with it.
One of the next key steps will come when May's government introduces the Great Repeal Bill.
The bill is designed to put an end to the EU's legal jurisdiction over the UK. But first it will transpose all current EU laws into the UK statute books "to ensure the maximum stability on exit," the government says.
Parliament will then begin the daunting task of deciding which EU laws to keep and which to scrap, essentially untangling four decades of EU rules now enshrined in UK legislation.
There are nearly 20,000 EU legislative acts in force that make up a mind-boggling set of rules dictating everything from how much clean energy a country should use to the acceptable curvature of a grocery store banana.
So where will the government begin? Here's a list of just 50 things the UK will need to work out as it sets sail on its own.
The big questions
1. A new immigration system
Immigration was a key issue in the Brexit debate. After the UK withdraws from the union, a system to allow its nationals to visit, work, study and live in the EU -- and vice versa -- must be hammered out.
The UK is currently part of the European Single Market, which allows goods, services and people to move freely through member states. EU citizens have the right to travel and seek work in other EU countries. Roughly 1.2 million Brits were settled in the EU in 2015, and around 3.2 million EU nationals were living in the UK, according to government statistics
But as May has made clear, the UK will no longer be part of the single market , so this free movement will come to an end after Brexit.
The idea of a points-based system like Australia's has been floated, with the aim of attracting immigrants with certain skills to fill gaps in the economy.
2. Asylum seekers and refugees
But that law will no longer apply after Brexit, so those countries won't be obliged to receive asylum seekers whom the UK wants to send back. If the UK wants to preserve the principle of Dublin III, the government must negotiate separate bilateral arrangements with each individual country.
JUST WATCHED Brexit: What happens after Article 50? Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Brexit: What happens after Article 50? 01:29
3. A trade deal with the EU
One of the most contentious points of the Brexit debate was the UK's trade relations with the EU. A new trade deal is expected to be one of the most difficult and important parts of the negotiations.
The UK intends to leave the EU's single market and may also leave the EU customs union, through which Britain enjoys tariff-free trade. If no trade deal is agreed upon, the UK would have to trade with the EU under World Trade Organization rules , which could lead to new tariffs and regulations.
4. Trade deals with everyone else
Post-Brexit doors are opening for the UK to strike new trade deals with non-EU countries like the US, China, Brazil, Australia and Canada. As a member of the EU -- which negotiates trade deals as a bloc -- this would not have been possible.
5. Security vs. privacy
The UK government has proved nosier than most of its EU counterparts -- last year, Parliament passed the Investigatory Powers Act , better known as the "Snooper's Charter," which gives UK law enforcement agencies unprecedented access to personal data and requires telecommunications companies to store web-browsing histories for a year.
But the EU has strict data protection laws -- including one directive, for example, that says EU countries must guarantee that information is stored or accessed only if the user has been informed and been given the right of refusal.
The EU in December ruled that parts of the "Snooper's Charter" were unlawful . When the UK leaves the EU however, the judgment will be rendered invalid.
6. Law enforcement
The peculiar and pedantic
7. Working out what jam is
In 2010, an EU directive was passed stating that jams must consist of 60% sugar and come from a list of approved fruits in order to be classified as jam. The directive alarmed many small business owners already marketing their product as jam, who thought they would have to either change their labels or sugar content due to the regulation.
In 2013, Michelle "Clippy" McKenna, a British apple preserve maker, argued that her product was a jam even though it didn't cross the sugar threshold -- but it turned out that there was a clause in the EU rule allowing for exemptions. It was just that the UK had not included this clause into its own law . The government has kept a lid on its plans to amend any food directives for now, although Brexit would allow the UK to can the jam rule altogether should it wish to.
8. Pig semen
Want to import pig semen into the EU? Farmers seeking to improve the quality of their pork must obtain pig semen from an authorized collection center and make sure it comes with an animal health certificate, according to another EU directive . It's not clear how the future of the swine gene pool will be affected by Brexit yet -- but it's surely on the minds of the farmers overseeing the 10,000 pig farms in the UK
9. Bright lights
Could traditional incandescent light bulbs make a return to high street shelves in the UK? The UK mostly phased out incandescent bulbs following an EU directive favoring more energy efficient options in 2009. But the regulation only applied to domestic use , and to this day the traditional light bulbs are commercially available in the UK. It's possible Britain could bring back the bright lights after Brexit.
10. Bendy bananas
The EU rules on bananas have long been the subject of mockery. According to the 1994 regulation , bananas must be "free from malformation or abnormal curvature," be more than 14 centimeters in length and come in bunches of at least four. Other parts of the regulation say the fruit must be free from pests and mostly free of bruises. Bananas might be bendier after Brexit -- but could they be less appetizing too?
11. Footwear labeling
Look at the label on your shoes. If you bought it in the EU, you'll find information about the materials used to make them. EU law specifies that shoe labels must be embossed on the footwear or attached by an adhesive label, fastener or string. Shopping for shoes after Brexit could be a much more confusing affair if the UK doesn't find its footing with a new bill.
12. Move your horses
If you want to move a horse within the EU, strict rules apply . The animal must show no sign of disease in the 48 hours prior to traveling and must have had no contact with horses that have an infectious disease in the previous 15 days. But countries outside the EU face even tougher rules, including additional inspections by experts from EU countries and the European Commission. A post-Brexit UK may need to negotiate a separate arrangement to avoid these stricter regulations.
13. The future of football
The rules around sporting transfers are likely to change when Britain leaves the EU -- and impact one of the world's most watched leagues
That means once Britain's demarcation from the EU is finally drawn, footballers looking to ply their trade in the English Premier League -- or in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland -- are likely to be subject to a tougher set of rules that govern transfers from outside the region.
The English Football Association in 2015 tightened the rules for non-EU players joining English teams in an effort to give indigenous players more chance.
So non-EU players had to have made a minimum number of international appearances for a top-50 country over the previous two years (the higher the ranking, the fewer the number of matches necessary).
Spanish superstar footballers, for example, may have to get the same work permits as Brazilians to play in post-Brexit England.
14. Safety at work
EU laws on health and safety at work are often mocked for being excessive. Employers must make sure workers have information about the weight and weight distribution of a load before handling it, and they must organize workstations to make handling as safe as possible. The directive warns of increased risks if the floor is uneven, the load is unwieldy or the worker is wearing unsuitable clothing. Without this law, or a similar replacement, is UK workplace safety in jeopardy?
15. The future of coloring in
The EU is currently attempting to introduce new measures limiting the amount of lead allowed in toys and items that may be chewed on by children. Some British media characterized the proposal as little more than bureaucrats in Brussels clamping down on coloring pencils and crayons.
According to the European Chemicals Agency, the average lead content in the blood of European children is up to four times higher than recommended . EU toy safety regulations are some of the toughest in the world . It is unclear if the UK will stick to these rules after Brexit.
16. Noisy vehicles
An EU regulation aims to cut down on noise pollution by ensuring new cars are a little quieter than before. In three stages, it will ban new four-wheel passenger vehicles that are louder than 77 decibels by 2026, and vehicles carrying goods will be limited to 79 decibels. It also requires electric and hybrid cars to make artificial engine noises to avoid accidents, especially involving pedestrians. The chances of Britain being flooded with annoyingly noisy vehicles after Brexit seems unlikely, but the country may not stick to such stringent rules.
17. Trade in torture instruments
EU member nations are banned from importing items that have no practical use other than carrying out capital punishment, torture or inhuman or degrading treatment . Among them are electric chairs and shock belts, shackles, gallows, guillotines and pepper spray. Revisiting this law could make for some interesting deliberations in UK Parliament.
The nitty gritty
18. Brits abroad
At the moment, UK nationals can turn up to an EU country, flash their passports and be granted freedom of movement within the union. But once the country pulls out of the EU, this privilege could come to an end.
The government will need to negotiate a deal for its citizens and will likely try to retain visa-free travel. But the European Commission may have other ideas -- it currently has a proposal on that table for a visa waiver system , much like the scheme in the United States, to tighten screening of all non-EU members entering the EU. This would involve applying online for a visa ahead of time and paying a small fee to be given access to the zone.
19. Roaming charges
EU citizens pay relatively low roaming fees for phone calls and data usage within the EU. And the union is aiming to abolish roaming charges altogether by June this year
As outsiders, telecommunications companies will not be obliged to offer the same low rates to British travelers, and these rates may come down to what kind of deal the government strikes with the EU.
20. Cost of air travel
Air travel between EU countries has become much more affordable since the EU removed several competition barriers , allowing budget airlines to flourish. But after Brexit, UK airlines such as EasyJet won't be able to take advantage of these benefits and will need to make new agreements to operate in EU airspace, according to the Chief Executive of the Civil Aviation Authority. The impact this could have on prices is unclear.
21. Air passenger rights
If you're an EU citizen and your flight is canceled or delayed, or if you're denied boarding against your will, you are entitled to various forms of compensation under EU law. Even if you're simply seated in a class lower than you paid for, you can claim up to 75% of the price of the ticket. After Brexit, UK citizens will no longer have these rights.
22. The 48-hour work week
23. Carers' rights
landmark 2008 European Court of Justice decision ruled that non-disabled employees are protected by law if discriminated against on the basis of their association or care for a disabled person. For example, if an employer discriminated against a parent caring for a disabled child, the parent could claim for discrimination. After Brexit, the UK government will be free to decide on the future of carers' rights in the workplace.
24. Equal pay for agency workers
The EU has also obliged employers to pay temporary agency workers at the same rate as permanent employees. The government may choose to revisit this rule, which Open Europe says costs the economy a further £2.1 billion ($2.6 billion) a year
25. Part-time workers' pension
Rulings by the European Court of Justice obliged the UK to enroll part-time workers in employer pension schemes -- not doing so was seen as discrimination against women , who work part-time roles in higher numbers. It is unclear whether the government will reconsider this rule.
26. Annual leave
Under EU law, if you get sick while on annual leave, you can retake that leave at a later date and even carry it over into the following year. According to the Local Government Association , this conflicts with UK law, which doesn't allow employees to carry over leave from one year to the next. This conflict may mean that this particular EU regulation is scrapped after Brexit.
27. Gender equality
Under its Strategic Gender Equality plan , the EU allocated 6.17 billion euros ($6.7 billion) between 2014 and 2020 to reach certain targets, such as reducing the gender pay gap, preventing and combating violence against women and getting more women involved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The UK government will need to decide how to fill this funding gap, post-Brexit.
In his 2017 spring budget speech, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond pledged to commit £20 million ($25 million) of government funding to support a nationwide campaign to stop violence against women and girls. Hammond also reinstated the controversial "tampon tax," a 5% tax placed on the sanitary item, which will be used to deliver an additional £12 million ($15 million) in support of women's charities nationwide, according to Hammond.
28. Maternity leave
29. Erasmus
UK university students currently have access to Erasmus , an EU student exchange program that allows them to study in another Erasmus country for three to 12 months. Nearly half of all UK students who travel to study elsewhere for a short period do so through this scheme. Access to Erasmus will no longer be automatic and will have to be renegotiated.
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30. Recognition of qualifications
EU citizens who get a professional qualification in one EU country may work in another safe in the knowledge that their skill -- whether it be accounting, teaching, beekeeping or wine-tasting -- will be recognized.
It's fairly simple for UK citizens to find work or training elsewhere in the EU by using the European Qualifications Framework and the Europass to list their skills and qualifications. These standardized documents help universities and employers to compare applicants from countries across the EU. Once Britain has left the EU, UK citizens may not be able to access these tools and countries may decide not to recognize each other's qualifications unconditionally.
31. Horizon 2020
A number of UK universities, including Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford and Cambridge, have received millions of euros in funding through Horizon 2020 , an EU program that promotes research into topics as diverse as health and well-being, green transport, outer space and future technologies.
According to the "white paper" on Brexit, the government "will work with the European Commission to ensure payment" when funds are awarded in research programs including Horizon 2020 . It promised to guarantee such grants, even if projects continue after the UK leaves the EU. The role of UK universities in future EU-led research programs remains unclear, however.
32. CO2 Emissions
The UK is part of the EU Emissions Trading System , the cornerstone of the EU's climate change policy and the world's first and biggest carbon market. Under the ETS, a cap is set on the total amount of certain greenhouse gases that can be emitted, and is reduced over time so that total emissions fall. The system is now in its third phase -- where a single, EU-wide cap on emissions applies in place of the previous system of national caps. If the UK leaves the ETS, the EU-wide cap will need to be adjusted and legislation introduced to keep the UK's CO2 emissions in check.
33. Keeping beaches clean
34. The air we breathe
35. The fate of wild birds
36. Animal welfare
Farm animals kept in the EU must be fed a wholesome diet, have enough space to move around and be treated immediately if they're sick or injured, according to one directive . There are around 40 other pieces of EU legislation that also deal with animal welfare , according to the RSPCA. As the government has made clear it won't remain in the EU's single market, Parliament will have to decide which regulations to keep and which to drop.
37. Save the bees
Two years later the UK granted farmers an emergency authorization to use them on oilseed rape seeds. The UK expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the rules and could alter or drop them after Brexit.
38. Getting treatment
39. Dealing with pandemics
The EU has an early warning and response system for potential public health threats, such as the SARS epidemic in 2003. Countries can easily share information, pool resources for lab investigations and work together to develop new strategies for future threats. After Brexit, the UK won't be part of this system and will have to develop other ways of coordinating with EU countries.
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40. EU health program
Through the EU health program , launched in 2014, EU countries work closely together to combat unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking and drug and alcohol abuse, by sharing information and good practices. Projects with these goals can receive up to 80% of their funding from the EU. The UK may still be eligible to be part of the program after Brexit but membership is not guaranteed.
41. Disease prevention and control
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control works to identify and combat threats to human health from infectious diseases such as influenza, waterborne diseases and HIV. It makes it easier for organizations across the EU to share information and expertise.
According to a report by the Royal College of Physicians , programs managed by the ECDC "could not be effectively fulfilled by national governments independently." After Brexit, the UK would be excluded from the ECDC and would need to negotiate a special arrangement to remain a member.
42. Medicine
Under mutual recognition licensing , any medical product licensed in the UK can be distributed throughout the EU.
At a recent hearing , Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt confirmed that after Brexit the UK won't be part of the European Medicines Agency, the body responsible for authorizing new medicines, and instead hopes to negotiate its own form of mutual recognition agreement with the EU.
43. Road safety
Vehicle and road safety is covered by a long list of EU laws. EU regulations set out safety standards for all kinds of vehicles and even specify the type of crash protection systems required for vehicles in order to reduce the number and severity of injuries to pedestrians. After Brexit, the UK will be responsible for introducing national road and vehicle safety laws to protect its citizens.
44. 'Passporting' for the finance industry
A gripe for the finance industry during the Brexit debate was the possible loss of "passporting" -- the right for UK businesses to provide financial services anywhere in the EU and the wider European Economic Area while being based in the UK and regulated by UK authorities.
In the Brexit negotiations, the government could try to retain this right as part of a new agreement with the EU.
45. Firearms
EU law sets out strict regulations on who can own a firearm and buy ammunition. Among other things, the law requires EU states to keep a database of registered firearms and carry out regular checks on license holders. The law was also designed to make it easier for countries to share information about firearms and their movements around the EU. After Brexit, the UK could decide to loosen or tighten these regulations in its own laws.
46. Rules on tobacco
The EU has strict rules on how cigarettes and other tobacco products can be manufactured, marketed and sold. EU law is behind the large health warnings on cigarette packets. It will soon prevent extra flavors such as fruit or menthol being added to tobacco products that could encourage people, especially young people, to start smoking. Although the UK has strict tobacco laws of its own, the government will need to clarify where it stands on EU regulations, such as the ban on menthol cigarettes, which are currently available widely.
47. Irish dairy
For Irish dairy farmers whose land straddles the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Brexit could have significant implications. If a "hard border" is imposed, new import and export charges could be introduced This could mean big costs: 30% of total of Irish dairy exports go to the UK
Farmers who have cows and a bottling plant on one side of the border, but with the milking equipment on the other side, could be hit with these import/export taxes if a hard border is introduced. As of now, it's not clear what will happen to the common travel area that exists between Northern Ireland, which will remain part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, which will stay in the EU. The British government said that its aim is "to have as seamless and frictionless a border as possible" in a 77-page "white paper."
48. The French border
In 2003, the French and UK governments signed the Le Touquet accord, which allows the UK to check passports in France and effectively situates the border on French soil. The agreement has nothing to do with EU law but last March the then French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron suggested Le Touquet could end if Britain voted to leave the EU.
Macron also warned that migration to Britain would increase if it left the EU , including from those who had camped out for months at a camp in the French city of Calais.
Macron is now a frontrunner in the presidential election, and he hasn't forgotten his pledge. At a campaign rally in London in February, he suggested he would try to partly renegotiate the agreement . Softer language perhaps, but the possibility of a change to border arrangements remains.
49. Keep broadband affordable
The EU has put in place a set of rules that are intended to help keep broadband costs down. They oblige governments to clear any legal obstacles that may hold back network operators from giving telecoms operators access to their physical infrastructure on reasonable terms and conditions, including price.
50. New passports | – On March 29, 2019, Britain will no longer be a member of the European Union. That's the schedule, at least, now that Prime Minister Theresa May has notified the EU of the United Kingdom's decision to exit and set in motion a two-year clock to negotiate the details. "This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back," said May. A look at Brexit coverage: "We already miss you. Thank you and goodbye." That's what the president of the European Council said in response to May's letter, reports the Telegraph. It prompted JK Rowling (a Brexit opponent) to tweet, "When your ex is so noble about the break up you'd almost rather they threw a drink in your face." History buffs, here is the actual letter signed by May. Don't expect real negotiations to begin on the exit until fall 2017 because of pivotal elections in France and Germany. The Washington Post has a what's-next feature. If no deal on the particulars is reached, Britain will still leave, an outcome being called a "hard Brexit." Vox explains why that would be a "disaster." CNN has a 50-item list of issues that must be hammered out, including figuring out an immigration system that will allow British citizens to work and travel in the EU and vice versa. Time answers 42 questions, including whether the queen can step in and halt the process. The answer? Technically yes, but don't hold your breath. Politico looks at coverage in European papers, with perhaps the most striking front page being the Guardian's jigsaw puzzle. See it here. (The Irish, meanwhile, think the newspaper screwed up its map, as the Irish Independent explains.) Brexit means the EU's hope of being a superpower is done, per an analysis at MarketWatch. It's the US and China now. Meanwhile, Scotland wants out of the UK. Its parliament voted to hold another referendum on independence relatively quickly, though May, who must sign off, opposes the idea. The New York Times reports on the tussle. Nature talks to eight researchers whose work has been upended by Brexit. |
In the opening remarks of his trial, the prosecution alleged that Hamza turned London's Finsbury Park mosque into “the base of operations for the global export of violence and terror.”
“Abu Hamza was not just a preacher of religion,” Edward Kim, assistant US attorney, said in opening arguments. “He was a trainer of terrorists and he used the cover of religion so he could hide in plain sight in London.
In response, the defence said that he may have said some outrageous things, but Nelson Mandela was long listed as a terrorist.
Joshua Dratel portrayed the cleric as an “independent thinker” who was seeking a “third way” between the “extremes” of Osama bin Laden, the late al-Qaeda leader, and George W Bush, the former US president.
Mr Dratel sought to depict his client as a misunderstood historical figure whose inflammatory words are now being taken out of context. “For decades, Nelson Mandela was considered a terrorist and now he is an icon,” he observed. “Things change.”
British "supergrass" testimony
Saajid Badat, a British terrorist “supergrass”, lived at the Finsbury Park mosque, and was seen as a key ally of Hamza's.
He described meeting Osama bin Laden, and told how the Al Qaeda leader hugged him and “wished me good luck in my mission” at the end of their meeting in Afghanistan in November 2001, two months after the September 11 attacks.
Badat, who was released from prison in 2010 after agreeing to testify in terrorism cases in Britain and the US, also said that he discussed plans for an attack on Canary Wharf with Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, the mastermind of the September 11 atrocities.
Badat testified that he met Feroz Abbasi - another young British Muslim described by prosecutors as a “terror lieutenant” deployed by Abu Hamza – at a jihadi training camp in Afghanistan and translated for him when he was asked if he would conduct attacks on American and Jewish targets.
Mr Abbasi had worked at the Finsbury Park mosque as a security guard before moving to Afghanistan. He was captured by US forces after the overthrow of the Taliban regime in late 2001 and held at the Guantánamo Bay detention centre for four years, but then released without charge.
Yemen hostage Margaret Thompson describes human shield terror
Margaret Thompson was one of 16 Western tourists snatched by terrorists in the Yemen in December 1998, and told of the terrifying moment hostages were used as human shields.
As Yemeni soldiers attempted a rescue, one of the abductors told the British-led tour party: “It’s goodbye to you all.”
Her voice cracking with emotion, Mrs Thompson said: “I hoped he meant there were getting ready to release us but I thought we were going to die.”
Three British tourists and an Australian died in the attack.
Mrs Thompson stared at Hamza as she told the jury how she was shot during the rescue attempt.
“There was much more gunfire at that point. I started to fall forward and hit the ground. I was hit in the leg with a bullet from behind, it was my left leg. I was falling forward and my legs flipped forward under me.
“I fell backwards and slid into a bush. I was wearing a scarf, so I took the scarf off and put it into the wound.
Mrs Thompson, now retired and living in Texas, spent weeks in Yemen and London hospitals having surgery.
Hamza worked with MI5 to keep London safe, says lawyer
Hamza was in reality working secretly with British intelligence "to keep the streets of London safe" by "cooling hotheads", his lawyer claimed.
Holding up what he said were reports from Scotland Yard, Joshua Dratel described the cleric as an "intermediary" who cooperated with MI5 and the police to try to end foreign hostage-takings and defuse tensions with the Muslim community in Britain.
He said that Hamza expressed his true "intent" in discussions with Scotland Yard and MI5.
"It goes to the theme of our defence that he was an intermediary, that MI5 asked him on multiple times to act in hostage situations, cool down the community and maintain a sense of order," he argued.
Praising the 9/11 attacks
The jury was shown videos of him praising the 9/11 hijackers, as they sat in a courtroom a few streets from the scene of the attacks at Ground Zero.
The panel of 12 saw an interview in which Hamza said he was "happy" about the September 11 2001 attacks in which terrorists flew planes in to the World Trade Center.
In another video, the Egyptian-born cleric said that that he approved of the suicide bombing of the USS Cole by al-Qaeda operatives in 2000 which left 17 American sailors dead.
"My wife turned me to Islam"
Hamza claimed it was his first wife, an Englishwoman, who persuaded him to start to study Islam with her because she became interested in the religion, he explained.
“She was persistent,” he said. “She pushed too hard.”
The Egyptian-born cleric worked as a hotel receptionist, a bouncer and even briefly as the co-manager of a strip club in London’s Soho district after moving to Britain in 1979 aged 21, he said.
“They were small jobs to make money and enjoy myself – a normal Western life,” he told the jury after explaining that he came from a non-religious family in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria “where we always looked for a Western life, American style”.
Claims he lost hands in an accidental explosion in Lahore
Hamza has previously claimed he lost his hands and an eye while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan during the early 1990s.
But during the trial he said he was injured during an explosives accident while working on a road project with the Pakistan military in 1993.
And he admitted he saw little fighting while in Afghanistan where he “fired a couple of bullets” but “it was very quiet when I was there” and he was responsible for health and safety of fighters.
The closing statements
Ian McGinley, prosecuting, summed up the case by telling the court that Hamza "devoted his life to violent jihad."
He said: “He instructed his followers that jihad fighting was religious war. Why do his words matter? Because they match his actions, they match his crimes.”
But Hamza's lawyer, Jeremy Schneider, said the government's case boiled down to incendiary statements that gained the preacher a reputation among radical Muslims – rather than anything he actually did.
"A lot, if not the majority, of their evidence was his words, not his deeds," Mr Schneider said during his closing remarks
"Can someone who has ranted and raved for years about anti-American statements get a fair trial in front of a New York jury in the shadows of the World Trade Center?
"He cannot keep his mouth shut. That's how he is. He doesnt avoid the tough questions. Sometimes he's firey, sometimes he's engaging.
"He is opening his mouth saying damaging, unflattering things, drawing attention to himself, saying look at me, I'm outrageous, follow me." ||||| Story highlights Sentencing is set for September 9
A federal jury considered 11 terrorism-related counts against Abu Hamza al-Masri
He was accused of conspiring to kidnap Americans in Yemen, open terror camp in Oregon
On the stand, al-Masri criticized bin Laden and the Taliban
A federal jury in New York on Monday found radical Islamic cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri guilty of charges that he aided terrorists in incidents that span the globe, from a remote Oregon ranch to the dusty desert of the Arabian Peninsula.
Abu Hamza al-Masri faced 11 criminal counts for allegedly aiding kidnappers during a 1998 hostage-taking in Yemen; sending a young recruit to jihadists in Afghanistan; violating U.S. sanctions against the Taliban; and attempting to establish an al Qaeda-style training camp on the West Coast of the United States.
The jury deliberated for more than 12 hours over two days.
Al-Masri was found guilty on all counts, and showed no discernible reaction as the verdict was read.
"The defendant stands convicted, not for what he said, but for what he did," said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, describing al-Masri as "not just a preacher of faith, but a trainer of terrorists.
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"Once again our civilian system of justice has proven itself up to the task of trying an accused terrorist and arriving at a fair and just and swift result."
The high-profile London mosque leader gained notoriety for the metal hook he's sometimes depicted wearing in place of one of his missing hands, but he sported only an occasional writing prosthesis in the Manhattan courtroom. Contrary to stories that he lost the limbs in battle, al-Masri testified, his maiming was the result of an engineering accident.
The government's three-week case against al-Masri was an effort to connect the dots between the defendant and events thousands of miles away, through key witnesses who often had never met the cleric themselves and testified in exchange for leniency or protection.
trial highlight was al-Masri taking the stand in his own defense and accusing federal prosecutors of using "pay-as-you-go witnesses" and a "cut-and-paste" approach to take inflammatory comments out context, including statements about his admiration for late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"The deliberations confirmed our fears they would focus on words and ideas rather than the evidence," said defense attorney Jeremy Schneider, after the verdict was announced. The speed of deliberations, he said, make it clear jurors "walked in with a foregone conclusion."
Defendant claims he was a 'mouthpiece'
During his four days of testimony, al-Masri described bin Laden as a dangerous hothead in charge of an unfocused organization that has betrayed the Afghan people. As for the Taliban regime, it doesn't need his money; it has "millions," yet doesn't feed its own people, he said.
But in Manhattan, by invoking 9/11 and bin Laden's name, al-Masri mused, "You can convict a person of killing the Dead Sea."
The 56-year-old cleric denied any part in the bumbling effort to launch a jihad training camp in Oregon and said he'd acted only as a "mouthpiece" in the fight against the Yemeni government when the hostage drama played out.
During his closing argument, Schneider warned jurors not to be distracted by the "quantity of irrelevant evidence" the prosecution presented, including photographs of bin Laden found on computers in the defendant's London home and snippets of his videotaped orations.
Al-Masri was convicted in the United Kingdom of inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder with his fiery sermons, but the charges against him in the United States are not for hateful speech or possessing photographs or other materials.
Prosecution: Al-Masri could 'work a crowd'
The prosecution played video clips of al-Masri endorsing suicide missions and saying the killing of non-believers is permissible, comparing them to cows or pigs.
Prosecution exhibits also included the 10-volume "Encyclopedia of Jihad" recovered from the al-Masri family residence, with topics ranging from bomb-making to personal hygiene in the battlefield.
"It's a very slippery slope to use someone's library against them," Schneider said in his closing.
The attorney conceded that his client sent money to benefit destitute widows and a secret girl's school in a Taliban-controlled territory, prohibited under U.S. sanctions -- the final charge of the 11-count indictment against al-Masri, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
In the closing argument for the government, Ian McGinley told jurors the tapes and photographs reveal "the real Abu Hamza": a screaming hatemonger -- far from the calm, tolerant, and sometimes quite funny man they'd seen on the witness stand.
"He knows how to work a crowd," said McGinley.
Key witness has checkered past
As for the quality of the government witnesses, McGinley said prosecutors didn't choose the co-conspirators, and that criminal trials involve unsavory characters.
pivotal witness for the prosecution was James Ujaama , a Seattle man who testified he conceived of the idea for the Oregon training camp and faxed a pitch letter to al-Masri.
"It looks just like Afghanistan," the letter reads and repeatedly points out that all planned activities would be legal in the "pro-gun," "pro-militia" state.
Two men were sent from London by al-Masri to train recruits, said Ujaama, but the pair left after realizing his claims of eager trainees, weapons stockpiles, and efforts to build housing and a mosque were lies. Only two run-down trailers sat atop the barren ranch land, and its sole training facility was a deer-shaped target in a dry creek bed.
Al-Masri claimed the men made their way to Oregon on their own, after fishing Ujaama's fax from his trash can; he himself considered the pitch "a hallucination," he testified.
Ujaama also testified he agreed to escort a young recruit to an Afghani front-line commander for al-Masri, but said he actually left his young charge stranded and alone in a Pakistani hotel.
Ujaama is on his second cooperation agreement with the government, having violated his first one by fleeing to Belize. He spent approximately six years in jail for his own role in the Oregon venture and testified that he continues to receive a monthly stipend from the government for living expenses.
He also admitted a range of past criminal endeavors, including peddling knockoff watches and pirate CDs, and setting up an airport bathroom rendezvous to sell a computer without paying UK sales tax.
Another witness against al-Masri, Saajid Badat, testified that he later saw the abandoned recruit at the infamous Al Farouq training camp -- a key point to the allegation al-Masri in fact aided terrorists in Afghanistan.
A trainee himself at the time, Badat has admitted he conspired with failed shoe bomber Richard Reid on a plot to take down airliners, and, in fact, received shoe bombs from alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Badat backed out, he testified, after reconnecting with his parents.
As part of a cooperation agreement in the United Kingdom, Badat saw his own potential sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole dwindle and ultimately served approximately six years, he said. Badat testified via teleconference from London to avoid facing pending charges in the United States.
Young recruit a courtroom no-show
A glaring absence on the witness stand was the young recruit himself, Uganda-born computer student Feroz Abbasi. He was apprehended in Afghanistan as part of a roundup by U.S. forces in 2002, according to testimony.
Jurors were not told Abbasi was released without charges after spending about two years at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Now living in the United Kingdom, Abbasi declined to testify in al-Masri's case, according to defense attorneys.
The most unassailable of key prosecution witnesses was Mary Quin, who was taken hostage with her fellow travelers during a trip through Yemen in 1998, allegedly as leverage for prisoners held by the Yemeni government -- including al-Masri's own stepson. Four of the tourists were killed during a harrowing shootout with government forces, Quin testified.
Quin later traveled to London to confront al-Masri; the cleric agreed to let her record the conversation. On the tape, which was played for jurors in court, al-Masri falls short of confessing he knew of the kidnapping plan ahead of time, but uses a phrase prosecutors have said is devastating evidence of his involvement: "We never thought it would be that bad."
The two criminal counts relating to the Yemen kidnapping plot both carry a possible life sentence. Sentencing is set for September 9. ||||| U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara (R) speaks during a news conference about the verdict in the Abu Hamza al-Masri case outside the Manhattan Federal Courthouse in New York May 19, 2014.
A file photograph dated February 7, 2003 shows Muslim cleric Sheikh Abu Hamza (2L) outside the North London Mosque at Finsbury Park surrounded by supporters.
Courtroom deputy Joseph Pecorino (R) reads the verdict alongside Judge Katherine Forrest (background) and Abu Hamza al-Masri (L), the radical Islamist cleric facing U.S. terrorism charges, in this artist's sketch in New York May 19, 2014.
Courtroom deputy Joseph Pecorino (R) reads the verdict alongside Judge Katherine Forrest (background) and Abu Hamza al-Masri (L), the radical Islamist cleric facing U.S. terrorism charges, in this artist's sketch in New York May 19, 2014.
NEW YORK London imam Abu Hamza al-Masri was convicted of terrorism charges in New York on Monday, following a four-week trial that shined a spotlight on the preacher's controversial anti-Western statements.
After deliberating for less than two days, a jury of eight men and four women found Abu Hamza, 56, guilty on all 11 counts he faced, handing Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara his second high-profile terrorism conviction in three months.
Abu Hamza could face life in prison when he is sentenced in September.
Prosecutors had charged the one-eyed, handless Abu Hamza with providing a satellite phone and advice to Yemeni militants who kidnapped Western tourists in 1998, an operation that led to the deaths of four hostages.
Abu Hamza also was accused of dispatching two followers to Oregon to establish a militant training facility and sending an associate to Afghanistan to help al Qaeda and the Taliban.
His lawyers claimed the case relied largely on the incendiary language in his sermons at London's Finsbury Park mosque, which earned him notoriety as one of Britain's most prominent radical Islamic voices.
Many of his words were played at trial, including an interview in which Abu Hamza expressed support for the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.
Defense lawyer Joshua Dratel said the relatively quick verdict demonstrated that the jurors reacted emotionally to the inflammatory statements rather than sticking to the evidence.
"This is what we feared, that there would be no deliberations at all, essentially," he said. "Beliefs are not a crime." He said he plans to appeal the conviction.
But the jury's foreman, Howard Bailynson, a 44-year-old Xerox employee, told reporters there was "no doubt" Abu Hamza received a fair trial.
Abu Hamza testified in his own defense, denying he sent anyone to Oregon or Afghanistan and claiming he became involved in the kidnapping only after it began, when he offered to negotiate a peaceful resolution.
Prosecutors countered with evidence that he spoke with the Yemeni militants' leader the night before the kidnapping and that the two men who traveled to Oregon said he had sent them.
Speaking briefly to reporters, Bharara said the verdict proved once again that the U.S. justice system can handle high-profile terrorism trials.
"Abu Hamza attempted to portray himself as a preacher of faith," he said. "He was, instead, a trainer of terrorists."
In March, a different jury found Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, guilty of terrorism-related charges.
Abu Hamza, who was indicted in the United States in 2004 under his birth name, Mustafa Kamel Mustafa, spent eight years in prison in the Britain for inciting violence before his 2012 extradition.
During the trial, Abu Hamza testified that he lost his arms and eye in an accidental explosion in Pakistan 20 years ago, contradicting widespread reports that he was injured while fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Chris Reese and Mohammad Zargham) | – A radical London imam who was extradited to the US on terrorism charges was found guilty today on all 11 counts, Reuters reports. Prosecutors accused Abu Hamza al-Masri—who is partially blind and has no hands—of trying to build a terrorist training camp in Oregon, shipping off a young jihadist recruit to Afghanistan, defying US sanctions imposed on the Taliban, and aiding in the 1998 Yemen kidnapping of 16 tourists, CNN reports. He had pleaded not guilty and stood trial for four weeks in New York City, facing a jury of four women and eight men. Now the 56-year-old may spend the rest of his life in prison. The prosecution focused on connecting Abu Hamza to events half-way around the world, often using witnesses who hadn't met him and appeared in exchange for leniency or protection. Taking the stand in his own defense, the cleric accused prosecutors of using "pay-as-you-go witnesses" who took his remarks out of context. Much of the trial focused on his anti-Western statements, and videos were shown of Abu Hamza praising the 9/11 attackers, the Telegraph reports. His defense attorney portrayed him as an "independent thinker" who was seeking a "third way" between the philosophies of George W Bush and Osama bin Laden, but prosecutor Ian McGinley described the cleric as a man who "devoted his life to violent jihad." |
Russia's foreign minister says the U.N.-brokered peace plan for Syria agreed on by major powers does not require the ouster of President Bashar Assad.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waves as she arrives for a meeting of the Action Group for Syria at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday, June... (Associated Press)
The Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil al-Araby arrives for a meeting of the Action Group for Syria at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday, June... (Associated Press)
British Foreign Minister William Hague, right, talks to media representatives upon his arrival for a meeting of the Action Group for Syria at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva,... (Associated Press)
Kofi Annan, Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the Arab League for Syria arrives for a meeting of the Action Group for Syria at the European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva,... (Associated Press)
Sergey Lavrov says there is "no attempt in the document to impose on the Syrian people any type of transitional process."
Moscow had refused to back a provision that would call for Assad to step aside, insisting that outsiders cannot order a political solution for Syria.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
An international conference accepted a U.N.-brokered peace plan for Syria, but left open whether the country's president could be part of a transitional government.
The U.S. backed away from demands that President Bashar Assad be excluded, hoping the concession would encourage Russia to put greater pressure on its longtime ally to end the violent crackdown that the opposition says has claimed over 14,000 lives.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted that Assad would still have to go, saying "it is now "incumbent on Russia and China to show Assad the writing on the wall."
Moscow had refused to back a provision that would call for Assad to step aside, insisting that outsiders cannot order a political solution for Syria.
Syria envoy Kofi Annan said following talks that "it is for the people of Syria to come to a political agreement."
"I will doubt that the Syrians who have fought so hard to have independence ... will select people with blood on their hands to lead them," he said.
The envoy earlier warned the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council _ Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States _ that if they fail to act at the talks hosted by the United Nations at its European headquarters in Geneva, they face an international crisis of "grave severity" that could spark violence across the region and provide a new front for terrorism.
"History is a somber judge and it will judge us all harshly, if we prove incapable of taking the right path today," he said.
He appeared to specifically aim his words at Russia, Syria's most important ally, protector and arms supplier. The U.S. has been adamant that Assad should not be allowed to remain in power at the top of the transitional government, and there is little chance that the fragmented Syrian opposition would go along with any plan that does not explicitly say Bashar must go.
"While many spoke of united support for one ... some simultaneously took national or collective initiatives of their own, undermining the process. This has fueled uncertainty in Syria, in turn fueling the flames of violence," Annan said. "By being here today, you suggest the intention to show that leadership. But can you, can we follow through?"
He said that "the way things have been going thus far _ we are not helping anyone. Let us break this trend and start being of some use."
Foreign ministers were rushed from luxury sedans into the elegant and sprawling Palais des Nations along with their legions of diplomats and aides and envoys from Europe, Turkey and three Arab countries representing groups within the Arab League.
Russia and China, which has followed Russia's lead on Syria, have twice used their council veto to shield Syria from U.N. sanctions.
Major regional players Iran and Saudi Arabia were not invited. The Russians objected to the Saudis, who support the Syrian opposition. The U.S. objected to Iran, which supports Assad's regime. Lavrov predicted the meeting had a "good chance" of finding a way forward, despite the grim conditions on the ground.
Syria, verging on a full-blown civil war, has endured a particularly bloody week, with up to 125 people reported killed nationwide on Thursday alone.
International tensions also heightened last week after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane, leading to Turkey setting up anti-aircraft guns on its border with its neighbor.
Without agreement among the major powers on how to form a transitional government for the country, Assad's regime _ Iran's closest ally _ would be emboldened to try to remain in power indefinitely, and that would also complicate the U.S. aim of halting Iran's nuclear goals.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague urged Russia and China to join Western nations in speaking with one voice on Syria, though he acknowledged that will be a stiff challenge.
Hague noted that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told diplomats a U.N. monitoring mission in Syria would have to be pulled back if no diplomatic solution is found.
"We haven't reached agreement in advance with Russia and China _ that remains very difficult. I don't know if it will be possible to do so. In the interest of saving thousands of lives of our international responsibilities, we will try to do so," Hague told reporters. "It's been always been our view, of course, that a stable future for Syria, a real political process, means Assad leaving power."
The head of the struggling U.N. observer mission, Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, has described the 300 monitors approved by the U.N. Security Council to enforce a failed April cease-fire as being largely confined to bureaucratic tasks and calling Syrians by phone because of the dangers on the ground. Their mandate expires on July 20.
The negotiating text for the multinational conference calls for establishing a transitional government of national unity, with full executive powers, that could include members of Assad's government and the opposition and other groups. It would oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.
"Ultimately, we want to stop the bloodshed in Syria. If that comes through political dialogue, we are willing to do that," said Khalid Saleh, a spokesman for the Syrian National Council, a coalition of Syrian opposition groups based in Istanbul, Turkey. "We are not willing to negotiate (with) Mr. Assad and those who have murdered Syrians. We are not going to negotiate unless they leave Syria."
Clinton said Thursday in Riga, Latvia, that all participants in the Geneva meeting, including Russia, were on board with the transition plan. She told reporters that the invitations made clear that representatives "were coming on the basis of (Annan's) transition plan."
The United Nations says violence in the country has worsened since a cease-fire deal in April, and the bloodshed appears to be taking on dangerous sectarian overtones, with growing numbers of Syrians targeted on account of their religion. The increasing militarization of both sides in the conflict has Syria heading toward civil war.
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Matthew Lee contributed to this report. ||||| Story highlights Activists say 85 people were killed or are missing after a car bomb
Activists say the car bombing was carried out by government
It happened as diplomats discussed the crisis at a meeting in Geneva
They agreed to a plan to end the bloodshed in Syria
As a dozen delegations sat inside the U.N. headquarters in Geneva on Saturday, drafting a plan to end the bloody Syrian crisis, a large funeral procession made its way through a Damascus suburb, clapping and chanting loud slogans against the government.
The man they were burying was wrapped in a Syrian revolutionary flag and had allegedly been killed by government forces. The crowd waved additional flags and shouted for freedom.
Then there was a deafening explosion.
In what opposition activists say was a government-organized car bombing, 85 people were killed and more than 300 people were wounded, most of them in critical condition.
Activists posted videos to YouTube purportedly showing the moment of the bombing in Zamalka and its aftermath.
After the loud crack and orange flash of the explosion come moaning and screams of "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") from every direction. As the brown dust clears, the carnage becomes visible: charred bodies, missing limbs, people cradling the wounded or helping them to their feet, and pools of blood.
The flag-wrapped body of the funeral victim was lying on the ground.
Syrian opposition members say it was a car bomb timed to hit the procession in front of the mosque.
An activist named Bassem, who spoke to CNN from a suburb near Zamalka, said snipers in army uniforms began firing on people in the morning, and that plain-clothed government "thugs" even went to the funeral.
The security forces even fired on the crowd in the bombing's aftermath, killing a doctor who was trying to help the wounded, said Bassem, who asked that his last name not be used.
The opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said the scores dead in Zamalka were among 174 people killed across the country Saturday.
CNN cannot independently confirm the reports of casualties or violence because Syria restricts access by international journalists.
At almost the same time the bombing happened in Zamalka, members of the international community forged their most specific plan to date on how to deal with the violence that has raged in Syria ever since the uprising began there last year.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the meeting in his role as the special envoy for Syria, representing both the United Nations and the League of Arab States. Annan drafted a six-point peace plan for Syria more than three months ago, detailing steps for all sides to take, but it has yet to be implemented.
Those at the Geneva meeting agreed that the first step should be a recommitment to a cease-fire by both sides and implementation of Annan's plan without waiting for the actions of others, Annan said.
A key to the process will be a transitional government, which Annan said could include members of the current Syrian regime. That makes it possible for President Bashar al-Assad to be a part of the transition, but Annan pointed out it is the Syrians who will decide the make-up.
"I think people who have blood on their hands are hopefully not the only people in Syria," Annan said after the meeting. "I think the government will have to be formed through discussion, negotiations, and by mutual consent. And I will doubt that the Syrians -- who have fought so hard for their independence, to be able to say how they're governed and who governs them -- will select people with blood on their hands to lead them."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the plan also makes clear the Syrian president cannot stay in power.
"Assad will still have to go. He will never pass the mutual consent test, given the blood on his hands," she said.
The agreement also calls on the Syrian government to release detainees and allow journalists access to the country. The right to peaceful demonstrations must be respected, Annan said.
Clinton said it is significant that all of the countries at the meeting were able to come to an agreement.
"Every day that has gone by without unity on the Security Council and among the states gathered here is a day that has given comfort to Assad and his cronies and supporters. What we have done here is to strip away the fiction that he and those with blood on their hands can stay in power," she said.
Clinton said the the U.N. Security Council should endorse the plan, thus allowing the possibility of sanctions against Syria if the requirements aren't met.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the document should not be interpreted as outside powers imposing a transitional government on the Syrians. That process, he said, must come from inside Syria.
Annan was the one who called Saturday's meeting, inviting top diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and envoys from Turkey, the United Nations, the European Union and the Arab League. | – Delegates from world powers approved a plan today to end fighting in Syria and support a transitional government that may or may not include President Bashar al-Assad, CNN reports. The first step: Both sides in the Syria conflict will be asked to recommit to a ceasefire. Then the UN and the Arab League will try to implement a six-point plan without waiting for others to join in, said Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan. They want to help create a transitional Syrian government, which will be decided by Syrians and may include some current officials, the AP reports. Hillary Clinton said that Assad "will still have to go," but Moscow continues to insist that Syria must determine its own president. The agreement, which includes having Syria release detainees and welcome journalists, and allow peaceful demonstrations, is a last-ditch effort to end the fighting there—which killed 190 people yesterday. "We should never have reached this point," Annan said. |
Jim Green, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA, left, talks during a media briefing joined by Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator, second from left, Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager, second... (Associated Press)
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on NASA's mission to Jupiter (all times local):
8:52 p.m.
A solar-powered spacecraft is circling Jupiter on a mission to map the giant planet from the inside out.
NASA mission control received a radio signal Monday night from the Juno spacecraft confirming that it's in orbit around the biggest planet in the solar system.
Because Juno's camera and other instruments were turned off during the highly anticipated arrival, there won't be pictures of the key moment.
The trip took nearly five years and 1.8 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers). Juno is the first spacecraft to venture so far from Earth powered by the sun.
It'll spend 20 months circling Jupiter's poles, peering through thick clouds and studying the planet's gravity and magnetic fields.
8:18 p.m.
A NASA spacecraft has begun firing its rocket motor in preparation for its arrival at Jupiter.
The space agency said Monday the engine burn is expected to last about half an hour. It's designed to slow the Juno spacecraft down so that it can slip into orbit around the giant planet.
Mission controllers can't send any commands during this key moment because Juno is on autopilot. Its camera and other instruments were also powered off as a precaution.
Juno traveled nearly five years and 1.8 billion miles (2.8 billion kilometers) to the outer solar system. Its goal is to peek behind Jupiter's swirling clouds and explore its gravity and magnetic fields.
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11:35 a.m.
After a nearly five-year journey, a solar-powered spacecraft is passing Jupiter's inner moons as it readies for the closest encounter with the biggest planet in the solar system.
NASA's Juno spacecraft will fire its main rocket engine late Monday to slow itself down from a speed of 150,000 mph (250,000 kph) and slip into orbit around Jupiter.
Juno chief scientist Scott Bolton said at a morning briefing that the spacecraft is expected to survive rings of debris and a hostile radiation environment because it's "built like an armored tank."
NASA released a series of images taken last week during the approach, showing the destination planet glowing yellow in the distance, circled by its four inner moons.
Scientists have promised close-up views of Jupiter when Juno skims the cloud tops during the 20-month, $1.1 billion mission. ||||| CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA’s Juno spacecraft capped a five-year journey to Jupiter late Monday with a do-or-die engine burn to sling itself into orbit, setting the stage for a 20-month dance around the biggest planet in the solar system to learn how and where it formed.
“We’re there. We’re in orbit. We conquered Jupiter,” lead mission scientist Scott Bolton, with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, told reporters on Tuesday. “Now the fun begins.”
Juno will spend the next three months getting into position to begin studying what lies beneath Jupiter’s thick clouds and mapping the planet’s gargantuan magnetic fields.
Flying in egg-shaped orbits, each one lasting 14 days, Juno also will look for evidence that Jupiter has a dense inner core and measure how much water is in the atmosphere, a key yardstick for figuring out how far away from the sun the gas giant formed.
Jupiter’s origins, in turn, affected the development and position of the rest of the planets, including Earth and its fortuitous location conducive to the evolution of life.
“The question I’ve had my whole life that I’m hoping we get an answer to is ‘How’d we get here?’ That’s really pretty fundamental to me,” Bolton said.
Jupiter orbits five times farther from the sun than Earth, but it may have started out elsewhere and migrated, jostling its smaller sibling planets as it moved.
Jupiter’s immense gravity also diverts many asteroids and comets from potentially catastrophic collisions with Earth and the rest of the inner solar system.
NASA's Juno spacecraft obtained this color view at a distance of 6.8 million miles (10.9 million kilometers) from Jupiter, on June 21, 2016. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Handout via Reuters
Launched from Florida nearly five years ago, Juno needed to be precisely positioned, ignite its main engine at exactly the right time and keep it firing for 35 minutes to become only the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter.
If anything had gone even slightly awry, Juno would have sailed helplessly past Jupiter, unable to complete a $1 billion mission.
The risky maneuver began as planned at 11:18 p.m. EDT as Juno soared through the vacuum of space at more than 160,000 mph (257,500 kph).
NASA expects Juno to be in position for its first close-up images of Jupiter on Aug. 27, the same day its science instruments are turned on for a test run.
Only one other spacecraft, Galileo, has ever circled Jupiter, which is itself orbited by 67 known moons. Bolton said Juno is likely to discover even more.
Seven other U.S. space probes have sailed past the gas giant on brief reconnaissance missions before heading elsewhere in the solar system.
The risks to the spacecraft are not over. Juno will fly in highly elliptical orbits that will pass within 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of the tops of Jupiter’s clouds and inside the planet’s powerful radiation belts.
Juno’s computers and sensitive science instruments are housed in a 400-pound (180-kg) titanium vault for protection. But during its 37 orbits around Jupiter, Juno will be exposed to the equivalent of 100 million dental X-rays, said Bill McAlpine, radiation control manager for the mission.
Slideshow (2 Images)
The spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, is expected to last for 20 months. On its final orbit, Juno will dive into Jupiter’s atmosphere, where it will be crushed and vaporized.
Like Galileo, which circled Jupiter for eight years before crashing into the planet in 2003, Juno’s demise is designed to prevent any hitchhiking microbes from Earth from inadvertently contaminating Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon Europa, a target of future study for extraterrestrial life. ||||| Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share NASA's Juno probe successfully enters Jupiters orbit, a moment that engineers said was 'make or break' for the mission.
From left to right, Geoffrey Yoder, Michael Watkins, Rick Nybakken, Richard Cook and Jan Chodas celebrate in Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the solar-powered Juno spacecraft goes into orbit around Jupiter on Monday in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo: Ringo H.W. Chiu, AP)
PASADENA, Calif. — The best celebration this Independence Day wasn’t around a barbecue or fireworks show, but in a dark room filled with NASA engineers.
After hours of anticipation, team members broke out in cheers. The Juno mission's spacecraft made it into Jupiter's orbit just before 9 p.m. local time after a risky maneuver to slow it down by more than 1,200 mph so it could be captured by Jupiter’s gravity.
"NASA did it again," said Scott Bolton, the scientist in charge of the Juno project, in a news conference afterward at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the mission is being directed.
Rick Nybakken, a Juno project manager, said it was a "make-or-break" moment for Juno's five-year-old, 1.8 billion mile journey through space.
@NASAJuno's engineers say burn was accurate to within 1 second of flight plan. Next step: turn solar panels to sun pic.twitter.com/aOoPLVvjHV — Michael Kofsky (@Michael_Kofsky) July 5, 2016
Juno will now take a series of risky dives beneath Jupiter’s intense radiation belts where it will study the gas giant from as close as 2,600 miles over the planet's cloud tops. The last mission to the gas giant, Galileo, which ended in 2003, spent most of its mission five times farther away than Juno will get.
The aim of the mission is to collect data about how the solar system formed.
Going beneath the radiation belts to collect data involves some risks. Juno’s close approaches will expose it to enough radiation to fry most modern electronics, so the craft will dip in just once every two weeks for a few hours to minimize exposure. Juno is also outfitted with a radiation-shielded titanium vault that houses most of its sensitive equipment.
The sensitive maneuver known as orbital insertion required extreme precision. It involved firing a rocket engine to slow Juno down.
If it hadn’t worked, Juno could have ended up flying off into space at speeds too great to ever return.
“You’ve gotta fire the engine at exactly the right time in exactly the right place. That’s not easy,” said Guy Beutelschies, director of Interplanetary Missions at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, the NASA contractor that built the spacecraft.
In the end, Juno followed the flight plan almost exactly, accurate to within one second.
The mood at the news press conference an hour later was one of celebration and relief.
"(We're all) going to bed tonight not worrying about what’s gonna happen tomorrow, it’s pretty amazing,” said Diane Brown, an executive for the Juno program.
“Juno is going to just skim the top of Jupiter…so we’ll be able to learn so much more. What’s it made of? What’s the atmosphere? How did it originate?” said Brown.
“We prepared a contingency communications procedure and guess what?” said Nybakken, who then ripped up the contingency plans in front of the cameras.
Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share This video released by NASA shows the view from the Juno spacecraft as it approaches the Jupiter system. The planet's moons can be seen orbiting the gas giant.
A rendering of NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/29d5cJy | – After spending five years traveling to Jupiter, NASA's Juno probe entered the gas giant's orbit Monday night by executing a make-or-break maneuver that was accurate within a second. Team members at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory cheered as they received confirmation that the spacecraft had fired its main engines after a 1.8-billion-mile journey, slowing itself down enough to be captured by Jupiter's gravity after surviving the trip through radiation bands and fields of debris, USA Today reports. "Juno, welcome to Jupiter," said mission control commentator Jennifer Delavan of Lockheed Martin, per the AP. Juno project manager Rick Nybakken gleefully ripped up papers to celebrate the flawless maneuver. "We prepared a contingency communications procedure, and guess what?" he said. "We don't need that anymore." The spacecraft, which is only the second to ever orbit Jupiter, will spend the next 20 months making a total of 37 orbits to give scientists an unprecedented look at the planet and its atmosphere, reports Reuters. Two 53-day orbits will be followed by dozens of 14-day orbits. Researchers hope to unlock mysteries such as the amount of water in the planet's atmosphere and the presence of metallic hydrogen. The substance is believed to exist in large amounts deep inside Jupiter, but scientists have been completely unable to re-create it on Earth, the New York Times reports in a look at what to expect from the Juno mission, which will conclude with a "suicidal dive" into Jupiter on Feb. 20, 2018, to eliminate the possibility of the probe crashing into the moon Europa and contaminating it with microbes from Earth. |
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Two young men were charged Monday in the murder of an Indianapolis pastor's pregnant wife during a home invasion as court documents alleged the gunman shot her "so he wouldn't be scratched."
Larry Taylor, 18, allegedly gave his accomplices a blow-by-blow of how he killed Amanda Blackburn, 28, during the Nov. 10 burglary, according to a probable cause affidavit that cited a cooperating witness.
"Taylor stated that she charged at him and he shot her somewhere in the upper body so he would not be scratched," the affidavit says.
"Taylor then told them that he leaned over her body and shot her in the back of the head. He leaned further, looked at her face, and watched her bleed."
A short time later, Blackburn's husband, Davey, returned from working out at the gym to find his 12-weeks pregnant wife face down on the floor, nude from the waist down, and their 15-month-old son still in his crib, the documents say.
After a two-week investigation that involved DNA testing, phone tracking and shoe-leather detective work, police on Monday charges Taylor and parolee Jalen Watson, 21, with Blackburn's murder.
A third burglary suspect, Diano Gordon, 24, was held on a parole violation but has not been charged in the slaying, apparently because he did not enter the Blackburn home.
Jalen Watson and Larry Taylor Indianapolis Police Dept.
Because the victim was pregnant, prosecutors said they would consider filing additional charges tied to the fetus. Although her underwear had been removed and her shirt pulled up, they said there was no evidence to support sexual assault charges.
As the arrests were announced, Davey Blackburn issued a statement that he was "extremely relieved."
"Though everything inside of me wants to hate, be angry, and slip into despair I choose the route of forgiveness, grace and hope," he wrote.
"If there is one thing I've learned from Amanda in the 10 years we were together, it's this: Choosing to let my emotions drive my decisions is recipe for a hopeless and fruitless life. Today I am deciding to love, not hate."
Amanda Blackburn, seen here with her husband Davey, was killed during a home invasion in Indianapolis. Davey Blackburn / Resonate Church
The Blackburns' home was the third targeted by Taylor, Watson and Gordon on Nov. 10, according to the court documents.
At the first predawn break-in, the thieves stole a laptop, purse and car while the resident was sleeping. While in the home, they discovered a video camera was recording them.
"Taylor wanted to kill the occupant because he was seen on camera," the affidavit said, citing the confidential witness.
Instead, the group drove to another house, broke in through a patio window and swiped four TVs, a laptop, jewelry, a bag of oranges — and a pink sweater that would eventually help police identify them, the affidavit said.
"They decided they wanted more money," the court document said.
They made their way to the Blackburn house, where the husband had left the front door unlocked when he left for the gym, the papers say. Inside, they confronted Amanda Blackburn and "Taylor busted her in the mouth with his gun," Watson allegedly told his buddies when he came out.
Watson and Gordon considered taking off while Taylor was in the house, but then he came out with ATM cards and they set off in search of a cash machine, prosecutors allege. They tried and failed to get $500 out of one machine but did get $400 from another, then drove back and got Taylor, the affidavit said.
The court papers outlined the evidence amassed by police against the suspects. The most important clue: Watson's DNA was found on the pink sweater taken from the second burglary, which was then used to cover a suspect's face while he tried to withdraw cash with Blackburn's cash card.
Detectives were then able to use phone numbers that Watson and his Facebook friend Gordon has registered with parole to conduct searches of cell calls near the burglary scenes. The found they had called an unknown number, which they then traced to Backpage ads linked to Taylor, prosecutors said.
Taylor waived his right to remain silent and admitted he was near one burglary scene in search of someone named Cheese, the court papers say. He said he might have stopped in the Blackburns' neighborhood "but claimed he was so messed up he could not remember." ||||| CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share Marion County Prosecutor Denise Robinson discusses details about the Amanda Blackburn case. Two suspects appeared in court Tuesday. (Jill Disis / The Star)
2 Indianapolis men, 18 and 21, are in custody on preliminary charges of murder.
Larry Taylor (left) and Jalen Watson (right) were arrested in connection with the Amanda Blackburn slaying. (Photo: Provided by IMPD)
1:07 p.m. update: The Marion County Prosecutor's Office has requested an enhancement on the murder charge filed against a suspect in the Amanda Blackburn killing because Blackburn was pregnant.
If Larry Taylor is convicted of Blackburn's murder, the enhancement could add an additional six to 20 years behind bars. Blackburn was 12 weeks pregnant when she died.
The enhancement would come into play should Taylor be convicted of or plead guilty to murder, according to prosecutor's office spokeswoman Peg McLeish. At that point, she said, the state would have to make its case that the killing caused the termination of Blackburn's pregnancy.
10:34 a.m. update: The two men facing murder charges in Amanda Blackburn's slaying appeared at a court hearing Tuesday, where a judge entered not guilty pleas for them.
During the 20-minute hearing, public defenders were assigned to Taylor and Watson, who gave "yes" and "no" answers to the judge's perfunctory questions.
Tuesday's court appearance will also likely be the last until Jan. 8, when the two are scheduled for a pre-trial conference hearing. In the meantime, local authorities will be tasked with processing additional evidence taken from the crime scenes — something officials expect will take time to resolve.
"It doesn't quite work like on television," said Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson. "It's a process that can take weeks and into months in this case. So the crime lab has quite a bit of work to do on the case."
Robinson said Taylor's case could be under consideration for the death penalty, though she added that process has yet to be started.
Uncertainty also swirls around the fate of Diano Gordon, a third man police have accused of being involved in the string of burglaries that led to Blackburn's death. Gordon, who is named in a probable cause affidavit, has not been charged. Robinson said prosecutors are waiting for test results and other information before determining what charges may be filed against him.
Gordon is currently being held at the Marion County Jail on an unrelated parole violation.
Earlier: The crime spree that ended Amanda Blackburn’s life began with a series of burglaries carried out across the Northside of Indianapolis.
The Blackburn home was the third burglary in the early-morning hours of Nov. 10. The perpetrators, police said, were after money. But the chaos ended around 7 a.m., police said, when one of the suspects — a teenager — leaned over Blackburn’s body and shot her in the back of the head.
Then he leaned further, police said. He looked at her face. And he watched her bleed.
That harrowing account of events was made public Monday as the city’s top law enforcers announced a slew of charges against two suspects, accused triggerman Larry Taylor, 18, and suspected accomplice Jalen Watson, 21.
“We promised you ... that we would go after those violent individuals in our community,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Rick Hite said. "(Police) put in a lot of time to bring justice."
Taylor was charged with 13 counts, including murder, burglary, theft, robbery, criminal confinement, auto theft and a misdemeanor count of carrying a handgun without a license. Watson is facing 10 counts, including murder, burglary, theft, robbery and auto theft.
A third person suspected of involvement, 24-year-old Diano Gordon, is mentioned in court documents and was named at a news conference Monday, but he has not been charged. Officials say Gordon is being held in the Marion County Jail on an unrelated parole violation. It’s unclear what type of charges, if any, might be filed against him.
The arrests came nearly two weeks after Blackburn’s husband, Davey Blackburn, found his wife in critical condition in their shared home on Sunnyfield Court. Amanda Blackburn, 28, was 12 weeks pregnant when she was shot multiple times. She died two days later.
The Blackburns, who moved to Indianapolis from South Carolina two years ago and founded Resonate Church, drew significant interest across the country as Davey Blackburn began speaking out on national media about his wife's death.
He released a statement Monday after receiving news of the arrests.
"Though everything inside of me wants to hate, be angry and slip into despair, I choose the route of forgiveness, grace and hope," a portion of the statement read. "Today I am deciding to love, not hate. Today I am deciding to extend forgiveness, not bitterness. Today I am deciding to hope, not despair. By Jesus' power at work within us, the best is still yet to come."
(Photo: Provided by the Resonate Church)
Newly released court documents reveal the most complete account yet of how investigators think the crime happened — along with how, through a combination of DNA testing, cellphone records, surveillance footage and cooperating individuals, investigators ultimately pinned their suspects.
The timeline detailed in charging documents began around 4:30 a.m. the day Blackburn was shot, when a woman living about 10 miles from the Blackburn home awoke to find her apartment burglarized. She told police that burglars stole her cellphone, laptop, purse, keys and 2007 Chrysler Sebring. The woman’s security system, court documents say, took pictures of three people.
Police claim the Sebring became a getaway vehicle as the suspects drove across town to burglarize more homes in the 2800 block of Sunnyfield Court. One home on that block was burglarized around 5:30 a.m. Court documents say the men ripped a window screen and unlocked a patio door before stealing a laptop, Tiffany pearl necklace, pink sweater, bag of oranges, four televisions and other items.
The Blackburn home, two doors down on Sunnyfield, was targeted next. Police said the suspects entered the unlocked door after Davey Blackburn left to go to a gym at 6:11 a.m.
According to court documents, the men did not immediately decide to kill Amanda Blackburn. Instead, documents allege Taylor hit her with his gun, stole her bank cards and threw them in the getaway car with Watson and Gordon. Those two then drove to two ATMs, attempting to withdraw money. They communicated several times via phone with Taylor, who remained in the Blackburn house.
A cooperating individual who is unidentified in court records provided a narrative of that morning to police. That person told investigators that the two men in the car planned to leave Taylor behind after successfully withdrawing money from an ATM on 86th Street. But Taylor, court documents say, “threatened to kill the woman if they left him.”
Ultimately, the two decided to return for Taylor. Court documents attribute that decision to another person who called them and said Taylor was “family” and could not be left behind.
It's not clear when Blackburn was shot. A neighbor later told police she heard two gunshots and what sounded like a woman's scream about 6:45 a.m. According to the unidentified cooperating individual, Taylor later told several people that he shot Blackburn in the back of the head.
After picking up Taylor, court documents say, the two men dropped him off in a different neighborhood with a bag of stolen property and stashed the Sebring elsewhere.
(Photo: Provided by Indiana Department of Correction)
That Sebring, which was recovered late Nov. 11 about 3 miles east of the Blackburn home, would later become the first piece of evidence that helped investigators track down their suspects. Inside the stolen vehicle, police found a denied ATM transaction notice for Blackburn’s missing debit card.
More critically, detectives also found a pink sweater stolen from the other home on Sunnyfield Court. That evidence, Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said, gave officials a “significant break” in the case via a DNA swab.
DNA found on the sweater was run through the FBI’s DNA index system. It returned a match for Watson, who has a prior felony conviction for burglary. Court documents claim Watson used the sweater to conceal his face as he attempted to use Blackburn’s stolen debit card at area ATMs.
Pieces began falling into place with that match. Investigators pulled phone numbers they say belonged to Watson and Gordon, whom they identified as close associates. According to phone records, their numbers pinged cell towers in areas where the Nov. 10 burglaries occurred.
Phone records also placed Taylor's phone at the scene of the crime. Additional research led investigators to Taylor, who was interviewed Thursday.
During that interview, Taylor would tell police only that he "possibly" rode in the Sebring and stopped on Sunnyfield Court, claiming he “was so messed up he could not remember.” Watson and Gordon also were taken into custody that day on unrelated parole violations after questioning about the killing.
Taylor, meanwhile, would not elude arrest for long. Saturday, court documents say, police interviewed the unnamed “cooperating individual” who gave them the sequence of events leading to Blackburn’s death — including a confession to the killing from Taylor himself. Taylor was arrested late Sunday.
That person characterized the crimes as motivated by greed, telling investigators the group “wanted more money” as they drove to their targets.
Ultimately, the unnamed individual told police, Taylor confessed to the crime at a later rendezvous point, where he told several people “he killed the woman.”
“Taylor stated that she charged at him and he shot her somewhere in the upper body so he would not be scratched,” the person told police.
Then Taylor shot her in the back of the head.
CLOSE Skip in Skip x Embed x Share IndyStar reporter Justin Mack on Monday's developments in the Amanda Blackburn homicide case.
Buy Photo (Photo: Kelly Wilkinson / The Star)
Star reporters Madeline Buckley and Vic Ryckaert contributed to this story. Call Star reporter Jill Disis at (317) 444-6137. Follow her on Twitter: @jdisis.
Read or Share this story: http://indy.st/1jfCw7g ||||| INDIANAPOLIS (November 23, 2015) – Two men have been charged in the murder of Amanda Blackburn, a pastor’s pregnant wife who was shot during a home invasion robbery on Nov. 10.
In a press conference Monday, Prosecutor Terry Curry announced 18-year-old Larry Jo Taylor, Jr. and 21-year-old Jalen Watson were charged with murder in connection with the investigation.
Sources confirmed to FOX59 early Monday morning the two men, and a possible third man, will also be charged in three additional burglaries.
Taylor has been charged with felony murder, three counts of burglary, three counts of theft, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury, criminal confinement, auto theft and carrying a handgun without a license. Watson has been charged with murder, three counts of burglary, three counts of theft, robbery resulting in serious bodily injury and auto theft.
According to court documents, Taylor and Watson–as well as a third man–are accused of entering Blackburn’s home on the morning of Nov. 10 in addition to two other burglaries in the area. Sources confirmed to FOX59 the third man is 24-year-old Diano Gordan, who is being held on a parole violation.
Taylor, who was previously taken into custody and released, was arrested again Sunday night at a relative’s home, according to police.
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Authorities said the men referred to themselves as "The Kilt Gang."
The three men allegedly committed two burglaries before entering the Blackburn residence. Authorities said a car was stolen during the first burglary. The second burglary happened at a home near Blackburn's home. Detectives believe the men entered the Blackburn home through the front door, which was unlocked.
Watson and Gordan left Blackburn's home with her credit card to drive to an ATM. According to officials, Taylor stayed out the house and was later picked up by the other two men. Taylor is alleged to have admitted to witnesses he killed Amanda, who was home with her 1-year-old son. She was 12 weeks pregnant when she was killed. Her cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the back of the head. She was also shot in the left arm and upper back, said police.
Her husband, Pastor Davey Blackburn, discovered his wife's body after returning home from the gym that morning.
Police recovered the stolen vehicle in one of the robberies the next day. ATM receipts were found in the vehicle and detectives also gathered evidence linking the suspects to the use of Blackburn’s credit card. According to court documents, Waton's DNA was found on a sweater stolen from a house burglarized before Blackburn's home was targeted. Authorities believe Watson used the shirt to cover his face while withdrawing money from the ATM. A gun was also later recovered in a neighbor's yard.
“We appreciate the work of IMPD detectives and our law enforcement partners at the Indiana State Police, FBI, and U.S. Marshals Service in identifying those alleged to have committed this tragic murder,” Prosecutor Terry Curry said. “It is important to note the extraordinary assistance that was received from neighbors and members of the community in this case. We encourage anyone in our community who has information about other murders or crime to come forward, contact law enforcement, and assist us in identifying those responsible.”
Early reports indicated Blackburn may have been sexually assaulted. However, prosecutors said they do not have enough evidence to prove that at this time.
Amanda's husband and family released the following statement Monday morning: | – Police in Indianapolis say they've solved the high-profile murder of a young pastor's wife. Officers arrested 18-year-old Larry Taylor early Monday and charged him with shooting 28-year-old Amanda Blackburn in the head, reports the Indianapolis Star. Two other suspects are being held as alleged accomplices, reports Fox59. Police say that the three men broke into the family's home after husband Davey Blackburn left for the gym, and that two left with an ATM card to get money while Taylor remained behind and shot the pregnant Blackburn, reports the TV station; she died two days later. The couple's 15-month-old son was unharmed in a crib. "I think the most confusing things in life are when it seems like bad things happen to good people," Davey Blackburn told NBC News before the arrests. "Amanda didn't have an enemy in the world. Not one. We don't get it." The three men—the others are identified as Jalen Watson and Diano Gordan—also are suspected in a string of recent burglaries and at least one rape in an apartment complex, reports Fox59. More charges are expected in the Blackburn case. |
Rock & roll lost one of its supreme harmony singers when Phil Everly, half of the Everly Brothers, died today at the age of 74. According to a report attributed to his wife Patti Everly, the cause was complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Everly was a longtime smoker.
Listen to 12 essential Everly Brothers tracks
Harmony singing had been key in country and bluegrass, but starting with their first hit, 1957’s "Bye Bye Love," the Everly Brothers brought the sound of deeply intertwined voices — and more than a hint of Appalachia — to rock & roll. That blend resulted in 15 Top 10 hits between 1957 and 1962, including songs that went on to become rock standards: "Wake Up Little Susie," "All I Have to Do Is Dream," "Cathy’s Clown," "When Will I Be Loved." The brothers’ close-knit harmonies were also a major influence on rock & roll, impacting on the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, the Mamas & the Papas, and many others, and they were among the first acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Look back at Phil Everly's life in photos
"The Everly Brothers’ impact exceeds even their fame," wrote Paul Simon in Rolling Stone in 2004. "They were a big influence on John Lennon and Paul McCartney and, of course, on Simon & Garfunkel. When Artie & I were kids we got our rock & roll chops from the Everlys." That influence continues to this day: Last fall, Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones recently released an Everly Brothers tribute album. "The Everly brothers go way back as far as I can remember hearing music," Armstrong said in a statement. "Those harmonies will live on forever."
"We give one-sixth their worth to those alive; afterward, the other five: Your sound, dear Phil, was my model of beauty and charisma when I was 14," Art Garfunkel said in a statement. "You guided my musical development, my life. I sought a partner because you showed me what two can do. I always saw you up in Mt Rushmore, next to the other guys — a great hero of American culture."
The sons of a Kentucky coalminer, the Everlys began entertaining in grade school: When the family relocated to Iowa, the family had a radio show (Ike, their father, was also a singer), and Don and Phil would perform on the daybreak-hour show before heading to school. When they were teenagers the brothers relocated to Nashville. Although Columbia Records took an early interest in them, it wasn’t until they cut "Bye Bye Love" — a song rejected by 30 other acts — for another label, Cadence, that the Everlys' career took off. "Driving back to Nashville when we got within radio distance, they had this pop station on in the car — and it was playing our record," Phil recalled to RS in 1986. "That was, like, big juju. It really was."
Read Paul Simon's touching tribute to the Everly Brothers
Although many of the British Invasion bands of the ’60s adored the Everlys, the brothers themselves became out of step with the times by the middle of that decade. The Everlys were still capable of superb music (1968’s Roots album was an early country-rock landmark) and never lost their vocal power. "We spent so much time playing music together," recalls guitarist Waddy Wachtel, a member of the Everlys band in the early ‘70s along with Warren Zevon. "On the Everlys tour, every night we were in the hotel rooms playing music and Don and Phil would be there with us. It was unbelievable. They’d start singing in the rooms and it was like the heavens would open up."
But by then, the hits dried up, drug use took its toll, and the two brothers, who were increasingly growing apart musically and personally, infamously broke up onstage in 1973. They pursued solo careers with much less success but reunited onstage in 1983 and recorded several studio reunion albums in the ’80s. The first, EB84, featured "On the Wings of a Nightingale," a song written expressly for them by Paul McCartney.
The brothers rarely performed after the ’90s and long lived on separate coasts — Phil in Los Angeles, Don in Nashville — and also had different personalities. Of the two, Phil tended to be more straight-laced and low-key. As he told RS, "The ’60s weren’t my cup of tea. I never bought that philosophy that, you know, we’re all brothers and that’ll solve everything. And I never believed that music dictated the times. I always thought it reflected them."
See the Everly Brothers and more Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
The brothers’ last high-profile concerts together took place a decade ago, when they reunited to open shows for Simon & Garfunkel on their "Old Friends" tour. “They hadn’t seen each other in about three years," Simon recalled. "They unpacked their guitars — those famous black guitars — and they opened their mouths and starting to sing. And after all these years, it was still that sound I fell in loved with as a kid. It was still perfect." ||||| (LOS ANGELES) — Phil Everly, who with his brother Don formed an influential harmony duo that touched the hearts and sparked the imaginations of rock ‘n’ roll singers for decades, including the Beatles and Bob Dylan, died Friday. He was 74.
Everly died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at a Burbank hospital, said his son Jason Everly.
Phil and Don Everly helped draw the blueprint of rock ‘n’ roll in the late 1950s and 1960s with a high harmony that captured the yearning and angst of a nation of teenage baby boomers looking for a way to express themselves beyond the simple platitudes of the pop music of the day.
The Beatles, early in their career, once referred to themselves as “the English Everly Brothers.” And Bob Dylan once said, “We owe these guys everything. They started it all.”
The Everlys’ hit records included the then-titilating “Wake Up Little Susie” and the universally identifiable “Bye Bye Love,” each featuring their twined voices with lyrics that mirrored the fatalism of country music and a rocking backbeat that more upbeat pop. These sounds and ideas would be warped by their devotees into a new kind of music that would ricochet around the world.
In all, their career spanned five decades, although they performed separately from 1973 to 1983. In their heyday between 1957 and 1962, they had 19 top 40 hits.
The two broke up amid quarrelling in 1973 after 16 years of hits, then reunited in 1983, “sealing it with a hug,” Phil Everly said.
Although their number of hit records declined in the late 1980s, they made successful concert tours in this country and Europe.
They were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, the same year they had a hit pop-country record, “Born Yesterday.”
Don Everly was born in 1937 in Brownie, Ky., to Ike and Margaret Everly, who were folk and country music singers. Phil Everly was born to the couple on Jan. 19, 1939, in Chicago where the Everlys moved to from Brownie when Ike grew tired of working in the coal mines.
The brothers began singing country music in 1945 on their family’s radio show in Shenandoah, Iowa.
Their career breakthrough came when they moved to Nashville in the mid-1950s and signed a recording contract with New York-based Cadence Records.
Their breakup came dramatically during a concert at Knott’s Berry Farm in California. Phil Everly threw his guitar down and walked off, prompting Don Everly to tell the crowd, “The Everly Brothers died 10 years ago.”
During their breakup, they pursued solo singing careers with little fanfare. Phil also appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie “Every Which Way but Loose.” Don made a couple of records with friends in Nashville, performed in local nightclubs and played guitar and sang background vocals on recording sessions.
Don Everly said in a 1986 Associated Press interview that the two were successful because “we never followed trends. We did what we liked and followed our instincts. Rock ‘n’ roll did survive, and we were right about that. Country did survive, and we were right about that. You can mix the two but people said we couldn’t.”
In 1988, the brothers began hosting an annual homecoming benefit concert in Central City, Ky., to raise money for the area. ||||| "We give each other a lot of space," Don Everly told The Times in 1999 when they played a couple of shows in the Southland. "We say hello, we sometimes have a meal together.... Everything is different about us, except when we sing together. I'm a liberal Democrat, he's pretty conservative."
Philip Everly was born Jan. 19, 1939, in Chicago, about two weeks before older brother Don turned 2. The children of two musicians, Ike and Margaret Everly, Phil and Don early on began singing on their parents' radio show in Iowa.
The family moved through the South and Midwest, landing radio shows in different cities until the rise of television began to supplant radio as the preferred medium for entertainment.
The brothers credited Ike with teaching them all they knew about music. Ike Everly was an accomplished guitarist who reportedly influenced country guitar legends, including Merle Travis and Chet Atkins, and facilitated his sons' recording career by introducing them to famed guitarist and talent scout Atkins when they were in their early teens.
Atkins connected them with Wesley Rose of Nashville's famed Acuff-Rose Publishing, and Rose offered to get them a recording contract if they would sign to Acuff-Rose as songwriters. Rose introduced them to Archie Bleyer, who signed them to his New York-based Cadence Records label, and it wasn't long before the hits began to flow.
"The Everlys took the country brother duet tradition one step farther," historian Colin Escott wrote in the 2012 second edition of the Encyclopedia of Country Music. "They added Bo Diddley riffs, teenage anxieties and sharkskin suits, but — for all that — the core of their sound remained country brother harmony."
A year after the family moved from Knoxville, Tenn., to Nashville in 1955, the Everly Brothers rocketed to No. 2 on the pop charts with "Bye Bye Love," a song by Nashville husband-wife songwriting team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the first of many songs by the Bryants that the Everlys would record, including "Wake Up Little Susie," "Bird Dog," "Problems" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream."
Those songs are now perceived as remnants of a more innocent age, but "Wake Up Little Susie" was banned from many radio stations because its story of two teenagers being out together into the wee hours was considered too racy.
"It didn't even enter our minds that anybody could object to it," Phil recalled in 1984. "But if we'd called a press conference to deny it, nobody would have shown up. They were all off listening to big bands."
Both Everly siblings also knew a thing or two about songwriting, with Phil contributing "When Will I Be Loved," and Don writing "('Til) I Kissed You," "Cathy's Clown" and "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)."
In 1960, the Everlys moved from Cadence to the 2-year-old Warner Bros. Records label for what was widely reported to be one of the most lucrative contracts in popular music. Without missing a beat, they delivered their first hit for Warner Bros. with "Cathy's Clown," which spent five weeks at No. 1, and at that point they were more popular than Elvis Presley, who'd enlisted in the U.S. Army.
Despite their personal differences, the musical magic that earned them an inaugural spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame still surfaced when they sang together.
"That's the one part where being brothers makes a difference," Don said in 1999. "It's just instinct. That's the charm of what the Everly Brothers are: two guys singing as one. I want people to leave there thinking 'Whoa, it's still happening, it's still good.'"
In addition to his wife, brother and mother, Everly is survived by sons Jason and Chris, and two granddaughters.
Funeral services will be private.
randy.lewis@latimes.com
Twitter: @RandyLewis2 ||||| LOS ANGELES (AP) — There is no more beautiful sound than the voices of siblings swirled together in high harmony, and when Phil and Don Everly combined their voices with songs about yearning, angst and loss, it changed the world.
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2001 file photo, Phil Everly, right, of the musical duo The Everly Brothers, looks at his plaque in the Country Music Hall of Fame along with his sons, Chris, left, and Jason, in... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Aug. 30, 1997 file photo, Phil and Don Everly sing some of their hits at the 10th annual Everly Brothers Homecoming concert in Central City, Ky. Everly, who with his brother Don formed... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Jan. 4, 1984 file photo, Phil, left, and Don Everly, of the Everly Brothers joke around for photographers in New York City. Everly, who with his brother Don formed an influential harmony... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Nov. 6, 2006 file photo, Phil Everly, left, and Cowboy Troy arrive at the 40th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, Tenn. Everly, who with his brother Don formed an influential harmony duo... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this April 1, 1960 file photo, Phil, left, and Don of the Everly Brothers arrive at London Airport from New York to begin their European tour. Everly, who with his brother Don formed an influential... (Associated Press)
Phil Everly, the youngest of the Everly Brothers who took the high notes, died Friday from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 74.
He left a towering legacy that still inspires half a century after The Everly Brothers' first hit.
You could argue that while Elvis Presley was the king of rock 'n' roll, Phil and Don Everly were its troubled princes. They sang dark songs hidden behind deceptively pleasing harmonies and were perfect interpreters of the twitchy hearts of millions of baby boomer teens coming of age in the 1950s and '60s looking to express themselves beyond the simple platitudes of the pop music of the day.
The Everlys dealt in the entire emotional spectrum with an authenticity that appealed to proto rockers like the Beatles and Bob Dylan, who gladly pass the credit for the sea changes they made in rock to the ruggedly handsome brothers. The Beatles, the quartet whose pitch-perfect harmonies set the pop music world aflame, once referred to themselves as "the English Everly Brothers." And Dylan, pop culture's poet laureate, once said, "We owe these guys everything. They started it all."
Two generations later, artists are still finding inspiration in the music. Most recently, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones lovingly recorded a tribute to the Everlys and their unique album "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us."
"There's so much darkness in those old songs," Armstrong said recently. "I think mainly that's just how people communicated when it came to mourning and loss. Then with the Everly Brothers it sounds like these two little angels that sing."
That reaction was universal for the Everlys. Their hit records included the then-titillating "Wake Up Little Susie" and the era-identifying "Bye Bye Love," each featuring their twined voices with Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's lyrics that mirrored the fatalism of country music and the rocking backbeat of modern pop music. These sounds and ideas would be warped by their devotees into a new kind of music that would ricochet around the world.
Listen to the Everlys' "Cathy's Clown," for instance, then the Fab Four's "Please Please Me." You'll hear it right away. Simon & Garfunkel also were strongly influenced by the Everlys and recorded live versions of "Bye Bye Love" and "Wake Up Little Susie."
In all, the brothers' career spanned five decades, although they performed separately from 1973 to 1983. In their heyday between 1957 and 1962, they had 19 top 40 hits.
The two broke up amid quarrelling in 1973 after 16 years of hits, then reunited in 1983, "sealing it with a hug," Phil Everly said.
Although their number of hit records declined in the late 1980s, they made successful concert tours in this country and Europe.
They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, the same year they had a hit pop-country record, "Born Yesterday." They also are members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, a nod to their heritage. Phil Everly was born to folk and country music singers Ike and Margaret Everly on Jan. 19, 1939, in Chicago, two years after his older brother.
As the sons of country and western singers, they had been performing since they were children and were the most country-oriented of the early rock giants. The brothers began singing country music in 1945 on their family's radio show in Shenandoah, Iowa, and though their sound would become more cosmopolitan over time, they never strayed far from their country roots.
Don Everly said in a 1986 Associated Press interview that the two were successful because "we never followed trends. We did what we liked and followed our instincts. Rock 'n' roll did survive, and we were right about that. Country did survive, and we were right about that. You can mix the two but people said we couldn't."
Their breakup came dramatically during a concert at Knott's Berry Farm in California. Phil Everly threw his guitar down and walked off, prompting Don Everly to tell the crowd, "The Everly Brothers died 10 years ago."
During their breakup, they pursued solo singing careers with little fanfare. Phil also appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie "Every Which Way but Loose."
Phil Everly last performed in public in 2011, but his son Jason told The Associated Press on Friday he had been actively writing songs, living part of the year in Burbank and the rest in Nashville. He said his father had been in the hospital for about two weeks when he passed away.
Though the COPD caused by smoking affected his health, Jason Everly said it never affected that voice.
"He sang like an angel," his son said. "It was pretty surprising how he could still get those notes. We would still talk about it and sing together."
The inspiration attributed to the Everlys' voices brought the brothers together again in 2003 at the request of Simon & Garfunkel, a duo known to fight bitterly as well. The resulting tour brought a chuckle from Simon in a Rolling Stone interview.
"It was hilarious that the four of us were doing this tour, given our collective histories of squabbling," Simon said. "And it's amazing, because they hadn't seen each other in about three years. They met in the parking lot before the first gig. They unpacked their guitars — those famous black guitars — and they opened their mouths and started to sing. And after all these years, it was still that sound I fell in love with as a kid. It was still perfect."
___
AP Music Writer Chris Talbott reported from Nashville, Tenn., and can be reached at http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott . Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report. ||||| The singer, who was a lifelong smoker, died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at a hospital in Burbank, California, said his son Jason.
Phil and Don Everly can be credited with creating the blueprint for a harmonic style of singing that during the late 1950s and 1960s, in the words of one critic “captured the yearning and angst of a nation of teenage baby boomers looking for a way to express themselves”.
The Everlys’ hit records included Wake Up Little Susie and Bye Bye Love, All I Have To Do Is Dream, which married the fatalism of country music with a rocking backbeat, forging a new sound with a global reach.
In 1959, Cathy’s Clown, written by Don, remained at No 1 in America for five weeks in 1959 and topped the British charts for seven, selling more than eight million copies worldwide.
In a measure of their influence The Beatles referred to themselves early in their career as “the English Everly Brothers” and Bob Dylan once said: “We owe these guys everything. They started it all.”
In all, their career spanned five decades, although they performed separately from 1973 to 1983. At the peak of their success, between 1957 and 1962, they had 19 top 40 hits.
The pair broke up amid recriminations in 1973 after 16 years of hits, but reunited in 1983, “sealing it with a hug,” Phil Everly said.
Although their number of hit records declined in the late 1980s, they continued to tour, both in the United States and Europe and were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, the same year they had a hit with “Born Yesterday.”
Don Everly was born in 1937 in Brownie, Kentucky, to Ike and Margaret Everly, who were folk and country music singers. Phil Everly was born to the couple two years later, in Chicago where the Everlys moved to after Ike grew tired of working in the coal mines.
The brothers began singing country music in 1945 on their family’s radio show in Shenandoah, Iowa, but their breakthrough came when they moved to Nashville in the mid-1950s and signed a recording contract with New York-based Cadence Records.
For most of their recordings, Don sang the baritone part and Phil the tenor part, using vocal harmony mostly based on diatonic thirds.
Their split came dramatically during a concert at Knott’s Berry Farm in California. Phil threw his guitar down and walked off, prompting Don to tell the stunned audience, “The Everly Brothers died 10 years ago.”
During their break-up, they pursued solo singing careers, but to little acclaim. Phil also appeared in the Clint Eastwood movie “Every Which Way but Loose”, while Don made a couple of records with friends in Nashville, performed in local nightclubs and played guitar and sang background vocals on recording sessions.
In a 1986 Associated Press interview Don Everly said that the two were successful because “we never followed trends”.
He added: “We did what we liked and followed our instincts. Rock ‘n’ roll did survive, and we were right about that. Country did survive, and we were right about that. You can mix the two, but people said we couldn’t.”
In 1988, the brothers began hosting an annual homecoming benefit concert in Central City, Kentucky, to raise money for the area.
Their influence spanned the decades. Simon & Garfunkel recorded live versions of Bye Bye Love and Wake Up Little Susie and Paul McCartney paid tribute by mentioning "Phil and Don" in his 1976 million-seller, "Let 'Em In.
More recently Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones recorded a tribute to the brothers last November, reinterpreting the duo’s 1958 album Songs Our Daddy Taught Us, which had paid homage to their Tennessee roots.
Armstrong said: “There’s so much darkness in those old songs. I think mainly that’s just how people communicated when it came to mourning and loss. Then with the Everly Brothers it sounds like these two little angels that sing.”
Phil Everly was thrice married and had two sons, Jason and Chris, both singers and songwriters. He married his third wife, Patti Arnold, in 1999. | – Phil Everly is dead at age 74 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and the obituaries are paying homage to just how much he and brother Don influenced the early days of rock and roll as the Everly Brothers. Songs such as "Wake Up Little Susie," "All I Have to Do Is Dream," "Bye Bye Love," "Cathy’s Clown," and "When Will I Be Loved" became "rock standards" and their harmonies swayed everyone from the Beatles to the Beach Boys to the Mamas & the Papas, recounts Rolling Stone. It notes that Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones recently put out a tribute album. Bob Dylan: "We owe these guys everything," he once said. "They started it all." And the Beatles sometimes referred to themselves as the "English Everly Brothers," notes Time. 'Troubled princes': "You could argue that while Elvis Presley was the king of rock 'n' roll, Phil and Don Everly were its troubled princes," write Chris Talbott and Robert Jablon at AP. "They sang dark songs hidden behind deceptively pleasing harmonies and were perfect interpreters of the twitchy hearts of millions of baby boomer teens coming of age in the 1950s and '60s looking to express themselves beyond the simple platitudes of the pop music of the day." Early days: Phil was born Jan. 19, 1939, about two years after his brother, and they got their start singing on their parents' Iowa radio show, reports the Los Angeles Times. The family moved to Nashville in 1955, and the brothers hit No. 2 the following year with "Bye Bye Love." Their career spanned five decades and included 19 top 40 hits in their heyday. The brothers split in 1973 but reunited a decade later. The UK Telegraph rounds up video of some of their biggest hits. |
Seeing is smelling for a camera system developed by scientists in Japan that images ethanol vapour escaping from a wine glass. And, perhaps most importantly, no wine is wasted in the process.
Kohji Mitsubayashi, at the Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and colleagues impregnated a mesh with the enzyme alcohol oxidase, which converts low molecular weight alcohols and oxygen into aldehydes and hydrogen peroxide. Horseradish peroxide and luminol were also immobilised on the mesh and together initiate a colour change in response to hydrogen peroxide. When this mesh is placed on top of a wine glass, colour images from a camera watching over the mesh on top of a glass of wine can be interpreted to map the concentration distribution of ethanol leaving the glass.
Different glass shapes and temperatures can bring out completely different bouquets and finishes from the same wine. So Mitsubayashi’s team analysed different wines, in different glasses – including different shaped wine glasses, a martini glass and a straight glass – at different temperatures.
At 13°C, the alcohol concentration in the centre of the wine glass was lower than that around the rim. Wine served at a higher temperature, or from the martini or straight glass, did not exhibit a ring-shaped vapour pattern. ‘This ring phenomenon allows us to enjoy the wine aroma without interference of gaseous ethanol. Accordingly, wine glass shape has a very sophisticated functional design for tasting and enjoying wine,’ explains Mitsubayashi.
Wine scientist Régis Gougeon, from the University of Burgundy, France, says the work is really interesting when considering its experimental setup, which allows for a rather straightforward and inexpensive detection of ethanol. ‘Bearing in mind the flavour enhancer properties of ethanol, this work provides an unprecedented image of the claimed impact of glass geometry on the overall complex wine flavour perception, thus validating the search for optimum adequation between a glass and a wine.’
In the future the system could help indicate the best wine glass and precise temperature to serve a certain wine.
This article is reproduced with permission from Chemistry World. The article was first published on April 10, 2015. ||||| TOKYO, April 15 (UPI) -- The sommelier who said you shouldn't drink red wine out of a white wine glass may be a snob, but they're not entirely wrong. New research proves the shape of a wine glass does affect how wine taste and smells.
To prove as much, researchers developed a camera system to observe how the chemical profile of wine is altered as it exits different shapes.
The system featured a mesh strainer coated with alcohol oxidase, an enzyme that converts alcohols and oxygen into aldehydes and hydrogen peroxide. The mesh also featured horseradish peroxide and luminol so that the presence of hydrogen peroxide would initiate a color change.
The mesh was placed atop variously sized wine glasses as they were tipped to release the contents over the edge. A camera interpreted the chemical reactions and changing colors to map the concentration and distribution of ethanol as left each glass.
Researchers used their system to test a variety wines in three different glass shapes. They also tested each combination at a variety of temperature points. Different combinations produced different concentrations and distributions of ethanol -- which can affect a taster's ability to identify the subtleties of food flavors in a wine.
"We selected three types of glasses -- a wine glass, a cocktail glass, and a straight glass -- to determine the differences in ethanol emission caused by the shape effects of the glass," researchers explained in their paper on the experiment, published in the journal Analyst.
Traditional wine glasses produced a distribution of wine concentrated around the rim of the glass, with less ethanol in the center.
"This ring phenomenon allows us to enjoy the wine aroma without interference of gaseous ethanol," study author Kohji Mitsubayashi, a researcher at Tokyo Medical and Dental University, told Chemistry World. "Accordingly, wine glass shape has a very sophisticated functional design for tasting and enjoying wine."
"Bearing in mind the flavor enhancer properties of ethanol, this work provides an unprecedented image of the claimed impact of glass geometry on the overall complex wine flavor perception," said Regis Gougeon, a wine scientist at the University of Burgundy, in France.
Gougeon says the research justifies the search for the ideal partnership of wine and wine glass. ||||| A two-dimensional imaging system (Sniffer-camera) for visualizing the concentration distribution of ethanol vapor emitting from wine in a wine glass has been developed. This system provides image information of ethanol vapor concentration using chemiluminescence (CL) from an enzyme-immobilized mesh. This system measures ethanol vapor concentration as CL intensities from luminol reactions induced by alcohol oxidase and a horseradish peroxidase (HRP)–luminol–hydrogen peroxide system. Conversion of ethanol distribution and concentration to two-dimensional CL was conducted using an enzyme-immobilized mesh containing an alcohol oxidase, horseradish peroxidase, and luminol solution. The temporal changes in CL were detected using an electron multiplier (EM)-CCD camera and analyzed. We selected three types of glasses—a wine glass, a cocktail glass, and a straight glass—to determine the differences in ethanol emission caused by the shape effects of the glass. The emission measurements of ethanol vapor from wine in each glass were successfully visualized, with pixel intensity reflecting ethanol concentration. Of note, a characteristic ring shape attributed to high alcohol concentration appeared near the rim of the wine glass containing 13 °C wine. Thus, the alcohol concentration in the center of the wine glass was comparatively lower. The Sniffer-camera was demonstrated to be sufficiently useful for non-destructive ethanol measurement for the assessment of food characteristics. | – As snotty as people might sound when they insist on a wine glass with a certain shape, it turns out they're right: The shape of that glass actually does have a bearing on how the drink tastes, Scientific American reports. Scientists made that clear using what they have dubbed, in the journal Analyst, a "sniffer-camera." Researchers placed a combination of chemicals on a mesh strainer, which they put on wine glasses. The camera, which showed images of ethanol vapor, revealed how that chemical was distributed in the wine. And ethanol concentrations, UPI reports, can influence the taster's perception. Turns out that wine in researchers' wine glasses, at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, had a lower concentration of alcohol in the middle of the glass than around the rim, Scientific American reports. But wine in a martini glass, a straight glass, or served warmer didn't have the same "ring phenomenon," which, a researcher says, "allows us to enjoy the wine aroma without interference of gaseous ethanol. Accordingly, wine glass shape has a very sophisticated functional design for tasting and enjoying wine." The team's work could eventually help us choose the right glass, and temperature, for each drink. (Of course, that probably won't fix the wine headaches, whose cause might not be what you think it is.) |
Sandie Benitah, CTV Toronto
A baby who was removed from his murdered mother’s womb late Sunday night is now in stable condition, police said as investigators ramp up the search for those behind the deadly Jamestown shooting.
Candice “Rochelle” Bobb, 35, was about five months pregnant when the car she was riding in was shot at several times at around 11 p.m. in a Rexdale neighbourhood, near John Garland Boulevard and Jamestown Crescent.
Bobb, who police said was sitting in the back seat, was rushed to Etobicoke General Hospital by the other three occupants of the vehicle, all of whom escaped injury in the shooting. She was pronounced deceased a short time later.
The child was delivered via emergency C-section and transferred to a trauma centre but on Monday morning, police said the baby was in stable condition.
Homicide investigator Det.-Sgt. Mike Carbone gave reporters a brief update Monday but would not say if the father of the child was in the vehicle when the gunshots rang out.
Carbone said he would not make any other comments about the baby and said it was too early to tell if the incident was gang related or if Bobb was targeted.
He warned reporters at a news conference Monday morning that their investigation is still in the beginning stages.
“For some reason that vehicle was certainly targeted, but that’s all we can say at this time,” he said.
Bobb and the others in the vehicle were coming back from a recreational basketball game that was taking place in Toronto. As the vehicle stopped on John Garland Boulevard to drop off a passenger, gunshots rang out and struck the car several times.
Investigators are trying to determine if the shooter or shooters fired the gun from another vehicle. Police recovered about seven shell casings at the scene, spread out over two blocks.
Officers are canvassing the area for witnesses today and are asking drivers to contact them if they have footage from a dashboard camera taken in the area around the time of the incident.
“Our appeal today is to try and find out what happened here yesterday evening,” he said. “My hope is that when we conduct the canvas, we’ll get a clearer picture of what happened.”
In the meantime, Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner, who is the head of 23 Division in Etobicoke, said the police station has deployed as many resources as possible to particular areas to help combat the rise in violence.
So far in 2016, there have been 135 shootings, 19 of which resulted in death. In 2015, Toronto saw 84 shootings at this time last year, and only 6 shooting-related deaths.
He said while he suspects gangs have been involved in the recent rise of shootings in the city, it’s too early to tell if this particular incident involved gang members.
The occupants of the vehicle that were with Bobb are not known to police, he said. They are cooperating with police in the investigation.
He said the increased number of shootings in the city and the number of guns seized by police suggests there are more guns available on the street.
“There’s no doubt there are more guns on the street and more young people, and people in general carrying guns,” he said. “It’s a sad day when we have to come together and talk about a woman being shot and not know what it’s about.
Taverner called the shooters “cowards” and the level of violence in yesterday’s shooting “outrageous” and “disgusting.”
“Very cowardly,” he said of the incident. “For all intents and purposes, someone driving up and shooting is outrageous."
Some residents in Jamestown said they feel concerned about their safety.
"I don't know what's going on," one Jamestown resident said. "Even when you walk the streets, you feel threatened by these young guys just doing stupid stuff."
"I came outside for a cigarette and I heard the shots, like five or six shots," Jamestown resident Janet Delisser said. "I feel bad for the kid right now. How is he going to grow without his mom?"
Taverner said he's hoping people from the community will come forward with information.
"(We are) totally outraged that this could happen. We’re all kind of in shock. The whole community is outraged. The whole city is outraged that this could happen," he said.
"Anytime people go to this level of violence (it's) disgusting.” ||||| Police canvas the housing complex beside John Garland Blvd. where Candice Rochelle Bobb, 35, was fatally shot Sunday night. Bobb’s premature baby, delivered by emergency C-section following her death, faces a tough road ahead, medical experts say. ( Lucas Oleniuk / Toronto Star ) | Order this photo
Not much is known about the tiny, premature baby lying in Sunnybrook hospital. Police have only said that 35-year-old Candice Rochelle Bobb’s baby, delivered by emergency C-section about four months premature, is in stable condition. Bobb was shot while sitting in the back of a car Sunday evening, and died from her injuries. But doctors were able to deliver her baby. Neonatal experts, who track babies’ development by weeks, not months, say the baby faces a tough, but not impossible road ahead. In such situations, every week counts. Andrew James, a staff neonatologist and interim head of division of neonatology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, who is not treating Bobb’s baby, said the bottom line is the baby is in the wrong place: outside of its mother.
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“Babies born (at) less than 22 to 23 weeks don’t have a realistic shot of survival,” he added. “That’s simply because of the biology of the lungs. The lungs are actually so immature that they cannot sustain life outside the uterus.” In cases like this a baby’s chances come down to weighing probabilities, but every situation is different, he said.
Article Continued Below | – A dangerously premature baby is clinging to life in Toronto after its mother was killed in a drive-by shooting. The child was delivered via emergency C-section after 35-year-old Candice Bobb, who was around five months pregnant, was fatally shot on Sunday night, CTV reports. She was a passenger in a car that was shot at several times from a passing vehicle when the driver stopped to drop off another passenger. "It's a travesty," says Mayor John Tory, per the National Post. "My heart goes out in particular to her baby. No baby should come into this world without a mother." "We're all kind of in shock," says Toronto Police Superintendent Ron Taverner. "The whole city is outraged that this can happen." The baby was in stable condition on Monday, but experts say that any baby out of the womb so early faces very tough odds, the Toronto Star reports. Much will depend on exactly how old he or she is. Babies born at "less than 22 to 23 weeks don't have a realistic shot of survival" because their lungs are so immature, says a Hospital for Sick Children neonatologist. But "each baby is an individual in her own right," he says. "Some babies do a little bit better than the predicted probability and other babies do worse." |
Who needs to fight about race when you can fight about gender?
Jane Norton, who is facing off against Ken Buck in the GOP Senate primary in Colorado, has released an ad spotlighting Buck's comment that people should vote for him because he does not "wear high heels."
"Why should you vote for me? Because I do not wear high heels," Buck is shown saying in the spot, in comments he made last week. "I have cowboy boots. They have real bullsh** on them."
Says a narrator: "Now Ken Buck wants to go to Washington? He'd fit right in."
In a statement trumpeting the fact that the ad is going "viral," Norton campaign spokesman Cinamon Watson said, "Ken is going to have to use all of his best lawyer-speak to explain this really stupid statement." Watson went on to argue that the comment could have a significant impact on the race.
In an email to Politico's Ben Smith late yesterday afternoon, Buck spokesman Owen Loftus said, "Obviously, the comment was made in jest after Jane questioned Ken's 'manhood' in her new ad. The Norton campaign has routinely commented about her being a good choice because she is a woman, and [on] her choice of shoes."
Norton previously ran an ad in which she said: "You've seen those ads attacking me. They're paid for by a shady interest group doing the bidding of Ken Buck. You'd think Ken would be man enough to do it himself."
Ken Buck and Jane Norton.
The Colorado primary takes place August 10th. Norton, the former lieutenant governor, is the establishment candidate and has the backing of a number of conservative organizations; she is trailing in the polls to Buck, an insurgent candidate with the support of the Tea Party movement and conservative South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.
Both candidates agree on most of the issues, as Time reports, railing against big government as well as abortion, illegal immigration, health care reform and same-sex marriage. Their disagreements tend to be rhetorical: After Norton said there is a "real measure of truth" to Tom Tancredo's suggestion that President Obama is the greatest threat America faces, Buck disagreed - saying instead that the greatest threat is the "progressive liberal movement."
Speaking of the Norton "High Heels" spot, an unnamed Republican operative told Politico's Mike Allen that the ad buy will be "significant" and will likely have an impact because the primary is mail-in ballot only and the electorate is mostly female. ||||| The Colorado Republican Senate primary took a strange turn into gender politics yesterday, when candidate Ken Buck — seen in the clip above — told a questioner at a campaign stop that she should vote for him "because I do not wear high heels."
Buck was apparently responding to his rival Jane Norton's recent ad blaming him for independent attacks on her.
"You'd think he'd be man enough to do it himself," she says in the ad.
The connection isn't immediately clear in the video, in which he responded to a simple question from a woman in the audience.
"Why should you vote for me? Because I do not wear high heels," he said, to laughter and some apparent confusion.
"She has questioned my manhood. I think it's fair to respond," he explained. "I have cowboy boots. They have real bulls*** on them."
A longer video containing the snippet above, both provided by a Republican operative, can be seen here. The primary is Aug. 10 in a race that has a mail-in ballot and that seems to be getting interesting.
UPDATE: Buck spokesman Owen Loftus e-mails, "Obviously, the comment was made in jest after Jane questioned Ken's 'manhood' in her new ad. The Norton campaign has routinely commented about her being a good choice because she is a woman, and [on ]her choice of shoes."
comments closed
permalink | – Two GOP candidates for Senate in Colorado who don't differ much in their view of government have found something to argue about—high heels. Ken Buck began the flap after a questioner asked why she should vote for him, explains CBS. "Because I do not wear high heels," he answered. Jane Norton's campaign quickly pounced on the remark with a new video depicting him as sexist (and having fun with his statement that his boots have "real bullshit" on them). A spokesman for Buck tells Ben Smith of Politico that the comment about heels was a joke in response to a previous Norton ad in which she said he wasn't "man enough" to attack her directly. "Obviously, the comment was made in jest after Jane questioned Ken's 'manhood' in her new ad. The Norton campaign has routinely commented about her being a good choice because she is a woman, and (on) her choice of shoes." The primary, a mail-in affair, takes place August 10. |
Good news, reproductive rights advocates and neo-Malthusian environmentalists! Vice President Joe Biden has no problem with the government forcibly sterilizing people and compelling abortions. From his remarks at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China yesterday discussing the U.S. debt:
What we ended up doing is setting up a system whereby we did cut by $1.2 trillion upfront, the deficit over the next 10 years. And we set up a group of senators that have to come up with another $1.2 to $1.7 trillion in savings or automatically there will be cuts that go into effect in January to get those savings. So the savings will be accomplished. But as I was talking to some of your leaders, you share a similar concern here in China. You have no safety net. Your policy has been one which I fully understand -- I’m not second-guessing -- of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable.
So hopefully we can act in a way on a problem that's much less severe than yours, and maybe we can learn together from how we can do that.
It's perfectly understandable that you let the government tell you how many children you could have if that helps get the debt under control, right? Republicans better get together and compromise on the president's grand bargain sometime soon, or else. ||||| U.S. Vice President Joe Biden expressed admiration for the stoicism of the Japanese people in their efforts to recover from the tsunami, as he met Tuesday with Japan's prime minister on the third and final leg of an Asian tour.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, is greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan prior to their meeting at Kan's official residence in Tokyo Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) (Associated Press)
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, is greeted by Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan prior to their meeting at Kan's official residence in Tokyo Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye) (Associated Press)
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, third from left, faces with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, fourth from right, at the start of their meeting at Kan's official residence in Tokyo Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011.... (Associated Press)
Prime Minister Naoto Kan thanked Biden for the United States' "enormous assistance" after the disaster, when among other things American military personnel helped reopen the damaged airport at Sendai, where Biden was to give a speech later Tuesday. He also was scheduled to visit evacuees living in temporary housing along the devastated northeastern coastline.
"Looking at it from afar, it was absolutely breathtaking, heartbreaking," Biden said of the March 11 disaster, which left just over 20,000 people dead and missing. He said the American public was impressed with the stoicism and resolve of the Japanese people, calling it a model for the whole world.
Biden also reaffirmed the countries' alliance and economic ties. Under a security pact, nearly 50,000 American troops stationed in Japan.
"We are a Pacific power. You are a Pacific power," he said. "You are our ally, both economically and politically."
Referring to the natural disaster in Japan and budget problems in the U.S., Biden said, "There are voices in the world who are counting us out. They are making a very bad bet."
Kan said Biden's trip _ his first to Asia as vice president _ demonstrates that "Japan is open for business."
Biden is spending two days in Japan, the final stop of an eight-day trip to Asia that already took him to China and Mongolia.
His visit to Japan comes at a time of widespread speculation that Kan will resign in coming weeks or even days over his administration's perceived lack of leadership in handling the triple crisis _ the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, located between Sendai and Tokyo.
More broadly, Biden's visit comes amid China's rising economic, military and political clout that is somewhat overshadowing Japan, which is wrestling with a two-decade economic slump, bulging deficit and aging population _ and now recovery from a threefold disaster.
In China, Biden had extensive face-time with the country's expected future leader, Xi Jinping, and delivered a strong message of the mutual interdependence between the U.S. and China, the world's two biggest economies.
Biden also made the case for continued U.S. economic vitality despite current budget woes and sought to reassure China's leaders and ordinary citizens about the safety of their assets in the United States following the downgrading of America's credit rating.
On Wednesday, Biden plans to visit a U.S. air force base west of Tokyo to thank military and civilian personnel for helping with relief and recovery efforts in the wake of the disaster. | – Joe Biden was mere hours away from wrapping up a gaffe-free four-day visit to China when he said he fully understood China's one-child policy. The vice president, discussing the US debt during a Q&A session at a university in Chengdu, said: "You have no safety net. Your policy has been one which I fully understand—I’m not second-guessing—of one child per family. The result being that you’re in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable." Critics were quick to point out that the policy Biden "fully understands" includes forced sterilization and abortions, the Weekly Standard notes. House Speaker John Boehner responded that he was "deeply troubled" by the comment, and that "the Obama administration should be focusing on jobs for the American people, not encouraging foreign governments to utilize abortion as a means of population and deficit control.” Biden's China visit was followed by a trip to Mongolia yesterday and he is now in Japan. He met with Japan's prime minister today and plans to visit an American base tomorrow to thank personnel for their help with relief efforts after the quake and tsunami in March, the AP reports. |
DAWSON, GA --
UPDATE:
The GBI released a statement about the investigation where the Dawson Mayor was shot on Thursday evening.
"On Thursday nigh, October 31st, the Dawson Police Department and Terrell County EMS were notified of a shooting on Crawford Street. Officers responded and learned that the victim was Christopher Wright, the Mayor of the City of Dawson. Wright was transported to a local hospital and is being treated.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation Field Office in Sylvester has been requested to conduct the investigation into the shooting of Mayor Wright. Anyone that has information about the shooting is encouraged to contact the Dawson Police Department at 229-995-4414, GBI Sylvester at 229-777-2080 or 404-244-2600, which is a 24-hour contact number for GBI Sylvester."
ORIGINAL STORY:
The Mayor of Dawson, Christopher Wright was shot multiple times late Thursday evening.
The Dawson Police Department, EMS and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations were sent to the 500 block of Crawford Avenue in reference to a shooting.
At this time we know the 23-year-old Mayor was taken to Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and we're awaiting word of his condition.
Witnesses say that Wright was outside of his house when an attempted armed robbery took place.
Jessae Goshae, a friend of Wright, tells FOX 31 that Wright was shot multiple times in the leg but is in stable condition and awaiting surgery.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Dawson Police Department are still on scene investigating.
Stay connected to MySouthWestGA.com as stories develop and the FOX 31 Newscast at 10 PM. Visit us on Facebook and Twitter to join in on the conversation and connect with FOX 31! ||||| A Halloween night shooting of a young mayor has Georgia Bureau of Investigation looking into the case.
Authorities say that Dawson Mayor Chris Wright was shot several times late Thursday night.
It happened in Terrell County on the 500 block of Crawford Street in Dawson, at the home of Mayor Wright.
A neighbor told WALB she was watching TV when she heard a loud noise down the street, and that it sounded like a firecracker. That noise was later confirmed to be gunshots.
Mayor Wright was taken to Phoebe Putney hospital in Albany. Mayor Wright's aunt, Ann Smalls, says that Wright's mother was also injured. She said Wrights mother was tied up during the ordeal.
"We are very upset, we are very hurt that such an innocent person can be done like this, said Smalls.
"I'm sorry. I feel sorry for the family, I love y'all very much and we're praying for you," a neighbor of Mayor Wright said.
Authorities say they have not yet named any suspects in the case.
Anyone that has information about the shooting is encouraged to contact the Dawson Police Department at (229) 995-4414, GBI Sylvester at (229) 777-2080 or (404) 244-2600, which is a 24 hour contact number for GBI Sylvester.
Copyright 2013 WALB. All rights reserved. ||||| (CNN) -- The mayor of a southern Georgia city was shot in his home Thursday night and is being treated at a hospital, the city manager told CNN Friday.
The shooting of Dawson Mayor Chris Wright is under investigation and no arrests have been made, Dawson City Manager Barney Parnacott said. No one else was injured in the shooting, Parnacott said.
Dawson, with a population of about 4,500, is about 140 miles south of Atlanta.
CNN's Amanda Watts contributed to this report. | – The young mayor of Dawson, Georgia, was shot multiple times last night in an apparent home robbery, though reports differ as to his current condition. The shooting occurred sometime before midnight at Chris Wright's family home, where WFXL reports Wright, 23, was shot in the leg. Wright's mother, who was tied up in the incident, was also injured. A neighbor tells WALB she was watching TV when she heard what sounded like a firecracker down the street. "We are very upset, we are very hurt that such an innocent person can be done like this," Wright's aunt said. No suspects have been named. CNN notes that Dawson, population 4,500, sits about 140 miles south of Atlanta. |
Hurricane Rita (2005)
People don’t take hurricanes as seriously if they have a feminine name and the consequences are deadly, finds a new groundbreaking study.
Female-named storms have historically killed more because people neither consider them as risky nor take the same precautions, the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes.
Researchers at the University of Illinois and Arizona State University examined six decades of hurricane death rates according to gender, spanning 1950 and 2012. Of the 47 most damaging hurricanes, the female-named hurricanes produced an average of 45 deaths compared to 23 deaths in male-named storms, or almost double the number of fatalities. (The study excluded Katrina and Audrey, outlier storms that would skew the model).
The difference in death rates between genders was even more pronounced when comparing strongly masculine names versus strongly feminine ones.
“[Our] model suggests that changing a severe hurricane’s name from Charley … to Eloise … could nearly triple its death toll,” the study says.
Female-named storms have historically killed more because people neither consider them as risky nor take the same precautions, concludes a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Since 1950, nine of the 10 deadliest U.S. hurricanes had female names. (The Washington Post)
Sharon Shavitt, study co-author and professor of marketing at the University of Illinois, says the results imply an “implicit sexism”; that is, we make decisions about storms based on the gender of their name without even knowing it.
“When under the radar, that’s when it [the sexism] has the potential to influence our judgments,” Shavitt said.
To test the hypothesis the gender of the storm names impacts people’s judgments about a storm, the researchers set up 6 experiments presenting a series of questions to between 100 to 346 people. The sexism showed up again.
Respondents predicted male hurricanes to be more intense the female hurricanes in one exercise. In another exercise, the hurricane sex affected how respondents said they would prepare for a hurricane.
“People imagining a ‘female’ hurricane were not as willing to seek shelter,” Shavitt said. “The stereotypes that underlie these judgments are subtle and not necessarily hostile toward women – they may involve viewing women as warmer and less aggressive than men.”
Hurricanes have been named since 1950. Originally, only female names were used; male names were introduced into the mix in 1979.
LINK: The reasoning for hurricane names and their history (keep suggestions to yourself).
Given the implications of this work, the study authors’ suggest the meteorological community re-consider the merits of the storm naming practice.
“Although using human names for hurricanes has been thought by meteorologists to enhance the clarity and recall of storm information, this practice also taps into well-developed and widely held gender stereotypes, with unanticipated and potentially deadly consequences,” the study says. “For policymakers, these findings suggest the value of considering a new system for hurricane naming to reduce the influence of biases on hurricane risk assessments and to motivate optimal preparedness.”
The National Hurricane Center, while declining to specifically comment on the results of this study, emphasized the people should focus on storm hazards, irrespective of their names.
“Whether the name is Sam or Samantha, the deadly impacts of the hurricane – wind, storm surge and inland flooding – must be taken seriously by everyone in the path of the storm in order to protect lives,” said Dennis Feltgen, National Hurricane Center spokesperson. “This includes heeding evacuation orders.”
Bill Read, a former director of the National Hurricane Center from 2008-2012, isn’t convinced the gender of the storm name is as big a factor in storm fatalities as the study purports.
“While necessary to eke out the gender difference, it leaves me with the need to know is this factor significant, or is it very minor in the mix of all other societal and event driven responses,” Read said.
Other voices within the meteorological community believe the study is important but stopped short of recommending an overhaul of the naming system.
“I am not ready to change the naming system based on one study, but it may be one more indicator that thinking exclusively about physical science is not enough in 2014 and beyond to save lives,” said Marshall Shepherd, past president of the American Meteorological Society.
Gina Eosco, a researcher at Cornell University’s risk communication group, emphasized the storm name is just one of many non-weather factors that behavioral scientists need to better understand in understanding how people make decisions when dangerous storms threaten.
“The focus on the gendered names is one factor in the hurricane communication process, but social science research shows that evacuation rates are influenced by many non-weather factors such as positive versus negative prior evacuation experiences, having children, owning pets, whether a first responder knocked on your door to tell you to evacuate, perceived safety of the structure of your home,” Eosco said. “None of these very important variables were factored into this study.”
Julie Demuth, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who studies societal aspects of weather information, echoed Eosco’s call for more research into the social and behavioral aspects of decisions people make in the face of a storm.
“My hope is that this paper helps continue the dialogue about and support for research on people’s hurricanes risk perceptions and responses and the implications for hurricane risk communication,” Demuth said.
Update, 1:30 p.m. Tuesday: Please see my follow-up post: Disbelief, shock and skepticism: Hurricane gender study faces blowback ||||| "The femininity of the name influences the degree to which people feel the storm is dangerous, and that affects how they respond to it," said Sharon Shavitt, a behavioral scientist at the university and a coauthor of the paper. "We had a hunch that there would be some gender biases, but we were quite stunned by the degree of this effect." | – Our hurricane-naming system taps into an unconscious sexism—and the results are potentially disastrous, researchers say. A study suggests that when we hear a female name for a hurricane, we're less worried, and thus less likely to prepare adequately, than we would be if the name were male, the Washington Post reports. "These findings suggest the value of considering a new system for hurricane naming to reduce the influence of biases on hurricane risk assessments," researchers write. Experts reviewed the 47 most damaging hurricanes between 1950, when naming began, and 2012. They found that hurricanes with female names killed an average of 45 people, while those with male names killed an average of 23. In surveys, respondents expected more intensity from hurricanes with male names, while "people imagining a ‘female’ hurricane were not as willing to seek shelter," says researcher Sharon Shavitt. Some journalists asked her whether the study was a joke, she tells the Los Angeles Times. Nope: "It now appears that gender biases apply not only to people, but also to things." |
Jupiter is famous for its Great Red Spot, a storm twice the diameter of Earth that rages on the gas giant's surface. Now, researchers have found that it has a second great spot, almost as large — this one, a Great Cold Spot caused by the planet's vibrant auroras.
Researchers first detected the ever-changing Great Cold Spot in data from the Very Large Telescope in Chile, and went back to track its existence over a 15-year period in observations from another telescope. The cool patch stretches up to 15,000 by 7,500 miles (24,000 by 12,000 km) across at its largest, and it's about 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) cooler than the surrounding area in the planet's upper atmosphere. Although it disappears from time to time it seems to always re-form, just offset from the planet's bright aurora.
"The Great Cold Spot is much more volatile than the slowly changing Great Red Spot, changing dramatically in shape and size over only a few days and weeks, but it has reappeared for as long as we have data to search for it, for over 15 years," Tom Stallard, a planetary astronomer at the University of Leicester in the U.K. and lead author on the new work, said in a statement. [2nd 'Great Spot' on Jupiter Discovered by Astronomers (Video)]
The spot is likely formed as a byproduct of the planet's spectacular auroras, researchers said in the statement, and that because of the way the spot always re-forms it might be as old as the auroras themselves — up to many thousands of years in age.
Jupiter's newfound Great Cold Spot appears as a dark patch in this map of emissions from the hydrogen ion H3+, which is present in Jupiter's atmosphere, as measured by NASA's IRTF telescope in Hawaii. The cool spot moves over time and changes shape, but always re-forms. Credit: Tom Stallard
Like on Earth, the bright light of Jupiter's auroras comes from electrically charged particles colliding with the planet's atmosphere near its north and south poles, guided by the planet's magnetic field. But Jupiter's auroras are much more constant and intense, and they're powered from particles coming from the planet's moons as well as the sun.
According to the new research, the aurora deposits energy into Jupiter's atmosphere, heating it up so there's a large disparity in heat between the top of the atmosphere and farther below. This seems to whip up a vortex in the atmosphere, creating a patch that is cooler than the surroundings and offset from the aurora.
Stallard said that a similar effect can be found near Earth's aurora, but that it's less of a permanent fixture because the Earth auroras vary so much more, and because Jupiter's spin acts to trap some of its heat in place.
Researchers tracked the Great Cold Spot over time, noting dramatic changes in shape and size from day to day. Here, it is seen in July of 1995 and continues to reappear until 15 years later, in December of 2000. Credit: Tom Stallard
"The atmospheric flows generated by Earth's aurora can drive heat quickly across the whole planet, making the upper atmosphere ring like a bell, while Jupiter's fast spin traps this energy nearer the poles," Stallard said.
The researchers were surprised to find the Great Cold Spot, Stallard added, and they will continue to investigate it while looking for evidence of other atmospheric features. Combining their Earth-based observations with those from the Juno spacecraft currently orbiting Jupiter should provide much more insight into the giant planet's weather.
The new work was detailed April 10 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. ||||| This image shows how the Great Cold Spot changes dramatically in shape and size on different days. Each view comes from a different day, with the spot sometimes almost disappearing. Because the feature is dynamic, changing over both daily and yearly timescales, it is likely that this feature is a weather system that is in a constant state of change. But despite this variability, it is seen again fifteen years later, showing it must reform again and again. Credit: IRTF/NASA. A second Great Spot has been discovered on Jupiter by University of Leicester astronomers, rivalling the scale of the planet's famous Great Red Spot and created by the powerful energies exerted by the great planet's polar aurorae.
Dubbed the 'Great Cold Spot', it has been observed as a localised dark spot, up to 24,000 km in longitude and 12,000 km in latitude, in the gas giant's thin high-altitude thermosphere, that is around 200K (Kelvin) cooler than the surrounding atmosphere, which can range in temperature between 700K (426ºC) and 1000K (726ºC).
The results are published today (11 April) in Geophysical Research Letters.
Dr Tom Stallard, Associate Professor in Planetary Astronomy and lead author of the study, said: "This is the first time any weather feature in Jupiter's upper atmosphere has been observed away from the planet's bright aurorae.
"The Great Cold Spot is much more volatile than the slowly changing Great Red Spot, changing dramatically in shape and size over only a few days and weeks, but it has re-appeared for as long as we have data to search for it, for over 15 years. That suggests that it continually reforms itself, and as a result it might be as old as the aurorae that form it - perhaps many thousands of years old."
The Great Cold Spot was first discovered on Jupiter using observations taken of Jupiter’s auroral region by the CRIRES instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The images on the left show the bright arcs of Jupiter’s infrared aurora on two separate nights, the top left image on 17 October and three images taken 31 December 2012, as the planet slowly rotates. However, the Great Cold Spot cannot be seen clearly until these images are saturated so that the entire aurora becomes white, as shown on the right. Here, the planet glows as a result of the temperature of the upper atmosphere, and the distinct regions of cooling that reveal the Great Cold Spot can be seen. Credit: VLT/ESO
The Great Cold Spot is thought to be caused by the effects of the magnetic field of the planet, with the massive planet's spectacular polar aurorae driving energy into the atmosphere in the form of heat flowing around the planet.
This creates a region of cooling in the thermosphere, the boundary layer between the underlying atmosphere and the vacuum of space. Although we can't be sure what drives this weather feature, a sustained cooling is very likely to drive a vortex similar to the Great Red Spot.
The astronomers used the CRIRES instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to observe spectral emissions of H3+, an ion of hydrogen present in large amounts in Jupiter's atmosphere, which allowed the scientists to map the mean temperature and density of the planet's atmosphere. They then used images of H3+ emission from Jupiter's ionosphere taken by NASA's InfraRed Telescope Facility between 1995-2000 to compare.
Through combining images taken over a period of time, including over 13,000 images taken over more than 40 nights by the InfraRed Telescope Facility, the astronomers revealed the presence of the Great Cold Spot as an area of darkness amongst the hot environment of Jupiter's upper atmosphere.
This is a map of the north hemisphere of Jupiter ionosphere, added up over 13,000 images, and more than 40 nights. In the top image, the aurora is clearly seen, but only once the aurora is saturated can the non-auroral emission be removed. This reveals that the Great Cold Spot can be seen as a continuously observed feature over the entire six years of the IRTF observing campaign – which started more than 15 years before the VLT observation. Credit: IRTF/NASA
Dr Stallard, who is funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, added: "What is surprising at Jupiter is that, unlike weather systems on Earth, the Great Cold Spot has been observed at the same place across 15 years. That makes it more comparable to weather systems in Jupiter's lower atmosphere, like the Great Red Spot.
"Observations and modelling of Earth's upper atmosphere have shown that, on the short term, there may be changes in the temperature and density of the upper atmosphere.
"The two main differences are firstly that Earth's aurora sees dramatic changes caused by activity from the Sun, whereas Jupiter's aurora are dominated by gases from the volcanic moon Io, which are relatively slow and steady, and secondly that the atmospheric flows generated by Earth's aurora can drive heat quickly across the whole planet, making the upper atmosphere ring like a bell, while Jupiter's fast spin traps this energy nearer the poles."
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Dr Stallard added: "The detection of the Great Cold Spot was a real surprise to us, but there are indications that other features might also exist in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. Our next step will be to look for other features in the upper atmosphere, as well as investigating the Great Cold Spot itself in more detail.
"The Juno spacecraft is currently in orbit around Jupiter and the observations of Jupiter's aurora and upper atmosphere by the JIRAM instrument that have been released so far already provide a wealth of new information about the planet. When combined with our ongoing campaign of observations using telescopes on Earth, we hope to gain a much better understanding of this weather system in the next few years."
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Explore further: Hubble takes close-up portrait of Jupiter
More information: Tom S. Stallard et al. The Great Cold Spot in Jupiter's upper atmosphere, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2016GL071956
| – It looks like Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot has some company. Astronomers recently discovered a second spot located high in Jupiter's atmosphere, according to a study published Tuesday in Geophysical Research Letters. According to a press release, astronomers are calling this new spot the "Great Cold Spot." Ars Technica reports it's similar in size to the Great Red Spot—up to 100 million square miles or so—and is about 360 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the surrounding atmosphere. The Great Cold Spot is also a lot more temperamental than its more famous sibling: It changes shape and size over the course of weeks and can even disappear at times. The Great Cold Spot was first detected with data from Chile's Very Large Telescope, Space.com reports. After that, astronomers were able to go back through 15 years of data to find evidence of the spot, which has likely been around for many thousands of years. Astronomers say the discovery was "unexpected," and there's still a lot we don't know about Jupiter's atmosphere. They believe the Great Cold Spot's existence may have something to do with Jupiter's strong auroras. Astronomers should learn more about the Great Cold Spot from NASA's Juno probe, which is currently orbiting Jupiter. (New images of Jupiter are "like nothing we have seen.") |
A new global analysis of the distribution of forests and woodlands has “found” 467 million hectares of previously unreported forest – an area equivalent to 60% of the size of Australia.
The discovery increases the known amount of global forest cover by around 9%, and will significantly boost estimates of how much carbon is stored in plants worldwide.
The new forests were found by surveying “drylands” – so called because they receive much less water in precipitation than they lose through evaporation and plant transpiration. As we and our colleagues report today in the journal Science, these drylands contain 45% more forest than has been found in previous surveys.
We found new dryland forest on all inhabited continents, but mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, around the Mediterranean, central India, coastal Australia, western South America, northeastern Brazil, northern Colombia and Venezuela, and northern parts of the boreal forests in Canada and Russia. In Africa, our study has doubled the amount of known dryland forest.
With current satellite imagery and mapping techniques, it might seem amazing that these forests have stayed hidden in plain sight for so long. But this type of forest was previously difficult to measure globally, because of the relatively low density of trees.
What’s more, previous surveys were based on older, low-resolution satellite images that did not include ground validation. In contrast, our study used higher-resolution satellite imagery available through Google Earth Engine – including images of more than 210,000 dryland sites – and used a simple visual interpretation of tree number and density. A sample of these sites were compared with field information to assess accuracy.
Unique opportunity
Given that drylands – which make up about 40% of Earth’s land surface – have more capacity to support trees and forest than we previously realised, we have a unique chance to combat climate change by conserving these previously unappreciated forests.
Drylands contain some of the most threatened, yet disregarded, ecosystems, many of which face pressure from climate change and human activity. Climate change will cause many of these regions to become hotter and even drier, while human expansion could degrade these landscapes yet further. Climate models suggest that dryland biomes could expand by 11-23% by the end of the this century, meaning they could cover more than half of Earth’s land surface.
Considering the potential of dryland forests to stave off desertification and to fight climate change by storing carbon, it will be crucial to keep monitoring the health of these forests, now that we know they are there.
TERN AusPlots , Author provided
Climate policy boost
The discovery will dramatically improve the accuracy of models used to calculate how much carbon is stored in Earth’s landscapes. This in turn will help calculate the carbon budgets by which countries can measure their progress towards the targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol and its successor, the Paris Agreement.
Our study increases the estimates of total global forest carbon stocks by anywhere between 15 gigatonnes and 158 gigatonnes of carbon – an increase of between 2% and 20%.
This study provides more accurate baseline information on the current status of carbon sinks, on which future carbon and climate modelling can be based. This will reduce errors for modelling of dryland regions worldwide. Our discovery also highlights the importance of conservation and forest growth in these areas.
The authors acknowledge the input of Jean-François Bastin and Mark Grant in the writing of this article. The research was carried out by researchers from 14 organisations around the world, as part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Survey. ||||| Forests equal to 60pc of Australian landmass discovered using new tool
Posted
Vast stretches of previously undocumented forest have been discovered using a new tool to analyse the surface of the Earth.
International researchers have discovered 467 million hectares, an area equivalent to 60 per cent of the size of Australia, of what was previously considered dry land is actually dense forest.
The research led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, teams of scientists and students from 15 organisations, including the University of Adelaide, carried out the analysis using the photo-interpretation tool called Collect Earth.
University of Adelaide's plant conservation biology chairman Professor Andrew Lowe said the finding meant scientists had a new resource that could help mitigate climate change.
"In the modern digital age we think we know everything about the Earth, but a lot of that knowledge comes from satellite imagery, like Google Earth," he said.
"But when you use that type of satellite data you have to make estimations on what type of vegetation occurs on the ground."
It turns out some of those estimations were wrong and areas across the globe, including along parts of the Australian coast, are full of trees and plants.
He said if the newly discovered forests are protected, they could provide information about how trees "fix" carbon, and prompt a re-evaluation of the global "carbon budget".
"We know that forests sequester huge amounts of carbon, so increasing the area of forest globally helps explain additional carbon sequestration opportunities that are available," Professor Lowe said.
The study identified dryland forest across all inhabited continents, and concentrated to the south of the Sahara desert, around the Mediterranean, south Africa, central India, coastal Australia, western South America, north-east Brazil, northern Colombia and Venezuela, and northern parts of the boreal forests in Canada and Russia.
The paper published today in the journal Science states the differences in coverage were most significant in Africa, where the estimates have doubled.
Topics: science-and-technology, earth-sciences, environment, environmental-impact, environment-education, education, environmental-technology, research, adelaide-university-5005, sa ||||| A new estimate of dryland forests suggests that the global forest cover is at least 9% higher than previously thought. The finding will help reduce uncertainties surrounding terrestrial carbon sink estimates.
Dryland biomes, where precipitation is more than counterbalanced by evaporation from surfaces and transpiration by plants, cover about 40% of the Earth's land surface.
These biomes contain some of the most threatened ecosystems, including biodiversity hotspots. However, previous estimates of dryland forests have been riddled with disparities, caused by issues such as differences in satellite spatial resolution, mapping approaches and forest definitions.
These disparities have led to major doubts about the reliability of global forest area estimates, and to questions about the real contribution made by forests to the global carbon cycle. Here, Jean-Francois Bastin et al. analyzed satellite data from Google Earth, using a detail sample pool of 213,795 0.5 hectare plots from around the globe.
Their new estimate of dryland forest is 40 to 47% higher than previous estimates, corresponding to 467 million hectares (Mha) of forest that have never been reported before.
This increases current estimates of global forest cover by at least 9%. These results explain the difference between recent global estimates of forest "land use" area (3890 Mha) and the area with a "land cover," the authors say. ||||| Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about Science.
NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address. | – Scientists have discovered 467 million hectares of unreported forest—about three-fifths the size of Australia—scattered around the globe, the Conversation reports. The discovery increases the known global forest cover by about 9%. The study—published Friday in Science—focused on "drylands," areas that lose more water through evaporation and plant transpiration than they receive in precipitation. Trees in drylands aren't very dense, which can make it difficult to measure possible forest cover. According to a press release, old estimates of dryland forests were off due to a number of factors, including low image resolution from satellites and the methods of mapping used. The new study used high-resolution images of more than 210,000 dryland sites from Google Earth Engine and combined them with observations on the ground. Researchers found between 40% to 47% more forest cover in the world's drylands than previously reported. New forests were found on all continents—besides Antarctica. ABC reports the research, led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, gives a new tool in the fight against climate change; it boosts estimates of the amount of carbon stored in plants globally. (New database gives tree scientists an important first.) |
Cindy Madrid, from right, watches her daughter Allison, 6, being embraced by Melanie Sandoval, 9, after Melanie presented Allison with gift during a news conference, Friday, July 13, 2018, in Houston.... (Associated Press)
Cindy Madrid, from right, watches her daughter Allison, 6, being embraced by Melanie Sandoval, 9, after Melanie presented Allison with gift during a news conference, Friday, July 13, 2018, in Houston. At the news conference, the mother and daughter spoke about the month and one day they were separated... (Associated Press)
HOUSTON (AP) — A 6-year-old girl from El Salvador who became a face of the Trump administration's practice of separating immigrant families at the border has been reunited with her mother.
Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid and her mother, Cindy Madrid, were separated after U.S. authorities detained them June 13 for illegally entering the United States near Harlingen, Texas.
Audio of the agonized child crying when she was separated — first published by ProPublica and later by The Associated Press — galvanized opposition to the separation of families. Alison pleaded with Border Patrol agents to call her aunt, whose phone number she offers from memory.
President Donald Trump reversed course on the splitting up of families on June 20 after a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal entry took effect in the spring.
The joyful reunion occurred early Friday in Houston. It was initially going to happen in Phoenix, where Alison was staying in a government-backed shelter, said family attorney Thelma Garcia. Madrid, 29, was released on bond from an immigration detention center in Port Isabel, Texas, not far from where she was arrested.
Alison told reporters that she felt desperate after being separated and that it felt good to reunite. Her mother echoed that sentiment.
"We are beginning to recover the time we lost," Madrid said. "We are very happy to be together as family again."
The mother and daughter plan to live with family in Houston and the mother will seek asylum, Garcia said. She may seek to move the case from immigration court in Harlingen to Houston.
Madrid said she brought her daughter to the United States in search of a better life.
"I believe she has the capacity to get by here," she said.
The administration has said that up to nearly 3,000 children have been separated at the border. Dozens of children under 5 years old were reunified under a court-ordered deadline earlier this week. The government now faces a bigger deadline of July 26 to reunify more than 2,500 children 5 and older. ||||| (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in California on Friday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to pay the costs of reuniting immigrant parents with children separated from them by officials at the U.S.-Mexican border, rather than forcing the parents to pay.
The U.S. government is working to reunite around 2,000 children with their parents, who were detained and separated as part of Trump’s “zero tolerance” approach to deter illegal immigration.
“It doesn’t make any sense for any of the parents who have been separated to pay for anything,” U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who last month ordered that the children be reunited with their parents by July 26, said at a hearing in San Diego.
The government missed a deadline this week for getting the youngest of the children back with their parents.
Trump has made his hardline immigration policies a central part of his presidency. His administration adopted the family separation policy as part of its effort to discourage illegal immigration, but Trump bowed to intense political pressure and abandoned the policy on June 20.
A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which has sued the administration over the family separations, said at the hearing that immigrant parents had been told by immigration officials they had to pay for their travel. One parent was initially asked to pay $1,900 to be reunited with a child, according to ACLU court papers.
Trump administration lawyer Sarah Fabian called the judge’s order on paying for the reunifications “a huge ask on HHS,” referring to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Fabian said those decisions were handled at the field level, adding that HHS, which houses the detained children, had limited resources.
“The government will make it happen,” Sabraw responded.
The judge also agreed to impose timelines on the government for reporting details about its reunification efforts.
The administration has said its initial reunifications were slowed by the need for DNA testing and criminal background checks on parents, and to determine their fitness to care for their children.
Slideshow (2 Images)
In a filing with the court, HHS official Chris Meekins said the administration had streamlined its vetting procedures to comply with a July 10 court order, but that the swifter process could put children at risk.
Adults are no longer being DNA tested to verify parentage, Meekins said, and background checks are not being performed on adults who will be living with the children. Meekins said that, while abbreviated vetting speeds up the reunification process, it also “materially increases the risk of harm to children” and could result in children being placed in abusive environments or with adults who are not their parents.
The government said it intends to identify between six and eight locations where all reunifications will take place. The government’s filing did not say whether it intends to release families after reunification, deport them or keep them together in detention. ||||| The Trump Administration The 45th President and His Administration
Zero Tolerance Trump’s Immigration Policy at the Border
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The desperate sobbing of 10 Central American children, separated from their parents one day last week by immigration authorities at the border, makes for excruciating listening. Many of them sound like they’re crying so hard, they can barely breathe. They scream “Mami” and “Papá” over and over again, as if those are the only words they know.
The baritone voice of a Border Patrol agent booms above the crying. “Well, we have an orchestra here,” he jokes. “What’s missing is a conductor.”
Then a distraught but determined 6-year-old Salvadoran girl pleads repeatedly for someone to call her aunt. Just one call, she begs anyone who will listen. She says she’s memorized the phone number, and at one point, rattles it off to a consular representative. “My mommy says that I’ll go with my aunt,” she whimpers, “and that she’ll come to pick me up there as quickly as possible.”
An audio recording obtained by ProPublica adds real-life sounds of suffering to a contentious policy debate that has so far been short on input from those with the most at stake: immigrant children. More than 2,300 of them have been separated from their parents since April, when the Trump administration launched its “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which calls for prosecuting all people who attempt to illegally enter the country and taking away the children they brought with them. More than 100 of those children are under the age of 4. The children are initially held in warehouses, tents or big box stores that have been converted into Border Patrol detention facilities. Get Our Top Investigations Subscribe to the Big Story newsletter.
Condemnations of the policy have been swift and sharp, including from some of the administration’s most reliable supporters. It has united religious conservatives and immigrant rights activists, who have said that “zero tolerance” amounts to “zero humanity.” Democratic and Republican members of Congress spoke out against the administration’s enforcement efforts over the weekend. Former first lady Laura Bush called the administration’s practices “cruel” and “immoral,” and likened images of immigrant children being held in kennels to those that came out of Japanese internment camps during World War II. And the American Academy of Pediatrics has said the practice of separating children from their parents can cause the children “irreparable harm.”
Still, the administration had stood by it. President Donald Trump blames Democrats and says his administration is only enforcing laws already on the books, although that’s not true. There are no laws that require children to be separated from their parents, or that call for criminal prosecutions of all undocumented border crossers. Those practices were established by the Trump administration.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has cited passages from the Bible in an attempt to establish religious justification. On Monday, he defended it again saying it was a matter of rule of law, “We cannot and will not encourage people to bring children by giving them blanket immunity from our laws.” A Border Patrol spokesman echoed that thought in a written statement.
In recent days, authorities on the border have begun allowing tightly controlled tours of the facilities that are meant to put a humane face on the policy. But cameras are heavily restricted. And the children being held are not allowed to speak to journalists.
The audio obtained by ProPublica breaks that silence. It was recorded last week inside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facility. The person who made the recording asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. That person gave the audio to Jennifer Harbury, a well-known civil rights attorney who has lived and worked for four decades in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas border with Mexico. Harbury provided it to ProPublica. She said the person who recorded it was a client who “heard the children’s weeping and crying, and was devastated by it.”
The person estimated that the children on the recording are between 4 and 10 years old. It appeared that they had been at the detention center for less than 24 hours, so their distress at having been separated from their parents was still raw. Consulate officials tried to comfort them with snacks and toys. But the children were inconsolable. Read More DHS Chief is Confronted With ProPublica Tape of Wailing Children Separated from Parents A reporter turned on the audio recording as Kirstjen Nielsen defended the Trump administration’s immigration policies at a White House briefing.
The child who stood out the most was the 6-year-old Salvadoran girl with a phone number stuck in her head. At the end of the audio, a consular official offers to call the girl’s aunt. ProPublica dialed the number she recited in the audio, and spoke with the aunt about the call.
“It was the hardest moment in my life,” she said. “Imagine getting a call from your 6-year-old niece. She’s crying and begging me to go get her. She says, ‘I promise I’ll behave, but please get me out of here. I’m all alone.’”
The aunt said what made the call even more painful was that there was nothing she could do. She and her 9-year-old daughter are seeking asylum in the United States after immigrating here two years ago for the exact same reasons and on the exact same route as her sister and her niece. They are from a small town called Armenia, about an hour’s drive northwest of the Salvadoran capital, but well within reach of its crippling crime waves. She said gangs were everywhere in El Salvador: “They’re on the buses. They’re in the banks. They’re in schools. They’re in the police. There’s nowhere for normal people to feel safe.”
She said her niece and sister set out for the United States over a month ago. They paid a smuggler $7,000 to guide them through Guatemala, and Mexico and across the border into the United States. Now, she said, all the risk and investment seem lost.
The aunt said she worried that any attempt to intervene in her niece’s situation would put hers and her daughter’s asylum case at risk, particularly since the Trump administration overturned asylum protections for victims of gang and domestic violence. She said she’s managed to speak to her sister, who has been moved to an immigration detention facility near Port Isabel, Texas. And she keeps in touch with her niece, Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid, by telephone. Mother and daughter, however, have not been able to speak to one another.
The aunt said that Alison has been moved out of the Border Patrol facility to a shelter where she has a real bed. But she said that authorities at the shelter have warned the girl that her mother, 29-year-old Cindy Madrid, might be deported without her.
“I know she’s not an American citizen,” the aunt said of her niece. “But she’s a human being. She’s a child. How can they treat her this way?” | – A 6-year-old girl from El Salvador who became a face of the Trump administration's practice of separating immigrant families at the border has been reunited with her mother, the AP reports. Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid and her mother, Cindy Madrid, were separated after US authorities detained them June 13 for illegally entering the United States near Harlingen, Texas. Audio of the agonized child crying when she was separated—first published by ProPublica—galvanized opposition to the separation of families. Alison pleaded with Border Patrol agents to call her aunt, whose phone number she offers from memory. President Donald Trump reversed course on the splitting up of families on June 20 after a "zero tolerance" policy on illegal entry took effect in the spring. The joyful reunion occurred early Friday in Houston. Madrid, 29, was released on bond from an immigration detention center in Port Isabel, Texas, not far from where she was arrested. Alison told reporters that she felt desperate after being separated and that it felt good to reunite. Her mother echoed that sentiment. "We are beginning to recover the time we lost," Madrid said. "We are very happy to be together as family again." The mother and daughter plan to live with family in Houston and the mother will seek asylum, Garcia said. The government now faces a deadline of July 26 to reunify more than 2,500 children 5 and older. A US judge has ordered the Trump administration to pay for the reunifications after one parent was apparently asked to pay $1,900 to see a child again, Reuters reports. |
Five elephants were killed last week by poachers using cyanide in Matabeleland North, Forestry Commission information and communications manager Ms Violet Makoto has said.
In a statement, Ms Makoto said Forestry Commission guards who were on patrol discovered the cyanide which was planted on salt licks.
"A total of five elephants have been killed this week.
"Forest Protection Unit guards who were patrolling the Amandundumela area of Gwaai Forest on Wednesday afternoon discovered cyanide planted on salt licks around Simunyu water point.
There is no water pumping taking place at this water-pan but game animals like licking the soils around it," she said.
She said Forestry Commission protection personnel and the Zimbabwe Republic Police were alerted and started searches.
"More Forestry Commission protection personnel together with ZRP officers were alerted to this incident and upon tracking the spoor, five elephant carcasses were discovered with the tusks already removed.
Ms Makoto said a duiker was also found dead on Thursday.
"On Thursday, the search team came across a place where a duiker was killed and skinned and it is presumed to have been killed for food by the poachers.
"It appears the poachers are doing their business on foot as the spoor is heading towards Block O of Gwaai Forest," she said.
She said the Forestry Commission was working hard to find the suspected poachers.
"The Forestry Commission team is still hard at work to bring the culprits to book," she said.
"We are suspecting a team of about five poachers. We came across a camp sometime ago, which looked like it accommodated about five people and we think it is the same team," she said.
Zimbabwe has so far lost nearly 400 elephants in the last two years.
Cyanide is a highly poisonous chemical, used in processing gold.
It kills in the most painful, yet silent fashion, a method that helps poachers to avoid the attention of game rangers, whose mandate is to guard the animals from danger. ||||| HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean officials say poachers killed five elephants by poisoning them with cyanide.
Violet Makoto, spokeswoman for Zimbabwe's forestry commission, said Monday that rangers discovered the carcasses of the elephants with their tusks removed in a western forest last week. No arrests have been made.
Makoto said the poison was laced on salt licks, a method now regularly used by poachers to kill elephants in Zimbabwe.
She says poachers killed four other elephants in the same area in February.
The wildlife-rich southern African country has battled cyanide poisoning of wildlife by poachers for the past three years. Poachers killed 62 elephants by that method in October. ||||| Harare - Five elephants have been poisoned with cyanide in a protected forest area in western Zimbabwe, the first reports of poisonings in months, according to reports on Saturday.
The dead elephants were found by a patrol tracking poachers in the Amandundumela area of the Gwaai Forest.
"Forest protection personnel together with ZRP [police] officers were alerted to this incident and upon tracking the spoor, three elephant carcasses were discovered with the ivory already removed," Forestry Commission spokesperson Violet Makoto told the state-run Chronicle.
"The team also discovered two more elephant carcasses [on Friday]," she added.
Cyanide widely available on black market
In 2013 Zimbabwe experienced its first major cyanide poisoning incidents. More than 200 elephants were killed in and around Hwange National Park.
Last October, more than 60 elephants were reported killed in another spate of cyanide poisonings in Hwange and Kariba, in the north of the country.
Makoto told the Chronicle that four elephants were killed in February in the Gwaai Forest. In March forestry guards seized 5kgs of cyanide from three suspected poachers who managed to escape, she said.
Cyanide, used in gold mining, is reported to be widely available on Zimbabwe's black market.
Authorities say that some areas, including Hwange and Gonarezhou National Park in the south-east of the country have too many elephants.
But in other areas, including the Zambezi Valley in northern Zimbabwe, elephants have been hard-hit by poachers.
| – Zimbabwean officials say poachers killed five elephants by poisoning them with cyanide, the AP reports. Violet Makoto, spokeswoman for Zimbabwe's forestry commission, said Monday that rangers discovered the carcasses of the elephants with their tusks removed in a western forest last week. Makoto says the poison was laced on salt licks, a method now regularly used by poachers to kill elephants in Zimbabwe. She says poachers killed four other elephants in the same area in February. No arrests have been made, but Makoto tells AllAfrica.com that "we are suspecting a team of about five poachers. We came across a camp sometime ago, which looked like it accommodated about five people and we think it is the same team." The wildlife-rich southern African country has battled cyanide poisoning of wildlife by poachers for the past three years. Poachers killed 62 elephants by that method in October. Cyanide kills painfully but quietly, enabling poachers to work without attracting game rangers. Used in gold mining, cyanide is said to be readily available on the black market in Zimbabwe, News 24 reports. |
With humorous YouTube video, restaurant manager turns tables on burglars
Submitted / YouTube
Burglars Just Want Tacos
Using a recipe of resilience and creativity, the manager of a Las Vegas restaurant concocted a clever way to get even with burglars who broke into the establishment last week.
Greg Carlson, who manages Frijoles & Frescas Grilled Tacos at 7000 W. Charleston Blvd., used security camera footage of the break-in to put together a humorous YouTube video that shows images of the burglars and asks viewers to help identify them.
Titled "Burglars Just Want Tacos," the video's premise is that the burglars broke into the restaurant because they wanted Frijoles tacos so badly.
“We wanted a way to get the word out there, and thought we could reach more people by making it a little more light-hearted," Carlson said.
It worked. The video has generated more than 1 million views since it was posted. Not only has it drawn a great deal of attention to the suspects, it has generated an increase in business for the restaurant and helped Carlson land a live interview by CNN this afternoon.
Carlson said he used “six or seven” years’ experience of making family home videos on YouTube to produce his entertaining version of the robbery, which utilizes text overlays on the security video to spoof the burglars as they ransack the restaurant.
"Guy wants a taco," it reads as a burglar getting out of a car and tries the door. "Restaurant is closed."
The video then shows the burglar trying and failing to throw a rock through the glass door, then going to another door and successfully breaking it with a rock.
"Guy reaalllly wants a taco," an overlay reads, then fades as a second burglar appears on the screen. "So does his homeboy."
As the burglars ransack the restaurant, the video suggests they're frantically looking everywhere for tacos.
"Maybe they keep the tacos in the register," it reads as a burglar examines a cash drawer.
After the robbers flee the scene of the crime, the video cuts to close-up shots of tacos topped with grilled meats, vegetables and guacamole, and a disclaimer from the restaurant saying it takes responsibility that its tacos may cause people to do unexpected things.
Not only did the burglars end up being seen by millions of pairs of eyes, they didn’t get away with much money, either.
“When it’s all said and done, the damage they did here was really minimal,” Carlson said.
But for Metro Police, the burglary was just the latest crime in which the three individuals were suspected.
“These three individuals are part of a larger string of burglaries in which smaller restaurants and fast food restaurants with glass windows are being targeted and ransacked,” Metro spokesman Michael Rodriguez said. “We have not identified any suspects in this case, but we are aware of what’s going on.”
Rodriguez said the break-ins occurred both in Las Vegas and outside of Metro’s jurisdiction. He said the burglary at Frijoles & Frescas was under investigation. ||||| LAS VEGAS (WCMH) — After a taco shop was burglarized last week, the owners put together a video mocking the burglars.
It happened around 3:30 a.m. on December 16 at Frijoles & Frescas Grilled Tacos in Las Vegas.
In a video posted to Youtube, the restaurant writes “These nice gentlemen came looking for tacos…we think.”
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While the video shows two people breaking in and stealing two cash registers, the commentary and music suggest that they were looking everywhere they could for tacos.
The restaurant also turns the video into an advertisement, saying “Also, come find out why they wanted our tacos so badly.”
While the video was posted on December 17, it gained more than 600,000 views Tuesday night after it was featured on Reddit’s Videos subreddit. | – Most restaurant owners would worry a burglary might scare away customers. Frijoles & Frescas Grilled Tacos in Las Vegas is turning its break-in into an advertisement. The eatery's security cameras caught three men robbing the restaurant around 3:30am on Dec. 16, but police have yet to track them down, per WSPA. "We wanted a way to get the word out there, and thought we could reach more people by making it a little more light-hearted," manager Greg Carlson tells the Las Vegas Sun. So Carlson used the security footage and text overlays to spoof the burglars in a YouTube video titled "Burglars Just Want Tacos." "Guy wants a taco," a caption reads as a man attempts to break the shop's door with a rock. (He fails.) "Guy reaalllly wants a taco," reads another as a second entry is successfully breached. The footage next captures the burglars frantically searching the restaurant and checking out the cash register. "Maybe they keep the tacos in the register," a caption notes. After the burglars eventually scurry away—a car can be seen picking them up—the video quips that Frijoles & Frescas takes full responsibility for the crazy things people do in quest of its tacos. "Come find out why they wanted our tacos so badly," it adds. Featured on Reddit's Videos subreddit, the improvised ad has been viewed more than 2 million times. Though Carlson says the burglars did "really minimal" damage, a police rep notes the three suspects "are part of a larger string of burglaries in which smaller restaurants and fast food restaurants with glass windows are being targeted and ransacked." |
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON The U.S. National Security Agency was sued on Tuesday by Wikimedia and other groups challenging one of its mass surveillance programs that they said violates Americans' privacy and makes individuals worldwide less likely to share sensitive information.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Maryland, where the spy agency is based, said the NSA is violating U.S. constitutional protections and the law by tapping into high-capacity cables, switches and routers that move Internet traffic through the United States.
The case is a new potential legal front for privacy advocates who have challenged U.S. spying programs several times since 2013, when documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the long reach of government surveillance.
Other lawsuits have challenged the bulk collection of telephone metadata and are pending in U.S. appeals courts.
The litigation announced on Tuesday takes on what is often called "upstream" collection because it happens along the so-called backbone of the Internet and away from individual users.
Bulk collection there violates the constitution's First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and association, and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure, the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs include the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the conservative Rutherford Institute, Amnesty International USA and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, among other groups.
The groups said in the lawsuit that upstream surveillance "reduces the likelihood" that clients, journalists, foreign government officials, victims of human rights abuses and other individuals will share sensitive information with them.
Legal standing, which requires the organizations to show individual, particular harm, is the most significant obstacle for them, said Stephen Vladeck, a professor at American University Washington College of Law.
While it might stand to reason that the plaintiffs' communications are being intercepted, they can only use legally public information, which the government has acknowledged or declassified, to show harm, Vladeck said. It is "not beyond the pale" that the government could make more information public while the lawsuit is pending, he said. For now, the lawsuit is a “longshot” according to Vladeck.
An Obama administration official said: "We've been very clear about what constitutes a valid target of electronic surveillance. The act of innocuously updating or reading an online article does not fall into that category."
The U.S. Department of Justice, which was named as a defendant along with the NSA, said it was reviewing the lawsuit. The NSA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"By tapping the backbone of the Internet, the NSA is straining the backbone of democracy," Lila Tretikov, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said in a statement.
STATE SECRETS
Another potential roadblock for the groups is that the government could try to assert what is known as the state secrets privilege, saying that continuing with the lawsuit would expose classified information, said Carrie Cordero, director of national security studies at Georgetown University Law Center.
Tretikov and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales wrote in the New York Times' opinion pages that they were concerned about where data on their users ends up after it is collected in bulk by the NSA. Citing close intelligence ties between the United States and Egypt, they said a user in Egypt would have reason to fear reprisal if she edited a page about the country's political opposition.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 rejected another challenge to NSA surveillance of email and other communications, ruling that a similar coalition of plaintiffs did not prove they had been spied upon or would be.
The ruling, however, was made just three months before the first of Snowden's revelations. Documents made public by Snowden support the right to sue, said Patrick Toomey, one of the American Civil Liberties Union lawyers working on the lawsuit.
Toomey said that with upstream collection, the NSA systematically taps into Internet message traffic between U.S. and overseas users as it moves in and out of the United States over fiber-optic cables.
The NSA then systematically sweeps through the vast amount of content for anything relating to specific individuals or groups considered by U.S. agencies to be intelligence targets, according to the documents leaked by Snowden.
Consequently, Toomey said, anyone inside the United States who sends or receives messages via the Internet to or from someone outside the country is likely to have had messages examined in some way by NSA.
The case is Wikimedia Foundation, et al, v. National Security Agency, et al, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, No. 15-662
(Additional reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar, Supriya Kurane and Shivam Srivastava in Bengaluru, Noeleen Walder in New York; and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by David Ingram in New York; Editing by Ted Kerr and Grant McCool) ||||| Today, the Wikimedia Foundation is filing suit against the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States [1]. The lawsuit challenges the NSA’s mass surveillance program, and specifically its large-scale search and seizure of internet communications — frequently referred to as “upstream” surveillance. Our aim in filing this suit is to end this mass surveillance program in order to protect the rights of our users around the world. We are joined by eight other organizations [2] and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The full complaint can be found here.
“We’re filing suit today on behalf of our readers and editors everywhere,” said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. “Surveillance erodes the original promise of the internet: an open space for collaboration and experimentation, and a place free from fear.”
Privacy is the bedrock of individual freedom. It is a universal right that sustains the freedoms of expression and association. These principles enable inquiry, dialogue, and creation and are central to Wikimedia’s vision of empowering everyone to share in the sum of all human knowledge. When they are endangered, our mission is threatened. If people look over their shoulders before searching, pause before contributing to controversial articles, or refrain from sharing verifiable but unpopular information, Wikimedia and the world are poorer for it.
When the 2013 public disclosures about the NSA’s activities revealed the vast scope of their programs, the Wikimedia community was rightfully alarmed. In 2014, the Wikimedia Foundation began conversations with the ACLU about the possibility of filing suit against the NSA and other defendants on behalf of the Foundation, its staff, and its users.
Our case today challenges the NSA’s use of upstream surveillance conducted under the authority of the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act (FAA). Upstream surveillance taps the internet’s “backbone” to capture communications with “non-U.S. persons.” The FAA authorizes the collection of these communications if they fall into the broad category of “foreign intelligence information” that includes nearly any information that could be construed as relating to national security or foreign affairs. The program casts a vast net, and as a result, captures communications that are not connected to any “target,” or may be entirely domestic. This includes communications by our users and staff.
“By tapping the backbone of the internet, the NSA is straining the backbone of democracy,” said Lila Tretikov, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Wikipedia is founded on the freedoms of expression, inquiry, and information. By violating our users’ privacy, the NSA is threatening the intellectual freedom that is central to people’s ability to create and understand knowledge.”
The NSA has interpreted the FAA as offering free rein to define threats, identify targets, and monitor people, platforms, and infrastructure with little regard for probable cause or proportionality. We believe that the NSA’s current practices far exceed the already broad authority granted by the U.S. Congress through the FAA. Furthermore, we believe that these practices violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech and association, and the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.
Additionally, we believe that the NSA’s practices and limited judicial review of those practices violate Article III of the U.S. Constitution. A specialized court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), hears issues related to foreign intelligence requests, including surveillance. Under U.S. law, the role of the courts is to resolve “cases” or “controversies” — not to issue advisory opinions or interpret theoretical situations. In the context of upstream surveillance, FISC proceedings are not “cases.” There are no opposing parties and no actual “controversy” at stake. FISC merely reviews the legality of the government’s proposed procedures — the kind of advisory opinion that Article III was intended to restrict.
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a previous challenge to the FAA, Amnesty v. Clapper, because the parties in that case were found to lack “standing.” Standing is an important legal concept that requires a party to show that they’ve suffered some kind of harm in order to file a lawsuit. The 2013 mass surveillance disclosures included a slide from a classified NSA presentation that made explicit reference to Wikipedia, using our global trademark. Because these disclosures revealed that the government specifically targeted Wikipedia and its users, we believe we have more than sufficient evidence to establish standing.
Wikipedia is the largest collaborative free knowledge resource in human history. It represents what we can achieve when we are open to possibility and unburdened by fear. Over the past fourteen years, Wikimedians have written more than 34 million articles in 288 different languages. Every month, this knowledge is accessed by nearly half a billion people from almost every country on earth. This dedicated global community of users is united by their passion for knowledge, their commitment to inquiry, and their dedication to the privacy and expression that makes Wikipedia possible. We file today on their behalf.
For more information, please see our op-ed, Stop Spying on Wikipedia Users, by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and Wikimedia Foundation executive director Lila Tretikov, in the March 10 edition of The New York Times. [3]
Michelle Paulson, Senior Legal Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation *
Geoff Brigham, General Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation
* The Wikimedia Foundation and its co-plaintiffs are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in this suit. We would like to thank them, in particular Patrick Toomey, Ashley Gorski, and Daniel Kahn Gillmor for their work and dedication throughout this process.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What does this lawsuit challenge?
A: Our lawsuit challenges the NSA’s unfounded, large-scale search and seizure of internet communications, frequently referred to as “upstream” surveillance. Using upstream surveillance, the NSA intercepts virtually all internet communications flowing across the network of high-capacity cables, switches, and routers that make up the internet’s “backbone.” This backbone connects the Wikimedia global community of readers and contributors to Wikipedia and the other the Wikimedia projects.
Q: What is the U.S. government’s legal justification for this program?
A: The U.S. government has used the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008 (FAA) (see 50 U.S.C. § 1881a) to justify broad, “upstream” mass surveillance. Under the FAA, “the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence may authorize jointly, for a period of up to one year from the effective date of the authorization, the targeting of [non-US] persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States to acquire foreign intelligence information.” The statute only requires “reasonable belief” that a non-US person is located outside the United States. There is no need to show that target is a foreign agent, much less a terrorist. The purpose of the statute is to acquire “foreign intelligence information”– a very general concept. We believe the broad interpretation of this statute that allows for upstream surveillance is unconstitutional.
Q: How does surveillance or the fear of surveillance affect readers and editors of Wikipedia and its sister projects?
A: Mass surveillance is a threat to intellectual freedom and a spirit of inquiry, two of the driving forces behind Wikimedia. Wikipedia is written by people from around the world who often tackle difficult subjects. Very frequently they choose to remain anonymous, or pseudonymous. This allows them to freely create, contribute, and discover, without fear of reprisal. Surveillance might be used to reveal sensitive information, create a chilling effect to deter participation, or in extreme instances, identify individual users. Pervasive surveillance undermines the freedoms upon which Wikipedia and its communities are founded.
Q: How does surveillance affect Wikipedia as a knowledge resource?
A: Wikipedia is a living resource for knowledge. It is written by volunteers around the globe, in hundreds of languages. It reflects the world around us and changes to embodies current events, notable individuals, evolving theories, emerging art, and more. Wikipedia relies on the contributions of editors and the support of readers to evolve and grow. If readers and editors are deterred from participating in Wikipedia because of concerns about surveillance, the health of Wikipedia as a resource to the world is jeopardized.
Q: What kind of Wikimedia communications could the NSA be intercepting?
A: Wikipedia and its sister projects is created entirely by volunteer editors. More than 75,000 editors each month edit Wikipedia, amounting to more than 33 million articles. These editors not only contribute content, but also discuss and share information on discussion pages and elsewhere within the project. Privacy and free expression are core values of the Wikimedia community. When volunteer editors contribute to Wikipedia, they expect it to be a safe, open space in which creativity and knowledge can thrive.
Q: Why is it important that the Wikimedia Foundation ensures privacy and anonymity for its users?
A: Privacy is a core value of the Wikimedia movement. From the beginning, Wikipedia has allowed for users to maintain private identities through the use of anonymous or pseudonymous editing. This has been reinforced by the Wikimedia Foundation’s firm commitment to protecting the privacy and data of its users through legal and technical means.
Privacy makes freedom of expression possible, sustains freedom of inquiry, and allows for freedom of information and association. Knowledge flourishes where privacy is protected.
Q: Why is the NSA interested in the communications of innocent Wikimedia users?
A: You would have to ask them. One could guess, however, that they are trying to amass as much information as possible into their databases, and, as with other websites, they may believe there is value in the data, conversations, and personal information on Wikipedia and in the Wikimedia community.
Q: How do you know Wikimedia has been singled out for surveillance by the NSA?
A: One of the NSA documents revealed by whistle-blower Edward Snowden specifically identifies Wikipedia for surveillance alongside several other major websites like CNN.com, Gmail, and Facebook. The previously secret slide declares that monitoring these sites can allow NSA analysts to learn “nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet.”
Q: Has the Wikimedia Foundation taken any measures to protect its users’ privacy?
A: The Wikimedia Foundation takes privacy very seriously, which is why we find the NSA’s upstream mass surveillance so troubling. You do not need to create an account or login to read or edit Wikipedia or the other Wikimedia sites. If you do decide to create an account, you can choose any username you like — we don’t require real names, email addresses, or any other personally identifying information, and we never sell your data.
Q: Why did Wikimedia join this lawsuit against the NSA?
A: Our role at the Wikimedia Foundation is to protect Wikipedia, its sister projects, and the Wikimedia community of users. This means providing our users with the right conditions to facilitate their work, and protecting them when necessary. Defending the privacy of our editors, readers, and community is paramount to us. We believe privacy is essential to facilitating and advancing free knowledge.
You can also find this FAQ here on Wikimedia.org. | – The NSA and the Justice Department made an impressive and diverse list of enemies this morning, via a lawsuit filed over its spying. Not surprisingly filing the suit: the ACLU. But as Reuters reports, it filed Wikimedia v. NSA on behalf of: Amnesty International, the Global Fund for Women, Human Rights Watch, the Nation, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, PEN American Center, the Rutherford Institute, the Washington Office on Latin America, and, oh yes, the eponymous Wikimedia Foundation. At issue are what the plaintiffs say are First and Fourth Amendment violations related to the NSA's domestic spying—"specifically its large-scale search and seizure of internet communications—frequently referred to as 'upstream' surveillance," per a Wikimedia blog post. "This kind of dragnet surveillance constitutes a massive invasion of privacy, and it undermines the freedoms of expression and inquiry as well," says an ACLU lawyer, while a Wikimedia rep charges in the blog post that "by tapping the backbone of the Internet, the NSA is straining the backbone of democracy." The NSA and DoJ had no comment, reports Reuters, adding that the ACLU has previously sued the NSA, but the Supreme Court dismissed the challenge. |
Two parents have been accused of giving drugs to their teenage daughters.
Joey Mudd, 34, of Largo, appeared in court Tuesday after being accused of using marijuana as a bargaining tool with her teen daughters.
Deputies said Mudd admitted to smoking pot multiple times with her daughters, ages 13 and 14. Also, officials said Mudd used pot at least five times to get her daughters to do chores and perform well in school.
Mudd, who is facing two counts of child abuse, posted bond early Wednesday and was released.
Mudd's husband, Chad, 36, is accused of providing the girls with cocaine. He remains in jail on six counts of child abuse. He was also charged for cocaine possession.
Mudd's daughters are staying with her mother-in-law. Mudd currently is being denied any contact with the girls.
Deputies said they first heard the allegations when they got a call on their child abuse hotline.
The case remains under investigation.
||||| Largo parents accused of doing drugs with their teenage kids as 'incentive' Posted: Wednesday, May 6, 2015 10:54 AM EDT Updated: Wednesday, June 3, 2015 6:17 PM EDT
Parents have been known to do just about anything to motivate their children to do their chores and do well in school. But, what a Largo father and mother are accused of doing, authorities say, crossed the line.
According to an arrest report, Joey and Chad Mudd are now facing child abuse charges after the pair smoked marijuana with their 13 and 14 year old daughters as a form of 'bargaining tool.'
Chad Mudd is also accused of snorting cocaine with the girls and one of their boyfriends.
"According to Joey, it was an incentive to the children," said Pinellas Sheriff's Office Spokeswoman Cristen Smith.
"If the children were going to school, doing household chores and such, that was the incentive to smoking marijuana with her."
The mother, Joey, faces two counts of child abuse. Deputies arrested her on Monday, and she has since bonded out of jail.
The children's father, Chad, faces seven counts of child abuse and remains behind bars. He appeared before a judge on Wednesday afternoon. A judge set his bond at $32,000.00.
Copyright 2015 WFLA. All rights reserved. ||||| A mother and father from Largo face multiple counts of child abuse after deputies said they gave their teenage children cocaine and marijuana.
Joey Mudd, 34, said she smoked marijuana with the teens five times and used it as a “bargaining tool,” according to an affidavit from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Chad Mudd, 36, gave the teenagers cocaine to snort while parked in his truck in Tierre Verde and Treasure Island, the affidavits said. He also smoked marijuana with the teenagers and provided cocaine to one of their teenage friends, the affidavit said.
Joey Mudd was arrested on Monday on two counts of child abuse, records show. She was released on Wednesday after posting $5,000 bond.
Chad Mudd was arrested Tuesday on six counts of child abuse and one count of possession of cocaine after deputies found cocaine residue in his wallet, records show. Mudd was released early Thursday after posting $32,000 bond. | – When choosing between the carrot and the stick to motivate their girls, police say a pair of Florida parents chose a seriously illegal carrot. Joey and Chad Mudd of Largo were arrested Monday on child abuse charges: The couple are accused of smoking pot with their teen girls, ages 13 and 14. According to mom Joey, it "was an incentive to the children" for things like going to school and doing their chores, a rep for the Pinellas Sheriff's Office tells WFLA. Bay News 9 reports the 34-year-old confessed to smoking with them on at least five occasions in order to, as the station puts it, get the girls to "perform well in school," among other things. She faces two counts of child abuse to her husband's six. His stem from allegations that the 36-year-old also snorted cocaine with his daughters. The Tampa Tribune cites affidavits that allege he did so with them in his parked truck in Tierra Verde and Treasure Island. He allegedly gave a friend of theirs cocaine, too. Bay News 9 reports police learned of the situation via a child-abuse hotline, and notes the girls are currently in the care of Joey Mudd's mother-in-law. Chad Mudd, who also faces a cocaine possession charge, remains in jail; Joey Mudd has been released but isn't permitted to see her daughters. (To say nothing of marijuana and cocaine, here's why you may not want to let your kids sip your alcohol.) |
A shooting at Marshall County High School in Western Kentucky killed a 15-year old boy and a 15-year-old girl and wounded 14 others, including four who were in critical condition.
“It was one right after another — bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,” said witness Alexandria Caporali. “You could see his arm jerking as he was pulling the trigger,” she told the Associated Press.
State police said the victims ranged in age from 14 to 18 years old and included 14 boys and six girls. Besides those injured by gunfire, four other students were injured.
The suspect is a 15-year-old boy who was arrested at the school by a deputy. The boy will be charged with two counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder, said Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders.
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Bailey Nicole Holt died at the scene, and Preston Ryan Cope died at a hospital, Sanders said at a news conference Tuesday night.
During the shooting, Caporali, 16, said she grabbed a stunned friend and ran into a classroom as their classmates hit the floor.
“No one screamed,” she said. “It was almost completely silent as people just ran.”
Caporali said the shooter kept firing until he ran out of ammunition and took off running, trying to get away.
“He was determined. He knew what he was doing,” she said.
Lexie Waymon, 16, said she and a friend were talking about the next basketball game, makeup and eyelashes when gunshots pierced the air.
“I blacked out. I couldn’t move. I got up and I tried to run, but I fell. I heard someone hit the ground. It was so close to me,” Waymon said. “I just heard it and then I just, everything was black for a good minute. Like, I could not see anything. I just froze and did not know what to do. Then I got up and I ran.”
Her friend, Baleigh Culp, told the AP in a text message that they were joking and laughing until they heard a loud bang that sounded like someone’s books hitting the floor.
“That’s what I expected it to be, until I saw a body drop on the ground,” Culp wrote. “There was bullets flying everywhere. I ran straight out the door and headed to the highway as fast as I could.”
Waymon did not stop running either, not even when she called her mom to tell her what happened. She made it to the McDonald’s, her chest hurting, struggling to breathe. “All I could keep thinking was, ‘I can’t believe this is happening. I cannot believe this is happening,’” she said.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center said Tuesday night that it was caring for four boys, all in critical but stable condition, and a girl who was listed in stable condition.
The shooting occurred just before 8 a.m. at the school in Benton, in southwestern Kentucky, according to Sanders. The student entered the school, which starts at 8 a.m., with a handgun and opened fire, Sanders said.
First-responders arrived nine minutes after the shooting began, Sanders said.
“These children belong to this community and to specific families in this community,” Bevin said. “And this is a wound that will take a long time to heal and, for some in this community, will never heal. Please respect these families.”
Police escorted a person out of Marshall County High School after a shooting Tuesday in Benton. Gov. Matt Bevin said two people were killed and several others were injured. Dominico Caporali AP
Preston was one of six patients taken to Vanderbilt.
Trauma team leader Oscar Guillamondegui said three boys had gunshot wounds to the head, including the boy who died. One boy had an arm wound, and another was shot in the chest and abdomen, the doctor said.
Vanderbilt said the girl who was in stable condition arrived by ambulance Tuesday night.
Andrea Austin told CNN that her 17-year-old son Daniel was among those who was shot.
Daniel, a special needs student, was shot in the right arm and might have to have it amputated, his mother said. She said a teacher and student took him to a hospital in a car.
Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Rivers posted on Facebook that Gage Smock, who attends the church, was another of the victims.
“He was shot and transported to Vanderbilt earlier, where he is doing better now,” the church said. “They will do surgery but are waiting a couple days to let the swelling go down.”
More people were shot Tuesday at Marshall County High School than during another Kentucky mass school shooting at Heath High School in nearby McCracken County 20 years ago. Student Michael Carneal fired 11 shots into a group of classmates in the lobby of Paducah’s Heath High School. Three students were killed and five were wounded.
Sanders said Marshall students did exactly as they were trained.
State police had recently shown students how to respond in an active-shooter case, Sanders said.
The high school was locked down, and no one was allowed inside either entrance, according to the Marshall County Tribune-Courier. Students were bused to nearby North Marshall Middle School, where parents were allowed to pick up their kids, the Tribune-Courier said.
Bevin said the shooting is a wound that will take a long time to heal.
“This is an opportunity for Kentucky — though we would not want to be in this position — this is an opportunity for us to show how these situations can be handled,” he said.
At a news conference later Tuesday, Sanders spoke to the “human toll” the shooting has taken, not only on the community, but also specifically on the first responders who worked at the scene.
He said one of the first state troopers to arrive Tuesday morning saw the young woman who died and initially thought she was his daughter, who had been dropped off at the school just before the shooting.
“He had to go over to convince himself it was not his daughter,” Sanders said.
The shooting was reported in the high school commons, according to a Broadcastify recording of law enforcement scanner traffic from initial calls. Police have not confirmed the details in that recording.
“Five shots fired. Four down at the high school at Marshall ... one unresponsive,” the dispatcher said.
There were reports of students down in the school’s tech center, according to the dispatcher. Police found the weapon, a pistol, in the back side of the high school, a sheriff deputy told dispatchers.
A business owner, Mitchell Garland, said he saw nearly 100 students running out of the high school, crying and screaming, according to the AP.
Marshall County High School had 1,374 students during the 2016-17 school year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education. All Marshall County public schools will be closed Wednesday, television station WPSD reported.
Sanders said Kentucky Emergency Management has helped set up a resource center where families can come to pick up supplies, such as glasses lost at the school during the shooting, and a counseling center.
“There are many that will need grief counseling,” he said.
Schools, churches and community groups in and around Marshall County planned vigils to honor the victims.
Sanders said state police were still at the school Tuesday night and would continue to process the scene over the next few days. Reports of how many people were injured fluctuated throughout the day as more information became available from police. The state police Critical Incident Response Team is leading the investigation, with assistance from other local and federal agencies.
In November, the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office hosted an active-shooter training session, according to WPSD. The deputy who arrested the shooting suspect Tuesday made use of that training .
At the time of the training, Sheriff Kevin Byers said, “We cannot take the attitude it will never happen here, because just like 20 years ago, it’s never gonna happen here, and look at what happened at Heath High School. … It can happen here.”
Marshall County Schools Superintendent Trent Lovett posted a statement on Twitter Tuesday night, lauding the “quick action” of first responders and the “outstanding” response of “our courageous faculty and staff at all levels.”
Not long after the shooting, condolences, praise for law enforcement and calls for prayer poured forth from lawmakers in the state and in Washington, D.C.
A statement from Gov. Bevin regarding this morning's events in Marshall County: pic.twitter.com/0n0cxgJkvi — Governor Matt Bevin (@GovMattBevin) January 23, 2018
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was closely tracking the reports of the “tragedy in Benton, #Kentucky and Marshall County High School.”
“My thoughts are with the students, teachers, faculty, and the entire community,” he posted on Twitter. “Thank you to the first-responders who continue to put themselves in harm’s way to protect others.”
Kentucky Sen. Danny Carroll, who is from Marshall County, said in a statement that he was heartbroken.
“This is a sad time for our close-knit community in Marshall County, and my thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by this senseless tragedy,” he said. “Many thanks to our first-responders who contained the situation and prevented it from escalating further. I remain in communication with the governor’s office and Kentucky State Police as resources are provided to our community.”
SHARE COPY LINK Sen. Mitch McConnell while speaking on the floor of the U.S. Senate reflected on the fatal shooting at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky. McConnell said his staff in western Kentucky was at the school and in close contact with local
The area’s U.S. representative, James Comer, said his senior field representative, Martie Wiles, was with local officials in Marshall County and was keeping Comer updated.
“This morning’s senseless and evil act in Marshall County is news that horrifies us all,” Comer said in a statement. “My thoughts and prayers are with the students and faculty at Marshall County High School, where there has been a tragic school shooting. I stand with the school, first-responders and the entire Marshall County community, we are all united with you today.
At the General Assembly in Frankfort, House Education Chairman John Carney, R-Taylorsville, shared news of the shooting at that committee’s morning meeting.
4th victim of Marshall County KY High School shooting landing at Vanderbilt Medical Center. pic.twitter.com/KOXJGK9ZhW — Justin McFarland (@ThisJustinTv) January 23, 2018
“I would like to ask everyone to remember the folks there in Marshall County in your prayers,” Carney said.
The committee had just approved House Bill 143, which would require the Kentucky Department of Education to establish a school safety and crisis line where people could report unsafe violent or criminal activities. The bill now goes to the full House.
Rep. Steven Rudy, R-Paducah, who chairs the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, began the committee’s meeting with a prayer for the victims.
Valarie Honeycutt Spears contributed to this report. ||||| Emergency crews respond to Marshall County High School after a fatal school shooting Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Benton, Ky. Authorities said a shooting suspect was in custody. (Ryan Hermens/The Paducah... (Associated Press)
Emergency crews respond to Marshall County High School after a fatal school shooting Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Benton, Ky. Authorities said a shooting suspect was in custody. (Ryan Hermens/The Paducah Sun via AP) (Associated Press)
BENTON, Ky. (AP) — They ran silently, too stunned to shout.
Some of the children ran into classrooms to hide from the boy with the gun. Some ran out of the building, into the fields, across the streets, through the doors of nearby businesses.
"No one screamed," said 16-year-old Alexandria Caporali, recounting the moment her high school became the site of the latest American mass shooting. "It was almost completely silent as people just ran."
Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope, both 15, were killed and another 17 people injured when a classmate opened fire Tuesday morning in the school's busy atrium, a common area in the center of Marshall County High School, where several hallways meet and children gather before classes.
The trauma consumed the rural town of about 4,300 people, where nearly everyone has a connection to the school. Parents left cars on both sides of an adjacent road, desperately trying to find their teenagers; business owners pulled fleeing children to safety; a state trooper rushed to the school, terrified he would find his own daughter among the dead.
Kentucky State Police Commissioner Rick Sanders said authorities would not yet identify the 15-year-old, now in police custody, who he said walked into the school armed with a pistol just before 8 a.m. and immediately started firing.
Caporali was eating breakfast when she heard a shot, turned and saw the teenager with the gun. She knew him as a quiet boy who played music and always seemed happy. After the first shot, he seemed to hesitate.
In the same room, two 16 year olds, Lexie Waymon and Baleigh Culp, had been laughing and talking about makeup and the homecoming basketball game like ordinary teenagers on an ordinary morning. They heard a bang, and imagined something equally ordinary, like a heavy book hitting the floor.
"That's what I expected it to be," Culp said. "Until I saw a body drop on the ground and the bangs continued. There was bullets flying everywhere."
Fear momentarily seized Waymon.
"I couldn't move. I got up and tried to run, but I fell. I heard someone hit the ground. It was so close to me," she said. She froze, she said. She could see only blackness — for a full minute, she guesses. Then she came to and ran.
Waymon did not stop running, even though her chest hurt. One phrase ran on repeat through her mind: "I can't believe this is happening. I cannot believe this is happening." She didn't stop until she made it to a McDonald's, more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the school.
Culp was running, too. She ran to the highway, hearing shot after shot behind her. She kept running, unsure what to do, when a man reached out from the door of a business and pulled her to safety inside, where dozens of other students were hiding.
"They was running and crying and screaming," said Mitchell Garland, who owns the cleaning company where the girl took refuge. He estimated between 50 and 100 students who ran from the school huddled there, including his own 16-year-old son.
"Everyone is just scared. Just terrified for their kids," Garland said.
Inside the school, the boy kept firing, said Caporali, who ran into a classroom.
"It was one right after another — bang, bang, bang, bang, bang," she said.
He kept shooting until he ran out of ammunition, she said. Then he took off running, trying to get away. He was soon apprehended by police and led away in handcuffs.
But by then, 14 had been shot and five others were injured as they ran from the gunfire. Bailey died at the scene and Preston died after being taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Five others remained in critical condition late Tuesday.
Benton residents gathered in a church hours after the fatal shooting where they reminded that God had not forsaken them and told not to think "what did anyone do to deserve this."
The case against the suspect will begin in juvenile court, which is closed to the public and the records sealed under Kentucky law. Prosecutors will request a judge move it to adult court, at which point the details will no longer be secret.
The teen is being held at a regional juvenile jail in Paducah, Kentucky, about a half-hour away, authorities said, and he has been appointed an attorney.
Word of the shooting spread quickly around town, and people rushed toward the school.
Marshall County Attorney Jeff Edwards heard the news from a friend and immediately drove to the building. He and his wife both graduated from the school, as did their children.
He saw children running in every direction and said his heart broke for the ordeal he knows they must endure.
He took office in 1997, the year a student opened fire in a school 30 minutes away in Paducah, Kentucky, killing three and injuring five. It was two years before the fatal attack at Columbine High School in Colorado, before mass school shootings became all too common, and it left scars across the state.
"This is something that they will never forget," he said of children who ran for their lives. "It will be with them forever."
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Associated Press contributors include Adam Beam and Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Claire Galofaro and Rebecca Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky; Stephen Lance Dennee in Benton, Kentucky; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; and Michael Warren and Lisa Marie Pane in Atlanta. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
/ Updated By Ali Gostanian, Alex Johnson and Corky Siemaszko
Two students were killed Tuesday and 18 other people were wounded when a 15-year-old boy armed with a handgun opened fire inside a Kentucky high school, authorities said.
Terrified students ditched their backpacks and scrambled to get away, and within minutes of the shots' having been fired, sheriff's deputies were at Marshall County High School in Benton, where they disarmed the student and took him into custody, officials said.
But it was too late to save Bailey Nicole Holt, 15, who died at the scene, and Preston Ryan Cope, 15, who died later at a trauma center, Kentucky State Police Commissioner Richard Sanders said early Tuesday night.
Sixteen of the wounded were injured by gunfire and the four others were hurt while trying to escape, state police said Tuesday night, revising Sanders' earlier report that 14 people were shot. Three of the victims were listed in critical condition Tuesday night at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
"In addition to those family members that have lost loved ones, that have had loved ones injured or hurt or traumatized, we pray for these people," Sanders said.
Authorities declined to identify the suspect or discuss a possible motive, but Sanders said he would likely face two counts of murder and "numerous" counts of attempted murder.The FBI and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also joined the investigation.
Bailey Holt, one of the victims of the Marshall County High School shooting in Kentucky.
The small town was in shock as teachers and counselors tried to calm terrified students who described the chaos in the classrooms when the bullets started flying at 7:57 a.m. (8:57 a.m. ET), shortly after the shooter entered the school's common area, according to Sanders.
Related: Texas teen charged with assault for shooting classmate
Two minutes later, dispatchers got the first 911 call, he said, and police were on scene by 8:06 a.m. The suspect was taken into custody almost immediately by the first officer on the scene, he said.
"They were busting down the gates and fences just to get out," Shea Thompson, whose teenage siblings were inside the school when the shooting started, told NBC News.
Greg Rodgers, 17, a junior, said that when he arrived at school, he saw students racing out of the building.
"I pulled off to the side of the road because everyone was running to the main road," Greg said. "I asked my friend what was going on, and he told me that there was a school shooting. I was shocked. He said that someone had just shot up the school."
Greg said the suspect opened fire as students were heading to classes.
"I'm distraught from all of it. I couldn't really focus driving home," he said. "I was shaking a lot driving back to my house. I'm still shaking."
Thompson said her 15-year-old brother, Shawn, a freshman, called her from the school in "a complete panic" around 8:02 a.m.
"He was yelling: 'Someone's shooting! Someone's shooting!," said Thompson, 26, of Benton.
Thompson said her 16-year-old sister, Kristin, a sophomore, was in the common area near the cafeteria. She said Kristin told her that a bullet pierced her friend's backpack but that the friend wasn't hurt.
Clyde Lee was at North Marshall Middle School waiting to collect Isaac Robinson, his nephew, a sophomore who was being bused there from the high school. He said he had just learned that a young girl they know was badly wounded.
"There are a lot of parents crying," Lee said. "It's a very bad situation here. We had a family friend who was shot in the chest. We don't have any other information on her condition."
Emergency crews respond to Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky, after a fatal school shooting Tuesday. Ryan Hermens / The Paducah Sun via AP
Lee said he never imagined "something like this happening in such a small town" like Benton.
"No one should have to go through something like this," he said.
Benton is a city of about 4,300 residents in western Kentucky, about 120 miles northwest of Nashville. It is also about 40 miles southeast of West Paducah, Kentucky, where a 14-year-old student at Heath High School opened fired in 1997, killing three people and wounding five others as they were praying.
The shooting Tuesday came a day after a 15-year-old girl was wounded at Italy High School in Texas after someone opened fire inside the cafeteria. No motive was immediately given.
"Our nation's schools should be some of the safest spaces in our communities," said Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman-turned-activist, who noted that there have been 13 mass shootings already this year. "And it's only January."
CORRECTION (Jan. 24, 7:20 pm ET): An earlier version of this article misstated the location of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. It is in Nashville, Tennessee, not Knoxville. | – Benton, Kentucky, is home to just 4,300 people, a size so small that nearly everybody has some kind of connection to Marshall County High School, notes the AP. The point was illustrated when one of the first deputies to arrive on the scene of Tuesday's school shooting came across the teenage girl who was killed and feared it was his daughter, who had just been dropped off. It wasn't, but "he had to go over to convince himself it was not his daughter," says Kentucky State Police Chief Rick Sanders, per the Lexington Herald-Leader. Other developments: 2 names: The two slain students have been identified as Bailey Nicole Holt and Preston Ryan Cope, both 15. Injured: Three of the other 14 gunshot victims remain in critical condition, reports NBC News. All the victims range in age from 14 to 18. Four other students were injured, though they were not shot. Suspect: The 15-year-old male suspect, who has not been identified, is being held in a juvenile jail. Witness Alexandria Caporali says he was a "quiet boy who played music and always seemed happy," in the words of the AP. Police say he had walked to school, then entered and opened fire with a handgun before the start of classes. Shooting: "It was one right after another—bang, bang, bang, bang, bang," recalls Caporali. "You could see his arm jerking as he was pulling the trigger." She added that "he was determined," though he did seem to hesitate after the first shot. Another witness: Lexie Waymon, 16, says she froze after seeing a "body drop." Then she started running, with the phrase "I can't believe this is happening" voicing itself over and over again in her mind. She didn't stop running until she reached McDonald's; it sits more than a mile from the school. No. 11: This is the 11th school shooting of the young year, reports the New York Times. |
The House has voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, the first time Congress has taken such a dramatic move against a sitting Cabinet official.
The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats voting in support of a criminal contempt resolution, which authorizes Republicans leaders to seek criminal charges against Holder. This Democratic support came despite a round of behind-the-scenes lobbying by senior White House and Justice officials - as well as pressure from party leaders - to support Holder.
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reset Holder reacts to contempt vote
Two Republicans, Reps. Steve LaTourette (Ohio) Scott Rigell (Va.), voted against the contempt resolution.
Another civil contempt resolution, giving the green light for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to sue the Justice Department to get the Fast and Furious documents, passed by a 258-95 margin. Twenty-one Democrats voted for that measure.
But dozens of other Democrats marched off the floor in protest during the vote, adding even more drama to a tumultuous moment in the House chamber.
The heated House floor fight over Holder capped a historic day in Washington, coming just hours after the Supreme Court, just across the street from the Capitol, issued its landmark ruling upholding most of Barack Obama’s health care law. The passions of the day were evident inside the Capitol, where Democrats accused Republicans of ginning up the contempt vote for political purposes while Republicans continued to charge the Justice Department with a cover up on the Fast and Furious scandal.
The fight over the Holder contempt resolution also drew intense interest from outside groups ranging from the NAACP to the National Rifle Association.
In a statement released by his office, Holder blasted the contempt votes as “politically motivated” and “misguided,” and he singled out Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.), chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and lead Republican on the Fast and Furious probe, for special criticism.
“Today’s vote is the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided – and politically motivated – investigation during an election year,” Holder said in his statement. “By advancing it over the past year and a half, Congressman Issa and others have focused on politics over public safety. Instead of trying to correct the problems that led to a series of flawed law enforcement operations, and instead of helping us find ways to better protect the brave law enforcement officers, like Agent Brian Terry, who keep us safe – they have led us to this unnecessary and unwarranted outcome.”
Holder added: “Today’s vote may make for good political theater in the minds of some, but it is – at base – both a crass effort and a grave disservice to the American people. They expect – and deserve – far better.”
White House officials also slammed House Republicans for the unprecedented contempt vote. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said GOP congressional leaders “pushed for political theater rather than legitimate congressional oversight. Over the past fourteen months, the Justice Department accommodated congressional investigators, producing 7,600 pages of documents, and testifying at eleven congressional hearings… But unfortunately, a politically-motivated agenda prevailed and instead of engaging with the President in efforts to create jobs and grow the economy, today we saw the House of Representatives perform a transparently political stunt. ||||| With the National Rifle Administration demanding a "yes" vote and African-American lawmakers vowing to walk out of the chamber, the House moved Thursday toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress in a document dispute related to a bungled gun-tracking operation.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, goes to the House Rules Committee to argue procedures as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on... (Associated Press)
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, joined by other House GOP leaders, meets with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, June 27, 2012, following a political strategy session. Boehner defended... (Associated Press)
Republicans had the votes to make Eric Holder the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt. They cited Holder's refusal to meet Republican demands to hand over _ without any preconditions _ documents that could explain why the Obama administration initially denied that a risky "gun-walking" investigative tactic was used in Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed hundreds of guns to be smuggled from Arizona to Mexico.
The vote on a criminal contempt resolution will send the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who is under Holder. A separate vote on civil contempt will allow the House to go to court in an effort to force Holder to turn over the documents the Oversight and Government Committee wants.
In past cases, courts have been reluctant to settle disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government.
The NRA urged House members to vote for contempt, contending the administration wanted to use Operation Fast and Furious to win gun control measures. Democrats who normally support the NRA but who vote against the contempt citations would lose any 100 percent ratings from the group.
That could affect whether they get endorsements from the powerful organization, particularly if Republican opponents surface who are strong NRA backers.
The 42-member Congressional Black Caucus said its members would walk out and refrain from voting. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said she was joining the boycott.
"Contempt power should be used sparingly, carefully and only in the most egregious situations," a letter from the caucus to House members said. "The Republican leadership has articulated no legislative purpose for pursuing this course of action. For these reasons, we cannot and will not participate in a vote to hold the attorney general in contempt."
Members of the Hispanic, Asian Pacific American and progressive caucuses said they also would not vote.
The dispute is both legal and political. Republicans asserted their right to obtain documents needed for an investigation of Operation Fast and Furious _ focusing on 10 months in 2011 after the Obama administration initially denied guns were allowed to "walk" from Arizona to Mexico. By year's end, the administration acknowledged the assertion was wrong.
President Barack Obama asserted a broad form of executive privilege, a legal position designed to keep executive branch documents from being disclosed. The assertion ensures that documents will not be turned over any time soon, unless a deal is reached between the administration and congressional Republicans.
In debate, however, Republicans framed the issue as the need for closure for the family of Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent killed in December 2010 in a shootout with Mexican bandits. Two guns from Fast and Furious were found at the scene.
Democrats said the contempt issue was a political stunt to embarrass the Obama administration in an election year, and added that holding the attorney general in contempt will do nothing to bring closure to Terry's family.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the contempt motions were "Fast and foolish, fast and fake."
Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla., took the opposite view, arguing, "A man died serving his country, and we have a right to know what the federal government's hand was in that."
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said Republicans picked an odd day to schedule the contempt vote.
"I find it interesting that the Republican leadership has scheduled this nonsense for the floor today when it is certain to be buried under the avalanche of news and reaction to the Supreme Court's health care decision," he said.
For the past year and a half, some Republicans have promoted the idea that Holder and other top-level officials at the Justice Department knew federal agents in Operation Fast and Furious had engaged in gun-walking.
Two of Holder's emails and one from Deputy Attorney General James Cole in early 2011 appear to show that they hadn't known about gun-walking but were determined to find out whether the allegations were true.
"We need answers on this. Not defensive BS. Real answers," Holder wrote.
The Justice Department showed the e-mails on Tuesday to Republican and Democratic staffers of the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, whose chairman is Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in an effort to ward off the criminal contempt vote against the attorney general.
The full contents of the emails were described to The Associated Press by two people who have seen them. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about them publicly.
Holder has refused to turn over these and other communications unless the oversight panel dropped its subpoena for the records _ a condition unacceptable to Issa.
The department withdrew the Feb. 4 letter denying gun walking took place on Dec. 2, 2011, after documenting what had taken place not only in Operation Fast and Furious, but in three other gun-walking operations going back to 2006.
In Operation Fast and Furious, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in abandoned the agency's usual practice of intercepting all weapons they believed to be illicitly purchased. Instead, the goal of the tactic known as "gun-walking" was to track such weapons to high-level arms traffickers who had eluded prosecution and to dismantle their networks.
Gun-walking long has been barred by Justice Department policy, but federal agents in Arizona experimented with it in at least two investigations during the George W. Bush administration before Operation Fast and Furious. The agents in Arizona lost track of several hundred weapons in that operation.
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Associated Press Writer Pete Yost contributed to this report. | – The House today declared that Eric Holder was in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, reports Politico. It's a first for a sitting attorney general, and the matter now goes to DC's federal attorney to determine whether to press criminal charges, explains the Washington Post. The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats joining Republicans. A separate civil contempt charge allows the House to go to court to try to get the documents, notes AP. During the vote, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and other Democrats walked out in protest. Afterward, Holder dismissed the move as "politically motivated." Here's a sample of the partisan slogging leading up to the vote, via the Hill: Republicans: "He's the gatekeeper here, and if he won't give us the information this institution needs to do our … constitutional duty, then we will use every legal and constitutional tool that we have to get to it," said Rep. Rich Nugent of Florida. Democrats: "When the history of this despicable proceeding is recorded, it will be said that your actions were politically motivated to discredit and defeat a president," said Rep. GK Butterfield of North Carolina. Moot point? One columnist thinks John Boehner scheduled the vote on a busy news day because he knows the scandal is going nowhere. Click here for that. |
“EveryBODY loves Lego -- this is the opportunity to have their own head made into miniature to fit on to their favourite Lego minifigures,” the U.K.-based Etsy seller’s ad says.
An online business called Funky 3D Faces is creating custom, 3D-printed Lego heads that look like you, for $30 a head.
Playtime just got personal for Lego fans everywhere.
Just like ordinary Legos, the heads can be popped on and off of the plastic figurines’ bodies. Customers must submit two photographs -- one showing the person’s face and one showing their profile -- which are used to create the head.
The mini-me faces are then constructed out of a sandstone material, with a hole at the bottom for head-to-body attachment.
In January, buyers who order two heads can get one for free, according to the seller.
But don't get ahead of yourself: The bodies aren't included.
H/T Mashable
Also on HuffPost: ||||| No longer will your Lego figure be an unnatural shade of jaundice yellow.
The appropriately named shop, Funky 3D Faces, will create your very own custom 3D-printed Lego head, because everyone truly deserves a replica of themselves as their favorite childhood toy.
For the low, low price of $30, the Etsy shop will create your very own slightly creepy head, but you'll have to provide your own Lego body. Simply send the company two photographs of your face — one from the front and another from the side.
The shop has specific guidelines for the photographs and it can take about 2 weeks for productions, so make sure you plan according. | – Good news! It no longer takes years of hard work to become an astronaut, doctor, or medieval knight. Instead, you can just slap your own head right onto the appropriate Lego person's body. Mashable reports a new company lets customers replace the typical bright yellow Lego head with a "slightly creepy" approximation of their own face. For about $30, Funky 3D Faces will use photos of a customer to sculpt their head out of a "sandstone material," according to the Huffington Post. The resulting head fits onto any standard Lego person body. That means for just $150, you can finally realize your dream of crewing a pirate ship entirely with the starting lineup of the 1995 Chicago Bulls. Arrrr! Pirate Scottie Pippen will send you to a watery grave. |
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Wednesday she is resigning from the administration, a decision that comes as President Barack Obama is filling out his second-term Cabinet.
Solis was the first Hispanic woman to lead a major federal agency, and her departure seems certain to increase pressure on Obama to add more diversity among his Cabinet and senior staff.
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reset Diversity issue in Obama’s 2nd term Cabinet? (POLITICO LIVE)
(PHOTOS: Hilda Solis)
Her decision to resign, along with the departures of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson, leaves three women in Cabinet-level posts: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Small Business Administration administrator Karen Mills. Solis’s departure also leaves just one other Hispanic, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in the Cabinet.
Solis told Labor Department staff in a letter that leaving is “one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made, because I have taken our mission to heart.”
“As the daughter of parents who worked in factories, paid their union dues and achieved their goal of a middle class life, and as the first Latina to head a major federal agency, it has been an incredible honor to serve,” she added.
Obama thanked Solis for her service. “I am grateful to Secretary Solis for her steadfast commitment and service not only to the administration, but on behalf of the American people. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors,” he said in a statement.
The president has come under fire for a lack of diversity among his senior advisers. Obama has nominated Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to replace Clinton and former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to take over for outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Obama also will nominate White House chief of staff Jack Lew as soon as Thursday to replace Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, a person briefed on the matter told POLITICO.
As Solis’s departure was announced, a White House official said that Sebelius, Attorney General Eric Holder and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will all remain in their current jobs. The official did not address whether Napolitano would stay.
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters hours earlier that Obama believes “diversity is important.” News stories questioning the diversity of Obama’s aides “are in reaction to a couple of appointments,” Carney said, and he urged that critics wait for the “totality” of second-term appointments before judging the diversity of the president’s team.
Obama used his statement to praise the work Solis did to help boost the economy during the past four years.
“Secretary Solis has been a critical member of my economic team as we have worked to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and strengthen the economy for the middle class,” he said. “Her efforts have helped train workers for the jobs of the future, protect workers’ health and safety and put millions of Americans back to work.”
Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, said that Solis “brought urgently needed change” to the department and that he hopes her successor will continue her legacy.
The White House declined to say whether the president has a candidate in mind. ||||| Here is the statement released by the White House marking the departure of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who is resigning. Ms. Solis’s letter to Labor employees is also below.
Statement by the President on Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
Over her long career in public service – as an advocate for environmental justice in California, state legislator, member of Congress and Secretary of Labor – Hilda Solis has been a tireless champion for working families. Over the last four years, Secretary Solis has been a critical member of my economic team as we have worked to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and strengthen the economy for the middle class. Her efforts have helped train workers for the jobs of the future, protect workers’ health and safety and put millions of Americans back to work. I am grateful to Secretary Solis for her steadfast commitment and service not only to the Administration, but on behalf of the American people. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.
Statement by US Department of Labor on resignation of Secretary Hilda L. Solis
WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis this afternoon sent the following letter to employees at the U.S. Department of Labor:
“Dear Colleagues:
“Over the Christmas and New Year holidays with my family in California, I enjoyed my first opportunity in years to reflect on the past and my future, with an open mind and an open heart. After much discussion with family and close friends, I have decided to begin a new future, and return to the people and places I love and that have inspired and shaped my life.
“This afternoon, I submitted my resignation to President Obama. Growing up in a large Mexican-American family in La Puente, California, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to serve in a president’s Cabinet, let alone in the service of such an incredible leader.
“Because President Obama took very bold action, millions of Americans are back to work. There is still much to do, but we are well on the road to recovery, and middle class Americans know the president is on their side.
“Together we have achieved extraordinary things and I am so proud of our work on behalf of the nation’s working families. It has been more than an honor to work alongside you in fulfilling the department’s mission. Working with all of you as the nation’s 25th secretary of labor, I have come to learn that the work we do every day is indeed a labor of love.
“I am humbled by the commitment of every single employee of this department – from the folks here in Washington to those who directly touch communities out in the field. Each of you brings passion to your work, and collectively, that makes a significant difference in the lives of our nation’s working families.
“We have much to be proud of. In the past four years, more than 1.7 million people have completed federally-funded job training programs; of those, more than one million have earned industry-recognized credentials. In addition, Labor Department investments in our community colleges have expanded their capacity to provide local, flexible, employer-specific job training to millions of Americans, and transformed these institutions into engines of economic growth.
“Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we were the steward of more than $67 billion for unemployment insurance benefits, job training and placement, and worker protection. With ingenuity and integrity we ensured that these monies were carefully targeted to maximize job creation so that working people received the help they needed and deserved.
“We also played an important and active role in crafting regulatory actions to implement key aspects of the Affordable Care Act. Our work will help make President Obama’s vision of a health care system that works for America a reality for millions of people.
“We have helped businesses big and small see the value of hiring returning military service members, and have fostered innovative efforts to help women and homeless veterans.
“And I am particularly proud to say that, as a result of our enforcement efforts, we have saved workers’ lives.
“Calendar year 2011 saw the fewest-ever mine fatalities. Fatalities in general industry and construction are at historic lows.
“Because of our work, more people are receiving the wages they are owed. Last year we conducted the largest number of investigations in recent memory, collecting the most back wages in our history (more than $280 million on behalf of more than 300,000 workers denied their rightful pay, overtime or leave benefits). In these recoveries, what may seem to some as “small change” makes a huge difference for those who live paycheck-to-paycheck. In addition, our enforcement and informal resolution programs resulted in the recovery of almost $5 billion dollars for retirees and their families.
“Leaving the department is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made, because I have taken our mission to heart. As the daughter of parents who worked in factories, paid their union dues and achieved their goal of a middle class life, and as the first Latina to head a major federal agency, it has been an incredible honor to serve.
“It has been my privilege to call you colleagues and friends. Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do to make life more just and safer for workers across this country.
“I am counting on you to keep up the good work. God bless you. And I will miss all of you.
“Sincerely,
“Hilda L. Solis
“U.S. Secretary of Labor”
Source: White House, Department of Labor
More
Who’s Coming and Going in the Obama Cabinet ||||| 5 years ago
Washington (CNN) - Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis resigned her post Wednesday, offering no specific reason but that she "enjoyed my first opportunity in years to reflect on the past and my future" over the holidays.
"Leaving the department is one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made, because I have taken our mission to heart," she wrote in a letter to colleagues obtained by CNN. "As the daughter of parents who worked in factories, paid their union dues and achieved their goal of a middle class life, and as the first Latina to head a major federal agency, it has been an incredible honor to serve."
Solis provided no date when she would step down, but Labor Department officials told CNN her departure is expected around the inauguration, which is later this month.
"Over her long career in public service – as an advocate for environmental justice in California, state legislator, member of Congress and Secretary of Labor – Hilda Solis has been a tireless champion for working families," President Barack Obama wrote in a statement. "Over the last four years, Secretary Solis has been a critical member of my economic team as we have worked to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and strengthen the economy for the middle class.
"Her efforts have helped train workers for the jobs of the future, protect workers' health and safety and put millions of Americans back to work. I am grateful to Secretary Solis for her steadfast commitment and service not only to the Administration, but on behalf of the American people. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors."
Her resignation comes amid other high-profile shifts at the top ranks of Obama's administration, including the upcoming resignations of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
She was one of four first term female cabinet secretaries. Solis' resignation just exasperates a diversity problem for the second term Obama cabinet. All four of the top cabinet jobs in the second term - State, Defense, Justice and Treasury - are expected to be occupied by males. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Wednesday "diversity is important" and said the administration is working to make sure it is diverse.
The administration is looking for a woman to serve as the next Commerce Secretary, two sources familiar with the nomination process told CNN. John Bryson resigned from the post in June, and the acting commerce secretary is Rebecca Blank.
A White House official said Attorney General Eric Holder, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki are expected to stay in their current posts. The official did not give a timetable on how long the three might stay, but none of them is expected to depart in the near future.
Solis noted her accomplishments at the Labor Department in the letter, writing, "Growing up in a large Mexican-American family in La Puente, California, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to serve in a president's cabinet, let alone in the service of such an incredible leader."
"Because of our work, more people are receiving the wages they are owed," she wrote.
Solis also touted her work in relation to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Obama's health care law.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said after Solis' announcement that she "brought urgently needed change to the Department of Labor, putting the U.S. government firmly on the side of working families.
"Under Secretary Solis, the Labor Department became a place of safety and support for workers," he wrote. "Secretary Solis's Department of Labor talks tough and acts tough on enforcement, workplace safety, wage and hour violations and so many other vital services. Secretary Solis never lost sight of her own working-class roots, and she always put the values of working families at the center of everything she did."
Trumka urged the president to pick a successor who "will continue to be a powerful voice both within the Obama administration and across the country for all of America's workers."
Before joining the Obama administration in 2009, Solis was a congresswoman from California with a particular interest in environmental issues. She was the first Latina in the California State Senate, according to her official biography. She had also worked in the administration of President Jimmy Carter and in the federal Office of Management and Budget's Civil Rights Division. | – President Obama's second-term reshuffling increased again this afternoon with the resignation of labor secretary Hilda Solis, reports Politico. Obama, who sang her praises in a statement here, already is replacing his treasury secretary, secretary of state, defense chief, and CIA director. So who's staying put for sure? The White House says attorney general Eric Holder, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will be around for the near future, reports CNN. “As the daughter of parents who worked in factories, paid their union dues and achieved their goal of a middle class life, and as the first Latina to head a major federal agency, it has been an incredible honor to serve,” Solis wrote in a letter to staffers. Even before the loss of another high-ranking woman, critics were worried that Obama's Cabinet was turning into a boys' club. |
By all accounts, Mark Walter is rare among baseball owners. When he says he lets the baseball people make player personnel decisions because he is not a baseball expert, he actually means it.
However, in his early days as the Dodgers' controlling owner, Walter expressed skepticism about long-term contracts for starting pitchers.
"Pitchers break," he said.
On Wednesday, the Dodgers agreed to make Clayton Kershaw the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history. Walter declined to confirm the $215-million deal — the Dodgers are expected to make an annoucement Friday — but he was succinct in explaining why he would even consider approving it.
"Greg Maddux," Walter said.
Walter lives in Chicago, where the Cubs abandoned Maddux to free agency in 1992, when he was 26. He had just won the Cy Young Award. He won the next three years too — for the Atlanta Braves.
In the 21 years since they let Maddux go, the Cubs have won one postseason series. In Walter's first full year of ownership, the Dodgers won one postseason series.
Kershaw is coming off his second Cy Young Award, the first pitcher since Maddux to lead the major leagues in earned-run average in three consecutive years. Kershaw would have hit free agency next fall, at 26.
For all the good Walter and his ownership group have done — close to $1 billion in player investment and luxury-tax payments, $150 million in Dodger Stadium renovations, the launch next month of an all-Dodgers, all-the-time TV channel — that could have rung hollow if Kershaw had left the building.
Kershaw is the face of the franchise, and of the strategy for Walter and Co. to turn the Dodgers from a machine that spits out cash into a machine that spits out prospects. You cannot import high-priced talent from Boston and Miami, from Cuba and South Korea, then draw the line at the guy who might turn out to be the best pitcher ever produced by the Dodgers' distinguished player development system.
Kershaw has been so consistent in his excellence that his catcher, A.J. Ellis, put the record contract into perfect perspective.
"He's the highest-paid pitcher of all time, and it still feels like he's underpaid," Ellis said Wednesday.
There is no hometown discount in $215 million, but Kershaw might have gotten more in free agency, with the New York Yankees and his hometown Texas Rangers among the potential bidders. On the other hand, Kershaw would have had to endure a season of reporters from two dozen cities pestering him about whether he might like to play here, there or everywhere.
"It would have been a huge distraction the entire season," Ellis said. "You wouldn't have been able to get through a series, or a start, without somebody wanting to talk to him about it. Clayton doesn't need distractions while he's performing. He's single-minded. I think it's great for everybody that it worked out.
"It's really awesome for the team to have Kershaw, [Hyun-jin] Ryu and [Zack] Greinke wrapped up, and to have those three guys locked up in the prime of their careers. We should win a lot of games."
This is about winning, as it should be, not about branding and not about a cost-benefit analysis. Kershaw would defy the track record of every big-money pitcher if he is not injured or ineffective, or both, at some point during the life of the contract.
There might be more glamour in Yasiel Puig or Matt Kemp or Hanley Ramirez or Brian Wilson. For now, Kershaw is the most reliable, responsible and successful of all the Dodgers, on and off the field.
By committing to stay in Los Angeles and starring for the dominant team in town, Kershaw could become a civic icon. Magic Johnson, one of the Dodgers owners, knows a bit about that.
"When I see Mark Walter, I see the next Dr. Buss," said Johnson, referring to Jerry Buss, the owner behind the Lakers' dynasty.
The way Johnson tells it, the Dodgers are poised to reclaim their stature as kings of L.A. sports, pun intended.
"This town is fired up and ready," Johnson said, "because of the Lakers' situation. Everywhere I go, that's what we talk about: 'What's wrong with my Lakers?' and 'I can't wait for my Dodgers.' "
Kershaw's Dodgers, for this year and beyond.
bill.shaikin@latimes.com
Twitter: @BillShaikin ||||| Clayton Kershaw won two National League Cy Young Awards, three earned run average titles and two strikeout titles and made three trips to the playoffs before turning 26 years old. Now he has another distinction: Kershaw is baseball’s first $200 million pitcher.
Kershaw, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace left-hander, reached an agreement Wednesday to stay with the team for seven years and $215 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The deal will not be officially announced until later this week.
Kershaw, who turns 26 in March, becomes the first player with a contract averaging at least $30 million per season. He was eligible for salary arbitration and could have been a free agent after the 2014 season. Instead, he will be the long-term leader of a rotation that had the best E.R.A. in the majors last season, at 3.13, as the Dodgers advanced to the N.L. Championship Series.
“Big winner today ... me,” the Dodgers’ catcher, A. J. Ellis, said on Twitter. “I am blessed to catch best in the game for foreseeable future God willing. Congrats Kersh!” ||||| Add a location to your Tweets
When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more ||||| The Los Angeles Dodgers and Clayton Kershaw have agreed on a seven-year, $215 million deal, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
It is the richest deal for a pitcher in Major League Baseball history, eclipsing the seven-year, $180 million contract Detroit gave Justin Verlander last winter, and his average annual salary of $30.7 million is the highest ever for any baseball player. Kershaw will also have the opportunity to become a free agent again in five years, if he chooses.
Sources told ESPN's Buster Olney, that because Kershaw agreed to an $18 million signing bonus, with just a $4 million salary for 2014, his salary for 2014 -- for salary arbitration purposes -- is at $6.57 million (calculated as $18 million divided by 7 years and adding $4 million salary).
The 25-year-old Kershaw has won two of the last three National League Cy Young Awards, as well as a Roberto Clemente Award for his charitable work.
Kershaw and his wife, Ellen, founded an orphanage in the African nation of Zambia called Hope's Home that they visit every offseason. They co-wrote a book about their experiences last winter titled, "Arise: Live Out Your Faith and Dreams on Whatever Field You Find Yourself."
Kershaw went 16-9 with a 1.83 ERA and 232 strikeouts last season, his sixth with the Dodgers. The left-hander has a 2.60 career ERA and recorded at least 212 strikeouts in each of the past four seasons.
Kershaw had recently completed a two year, $19 million deal. He filed for arbitration on Tuesday and could have become a free agent at the end of this season if the club had elected to go through the arbitration process and signed him to a one-year deal.
The Dodgers have long intended to keep Kershaw as the face of their franchise for the rest of his career. The team had discussions with Kershaw and his representatives for more than a year before coming to an agreement Wednesday. The length of the negotiations was more about Kershaw's desire not to negotiate during the baseball season, a source said.
The team offered Kershaw a deal in the range of $300 million this past season, a source with knowledge of the talks told Olney in October. Although Kershaw initially was uncertain about committing to such a deal, the sides were confident that a long-term contract would be completed at some point in the offseason, according to the source.
The Dodgers drafted Kershaw seventh overall in 2006, choosing the hard-throwing high-school lefthander over future Cy Young Award winners Tim Lincecum (who went 10th overall to the Giants) and Max Scherzer (who went 11th overall to the Diamondbacks), both of whom were older, more developed college pitchers.
But the Dodgers saw something special in Kershaw, and he quickly rose through their minor league system, debuting in the majors less than two years later on May 25, 2008. During his first spring training with the club, legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully called his devastating curveball, "Public Enemy No. 1" and he quickly began drawing comparisons to another legendary Dodger lefty, Sandy Koufax.
The two have since become friends. Koufax came into the Dodger clubhouse to congratulate him after Kershaw started and won Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on short rest this fall.
"It's gratifying that I think of him as a friend and hopefully he thinks of me the same way," Koufax said. "He's just such a good person."
The Dodgers now have five players with an average annual value of $20 million or more. Among active contracts (or contracts signed that have not yet started), the Dodgers now have five of the 22 largest average yearly salaries in the sport on the roster -- Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Matt Kemp.
Kershaw wasn't the only Dodgers player to enjoy news of the deal. Catcher A.J. Ellis took to Twitter to congratulate the team's ace. | – The Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw has smashed salary records with a new 7-year, $215 million contract, sources tell ESPN. The deal makes the two-time Cy Young award-winner the first $200 million-plus pitcher in Major League Baseball history, and his salary of $30.7 million is a record for any baseball player, the New York Times notes. "Big winner today ... me," tweeted his catcher, AJ Ellis. "I am blessed to catch best in game for foreseeable future, God willing." The 25-year-old left-hander is "the highest-paid pitcher of all time, and it still feels like he's underpaid," Ellis tells the Los Angeles Times. He might have been able to get an even better deal as a free agent, but "it would have been a huge distraction the entire season," Ellis says. "You wouldn't have been able to get through a series, or a start, without somebody wanting to talk to him about it. Clayton doesn't need distractions while he's performing. He's single-minded. I think it's great for everybody that it worked out." |
A study (Kramer et al., 2014) was recently published that showed something astonishing — people altered their emotions and moods based upon the presence or absence of other people’s positive (and negative) moods, as expressed on Facebook status updates. The researchers called this effect an “emotional contagion,” because they purported to show that our friends’ words on our Facebook news feed directly affected our own mood.
Nevermind that the researchers never actually measured anyone’s mood.
And nevermind that the study has a fatal flaw. One that other research has also overlooked — making all these researchers’ findings a bit suspect.
Putting aside the ridiculous language used in these kinds of studies (really, emotions spread like a “contagion”?), these kinds of studies often arrive at their findings by conducting language analysis on tiny bits of text. On Twitter, they’re really tiny — less than 140 characters. Facebook status updates are rarely more than a few sentences. The researchers don’t actually measure anybody’s mood.
So how do you conduct such language analysis, especially on 689,003 status updates? Many researchers turn to an automated tool for this, something called the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count application (LIWC 2007). This software application is described by its authors as:
The first LIWC application was developed as part of an exploratory study of language and disclosure (Francis, 1993; Pennebaker, 1993). As described below, the second version, LIWC2007, is an updated revision of the original application.
Note those dates. Long before social networks were founded, the LIWC was created to analyze large bodies of text — like a book, article, scientific paper, an essay written in an experimental condition, blog entries, or a transcript of a therapy session. Note the one thing all of these share in common — they are of good length, at minimum 400 words.
Why would researchers use a tool not designed for short snippets of text to, well… analyze short snippets of text? Sadly, it’s because this is one of the few tools available that can process large amounts of text fairly quickly.
Who Cares How Long the Text is to Measure?
You might be sitting there scratching your head, wondering why it matters how long the text it is you’re trying to analyze with this tool. One sentence, 140 characters, 140 pages… Why would length matter?
Length matters because the tool actually isn’t very good at analyzing text in the manner that Twitter and Facebook researchers have tasked it with. When you ask it to analyze positive or negative sentiment of a text, it simply counts negative and positive words within the text under study. For an article, essay or blog entry, this is fine — it’s going to give you a pretty accurate overall summary analysis of the article since most articles are more than 400 or 500 words long.
For a tweet or status update, however, this is a horrible analysis tool to use. That’s because it wasn’t designed to differentiate — and in fact, can’t differentiate — a negation word in a sentence.
Let’s look at two hypothetical examples of why this is important. Here are two sample tweets (or status updates) that are not uncommon:
“I am not happy.” “I am not having a great day.”
An independent rater or judge would rate these two tweets as negative — they’re clearly expressing a negative emotion. That would be +2 on the negative scale, and 0 on the positive scale.
But the LIWC 2007 tool doesn’t see it that way. Instead, it would rate these two tweets as scoring +2 for positive (because of the words “great” and “happy”) and +2 for negative (because of the word “not” in both texts).
That’s a huge difference if you’re interested in unbiased and accurate data collection and analysis.
And since much of human communication includes subtleties such as this — without even delving into sarcasm, short-hand abbreviations that act as negation words, phrases that negate the previous sentence, emojis, etc. — you can’t even tell how accurate or inaccurate the resulting analysis by these researchers is. Since the LIWC 2007 ignores these subtle realities of informal human communication, so do the researchers.
Perhaps it’s because the researchers have no idea how bad the problem actually is. Because they’re simply sending all this “big data” into the language analysis engine, without actually understanding how the analysis engine is flawed. Is it 10 percent of all tweets that include a negation word? Or 50 percent? Researchers couldn’t tell you.
Even if True, Research Shows Tiny Real World Effects
Which is why I have to say that even if you believe this research at face value despite this huge methodological problem, you’re still left with research showing ridiculously small correlations that have little to no meaning to ordinary users.
For instance, Kramer et al. (2014) found a 0.07% — that’s not 7 percent, that’s 1/15th of one percent!! — decrease in negative words in people’s status updates when the number of negative posts on their Facebook news feed decreased. Do you know how many words you’d have to read or write before you’ve written one less negative word due to this effect? Probably thousands.
This isn’t an “effect” so much as a statistical blip that has no real-world meaning. The researchers themselves acknowledge as much, noting that their effect sizes were “small (as small as d = 0.001).” They go on to suggest it still matters because “small effects can have large aggregated consequences” citing a Facebook study on political voting motivation by one of the same researchers, and a 22 year old argument from a psychological journal.
But they contradict themselves in the sentence before, suggesting that emotion “is difficult to influence given the range of daily experiences that influence mood.” Which is it? Are Facebook status updates significantly impacting individual’s emotions, or are emotions not so easily influenced by simply reading other people’s status updates??
Despite all of these problems and limitations, none of it stops the researchers in the end from proclaiming, “These results indicate that emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks.” Again, no matter that they didn’t actually measure a single person’s emotions or mood states, but instead relied on a flawed assessment measure to do so.
What the Facebook researchers clearly show, in my opinion, is that they put too much faith in the tools they’re using without understanding — and discussing — the tools’ significant limitations.
Reference
Kramer, ADI, Guillory, JE, Hancock, JT. (2014). Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks. PNAS. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1320040111
Footnotes: ||||| * Updated since first published.
This weekend, the Internet discovered a study published earlier this month in an academic journal that recounted how a Facebook data scientist, along with two university researchers, turned 689,003 users' New Feeds positive or negative to see if it would elate or depress them. The purpose was to find out if emotions are "contagious" on social networks. (They are, apparently.) The justification for subjecting unsuspecting users to the psychological mind game was that everyone who signs up for Facebook agrees to the site's "Data Use Policy," which has a little line about how your information could be used for "research." Some people are pretty blase about the study, their reaction along the lines of, "Dude. Facebook and advertisers manipulate us all the time. NBD." Others, especially in the academic environment, are horrified that Facebook thinks that the little clause in the 9,045-word ToS counts as "informed consent" from a user to take part in a psychological experiment, and that an ethics board reportedly gave that interpretation a thumbs up, which led most academic commentators' jaws to hit the floor.
Update (6:55 p.m.): A source familiar with the matter says the study was approved through an internal review process at Facebook, not through a university Institutional Review Board. Update (10:57 p.m.): Professor Susan Fiske, the editor at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the study's publication, says the data analysis was approved by a Cornell Institutional Review Board but not the data collection. "Their revision letter said they had Cornell IRB approval as a 'pre-existing dataset' presumably from Facebook, who seems to have reviewed it as well in some unspecified way," writes Fiske by email. The Cornell IRB has not yet responded to a media request. (Update 6/30/14): Cornell released a statement Monday morning saying its IRB passed on reviewing the study because the part involving actual humans was done by Facebook not by the Cornell researcher involved in the study. Though it that researcher did help design the study -- based on the notes about the roles of the authors in PNAS and Cornell's statement that the academics were involved in "initial discussions" about the study -- so this seems a bit disingenuous.
The larger debate is about what companies can do to their users without asking them first or telling them about it after. I asked Facebook yesterday what the review process was for conducting the study in January 2012, and its response reads a bit tone deaf. The focus is on whether the data use was appropriate rather than on the ethics of emotionally manipulating users to have a crappy day for science. That may be because Facebook was responding to a privacy reporter.
"This research was conducted for a single week in 2012 and none of the data used was associated with a specific person's Facebook account," says a Facebook spokesperson. "We do research to improve our services and to make the content people see on Facebook as relevant and engaging as possible. A big part of this is understanding how people respond to different types of content, whether it's positive or negative in tone, news from friends, or information from pages they follow. We carefully consider what research we do and have a strong internal review process. There is no unnecessary collection of people's data in connection with these research initiatives and all data is stored securely."
It's particularly fascinating to me that Facebook puts this in the "research to improve our services" category, as opposed to "research for academic purposes" category. One usable takeaway in the study was that taking all emotional content out of a person's feed caused a "withdrawal effect." Thus Facebook now knows it should subject you to emotional steroids to keep you coming back. It makes me wonder what other kind of psychological manipulation users are subjected to that they never learn about because it isn't published in an academic journal.
Mid-day on Sunday, Facebook data scientist Adam Kramer who helped run the study also commented on it through a post on his Facebook page. Available in full below, Kramer says, essentially, that the reason he and his co-researchers did this study was to make Facebook better. "[W]e care about the emotional impact of Facebook and the people that use our product," he writes. "We felt that it was important to investigate the common worry that seeing friends post positive content leads to people feeling negative or left out. At the same time, we were concerned that exposure to friends' negativity might lead people to avoid visiting Facebook."
Kramer sounded a wee bit apologetic: "In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety." He said that Facebook is working on improving its internal review practices for approving experiments like this and that it will "incorporate what we’ve learned from the reaction to this paper."
Based on Kramer's remarks and Facebook's statement, it's evident that the company still doesn't understand the core concern of critics: that testing whether users' emotions can be manipulated through content curation is creepy.
This gives more fodder to academic Ryan Calo who has argued that companies need to get their psychological studies of users vetted in some way that echoes what happens in the academic context. When universities conduct studies on people, they have to run them by an ethics board first to get approval — ethics boards that were mandated by the government in the 1970s because scientists were getting too creepy in their experiments, getting subjects to think they were shocking someone to death in order to study obedience, for example. Interestingly, the Facebook "emotional contagion" project had funding from the government -- the Army Research Office -- according to a Cornell profile of one of the academic researchers involved. Update (12:58 a.m.): Cornell has updated that profile to say there was no Army funding.
Before this story broke, Betsy Haibel wrote a relevant post that linguistically elevated the stakes by calling companies' assumption of consent from users as corporate rape culture. "The tech industry does not believe that the enthusiastic consent of its users is necessary," wrote Haibel. "The tech industry doesn't even believe in requiring affirmative consent."
When I signed up for 23andMe -- a genetic testing service -- it asked if I was willing to be part of "23andWe," which would allow my genetic material to be part of research studies. I had to affirmatively check a box to say I was okay with that. As I suggested when I wrote about this yesterday, I think Facebook should have something similar. While many users may already expect and be willing to have their behavior studied -- and while that may be warranted with "research" being one of the 9,045 words in the data use policy -- they don't expect that Facebook will actively manipulate their environment in order to see how they react. That's a new level of experimentation, turning Facebook from a fishbowl into a petri dish, and it's why people are flipping out about this.
----
FULL STATEMENT FROM ADAM KRAMER, OF FACEBOOK
Adam D. I. Kramer in Floyd, VA
OK so. A lot of people have asked me about my and Jamie and Jeff's recent study published in PNAS, and I wanted to give a brief public explanation. The reason we did this research is because we care about the emotional impact of Facebook and the people that use our product. We felt that it was important to investigate the common worry that seeing friends post positive content leads to people feeling negative or left out. At the same time, we were concerned that exposure to friends' negativity might lead people to avoid visiting Facebook. We didn't clearly state our motivations in the paper.
Regarding methodology, our research sought to investigate the above claim by very minimally deprioritizing a small percentage of content in News Feed (based on whether there was an emotional word in the post) for a group of people (about 0.04% of users, or 1 in 2500) for a short period (one week, in early 2012). Nobody's posts were "hidden," they just didn't show up on some loads of Feed. Those posts were always visible on friends' timelines, and could have shown up on subsequent News Feed loads. And we found the exact opposite to what was then the conventional wisdom: Seeing a certain kind of emotion (positive) encourages it rather than suppresses is.
And at the end of the day, the actual impact on people in the experiment was the minimal amount to statistically detect it -- the result was that people produced an average of one fewer emotional word, per thousand words, over the following week.
The goal of all of our research at Facebook is to learn how to provide a better service. Having written and designed this experiment myself, I can tell you that our goal was never to upset anyone. I can understand why some people have concerns about it, and my coauthors and I are very sorry for the way the paper described the research and any anxiety it caused. In hindsight, the research benefits of the paper may not have justified all of this anxiety.
While we’ve always considered what research we do carefully, we (not just me, several other researchers at Facebook) have been working on improving our internal review practices. The experiment in question was run in early 2012, and we have come a long way since then. Those review practices will also incorporate what we’ve learned from the reaction to this paper. ||||| Significance We show, via a massive (N = 689,003) experiment on Facebook, that emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. We provide experimental evidence that emotional contagion occurs without direct interaction between people (exposure to a friend expressing an emotion is sufficient), and in the complete absence of nonverbal cues.
Abstract Emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. Emotional contagion is well established in laboratory experiments, with people transferring positive and negative emotions to others. Data from a large real-world social network, collected over a 20-y period suggests that longer-lasting moods (e.g., depression, happiness) can be transferred through networks [Fowler JH, Christakis NA (2008) BMJ 337:a2338], although the results are controversial. In an experiment with people who use Facebook, we test whether emotional contagion occurs outside of in-person interaction between individuals by reducing the amount of emotional content in the News Feed. When positive expressions were reduced, people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred. These results indicate that emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks. This work also suggests that, in contrast to prevailing assumptions, in-person interaction and nonverbal cues are not strictly necessary for emotional contagion, and that the observation of others’ positive experiences constitutes a positive experience for people.
Emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading them to experience the same emotions as those around them. Emotional contagion is well established in laboratory experiments (1), in which people transfer positive and negative moods and emotions to others. Similarly, data from a large, real-world social network collected over a 20-y period suggests that longer-lasting moods (e.g., depression, happiness) can be transferred through networks as well (2, 3).
The interpretation of this network effect as contagion of mood has come under scrutiny due to the study’s correlational nature, including concerns over misspecification of contextual variables or failure to account for shared experiences (4, 5), raising important questions regarding contagion processes in networks. An experimental approach can address this scrutiny directly; however, methods used in controlled experiments have been criticized for examining emotions after social interactions. Interacting with a happy person is pleasant (and an unhappy person, unpleasant). As such, contagion may result from experiencing an interaction rather than exposure to a partner’s emotion. Prior studies have also failed to address whether nonverbal cues are necessary for contagion to occur, or if verbal cues alone suffice. Evidence that positive and negative moods are correlated in networks (2, 3) suggests that this is possible, but the causal question of whether contagion processes occur for emotions in massive social networks remains elusive in the absence of experimental evidence. Further, others have suggested that in online social networks, exposure to the happiness of others may actually be depressing to us, producing an “alone together” social comparison effect (6).
Three studies have laid the groundwork for testing these processes via Facebook, the largest online social network. This research demonstrated that (i) emotional contagion occurs via text-based computer-mediated communication (7); (ii) contagion of psychological and physiological qualities has been suggested based on correlational data for social networks generally (7, 8); and (iii) people’s emotional expressions on Facebook predict friends’ emotional expressions, even days later (7) (although some shared experiences may in fact last several days). To date, however, there is no experimental evidence that emotions or moods are contagious in the absence of direct interaction between experiencer and target.
On Facebook, people frequently express emotions, which are later seen by their friends via Facebook’s “News Feed” product (8). Because people’s friends frequently produce much more content than one person can view, the News Feed filters posts, stories, and activities undertaken by friends. News Feed is the primary manner by which people see content that friends share. Which content is shown or omitted in the News Feed is determined via a ranking algorithm that Facebook continually develops and tests in the interest of showing viewers the content they will find most relevant and engaging. One such test is reported in this study: A test of whether posts with emotional content are more engaging.
The experiment manipulated the extent to which people (N = 689,003) were exposed to emotional expressions in their News Feed. This tested whether exposure to emotions led people to change their own posting behaviors, in particular whether exposure to emotional content led people to post content that was consistent with the exposure—thereby testing whether exposure to verbal affective expressions leads to similar verbal expressions, a form of emotional contagion. People who viewed Facebook in English were qualified for selection into the experiment. Two parallel experiments were conducted for positive and negative emotion: One in which exposure to friends’ positive emotional content in their News Feed was reduced, and one in which exposure to negative emotional content in their News Feed was reduced. In these conditions, when a person loaded their News Feed, posts that contained emotional content of the relevant emotional valence, each emotional post had between a 10% and 90% chance (based on their User ID) of being omitted from their News Feed for that specific viewing. It is important to note that this content was always available by viewing a friend’s content directly by going to that friend’s “wall” or “timeline,” rather than via the News Feed. Further, the omitted content may have appeared on prior or subsequent views of the News Feed. Finally, the experiment did not affect any direct messages sent from one user to another.
Posts were determined to be positive or negative if they contained at least one positive or negative word, as defined by Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software (LIWC2007) (9) word counting system, which correlates with self-reported and physiological measures of well-being, and has been used in prior research on emotional expression (7, 8, 10). LIWC was adapted to run on the Hadoop Map/Reduce system (11) and in the News Feed filtering system, such that no text was seen by the researchers. As such, it was consistent with Facebook’s Data Use Policy, to which all users agree prior to creating an account on Facebook, constituting informed consent for this research. Both experiments had a control condition, in which a similar proportion of posts in their News Feed were omitted entirely at random (i.e., without respect to emotional content). Separate control conditions were necessary as 22.4% of posts contained negative words, whereas 46.8% of posts contained positive words. So for a person for whom 10% of posts containing positive content were omitted, an appropriate control would withhold 10% of 46.8% (i.e., 4.68%) of posts at random, compared with omitting only 2.24% of the News Feed in the negativity-reduced control.
The experiments took place for 1 wk (January 11–18, 2012). Participants were randomly selected based on their User ID, resulting in a total of ∼155,000 participants per condition who posted at least one status update during the experimental period.
For each experiment, two dependent variables were examined pertaining to emotionality expressed in people’s own status updates: the percentage of all words produced by a given person that was either positive or negative during the experimental period (as in ref. 7). In total, over 3 million posts were analyzed, containing over 122 million words, 4 million of which were positive (3.6%) and 1.8 million negative (1.6%).
If affective states are contagious via verbal expressions on Facebook (our operationalization of emotional contagion), people in the positivity-reduced condition should be less positive compared with their control, and people in the negativity-reduced condition should be less negative. As a secondary measure, we tested for cross-emotional contagion in which the opposite emotion should be inversely affected: People in the positivity-reduced condition should express increased negativity, whereas people in the negativity-reduced condition should express increased positivity. Emotional expression was modeled, on a per-person basis, as the percentage of words produced by that person during the experimental period that were either positive or negative. Positivity and negativity were evaluated separately given evidence that they are not simply opposite ends of the same spectrum (8, 10). Indeed, negative and positive word use scarcely correlated [r = −0.04, t(620,587) = −38.01, P < 0.001].
We examined these data by comparing each emotion condition to its control. After establishing that our experimental groups did not differ in emotional expression during the week before the experiment (all t < 1.5; all P > 0.13), we examined overall posting rate via a Poisson regression, using the percent of posts omitted as a regression weight. Omitting emotional content reduced the amount of words the person subsequently produced, both when positivity was reduced (z = −4.78, P < 0.001) and when negativity was reduced (z = −7.219, P < 0.001). This effect occurred both when negative words were omitted (99.7% as many words were produced) and when positive words were omitted (96.7%). An interaction was also observed, showing that the effect was stronger when positive words were omitted (z = −77.9, P < 0.001).
As such, direct examination of the frequency of positive and negative words would be inappropriate: It would be confounded with the change in overall words produced. To test our hypothesis regarding emotional contagion, we conducted weighted linear regressions, predicting the percentage of words that were positive or negative from a dummy code for condition (experimental versus control), weighted by the likelihood of that person having an emotional post omitted from their News Feed on a given viewing, such that people who had more content omitted were given higher weight in the regression. When positive posts were reduced in the News Feed, the percentage of positive words in people’s status updates decreased by B = −0.1% compared with control [t(310,044) = −5.63, P < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.02], whereas the percentage of words that were negative increased by B = 0.04% (t = 2.71, P = 0.007, d = 0.001). Conversely, when negative posts were reduced, the percent of words that were negative decreased by B = −0.07% [t(310,541) = −5.51, P < 0.001, d = 0.02] and the percentage of words that were positive, conversely, increased by B = 0.06% (t = 2.19, P < 0.003, d = 0.008).
The results show emotional contagion. As Fig. 1 illustrates, for people who had positive content reduced in their News Feed, a larger percentage of words in people’s status updates were negative and a smaller percentage were positive. When negativity was reduced, the opposite pattern occurred. These results suggest that the emotions expressed by friends, via online social networks, influence our own moods, constituting, to our knowledge, the first experimental evidence for massive-scale emotional contagion via social networks (3, 7, 8), and providing support for previously contested claims that emotions spread via contagion through a network.
Fig. 1. Mean number of positive (Upper) and negative (Lower) emotion words (percent) generated people, by condition. Bars represent standard errors.
These results highlight several features of emotional contagion. First, because News Feed content is not “directed” toward anyone, contagion could not be just the result of some specific interaction with a happy or sad partner. Although prior research examined whether an emotion can be contracted via a direct interaction (1, 7), we show that simply failing to “overhear” a friend’s emotional expression via Facebook is enough to buffer one from its effects. Second, although nonverbal behavior is well established as one medium for contagion, these data suggest that contagion does not require nonverbal behavior (7, 8): Textual content alone appears to be a sufficient channel. This is not a simple case of mimicry, either; the cross-emotional encouragement effect (e.g., reducing negative posts led to an increase in positive posts) cannot be explained by mimicry alone, although mimicry may well have been part of the emotion-consistent effect. Further, we note the similarity of effect sizes when positivity and negativity were reduced. This absence of negativity bias suggests that our results cannot be attributed solely to the content of the post: If a person is sharing good news or bad news (thus explaining his/her emotional state), friends’ response to the news (independent of the sharer’s emotional state) should be stronger when bad news is shown rather than good (or as commonly noted, “if it bleeds, it leads;” ref. 12) if the results were being driven by reactions to news. In contrast, a response to a friend’s emotion expression (rather than news) should be proportional to exposure. A post hoc test comparing effect sizes (comparing correlation coefficients using Fisher’s method) showed no difference despite our large sample size (z = −0.36, P = 0.72).
We also observed a withdrawal effect: People who were exposed to fewer emotional posts (of either valence) in their News Feed were less expressive overall on the following days, addressing the question about how emotional expression affects social engagement online. This observation, and the fact that people were more emotionally positive in response to positive emotion updates from their friends, stands in contrast to theories that suggest viewing positive posts by friends on Facebook may somehow affect us negatively, for example, via social comparison (6, 13). In fact, this is the result when people are exposed to less positive content, rather than more. This effect also showed no negativity bias in post hoc tests (z = −0.09, P = 0.93).
Although these data provide, to our knowledge, some of the first experimental evidence to support the controversial claims that emotions can spread throughout a network, the effect sizes from the manipulations are small (as small as d = 0.001). These effects nonetheless matter given that the manipulation of the independent variable (presence of emotion in the News Feed) was minimal whereas the dependent variable (people’s emotional expressions) is difficult to influence given the range of daily experiences that influence mood (10). More importantly, given the massive scale of social networks such as Facebook, even small effects can have large aggregated consequences (14, 15): For example, the well-documented connection between emotions and physical well-being suggests the importance of these findings for public health. Online messages influence our experience of emotions, which may affect a variety of offline behaviors. And after all, an effect size of d = 0.001 at Facebook’s scale is not negligible: In early 2013, this would have corresponded to hundreds of thousands of emotion expressions in status updates per day.
Acknowledgments We thank the Facebook News Feed team, especially Daniel Schafer, for encouragement and support; the Facebook Core Data Science team, especially Cameron Marlow, Moira Burke, and Eytan Bakshy; plus Michael Macy and Mathew Aldridge for their feedback. Data processing systems, per-user aggregates, and anonymized results available upon request.
Footnotes Author contributions: A.D.I.K., J.E.G., and J.T.H. designed research; A.D.I.K. performed research; A.D.I.K. analyzed data; and A.D.I.K., J.E.G., and J.T.H. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. ||||| BE CAREFUL you don't catch those Facebook blues. Feelings, like viruses, can spread through online social networks.
A face-to-face encounter with someone who is sad or cheerful can leave us feeling the same way. This emotional contagion has been shown to last anywhere from a few seconds to weeks.
A team of researchers, led by Adam Kramer at Facebook in Menlo Park, California, was curious to see if this phenomenon would occur online. To find out, they manipulated which posts showed up on the news feeds of more than 600,000 Facebook users. For one week, some users saw fewer posts with negative emotional words than usual, while others saw fewer posts with positive ones.
Digital emotions proved somewhat contagious, too. People were more likely to use positive words in Facebook posts if they had been exposed to fewer negative posts throughout the week, and vice versa. The effect was significant, though modest (PNAS, doi.org/tcg).
Ke Xu of Beihang University in Beijing has studied emotional contagion on Chinese social networks. He says Kramer's work shows that we don't need to interact in person to influence someone's feelings.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Even online, emotions can be contagious"
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If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to. | – A study that altered News Feeds on Facebook claims to show that even online emotions are contagious, NPR reports—but the real story may be that Facebook manipulated News Feeds at all. In the study, researchers played with more than 600,000 users' feeds for a week in 2012, showing some people more positive words and others more negative ones, reports New Scientist. Well, those who saw fewer negative words used more positive ones in their own status updates, and vice versa. The researchers dubbed it "emotional contagion," meaning the News Feeds affected users' feelings—but John Grohol at PychCentral is rolling his eyes, big time. He not only questions the methodology of using software to track words in posts (how would it evaluate "I am not happy," for example?) but also notes that researchers found only .07% fewer negative words in status updates from Facebook users who saw more positive News Feeds. "This isn’t an 'effect' so much as a statistical blip that has no real-world meaning," writes Grohol. And should Facebook users even be subjected to this kind of experiment? The Verge reports that it jibes with Facebook's terms of use, but some critics, especially in academic circles, are "horrified" that Facebook thinks a clause in its 9,045-word ToS lets the company subject users to a "psychological experiment," reports Forbes. |
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. ||||| Federal prosecutors say a North Carolina judge has been convicted of bribery after he offered Bud Light and cash to an officer in exchange for text messages from his wife's cellphone because he suspected she was cheating on him.
The U.S. Attorney's office said Friday that a jury deliberated for 33 minutes before finding Superior Court Judge Arnold Ogden Jones II guilty of paying a bribe and other charges.
Prosecutors say Jones asked a Wayne County deputy, who is also a member of an FBI gang task force, to get him copies of the text messages in October 2015, even though the law prevents him from receiving them.
Jones offered “a couple of cases of beer” to the officer but ultimately agreed to hand over $100 instead, according to the indictment.
“The jury’s verdict affirms a bedrock principle of the rule of law,” John Bruce, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, responded.
An attorney for Jones told The News & Observer of Raleigh that his client remains on the November ballot and plans to appeal the verdict.
“He and his family appreciate all the support he has had,” defense attorney Geoff Hulse said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | – Wayne County Judge Arnold O. Jones II is going to jail for trying to spy on his wife's text messages, the Raleigh News and Observer writes. When he suspected his wife was having an affair, instead of snooping through her phone himself, Jones thought it would be a good idea to ask a friend in the sheriff's office if copies of text messages between his wife and another man could be obtained through police channels—which is illegal without a warrant and suspicion of criminal activity. In exchange for the warrantless surveillance, Jones offered his "friend" two cases of Bud Light. Perhaps offended by the low-quality beer on offer, the deputy reported the judge for corruption. The jury deliberated for only 33 minutes before finding Jones guilty, Fox News reports. Jones was convicted on three felony charges. He will face sentencing on Jan. 23. His defense plans to appeal the verdict. Jones' defense team argues that he was never informed his request was illegal, but his long career as a judge—including time as the chairman of the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission—would seem to make it unlikely their appeal will be successful. Also working against Jones: He ended up paying $100 cash for the information instead of beer. |
Caribbean storm heading to Dominican Republic after punishing 155mph winds and life-threatening floods knocked out the US territory’s electricity
Puerto Rico is without electricity, officials have said, after Hurricane Maria’s strong winds and flooding knocked out the US territory’s power service.
Island residents endured a day of punishing winds and life-threatening flooding on Wednesday from the category 4 storm, which was the third hurricane to pummel the Caribbean in as many weeks.
Dominica 'in a daze' after Hurricane Maria leaves island cut off from world Read more
Maria, now a category 3 storm with winds of 115 mph, is currently lashing the Dominican Republic as is it passes to its north and is expected to move near the Turks and Caicos later on Thursday. It previously hit the islands of Dominica, Guadeloupe and the US territory of St Croix, where Donald Trump has declared a major disaster.
“Once we’re able to go outside, we’re going to find our island destroyed,” warned Abner Gomez, Puerto Rico’s emergency management director. “The information we have received is not encouraging.”
The storm made landfall early on Wednesday morning with winds of 155mph (250kph). Residents said roofs were torn off buildings and doors flew off their hinges.
Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, ordered a curfew every night until Saturday, from 6pm until 6am, saying the move was essential to maintain order. “Remain in safe places,” Rosello said. Emergency personnel, health workers and reporters are exempt.
Play Video 0:36 Drone footage shows flooding in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria – video
Widespread flooding affected the capital, San Juan, and a flash-flood warning was declared in central Puerto Rico, where river levels are at a record high. People took cover in stairwells, bathrooms and closets as trees and communication towers were knocked down in the storm.
Felix Delgado, mayor of the northern coastal city of Catano, told the Associated Press that 80% of the 454 homes in a neighborhood known as Juana Matos were destroyed. “Months and months and months and months are going to pass before we can recover from this,” he said.
Mike Brennan, a senior hurricane specialist at the NHC, said Maria would remain “a major, very dangerous hurricane” for the next couple of days and that rainfall would be a problem even after the center of the hurricane moved away from the island.
Federal officials were reporting that all energy customers in Puerto Rico had been left without power late on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) told the Guardian.
Where is Hurricane Maria heading? Mapping the storm's path Read more
The executive director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA), Carlos Mercader, said there were 13,000 evacuees in Puerto Rico’s shelters. This includes people who evacuated from other islands during Hurricane Irma.
In a meeting broadcast online on Wednesday morning, Mercader warned power was expected to shut down. Because of this, he said, his administration was prioritizing getting generators to help power hospitals, schools, the water system and flood pumps. “In order to help with the floodings, we need electricity,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Rossello warned the country would lose “a lot of infrastructure”. Homes built after 2011 – when the island, a US territory, introduced newer construction codes – could survive the winds but those in flood-prone areas “have no chance”, he said.
Maria is the first category 4 hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 1932.
As Puerto Rico residents braced for the storm on Tuesday, Trump sent a message of support on Twitter: “Puerto Rico being hit hard by new monster Hurricane,” he said. “Be careful, our hearts are with you – will be there to help!”
Residents of the British Virgin Islands told the Guardian that it was hard to tell how badly the islands had been hit because the damage inflicted by Hurricane Irma was so fresh. Communication with the territory remained patchy, and a strict curfew was being enforced.
The hurricane was still category 5 early Wednesday morning when it pummeled St Croix, the largest and southernmost of the US Virgin Islands, and Guadeloupe, where at least one person died and about 40% of homes were without power in the aftermath of the storm.
British Virgin Islands to face 155mph winds with Hurricane Maria Read more
There were “multiple casualties” on Dominica, the first island struck by Maria, according to the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and at least 90% of buildings were damaged. The storm took out all of the island’s communication systems, triggered landslides and blocked roads, OECS said.
Communications with the island were severely disrupted and inhabitants were only able to make contact with the outside world using shortwave radios.
At least seven people died there, according to Hartley Henry, a chief aid to the prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit. Henry gave an update on the impact of the hurricane after speaking to Skerrit, who he said expected the death toll to increase as they received more information from rural communities.
Henry said: “The country is in a daze – no electricity, no running water – as a result of uprooted pipes in most communities and definitely to landline or cellphone services on island, and that will be for quite a while.” ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
/ Updated By Gadi Schwartz, Alex Johnson and Daniel Arkin
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Maria is likely to have "destroyed" Puerto Rico, the island's emergency director said Wednesday after the monster storm ripped roofs off buildings and flooded homes.
Intense flooding was reported across the economically strained U.S. territory, particularly in San Juan, the capital, where many residential streets looked like rivers.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the entire island shortly after 12:30 a.m. ET.
Yennifer Álvarez Jaimes, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's press secretary, told NBC News that all power across the island was knocked out.
"Once we're able to go outside, we're going to find our island destroyed," Emergency Management Director Abner Gómez Cortés said at a news briefing. Rosselló imposed a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew, citing flood warnings and the importance of keeping streets clear for repair and rescue teams.
San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz told MSNBC that the devastation in the capital was unlike any she had ever seen.
"The San Juan that we knew yesterday is no longer there," Yulín said, adding: "We're looking at four to six months without electricity" in Puerto Rico, home to nearly 3.5 million people.
Maria, the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico since 1928, had maximum sustained winds of 155 mph when it made landfall as a Category 4 storm near the town of Yabucoa just after 6 a.m. ET, the National Hurricane Center said.
After weakening, Maria strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane early Thursday, it added. By 2 a.m. ET, it was about 55 miles north of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Tropical storm conditions were expected to continue on Puerto Rico through the night, but hurricane warnings for the island were lifted late Wednesday as Maria moved away from its the northwest coast.
"The wind threat has decreased," the hurricane center said, but the threat of rain-gorged floods remains "devastating to catastrophic," it said. Airports in San Juan, Aguadilla and Ponce were ordered closed until Friday at the earliest because of flooding and debris, authorities said.
"Extreme rainfall flooding may prompt numerous evacuations and rescues," the agency said. "Rivers and tributaries may overwhelmingly overflow their banks in many places with deep moving water."
Rosanna Cerezo, a lawyer and radio host in metro San Juan, said the city was deluged. It sounded as though bombs were going off when the wind toppled trees around her house, she said.
Along the beachfront, she said, cement structures had been wrenched from their foundations as islanders scrambled for refuge.
"Rooftops collapsed, windows shattered," Cerezo said in a text message. "People are huddled in hallways, closets, bathrooms."
Maria's next move was expected to take it near the coasts of the Dominican Republic and the Turks & Caicos islands, which were under hurricane warnings, and then begin drifting more northwestward by Friday.
Forecasters said it remained too early to know how close Maria will move to the U.S. mainland, but Domenica Davis, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel, said, "It looks like it will stay in the open waters of the Atlantic."
Puerto Rico was already struggling to dig itself out of a historic financial crisis. Maria could destroy any progress the territory has made under a year-old economic rehab plan ─ and set it back further.
Maria was a Category 5 hurricane — the strongest there is — when it hit the Caribbean on Monday night, killing at least seven people on the island of Dominica and one person on Guadeloupe.
Gadi Schwartz reported from Puerto Rico. Alex Johnson reported from Los Angeles. Daniel Arkin, Daniella Silva and Sandra Lilley reported from New York. Yuliya Talmazan reported from London. ||||| A woman covers herself with a plastic bag as she makes her way to work as Hurricane Maria approaches the coast of Bavaro, Dominican Republic, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Tatiana Fernandez) (Associated Press)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The Latest on Hurricane Maria (all times local):
5 a.m.
Hurricane Maria is lashing the northeastern Dominican Republic early Thursday and is expected to pass near the Turks and Caicos later in the day.
The Category 3 storm's maximum sustained winds are near 115 mph (185 kph) and the U.S. National Hurricane Center says some strengthening is possible during the next day or so.
Maria, which has killed at least 10 people across the Caribbean, is centered about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and is moving northwest near 9 mph (15 kph).
Meanwhile, Puerto Ricans are rebuilding after the hurricane slammed into the U.S. territory Wednesday, crushing concrete balconies and paralyzing the island with landslides, flooding and downed trees.
___
3:30 a.m.
Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans stunned by a hurricane that crushed concrete balconies and paralyzed the island with landslides, flooding and downed trees vowed to slowly rebuild amid an economic crisis as rescue crews fanned out across the U.S. territory.
The extent of the damage is unknown given that dozens of municipalities remain isolated and without communication after Maria hit the island Wednesday morning as a Category 4 storm with 155 mph winds, the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in over 80 years.
Uprooted trees and widespread flooding blocked many highways and streets across the island, creating a maze that forced drivers to go against traffic and past police cars that used loudspeakers to warn people they must respect a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew imposed by the governor to ensure everyone's safety. ||||| SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Hurricane Maria, the second major storm to ravage the Caribbean in a month, skirted past the Turks and Caicos Islands on Friday, leaving devastation in its wake that included fresh flooding on Puerto Rico two days after pummeling the U.S. island territory.
Maria, which ranked as the most powerful hurricane to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, has killed at least six people there and claimed 19 lives on several other Caribbean islands, according to government officials and local news media accounts.
But even as Puerto Ricans struggled without electricity to clean up and dig out from tangles of rubble, uprooted trees and fallen power lines, another potential disaster was unfolding in northwestern corner of the island, where a dam was on the verge of collapse.
The U.S. National Weather Service warned in a series of bulletins that the dam on the rain-engorged Guajataca River, was failing, causing flash flooding in the area and prompting an evacuation of communities below the reservoir by way of buses.
Roughly 70,000 people live in the area downstream from the earthen dam that was under evacuation, the island’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, said in a late-afternoon news conference.
Christina Villalba, an official for the island’s emergency management agency, said there was little doubt the dam would give way.
“It could be tonight, it could be tomorrow, it could be in the next few days, but it’s very likely it will be soon,” she said, adding that authorities were aiming to complete evacuations Friday night.
Maria struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale and cut a path of destruction through the center of the island on Wednesday, ripping roofs from buildings and triggering widespread flooding. Torrential downpours from the storm sent several rivers to record levels.
Officials in Puerto Rico, an island of 3.4 million inhabitants, confirmed six storm-related fatalities: three from landslides in Utuado, in the island’s mountainous center; two from drowning in Toa Baja, west of San Juan, and a person near San Juan who was struck by a piece of wind-blown lumber.
Earlier news media reports had put the island’s death toll as high as 15.
“We know of other potential fatalities through unofficial channels that we haven’t been able to confirm,” said Hector Pesquera, the government’s secretary of public safety.
In and around San Juan, the capital, people worked to clear debris from the streets on Friday, some working with machetes, while others began to reopen businesses, though they wondered how long they could operate without power and limited inventory.
“There’s no water, no power, nothing,” said Rogelio Jimenez, a 34-year-old pizzeria worker.
Locals stand along a street affected by the overflow of the Soco River in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in El Seibo, Dominican Republic, September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Ricardo Rojas
Motorists lined up for hours outside the few gasoline stations that were open. “I’ve been here for three and a bit hours,” said Angel Serra, sitting in a blocks-long line hoping to fill up his tank.
Long lines also formed at the handful of automated teller machines that appeared to be working in the region.
DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT $45 BLN
Puerto Rico was already facing the largest municipal debt crisis in U.S. history. A team of judges overseeing its bankruptcy has advised involved parties to put legal proceedings on hold indefinitely as the island recovers, said a source familiar with the proceedings.
The storm was expected to tally $45 billion in damage and lost economic activity across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia.
Slideshow (20 Images)
Elsewhere in the Caribbean, 14 deaths were reported on Dominica, an island nation of 71,000 inhabitants. Two people were killed in the French territory of Guadeloupe and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two people died when the storm roared past the Dominican Republic on Thursday, according to local media outlet El Jaya.
Maria churned past Turks and Caicos and was 295 miles (480 km) east of the Bahamas by 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT) on Friday, the NHC said. It was packing sustained winds of up to 125 miles per hour (205 km per hour), making it a Category 3 hurricane, but was expected to gradually weaken over the next two days as it turned more sharply to the north.
Officials on Turks and Caicos, a British overseas territory, had ordered residents to remain indoors and businesses to close on Friday as the hurricane neared, bringing a storm surge of as much as 12 feet (3.7 meters) above normal tide levels. But hurricane warnings were later canceled as Maria passed.
Storm swells driven by Maria were expected to reach the southeastern coast of the U.S mainland on Friday, the NHC said, adding that it was too soon to determine what, if any, other direct effects it would have.
In the Dominican Republic, Maria damaged nearly 3,000 homes and sent more than 9,300 to shelters, local emergency response agencies reported.
Maria passed close by the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, home to about 55,000 people, early Wednesday, knocking out electricity and most mobile phone service.
Maria hit about two weeks after Hurricane Irma pounded two other U.S. Virgin Islands: St. Thomas and St. John. The islands’ governor, Kenneth Mapp, said it was possible that St. Thomas and St. Croix might reopen to some cruise liner traffic in a month.
Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean and the United States. It followed Harvey, which also killed more than 80 people when it struck Texas in late August and caused flooding in Houston.
More than two months remain in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, although the busiest period is generally from mid-August to mid-October. ||||| Read the latest on Hurricane Maria with Friday’s live updates.
Puerto Rico remained in the throes of chaos and devastation Thursday as the remnants of Hurricane Maria continued to dump rain on the island — up to three feet in some areas.
Flash flood warnings persisted, according to the National Hurricane Center, with “catastrophic” flooding “especially in areas of mountainous terrain.”
The strikingly powerful storm had rendered an estimated 3.4 million people without power, and with the territory’s energy grid all but destroyed, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló predicted a long period of recovery. Anxious relatives in the mainland United States and elsewhere took to social media in an effort to find news of their loved ones.
Late Thursday, the mayor of Toa Baja, a town in northern Puerto Rico, told The New York Times that eight people had drowned there after flooding. That brought to at least 10 the number who have died in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria, a toll that is expected to climb.
Puerto Rico faces numerous obstacles as it begins to emerge from the storm: the weight of an extended debt and bankruptcy crisis; a recovery process begun after Irma, which killed at least three people and left nearly 70 percent of households without power; the difficulty of getting to an island far from the mainland; and the strain on relief efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other groups already spread thin in the wake of several recent storms.
“Irma gave us a break, but Maria destroyed us,” said Edwin Serrano, a construction worker in Old San Juan.
The storm churned off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic as a Category 3 hurricane on Thursday, and the National Hurricane Center repeated hurricane warnings for late Thursday and early Friday morning for the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos. ||||| SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hurricane Maria delivered a destructive full-body blow to this U.S. territory on Wednesday, ripping off metal roofs, generating terrifying and potentially lethal flash floods, knocking out 100 percent of the island’s electrical grid and decimating some communities.
With sustained winds of 155 mph at landfall — a strong Category 4 storm and nearly a Category 5 — Maria was so powerful that it disabled radar, weather stations and cell towers across Puerto Rico, leaving an information vacuum in which officials could only speculate about property damage, injuries or deaths.
“Definitely Puerto Rico — when we can get outside — we will find our island destroyed,” Abner Gómez, director of Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency, said in a midday news conference here. “The information we have received is not encouraging. It’s a system that has destroyed everything it has had in its path.”
The entire island experienced hurricane conditions, with 20 inches or more of rain falling, often at torrential rates of up to seven inches per hour, leadi
ng to reports of raging floodwaters and people seeking help to escape them.
The storm, having passed through the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier, made landfall on the Puerto Rican coast near Yabucoa at 6:15 a.m. It was the first Category 4 storm to strike the island directly since 1932. By midmorning, Maria had fully engulfed the 100-mile-long island.
[ Capital Weather Gang: Tracking Maria ]
Winds snapped palm trees, shredded homes and sent debris skidding across beaches and roads. Recreational boats sank in San Juan’s marinas. Across the island, residents reported trees downed and blocking roadways. Far inland, floodwaters inundated homes that had never before flooded.
In San Juan, the capital, Maria shook buildings and blew out windows. Residents of high-rise apartments sought refuge in bathrooms.
First responders, including a fire-rescue team deployed from Fairfax, Va., had to ride out the storm for hours before emerging to help people. In the meantime, calls to emergency services went in vain. A family in the southern coastal town of Guayama, for example, reportedly pleaded for help as they were trapped in their home with rising water. In Hato Rey, a San Juan business district, a woman sought assistance as she was experiencing labor pains. “Unfortunately, our staff cannot leave,” Gómez said at the news conference. “They will be rescued later.”
Macarena Gil Gandia, a resident of Hato Rey, helped her mother clean out water that had started flooding the kitchen of her second-floor apartment at dawn.
“There are sounds coming from all sides,” Gil Gandia said in a text message. “The building is moving! And we’re only on the second floor, imagine the rest!”
Farther west, in the community of Juana Matos, in the city of Catano, 80 percent of the structures were destroyed, the mayor of Catano told El Nuevo Día.
“The area is completely flooded. Water got into the houses. The houses have no roof,” the mayor said. “Most of them are made of wood and zinc, and electric poles fell on them.”
William “Brock” Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told The Washington Post that rescue and recovery operations are poised to help the U.S. territories — and had significant resources already deployed in the area as a result of Hurricane Irma, which hit the region just days ago.
“Right now we’re in wait-and-see mode,” Long said Wednesday afternoon. “We know that St. Croix took a tremendous hit, and we know obviously Puerto Rico took the brunt of the storm. Once the weather clears and the seas die down, we’ll be in full operation.”
Satellite images showed that Maria became disorganized, without a defined eye, and weakened as it moved slowly across the high terrain of Puerto Rico. Late Wednesday afternoon, the center of the vast storm exited the north coast of the island, its peak winds having dropped to 110 mph as a dangerous but less powerful Category 2 storm.
As Maria journeys across open Atlantic waters, it is expected to reorganize and gain strength. It is moving parallel to the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic, heading toward the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeast Bahamas.
Fishing boats with severe damage at Club Nautico in the San Juan Bay. (Photo by Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The Washington Post)
The storm track and atmospheric conditions suggest it will stay offshore of the U.S. East Coast and eventually curve northeast and out to sea. But forecasters warn that it is too soon to say with certainty that the U.S. mainland is in the clear.
Southern New England already is dealing with pounding surf and powerful wind gusts from Hurricane Jose. That storm could help in keeping Maria away from the coast by drawing it to the northeast. If Jose weakens too quickly, Maria could drift closer to the East Coast by the middle of next week.
Maria was the most violent tropical cyclone to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years. It had raked St. Croix hours earlier, just two weeks after that island was the only major land mass in the U.S. Virgin Islands that was spared Hurricane Irma’s wrath. Maria also produced flooding in St. Thomas, an island that Irma hit.
In the French island of Guadeloupe, officials blamed at least two deaths on Maria, and at least two people were missing after a ship went down near the tiny French island of Desirade. At least seven deaths have been reported on the devastated island of Dominica.
Del. Stacey Plaskett, who represents the U.S. Virgin Islands in Washington, said St. Croix had been a staging ground for relief efforts after Hurricane Irma devastated other parts of her district before Maria’s eye skimmed the edge of St. Croix on Tuesday night as a Category 5 storm with winds of 175 mph.
The damage has yet to be fully assessed, but in a sign of the possible devastation, Plaskett said the roof of the local racetrack blew into the runway of the airport, complicating relief efforts.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló on Wednesday afternoon imposed a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for the general public, which will continue until Saturday.
“Resist, Puerto Rico,” the governor tweeted earlier as the storm blew in. “God is with us; we are stronger than any hurricane. Together we will lift up.”
Speaking on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday, Rosselló said, “This is clearly going to be the most devastating storm in the history of our island.”
Buildings that meet the island’s newer construction codes, established around 2011, should have been able to weather the winds, Rosselló said. But wooden homes in flood-prone areas “have no chance,” he predicted.
The last hurricane to make landfall in Puerto Rico was Georges in 1998. Just one Category 5 hurricane has hit Puerto Rico in recorded history, in 1928.
Broken windows at an apartment in the Ciudadela complex of Santurce. (Photo by Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The Washington Post)
Puerto Rico’s vulnerability to tropical cyclones has been driven home in the past two weeks as first Irma and then Maria have howled into the Caribbean. The back-to-back nature of the storms has had one minor upside: Some 3,200 federal government staffers, National Guardsmen and other emergency personnel overseen already were in Puerto Rico when Maria approached.
President Trump praised FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security for “lifesaving and life-sustaining” work in the islands, and he sent his thoughts and prayers to “all those in harm’s way,” according to a White House statement. Late Wednesday, Trump issued a message on Twitter naming the Puerto Rican governor, adding: “We are with you and the people of Puerto Rico. Stay safe! #PRStrong.”
The federal recovery effort, FEMA administrator Long said, will attempt to restore power to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as quickly as possible but in a way that makes the grid less vulnerable to similar disruptions. The power grid, he said, “is a fragile system in both territories. It’s going to be a long and frustrating process to get the power grid up.”
In the lobby of Ciqala Luxury Home Suites in Miramar, a neighborhood in San Juan, Maria Gil de Lamadrid waited with her husband as the rain and wind pounded the hotel’s facade. The door of the hotel’s parking garage flopped violently in the wind.
Hurricane Maria passed through Puerto Rico leaving behind a path of destruction. (Photo by Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The Washington Post)
Gil de Lamadrid had spent the night in the hotel after evacuating her nearby 16th floor waterfront apartment. But even in a luxury hotel room, Gil de Lamadrid could not evade flooding. On Wednesday morning, water began seeping into her room through the balcony doors.
“I’m feeling anxious,” she said.
Her husband shrugged.
“For me, it’s an adventure,” he said. “Something to talk about later.”
By midafternoon, the gusts had become less frequent, and lashing rains had eased. Soon residents emerged to survey the damage from a storm for the ages. Some walked their dogs.
“The hotels, they lost all the windows, they had structural damage even on concrete,” reported Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo, a freelance photographer working for The Washington Post, as he surveyed the tourist area of San Juan. “Trees are without a single leaf.”
In Miramar, residents began clearing the roads of larger trees. One man walked down the street wearing only a T-shirt, shorts and a fedora hat, beaming despite the rain. “I was bored,” he said.
The Nieves Acarón family decided to walk their dogs just before nightfall.
“He couldn’t last any longer,” Adriana Acarón said, pointing at her dog, Toffee.
She had been anxious throughout the storm. With cellphone reception down, she had not yet heard from her mother-in-law, who is 83 and lives in an area where a river reportedly overflowed its banks.
“It didn’t stop for hours,” she said of the storm. “I could feel everything. You could feel things flying at your window shutters.”
Residents of San Juan take refuge at Roberto Clemente Coliseum, the biggest shelter in the island. (Photo by Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo for The Washington Post)
In the San Juan district of Santurce, residents used machetes to cut branches from trees blocking the road. The sidewalks were rendered impassable by downed trees, metal roofing and power lines.
Anton Rosarios, 81, looked over what remained of the front of his wooden house, the walls of which had collapsed, exposing the interior. He said he was hoping that FEMA would show up: “They are the only ones who can help fix this neighborhood. God willing, they will be coming to help us soon.”
The home of his neighbor, Vitin Rodriguez, 55, had lost its roof, and all of his belongings had been ruined by Maria. A tree had fallen and crushed his car, and he said he had no way to check on the status of family members.
Further down the block, a small crowd gathered at an emergency shelter, as residents checked on friends and neighbors, some of whom had ridden out the storm playing dominoes.
“It’s important to help, to give a life to people who don’t have homes because of the storm,” said Eudalia Sanata, 46, one of the four employees of the shelter. “Look, there are even a few dogs here. Dogs are part of the family, too, and no one wants to leave their family out in the rain.”
1 of 88 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Hurricane Maria devastates Puerto Rico View Photos The storm has left widespread destruction along its path, including some areas battered earlier by the huge Hurricane Irma. Caption The storm has left widespread destruction along its path, including some areas battered earlier by the huge Hurricane Irma. DENNIS M. RIVERA PICHARDO Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Achenbach and Somashekhar reported from Washington. Daniel Cassady in San Juan; Amy Gordon in Vieques, Puerto Rico and Brian Murphy, Jason Samenow and Angela Fritz in Washington contributed to this report. | – "Once we're able to go outside, we're going to find our island destroyed," Puerto Rico Emergency Management Director Abner Gomez Cortes warned after Hurricane Maria lashed the island Wednesday, destroying hundreds of homes and turning roadways into rivers. The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood warning for the entire territory, where authorities say the storm, the strongest to hit the island, knocked out electricity for 100% of customers, NBC News reports. The latest: Gov. Ricardo Rossello, calling the storm a major disaster, imposed a 6am to 6pm curfew on the island, citing the danger of floods. The storm is expected to dump 20 to 30 inches of rain on the island Friday. The storm moved toward the east coast of the Dominican Republic early Thursday and is expected to hit the Turks and Caicos islands later in the day, reports Reuters. After weakening to a Category 2 as it passed over land, it is now a Category 3 storm again, with maximum winds of 115mph. Communications have been cut with dozens of municipalities in Puerto Rico, meaning the true scale of the devastation is still unknown, especially in the southeast of the island, where the storm hit first, the AP reports. So far, the only death reported has been that of a man hit by flying lumber. FEMA administrator William Long tells the Washington Post that the government is preparing to help Puerto Rico and St. Croix, the US Virgin Island hardest hit by Maria. "Right now we're in wait-and-see mode," he says. "We know that St. Croix took a tremendous hit, and we know obviously Puerto Rico took the brunt of the storm. Once the weather clears and the seas die down, we'll be in full operation." The mayor of Catano in northern Puerto Rico says 80% of the homes in one neighborhood were destroyed and it will take "months and months and months and months" before they can recover from the storm, the Guardian reports. Rossello said Wednesday that many homes had "no chance," though those built after stricter building codes were introduced in 2011 could survive the winds. In Dominica, which suffered a direct hit from the storm earlier this week, authorities say conditions are dire, the New York Times reports. At least 14 people were killed and Maria destroyed many people's stockpiles of food as well as cut off power and running water. Florida is not in much danger this time around, but Maria may still pose a danger to the mainland US, CNN reports. Forecasters say the storm's current track does not have it hitting the East Coast, but it is too early to rule it out. The storm will definitely cause high surf and dangerous rip currents along much of the coast. |
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 4.4 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Memoir, 10 Dec 2011 By Belinda "Belinda" - Published on Amazon.com This review is from: THE TOP FIVE REGRETS OF THE DYING: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing (Kindle Edition) THE TOP FIVE REGRETS OF THE DYING: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing
I love this book and think it is one of the most powerful I have ever read. It is important to approach the book with the knowledge that it is a memoir of the author's life, rather than only about dying people. There are plenty of stories about her patients there too, some of which made me cry. Actually, the book made me cry a few times.
I like that the author has used her own life though, as an example of how challenging it can be to overcome some of the things the dying people were talking about. The messages from the dying people are very powerful, because we also get to see how important they are for life right now, through examples from the author's life.
This is a book of wisdom with so many wonderful, heart stories. It covers many aspects of life, well beyond the regrets themselves. It has left me feeling very positive about myself and much stronger than I was before. In the very least, it is also an easy and highly enjoyable read.
Towards the end, I felt like applauding Bronnie for the endurance of fortitude. I am so glad she shared her life with us this way. This book is powerful and a great example of inner-strength and determination, one that will surely touch your heart. THE TOP FIVE REGRETS OF THE DYING: A Life Transformed by the Dearly DepartingI love this book and think it is one of the most powerful I have ever read. It is important to approach the book with the knowledge that it is a memoir of the author's life, rather than only about dying people. There are plenty of stories about her patients there too, some of which made me cry. Actually, the book made me cry a few times.I like that the author has used her own life though, as an example of how challenging it can be to overcome some of the things the dying people were talking about. The messages from the dying people are very powerful, because we also get to see how important they are for life right now, through examples from the author's life.This is a book of wisdom with so many wonderful, heart stories. It covers many aspects of life, well beyond the regrets themselves. It has left me feeling very positive about myself and much stronger than I was before. In the very least, it is also an easy and highly enjoyable read.Towards the end, I felt like applauding Bronnie for the endurance of fortitude. I am so glad she shared her life with us this way. This book is powerful and a great example of inner-strength and determination, one that will surely touch your heart.
23 of 26 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed feelings, 7 Dec 2011 By pbj-time - Published on Amazon.com This review is from: THE TOP FIVE REGRETS OF THE DYING: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing (Kindle Edition) I had high hopes for this book. The concept really appealed to me. Unfortunately though, I just didn't feel like the concept was very well executed. Don't get me wrong, there's some really great parts in it but I just feel like it fell short of my expectations. I just felt like there was WAY too much storytelling about the authors own personal life and not enough tales from the lives of those who were spending their last days on this earth. I would say it's about 75% about the author's life and 25% about the people who were about to pass on. The author's personal stories are usually tied into the lessons she learned from the dying patients she cared for, but still I wanted to hear more about the lives of the patients themselves.
The author's stories about herself are interesting. She obviously has lead a very free and interesting life, but constantly hearing about it loses it's appeal after a while. I was hoping to gain insight and wisdom from the people who were seeing life from their last days. I did get a portion of that, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. Strangely, a lot of the words of wisdom came from the author, which is fine I suppose, but that's not quite what I bought the book for.
Also, the end of the book got really self indulgent in my opinion. I was really feeling like giving the book 4 stars until I neared the end. There's a small portion in those last chapters that summarize her days and lessons learned with her patients, but the last 20% or so of the book is very long winded story telling of her own trials and tribulations through depression and her days as a songwriting instructor at a women's prison. I just didn't get what the point of all that content was. It didn't seem to tie in with the theme of the book at all. I kind of got the impression that the end was simply a need to fill pages to meet a quota by the way it rambled on and on. It really soured my opinion of the book as a whole.
At any rate, the book has high points and low points. It has 5 star rating material and 1 star rating material. I decided to split the difference and rank it as 3 stars overall. It's worth reading but I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of money on it. I'm glad I bought the $10 kindle version and not the $30 paper copy! I had high hopes for this book. The concept really appealed to me. Unfortunately though, I just didn't feel like the concept was very well executed. Don't get me wrong, there's some really great parts in it but I just feel like it fell short of my expectations. I just felt like there was WAY too much storytelling about the authors own personal life and not enough tales from the lives of those who were spending their last days on this earth. I would say it's about 75% about the author's life and 25% about the people who were about to pass on. The author's personal stories are usually tied into the lessons she learned from the dying patients she cared for, but still I wanted to hear more about the lives of the patients themselves.The author's stories about herself are interesting. She obviously has lead a very free and interesting life, but constantly hearing about it loses it's appeal after a while. I was hoping to gain insight and wisdom from the people who were seeing life from their last days. I did get a portion of that, but not nearly as much as I had hoped. Strangely, a lot of the words of wisdom came from the author, which is fine I suppose, but that's not quite what I bought the book for.Also, the end of the book got really self indulgent in my opinion. I was really feeling like giving the book 4 stars until I neared the end. There's a small portion in those last chapters that summarize her days and lessons learned with her patients, but the last 20% or so of the book is very long winded story telling of her own trials and tribulations through depression and her days as a songwriting instructor at a women's prison. I just didn't get what the point of all that content was. It didn't seem to tie in with the theme of the book at all. I kind of got the impression that the end was simply a need to fill pages to meet a quota by the way it rambled on and on. It really soured my opinion of the book as a whole.At any rate, the book has high points and low points. It has 5 star rating material and 1 star rating material. I decided to split the difference and rank it as 3 stars overall. It's worth reading but I wouldn't recommend spending a lot of money on it. I'm glad I bought the $10 kindle version and not the $30 paper copy! ||||| There was no mention of more sex or bungee jumps. A palliative nurse who has counselled the dying in their last days has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. And among the top, from men in particular, is 'I wish I hadn't worked so hard'.
Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
Ware writes of the phenomenal clarity of vision that people gain at the end of their lives, and how we might learn from their wisdom. "When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently," she says, "common themes surfaced again and again."
Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
"This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it."
2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard.
"This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence."
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
"Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result."
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
"Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying."
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
"This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again."
What's your greatest regret so far, and what will you set out to achieve or change before you die? | – What are the most common regrets of people on their death beds? An Australian palliative nurse named Bronnie Ware, who spent years tending to patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives, compiled a top-five list in book form. Here's a peek, from the Guardian: Live your own life: Ware says the most common regret is that people felt they led lives they were expected to lead, rather than ones they wanted to lead. "Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams." Don't work so hard: Almost every male patient regretted spending so much time at work instead of with family. Speak up: Most people didn't express their feelings enough. "As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence." Click here for the rest. |
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Three days after convicted kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro hanged himself in his jail cell, NBC News has obtained police interrogation tapes that provide insight into how close he came to being caught — including a phone call he made to one of the victims' mothers — and personal letters in which he writes about long-held thoughts of suicide.
The 53-year-old former bus driver was sentenced to life plus 1,000 years after pleading guilty to 937 counts including rape, kidnap and aggravated murder following the decade-long incarceration of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight at his Cleveland home. NBC News has obtained four hours of videotape from a source familiar with the criminal investigation showing Castro being interrogated just hours after he was arrested in May.
Ariel Castro's family claims body, coroner says
In a TODAY exclusive that aired Friday, excerpts from the video show Castro revealing several close calls with law enforcement over the years before eventually being caught. He also recounts how he abducted and abused the three women. Out of respect for the victims, NBC News is not showing Castro speaking out about the details of his crimes and has reached out to the victims' lawyers to alert them about the report.
Within hours of Castro’s arrest, he began admitting his horrific crimes to interrogators. He appeared surprised by what he had gotten away with for so long, including the day he abducted DeJesus, then 14, in April of 2004. He said there were surveillance cameras at her middle school that should have captured him just 15 minutes before he kidnapped her.
When he first abducted Knight in August of 2002, Castro said he had a girlfriend who visited his house and noticed a television on in the room where Knight was being secretly held.
“She seen that I had a TV on in the upstairs room,’’ Castro said in the interrogation video. “And she says, ‘What is that? You have a TV on up there?’ And my heart started beating, and I was like, ‘OK, she's probably catching onto something.”
Castro said he even once used Berry’s cell phone to call her mother and tell her that Berry was alive after abducting her in April of 2003.
“I think I said something ... that I have her daughter and that she's OK and that she's my wife now — something like that, you know, probably not the exact words,’’ Castro said in the police tapes.
Castro said he hung up before having any conversation with Berry’s mother. Neither Castro nor any of his close relatives were ever interviewed by authorities at that time for Berry’s disappearance following the phone call, he said.
Today Convicted kidnapper Ariel Castro is interrogated just hours after his arrest in May.
“Nothing led us to talk to him,’’ FBI special agent Vicki Anderson told NBC News in May. “You know, there were no indications that we should go talk to him. We canvassed the neighborhood. We did all of those things. Nothing led us to Ariel Castro.”
Castro also talked about how his now-6-year-old daughter with Berry, who was born in his house, begged him to stop locking all the doors. On the day the three captive women escaped, he left a bedroom door open, which allowed Berry to make it to the front door and yell for help. Two neighbors came over, and a hole was kicked through the bottom of the door to allow Berry to crawl through with her daughter. Berry then called 9-1-1 and Castro was apprehended.
“I know I let my guard down,’’ Castro said in the interrogation video.
NBC News also obtained a pair of letters Castro wrote to his children around Father’s Day while he was in jail.
“I still can’t believe what I did to put me in the situation that I’m in now,’’ he wrote.
Related: Ariel Castro's death is 'last slap' to victims' faces, psychologist says
“Everything he has done is indicative of a narcissistic personality disorder,” forensic psychologist Dr. J. Buzz Von Ornsteiner told TODAY. “He's self-centered. He's self-absorbed. It's all about him.”
When investigators searched Castro’s home in May, they found a note from 2004 in which he contemplated suicide, writing, “I want to put an end to my life and let the devil deal with me.” Castro was initially on suicide watch when he was first put in jail, but had been downgraded before he hung himself with a bedsheet in an Ohio state prison on Tuesday, according to his attorney, Craig Weintraub. Prison officials are investigating how he was able to hang himself, as he was supposed to be checked by guards every half hour.
His thoughts of suicide were also apparent during the interrogation.
“I just want to crash through the window,’’ he said.
“These degenerate molesters are cowards,’’ Tim McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor who secured Castro’s conviction, said in a statement released Thursday. “They con and capture vulnerable children. This man couldn’t take, for even a month, a small portion of what he had dished out for more than a decade.
“Let this be a message to other child kidnappers: There will be a heavy price to pay when you are caught. You won’t enjoy the captive side of the bars.”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this report identified the police interrogation tapes as FBI tapes. ||||| Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro said he called the mother of one of his captives and told the woman her daughter was alive and had become his wife, according to interrogation tapes.
FILE - In this Aug. 1, 2013 file photo, Ariel Castro bows his head in the courtroom during his sentencing sentencing in Cleveland. Castro, 53, now serving a life sentence for the kidnapping and rape,... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this July 26, 2013 Ariel Castro sits in a Cleveland courtroom where he pleaded guilty to 937 counts of rape and kidnapping for holding three women captive in his home for a decade. Castro,... (Associated Press)
Castro also told investigators that authorities missed opportunities to catch him while he held the three women captive for more than a decade in a house with boarded up windows where they were repeatedly beaten and raped.
Castro says in the video _ obtained by NBC and first reported Friday on the "Today" show _ that he told Berry's mother that her daughter was OK. He says he made the call on Amanda Berry's cellphone.
"I think I said something ... that I have her daughter and that she's OK, and that she's my wife now _ something like that, you know, probably not the exact words," he told investigators.
When asked for the mother's response, Castro said: "I hung up so we didn't have a conversation."
Castro, 53, was a month into his life sentence when he committed suicide Tuesday night. His family collected his body from the Franklin County Coroner's office Friday.
Castro also told investigators that authorities missed opportunities for catching him while he held the kidnapped women, who were ages 14, 16 and 20 when captured.
Castro told investigators that cameras at the school of victim Gina DeJesus should have captured him there 15 minutes before she was abducted.
"You could have broke the case right then and there," he said.
Castro said a girlfriend noticed a TV on in a room occupied by victim Michelle Knight and got him worrying he might be caught.
"Was it a close call?" an investigator said.
"Yeah," he said.
A message was left with representatives of the victims Friday morning.
The "Today" show report also provides additional details about a 2004 note Castro wrote that investigators found when they searched the house. "I want to put an end to my life and let the devil deal with me," a section of the note read.
Two state reviews are underway, Ohio prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said, one looking into the suicide itself, and the other is examining whether Castro received proper medical and mental health care leading up the suicide.
Castro was sentenced Aug. 1 to life in prison plus 1,000 years after pleading guilty to 937 counts, including kidnapping and rape, in a deal to avoid the death penalty. "I'm not a monster. I'm sick," he told the judge at sentencing.
Castro's captives _ Berry, DeJesus and Michelle Knight _ disappeared separately between 2002 and 2004. They were rescued from Castro's run-down house May 6 when Berry broke through a screen door.
Investigators said the women were bound, repeatedly raped and deprived of food and bathroom facilities.
___
Associated Press Writer Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report.
___
Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus. | – Just when you thought the worst details of the Cleveland kidnapping case had been aired, more facts emerge via police tapes of Ariel Castro's interrogation. In addition to Castro describing his thoughts of suicide, NBC News reports the tapes reveal a shocking confession: Castro once called Amanda Berry's mom—using Berry's cellphone—to tell her her daughter was safe and now his "wife." He hung up before she could respond, Castro said. Castro also explains on the tapes that it was his own young daughter (born to Berry) who pleaded with him to unlock his house's doors, ultimately leading to the three women's escape: "I let my guard down," he said, when he left a bedroom door open, allowing Berry to yell for help from the front door. NBC News notes that Castro seemed surprised he got away with his crimes for so long, telling police they missed a chance to catch him on surveillance cameras outside Gina DeJesus' school. "You could have broke the case right then and there," he said, per the AP. And though he wouldn't commit suicide for another nine years, a 2004 note shows Castro long battled suicidal thoughts. "I want to put an end to my life," he wrote, "and let the devil deal with me." During the interrogation, he told police, "I just want to crash through the window." |
Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao, ride in the Adairville Strawberry Festival parade while campaigning for the Republican primary in Adairville, Ky. Getty Images
Tuesday brings the biggest primary day of the season. Republicans will pick Senate candidates in Georgia, Kentucky and Oregon. Pennsylvania Democrats will choose their candidate to face Gov. Tom Corbett. And there are an array of open House races in Georgia. (Related: Election Drama in House Primaries Tuesday)
Here’s Washington Wire’s look at five top races to watch Tuesday:
Kentucky GOP Senate primary
Polls open (ET): 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Eastern Time Zone, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Central Time Zone
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is going to win big over challenger Matt Bevin, but there may be clues in Tuesday’s results that tell us something about Mr. McConnell’s general election battle with Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes.
As our Dante Chinni points out, if Mr. McConnell puts up big margins in evangelical areas in the primary, it bodes well for him in the general election, when Ms. Grimes may do better in Kentucky’s population centers than did Mr. McConnell’s underfunded 2008 challenger, Bruce Lunsford.
For Mr. Bevin, Tuesday ends what has been a disappointing effort to oust Mr. McConnell from the right. He poured $900,000 of his own money into the campaign but never gained traction. From making rookie mistakes like allowing himself to debate a McConnell aide to having backed the Troubled Asset Relief Program he attacked Mr. McConnell for supporting to speaking at a pro-cockfighting rally and then having to apologize for it, it has been a parade of errors for Mr. Bevin.
Meanwhile, Mr. McConnell has had support from the broad Republican establishment. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Rifle Association have spent money on his behalf, while Mr. McConnell’s chief antagonists, the Senate Conservatives Fund, has backed Mr. Bevin.
Mr. Bevin’s race marks the beginning of what is setting up to be a string of defeats for Republican challengers to incumbent senators. Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel trails Sen. Thad Cochran and over the weekend was forced to explain why a supporter videotaped Mr. Cochran’s ailing wife at her nursing home. In Kansas, physician Milton Wolf hasn’t gained traction against Sen. Pat Roberts after admitting that he wrote Facebook comments about patients he treated.
Georgia GOP Senate Primary
Polls open (ET): 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
This is a three-way race to finish second. Former Reebok and Dollar General CEO David Perdue, Rep. Jack Kingston and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel are atop a five-way field to replace Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
Since state law requires a July run-off election if no candidate reaches 50% in the primary – a certainty in a five-way race – the drama here is who will finish second, Mr. Kingston or Ms. Handel. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is advertising in heavy rotation to back Mr. Kingston, while Ms. Handel has support from Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum.
Democrats had hoped – and Republican establishment types feared – that one of the two tea-party physicians in the race, Reps. Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey, would advance out of the primary, but odds of that now appear slim. Whichever Republican survives will face Democrat Michelle Nunn in November.
If Ms. Handel qualifies for the run-off, the contours of the run-off will be clear: She will assume most tea party support while Mr. Kingston, a 22-year House veteran, or Mr. Perdue, whose cousin Sonny Perdue was governor, would be the establishment’s choice. In past years the establishment has lost those intraparty battles. This year the tables have turned.
Oregon GOP Senate Primary
Polls open (ET): 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Monica Wehby is the longshot hope for Senate Republicans in 2014. A pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Wehby raised an impressive amount of money for a first-time candidate, released a set of sharp TV ads and has positioned herself as a moderate in a blue state. Now she only needs to defeat a more conservative primary opponent, state Rep. Jason Conger.
And then came the allegations she stalked an ex-boyfriend, who happens to now be a prominent campaign supporter.
The stalking allegations may have more impact on Dr. Wehby’s general election chances than during the primary – most Oregonians vote by mail – but she has not handled the questions with much deft, fleeing a Friday debate “as reporters tried without success to interview her,” Portland’s Oregonian wrote.
Mr. Conger is to the right of Dr. Wehby on a host of social issues important to Republicans (gay marriage and abortion rights in particular). But with Dr. Wehby holding double-digit leads in pre-primary polling, the last-minute hit may not be damaging enough to her Tuesday. But the next five months may tell a different story.
Idaho GOP 2nd Congressional District primary
Polls open (ET): 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Rep. Mike Simpson is one of House Speaker John Boehner’s key allies and a top target for the Club for Growth. But after $500,000 in advertising tying Mr. Simpson to the TARP bailout and other conservative apostasies failing to close the gap, the Club for Growth bailed on the race. It hasn’t advertised in Idaho in the campaign’s final weeks, when it shifted its resources to Nebraska’s Senate primary.
Attorney Bryan Smith was left to fend for himself, while Mr. Simpson had an array of mainstream Republican defenders at the ready: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Defending Main Street super PAC, the National Rifle Association, the National Association of Realtors and the American Dental Association all spent on Mr. Simpson’s behalf. Mitt Romney, who won 65% of Idaho’s 2012 vote, filmed an ad backing Mr. Simpson.
In the end it was too much for Mr. Smith, who has local tea party support but little other help on the TV airwaves. Mr. Simpson is expected to cruise to re-election in November. (Related: Election Drama in House Primaries Tuesday)
Pennsylvania Governor
Polls open (ET): 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
After spending $10 million on his race, Tom Wolf carries a wide lead over the three other Democrats fighting for the right to face Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in November.
There are few policy differences between Mr. Wolf, whose family owns a cabinetry company, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, who represents a Philadelphia-area district, former Clinton administration adviser Katie McGinty, or state Treasurer Rob McCord.
Ms. Schwartz, in a rare tactic for Democrats this cycle, has gone out of her way to highlight her support for Obamacare. That’s key in a state where Mr. Corbett declined to accept the Medicaid expansion and is seen as one of the nation’s most vulnerable incumbent governors. But it is likely not enough to overcome months of Mr. Wolf’s television advertising.
Rebecca Ballhaus contributed to this article.
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Election Drama in Pennsylvania, Georgia House Primaries
Think Tank: If Americans Are Dissatisfied, Why Are Incumbents Poised for Reelection?
Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Seib discusses the three races serving as a barometer for the tea party:
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||||| Today is the closest thing to a Super Tuesday this primary season, and the results of voting in six states will set the stage for some of November’s marquee races.
The Democrats’ best hopes for Senate pick-ups are in Kentucky, where Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell faces a tea party-inspired primary challenge, and Georgia, where a crowded field of Republican candidates will be narrowed to a two-way runoff.
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reset John Harris analysis Primary preview: Kentucky, Georgia Chamber eyes Ky., Ga. Senate races
Polls finish closing in Kentucky and Georgia at 7 p.m., in Pennsylvania at 8 p.m., in Arkansas at 8:30 p.m. and in Idaho and Oregon at 11 p.m. Here are five themes to watch for as returns come in:
(Full results: 2014 primary elections)
In Georgia, will the two most establishment-friendly candidates make it to a runoff?
David Perdue, a former Dollar General CEO, has led in the final polls of the race to succeed retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss, and he’s taken the brunt of attacks in recent days.
His No. 1 antagonist has been Rep. Jack Kingston, who is backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Both men are battling for a similar base of support as they seek to make the July 22 runoff, and a head-to-head matchup would most likely be very negative.
Karen Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, has tried to present herself as the more conservative alternative to Perdue and Kingston. She’s come under fire from two well-known social conservatives in the House, Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun, who have tried to stay in the hunt.
Democratic star recruit Michelle Nunn faces no real opposition in her primary.
(Also on POLITICO: GOP war revived in Georgia)
Because the open Senate seat drew three House members, there are competitive GOP primaries for their seats, each of which could also go to a runoff. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Atlanta-area Rep. Hank Johnson is facing a stiff challenge from a former DeKalb county sheriff.
In Oregon, how damaging is the Monica Wehby police report?
For months, Republicans have touted Portland neurosurgeon Monica Wehby as a dream recruit to take on freshman Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who they think could be vulnerable because of his support for Obamacare in a state where implementation has been particularly disastrous.
Wehby faces primary opposition from the more conservative state Rep. Jason Conger but has been backed by national Republican figures such as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Recent polls showed her well ahead.
(Also on POLITICO: Second harassment accusation for Wehby)
Then on Friday, POLITICO reported that Wehby’s ex-boyfriend last year accused her of “stalking” him, entering his home without his permission and “harassing” his employees. Both Wehby and her ex downplayed the incident, saying they are now on good terms.
On Monday, Wehby received another blow when The Oregonian reported that her ex-husband accused her through their 2007 divorce of “ongoing harassment.”
Wehby is likely to prevail because Oregon is an all-mail voting state, meaning that many of the ballots were already sent in before the news broke.
(WATCH: Some of 2014's wackiest campaign ads)
Oregon Republicans also are choosing a nominee to take on potentially vulnerable Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber. It’s a pretty deep-blue state, so Kitzhaber should probably be OK come November, despite the major problems with Oregon’s health exchange.
National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden also is poised to crush a primary challenger in the race for his House seat. ||||| Welcome to "Super Tuesday," 2014 edition!
There’s lots of money behind all that messaging. Just how much cash have Senate hopefuls in Georgia, Arkansas and Kentucky shelled out? (Pamela Kirkland/The Washington Post)
Get excited, because voters are casting ballots in six states holding high-stakes primaries. It's the busiest primary day of the year so far -- and the most consequential.
From tea party vs. establishment infighting in the West to a Democratic sprint to the left in the Northeast, there's a lot going on. But fear not! Here's where we come in. Below we give you the eight most important things to watch:
1. Who will make the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate in Georgia?
From left, Reps. Paul Broun and P.J. Gingrey, minister Derrick Grayson, Rep. Jack Kingston, Arthur Gardner, Karen Handel, and David Perdue stand at their podiums to deliver opening remarks during the Georgia Republican Party U.S. Senate debate. (AP Photo/The Augusta Chronicle, Sara Caldwell)
In the wildly unpredictable and increasingly nasty Georgia Senate race, there's only been one certainty the past few months: There will be a GOP runoff on July 22. Businessman David Perdue looks like a good bet to make the runoff, as his outsider message is hitting home thanks to the heaps of cash he has spent on advertising. Chamber of Commerce-backed Rep. Jack Kingston and Sarah Palin-backed former secretary of state Karen Handel are competing for a second spot, recent polls show. (A lot of undecided votes are still up for grabs.) The good news for Republican chances is that Reps. Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey, far right candidates with a knack for stoking controversy, appear to be out of the running. The winner is likely to take on highly touted Democratic recruit Michelle Nunn, a first-time candidate.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern.
2. What will Mitch McConnell's margin of victory be?
Kentucky Republican senatorial candidate Matt Bevin holds newborn Mary Halston Brandon at the Fountain Run BBQ Festival while campaigning for the Republican primary May 17, 2014, in Fountain Run, Kentucky. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The only question about the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Kentucky is the margin of minority leader Mitch McConnell's victory. Recent polls show him up by between 20 and 30 points. When Louisville businessman Matt Bevin launched his bid to unseat the Senate's top Republican, we thought McConnell might be in for an epic primary. McConnell is not popular and Bevin's personal fortune made him a candidate to watch. But the race has been anything but epic as the combination of missteps from the Bevin camp (um, cockfighting?) and a barrage of spending from McConnell and his allies prevented Bevin from ever posing a serious threat. That doesn't mean the final tally won't matter. As veteran observer Al Cross writes, Bevin could top 40 percent. McConnell will need every vote he can get in the fall against Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes (D). If more than 40 percent of the GOP primary electorate is against him now, who's to say how many of them will come out for McConnell in November? Plus, there's the symbolic element. McConnell wants to be in a position of strength Wednesday on day one of the general election.
Polls close at 6 p.m. Eastern and Central.
3. Will Democrat Tom Wolf advance to a showdown against the nation's most vulnerable governor?
Tom Wolf (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)
Polls show businessman Tom Wolf with a wide lead over the competition in the Democratic primary for governor in Pennsylvania. Thanks to his heavy ad spending, the technocrat Wolf has jumped to the top of the heap in a race that once looked potentially ripe for Rep. Allyson Schwartz to seize. But Schwartz's former ties to centrist groups and have gotten her into some trouble, as has the crowded field. She has been touting her support for Obamacare down the stretch, an approach that has stood out in an election cycle where the law has been politically toxic in so many other aces. Like Georgia, undecided voters could decide this one. But for Wolf to be upset, undecideds would have to break heavily toward one of his opponents. That doesn't seem likely to happen.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern.
4. It's business versus tea party in Idaho. Business is poised for victory.
Challenger Bryan Smith, left, and incumbent Rep. Mike Simpson (R) participate in a televised debate for the upcoming Republican primary in Boise, Idaho May 11. (REUTERS/Patrick Sweeney)
The anti-tax Club for Growth's first ever crowdsourced candidate is attorney Bryan Smith, who is challenging Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho). But the business-backed Smith has gotten far more help from third-party groups overall. His backers -- most notably the Chamber -- have spent some $2.4 million on his behalf, compared to Smith's allies spending just $600,000. The Club has been off the air since last month, a sign this race isn't very competitive. If Simpson wins, it's another victory for the business wing of the tea party, which has shown a willingness to spend big in primaries this cycle. It would also be a let down for the Club, given how much excitement it generated about Smith.
Polls close at 10 p.m. Eastern.
5. Will Monica Wehby hold on in Oregon after a story about "stalking" her ex-boyfriend last year?
In this March 19, 2014 photo, Oregon Republican Senate candidate Monica Wehby, right, talks to supporter Marvin Hausman in Lake Oswego, Ore. (AP Photo/Jonathan J. Cooper)
Last Thursday, pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby seemed poised for victory in Oregon's GOP primary for U.S. Senate, despite a late barrage of outside spending from antiabortion groups hitting her from the right. But then came a Politico story Friday about a 2013 police report in which Wehby was accused by her ex-boyfriend of "stalking" him and entering his home without permission. Audio of the 911 call has also become public. Wehby was never arrested, but the distracting story threatens to veer her off-message for a while as the media continues to ask about it. Oregon votes by mail, and many primary ballots were cast in advance of Friday, suggesting Wehby will probably survive the primary and advance to a showdown against Sen. Jeff Merkley (D). Still, this is not the entry she envisioned.
Polls close at 11 p.m. Eastern.
6. Will a Clinton-backed U.S. House candidate advance in Pennsylvania?
In this Jan. 5, 1993 file photo, then-House Speaker Thomas Foley administers the House oath, during a re-enactment, to Rep Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky D-Pa. She is accompanied by husband Edward, left, and family, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)
Democrat Marjorie Margolies (then Margolies-Mezvinsky) lost her seat in Congress in the 1994 midterms in large part because of her vote for President Bill Clinton's economic plan. Twenty years later, she's back for a run at the House in a contested Democratic primary in Schwartz's district. Margolies has gotten fundraising help from Bill and Hillary Clinton. The former president even cut an ad for her. Margolies is the mother-in-law of Chelsea Clinton.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern.
7. There are two GOP primaries for U.S. House in Arkansas worth following.
Republican Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), above, is vacating his 4th district seat to run for U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Democrats are bullish about competing in the open 2nd and 4th congressional districts, where they've recruited capable candidates and the Republican fields are less settled. The 2nd district is Democrats' better bet. The GOP nominee there -- probably either state Rep. Ann Clemmer or banker French Hill -- will face former North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hays (D) in the fall. In the 4th district, where incumbent Rep. Tom Cotton (R) is leaving his seat to run for the U.S. Senate, the Republican frontrunner is state House Majority Leader Bruce Westerman. The GOP nominee will face former FEMA chief James Lee Witt (D).
Polls close at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
8. Which Republican will take on the last white Democrat from the Deep South in the House?
Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) in 2012. (John Bazemore/Associated Press)
Five Republicans are vying for a chance to take on Rep. John Barrow of Georgia, the last white Democrat from the Deep South in the U.S. House. Barrow survived against the odds last election cycle and his reward is that once again Republicans are eagerly eyeing a chance to unseat him. But first, they have to sort out who their nominee will be. The race may be headed to a July runoff, which would be good news for Barrow. The GOP frontrunner is construction company Rick Allen, who lost in the 2012 primary.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern.
Updated at 8:53 a.m. on 5/20 | – It's Super Tuesday—well, the 2014 midterm version, at least. Today sees voting in Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, Politico reports. Among the races to watch: In Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell faces off against Matt Bevin, and there's little doubt McConnell will win the primary. The key is whether he can win big in evangelical areas; if he can, it's good news for him in the general election, the Wall Street Journal reports. In Pennsylvania, Democrats are battling for a chance to run against Gov. Tom Corbett, seen as perhaps the GOP's "most vulnerable governor," Politico notes. Businessman Tom Wolf has spent $10 million of his own money on the race, and he's leading Rep. Allyson Schwartz. In Georgia, there will almost definitely be a runoff vote in July for the Republican Senate spot. The question is who will be in it. Businessman David Perdue looks likely, the Washington Post reports, while Rep. Jack Kingston and former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel are fighting to face him. Kingston has the Chamber of Commerce's backing, but Handel is supported by Sarah Palin. In Oregon, a Senate race may hinge on a stalking report. Last week, Politico revealed that Republican neurosurgeon Monica Wehby's ex-boyfriend said she'd stalked him and harassed his workers; similar accusations from her ex-husband were subsequently revealed. Polls, however, still put her ahead of Rep. Jason Conger. In Idaho, Tea Party candidate Bryan Smith is challenging GOP Rep. Mike Simpson for his seat. Simpson is a major John Boehner ally, the Journal notes, while Smith got a big push from the Club for Growth. But the Club has stopped advertising in the race, and Mitt Romney has backed Simpson, who looks likely to win. |
FILE - In a Sept. 8, 2009, file photo, Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon speaks during the opening of a compressed natural gas filling station in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City police say McClendon,... (Associated Press)
FILE - In a Sept. 8, 2009, file photo, Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon speaks during the opening of a compressed natural gas filling station in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City police say McClendon,... (Associated Press)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Latest on former Chesapeake Energy Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon, who was killed in a car crash one day after he was indicted by a federal grand jury (all times local):
4 p.m.
Police say former Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon wasn't wearing a seat belt when his SUV slammed into a concrete embankment and burst into flames in Oklahoma City, killing him.
Oklahoma City Police Capt. Paco Balderrama also says McClendon was traveling above the speed limit of 50 mph when his sport utility vehicle crossed the center line and crashed Wednesday. The 56-year-old energy executive and part-owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team was the only person in the vehicle.
The crash happened a day after a federal grand jury indicted McClendon for allegedly conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma.
Balderrama says it's too early to tell whether the crash was intentional. He says the state medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.
___
3:20 p.m.
Condolences are pouring in from Oklahoma leaders following the death of energy executive Aubrey McClendon in a single-car crash in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett remembered McClendon for his civic pride and his support of local charities, arts and local organizations.
Energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens described McClendon as "charismatic and a true American entrepreneur."
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis described him as "one of the most visionary and brilliant people I've ever met."
Members of the Oklahoma House paused their floor session on Wednesday to deliver a prayer for McClendon's family.
___
3 p.m.
An Oklahoma City police spokesman says a former energy executive was speeding and "drove straight into the wall" when he was killed in a single-car crash.
Capt. Paco Balderrama says Aubrey McClendon crossed the center line, drove into a grassy area and crashed into a wall at about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Balderrama says there was "plenty of opportunity" for McClendon to correct himself and get back on the road, but that didn't happen.
Police are still investigating the single-vehicle crash.
McClendon was the former chief executive officer of Chesapeake Energy Corp.
A federal grand jury indicted him Tuesday for allegedly conspiring to rig bids to buy oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma. A Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment Wednesday on the status of the case.
___
2:15 p.m.
Oklahoma City police say Aubrey McClendon, a natural gas industry titan who was indicted on Tuesday by a federal grand jury, has been killed in a fiery single-car crash in Oklahoma City.
Police Sgt. Ashley Peters says 56-year-old McClendon was the only occupant in the sport utility vehicle when it slammed into a concrete bridge pillar shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday.
McClendon's death follows an announcement Tuesday that he had been indicted for allegedly conspiring to rig bids to buy oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma.
Police say it's too early to tell if the collision was intentional.
A part-owner of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, McClendon stepped down in 2013 at Chesapeake and founded American Energy Partners, where he was chairman and CEO. ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story
HOUSTON — Aubrey McClendon was the face of the nation’s natural gas boom, a swashbuckling innovator who pioneered a shale revolution.
He built a fortune as head of Chesapeake Energy, whose embrace of new production techniques unlocked previously untapped deposits and helped wean the United States from ever-increasing dependence on imports.
But late Tuesday, he was indicted on federal bid-rigging charges accusing him of conspiring to suppress prices for oil and natural gas leases. And on Wednesday morning, he died in a crash in Oklahoma City after his car hit a bridge at high speed. Mr. McClendon, 56, was to have appeared in court later in the day.
“He was charismatic and a true American entrepreneur,” said T. Boone Pickens, a legendary oilman himself, who knew Mr. McClendon for 25 years. “No individual is without flaws, but his impact on American energy will be long-lasting.”
Even in a business known for bigger-than-life executives, Mr. McClendon was a mythical character. His interests went far beyond the oil patch, including part ownerships of the Oklahoma City Thunder professional basketball team and a winery in Bordeaux, France. He bragged about his $12 million antique map collection.
Photo
In his years at Chesapeake, which he co-founded in 1989, it would become the second-biggest natural gas producer in the United States. Only Exxon Mobil produces more.
But his spectacular rise was followed by an equally stunning fall with his ouster in 2013.
And his indictment this week cast a dark shadow over his career. It was served by the Justice Department late Tuesday, accusing Mr. McClendon of orchestrating a conspiracy in which two unidentified companies colluded not to bid against each other for the purchase of several oil and gas leases in northwest Oklahoma between late 2007 and early 2012.
Under Mr. McClendon’s leadership, Chesapeake was a darling of Wall Street as he acquired leases across the country and liberally employed hydraulic fracturing to unlock vast amounts of natural gas in Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
But Chesapeake and a handful of other companies released so much gas that they glutted the market. Natural gas prices collapsed, pulling down the value of Chesapeake’s shares over the last five years.
The company’s problems were compounded by revelations that Mr. McClendon had taken a personal stake in Chesapeake wells and then used those investments as collateral for up to $1.1 billion in loans, used mostly to pay his share of the cost of drilling those wells.
Those revelations ignited a revolt by Chesapeake’s board, and he was forced to leave the company three years ago.
When Mr. McClendon began quietly acquiring leases around 2005, most energy analysts thought the United States faced a future of gas shortages. Billions of dollars were invested in import terminals that would receive liquefied natural gas from Qatar and other gas-producing countries. But Mr. McClendon’s explorations were so successful that there was no longer any need for imports, and the terminals quickly became virtually unusable.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Now, in a once-unthinkable turnabout, some are being converted to export liquefied natural gas.
Mr. McClendon’s corporate pursuits reflected his eclectic interests. As the company grew from its origins in 1989, he developed a corporate campus in Oklahoma City that looked more like an Ivy League school than a piece of the oil patch, with a cafeteria that served international fare and a gymnasium outfitted like a spa.
Mr. McClendon dabbled in politics and personally appeared in television commercials promoting the benefits of natural gas as a replacement of coal burning for power. He unsuccessfully pushed for natural gas-fueled cars.
Aubrey Kerr McClendon, the son of Joe and Carole Kerr McClendon, was born July 14, 1959, in Oklahoma City into a family steeped in the oil industry. His father was a petroleum products salesman. Aubrey McClendon’s lineage also included Oklahoma notables, among them Robert S. Kerr, a former Oklahoma governor and senator and an oilman himself.
Classmates at Duke University remembered Mr. McClendon, who studied history, for his expansive appetite for reading and for having copies of Businessweek magazine strewn around his room. He graduated in 1981 with a bachelor of arts in history.
Continue reading the main story The Rise and Fall of a Shale Gas Baron Aubrey McClendon was a natural gas billionaire, a wine collector and a prominent civic force in Oklahoma City.
It was in college that he met his future financier, Ralph Eads III, an investment banker with Jefferies. Mr. McClendon married his college girlfriend, Kathleen Upton Byrns. In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sons, Will and Jack; a daughter, Callie; and a grandchild.
As a businessman, he had a reputation for aggressive practices.
He was once fined $250,000 by the National Basketball Association for bragging that he and his partners did not buy the Seattle SuperSonics to keep the team in Seattle — a statement that was at odds with the N.B.A. commissioner’s intentions. The Sonics moved to Oklahoma City anyway — a far smaller market — for the 2008-9 season. They play in Chesapeake Energy Arena.
While the indictment did not identify the two companies, most energy experts believe they are Chesapeake and SandRidge Energy, also based in Oklahoma City and formerly led by a onetime partner of Mr. McClendon. The two companies previously disclosed in regulatory documents that they were being investigated by the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. SandRidge had yet to comment on the indictment, while Chesapeake said it was cooperating with the investigation and did not expect to face criminal penalties.
According to the Antitrust Division, the companies secretly decided who would win leases, and the winning bidder allotted an interest in the leases to the other company. The indictment said that Mr. McClendon instructed his subordinates to conspire with others from the second company to allocate leases among themselves.
“His actions put company profits ahead of the interests of leaseholders entitled to competitive bids for oil and gas rights on their land,” said William J. Baer, assistant attorney general in the Antitrust Division. “Executives who abuse their positions as leaders of major corporations to organize criminal activity must be held accountable for their actions.”
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The indictment on Tuesday was filed in the Federal District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The Justice Department said this was the first case resulting from a federal antitrust investigation into price-fixing, bid-rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the oil and natural gas industry.
At first, Mr. McClendon and his lawyers expressed indignant disagreement with the indictment, although Mr. McClendon did not expressly deny that there had been discussions with a competitor.
“The charge that has been filed against me today is wrong and unprecedented,” Mr. McClendon said in statement released Tuesday night. “I have been singled out as the only person in the oil and gas industry in over 110 years since the Sherman Act became law to have been accused of this crime in relation to joint bidding on leasehold.”
Under the federal Sherman antitrust statute, violations carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
The indictment followed a four-year federal investigation that began after Reuters revealed in 2012 that Chesapeake had discussed with Encana, a rival Canadian energy giant, how to suppress land lease prices in Michigan. Last year, Chesapeake settled by agreeing to pay $25 million as compensation to landowners with leases.
While the police did not characterize the death as a suicide, Capt. Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma City police said that Mr. McClendon drove “through a grassy area right before colliding into the embankment.” He added, “There was plenty of opportunity for him to correct and get back on the roadway, and that didn’t occur.” Mr. McClendon was not wearing a seatbelt.
The state medical examiner’s office will determine the cause of death, the police said.
After his ouster from Chesapeake in 2013, Mr. McClendon quickly turned his attention to his next venture, co-founding American Energy Partners, a private oil company. His goal was to take the fracking revolution worldwide.
“He was always looking for worlds to conquer,” said Melvin Moran, an Oklahoma oil executive who knew Mr. McClendon for years. “And he did that.” ||||| Aubrey McClendon, the billionaire oilman who was instrumental in launching the U.S. shale energy revolution, died in a car crash in Oklahoma City on Wednesday morning.
QuickTake Fracking
His death comes less than one day after McClendon, who was 56 years old, was charged with rigging bids for oil and natural gas leases.
McClendon drove his 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe “at a high rate of speed” and slammed into a bridge embankment in northeast Oklahoma City, Paco Balderrama of the Oklahoma Police Department said at a press conference. The car burst into flames before responders could pull McClendon’s body from the vehicle, Balderrama said.
"He pretty much drove straight into the wall," Balderrama said, according to KFOR News Channel 4 in Oklahoma City. "The information out there at the scene is that he went left of center, went through a grassy area right before colliding into the embankment. There was plenty of opportunity for him to correct and get back on the roadway, and that didn’t occur."
McClendon’s rise in the North American energy arena was rapid. He grew to become a towering figure in the industry, building Chesapeake Energy Corp. from modest beginnings to vast energy empire, thanks to his nimble championing of controversial hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling at a time when larger, more established players were skeptical of shale’s potential. At its height in June, 2008, Chesapeake was valued at $35.6 billion.
McClendon’s fall from grace was just as swift. The very gas boom he helped create caused prices to crater, reducing the company’s value by more than half within years. A shareholder revolt by Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc.’s O. Mason Hawkins cost the CEO his annual bonus and the chairmanship in 2012, and McClendon agreed to resign in January 2013.
He was charged Tuesday by a federal grand jury in connection with orchestrating a scheme between two “large oil and gas companies” to not bid against each other for leases in northwest Oklahoma from December 2007 to March 2012, the Justice Department said Tuesday in a statement. McClendon called the charge “wrong and unprecedented” in a statement last night.
“I’ve known Aubrey McClendon for nearly 25 years. He was a major player in leading the stunning energy renaissance in America. He was charismatic and a true American entrepreneur,” said T. Boone Pickens, chairman of BP Capital LLC. “No individual is without flaws, but his impact on American energy will be long-lasting.”
Facing Allegations
Three years after being forced out of Chesapeake Energy Corp., the natural gas company he co-founded, he was facing allegations he worked with an unidentified competitor to keep the price of leasing drilling rights artificially low.
McClendon was accused of orchestrating a scheme between two “large oil and gas companies” to not bid against each other for leases in northwest Oklahoma from December 2007 to March 2012, the Justice Department said Tuesday in a statement. The charge is “wrong and unprecedented,” McClendon said Tuesday in a separate statement.
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After his ouster from Chesapeake, McClendon formed American Energy Partners LP and raised more than $10 billion for acquisitions. With financial backing from private-equity heavyweights including First Reserve Corp. and Energy & Minerals Group, controlled by John Raymond, McClendon’s new vehicle amassed drilling rights and exploratory stakes from the Appalachian mountains to Australia and Argentina before commodity prices cut the company’s growth and restricted its access to credit.
Winning Bids
The conspirators allegedly decided ahead of time who would win the leases and the winning bidder would then allocate an interest in the leases to the other company, the government said.
According to the indictment, McClendon was the chief executive officer, president and a director of Company A until at least March 2012. Company B was a corporation with its principal place of business in Oklahoma City, according to the charging document.
SandRidge Energy Inc. is the unnamed company in the indictment, according to three people familiar with the matter. SandRidge didn’t immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment. Tom Ward, the CEO of SandRidge during the period covered by the indictment, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment and no one picked up the phone at his office.
The antitrust law McClendon was accused of violating, the Sherman Act, carried a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a $1 million fine for individuals, according to the Justice Department statement.
“I have been singled out as the only person in the oil and gas industry in over 110 years since the Sherman Act became law to have been accused of this crime in relation to joint bidding on leasehold,” McClendon said Tuesday in a statement. “I will fight to prove my innocence and to clear my name.”
“I’ve known him for many years -- we’ve been friends for a long time,” Charif Souki, former chief executive officer and co-founder of natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy Inc., said in a television interview with Bloomberg Wednesday. “He is probably one of the most important persons in the shale revolution and responsible for what’s happened to the energy situation in the U.S. This is tragic.” ||||| Aubrey K. McClendon has been charged by a federal grand jury with conspiring to rig bids for the purchase of oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment alleges that McClendon orchestrated a conspiracy between two large oil and gas companies to not bid against each other for the purchase of certain oil and natural gas leases in northwest Oklahoma. During this conspiracy, which ran from December 2007 to March 2012, the conspirators would decide ahead of time who would win the leases. The winning bidder would then allocate an interest in the leases to the other company. McClendon instructed his subordinates to execute the conspiratorial agreement, which included, among other things, withdrawing bids for certain leases and agreeing on the allocation of interests in the leases between the conspiring companies.
“While serving as CEO of a major oil and gas company, the defendant formed and led a conspiracy to suppress prices paid to leaseholders in northwest Oklahoma,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “His actions put company profits ahead of the interests of leaseholders entitled to competitive bids for oil and gas rights on their land. Executives who abuse their positions as leaders of major corporations to organize criminal activity must be held accountable for their actions.”
“The FBI is committed to investigating individuals who engage in corrupt criminal conduct,” said Special Agent in Charge Scott L. Cruse of the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division. “We will continue to work with the DOJ Antitrust Division to target those who devise schemes which create an unfair competitive advantage by way of bid rigging or other illegal means.”
The indictment, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, alleges that McClendon’s conspiracy affected certain bids for leasehold interests and producing properties in northwest Oklahoma. Leasehold interests give a lessee the right to develop the land and to extract oil and natural gas from the land for a time period typically lasting three to five years. Producing properties are tracts of land where the existing lessee has drilled wells on the land and the wells are producing a stream of oil and/or natural gas. Purchasing a producing property includes not just the underlying leasehold interests to drill on the land, but also the producing wells and infrastructure already on the land.
Each violation of the Sherman Act carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine for individuals.
The charges contained in the indictment are allegations and not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This is the first case resulting from an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the oil and natural gas industry. This investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office and the FBI’s Oklahoma City Field Office, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Oklahoma. Anyone with information in connection with this investigation is urged to call the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office at 312-984-7200, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or call the FBI’s Oklahoma City Field Office at 405-290-7770. | – Just a day after being indicted by a federal grand jury over alleged bid rigging, energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon died Wednesday morning in a fiery car wreck that occurred after he "drove straight into [a] wall" in Oklahoma City. Authorities say they need time to determine if the crash—which involved McClendon's SUV crossing the center line, traveling across a grassy area, and slamming into the base of an overpass—was intentional, the AP reports. However, Police Capt. Paco Balderrama says, "There was plenty of opportunity for him to correct and get back on the roadway and that didn't occur." The former CEO of Chesapeake Energy and part owner of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Per the DOJ, McClendon allegedly orchestrated a conspiracy between two unnamed oil and gas companies in which, rather than bidding against each other, they'd decide ahead of time who would win certain oil and gas leases. "His actions put company profits ahead of the interests of leaseholders entitled to competitive bids for oil and gas rights on their land," a prosecutor said in the DOJ's release. In a Tuesday statement, McClendon claimed he had "been singled out as the only person in the oil and gas industry in over 110 years since the Sherman Act became law to have been accused of this crime" and vowed to fight the charges. Bloomberg reports the 56-year-old faced up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. McClendon, who leaves behind a wife and three children, is being recalled as a fracking pioneer; NPR reports that while most Americans wouldn't know his name, "his impact on his industry, region—and actually, the whole country—was huge." The New York Times shares how T. Boone Pickens, who knew McClendon for 25 years, categorized him: "charismatic … a true American entrepreneur," adding, "No individual is without flaws." |
A Rhinoderma darwinii frog is seen in an undated handout photo from the Zoological Society of London. A frog named after Charles Darwin has gone extinct because of a deadly amphibian skin disease, scientists believe.
A Rhinoderma darwinii frog is seen in an undated handout photo from the Zoological Society of London. A frog named after Charles Darwin has gone extinct because of a deadly amphibian skin disease, scientists believe.
LONDONA frog named after Charles Darwin has gone extinct because of a deadly amphibian skin disease, scientists believe.
Darwin's frogs were named after the father of evolution, who discovered them in 1834 in Chile during his voyage around the world on the ship HMS Beagle.
They are notable for having evolved to escape predators by looking like a dead leaf, with a pointy nose, and the fact that the males carry young tadpoles around inside their vocal sacs.
Researchers think the northern Darwin's frog, one of two species, has been killed off completely by a fungal disease called chytridiomycosis that infects their skin. Numbers of the related southern species have plunged dramatically.
An analysis into the spread of the disease by a team from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Chile's Universidad Andres Bello found that habitat loss contributed to the decline, but this alone could not explain the animal's demise.
"Only a few examples of the 'extinction by infection' phenomenon exist," said Andrew Cunningham, from ZSL's Institute of Zoology.
"Although not entirely conclusive, the possibility of chytridiomycosis being associated with the extinction of the northern Darwin's frog gains further support with this study."
The scientists' findings were published online on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Gareth Jones) ||||| Abstract Darwin’s frogs (Rhinoderma darwinii and R. rufum) are two species of mouth brooding frogs from Chile and Argentina that have experienced marked population declines. Rhinoderma rufum has not been found in the wild since 1980. We investigated historical and current evidence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) infection in Rhinoderma spp. to determine whether chytridiomycosis is implicated in the population declines of these species. Archived and live specimens of Rhinoderma spp., sympatric amphibians and amphibians at sites where Rhinoderma sp. had recently gone extinct were examined for Bd infection using quantitative real-time PCR. Six (0.9%) of 662 archived anurans tested positive for Bd (4/289 R. darwinii; 1/266 R. rufum and 1/107 other anurans), all of which had been collected between 1970 and 1978. An overall Bd-infection prevalence of 12.5% was obtained from 797 swabs taken from 369 extant individuals of R. darwinii and 428 individuals representing 18 other species of anurans found at sites with current and recent presence of the two Rhinoderma species. In extant R. darwinii, Bd-infection prevalence (1.9%) was significantly lower than that found in other anurans (7.3%). The prevalence of infection (30%) in other amphibian species was significantly higher in sites where either Rhinoderma spp. had become extinct or was experiencing severe population declines than in sites where there had been no apparent decline (3.0%; x2 = 106.407, P<0.001). This is the first report of widespread Bd presence in Chile and our results are consistent with Rhinoderma spp. declines being due to Bd infection, although additional field and laboratory investigations are required to investigate this further.
Citation: Soto-Azat C, Valenzuela-Sánchez A, Clarke BT, Busse K, Ortiz JC, et al. (2013) Is Chytridiomycosis Driving Darwin’s Frogs to Extinction? PLoS ONE 8(11): e79862. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079862 Editor: Michael Sears, Clemson University, United States of America Received: July 11, 2013; Accepted: September 25, 2013; Published: November 20, 2013 Copyright: © 2013 Soto-Azat 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. Funding: This research was funded by the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the ZSL EDGE Fellowship Programme; the Dirección General de Investigación y Doctorados, Universidad Andres Bello; the Field Veterinary Programme, Wildlife Health Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society; and a Fundación Futuro Scholarship. AAC is supported by a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. 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 There are two species of Darwin’s frogs, both of which inhabit the temperate forests of South America: the northern Darwin’s frog (Rhinoderma rufum), which is endemic to central Chile, and the southern Darwin’s frog (R. darwinii), which is found in south and southern Chile and also in adjacent areas of Argentina [1], [2]. The behaviour that sets these frogs apart from all other amphibians is that the males care for their young by incubating them in their vocal sacs for at least part of their development, a process known as neomelia [3], [4]. In recent decades, both species have undergone marked population declines and R. rufum has not been recorded since 1980 [5]. The reasons for these apparent disappearances remain poorly understood [6], [7]. Throughout the historical distribution of R. rufum, and within the northern range of R. darwinii, there has been extensive habitat degradation, due to the large-scale replacement of native forest with pine (Pinus radiata) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) plantations, and land use change to agriculture [1], [2]. Habitat loss, however, does not fully explain the enigmatic disappearances of R. rufum from its entire historical range or of the declines of R. darwinii from undisturbed ecosystems, including National Parks [8]. In this context, it has been hypothesised that amphibian chytridiomycosis, an infectious disease caused by the nonhyphal zoosporic chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), might be implicated in the disappearances of Darwin’s frogs [1], [2], [8]. Amphibian chytridiomycosis, a recently-described emerging disease of amphibians [9], [10], has been associated with amphibian epizootic mass mortalities, population declines and global extinctions in different regions of the world [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17]. Different genotypes of the fungus have been described, with the most virulent being a recombinant lineage, termed the global panzootic lineage (BdGPL) [18]. Recently, Bd whole-genome sequencing has demonstrated a higher genetic differentiation than previously recognised (including within BdGPL) [18], [19] and a complex evolutionary history that predates contemporary amphibian declines [20]. This highly-pathogenic and readily-transmissible pathogen appears to be capable of infecting an entire class of organism (the Amphibia), with devastating effects [21]. It has been described as: “the worst infectious disease ever recorded among vertebrates in terms of the number of species impacted and its propensity to drive them to extinction” [22]. In 2007, chytridiomycosis was identified as the cause of death of a group of 30 wild-caught R. darwinii exported to Germany for captive breeding [23]. Infection with Bd has been reported in populations of the invasive African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis [24] in central Chile. Additionally, Bourke et al. [25], [26] recently described Bd infection in R. darwinii and two other native frog species in the south of the country. The impacts of this emerging disease on amphibian populations in Chile, including Darwin’s frogs, however, have not been studied. Here, we investigate whether amphibian chytridiomycosis is implicated in the population declines of Darwin’s frogs. We looked for evidence of historical Bd infection in Rhinoderma spp. and amphibians at current and former Rhinoderma sp. sites prior to and post the onset of declines. Also, we determined how widespread Bd infection is both in contemporary populations of R. darwinii across its current range and in other anuran species at sites of Rhinoderma spp. population decline or recent extinction.
Materials and Methods Ethics statement This study was carried out in strict accordance with the recommendations in the guidelines for use of live amphibians and reptiles in field research compiled by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH). Research was approved by the ZSL Ethics Committee and was conducted following Chilean and Argentinian wildlife regulations and according to permits 1241/08, 7377/09, 7993/10 and 300/12 of the Livestock and Agriculture Service (SAG) and 20/09, XI-01/09, 28/11 and X-03/11 of the National Forestry Corporation (CONAF) both in Chile, and permit 1119/11 of the National Parks Administration (APN) in Argentina. Archived amphibians were examined in their museum of origin, by the authors with specific permission given by all 5 zoological institutions. Study area Archived amphibian specimens from museum collections in Europe and Chile were examined for evidence of Bd infection. Also, extensive surveys for Bd infection throughout the historical ranges of R. rufum and R. darwinii were conducted from October 2008 to March 2012. These ranges extended from Zapallar (32° 33’ 03’’S, 71° 26’ 37’’W) to Aysén (45° 24’ 24’’S, 72° 41’ 52’’W) in Chile, and included adjacent areas in the Andes in the Neuquén and Río Negro Provinces in Argentina (Figure 1). PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image ( ) TIFF original image ( ) Download: Figure 1. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis infection prevalence at sites with extant or recently extinct Rhinoderma spp. Map of central-south Chile and Argentina showing sites from which Rhinoderma spp. and sympatric anurans were sampled for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) detection between 2008 and 2012. Sample size is represented by the size of the circles, with Bd prevalence shown in the red segments. Inset: Graph showing the relationship between latitude and prevalence of Bd infection by site (R2 = 0.405, P<0.001). Squares: sites with recent extinction or population decline of Rhinoderma spp. Triangles: sites with extant populations and no evidence of population decline of R. darwinii. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079862.g001 Archived anurans A retrospective study was carried out by examining 555 postmetamorphic Rhinoderma spp. and 107 sympatric anuran specimens, from the collections of the Zoologisches Museum Hamburg (ZMH, n = 321); Natural History Museum, London (BMNH, n = 142); Museo de Zoología, Universidad de Concepción, Chile (MZUC, n = 121); Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK, n = 46); and Centro de Investigaciones Zoológicas, Universidad de Chile (CIZ, n = 32). Specimens were preserved in 70% ethanol (or 70% industrial methylated spirits for BMNH amphibians) and had been collected in central and south Chile between 1835 and 1989 (Table 1) for purposes other than disease investigation. PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image ( ) TIFF original image ( ) Download: Table 1. Archived Darwin’s frogs (Rhinoderma spp.) and sympatric amphibians from European and Chilean museums examined for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) infection. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0079862.t001 Living anurans Cross-sectional studies were carried out at sites where R. darwinii was extant and at sites where Rhinoderma spp. had recently (since 1966) become extinct. Sites were delimited and a search effort of one hour by two researchers was conducted during daylight hours using a standardised methodology, as previously described [8]. Sampling Archived anurans. The skin of the ventral pelvis and ventral hind limbs of each amphibian museum specimen was sampled by brushing with a tapered inter-dental brush (3.2 to 6.0 mm; Oral B Laboratories), following Soto-Azat et al. [27]. Where multiple specimens were held in a single jar, they were rinsed with running tap water prior to sampling to remove possible surface contamination with Bd. Each specimen was handled using a new pair of disposable nitrile or latex gloves. Live anurans. Only post-metamorphic and adult anurans were sampled. Frogs were captured by hand, safely contained in individual sealed plastic bags and put back immediately after the capture session in the exact place of capture. Each individual was handled with the use of clean disposable nitrile gloves. A sterile dry, rayon-tipped swab (MW100, Medical & Wire Equipment Co.) was firmly run five times each over the ventral abdomen and pelvis, each ventral hind limb (femur and tibia) and the plantar surface of each hind foot, to complete a total of 35 strokes. Dorsal and ventral pattern photographs were taken of each Darwin’s frog sampled for identification purposes. In order to minimize any Bd contamination of samples or the spread of pathogens within or between study sites by researchers, equipment or materials, a strict field sampling and disinfection protocol was followed according to that recommended by the Amphibian and Reptile Groups, UK: ARG Advice Note 4 (http://www.arguk.org/advice-and-guidance/view-category). All samples were stored at −80 °C until processed. Diagnostic analysis Post sampling, whole interdental brushes and swab tips were deposited separately in 1.5 ml Eppendorf tubes containing 50 and 60 µl, respectively, of PrepMan Ultra (Applied Biosystems) and between 30 to 40 mg of Zirconium/silica beads of 0.5 mm diameter (Biospec Products). For each sample, DNA was extracted following the protocol of Boyle et al. [28]. Extracted DNA was diluted (1:10) in double-distilled water and analysed using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction Taqman assay (qPCR) with primers specific for the ITS-1/5.8S ribosomal DNA region of Bd. In addition, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was included in the Taqman mastermix to minimise inhibition of the PCR [29]. For each sample, diagnostic assays were performed in duplicate, and standards of known zoospore concentration were included within each PCR plate, as were negative controls. A result was considered positive when: (1) amplification (i.e. a clearly sigmoid curve) occurred in both replicated PCR assays, (2) values higher than 0.1 genomic equivalents (GE) were obtained from both replicated reactions, and (3) average GE from both replicates were higher than its standard deviation. Extracted DNA from any positive sample was re-tested in duplicate and only determined to be positive for the purposes of this study if Bd DNA was clearly amplified in duplicate wells for a second time. Data analysis Areas with historical and current presence of Rhinoderma spp. > 2 km from each other were determined to be separate sites or populations [30]. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (v. 20.0) to detect any significant difference between: 1) Bd prevalence and time in archived R. darwinii (using Fisher’s exact test for small sample sizes), 2) Bd prevalence in extant R. darwinii and sympatric amphibians (using the chi-squared test), 3) Bd intensity in extant R. darwinii and all other amphibian species tested (using the Mann-Whitney U-test), and 4) Bd prevalence at sites with and without evidence of recent Rhinoderma spp. population decline in extant R. darwinii (using the chi-squared test). Data on Rhinoderma spp. abundance is scarce. To consider a population having evidence of recent decline, we used data from a previous study [8], which investigated population sizes and the extent of declines in Darwin’s frogs. Briefly, populations categorised as having declined comprised those known to have disappeared since 1966, or (in one case) known to have undergone a recent marked population decline. A relationship between Bd prevalence at sites with historical and current Rhinoderma spp. populations and latitude was also tested using a simple linear regression model.
Discussion Museum amphibian specimens have been increasingly recognised as a valuable source of information for retrospective epidemiological studies [31], [32], [33], [34], [35]. Using such specimens, we demonstrated historical evidence of Bd infection in three species of native frogs from south Chile (R. darwinii, R. rufum and P. thaul). Although we examined similar numbers of frogs that had been collected prior to 1970 and post-1970, all six Bd-positive archived amphibians were collected from 1970 to 1978 inclusive: a time coincident with the onset of the global amphibian population decline phenomenon, including the disappearance of R. rufum, and the occurrence of the first amphibian global extinctions subsequently associated with Bd [16], [35], [36]. The only R. rufum Bd-positive animal was an individual kept in a jar with 179 other R. rufum specimens, all of which had been collected from Chiguayante (Biobío Region, near Concepción) during a two-day collection session in December 1975. As the fixation history of the examined archived amphibians is not known, the overall infection prevalence (0.9%) and intensity of infection (GE values 0.1−0.6) obtained are likely an underestimation of the true situation. For example, although all of the archived specimens examined were preserved in alcohol, it is highly possible that many had been initially fixed in formalin, a chemical known to degrade DNA, reducing the likelihood of Bd detection [27]. Also, the fixative, IMS, can inhibit PCR. A previous study, however, was successful in detecting Bd DNA from the skin of amphibian specimens fixed in IMS [35] and in the current study we incorporated BSA to the PCR protocol to minimize the effect of any PCR inhibiters present [29]. Our field surveys failed to detect R. rufum, but infection with Bd was found in extant R. darwinii, but at a lower prevalence (1.9%) than in the other sympatric amphibian species tested (prevalence 7.3%), possibly as a consequence of different habitat use by the studied species (e.g. dependence of water for breeding). If highly susceptible to chytridiomycosis, however, it is possible that R. darwinii die soon after infection. This also would result in a low infection prevalence and might explain the disappearance of Rhinoderma spp. from many of the sites where Bd was found, especially if other amphibians act as reservoirs of infection, as might be predicted from their higher Bd prevalences [17], [37]. Amphibian chytridiomycosis is thought to have caused 100% mortality of 30 wild-caught R. darwinii exported to Germany in 2007 [23], [25]. According to these authors [25], travel stress and lack of isolation between individuals during transportation might have contributed to this high mortality rate. In the current study, two of seven Bd-positive wild R. darwinii had infection loads > 1,000 GE; including an individual found dead with chytridiomycosis. Disease and mortality caused by chytridiomycosis have been associated with infections higher than 1,000 GE in experimentally-infected green tree frogs (Litoria caerulea) [38], [39]. Experimental Bd infection trials in R. darwinii, similar to those performed with the Critically Endangered New Zealand Archey’s frog (Leiopelma archeyi) [40], [41] and with the Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki) [42], should be considered to further investigate the susceptibility of R. darwinii to chytridiomycosis. As the outcomes of Bd infection often are highly context-specific, experimental infection studies using R. darwinii under different hydric environments could help to infer the likely effects of Bd infection on R. darwinii under different climate and land-use change scenarios [43], [44], [45]. In a declining species like R. darwinii, however, promoting the survival of the species has to take priority: the use of animals in experiments should be internationally justifiable and only surplus captive-bred animals not suitable for conservation programmes should be used. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is a waterborne pathogen and stream-living has been identified as a risk factor for Bd-associated declines [46]. Rhinoderma darwinii has evolved to develop an extreme case of parental care in which the species does not depend on water bodies for tadpole development [47]. In contrast, while R. rufum tadpoles spend their first two weeks of development in the vocal sacs of their male parents, they are then released into water as larvae where they live for the next approximately 120 days until metamorphosis takes place [48]. This association of R. rufum with streams in central Chile could render this species even more susceptible to population declines and extinction due to chytridiomycosis. Although found in only a single archived specimen, evidence of Bd infection was found in possibly the largest known R. rufum population [8] five years before the species was last recorded [5]. This, along with a positive association between Bd prevalence and Rhinoderma spp. population extinction/decline, suggests a possible association between chytridiomycosis and the disappearance of R. rufum. We detected an inverse relationship between Bd prevalence and latitude, similar to that found by Kriger et al. [49] in the stony creek frog (Litoria lesueuri) in eastern Australia. Whether this is a reflection of the historical introduction and spread of Bd in Chile, with the organism not yet having reached the south of the country, or if it is due to environmental factors (e.g. temperature) is not yet clear. Longitudinal sampling of sites across the gradient would help to answer this question. That such a gradient exists, however, indicates that northern populations of R. darwinii are likely to be under a greater threat from chytridiomycosis than those in the south. It also suggests that the instigation of biosecurity measures might decrease the rate of spread of the disease to the southern populations of R. darwinii (assuming that Bd has not already reached this region and is less readily detected due to the low temperatures there limiting its growth). It is not known if the Bd detected in the archived or extant specimens in the current study is the hypervirulent BdGPL, a BdGPL-hybrid, or perhaps an endemic lineage (or lineages) of the fungus. If BdGPL is present in Chile, its spread to the country might have occurred via the introduction of X. laevis [32]. Feral populations of this invasive species, which have been established in central Chile since the 1970s, are known to be Bd-positive, although other mechanisms of pathogen introduction cannot be excluded [24].
Conclusions This is the first report of widespread Bd presence in Chile and our results provide evidence of an association between the presence of Bd and mortality in wild R. darwinii. Although, assessing the role of pathogens in extinctions remains problematic and infectious diseases are probably an underestimated cause of biodiversity loss [16], retrospective and prospective epidemiological data provide evidence that Bd infection is probably implicated in the enigmatic disappearance of R. rufum and the declines of R. darwinii, particularly from the northern part of their historical range. Nevertheless, further studies, such as the isolation and DNA sequencing of Bd in Chile, are required to further investigate the possible role of Bd in Rhinoderma spp. declines.
Acknowledgments We thank J. Reardon, H. Meredith, S. Wren, R. Monsalve, A. Toro, C. Espinoza, R. Sánchez, G. Harding and E. Flores for their important fieldwork support. We also thank S. Sarmiento for laboratory assistance. We are very grateful to Parque Tantauco, Fundación Huilo Huilo, Parque Oncol and Parque Pumalín. This study was carried out as part fulfilment of the Conservation Medicine Ph. D. degree (by CSA) at the Faculty of Ecology and Natural Resources, Universidad Andres Bello, Chile. | – Charles Darwin discovered them in 1834, during a stop in Chile by way of the HMS Beagle, a species unique in that "the males care for their young by incubating them in their vocal sacs for at least part of their development." Now, one of the two species found by and named after him can only be referred to in the past tense. Researchers believe the northern Darwin's frog (Rhinoderma rufum), last seen in the wild in 1980, has been wiped from the planet in part by the skin-infecting fungal disease chytridiomycosis; the population of the southern Rhinoderma darwinii has plunged precipitously, reports Reuters. The findings, published last week in PLOS ONE, were the work of Chile's Universidad Andres Bello and Zoological Society of London. Noted a professor with the latter: "Only a few examples of the 'extinction by infection' phenomenon exist." Meanwhile, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature today announced that two species have inched closer to extinction: the giraffe-like Okapi and the White-winged Flufftail. The Okapi, found only in the Democratic Republic of Congo's rainforests, is being battered by poaching, rebel occupation, and illegal mining; IUCN notes the animal has special importance for the country, though, and appears on Congolese franc banknotes. The bird, found in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, has suffered a loss of its wetland habitat. But one glimmer of good news, per the AFP: Two kinds of albatross, the Leatherback Turtle, and the Island Fox are starting to bounce back. |
Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE The CDC is now advising pregnant women to avoid parts of Miami Beach, and all of Miami-Dade County, because of Zika concerns. Wochit
Municipal workers clean the streets in Miami Beach to control the spread of mosquitoes. Local authorities are taking steps to prevent an outbreak of Zika in the city while they are waiting to confirm Miami Beach as the new zone of the virus transmission. (Photo: CRISTOBAL HERRERA, EPA)
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Pregnant women should now avoid a popular section of this tourist district where Zika is spreading, in addition to a smaller area north of downtown Miami, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday.
Pregnant women and their sexual partners who are concerned about the virus could also consider avoiding "nonessential travel" to all of Miami-Dade County, according to the CDC. Although Zika mostly spreads through mosquito bites, both men and women can transmit the virus sexually.
Florida health officials, who have been grappling with a Zika outbreak in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, confirmed Friday that five people also have been infected in South Beach, the vibrant community that's located across Biscayne Bay from the rest of Miami and known for its pastel-colored buildings and art deco architecture.
The new cases bring the total number of infections spread by local mosquitoes to 36, Gov. Rick Scott said. The five latest patients were infected within a 1.5 square mile area of Miami Beach, said Scott, whose state is the first to experience a Zika outbreak from native mosquitoes. The bulk of the USA's more than 2,200 cases of the virus are related to travel.
The affected area of Miami Beach stretches from the beach to the Intracoastal Waterway, from 8th Street to 28th Street, Scott said.
People who live in or who have traveled to this area since July 14 should be "aware of active Zika virus transmission," the CDC said. Pregnant women who have been to this area since that date should see their doctor or other healthcare provider about getting tested for Zika. Men and women with a pregnant sex partner who have visited the area since July 14 "should consistently and correctly use condoms to prevent infection during sex or avoid having sex for the duration of the pregnancy."
The CDC recommends all pregnant women be assessed for possible exposure to Zika virus, although not all of them need to be tested. Testing for Zika is time-consuming and the number of lab staff available to perform the tests is limited.
Mosquitoes could be spreading the virus in other areas in Miami-Dade County that haven't yet been recognized, said CDC Director Thomas Frieden. "There are undoubtedly more infections that we’re not aware of right now," he said.
Frieden notes that 80% of Zika patients have no symptoms, making the disease difficult to diagnose. Patients can incubate the virus for up to two weeks before showing signs of the disease, which can include fever, rash, joint pain, pink eye, headache and other problems.
The CDC took the unprecedented step earlier this month to warn pregnant women to avoid the Wynwood neighborhood that's located north of downtown. The area of concern in Wynwood has since shrunk as officials investigated the outbreak.
Pregnant women are at greater risk than others from Zika because the virus can cause devastating birth defects in fetuses, including serious brain damage. "I ask every Floridian to take proper precautions," Scott said.
"We all have to do our part to wear bug spray and dump standing water," where mosquitoes can breed, he added. "If you see standing water, no mater how small, dump it."
The new Miami Beach cases include two people from Miami Beach, one from New York, one from Texas and one from Taiwan.
Florida "will do everything we can to help pregnant women all across our state. We have a safe state and we are going to keep it that way," Scott said.
Scott, who has requested additional help from the CDC to deal with the outbreak, said officials are taking aggressive mosquito-control measures.
The large number of high-rise buildings in Miami Beach makes it difficult to kill mosquitoes by spraying from the air, Frieden said. That's because the airplanes that spray pesticide tend to fly at altitudes of only about 100 feet. Mosquito-control workers will likely have to spray pesticides by hand, using "backpack" pesticide containers. The pesticides used in Wynwood appear to kill about 90% of mosquitoes hit with the spray.
A member of the National Health Foundation fumigates against the Aedes aegypti mosquito in Brazil. (Photo: EVARISTO SA, AFP/Getty Images)
"We're just impressed by the resilience of this mosquito," Frieden said. "It's a tough mosquito to spray."
Scott has asked the CDC for an additional 5,000 Zika antibody test kits "to ensure we can quickly test people for the virus and additional lab support personnel to help us expedite Zika testing," he said. He has also asked the Obama administration for an additional 10,000 Zika prevention kits. Scott said he's waiting for a "detailed plan" on how to work with FEMA.
At least 529 pregnant women in the continental U.S. and Hawaii have been infected with Zika, according to the CDC. Seventeen American women have given birth to babies with Zika-related birth defects and six have lost pregnancies due to the disease, according to the CDC.
More than 13,000 people have been diagnosed with Zika in Puerto Rico, including at least 1,106 pregnant women, according to the Puerto Rico health department. About 100 Puerto Ricans with Zika have been hospitalized and two have died.
Szabo reported from McLean, Va., for USA TODAY. Freeman reports for the Naples (Fla.) Daily News.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2bHUTD2 ||||| New Zika Outbreak Hits Popular Tourist Destination Of Miami Beach
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alan Diaz/AP Alan Diaz/AP
Mosquitoes have begun spreading the Zika virus in a second part of Miami — the popular tourist destination of Miami Beach — Florida officials announced Friday.
As a result, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its advice to travelers, advising pregnant women to avoid the parts of Miami Beach where the virus is spreading. In addition, women and men who have traveled to the area should wait at least eight weeks to try to get pregnant even if they didn't catch Zika during their visit.
The agency also went a step further, advising pregnant women and their sexual partners "who are concerned about potential Zika virus exposure" that they "may also consider postponing nonessential travel to all parts of Miami-Dade county."
That decision to issue a warning about the entire city was prompted by the agency's concern that there may be other outbreaks in other parts of Miami-Dade that haven't been identified yet, CDC Director Thomas Frieden told reporters during a briefing.
"What we are doing is stepping back and saying, 'There have now been multiple instances of local transmission,' " Frieden said. "We will always err on providing more information to the public."
Five Zika cases have been linked to the new outbreak in Miami Beach, involving three men and two women from Miami, New York, Texas and Taiwan, officials said. That brings the total number of Zika cases that have been spread by mosquitoes in Florida to 36.
"We believe we have a new area where local transmissions are occurring in Miami Beach," Gov. Rick Scott told reporters at a news conference.
Officials believe the virus is only spreading in a 1 1/2 mile part of Miami Beach, but that area includes the much-visited South Beach area, Scott said.
The tourism industry in Florida is particularly concerned with the spread of Zika and the impact it may have on businesses. On Thursday, Scott announced measures designed to limit Zika, including offering mosquito spraying free of charge to businesses in Miami-Dade County.
"Tourism is a driving force of Florida's economy and this industry has the full support of our state in the fight against the Zika virus," Scott said in a statement.
The new outbreak comes as officials believe they are bringing the first outbreak in the trendy Wynwood neighborhood under control. Officials announced Friday they had cleared three new blocks of Wynwood because there is "no continued evidence of transmission" there. Fourteen blocks had been cleared earlier.
But Frieden noted that officials expect it will be harder to contain the outbreak in Miami beach for several reasons. The area's high-rise buildings mean the aerial spraying that has been working in Wynwood won't work in Miami Beach. In addition, it will be more difficult to convince people to wear long sleeves and pants in a part of the city where people go to spend time on the beach, he said.
The Wynwood outbreak prompted the CDC to take the unprecedented step of advising pregnant women to stay away from the area. It was the first time the CDC had ever advised people to avoid any part of the continental United States because of an infectious disease.
In response to the Miami Beach outbreak, Scott said he had requested an additional 5,000 Zika tests, additional lab personnel to expedite testing and 10,000 more Zika prevention kits for pregnant women.
Separately, Puerto Rico is reporting a surge in Zika cases. The island's health department said Friday that 2,496 more cases had been confirmed in Puerto Rico over the last week. That marks the highest weekly tally since the virus was first detected on the island in December. The health department also announced the first death in Puerto Rico from Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to Zika.
The latest cases bring the total number of laboratory confirmed Zika cases in Puerto Rico to 13,186. Of those, 1,106 are pregnant women.
Jason Beaubien contributed to this report. ||||| Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) said on August 19 that officials have identified a new area of Zika virus transmission through local mosquitoes in a small area in Miami Beach, the second area in Miami-Dade County where the Zika virus is spreading. (Reuters)
Florida Gov. Rick Scott confirmed Friday that the Zika virus is being spread locally by mosquitoes in Miami Beach, a development that marks an expansion of the outbreak in South Florida and immediately prompted a new travel advisory by federal officials.
"We believe we have a new area where local transmissions are occurring in Miami Beach,” Scott said at a noon press conference.
This area covers about 1.5 square miles between 8th and 28th streets and between the beach and Intracoastal Waterway -- a stretch that encompasses the vibrant, densely packed South Beach tourist district. It also encompasses the Miami Beach Convention Center, which is set to host the Asia America Trade Show for vendors around the world starting Sunday.
Health officials said at least five people have been infected with Zika in this area, including two who live in Miami Beach. One person from Texas, one from New York and another from Taiwan have returned home after being infected while in Miami Beach.
“This situation is very unfortunate. It’s not something we’d wish upon any community,” Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine said.
[Zika can infect adult brain cells, not just fetal cells, study suggests]
The news marks a second front in Miami's fight against local transmission of the virus. Previously, officials had pinpointed local infections in a one-square-mile area north of downtown Miami known as Wynwood. That prompted federal health authorities to urge pregnant women not to visit the area, the first time they ever had warned against travel to a part of the continental United States because of the outbreak of an infectious disease.
Source: Florida Gov. Rick Scott. THE WASHINGTON POST
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quickly issued a second travel advisory Friday afternoon, saying pregnant women should also avoid the designated area of Miami Beach. The agency said that pregnant women who live in the area or have to travel there should take extra precautions to guard against mosquito bites, including wearing repellent. It gave the same direction for these women's sexual partners.
In a call with reporters Friday, CDC director Tom Frieden said Miami Beach presents a difficult situation for health officials trying to halt the Zika outbreak. The area has a constant stream of visitors, many of them international, who could carry the virus elsewhere should they get infected.
[Zika and the race to quell outbreaks: My talk with Anthony Fauci, NIH’s top vaccine expert]
In addition, the low-flying planes that have been spraying specialized insecticide over Wynwood cannot do so over Miami Beach because of the high-rise buildings that front the Atlantic Ocean and often windy conditions. And the city's South Beach is a beach, after all, notorious for skimpy bikinis and a general lack of clothing at all hours.
"The amount of exposed skin also makes it harder to prevent infections there," Frieden said. "We think this will be a challenging area."
Scott said Miami-Dade County already had begun an intensified mosquito control campaign in Miami Beach. He sought to reassure state residents -- and especially the tourism industry -- that his administration was doing everything possible to combat more spread of the virus. He said the state would be requesting more resources from the CDC, including additional Zika testing kits.
"Tourism is a driving force of our economy, and this industry has the full support of our state in the fight against the Zika virus," Scott said. "We want to do all we can to ensure Florida remains safe for businesses and our families."
The mayor reiterated similar points late in the afternoon, stressing local officials’ stepped-up mosquito control efforts. “The last thing I’d want to be in Miami Beach right now is a mosquito,” Levine said.
And William Talbert III, president of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, voiced confidence that officials would be able to control the outbreak, that tourists would continue to come given the relatively modest risks to everyone but pregnant women and that the area’s economy would not suffer a serious blow.
The tourism industry employs more people than any other locally. "We've had a record summer," Talbert said.
But while Frieden praised the work of Florida officials and said intense spraying and other efforts had killed many mosquitoes in the Wynwood neighborhood, he noted that the Aedes aegypti mosquito primarily responsible for spreading Zika is resilient.
"It's a tough mosquito to kill," he said. "This is truly the cockroach of mosquitoes."
On Thursday, Scott's office adamantly disputed reports that mosquitoes were transmitting Zika in Miami Beach, despite multiple health officials telling reporters that indeed was the case. In his press conference Friday, the governor faced questions about whether he had tried to obscure evidence of an expanding outbreak, in part to protect the state's massive tourism industry.
He said that state health investigators had only finished their inquiry into the new cases Friday morning and that he had rushed to Miami to deliver the news and meet with local leaders.
"We’re going to provide timely accurate information for public health," Scott said. "I want everybody in this state to stay safe. I want our visitors to stay safe."
The virus, which has now spread to 70 countries, has been linked to a rare and severe birth defect known as microcephaly, which in newborns is characterized by an abnormally small head and often underdeveloped brain, as well as an array of other fetal abnormalities. In rare cases, Zika also has been linked in adults to Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that can cause paralysis and even death.
Nationally, there are more than 2,200 confirmed Zika cases in the states and more than 8,000 in U.S. territories, the vast majority of those in Puerto Rico. The CDC is tracking 529 pregnant women with the virus nationwide and nearly 700 in those territories.
The Obama administration has sought nearly $2 billion in emergency appropriations to help fight the spread of Zika, but Congress has been deadlocked for months and left for its summer recess without approving any funding. The administration recently announced plans to reallocate $81 million from other programs at the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere. Still, officials said, the money being used to combat Zika "will be virtually exhausted by the end of the fiscal year” on Sept. 30.
Friday afternoon, the Florida Department of Health reported a total 488 travel-related cases of Zika and 36 locally acquired cases. Sixty-eight cases involve pregnant women. In Miami-Dade, the agency has identified at least four cases of apparently mosquito-borne Zika that occurred outside of the two areas identified for active transmissions.
Celeste Philip, Florida's surgeon general, said Friday that officials have not yet determined where those isolated cases contracted Zika.
"It’s like solving a mystery, it takes time for us to look at all that information and makes connections," Philip said. She added, "I want to assure everyone that if we identify local areas of transmission, we will alert the public and the media immediately."
The clusters of outbreaks around Miami are not a surprise to many health experts, who anticipated that the Zika virus would be tricky to contain after it began spreading locally in the United States. While the Aedes aegypti travels no more than about 500 feet in its lifettime, people have the capacity to quickly carry the virus to the far ends of the globe.
"There are undoubtedly more infections that we are not aware of right now," Frieden said, noting that roughly 80 percent of people infected by Zika never experience symptoms such as fever, rash or joint pain. "We can't predict how long this will continue, but we do know that it will be difficult to control."
The Post's Brady Dennis talks with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about the process of getting a potential Zika vaccine tested and ready for the public. (Video: The Washington Post/Photo: Sammy Dallal for The Washington Post)
Read more:
Zika can infect adult brain cells, not just fetal cells, study suggests
NIH to begin testing Zika vaccine in humans
Obama administration to shift $81 million to fight Zika | – Mosquitoes are spreading Zika in a whole new area of Miami, the CDC announced Friday. USA Today reports five new cases of mosquito-spread Zika have popped up in a 1.5-square-mile area of Miami Beach, including popular tourist area South Beach. In fact, three of the five patients were visiting Miami Beach when they contracted Zika, according to the Washington Post. There have now been 36 cases of mosquito-spread Zika in Miami. Mosquitoes had already been confirmed to be spreading the virus in the Wynwood neighborhood, which is several miles and a bay away from Miami Beach. Officials believe they have the situation under control in Wynwood, NPR reports. But it will be more difficult to contain the Zika outbreak in Miami Beach due to its high-rise buildings and aversion to long pants and sleeves. Officials are warning pregnant women who've visited Miami Beach since July 14 to consider being tested for Zika. Couples who've traveled to the area should wait at least eight weeks before trying to get pregnant. Officials believe it's likely mosquitoes are spreading Zika elsewhere in Miami, and the CDC is warning pregnant women to "consider postponing nonessential travel to all parts of Miami-Dade County." |
Image caption Sinead Connett shielded her face as she arrived at court for sentencing
A woman who hid the body of her newborn son in a drain has been jailed.
Sinead Connett, 29, of Constables Way, Hertford, had pleaded guilty to concealing the boy's birth in August 2013 and secretly disposing of his body.
The infant was found by a plumber working at a property on Scartho Road, Grimsby, in February 2016.
Jailing Connett for 12 months at Grimsby Crown Court, the judge described her conduct as "deplorable".
Judge Jeremy Richardson QC added: "There is no escaping the fact that your dead son laid buried in a drain at your parents' home for three years.
"You gave that infant no dignity in death whatsoever."
More on this and other stories from northern Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire
The court heard Connett had gone into labour on a flight back from a holiday on around the 6/7 August 2013.
She claimed the baby was stillborn and said she panicked and drove to her parents' house where she hid the body.
A post-mortem examination revealed the baby had been carried to the third trimester and the head was fractured, but the cause of death could not be ascertained.
Image caption The body of the baby was found by a plumber in a drain at a house in Grimsby
When the body was found Connett told police she had become pregnant after being raped on a night out, but DNA evidence showed the baby's father was her then partner and present husband Jonathan Layfield.
The court also heard she had been in London with her mother on the night she claimed to have been raped.
Judge Richardson added: "What we needed was the truth. What you provided was a catalogue of lies.
"You lied repeatedly and made a very serious but bogus allegation of rape."
He said Connett's conduct almost defied description and was "callous and calculated".
"You are the architect of this deplorable situation," the judge told her.
"You must be punished. You must go to prison immediately." ||||| Get Daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
They were a young couple with everything ahead of them. Sinead Connett and Jonathan Layfield were young, had promising careers and loving families to support them.
But the smiles on their wedding day masked an awful truth. Both held dark secrets involving lies, deception, lust and the tragic, still unexplained death of an unwanted baby.
Sinead was yesterday jailed for a year for hiding her unwanted, newborn son's body in a drain at her parents home in Scartho Road in Grimsby.
A judge said the career-driven HR executive was a 'callous, lying and calculating' woman who had robbed her newborn son of his dignity when he died at childbirth. She had wrapped him in bin liners and put him in the drain after keeping his body in the boot of her car for at least two days.
The Grimsby Telegraph can also reveal at the same time Connett was hiding her pregnancy from everyone she knew, including her partner, he was in a “sexualised” relationship a 16-year-old pupil at the school where he taught.
Within months both of their awful secrets would be exposed.
Layfield’s relationship was uncovered, ending his teaching career, while Connett’s gruesome attempt to hide their dead baby was finally revealed.
For Connett her attempt to cover up the truth would lead to court. A story that the baby was the result of being raped by a taxi driver on a work night out was a lie.
(Image: Twitter)
And her boyfriend would be forced to quit his job before being banned from teaching and branded a “risk to students” by the authorities.
The shocking result of their combined actions was a world away from their lives just a few years earlier.
Connett, the bright young daughter of two teachers, Stuart and Anne, had moved to the University of Leeds from Grimsby in 2008. There she met Layfield, the smiling, cheerful Grammar school educated student from the Dorset seaside town of Poole.
When they graduated they set up home together to Bedfordshire where Connett started work in Human Resources with Tesco in St Albans while Layfield was appointed as a history teacher at Vandyke Upper School in nearby Leighton Buzzard.
But the promising start to their new life together soon started to unravel.
In July 2012 Layfield started sending “inappropriate” emails to a 16-year-old student. The emails would soon become sexual with Layfield fantasising about how he would have sex with the girl.
Just a few months later in October 2013, Connett fell pregnant with Layfield’s baby. It was a baby she never wanted. She and Layfield had discussed having children but had no plans to start a family.
Colleagues has described Connett as ambitious in her job and her own mother would say her daughter was “career minded” with little interest in starting a family.
Connett kept the pregnancy secret from her partner, parents, friends and colleagues. In May, on a trip home, she visited an abortion clinic in the Grimsby area but was told she had passed 28-weeks, so she could not receive the procedure.
For the next four months, Connett continued to conceal the pregnancy.
The only time her partner Layfield, still embroiled in his own illicit relationship with a schoolgirl, noticed any change in her condition was when the two travelled to Turkey in the week before she would give birth. He noticed Connett had been ill during the trip and “bloated”.
Connett made no plans for the baby, seeking no medical help and buying just one baby grow ahead of the birth she knew was coming.
On August 6 or 7 2013 when Layfield was at work, Connett gave birth to their baby son in the bath of their modern flat in St Albans. She would later tell police the baby was not breathing and she tried to resuscitate him, remaining in the bath for an hour.
Only Connett knows what happened in those minutes and hours after the baby was born.
Two or three days later, Connett, with the baby’s body in the boot of the car – wrapped only in a towel – drove two and a half hours north to her parents’ home in Grimsby. She knew her parents were on holiday when she made the trip.
Arriving at the home in Scartho Road, she removed the baby from her car, and carried it to an area concealed from the garden path by a small wall and trees. Wrapping the baby in three bin liners and trying them up, she then lifted the heavy iron cover and carefully lowered her son into the drain.
She then drove home to St Albans.
Back at home, Connett and Layfield appear to have continued life as normal. But whether Connett knew of his own deceit, it would soon become known in humiliating detail just a few short months later.
Layfield’s obsession with the young school student was exposed in March 2014 when her parents discovered the truth. Confronted by the school, Layfield admitted the relationship. He was immediately suspended, quit in May and, at a Professional Conduct Panel in November, was disqualified from teaching.
In its ruling, the panel said Layfield had engaged in a “sexualised” and “inappropriate relationship” with the girl and said he continued to “pose a risk to female students”. Layfield can only reapply to be a teacher in November 2019 but remains barred from teaching “indefinitely”.
Following his departure in disgrace from his first job in teaching, Connett and Layfield moved to a new home in Hertford.
Around the same time, Connett’s parents back in Grimsby started to become aware of problems with drainage from their downstairs toilet.
In February 2016 they called in a local plumber who, believing the problem was branches encroaching into an outside drain, used metal rods and then a shovel to try to clear the blockage from an outside drain.
Eventually, the plumber and Mr Connett recovered what appeared to be a bag from the drain. Wearing gloves, Mr Connett pulled back a black bin liner to reveal the top of a baby’s head. Unknown to him, the body was his grandson.
Police and crime scene investigators were called in and within a few weeks DNA tests revealed Sinead Connett was the mother and Layfield the father.
Connett, who despite the discovery, had not admitted any responsibility, would eventually admit to police the baby was hers, but insist it was as the result of a rape by a taxi driver she had taken a lift from on a night out.
She hid the pregnancy she claimed because the baby would have led to the end of her relationship with Layfield.
Her lies were exposed by police instigations which found she had not been on a night out on the day she claimed. Connett eventually admitted she had concealed her pregnancy and hidden the body.
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She has always maintained she was not responsible for the baby’s death. Pathologists were unable to establish whether the baby was born alive and whether injuries found on the infant’s body were not inflicted accidentally during it’s retrieval from the drain.
Tellingly, in interviews with police, there are references to Connett repeatedly saying she was worried about the “reputational damage” the case could cause to her.
“The officer in the case” said the case prosecutor, Jeremey Evans, “remarked at her lack of remorse and concern for her baby son”.
In the middle of the police investigation in November 2016, as the horrific truth began to emerge, Connett and Layfield were married.
Wedding pictures show the couple full of smiles and joy, families and friends with them to share their seemingly happy day.
As they toasted the life they would lead together, she taking her new husband’s surname, their baby son lay in a morgue, still unclaimed, nine months after it had been found. ||||| Judge Richardson said: "I have made the decision that you will go to prison immediately. You deceived everyone in a latticed web of lies.
"You are the architect of this tragedy. As a consequence of your truly deplorable conduct you have brought misery and shame on you and your family."
The child's body is thought to have been placed in the drain at the property in Grimsby, Lincs., on August 9, 2013, but wasn't found until almost three years later on February 11, 2016.
When initially questioned by police, Connett denied the baby was hers, but blood stains on the towel matched a voluntary DNA sample she gave to the police.
Connett then admitted the baby was hers but told officers he was the result of a rape by a taxi driver after a work night out in Hertfordshire in October 2012.
However, that lie was exposed when a series of texts to her colleagues and mother revealed she had not gone to the work night out but had instead met up with her mother in London.
She also told police she was unaware of the pregnancy until it was too late to terminate it, but police found medical records showing she had visited her GP in January 2013, who recorded she was pregnant.
Connett, recently of Hertford, Herts., eventually told officers in her final interview she gave birth to a stillborn baby boy on August 9, 2013 in the bathroom of her flat in Margate, Kent., without any medical help.
She later dumped the baby's body in the drainage pit at the back of her parent's home.
Connett's father phoned for a plumber three years later after the couple began having problems with their downstairs toilet and the body was found. | – Plumbers called to a UK home that had been having toilet trouble found a terrible reason for the issues: the body of a newborn boy. Sinead Connett, now 29, was recently sentenced to 12 months in prison following the plumber's discovery last year. She told cops she was "shocked" when she found out she was pregnant and scared her partner would ditch her; she confessed to giving birth alone in her apartment bathroom in August 2013, per the Telegraph. (She says the baby was stillborn, but claims she tried to revive him; the BBC reports a cause of death was never determined.) The former HR executive later dumped the baby's body, wrapped in a towel and plastic bags, in a drainage pit behind her parents' home two and a half hours away, knowing they were on a trip at the time. She had left the body in the trunk of her car for at least two days before dumping it, per the Grimsby Telegraph. In February 2016, Connett's father called a plumber about issues he and his wife were having with their downstairs toilet. The plumber believed the problem was a blockage in an outside drain; while attempting to clear it, the two men found the body. Connett was ultimately convicted of concealing the birth of a child. She told cops she didn't realize she was pregnant until it was too late to terminate, but medical records show her pregnancy was recorded in January 2013. She visited an abortion clinic in May but was told it was too late to get an abortion then. The baby was conceived with partner Jonathan Layfield, a teacher who got banned from teaching in 2014 due to an inappropriate relationship with a teen student. Despite all of these issues, the couple wed in November 2016. Connett was charged in May 2017 after her initial stories about the baby's conception were found to be lies. |
U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaks at a rally in Orlando, Florida January 30, 2012.
NEW YORK Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich faces a lawsuit over his use of "Eye of the Tiger," the theme song to the movie "Rocky III," court documents show.
The claim for copyright infringement, lodged on Monday by Rude Music Inc in an Illinois federal court, relates to Gingrich's use of the song at his political rallies.
Rude Music Inc is owned by Frank Sullivan, who co-wrote the Grammy-award winning song. In addition to Gingrich, the complaint names his campaign, Newt 2012 Inc, and the American Conservative Union, an advocacy organization, as defendants.
The complaint states that the violation it alleges is intentional since Gingrich is "sophisticated and knowledgeable" concerning copyright laws. Rude Music Inc has requested the court to order an end to unauthorized use of the song by the defendants, and to award Rude Music Inc damages.
A Gingrich campaign spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
The case is Rude Music Inc v Newt 2012 et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, no. 1:12-cv-00640.
(Reporting by Rebecca Hamilton; Editing by Eric Walsh) ||||| Frankie Sullivan of the group Survivor co-wrote "Eye of the Tiger" with Jim Peterik in 1982. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune) | – Newt Gingrich is going to have to start playing a different song as he battles his rivals, says Survivor guitarist Frankie Sullivan. The rocker is suing Gingrich over his use of "Eye of the Tiger" at campaign rallies, Reuters reports. Sullivan co-wrote the 1982 hit, best known as the theme song to Rocky III. A lawsuit filed by Sullivan's music company seeks damages and an injunction to stop Gingrich from using the song. "This has nothing to do with politics. This is a copyright issue," Sullivan's lawyer tells the Chicago Tribune. "We've tried to deal with them for months, and they've been trying to ignore it." The suit is far from the first copyright kerfuffle on the campaign trail. Tom Petty objected to Michele Bachmann's use of "American Girl" and, in 2008, Boston's founding member was outraged by Mike Huckabee's use of "More Than a Feeling." |
The ex-husband of a British woman who died in Pakistan in an alleged “honour killing” has verbally confessed to her murder, according to police sources.
Samia Shahid, a 28-year-old beautician from Bradford, was killed while visiting her ancestral relatives in northern Punjab last month.
Though Ms Shahid’s relatives in Pakistan claim she died of a heart attack, her second husband says he believes she was murdered in a so-called “honour killing” because the family disapproved of her marriage to him.
Ms Shahid’s ex-husband, Choudhry Shakeel, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Her father, Mohammed, has also been arrested and is accused of being an accomplice.
Both men appeared in shackles and with their faces covered in a court in the northern city of Jhelum on Saturday, where a judge ordered that they be held for four days as charges are gathered against them. ||||| Image copyright Family photo Image caption Samia Shahid was strangled with a scarf, according to her former husband's confession
The former husband of a woman allegedly murdered in Pakistan has confessed to killing her, a police source has told the BBC.
Samia Shahid, 28, a beautician from Bradford, died last month in northern Punjab in what is believed to have been a so-called honour killing.
Ex-husband Chaudhry Muhammad Shakeel was arrested on suspicion of murder.
He has now said he strangled Ms Shahid with a scarf, according to BBC Pakistan correspondent Shaimaa Khalil.
The beautician's father Chaudhry Mohammad Shahid has been held as an accessory to murder.
Image caption Ms Shahid's father (left) and former husband appeared in court at the weekend
Both appeared in court in Pakistan on Saturday and were remanded for four days.
Police had previously denied reports of Mr Shakeel's confession when he and Mr Shahid were arrested and brought to court.
Ms Shahid's relatives had initially claimed she died of a heart attack, but her husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazim, claims she was killed.
A post-mortem examination has since confirmed she died as a result of being strangled, police said.
Mr Kazam, who is Ms Shahid's second husband, believes his wife was killed because her family disapproved of their marriage.
In his confession, Mr Shakeel, who is also Ms Shahid's cousin, reportedly said he had demanded she leave her second husband and remarry him - which she refused to do.
Ms Shahid had filed for divorce and married her second husband in the UK. | – A British woman was murdered in an "honor killing" in Pakistan last month, and her ex-husband has confessed to the crime, police sources tell the Telegraph. Samia Shahid, 28, was visiting her relatives in northern Punjab when, those relatives say, she died of a heart attack. Her second husband suspected an "honor killing" over disapproval of her marriage to him. Now her ex, Choudhry Shakeel, and her father, Mohammed, have been arrested, Shakeel for the alleged murder and Shahid's father for allegedly being an accomplice. The BBC reports that Shakeel allegedly admitted he strangled Shahid with a scarf after she refused to leave her second husband and remarry Shakeel. Authorities are still collecting evidence because "confessional statements have no value in the court" in Pakistan, a police officer explains. |
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Ms Erwiana, now in hospital in Indonesia, said she suffered months of abuse from her employer
Police in Hong Kong have arrested a woman suspected of torturing her Indonesian maid, in a case which has sparked protests.
Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 23, is currently in hospital in Indonesia. She said she suffered months of abuse from the 44-year-old woman in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong employs at least 300,000 domestic workers, mostly from Indonesia and the Philippines.
On Sunday, several thousand rallied in the city to demand justice for her.
Eni Lestari, head of the International Migrants Alliance, said during the protest that they want a speedy investigation into the case.
The arrest in Hong Kong follows a separate complaint by another maid who had been employed by the same woman, reports said.
Hong Kong officials left for Indonesia on Monday to interview Ms Erwiana after launching an investigation into her case last week.
She was reportedly beaten so badly she was in a critical condition and had difficulty walking when she arrived in Indonesia last week.
A spokesman from the hospital on Java Island told Reuters news agency on Sunday that her injuries were extensive, but that her condition had stabilised.
Last year, a couple were jailed for repeated attacks on their Indonesian maid, who said that they beat her repeatedly and burnt her with an iron.
The maid eventually managed to escape and sought refuge at the Indonesian consulate. ||||| Thousands of foreign domestic workers and supporters of the Indonesian maid at the heart of torture allegations rallied yesterday to demand justice for Erwiana Sulistyaningsih and the prosecution of the employer accused of abusing her.
This came as concerned groups identified two other Indonesian workers who claim they were abused by the same woman who is said to have made Erwiana's life a living hell.
One of them, Susi, yesterday gave a statement to police about the year of abuse she claims to have endured from 2010 to 2011.
"There was a time she asked me to commit suicide because I told her I did not want to work there anymore," Susi, 31, alleged to the Post. "I told her she could hit me but she could not ask me to kill myself. I have a son in Indonesia."
The Justice for Erwiana and All Migrant Domestic Workers Committee said 5,000 people marched from Wan Chai's Southorn Playground to police headquarters and on to the government headquarters in Tamar. Police said 2,100 took part at its peak.
Video: Hong Kong maids march for better protection
Speaking after the march, Susi claimed she was paid just HK$5,000 over the year.
She claimed the housewife did not talk to her husband during the year she worked there and suspected the couple's poor relationship might be why she took her anger out on her. Susi said the woman was always at home, while her husband was usually away on business, and added that the couple have a teenaged son and daughter.
Justice committee spokeswoman Sringatin claimed one more Indonesian maid had been abused by the woman during the three months she worked with the family in 2011.
The maid eventually ran away and sought help from her friends and the police. Sringatin said police had still not made any progress in the case.
"The woman once threatened to kill her with a knife in her hands," Sringatin said.
The maid in that case now works in Singapore but is said to be willing to give testimony to Hong Kong police.
Four police officers and two Labour Department officers were due to fly to Indonesia today to meet Erwiana.
The protesters yesterday called on police to step up their investigation. They also urged the government to abolish a rule that requires helpers to live with their employers, which they said made them vulnerable to abuse. ||||| HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police are investigating allegations that a 23-year-old Indonesian maid was tortured by her employers, the latest case to provoke outrage over abuses suffered by the city's army of foreign domestic workers.
A group representing Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong said Thursday that Erwiana Sulistyaningsih came to the city in May and suffered beatings until returning last week to Indonesia, where she's being treated in a hospital.
The family that employed Sulistyaningsih slapped and punched her every day, according to Sringatin, vice-chair of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union. She said the employers let Sulistyaningsih go back to Indonesia when she could no longer work because of her injuries and gave her just 70 Hong Kong dollars ($9).
Sulistyaningsih needed a friend to help her at the airport because she couldn't walk properly, said Sringatin, who like many Indonesians uses one name.
The case came to light after pictures of Sulistyaningsih's injuries began circulating among Hong Kong's Indonesian community. The photos, which Sringatin said are genuine, show scabs and lacerations on Sulistyaningsih's face, hands and legs, and blackened skin around her feet.
Sulistyaningsih's employers were very strict and demanding, permitting her to sleep only four hours a day and insisting that she do the cleaning in a particular order, Sringatin said.
"But if Erwiana cleaned the toilet before cleaning the bedroom, the employer would beat her," Sringatin said. "When the employer called Erwiana and she didn't hear, the employer would also assault her."
Migrant worker groups in Hong Kong held two protests this week, including one on Thursday, to bring attention to the case and highlight what they called "modern day slavery."
In response to an inquiry about the case, police issued a statement saying they were investigating the allegations after receiving a complaint from a maid placement agency about abuse by an employer, without releasing any names.
Hong Kong's Labor Department said it has been in contact with the Indonesian consulate general in the city, the employment agency and domestic helper groups in relation to the case.
Indonesian Consulate spokesman Sam Aryadi said Sulistyaningsih was undergoing physical and psychological examinations in Indonesia, and that she may return to Hong Kong to help with the investigation.
There are about 312,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, with Indonesians accounting for about half and Filipinos making up most of the rest. Most are young women.
Last year, a couple was sent to prison for torturing their Indonesian maid with a hot iron, a paper cutter and a bicycle chain.
A report in November by Amnesty International slammed the Hong Kong and Indonesian governments for allowing conditions that left women working as maids vulnerable to widespread abuse and exploitation, including restrictions on freedom of movement, physical and sexual violence, lack of food and long working hours. ||||| HONG KONG: Hong Kong police on Monday arrested a woman who allegedly severely injured her Indonesian domestic helper, a day after thousands staged a march in protest at her treatment.
A police spokeswoman said a 44-year-old woman was arrested at the city's airport on a charge of wounding, but declined to give further details.
Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 22, was reportedly abused over a period of eight months while employed by the woman.
Media reports said she was unable to walk due to her injuries when she flew home from the southern Chinese city this month.
Police investigators on Monday travelled to Indonesia to interview Sulistyaningsih, who is being treated at a hospital in Sragen on Java island.
Claims that she had been tortured by her employer sparked an outcry by domestic helpers and others and renewed concern about the treatment of maids in Hong Kong.
Several thousand domestic helpers and rights activists staged a protest on Sunday, calling for a speedy investigation of the case and better protection for maids.
Local groups representing domestic helpers have claimed that two other helpers were also abused by the same employer.
One of them complained to police Sunday about her treatment.
Hong Kong employs nearly 300,000 domestic helpers, mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines.
In an earlier case a Hong Kong couple was jailed in September for attacks on their Indonesian domestic helper which included burning her with an iron and beatings with a bicycle chain.
Amnesty International in November condemned the "slavery-like" conditions faced by thousands of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong and accused authorities of "inexcusable" inaction.
It said Indonesians were exploited by recruitment and placement agencies who seize their documents and charge them excessive fees, with false promises of high salaries and good working conditions.
The government stipulates a minimum wage and other conditions for foreign domestic helpers, but unscrupulous employers and agencies sometimes ignore this.
| – Hong Kong police today arrested a woman accused of torturing her Indonesian maid, a day after thousands rallied in protest of the maid's treatment. Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, 23, returned to Indonesia last week, reportedly unable to walk thanks to her injuries. She's now being treated at a hospital there, according to the AP. Images circulating among Hong Kong's Indonesian community show her with scabs and lacerations on her face, hands, and legs, and blackened skin around her feet. Hong Kong police today arrested her employer, a 44-year-old woman, at the city's airport, the AFP reports. Officials also traveled today to Indonesia to interview Sulistyaningsih, the BBC reports. Advocacy groups say that 5,000 people attended a march yesterday demanding justice for Sulistyaningsih, even as the groups identified two more workers allegedly abused by the same woman. "There was a time she asked me to commit suicide because I told her I did not want to work there anymore," one woman tells the South China Morning Post. She says she was paid roughly $645 for a year's work. Another woman said the employer had threatened to kill her while brandishing a knife. |
'Flip or Flop' Stars Split After Explosive Fight
'Flip or Flop' Stars Split After Explosive Fight
EXCLUSIVE
"Flip or Flop" stars Tarek and Christina El Moussa portray the chipper, nearly perfect all-American couple on TV but we've learned they're now separated ...after a scary incident involving guns and a feared suicide attempt.
Their ordeal started, at least publicly, in May when deputies responded to "a call of a possibly suicidal male with a gun" at the couple's Orange County home. According to law enforcement, a massive presence showed up -- 11 deputies and a helicopter.
Witnesses told cops they saw Tarek grab a gun from his safe, run out the back door and flee down a hiking trail. Shortly after, Christina was seen running out of the house crying and shaking.
Within minutes, the helicopter spotted Tarek on a trail and deputies told him to drop his weapon. Tarek complied and told deputies he had no intention of hurting himself. He said he wanted to "blow off some steam," and only brought the gun for mountain lions and rattlesnakes.
Deputies went back to the house and ended up seizing 5 guns, including an AR-15.
Christina and Tarek tell us they decided to separate while they reevaluate their marriage. As far as the incident goes ... they'll only say it was an "unfortunate misunderstanding."
They add ... they're committed to co-parenting, and ... "will continue to work through this process civilly and cooperatively, and plan to continue our professional life together."
||||| HGTV’s Flip or Flop stars Tarek and Christina El Moussa have called it quits after seven years of marriage.
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The couple announced their separation in a statement to PEOPLE, noting an altercation that prompted police to visit their California home.
“Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage,” the pair said in the statement. “We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence and no charges were filed.”
The El Moussas said they sought counseling to “sort out” the relationship but have since decided to separate while evaluating “the future of our marriage.”
RELATED VIDEO: People Editors Share Details About Tarek & Christina El Moussa’s Secret Split
“During the process, we are committed to our kids and being the best parents we can be,” they said in the statement. “We will continue to work through this process civilly and cooperatively, and plan to continue our professional life together.”
Police responded to the couple’s Orange County home in May after receiving a “call of a possibly suicidal male with a gun,” according to TMZ. Tarek allegedly ran from the home with a firearm, only dropping the weapon when a helicopter spotted him and officers commanded him to do so.
He allegedly told officers he did not intend to harm himself, but wanted to “blow off some steam.”
The couple wed in 2009 have two children: Brayden, 1, and a 6-year-old daughter Taylor. | – The show will apparently go on, but the marriage won't: Tarek and Christina El Moussa of HGTV's Flip or Flop have separated after seven years of marriage, reports People. Trouble in the marriage first surfaced in May when police responded to a call about "a possibly suicidal male with a gun" at their Orange County, Calif., home. According to police and witnesses, Tarek took off down a hiking trail with a gun, though he surrendered without issue, telling authorities he only planned to use the gun against mountain lions and rattlesnakes, reports TMZ. In a statement, the couple describes the incident as an "unfortunate misunderstanding" after which they sought counseling, noting "there was no violence and no charges were filed." At the time, authorities seized five guns from the home. The couple says they've now decided to separate while reconsidering their marriage. However, "(we) plan to continue our professional life together," they add. (Flip or Flop once saved Tarek's life.) |
Remember that bra we wrote about last year that lifted more than just our spirits when it won the 2009 Ig Nobel Public Health Prize?
(Credit: Ebbra.com)
Well, creator Dr. Elena Bodnar--whose inspiration comes in part from having witnessed as a young physician the devastating effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986--is introducing the now commercially available Emergency Bra at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Mass., on September 28. She hopes we can all "get a feel of [sic] the product," as she has grown fond of saying.
The bra is, of course, meant to be taken off, something most adults presumably have experience with. Once removed, it separates into two masks which, when placed over the nose and mouth, filter out particles that were found to be as harmful as radiation in Chernobyl.
There is also some noise of a "counterpart device for men" in the works, though the precise shape it will take has yet to be revealed. The emergency bra may work well for women, but attaining the second of the two resulting masks does require men who are not cross-dressing to beg and plead in the event of a disaster.
As Bodnar explained in her alluring Ukrainian accent when accepting the award:
Ladies and gentlemen, isn't that wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can save not only our own life, but also the life of a man of our choice next to us.
Now, a year later, what was once a bizarre and intriguing idea has turned into an actual bra that can be purchased online for $29.99. Ladies, it's a sexy red and comes in a wide range of sizes, from 32B to 40C. Gentlemen, Bodnar assures us that in the event of an emergency, the size of the cup does not matter. ||||| Caught in a disaster? You'd better hope you're wearing the Emergency Bra. Simply unsnap the bright red bra, separate the cups, and slip it over your head -- one cup for you, and one for your friend.
Dr. Elena Bodnar won an Ignoble Award for the invention last year, an annual tribute to scientific research that on the surface seems goofy but is often surprisingly practical. And now Bodnar has brought the eBra to the public; purchase one online for just $29.95.
"The goal of any emergency respiratory device is to achieve tight fixation and full coverage. Luckily, the wonderful design of the bra is already in the shape of a face mask and so with the addition of a few design features, the Emergency Bra enhances the efficiency of minimizing contaminated bypass air flow," explains the eBra website.
It sounds silly, but Bodnar, a Ukraine native who now lives in Chicago, started her medical career studying the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. If people had had cheap, readily available gas masks in the first hours after the disaster, she said, they may have avoided breathing in Iodine-131, which causes radiation sickness.
The bra-turned-gas masks could have also been useful during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and for women caught outside during the dust storms that recently enveloped Sydney, she said.
"You have to be prepared all the time, at any place, at any moment, and practically every woman wears a bra," she said. Her patented devices also look pretty, no different from a conventional bra, she added.
According to a report on tech news site CNET, there are plans for a "counterpart device for men" in the works, though the precise shape it will take has yet to be revealed.
FoxNews.com's SciTech section is on Twitter! Follow us @fxnscitech. | – A potentially life-saving "emergency bra" invented by a Ukrainian doctor has gone from award-winningly odd idea to actual commercial product. The bra, which doubles up as a pair of gas masks has gone on sale online for $29.95, Fox reports. Inventor Elena Bodnar, who witnessed the devastating effects of the Chernobyl disaster, says readily available gas masks could have prevented many cases of radiation sickness. "Ladies and gentlemen, isn't that wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one?" Bodnar said last year when collecting an "Ig Nobel" prize for the invention. "We can save not only our own life, but also the life of a man of our choice next to us." A "counterpart device for men" is in the works, according to CNET, but no word yet on what form it will take. |
Britain is prepared to back a key vote recognising Palestinian statehood at the United Nations if Mahmoud Abbas pledges not to pursue Israel for war crimes and to resume peace talks.
Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has called for Britain's backing in part because of its historic responsibility for Palestine. The government has previously refused, citing strong US and Israeli objections and fears of long-term damage to prospects for negotiations.
On Monday night, the government signalled it would change tack and vote yes if the Palestinians modified their application, which is to be debated by the UN general assembly in New York later this week. As a "non-member state", Palestine would have the same status as the Vatican.
Whitehall officials said the Palestinians were now being asked to refrain from applying for membership of the international criminal court or the international court of justice, which could both be used to pursue war crimes charges or other legal claims against Israel.
Abbas is also being asked to commit to an immediate resumption of peace talks "without preconditions" with Israel. The third condition is that the general assembly's resolution does not require the UN security council to follow suit.
The US and Israel have both hinted at possible retaliation if the vote goes ahead. Congress could block payments to the Palestinian Authority and Israel might freeze tax revenues it transfers under the 1993 Oslo agreement or, worse, withdraw from the agreement altogether. It could also annex West Bank settlements. Britain's position is that it wants to reduce the risk that such threats might be implemented and bolster Palestinian moderates.
France has already signalled that it will vote yes on Thursday, and the long-awaited vote is certain to pass as 132 UN members have recognised the state of Palestine. Decisions by Germany, Spain and Britain are still pending and Palestinians would clearly prefer a united EU position as counterweight to the US.
Willian Hague, the foreign secretary, discussed the issue on Monday with Abbas and the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, offiicals said.
Palestinian sources said Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, raised the issue with Abbas at his Ramallah headquarters last week, shortly before a ceasefire was agreed in the Gaza Strip, as had Tony Blair, the Quartet envoy.
Abbas has been widely seen to have been sidelined by his rivals in the Islamist movement Hamas, as well by his failure to win any concessions from Israel. Abbas, whose remit does not extend beyond the West Bank, hopes a strong yes vote will persuade Israel to return to talks after more than two years.
Officals in Ramallah have opposed surrendering on the ICC issue so it can be used as a bargaining chip in future, but views are thought to be divided. Abbas said at the weekend: "We are going to the UN fully confident in our steps. We will have our rights because you are with us."
Leila Shaid, Palestine's representative to the EU, said: "After everything that has happened in the Arab spring, Britain can't pretend it is in favour of democracy in Libya, Syria and Egypt but accept the Palestinians continuing to live under occupation. As the former colonial power, Britain has a historic responsibility to Palestine. Britain is a very important country in the Middle East, it has extensive trade relations, and David Cameron should know he risks a popular backlash from Arab public opinion if he does not support us."
Palestinians have rejected the claim that they are acting unilaterally, calling the UN path "the ultimate expression of multilateralism". Israel's apparent opposition to unilateralism has not stopped it acting without agreement to build and expand settlements, they say. ||||| Israeli official says US working actively at UN to try and use procedural measures to block PA from bringing to a vote a General Assembly resolution which if approved would upgrade its status to non-member observer state.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas at the UN Photo: Lucas Jackson / Reuters
The US is continuing its efforts to prevent the Palestinian Authority from bringing a resolution to the UN General Assembly upgrading the its status in that body to a non-member observer state, a senior US official said Monday.
The official’s comments came even as PA President Mahmoud Abbas went to Jordan Monday, from where he is set to travel to New York to submit the Palestinian bid on Thursday.
“Our message to the Palestinians has not changed,” the senior official said. “We believe that bringing forward a resolution on statehood is unwise, does not help bring them closer to their legitimate aspirations, and will create an environment less positive for negotiations. We are trying to prevent this from happening, don’t want it to happen, and it has not happened yet.”
One Israeli official said that the US was working actively at the UN to try and use procedural measures to block Abbas from even being able to bring the resolution to a vote. He said the US was working as well in various key capitals around the world to convince other countries not to support it.
Although the 27-member EU has not yet decided how it would vote on the resolution, the Israeli official said the majority of EU states would like to see a consensus position, and that if a consensus could be reached, it would likely be to abstain on the matter.
“There is still a concerted effort to reach a consensus,” one official said. “The Europeans love a consensus.”
The EU failed to agree last November when the Palestinians gained statehood admission into UNESCO, with five EU countries voting against the move, 11 supporting and another 11 abstaining.
That Palestinian move led to an automatic halting of US funds to UNESCO, as mandated by US law.
The senior American official said whether the US would have to cut off funding to the UN General Assembly if it adopted the Palestinian resolution depended on “what is in the resolution and what form it takes.”
Congress, he added, “has already said there will be repercussions in our system.”
The official said that the US was “as supportive of a two-state solution as it has ever been, and intends on working on it.”
But, he added, “this step runs counter and makes things harder.” | – Momentum is building behind Palestine's latest push for UN statehood. France will vote in favor of a resolution recognizing Palestine as a nonmember observer state this week, the country's foreign minister told parliament today, in a move the AP sees as timed to convince other European states to do the same. "But, but, but, but, but—but at the same time, madame and monsieur lawmakers, we must show in this case a lot of lucidity," the foreign minister warned, because the vote comes "at a very delicate moment." Mahmoud Abbas says he intends to introduce the resolution on Thursday, and France might not be the only major power supporting it. Britain is also prepared to vote yes, if Palestine promises not to use its newfound status to pursue war crime proceedings against Israel, the Guardian reports. The US, meanwhile, is trying to use procedural tricks to prevent the resolution from ever reaching the floor, and leaning on key countries to vote no if it does, a senior official tell the Jerusalem Post. |
In their last sighting before announcing their divorce , Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez showed no signs of the impending split.
The 49-year-old actors were at a Los Angeles Halloween fair on Oct. 17 with their two-year-old son, Maceo, looking happy and affectionate.
An eyewitness tells ET the two actively helped Maceo decorate a pumpkin. At one point, Martinez put his hand on Berry's shoulder, and they both seemed very comfortable.
Another eyewitness says that the two were "close with one another" at the event, and smiled a lot while they "doted over Maceo, looking like happy parents."
"He was carrying her bag and was gentle and loving," the source continues. "At one point he put his hand on her shoulder, never would have thought there was trouble. They stayed at the party for about two hours."
There were a few other celebrity sightings at the fair, including Modern Family's Ariel Winter and Julie Bowen, as well as Channing and Jenna Dewan Tatum. Channing even posted a picture from the event, writing, "Pretty sure I terrified all the children at our daughter's Halloween carnival today. Btw- I'm pooh bear in case anyone can't tell."
This is Berry's third divorce. The actress was married to baseball player David Justice and singer Eric Benet, and dated model Gabriel Aubry, with whom she has one daughter, 7-year-old Nahla. Split rumors began to spread for the former couple when Berry was s potted without her wedding ring in August. The two have been married since July 13, 2013 , and have one child together.
The last red carpet appearance the exes made together was in February at the Treats! Magazine Oscars party.
A joint statement sent to ET on Tuesday by reps for both Berry and Martinez reads, "It is with a heavy heart that we have come to the decision to divorce. We move forward with love and respect for one another and the shared focus of what is best for our son. We wish each other nothing but happiness in life and we hope that you respect our and, most importantly, our children's privacy as we go through this difficult period."
Meanwhile, last week, Berry and Martinez were hit with a $5 million lawsuit over an alleged incident with an LAX employee that happened on Jan. 4. Ronaldo Owens claims that Martinez "brutally and intentionally charged at him using an empty child's car sear he held in his hands as a weapon, striking [him] to the ground with the seat, and causing [him] humiliation and injury." At the time, Owens says he was in a designated area in the corridor that Martinez and Berry were being escorted down that is used for high profile passengers, and was trying to take video and photos of them along with other employees.
When ET last caught up with Berry at Comic-Con in July, all her focus was on her show, Extant.
"There's a lot of sexual energy," Berry teased about the latest season of the CBS sci-fi series. "We didn't have that last year." ||||| Olivier Martinez Files for Divorce Against Halle ... The Plot Thickens
Olivier Martinez Files for Divorce Against Halle ... The Plot Thickens
EXCLUSIVE
Olivier Martinez has just filed for divorce against Halle Berry, TMZ has learned ... and the plot is thickening.
TMZ broke the story Halle filed for divorce Tuesday morning, but the divorce petition is nowhere to be found in the system. A source connected to Halle tells us it was filed under pseudonyms.
Apparently Olivier doesn't think fake names are kosher, so his lawyer, disso queen Laura Wasser, has just filed for divorce listing Olivier as the petitioner.
As for why being the petitioner is important, in Hollywood it matters who left who.
Olivier's asking for joint custody of the couple's 2-year-old son, Maceo. As we reported, they have a prenup so money will not be an issue.
We're told Olivier and Halle have not been getting along and last week was a breaking point, after an LAX employee sued Olivier for pushing a car seat into his chest. He also named Halle and we're told she went nuclear on Olivier saying he's responsible for her bad publicity.
We're told Halle and Olivier had a fundamental personality clash. She is "very difficult" and "goes nuts when she doesn't get her way," and Olivier has a temper, though not violent toward her. It was a bad combo. ||||| Fighting fire with fire! Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez announced their decision to divorce after two years of marriage on Tuesday, Oct. 27, and a source tells Us Weekly that the time leading up to their split was “very heated.”
“It was nonstop fighting towards the end,” the source tells Us. “Two very hot-headed people. Lots of screaming and fighting. It was really bad. They both have major tempers and were locking heads constantly. It’s going to be a very bitter divorce.”'
PHOTOS: Celebrity splits of 2015
On Tuesday, Berry and Martinez, both 49, told Us in a joint statement that it was “with a heavy heart” that they had decided to pull the plug on their relationship. “We move forward with love and respect for one another and the shared focus for what is best for our son,” they said. “We wish each other nothing but happiness in life, and we hope that you respect our, and most importantly, our children’s privacy, as we go through this difficult period.”
Amanda Edwards/WireImage
Berry filed legal documents again on Wednesday, Oct. 28 — this time using her real name instead of a pseudonym.
Just one week ago, the pair were all smiles during a family outing with their 2-year-old son, Maceo, at a Halloween party in L.A.'s Sherman Oaks neighborhood on Saturday, Oct. 17.
But, the source tells Us, things with the pair aren’t always as they appear to be.
PHOTOS: Hollywood's ugliest divorces
“Things were extremely bitter with them as the marriage went on and in the end,” the source adds. “Finally they both tried to file against each other. It was always like that, very heated and a lot of competition and battling between them. Two extreme tempers and people that love to fight.”
The Extant actress and Martinez tied the knot in 2013 after meeting on the set of Dark Tide in 2010 and secretly getting engaged one year later.
PHOTOS: Hollywood's most expensive divorces
Berry was previously married to baseball player David Justice from 1993 to 1997, and to R&B singer Eric Benet from 2001 to 2005. She and ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry share one daughter, 6-year-old Nahla.
Can't get enough of Us? Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter packed with the latest celeb news, hot pics, and more! ||||| 'Fiery Personalities' and Living Apart: Inside Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez's Split
VIDEO: Halle's Changing Looks!
From almost the start, it had been a rocky romantic road for Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez . Now, as the couple confirm they are splitting after two years of marriage , sources tell PEOPLE clashing priorities and headstrong temperaments ultimately doomed the pair."They have had many issues," a source close to the couple tells PEOPLE. "They both have fiery personalities and don't like to compromise. Halle has threatened to file for divorce several times after arguments."So what was the breaking point? According to the source, one major issue between the couple was their living situation.When Martinez and a pregnant Berry tied the knot in 2013, their plan was to raise their family – including Berry's daughter from a previous relationship, Nahla Ariela – in Europe. But when Berry got locked in a custody battle with Berry's ex-boyfriend, model Gabriel Aubry , the plan changed.Due to the custody agreement, Berry, 49, had to stay in Los Angeles in order to raise her daughter, forcing Martinez, 49, and their newborn son, Maceo-Robert , to relocate to L.A.According to the source, Martinez had a hard time adjusting: "Olivier never loved living in L.A. full time. [He] just isn't happy in L.A."Another issue, says another source who knows the couple, was Martinez's temper."He has a violent temper," the source told PEOPLE this summer. "[Friends say] he has an out of control hair-trigger temper."In 2012, Martinez got into a brawl with Aubrey at Berry's house on Thanksgiving. This year, cameras caught Martinez shoving an empty car seat toward an LAX employee as he, Berry and the kids exited the airport. The employee is now suing the couple for $5 million.The couple were also apparently at odds over how to balance family life with work, the source told PEOPLE just months before the split."Olivier is complaining that he and Halle are not spending much time together and that she is working too much," said the initial source. "He never wanted her to sign on for [CBS's Extant] and Olivier was hoping they would focus on family time together after Maceo was born."With Berry on the road to promote her acting career, Martinez found himself growing lonely."He complains he spends his days alone, or with friends," said the first source. "He doesn't understand why Halle wants to work so much and is still so focused on her career. Halle has instead been extremely busy and Olivier, who has not been working, is very bored in L.A."The second source confirmed to PEOPLE this summer that Martinez "goes to France a lot. He hasn't worked in a long time."After it became clear that they were both unhappy in their marriage, they tried to make their relationship work for the sake of their children. Their solution? Spend time away from one another, even living apart for extended periods of time."They are both aware that they have difficult personalities and have tried to stay in the marriage by not living together. Many times, Halle [had] been staying at the Malibu house and Olivier at the Chateau Marmont. They are much better when they don't spent too much time together," said the first source close to the couple, adding "They have gone weeks without seeing each other, but then has managed to patch things up again.But with separate living arrangements and Berry's hectic work schedule, the distance eventually drove them apart."Even though they are married, they always had very separate lives," said the initial source. "Their marriage has never been what Olivier imagined it to be. It's been a disappointment to him." ||||| 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. ||||| Inside Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez's Divorce: Her Alias, His Temper, and Their Race to Court
As Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez gear up for a potential divorce fight, everything from who filed for divorce first to allegations about Martinez's temper could become factors in court.The couple filed dueling petitions for divorce this week: Berry submitted hers under the alias "Hal Maria" on Monday and Martinez filed his own on Tuesday. On Wednesday, PEOPLE confirms, Berry submitted a second petition – identical to the first but without the use of pseudonyms. Filing separate petitions could be a play to gain an upper hand if the case moves to court, a legal expert says."For tactical reasons, some attorneys want to file first because if you’re the petitioner and the case proceeds to trial, you get to put on the case first," Robert Brandt, a family law specialist in California, tells PEOPLE. "It gives you that advantage."A source close to Berry says she had other motivations. "She filed first, but she didn't draw attention to it," the source says. "Halle filed under fake names to protect both them and their kids."Filing under an alias "is kind of a grey area because you're supposed to use your real name," adds Brandt, who is not representing either party. "But as long as she's not using the fake name to commit fraud, she can probably get away with it." And with Berry's new petition, the case is back under both Berry and Martinez's real names, though it's unclear yet which of them will be ruled to be the petitioner.Both parties filed for joint custody in their petitions. "She wants to share custody and she is being so amicable," the source close to Berry says. But there are already signs that drama could flare up in the divorce: A source close to the couple told PEOPLE that Martinez had an explosive temper that frightened Berry, though the source says he was never physically abusive to her or their 2-year-old son Maceo. If Berry and Martinez can't agree on custody, Martinez's violent episodes – including a 2012 brawl with Gabriel Aubrey, the father of Berry's daughter Nahla – could be used against him, Brandt says: "In terms of child custody, absolutely."He continues, "She can use that as grounds to claim he has a propensity for violence, but she really has to prove the violence directly affects the child." However, if Martinez can prove that "he’s been a good dad and he’s been involved," Brandt says his alleged temper "ultimately might not be that relevant."Martinez's ties to his native France could also become a point of contention in the divorce. As previously reported, one of couple's marital difficulties was his preference to live in Europe. In Berry's petition, she even specifically asks that Martinez get permission before taking their son out of California.But according to Brandt, neither parent can take Maceo out of the state without special permission during the divorce proceedings. "There are certain automatic restraining orders that occur the minute you file," he explains. "If the child is in California with one of the parents, there is a specific restraint that the child cannot be removed from California without the written consent of the other party or a ruling by the court."Moving forward, Berry and Martinez will have to determine who will have temporary custody of Maceo during the divorce. Lawyers for both parties will then spend time sorting out their individual estates with regards to their prenuptial agreement, which Berry states in her divorce petition allows her to keep all of her earnings and assets. "The prenup might have stipulations regarding spousal support, but I don’t think either one of them are financially desperate," Brandt says, adding that spousal support could be waived altogether.Child support, on the other hand, cannot be waived, according to the lawyer, who says payments will be determined based on who makes more money. "If one party is earning significantly more income, they still might have to pay child support, even if that party has the child over half of the time."Regardless of either party's amicable intentions, "there’s a lot to sort out," Brandt says. | – What led Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez to file for divorce? According to People's sources, Martinez's temper is largely to blame. "He had an explosive temper in a way that was profoundly frightening," one source says. "You never knew when he would explode." But, though "he was very possessive in a very kind of caveman way, he was never physically abusive." Still, the source says, Martinez's "anger management issues" and the "unnerving" nature of his "unpredictable temper" were the last straw for Berry. (Though her temper doesn't sound much better—another source previously told People, "They both have fiery personalities and don't like to compromise. Halle has threatened to file for divorce several times after arguments." And a TMZ source says she's "very difficult" and "goes nuts when she doesn't get her way.") "It was non-stop fighting towards the end. Two very hot-headed people. It’s going to be a very bitter divorce," another source tells Us. Sources also say Martinez wasn't happy living in LA and didn't feel he and Halle got to spend enough time together due to her work schedule. As for the aforementioned "bitter divorce," that's already looking to be true: Berry first filed for divorce under an alias to avoid publicity, then Martinez filed his own paperwork, then Berry filed again using her real name, People reports. A legal expert says she probably wanted to be the first to file in order to be considered the petitioner and thus gain a "tactical ... advantage" in court. TMZ says it's clear she wants to be the petitioner and that a "fight" seems to be inevitable. People also notes that the two seem to disagree on the issue of spousal support, though they do have a prenup. Both are seeking joint custody of their son. (Berry and Martinez looked happy together less than two weeks ago.) |
Just after midnight, a young boy was found dead in his Anchorage home, police say after he shot himself with a loaded gun.
The child, identified as Christian Johnnson, 5, allegedly found the gun inside the drawer of a bedroom nightstand.
Police were notified of the death just before 12:30 a.m. early Tuesday, at a home on the 5700 block of Rocky Mountain Court.
APD says the boy's mother was in the kitchen preparing food, and the father was in another room when they heard the gunshot.
The boy had a single wound in his upper body.
Police issued a statement via community alert, calling the news a "tragic reminder" about gun safety.
"Don’t leave guns unattended and easily accessible, use a gun lock or secure guns in a safe," MJ Thim, spokesperson for APD, said in the statement.
The death is currently being investigated. Any charges, including those extending to the parents of Johnnson, will be determined by the Anchorage District Attorney's office. ||||| A 5-year-old Anchorage boy who found a loaded handgun in the drawer of a nightstand was killed by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Anchorage police said Tuesday.
Police identified the child as Christian Johnnson. [Update, Dec. 7: The child's mother says his name was Christan Johnson.]
Authorities say such deaths are rare and can be prevented with basic gun safety procedures. Yet in the last three years, the state has logged five unintentional firearm deaths of children under age 10. Sometimes, a parent is prosecuted when a child fires a loaded gun.
At 12:24 a.m. Tuesday, a call came into dispatchers about a child's death in the 5700 block of Rocky Mountain Court, a fourplex in East Anchorage.
The child's mother was in the kitchen preparing food. The father was elsewhere in the home, police spokesman MJ Thim said. The initial reports give no suggestion of drugs or alcohol being a factor, he said.
The mother "hears the sound of a gunshot," Thim said. "She walks into the bedroom and that's when she finds her son, who shot himself."
Christian suffered a single wound to the upper body, police said. Police say they are investigating the death and would refer the matter to the Anchorage District Attorney's Office for consideration of charges. Police aren't releasing the parents' names since they haven't been charged with any crime, Thim said.
"This is a tragic reminder about gun safety and children," police said in a written statement. "Don't leave guns unattended and easily accessible; use a gun lock or secure guns in a safe."
A 2015 incident cost a young Anchorage mother her son and left her with a felony record for criminally negligent homicide. In that case, a loaded .38-caliber revolver was left for days in the area where the 3-year-old played, and he shot and killed himself. Prosecutors said they recognized the tragedy of the situation but called the behavior of Elizabeth Morin careless to the point of criminal.
She was ordered in February to serve three months in jail as well as two years of probation. She hasn't yet served the jail time in that case, state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Megan Edge said Tuesday.
More typically, no one is charged when a young child hurts someone with a gun. A 4-year-old boy in Bethel in December 2015 got hold of a handgun while playing inside, then shot and killed himself. His father was an Alaska State Trooper; the gun was privately owned, according to media reports at the time.
In Alaska, there is no law requiring that guns be stored under lock, said Anchorage District Attorney Richard Allen. Eleven states require locking devices to accompany certain guns but only one, Massachusetts, says firearms generally must be stored locked, according to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
From 2005 through 2016, there were 62 unintentional firearm deaths in Alaska. Eleven children age 9 and younger were killed by unintentional gun violence, include four who were 4 years old or younger, according to statistics from the Alaska Violent Death Reporting System.
Most fatal firearm injuries in Alaska are intentional — suicide accounts for 75 percent of them, statistics show. Unsecured guns also are targeted by thieves, authorities say.
For the most part, young children don't mean to hurt anyone when they fire a gun but just don't have the experience, coordination or knowledge to handle one, said state injury epidemiologist Deborah Hull-Jilly.
"They may fumble a firearm. They may drop it. They are curious little beings," Hull-Jilly said.
When she was a child, her father had a security business and kept a gun on a high dresser. She was forbidden to go near it, yet couldn't stop herself from getting a look. She was too afraid to get hold of it, though, she said.
Children "may look at it as a toy, which it is not. It really behooves us to look at our homes and be sure that these guns are stored appropriately," Hull-Jilly said.
People should buy lock boxes or gun safes at the point they acquire a gun — and use them, she said. Some lock boxes have fingerprint mechanisms and can be opened with the touch of the owner, she said. But they are pricey.
"It's just good practice to keep the firearm stored securely and if at all possible locked in a lock box or gun cabinet," Hull-Jilly said. Ammunition should be stored separately. | – Police in Anchorage, Alaska, say a 5-year-old boy rummaging through a nightstand drawer late at night found a loaded gun and wound up fatally shooting himself, reports KTUU. Christian Johnnson died after midnight Tuesday while his parents were in other rooms of the house, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The mother heard a gunshot, and "she walks into the bedroom and that's when she finds her son, who shot himself," says a police spokesman. It is, he adds, "a tragic reminder about gun safety and children." Police have found no evidence that drugs or alcohol played any role in the shooting, and the Anchorage District Attorney's Office has yet to decide whether any charges will be filed. (A study finds that half of US children live in homes with guns, highlighting police concerns about making sure the weapons are safely secured.) |
Terrence Howard certainly hasn't been quiet about his removal from the Marvel-verse and "Iron Man" series after the first hit film. Earlier this year he took a swipe at the comic studio for their dealmaking, in which actors sign for multiple pictures, but Marvel has the ultimate say on whether or not they'll use them again. "...I didn't know it wasn't a mutually binding contract; it was only beneficial for them and they could bring me back or not. They can honor it or not,” he said about why he was replaced by Don Cheadle in "Iron Man 2," where he was supposed to earn $8 million, an increase from the $4.5 million he took home for the first movie. But now he also points a finger at Robert Downey Jr., who he says suggested him for the superhero job in the first place.
Terrence Howard certainly hasn't been quiet about his removal from the Marvel-verse and "Iron Man" series after the first hit film. Earlier this year he took a swipe at the comic studio for their dealmaking, in which actors sign for multiple pictures, but Marvel has the ultimate say on whether or not they'll use them again. "...I didn't know it wasn't a mutually binding contract; it was only beneficial for them and they could bring me back or not. They can honor it or not,” he said about why he was replaced by Don Cheadle in "Iron Man 2," where he was supposed to earn $8 million, an increase from the $4.5 million he took home for the first movie. But now he also points a finger at Robert Downey Jr., who he says suggested him for the superhero job in the first place.
"It turns out that the person that I helped become Iron Man, when it was time to re-up for the second one, took the money that was supposed to go to me and pushed me out," Howard said on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live."
"We did a three-picture deal. That means you did the deal ahead of time—a certain amount for the first one, a certain amount for the second, a certain amount for the third. They came to me with the second and said 'look, we will pay you one-eighth of what we contractually had for you, because we think the second one will be successful with or without you.' And I called my friend, that I helped get the first job, and he didn't call me back for three months," Howard added. Ouch.
In case you're wondering, Howard taking credit for RDJ getting the "Iron Man" gig is nothing new. In 2010, not long after "Iron Man 2" opened, a much more seemingly forgiving Howard had this to say to E!: ""For me to have recommended him, it means all the more so that I helped someone get to where they are supposed to go. Marvel and I are now talking about doing some other things. And Don Cheadle wanted to play that part before I wanted to play it, so everything is very well."
Well, clearly those Marvel plans aren't happening—Howard has since claimed they tried to kill his career—and the actor is leaving the ultimate judgement on RDJ to the man above. "Oh, I love him. God's going to bless him," he said. [Vulture] ||||| Mariska Hargitay's 'Law & Order: SVU' hair scare
Emmy winner reveals how infamous short haircut almost got her fired
Detective Benson's life is on the line when "Law and Order: SVU" returns Wednesday, Sept. 25. It turns out this isn't the first time Mariska Hargitay's (Benson) run on the hit series has been threatened. The Emmy winner revealed she almost got the boot after a seriously short hair disaster.
Bing: More about Mariska Hargitay | "Law and Order: SVU"
"That short hair, I don't regret; I liked it, but I almost got fired about it," Hargitay revealed in a recent interview. "I don't think Dick Wolf was a fan of the super short hair."
Hargitay's hair nightmare began sometime during "SVU" Season 3, after she asked a stylist from a photo shoot to give her a trim. The stylist came to Hargitay's home, and she was very impressed with his work -- at first. Then she offered him a glass of wine, and he accepted. Big mistake. Hargitay received quite a shock when she looked up from the book she was reading and saw what he'd done.
"You know that moment," Hargitay recounted. "I look up and [my breath caught]. My hair was so cute and then all of a sudden, he did the one irrevocable cut. I went, 'Oh! Oh!' and he said, "What? Honey, you're gorgeous." He kept going. He cuts it and then he leaves.
"I'm calling the producer at 10:30, [crying], 'I just got a haircut. I don't think it looks good!" I went over to the producer's house and he was like, 'Yeah, that's a problem.' When they saw dailies [at work], they weren't happy. "What were you doing?' [crying] 'He was drunk! Do you think I'd cut my hair like this?' It was so funny… not really."
Plus: Spin-offs for the fall | Best and worst of the Emmys | Emmy highlights | Emmy winners
Just as Hargitay and "Law and Order: SVU" survived her bad haircut, Benson will somehow survive being kidnapped by a serial rapist-murderer (Pablo Schreiber) in Wednesday's two-hour premiere.
The "SVU" season 14 cliffhanger left Benson in the hands of a psycho who has gotten away with murder, multiple time. The SVU squad will take drastic measures to find Benson and since Hargitay signed a new deal with the show after the May finale, fans can expect our heroes to prevail - but at what cost?
"It was a very painful episode to shoot, without a doubt" Mariska revealed. "It's been exciting, because after 14 years, you think, 'Where can you go? What else is there to do?' And this year, the arc that the writers have planned for me is so exciting, on a personal and professional and creative level."
What do you make of this hair scare story? Weigh in below or on MSN TV's
Weigh in below or on MSN TV's Facebook and Twitter pages.
"Law and Order: SVU" returns Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. ET/PT one NBC. |||||
"I give the guy a glass of wine; he's trimming my hair, everything's great," Hargitay tells WENN . "And then all of a sudden, I turn my head and he cuts the wrong piece off. And I was like, 'No!' I'm like, 'Dude, I'm in the middle of an episode.'"
Hargitay says the perpetrator was a top French stylist hired to trim her up for a photo shoot.
"I got in so much trouble," she says. "I called ["SVU" creator] Dick Wolf and he was like, 'I've fired people for less.' I said, 'You can't be mad at me; I'm the one with the dramatic hair do.'"
After playing Detective Olivia Benson since 1999 on NBC's long running procedural drama, the actress received a Walk of Fame star right next to that of her mother, Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay tells Jay Leno , "It was a deeply profound, meaningful day and a huge marker in my life ... I felt so connected to her." ||||| A Brief History of Actors Kicked Off Their Television Shows
Conventional wisdom would tell us that even though Charlie Sheen has been given his walking papers, Two and a Half Men is too lucrative of a commodity for CBS to not at least try to continue. But can it survive after a star of the show has been fired? Television shows in the past have continued on to a varying degree of success after a major cast member has been fired from the show -- though if this list is any indication, the sooner it happens in the series' run, the better. With that, let's take a look at a brief history of television shows that have fired or forced out a major cast member.
Mackenzie Phillips, One Day at a Time
Probably the closest parallel to the Sheen situation, at least when thought of in terms of drug abuse. Phillips -- who played oldest daughter Julie on the popular Indianapolis-based sitcom -- developed a severe cocaine addiction, becoming such a terrible situation that she would often be late for work and couldn't be shot for close-ups because of her frail appearance. During the fifth season, Phillips was told that if she didn't quit, she'd be fired. Phillips, with little option, quit One Day at a Time. Two seasons later, Phillips was allowed back as a frequent guest star -- at least until she collapsed on set during the ninth season and was fired for the second and last time.
Cindy Williams, Laverne & Shirley
Williams played the title character of Shirley Feeney during most of the run of Laverne & Shirley. What some may not realize is that for most of the eighth and final season, there was no Shirley. Cindy Williams had become pregnant, and (allegedly) the show's producers were not exactly happy about the ramifications of this development on the show. Williams' pregnancy was written into the series, but Williams received less and less airtime until, one day, Williams angrily left the set for the final time during the middle of filming. As such, there was never a proper sendoff filmed for the title character (much like our current situation with Two and a half Men). A lawsuit filed by Williams was settled out of court. Without Williams, Laverne & Shirley ended its run at the end of that season. This scene below is a prime example of a Shirley-less episode of Laverne & Shirley.
Suzanne Somers, Three's Company
During the fifth season of Three's Company, Suzanne Somers (on the advice from her husband-manager, Alan Hamel) demanded a 500 percent salary increase plus a percentage of the show's profits in exchange for her continuing to play the role of Chrissy Snow. A power play that alienated her from fellow cast members John Ritter and Joyce Dewitt. When the demands weren't met, Somers often became absent from work. Eventually the producers had enough of her shenanigans and relegated Somers' appearances to an end-of-the-show phone call (in the plot, Chrissy was in Fresno taking care of her mother) from other cast members -- filming her scenes separately from the rest of the cast. Eventually, Somers was open to backing down from her demands, but the damage had been done -- her contract was terminated after the series suffered little ill effects from her absence. Three's Company would continue for three more seasons, followed by an additional season as Three's a Crowd.
Isaiah Washington, Grey's Anatomy
Washington played Dr. Preston Burke for the first three seasons of ABC's popular doctor drama, Grey's Anatomy. In a late 2006 on-set squabble, Washington used a gay slur to describe then fellow co-star T.R. Knight. Knight, a now openly gay actor, wasn't publicly open about that at the time. Because of Washington's indiscretion and the ensuing media controversy, Burke was written out of the show; four years later, Grey's Anatomy remains one of the most popular shows on ABC. Below is the final scene of Washington's last episode, in which Christina (Sandra Oh) discovers his newly abandoned apartment after a called-off wedding. Washington has admitted he wasn't happy about leaving the show and that if ever asked to return, even for a cameo, that he would. Though, he admits, "I don't really see that happening."
Damon Wayans, Saturday Night Live
Over the history of Saturday Night Live, many, many cast members have been fired. That's just how the show works. But no one has been fired in such glorious fashion as Damon Wayans, who was a featured player during the ill-fated 1985-1986 season and was upset about being regulated to supporting roles and not being to show off his flair, if you will. That changed in a sketch called "Mr. Monopoly" in which Wayans played a police officer. Somewhere between dress rehearsal and the live show, Wayans decided that this character needed to be played as a very flamboyant gay man. Lorne Michaels was not amused. According to the writer of that sketch, Andy Breckman, in Tom Shales' Live From New York, Lorne turned to Breckman at that very moment offstage and said, "That's it. I've got to fire him." Wayans would return as host in 1995.
Lisa Bonet, A Different World
After three seasons on the most popular show on television, The Cosby Show, Lisa Bonet's Denise Huxtable was spun off into a new series that aired directly after Cosby, A Different World. After the first season, Bonet, with then husband Lenny Kravitz, became pregnant. The producers of A Different World did not feel that having a pregnant Denise was "wholesome" enough for their viewers, so instead she was jettisoned from the show. Denise returned to The Cosby Show before traveling to Africa when Bonet's pregnancy started to show, returning after Zoe Kravitz was born. A Different World would last five more seasons with Jasmine Guy and Kadeem Hardison taking over as the lead characters.
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Follow Movieline on Twitter | – Selena Gomez gave her own parents the boot as employees yesterday, and is looking for new management. But that's far from the oddest firing Hollywood has ever seen: Tom Cruise went the opposite way, firing his publicist in favor of a family member—in his case, he gave his Scientologist sister the job. But just eight months later, his sister resigned and he hired a new publicist. Sometimes it's the family members who get the stars fired: The New York Times reports that after Thora Birch's father (a former "adult star" who became his daughter's manager) threatened one of her co-stars during a rehearsal, Birch was fired from an Off Broadway production of Dracula. Charlie Sheen fired his Anger Management co-star Selma Blair—via text message—after she complained about how difficult he was to work with. Lionsgate quickly followed suit and made the termination official. (And, of course, that was after Sheen himself got the boot from Two and a Half Men.) When Mariska Hargitay got a bad haircut, she was upset. She was even more upset when it almost got her fired from Law & Order: SVU, MSN reports. Series creator Dick Wolf told her, "I've fired people for less," she once told WENN. "I went over to the producer's house and he was like, 'Yeah, that's a problem.' When they saw dailies [at work], they weren't happy." Marty McFly was almost played by Eric Stoltz, Wired reports. But Stoltz was fired from Back to the Future after just five weeks of filming because "his comedy sensibilities were very different," according to director Robert Zemeckis. The role, of course, went to Michael J. Fox. Damon Wayans was fired after just one season on Saturday Night Live, when he decided—on his own—to play his police officer character in one sketch as flamboyantly gay, Movieline reports. Megan Fox learned the hard way that comparing your director to Adolf Hitler is not a good idea: Doing so got her fired from the Transformers franchise. Alec Baldwin claims he got Shia LaBeouf fired from a Broadway play. Terrence Howard claims Robert Downey Jr. got him fired from Iron Man, even though Howard says he's the one who got RDJ his role as Tony Stark, Indiewire reports. Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle. Gilbert Gottfried was fired as the voice of the Aflac duck after tweeting many ill-advised jokes about the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Want more? Check out 5 other celebrities who fired their parents, or 4 celebrities who got fired—and ended up being glad of it. |
Rep. Larry Pittman of Concord is the primary sponsor of a bill to reinstate North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage. Robert Willett rwillett@newsobserver.com ||||| A North Carolina lawmaker was taking flak Thursday for posting on Facebook that President Lincoln was "tyrant" just like Adolf Hitler.
State Rep. Larry Pittman made the comparison while responding to critics Wednesday who were blasting him for pushing a bill that would have restored North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Larry Pittman attends a House session on Jan. 30, 2013. Takaaki Iwabu / The News & Observer via AP file
It was a commenter’s crack that he should “get over it” that set off Pittman, who is a Republican, a preacher — and apparently still smarting over the South’s loss in the Civil War more than a century-and-a-half ago.
“And if Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort (of) tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional,” Pittman wrote.
(The death toll was closer to 620,000, according to the Civil War Trust.)
The exchange on Pittman’s campaign Facebook page first appeared in a story by the Raleigh News & Observer.
And while it appears to have been scrubbed from Pittman’s page Thursday there were still plenty of people piling on and calling him a “warm pile of garbage” and worse.
Larry Pittman comments on his campaign facebook page. Courtesy The News & Observer
Pittman, who is from the Charlotte suburb of Concord, did not return calls for comment to both his office and home and did not respond to an email. Neither did House Speaker Tim Moore, who is also a Republican.
The Facebook fracas came after Moore on Wednesday effectively killed Pittman’s bill, which says the Supreme Court ruling in 2015 that legalized gay marriage "is null and void in the State of North Carolina.”
“There are strong constitutional concerns with this legislation given that the U.S. Supreme Court has firmly ruled on the issue, therefore House Bill 780 will be referred to the House Rules Committee and will not be heard,” Moore said in a statement.
Pittman made his Hitler crack a day after White House spokesman Sean Spicer had to apologize for saying the Nazi leader "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons" against his own people like Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad.” ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – A Republican lawmaker in North Carolina is taking a lot of flak for comparing the first Republican president to Adolf Hitler. State Rep. Larry Pittman of Cabarrus likened Abraham Lincoln to Hitler on Wednesday after a commenter on Facebook criticized a bill he'd introduced to ignore federal rulings and restore the state's ban on same-sex marriage, the Charlotte Observer reports. After being told that the Supreme Court had ruled on the issue and he should just "get over it," Pittman said: "If Hitler had won, should the world just get over it? Lincoln was the same sort if [sic] tyrant, and personally responsible for the deaths of over 800,000 Americans in a war that was unnecessary and unconstitutional." State Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin called for GOP leaders to apologize for the comments, saying Pittman and his "ultra-conservative" allies in the state assembly "have no sense of decency, no sense of shame, and no sense of historical fact." The Facebook conversation came after House Speaker Tim Moore, a fellow Republican, killed Pittman's bill, saying there are "strong constitutional concerns with this legislation given that the US Supreme Court has firmly ruled on the issue," NBC News reports. Pittman, a Presbyterian pastor, hasn't responded to requests to clarify his remarks, including one from another Facebook commenter who asked why he thought the Civil War was unnecessary, reports the News & Observer. |
Media caption Donald Trump said his meeting with Mitt Romney 'went great'
US President-elect Donald Trump has met one of his fiercest critics, Mitt Romney, with reports suggesting he may be considered for secretary of state.
Neither man gave details of their 80-minute meeting on Saturday. Mr Romney said the talks had been "far-reaching".
During the campaign, Mr Romney called Mr Trump a "fraud", while Mr Trump said Mr Romney's unsuccessful presidential bid in 2012 had been "the worst ever".
Mr Trump has settled several posts so far, a number of them controversial.
The nominee for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was rejected from becoming a federal judge in 1986 because of alleged racist remarks.
Lt Gen Michael Flynn, the new national security adviser, has drawn concern over his strident views on Islam.
Media caption Donald Trump and Mitt Romney's war of words
On leaving Mr Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, Mr Romney did not answer questions on whether he would accept a cabinet position, or whether he still thought his host was "a con artist".
He said only that they had held a "far-reaching conversation with regards to the various theatres of the world" in which the US had an interest.
Mr Trump will conduct more meetings with potential appointees at the golf course over the weekend.
Media caption Romney: ''His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University''
In March, Mr Romney said Mr Trump had neither "the temperament nor the judgement to be president", accusing him of bullying, misogyny and dishonesty.
"Prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished" if Mr Trump became the nominee, he said.
Mr Trump responded by mocking Mr Romney, calling him a "failed candidate" and a "choke artist".
However, US media suggest the role of secretary of state could be up for grabs. In the past, Mr Romney has taken a far more critical line on Russia than that suggested by Mr Trump.
The other key appointments so far are Mike Pompeo as CIA director and Stephen Bannon as chief strategist.
Separately on Friday, Mr Trump settled three lawsuits for fraud brought against him over his Trump University.
Media caption Donald Trump's lead attorney in the cases Daniel Petrocelli said Mr Trump wanted to "put aside this issue - and get it behind him"
He tweeted on Saturday that he had settled "for a small fraction of the potential award because as President I have to focus on our country".
In settling the class-action lawsuits, Mr Trump "was willing to sacrifice his personal interests, put this behind him, and move forward", his lawyer said.
Mr Trump had been sued by former students who paid $35,000 (£28,000) for property "secrets" from his "hand-picked" instructors.
The lawsuits alleged the school had misled students and failed to deliver on its promises. ||||| President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama to be U.S. Attorney General has sent a chill up the spines of many in the emerging cannabis industry.
Many were preparing themselves for someone like Rudy Giuliani. He wasn't for legalizing marijuana, but they felt he would be pragmatic and recognize the financial benefits that states have been reaping from the tax revenues. Sessions is a passionate anti-marijuana advocate.
As attorney general, Sessions would oversee federal prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration as well as other law enforcement agencies that could come down hard on marijuana businesses, even if they complied with their own states' laws.
Sessions has spoken out against marijuana a number of times.
He once said, "You can’t have the President of the United States of America talking about marijuana … you are sending a message to young people that there is no danger in this process. It is false that marijuana use doesn’t lead people to more drug use. It is already causing a disturbance in the states that have made it legal.”
He famously said of the Ku Klux Klan that he was okay with them, “until I learned they smoked pot.” Sessions later said he was joking.
"Senator Sessions is clearly out in the deep end when it comes to issues of marijuana policy and he stands diametrically opposed to the majority of Americans who favor the legalization and regulation of marijuana,” said Erik Altieri, executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “This could foreshadow some very bad things for the eight states that have legalized marijuana for adult use and in the 29 states with medical marijuana programs.” Altieri said Sessions could begin blocking ballot initiatives, conduct raids on legal businesses and begin dismantling the legal cannabis industry that has already been established in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
Many in the industry are holding onto hope that Trump, who has expressed his support for medical marijuana will maintain that position. They are also clinging to the belief that the businessman in Trump will see the amount of money that is coming into the states from the taxes and will not want to take that money away.
Aaron Herzberg, Partner & General Counsel at CalCann Holdings, said,”Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is the worst pick that Trump could have made for attorney general as it comes to marijuana issues, and this selection bodes very poorly for the Trump administration to adopt a marijuana-friendly policy. It appears that he is intent on rolling back policy to the 1980's Nancy Reagan's 'just say no on drugs' days. He has displayed open hostility to efforts to legalize marijuana, recently stating earlier this year that 'good people don't smoke marijuana.' He has been extremely hostile to efforts to legalize both medical and adult use marijuana.”
The National Cannabis Industry Association struck a more conciliatory note saying, “We look forward to working with him to ensure that states' rights and voter choices on cannabis are respected."
The marijuana community also points to several remarks that President-elect Trump has made during the campaign where he said he believed it was up to the states, however, Tom Angell of the Marijuana Majority said, “Sessions’s past remarks clearly indicate he doesn’t support letting states set their own marijuana laws without federal interference, setting up an early potential conflict inside the new administration. Trump will have to decide how much rein to give the attorney general to go against his repeated campaign pledges.”
The industry has been gathered in Las Vegas this past week for its biggest event, the Marijuana and Business Conference. Over 7,000 people attended the conference and there were over 300 exhibitors. Most were expecting Trump to appoint a conservative attorney general, but they genuinely feel that the genie is already out of the bottle on marijuana and that it would be incredibly difficult to reverse course. The community points to polls that overwhelmingly favor legalization and they point to the huge tax revenues that the legalized states have come to rely on.
However, this is an administration that has said it wants to reverse Obamacare, reverse Roe v. Wade and reverse trade agreements. A nascent federally illegal industry is small potatoes compared to those items.
With millions invested into businesses, the nervousness is clear as they begin gearing up for a fight they believe it coming. NORML is already raising money for an Emergency Response Fund.
Sessions will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing; if the committee advances his nomination, as expected, it will go to a floor vote. He is likely to be approved because Democrats do not have the votes to block his confirmation. It is expected that he will be questioned about racist comments that derailed his nomination to serve as a federal judge in 1986, and about his views on drug policy. ||||| Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general is being met with alarm at the Justice Department’s civil rights division and could trigger an exodus there, former officials said Friday.
Longtime lawyers in the unit that enforces voting rights laws, conducts investigations into alleged police abuses and prosecutes hate crimes were already on edge about what Trump’s victory would mean for their mission, but the selection of Sessions pushed those fears to another level, former officials said.
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"If there was a level above DEFCON One, it would be that," said Sam Bagenstos, who was the civil rights division’s No. 2 official from 2009 to 2011. "Jeff Sessions has a unique and uniquely troubled history with the civil rights division. ... From the perspective of the work of the enforcement of civil rights, I think the Sessions pick is a particularly troublesome one — more than anyone else you can think of.”
The concern at the Justice Department's anti-discrimination unit stems largely from the same accounts of alleged racist remarks and racially tinged incidents that emerged when Sessions was nominated to a district court judgeship in 1986. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard a black lawyer testify that Sessions referred to him as "boy," and another attorney testify that Sessions said about the Ku Klux Klan that he thought the group was "OK, until I heard that they smoked pot."
Sessions said that was a joke and he denied allegations that he'd used an ugly racial epithet. But his nomination was voted down 10-8, only the second time that had happened in half a century.
However, the grievances many of the Justice Department's civil rights enforcers have with Sessions go beyond his language to his actions as U.S. attorney in Mobile, where he unsuccessfully prosecuted black civil rights leaders on charges of ballot-tampering.
One of the activists, who was acquitted, was Albert Turner, a former aide to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil rights groups at the time called the charges a “witch hunt” conducted by the Reagan Justice Department while refusing to prosecute white election officials. Sessions was quoted after the trial as saying Turner "put on a brilliant defense and whipped us fair and square in the courtroom, but I guarantee you there was sufficient evidence for a conviction.”
"This is a person who got his start as a public figure through prosecutions of voting rights activists for registering people to vote. The enmity the civil rights community has for him is authentically earned," said Bagenstos, now a law professor at the University of Michigan. "The career lawyers in the civil rights division now have a lot of nervousness and the Sessions nomination will make a lot of them who are on the fence about staying or going think a lot more seriously about going."
Sessions' allies insisted the claims of racial bias and insensitivity are off-base and amount to thinly veiled disagreement with the senator's political views.
"The only reason folks are criticizing him is because people don't like his conservative principles," said Hans von Spakovsky, a former official in the Justice Department's civil rights division under President George W. Bush. "He's a very good guy. The claims resurrecting these claims of racism are complete and total bull."
Von Spakovsky said Sessions' critics were intentionally or inadvertently ignoring his efforts to fight racism in his home state. "It was his case that he filed against the KKK that helped break the back of the Klan in Alabama," von Spakovsky said.
That case was the federal prosecution of two former Klan members for murdering African-American college student Michael Donald in 1981. A former federal prosecutor who worked on the trial, which led to the conviction of two suspects and the execution of one of them, had praise for Sessions.
"This was during the 1980s when many southern U.S. attorneys were not always welcoming to the Civil Rights Division working in their districts," Barry Kowalski said. "However, Senator Sessions could not have been more supportive of our investigations, and in the Michael Donald case specifically, he personally contributed to making sure his killers were brought to justice."
Some conservatives said they were unconcerned about Sessions and pleased with the list of lawyers Trump has designated to head up the transition at the Justice Department.
"My biggest fear with Trump is that he ran as an authoritarian who would ignore the rule of law," said former prosecutor Orin Kerr, who previously described himself as in the "Never Trump" camp. "But Senator Sessions is no authoritarian, and the announced members of the transition team are mainstream and establishment GOP."
Former Justice official von Spakovsky agreed that there might be a wave of resignations in the civil rights division, but he said that wouldn't be a bad thing because the division's hiring practices have led to an influx of liberal ideologues.
"There may be an exodus. I hope, frankly, there is," said von Spakovsky, now with the conservative Heritage Foundation.
An attorney who served at the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton and later as a Democratic counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Lisa Graves, said she was worried about Sessions' impact on the civil rights division's work investigating cases of deadly use of force by police.
"With respect to Sessions' background, I think it’s a really serious question of whether he will at all continue the Justice Department's process of examining these cases where people are shot who are unarmed and often African- American," said Graves, now with the liberal Center for Media and Democracy. "I just don’t have any confidence he'll do the right thing."
While there was an outpouring of criticism from liberal groups Friday, with some calling Sessions' nomination "shocking" and recounting many of the allegations that torpedoed his judicial nomination three decades ago, those troubled by his nomination as attorney general have no obvious way to block his nomination.
A spokesman for Trump, Jason Miller, said the president-elect's team is "very confident" Sessions will win Senate approval.
“Sen. Sessions is someone who is universally respected across party lines in the U.S. Senate,” Miller told reporters on a conference call Friday morning. “We feel very confident that Sen. Sessions has the background and the support to receive confirmation.”
The Trump spokesman also sought to rebut some of the criticism of Sessions’ civil rights record by noting that he filed several desegregation lawsuits while he was U.S. attorney for the Southern district of Alabama and voted in favor of the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 2006. Miller also mentioned Sessions’ vote to confirm President Barack Obama’s nomination in 2009 of the first African-American attorney general, Eric Holder.
And the Trump aide noted that one senator who voted against Sessions' judicial nomination in 1986, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, later called that vote “a mistake” and praised Sessions as "egalitarian." Specter died in 2012.
Indeed, several current Republican senators endorsed their colleague's nomination Friday. Democrats generally expressed concerns about aspects of Sessions' record, but said they were keeping an open mind until confirmation hearings are held — hearings where many of the most sensational allegations against the attorney general nominee seem certain to be re-aired.
"It's going to be tough," said William Yeomans, who worked in the civil rights division for 23 years and then on the Judiciary Committee under Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.). "There will be vigorous opposition from the Democrats and strong opposition from outside groups, but we are in such an extraordinary period."
"The presidential campaign makes you think that things like racially charged comments or xenophobia aren't disqualifying anymore," he added. "I mean, you elected a president who said many of those things, so it's hard to know what the reaction is going to be."
Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report.
Authors: ||||| (Reuters) - Jeff Sessions may be known as a pro-business conservative but as U.S. attorney general he is unlikely to shy away from indicting big companies and individuals for serious white-collar crimes, legal experts said, citing his record as a lawmaker.
Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) delivers a nominating speech for Republican U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. July 19, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday named Sessions, a four-term senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor, to lead the Justice Department. Sessions, 69, an early supporter of Trump, is expected to accept the cabinet post if confirmed.
A spokesman for Sessions did not respond to a request for comment.
Because of the dearth of big banks and companies in his home state, there is little in Sessions’ track record as a federal prosecutor and state attorney general from the 1970s to the 1990s to suggest how he might approach complex cases of corporate malfeasance.
But a review of his record in the Senate indicates he will likely push for corporate indictments, instead of settling for fines, and may focus on putting more executives in prison, lawyers who specialize in white-collar crime said.
For example, during a 2010 confirmation hearing for James Cole, Sessions questioned the former U.S. deputy attorney general about the “dangerous” philosophy of not charging companies criminally because of concerns that doing so could lead to bankruptcy and hurt employees and shareholders.
“Normally, I was taught if they violated a law, you charge them. If they didn’t violate the law, you don’t charge them,” Sessions said during the hearing.
RENEWED PUSH TO PROSECUTE
Matthew Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor and lawyer at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, said Sessions’ remarks suggested that he may be more willing than the current administration to require a guilty plea from corporations with less concern for collateral consequences.
He said Sessions would also likely support the Justice Department’s renewed efforts to prosecute executives, outlined in a policy memo last year by Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
While an unabashed businessman, Trump was highly critical of Hillary Clinton’s ties to Wall Street, accusing his Democratic rival of being beholden to the interests of big investment banks.
That message resonated with many working class voters who suffered in the financial crisis of 2008 and are still angry that no top-level Wall Street figures have been prosecuted for acts that almost brought down the global financial system.
“Until we see evidence to the contrary, it appears that the new Justice Department will be one that will seek to hold every individual accountable to the fullest extent. So the stakes may be higher,” Schwartz said.
NO LENIENCY
Jackson Sharman, a white-collar defense lawyer in Alabama, said that he believed Sessions would want to be as tough on white-collar as on street criminals. He pointed to Sessions’ recent opposition to a crime bill that would have shown sentencing leniency for non-violent offenders.
Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor and Columbia Law School professor, who has testified before Sessions’ Senate Judiciary Committee, agreed that the Alabama senator will be “a strong supporter” of corporate enforcement.
In the past, Sessions has come out in favor of tough Justice Department tactics against companies accused of fraud.
In 2007, corporate counsels pushed for a law that would have stopped the Justice Department from pressuring companies to waive attorney-client privilege during fraud investigations.
Slideshow (6 Images)
But during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sessions argued against any such rule, noting that prosecutors regularly pressure street criminals to waive constitutional rights using the threat of tougher penalties if they do not co-operate.
Sessions said the Justice Department should be able to use similar leverage against corporations.
Corporate crime “is not easy to prosecute or investigate. They have the best lawyers that you can find, and they utilize all the legitimate tools that they have,” Sessions said. “And you have to be strong... a prosecutor cannot be a weak-kneed person going up against a major corporation in a fraud case.” | – Sen. Jeff Sessions is Donald Trump's pick to be the next attorney general and the Alabaman is expected to bring some major changes to the Justice Department, the Washington Post reports. Aides predict Sessions—a leading opponent of closing Guantanamo Bay—will make national security his main priority, reversing the Obama administration's focus on civil rights. In what some see as a disturbing sign of things to come, he argued passionately last year against a Senate resolution that the US shouldn't ban people from the country because of their religion. If Trump goes through with a ban on Muslim immigration, it will be Sessions' job to help put it into effect. In other coverage: Former officials in the Justice Department's civil rights division tell Politico that the appointment of Sessions, who has long faced accusations of racial bias is a "particularly troublesome" one that could cause an exodus from the department. Sessions' defenders say his critics are ignoring his efforts to fight racism in Alabama. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he is "very concerned" about Sessions' civil rights policy. Legal experts tell Reuters that while Sessions has a reputation for being pro-business, his record suggests that he won't shy away from prosecuting corporate wrongdoers. He has argued in favor of being tough on corporate crime and sending white-collar criminals to prison. Forbes reports that the marijuana industry is very worried about what Sessions might do as AG. He has expressed strong anti-marijuana opinions and will have the power to crack down on the drug even in states that have legalized it. It "is false that marijuana use doesn’t lead people to more drug use," he once said. "It is already causing a disturbance in the states that have made it legal." The New York Times notes that the choice of Sessions reflects Trump's view that security is a more important concern than civil liberties. Beyond Gitmo, Sessions has also argued in favor of waterboarding and George W. Bush's warrantless wiretaps. The BBC reports that Trump will meet Mitt Romney Saturday for talks, despite harsh words between the two during the GOP primaries. Romney is rumored to be a candidate for secretary of state. "The president-elect wants the best and brightest people to put this country forward: people who supported him, people who didn't support him," a Trump spokesman says. |
CLOSE There are many rules to follow when getting on a plane, but some we decide to skip, like switching seats on an uncrowded plane. Buzz60's Maria Mercedes Galuppo has the story. Buzz60
An American Airlines flight attendant is suing the carrier for not investigating her claim that she was assaulted by another crew member in 2016 in front of passengers. (Photo: Mary Altaffer, AP)
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the location of American Airlines’ headquarters. The company is based in Ft. Worth, Texas.
An American Airlines flight attendant who says she was dragged down the aisle by her scarf by a fellow crew member has sued the Ft. Worth, Texas-based carrier for failing to investigate the July 2016 brawl or take actions to ensure her safety.
In her lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court and obtained by The Dallas Morning News, Kathy Ida Wolfe says another flight attendant, Laura Powers, "maliciously dug her fingernails into my arm, and slammed the door of a beverage cart on my arm" and later "grabbed my scarf, choking me, and dragged me in the aisle and in front of the passengers."
Wolfe, who resides in Irving, Texas, says she followed the proper procedure, reporting the altercation to the flight's captain, other crew members and the flight services manager.
When no one at the airline took action, she says she reported the assault and battery to legal authorities.
She alleges American was negligent and created a dangerous work environment, thereby breaching her contract. She is seeking $1 million in damages.
American Airlines spokeswoman Michelle Mohr confirmed the lawsuit to USA TODAY, but would not comment on the specific allegations, saying only, “American strives to create a work environment in which all team members feel safe and respected.”
Lawyers for the airline and Powers responded to the lawsuit after it was initially filed in a local court, arguing they are "not liable because Plaintiff caused or contributed to cause the harm for which recovery of damages is sought."
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2018/11/11/american-airlines-sued-over-2016-flight-attendant-brawl/1971453002/ ||||| Updated at 4:45 p.m. to include a statement from American Airlines.
A brawl between two American Airlines flight attendants during a flight in which one woman allegedly dragged the other by her scarf down the aisle has resulted in a lawsuit against the Fort Worth-based carrier.
On-flight fisticuffs - usually between passengers -- are increasingly disrupting U.S. commercial airline flights, as numerous YouTube videos attest.
Kathy Ida Wolfe claims in her lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court, that Laura Powers "maliciously dug her fingernails into my arm, and slammed the door of a beverage cart on my arm" during the June 2016 flight.
Wolfe said Powers, 56, of Flower Mound, then "grabbed my scarf, choking me, and dragged me in the aisle and in front of the passengers," according to the lawsuit.
Wolfe, of Irving, said she followed American's procedures by reporting the attack to the captain, other flight attendants and the flight service manager.
"I also reported the assault and battery to legal authorities after American Airlines failed to investigate and/or take action to ensure my safety," she said in the lawsuit, which was initially filed in June in Tarrant County district court.
Wolfe declined to comment when reached by phone Friday. Her attorney could not be reached Friday for comment. Powers' attorney declined to comment.
American Airlines spokesman Matt Miller said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit's specific allegations but said "American strives to create a work environment in which all team members feel safe and respected."
American and Powers each filed an answer to the Tarrant County lawsuit before it was refiled in federal court, both stating they are "not liable because Plaintiff caused or contributed to cause the harm for which recovery of damages is sought."
The lawsuit said both women are employees of American Airlines, although their status was not immediately known.
Wolfe's lawsuit against American and Powers alleges negligence, dangerous work environment, breach of contract, and assault and battery. The suit seeks damages of up to $1 million.
Powers has worked as an American Airlines flight attendant since 1985, according to a 2011 bankruptcy filing. ||||| Two female American Airlines flight attendants are headed to federal court over allegations that one of the women dragged the other down an airplane aisle by her uniform scarf during a flight. Claiming that the carrier failed to investigate the incident, the supposed victim now seeks up to $1 million in damages.
On Nov. 9, Kathy Ida Wolfe of Irving, Texas, filed lawsuit against Laura Powers, alleging that the Flower Mound, Texas, woman "maliciously dug her fingernails into my arm, and slammed the door of a beverage cart on my arm" during a June 2016 flight, the Dallas News reports.
STRESSED JET2 COPILOT TO BLAME FOR DAMAGING AIRCRAFT TAIL STRIKE DURING LANDING, REPORT REVEALS
According to the outlet, in the documents, 56-year-old Wolfe claims that her attacker "grabbed my scarf” and was “choking me" as she "dragged me in the aisle and in front of the passengers.”
Wolfe continued that she followed her employer’s procedures by reporting the attack to the captain, her fellow cabin crew members and the flight service manager, though her employer later failed to properly investigate the incident.
"I also reported the assault and battery to legal authorities after American Airlines failed to investigate and/or take action to ensure my safety," Wolfe said in the lawsuit.
According to the News, the suit was first filed in June in Tarrant County district court. Wolfe’s lawsuit against the employer and her coworker alleges “negligence, dangerous work environment, breach of contract, and assault and battery,” the News reports. She seeks damages of up to $1 million.
Meanwhile, Powers and American Airlines each filed an answer to the Tarrant County lawsuit before it was sent to federal court. Both claim that they are "not liable because Plaintiff caused or contributed to cause the harm for which recovery of damages is sought."
Both women are actively employed by American Airlines as per the lawsuit, though their immediate status remains unknown, according to the News.
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American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein declined Fox News’ request for comment on the lawsuit itself, but offered the following statement:
“American strives to create a work environment in which all team members feel safe and respected,” he said. | – In an incident that somehow failed to become a viral video, an American Airlines flight attendant was dragged down the aisle by her scarf during a clash with another flight attendant, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court. In the lawsuit, Kathy Ida Wolfe claims Laura Powers "maliciously dug her fingernails" into her arm before slamming the door of a beverage cart on it, the Dallas Morning News reports. Powers then "grabbed my scarf, choking me, and dragged me in the aisle and in front of the passengers," Wolfe says. Wolfe says she reported the June 2016 incident to the captain, fellow attendants, and a manager. She says she reported the assault to authorities after the airline failed to take action, USA Today reports. She accuses the airline and Powers of "negligence, dangerous work environment, breach of contract, and assault and battery" and is seeking $1 million in damages. Powers and the airline argue that they are not liable because Wolfe "caused or contributed to cause the harm for which recovery of damages is sought." Fox reports that according to the lawsuit, both women are still employed by American Airlines. (This worker "slipped through the cracks" after taking a nap in a plane's cargo hold.) |
Saturn Still Swings: Celebrating Sun Ra At 100
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Today marks 100 years since Sun Ra was born — or, as the musician might have put it, since he arrived on Earth. An influential jazz composer, keyboardist and bandleader, Sun Ra always insisted he was just visiting this planet.
"Since I don't consider myself as one of the humans, I'm a spiritual being myself," he said in A Joyful Noise, a documentary released in 1980.
Ra dressed himself and his band in elaborate costumes that were part ancient Egypt, part science fiction. Sometimes he claimed to be from Saturn.
"I'm not part of history," he said. "I'm more a part of the mystery which is my story."
Ra didn't like to talk about his childhood on Earth. In fact, the trail was nearly cold when biographer John Szwed started asking questions in the 1990s.
"He had a passport that said Saturn," Szwed recalls. "It had no birth dates."
Eventually, Szwed did uncover some basic biographical facts about Sun Ra. Herman "Sonny" Blount was born May 22, 1914 in Birmingham, Ala. By the 1950s he had moved to Chicago, worked as an arranger for jazz great Fletcher Henderson, and backed up a wide range of musicians playing blues, doo-wop and R&B.;
"Even in Chicago, when he was doing fairly straight things — blues, dance tunes, whatever — there was this hint of something else," Szwed says.
Blount changed his name to Sun Ra and began leading a big band called the Arkestra.
"He was the first one to really introduce me in the higher forms of music," said John Gilmore, who played tenor saxophone in the Arkestra for four decades.
Gilmore died in 1995, but was interviewed in A Joyful Noise. At first, Gilmore said, he had a hard time understanding Ra's music.
"Then one night, I heard it," he recalls. "We were playing this number 'Saturn.' I had been playing it for six months, every time we worked. But then I really heard the intervals this one night and I said, 'My gosh, it's unbelievable that anybody could write meaner intervals than Monk or Mingus. But he does.'"
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In the early '60s, Ra moved his Arkestra to New York. He explored collective free improvisation and was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace electronic instruments and synthesizers. John Szwed says Ra's stage act also got weirder and bigger.
"He went to extremes," Szwed says. "He'd have musclemen painted gold, jugglers, women carrying glowing balls like turn-of-the-century dancers. And depending on where you were coming into the thing, you either saw him as this avuncular, sweet old guy — or he was scary."
Ra's interest in ancient Egypt and African cultures led some to associate him with the Black Nationalist movement of the '60s and '70s. But he wasn't concerned with terrestrial politics.
"I'm not looking for liberty. I'm not looking for equality," Ra said. "I am moving forward with my music, universal language, expressing things of value. And if there's some people want to listen, they're welcome. I'm just like the birds. They sing. Those who like can listen and those who don't, don't have to."
Every song I write tells a story — a story that humanity needs to know about.
For all the freedom in his music, Ra demanded discipline from his musicians. He was constantly writing or rehearsing. In 1969, he moved the band out of New York to a house in Philadelphia that belonged to the father of the band's alto saxophonist, Marshall Allen.
Allen is celebrating his 90th birthday this month. He's still leading the Arkestra, which rehearses in that same modest row house in Philadelphia. It's full of sheet music, art, instruments, and mementos of Sun Ra's time on Earth. The band members still bunk together in the bedrooms, just like they did when Ra lived there. Allen says the communal living arrangement meant the band could rehearse without distractions.
"All your free time was taken," Allen recalls. "All this running around doing nothing — chasing girls or whatever you do. You devoting most of your time to music 24 hours a day."
In fact, the band members jokingly called it the "Ra jail." They're laughing, but you can tell it's not entirely a joke. Saxophonist Knoel Scott has been in and out of the Arkestra since the 1970s.
"Sun Ra was, for people who didn't know Sonny, he was an insomniac," Scott says. "He did not sleep. Maybe two hours, take a little nap — that was it. So 22 hours out of the day, he's awake and he's creating."
Ra wrote poetry, and he wrote his philosophy down in pamphlets and leaflets. But mostly, Ra wrote music, and was one of the first musicians to release it on his own record label. He wrote thousands of songs, filling dozens and dozens of albums.
"Every song I write tells a story — a story that humanity needs to know about," Ra said. "In my music I speak of unknown things, impossible things, ancient things, potential things. No two songs tell the same story."
Ra left the planet in 1993 after a series of strokes. The Sun Ra Arkestra will mark today's centennial with a concert in Zurich, Switzerland. It's the first show of the Arkestra's month-long tour of Europe, as the band still brings Sun Ra's message to the people of Earth. ||||| Legacy
Act Like You Know: Sun Ra
i itoggle caption Baron Wolman/Courtesy of the artist Baron Wolman/Courtesy of the artist
Records show that 100 years ago today, a boy named Herman Poole Blount was born in Birmingham, Ala. Between that moment and his passing in 1993, the man nicknamed "Sonny" developed huge musical talent, synthesized an all-encompassing Afro-futurist worldview and grew into the name Le Sony'r Ra — Sun Ra for short. And he lives on as a cultural hero at the intersection of flamboyant outsider and self-made genius.
For a man for whom outer space was a guiding metaphor, he was a lot of different things on Earth. Here's a short list:
He was a prolific composer who wrote over 1,000 tunes
He was an accomplished pianist on acoustic and electric keyboards of all sorts
He was a bandleader of small-to-medium-size experimental jazz combos
He was a ringleader of a 20-to-30-piece big band ("Arkestra") with full costumes, dancers and overhead projections
He was a well-read man whose personal philosophy drew from Egyptology, black Freemasonry, Biblical exegesis, science and science fiction and most anything else that lay outside the traditional domains of scholarship
He was an enigma to some jazz critics and enjoyed relatively little mainstream success
He appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live
He was lionized by both white bohemians and Black Arts pioneers
He was a black person who "arrived" in the American South in 1914, a conscientious objector in World War II and a participant — along with 6 million others — in the mid-century Great Migration of African Americans
He was, according to him, not from this planet, with no family and not a human
Behind his esoteric parables, contradictions and mythologies, there's at least one constant. Sun Ra was often recognized as one of the hardest-working musicians anywhere he went — and surely one of the most original.
His is a huge oeuvre that people spend lifetimes exploring. In fact, the Sun Ra Archives are re-releasing 21 major albums remastered for iTunes for his centennial arrival date — just a fraction of a discography which some historians estimate at over 180 records. Here's a quick introduction to that catalog in five essential tracks. | – He was a jazz titan who achieved little mainstream success, a big band leader, a free spirit, a poet, the author of thousands of songs, and, as he sometimes claimed, a resident of the planet Saturn who dropped by our humble planet for a little musical interlude. NPR today takes a look back at the late Sun Ra on the occasion of his presumed 100th birthday—or perhaps, his arrival on Earth, specifically Birmingham, Ala., where he was born Herman "Sonny" Blount. Eventually, he ended up in Chicago in the '50s, where he "was doing fairly straight things—blues, dance tunes, whatever," says his biographer, but "there was this hint of something else." Not long after, he changed his name to Sun Ra and founded the a big band called the Arkestra. His own tenor sax player says he didn't understand what Ra was about until "I really heard the intervals this one night and I said, 'My gosh, it's unbelievable that anybody could write meaner intervals than or Monk or Mingus. But he does.'" Ra's creativity, perhaps born of his insomnia that drove him to make music most hours of the day, seemed to spiral from there. "He went to extremes," says his biographer. "He'd have musclemen painted gold, jugglers, women carrying glowing balls like turn-of-the-century dancers." Ra died in 1993; his Arkestra plays on and will mark his centennial today with a concert in Zurich. Need a crash course on Ra? NPR has a primer here. |
The Secret Service Is Investigating a Conservative's Obama Assassination Tweets Posted 6:00 PM 03/21/10
Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
As Congress entered the final round of debate Sunday over the controversial health insurance reform bill, a self-described conservative blogger used his public Twitter account to urge the assassination of President Barack Obama. U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Max Milien confirms to DailyFinance: "We are aware of the actual posting and are actively investigating." A request for comment from a Twitter spokesperson hasn't been returned.As the blog Jezebel has reported, Soloman (Solly) Forell , apparently enraged by the impending passage of the health insurance reform bill, used his Twitter account to call for the assassination of Barack Obama, while also tweeting that since the country survived the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy, "we'll surely get over" this one, too.But Forell later recanted his apparent threats. "I have no intent, desire or motivation to harm the POTUS," he told DailyFinance by email. "I can't imagine why you're interested in my recent tweets." he added. "Oddly enough, they've caused more of a stir than they were designed to."As Jezebel notes , making threats against the president is a federal crime, per 18 USC Sec. 871 Forell's threats were made Sunday morning -- and prompted an outcry . His response ? "Attention Whining Liberals: No one wants to hurt the precious #EMPEROR. Stop your crying. The whole lot of you are a modern day joke. #tcot"Forell's tweets used the Twitter "hashtag" of "#tcot" -- which stands for "top conservatives on twitter." That's a list of conservatives on Twitter. Using such a filter makes it easy to find tweets by anyone who uses that tag (#tcot, in this case) to search Twitter.Hours later, perhaps realizing the severity of his comments, the blogger backtracked, posting , "Let us all renounce the harsh rhetoric about the POTUS [president of the U.S.]. Several, including myself, hv used inappropriate language. Let's remain civil! #tcot."This isn't the first time social media have been used as a platform to make threats against Obama. In October, a teenager posted a poll on Facebook asking if the president should be killed. The Secret Service later said the incident was " a mistake ," and the teen wasn't charged.With the Secret Service now investigating Forell's Tweets, it remains to be seen if charges will be brought in this case. ||||| Earlier today, self-described conservative blogger Solomon "Solly" Forell posted a tweet that included a call for assassination, as well as this line: "We'll surely get over a bullet 2 Barack Obama's head!" It gets worse:
Forell then followed that tweet up with this one:
That tag he added? #TCOT? It stands for "top conservatives on Twitter."
According to his Google profile, Forell is the author of a blog titled Barack Obama Was An American Electorate Mistake, which centers around Forell's disappointment in Obama's presidency. This disappointment spills over into Forell's other blogs, including Anybody But Barack Obama 2012, and The Audacity of Hype, which both touch upon Forrell's disgust with the "cult" of Obama, "a man who has done little with his life, but has written about his achievements as ifhe had found the cure for cancer in between winning a marathon and building a nuclear reactor with his teeth."
Forell may think he's protected by the First Amendment when it comes to his tweets, but the law begs to differ, specifically 18 USC Sec. 871:
Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect, or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President, President-elect, Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President, or Vice President-elect, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
You'll note however, that there's nothing specified about electronic threats. Perhaps that's why, as of now, Forell's Twitter account does not appear to be suspended; the tweet threatening the President's life was posted roughly six hours ago and has not yet been removed.
Update: While Forell hasn't removed the offensive tweets, he has posted an apologetic P.S.:
Uh, maybe the President would respect your opinion more if you didn't, you know, encourage people to kill him. Just a thought.
Update #2: Forell is now backtracking like crazy, complaining about "whining liberals" and asking that we "all renounce the harsh rhetoric about the POTUS. Several, including myself, hv used inappropriate language. Let's remain civil!" A little too late, I'd say.
Update #3: I just received an email from Twitter, dated 2:55pm PDT, stating the following:
We have removed this profile due to violation of Twitter's Rules, specifically listed under "Content Boundaries and Use of Twitter": *Unlawful Use: You may not use the service for any unlawful purposes or for promotion of illegal activities. It is against the Twitter Terms of Service to use the service to commit illegal acts. Threatening the life of the president (or president-elect) is a federal offense under Title 18, USC, section 871. All accounts in violation of our Terms of Service are permanently suspended and we report to legal authorities accordingly.
However, as of 6:06 pm EST, Forell's account appears to still be up and running.
Update #4: Sam Gustin at DailyFinance is reporting that the Secret Service is now investigating Forell's tweets, with Secret Service spokesperson Max Milien stating: "We are aware of the actual posting and are actively investigating."
And though Twitter sent an email earlier declaring that Forell's profile had been removed, it appears that only the assassination-related tweets have been deleted from his account: as of 9:00 pm EST, his account still appears to be active.
[Conservative Blogger Urges Obama's Assassination On Twitter [DailyFinance]
[The Audacity Of Hype]
[Anybody But Barack Obama 2012]
[Barack Obama Was A Mistake]
[Solly Forrell's Twitter]
[Solly Forell's Google Profile]
This Is Getting Scary [Balloon Juice]
Related: Obama Death Tweeter Being Investigated By Secret Service [Gawker] | – Secret Service authorities are investigating tweets by a conservative blogger apparently urging "a bullet" to President Obama's "head." Solomon Forell, upset by the impending passage of the health reform bill, noted yesterday that because the nation survived the killings of Lincoln and Kennedy, "we'll surely get over a bullet 2 Barack Obama's head!" reports Jezebel. He later added: "The next American with a clear shot should drop Obama like a bad habit." Forell later backed off his call, telling DailyFinance: "I have no intent, desire or motivation to harm" the president, adding: "I can't imagine why you're interested in my recent tweets." He also added a tweet saying: "No good American would ever want to see something happen to our POTUS." Forell has operated a number of conservative blogs, including his current offering entitled "Barack Obama was an Electorate Mistake." |
"Massacre" reported by uncontacted Indians as rare video emerges
July 31, 2014
The uncontacted Indians appeared young and healthy, but reported shocking incidents of a massacre of their older relatives. © FUNAI/Survival
Rare video footage of the first contact with a group of uncontacted Indians near the Brazil-Peru border has emerged alongside new accounts of horrific violence against their community, prompting experts to call for the urgent protection of their land or risk their “extermination” and “genocide”.
The video clip was released by FUNAI, Brazil’s indigenous affairs department, and first published by “Amazonia Blog” and shows several young and healthy Indians exchanging goods such as bananas. But disturbing reports by the Indians suggest that many of their elder relatives were massacred and their houses set on fire.
Interpreter Zé Correia reported, “The majority of old people were massacred by non-Indians in Peru, who shot at them with firearms and set fire to the houses of the uncontacted. They say that many old people died and that they buried three people in one grave. They say that so many people died that they couldn’t bury them all and their corpses were eaten by vultures.”
The uncontacted Indians are thought to have fled violence in Peru, and made contact with the settled Ashaninka community and agents of FUNAI at the end of June. The Indians were treated for an acute respiratory infection, to which they have no resistance, and kept in “quarantine” for several days before returning to the forest.
After first contact, the Indians contracted an acute respiratory infection. Experts believe that FUNAI lacks the resources to avert tragedy in the future. © FUNAI/Survival
According to experts, tragedy in the form of an epidemic was narrowly averted, but they warn that FUNAI lacks the resources and staff to respond to similar incidents in future. Guard posts in the area were closed after being ransacked by drug traffickers in 2011.
The doctor who treated the Indians warned of the possibility of more contacts in the region, and emphasized the crucial need to train more specialized health teams to deal with contact and post contact situations.
José Carlos Meirelles, who has monitored uncontacted Indians in this region for FUNAI for decades, said, “If they don’t make things secure for whoever turns up there, unfortunately we’ll repeat history and we will be jointly responsible for the extermination of these people.”
Peru has failed to adequately protect uncontacted Indians and their land, forcing them to flee over the border. The majority of Peru’s Amazon rainforest has been leased to oil and gas companies, which are allowed to operate in reserves dedicated to the protection of the world’s most vulnerable peoples.
Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, has called on the Brazilian government to immediately reinstate all its monitoring posts in the area as a matter of urgency and to allocate more funding for its uncontacted Indians unit, and on the Peruvian government to investigate the reports of a massacre and protect the land of uncontacted tribes.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the region’s foremost human rights body, called for the urgent protection of uncontacted tribes’ land on Wednesday.
Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, “It’s vital that Brazil and Peru immediately release funds for the full protection of uncontacted Indians’ lives and lands. Their economic growth is coming at the price of the lives of their indigenous citizens – now, their newfound wealth must be used to protect those few uncontacted tribes that have so far survived the ongoing genocide of America’s first people.”
Note to editors:
- The video footage of first contact, and accounts of the incident can be viewed here.
- More than 7,000 people have signed Survival’s urgent petition for the protection of uncontacted tribes’ land. ||||| Rating is available when the video has been rented.
This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| When young people from an indigenous tribe in Peru made contact with a settlement in Brazil, they reported violent attacks on elders in their community.
Updated Friday, Aug. 1, at 9:30 a.m. ET.
An indigenous tribe living near the Brazil-Peru border may be facing violent attacks from illegal loggers and drug traffickers who are exploiting the densely forested region, according to an advocacy group.
After years of living in isolation from the outside world, several young members of this "uncontacted" tribe recently entered a nearby settled community in Brazil. Through interpreters, they told harrowing stories about their encounters in the forests.
"The majority of old people were massacred by non-Indians in Peru, who shot at them with firearms and set fire to the houses of the uncontacted," an interpreter named Zé Correia reported through Survival International, a group that advocates for tribal people's rights. "They say that many old people died, and that they buried three people in one grave. They say that so many people died that they couldn't bury them all and their corpses were eaten by vultures." [See Photos of the Uncontacted Amazon Tribes]
In late June, a few members of the tribe emerged from the forest and voluntarily made contact with Ashaninka people in the village of Simpatia, in Brazil's Acre state. FUNAI, Brazil's indigenous affairs department, released a video clip of this initial contact today (July 31) that shows young tribe members exchanging bananas and other goods.
FUNAI representatives learned that these people had walked several days to Simpatia from their home turf within Peru's borders. Most of the tribe members appeared healthy at first. But after several visits to Simpatia, some showed flu-like symptoms. Earlier this month, seven of them were treated for acute respiratory infections.
Brazilian officials have gleaned that this tribe has had sporadic encounters with non-Indians, which have resulted in "terrible losses," said Fiona Watson, a researcher and field director with Survival International. These indigenous people also had a gun, some screws and other items that they may have purloined from non-Indians, perhaps from a logging camp, Watson told Live Science.
Her organization "is extremely concerned about their health, about possible future attacks, and about the reports from the uncontacted that some of their community were killed at the hands of non-Indians and their homes set on fire," Watson said in an emailed statement. She added that the organization is also worried about the ability of the Brazilian and Peruvian governments to contain a future epidemic in the region. Uncontacted people are particularly vulnerable to diseases, such as malaria and the flu, against which they have no immunity.
"There is an urgent priority to get trained specialist health teams able to go in immediately when any uncontacted appear, and for far greater monitoring of and protection of the territories of uncontacted tribes from invasions," Watson said.
Survival International has called on Peru to investigate the reports of a "massacre" and Brazil to allocate more funds for its uncontacted Indians unit to monitor the region.
Agnes Portalewska, the communications manager for the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based group Cultural Survival, said her organization has been following the story and is concerned, especially because these groups are vulnerable to disease from outsiders.
"Our concern is also with the fact that these incidents get more attention in the media, because of the 'exotic' aspect of the story, and few others make it into the mainstream media," Portalewska wrote in an email to Live Science. She noted that most groups who are considered "uncontacted" live in voluntary isolation and have some, albeit limited, contact with other groups for reasons of trade and marriage.
"Their right to live in isolation should be respected and protected, and states have an obligation to respect, protect and fulfill these rights," Portalewska said.
Earlier this week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) released an extensive report urging South American governments to preserve the rights of indigenous people who live in voluntary isolation, and are at risk of confrontations with loggers, miners, oil and gas companies, religious missionaries, misguided ecotourism ventures, and drug traffickers.
Editor's note: This article was updated on Friday (Aug. 1) to add comments from Cultural Survival.
Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. | – A video that purports to show footage of first contact with a formerly isolated tribe on the Brazil-Peru border has been released by Brazil's FUNAI agency, along with some disturbing news from tribe members themselves. As had been hinted at in previous reports, some of the younger members say they witnessed horrific attacks on their elders, reportedly at the hands of drug traffickers and illegal loggers, reports Live Science. Experts are pleading for immediate protection to fend off what they see as a possible "genocide," reports tribal rights group Survival International. Contrasting with images in the video of young tribe members trading bananas and hanging out by the water are the tales of death and destruction relayed to an interpreter. "The majority of old people were massacred by non-Indians in Peru, who shot at them with firearms and set fire to the houses of the uncontacted," he says. So many were killed that they either got buried en masse (sometimes three to a grave) or their corpses were devoured by vultures. "If they don’t make things secure for whoever turns up there, unfortunately we’ll repeat history and we will be jointly responsible for the extermination of these people," says a FUNAI worker. (Several tribe members have reportedly contracted the flu since coming into contact with the modern world.) |
Uganda's anti-gay bill will be passed before the end of 2012 despite international criticism of the draft legislation, the speaker of the country's parliament said Monday, insisting it is what most Ugandans want.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga told The Associated Press that the bill, which originally mandated death for some gay acts, will become law this year.
Ugandans "are demanding it," she said, reiterating a promise she made before a meeting on Friday of anti-gay activists who spoke of "the serious threat" posed by homosexuals to Uganda's children. Some Christian clerics at the meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, asked the speaker to pass the law as "a Christmas gift."
"Speaker, we cannot sit back while such (a) destructive phenomenon is taking place in our nation," the activists said in a petition. "We therefore, as responsible citizens, feel duty-bound to bring this matter to your attention as the leader of Parliament ... so that lawmakers can do something to quickly address the deteriorating situation in our nation."
The anti-gay activists paraded in front of Kadaga, with parents and schoolchildren holding up signs saying homosexuality is "an abomination." The speaker then promised to consider the bill within two weeks, declaring that "the power is in our hands."
"Who are we not to do what they have told us? These people should not be begging us," Kadaga said of activists who want the bill to become law.
Uganda's penal code criminalizes homosexuality, but in 2009 a lawmaker with the ruling party said a stronger law was needed to protect Uganda's children from homosexuals. Parliamentarian David Bahati charged at the time that wealthy homosexuals from the West were "recruiting" poor children into gay lifestyles with promises of money and a better life. Bahati believes his bill is sufficiently popular among lawmakers to pass without difficulty.
Gay rights activists in Uganda, while opposing the bill, point out that it has helped their fight for equality by putting what used to be a taboo subject on the national agenda. Homosexuality is illegal in many African countries.
Pepe Julian Onziema, a prominent Ugandan gay activist, said the new push to pass the law was frustrating.
"It's disappointing, but we are also going to seek a meeting with the speaker," Onziema said. But it is unlikely the speaker will agree to such a gathering, he said.
While the bill appears to be popular in Uganda, it has attracted widespread criticism abroad. President Barack Obama has described it as "odious," while some European countries have threatened to cut aid to Uganda if the bill becomes law. ||||| Image caption Ugandan gay people often fear living openly
Uganda will pass a new law against homosexuality by the end of 2012 as a "Christmas gift" to its advocates, the speaker of parliament has said.
The AP news agency quoted Rebecca Kadaga as saying that Ugandans were "demanding" the law.
Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, but the bill which is before parliament proposes tougher sentences for people convicted.
Foreign donors have threatened to cut aid if gay rights are not respected.
The bill, tabled by MP David Bahati, proposes jail terms for homosexual acts, including a life sentence in certain circumstances.
It prohibits the "promotion" of gay rights and calls for the punishment of anyone who "funds or sponsors homosexuality" or "abets homosexuality".
But a clause which calls for the death penalty against people found guilty of "aggravated homosexuality" - defined as when one of the participants is a minor, HIV-positive, disabled or a "serial offender" - is to be dropped, Mr Bahati has said.
If homosexuality is a value for the people of Canada they should not seek to force Uganda to embrace it Rebecca Kadaga, Ugandan parliamentary speaker
Diplomatic spat
The bill was strongly condemned last year by Western leaders, including US President Barack Obama who described it as "odious".
International donors have threatened to cut off aid to Uganda if the country does not do more to protect the rights of gay people.
Ms Kadaga said she hoped the bill, first tabled in 2009 and now before a parliamentary committee, would be passed by the end of the year, Reuters news agency reports.
"Ugandans want that law as a Christmas gift. They have asked for it and we'll give them that gift," Ms Kadaga is quoted as saying.
Last month, Ms Kadaga was involved in a row with Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird over gay rights at a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Quebec.
When Mr Bairn warned Uganda not to trample on people's human rights, Ms Kadaga replied: "If homosexuality is a value for the people of Canada they should not seek to force Uganda to embrace it. We are not a colony or a protectorate of Canada."
She received a rapturous welcome from several hundred anti-gay activists, including religious leaders, at Uganda's Entebbe airport when she returned from her trip.
In June, Uganda's Minister for Ethics and Integrity Simon Lokodo said 38 non-governmental organisations which he accused of promoting homosexuality would be banned.
Clare Byarugaba, the co-ordinator of Uganda's Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said the group would challenge the law in the constitutional court, Reuters reports.
"The international community supports us and we also believe in the constitution of our country which protects the rights and freedoms of everyone," she is quoted as saying.
Correspondents say many Ugandans are deeply conservative, and say homosexuality is against their religious and cultural beliefs. | – The speaker of Uganda's parliament has promised a "Christmas gift" to the country's conservative Christian clerics: one of the world's harshest anti-gay laws. Homosexual acts are already illegal in Uganda, but the bill the speaker has vowed to pass before the end of the year bans the "promotion" of gay rights and calls for the punishment of anyone who "funds or sponsors homosexuality" or "abets homosexuality," the BBC reports. The bill will bring a tougher sentence for people convicted of some homosexual acts, although a clause introducing the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" has been dropped. Ugandans "are demanding" the anti-gay law, the speaker told the AP before of a meeting of anti-gay activists who spoke of the "serious threat" gays posed to the country's children. The bill has been strongly criticized overseas, with President Obama calling it "odious" and some European countries threatening to withdraw aid if it is passed. |
Image Credit: Universal Orlando ResortThe Wizarding World of Harry Potter celebrated its grand opening last night, and while Daniel Radcliffe has already dubbed the Dragon Challenge rollercoaster his favorite ride, most eyes will be on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride which Universal Orlando promised would cause guests to “feel things no one has ever felt inside a theme park attraction, move in ways no one has ever moved.” Before we check out early reviews, let’s all just look at the photo Barbara Nefer took of the warning board that precedes the ride. You know you’re in for something special when the people who should not experience the ride include, but are not limited to, anyone with a fear of heights or enclosed spaces, medical sensitivity to fog and strobe effects, and a heart condition or abnormal blood pressure. Also when prosthetic limbs must be removed.
iVillage’s Liz Zack sets the scene nicely: “You’re sitting in what is essentially the hand of a big robotic arm, which has the ability to turn you every which way. Over the next four minutes you’ll join Harry on broomstick — twisting, turning, and diving as he flies over Hogwarts — you will lose your stomach and, if you’re wearing flip flops, you will be very worried that you’ll lose those, too.” She was impressed by how immersed you feel in the action. “It seems like you barely make the clearance under the attacking arm of the Whomping Willow, and the biggest compliment I can pay the attraction is that I literally turned my head a few times thinking we were going to hit something or that the fire from the dragon would scorch us.” ||||| Sorry, the page you requested was not found.
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Please try Yahoo! Help Central if you need more assistance. | – Weight, not the wait, is turning out to be the big problem for some parkgoers eager to go on the "Forbidden Journey" ride at Orlando's new Harry Potter theme park. With its weight limit of around 265 pounds, portly Potter fans are finding themselves banned from the much-hyped ride on the grounds that they're too large for safety harnesses. Denied the ride that the park promises will make them "feel things no one has ever felt inside a theme park attraction, move in ways no one has ever moved” (read ride reviews here), what they're feeling is upset. "What surprised and disappointed me the most," blogged one rejected rider, "was that many of Universal's other rides contain 'modified seating' rows for larger guests, and—let's face it—a good number of people in the Harry Potter fandom are a bit heavy, so why didn't Universal anticipate and accommodate us here?" Adding insult to injury: Rumor has it that 265-pound Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was allowed on the ride, notes AolNews. |
An area of around 13,000 square feet of coral reef habitat within a marine park was impacted by anchor damage from the mega-yacht Tatoosh, according to a survey by Department of Environment divers.
The anchor chain of the 300-foot luxury yacht, owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, struck the reef in the West Bay replenishment zone, close to the popular Doc Poulson wreck dive site, around Jan. 14.
The DoE conducted an in-water survey of the damage last week and released its preliminary findings Friday.
“Initial figures place the damaged area at 1,200 square meters … with 80 percent of the coral within that area destroyed,” according to a statement from the department.
The estimate for the area impacted is around the same as that affected when an anchor and chain from the Carnival Magic cruise line struck a reef near George Town in 2014. It is not clear whether the level of coral density was on the same scale.
The DoE is still investigating the circumstances of the incident and is working on a full damage assessment report that will be completed this week.
A spokesman for Vulcan Inc., Mr. Allen’s communication’s team, said the crew is cooperating with the investigation.
“While moored in the Caymans in a position directed by the local Port Authority, the vessel Tatoosh shifted due to strong winds in the area that unintentionally pushed it closer to a marine reserve area.
“The vessel quickly relocated its position and the crew is cooperating fully with local authorities to ensure that no marine life in that area was inadvertently impacted.”
The yacht, which has an on-board helicopter, was still in Cayman’s waters Tuesday, moored close to Spotts Landing.
Kelsey Jukam contributed reporting. |||||
Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen, left, with Coach Pete Carroll. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
UPDATE 3:01 P.M.
Paul Allen’s Vulcan Inc. issued a statement to GeekWire saying that the yacht’s crew was directed to anchor in the designated area and moved the ship when it found out something could be amiss:
“Media reports are greatly exaggerated and the investigation by the local authorities is continuing. The local port authority had directed the Tatoosh to anchor in a designated area, and the crew moved the vessel, on its own accord, as soon as it learned from local divers that there might be a problem. The crew is cooperating fully with the local authorities in this matter.”
ORIGINAL POST
As one does when you’re the co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, Paul Allen owns a big yacht — the Tatoosh, which at 303 feet long long is the 49th largest in the world, according to BoatInternational.com. The yacht, described as “a model of understated luxury” in those big-yacht rankings, is manned by a crew of 30 and has two helipads, because you never know when you’ll need a spare.
And now it appears that Allen’s big yacht has him in big trouble in the Cayman Islands, where officials have accused him of wrecking a high percentage of a protected coral reef.
Paul Allen’s superyacht Tatoosh damages coral reef in the Caymen Islands https://t.co/gDVBcdCGam pic.twitter.com/QQNLkYTAVf via SUPERYACHTS.… — SuperYachts News (@superyachts_) January 27, 2016
Yacht & Boating World has the story:
The Department of Environment has accused the Microsoft co-founder of having caused serious damage to the protected coral reef in the West Bay replenishing zone. Following an inspection by local divers to assess the damage, officials have found that Allen’s 300 ft yacht MV Tatoosh wrecked a high percentage of the coral, which is essential for marine’s life. It is thought that the accident was caused by a yacht’s chain when it was anchored by the Doc Poulson shipwreck and The Knife dive site.
According to the Cayman News Service, the yacht’s anchor chain destroyed close to 14,000 square feet — three-tenths of an acre — of the coral reef in question, or about 80 percent of it. Coral reefs are considered vital for marine life to flourish and help protect coastlines from big waves and tropical storms.
Officials have yet to determine if Allen was aboard the yacht when the damage occurred but his camp is blaming the Port Authority, “claiming that they followed instructions when mooring the superyacht,” Y&BW’s Stef Bottinelli reports. “Shifting winds reportedly changed the position, pushing the ship toward the reserve but it was relocated to avoid damage,” the Cayman News Service says.
The Cayman Islands Department of Environment will issue its findings next week, and Allen could incur a big fine if he’s found to be responsible (though the Cayman News Service says the government there has failed to collect on similar sanctions levied on cruise-ship lines and other megayacht owners).
With a net worth of $17.4 billion, Allen probably can foot the bill. | – An American mega-yacht is being blamed for destroying 80% of the protected coral within a 13,000-square-foot area of a Cayman Islands marine reserve, the Cayman Compass reports. The 303-foot yacht named Tatoosh belongs to billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, reports the Washington Post. The damage was caused on or around Jan. 14 near a popular dive site, and the Cayman Islands Department of Environment is continuing to look into what happened. At the moment, it appears the coral was damaged by the Tatoosh dragging its anchor chain, notes the Compass. A spokesperson for Allen blames the incident on strong winds moving the yacht too close to the marine reserve, and GeekWire quotes a statement from Vulcan—Allen's company—that claims media accounts of the damage are "greatly exaggerated." The islands' Department of Environment is set to issue its report on the incident next week, according to the Post. If found responsible, Allen—who may or may not have been on the Tatoosh at the time—could face a major fine. Coral reefs are vitally important for everything from providing a habitat for marine life to protecting coastlines from storms. The Tatoosh, which features not one but two helipads, is one of the top 50 largest yachts in the world. But GeekWire points out it's actually the smaller of Allen's yachts. (On the bright side, Allen's yachting has resulted in a cool maritime find.) |
Washington (CNN) US President Donald Trump signed a new executive order Monday that bans immigration from six Muslim-majority countries, dropping Iraq from January's previous order, and reinstates a temporary blanket ban on all refugees.
The new travel ban comes six weeks after Trump's original executive order caused chaos at airports nationwide before it was blocked by federal courts. It removes out language in the original order that indefinitely banned Syrian refugees and called for prioritizing the admission of refugees who are religious minorities in their home countries. That provision drew criticism of a religious test for entry and would have prioritized Christians over Muslims fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East.
The new ban, which takes effect March 16, also explicitly exempts citizens of the six banned countries who are legal US permanent residents or have valid visas to enter the US -- including those whose visas were revoked during the original implementation of the ban, senior administration officials said.
"We cannot compromise our nation's security by allowing visitors entry when their own governments are unable or unwilling to provide the information we need to vet them responsibly, or when those governments actively support terrorism," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday.
The new measures will block citizens of Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from obtaining visas for at least 90 days. The order also suspends admission of refugees into the US for 120 days, directing US officials to improve vetting measures for a program that is already widely regarded as extremely stringent.
Trump signed the executive order earlier Monday in the Oval Office outside the view of reporters and news cameras, after more than three weeks of repeated delays, the latest of which came after White House officials decided last week to delay the signing to avoid cutting into positive coverage of Trump's joint address to Congress.
The delays also came amid an intense lobbying effort from Iraqi government officials, including from the country's prime minister, to remove Iraq from the original seven-state list of banned countries.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Iraq's removal from the list came after an intense review from the State Department to improve vetting of Iraqi citizens in collaboration with the Iraqi government, though he did not specify how vetting had been improved.
"The United States welcomes this kind of close cooperation," he said. "This revised order will bolster the security of the United States and our allies."
The rollout of the revised travel ban marks an important moment for the administration, which has little room for error after the chaotic debut of the original plan. That failure raised questions about the new White House's capacity to govern and to master the political intricacies needed to manage complicated political endeavors in Washington. It also brought Trump into conflict with the judiciary in the first sign of how constitutional checks and balances could challenge his vision of a powerful presidency built on expansive executive authority.
The original order came under intense criticism as an attempt to bar Muslims from entering the country, and Trump's call during the campaign for a "Muslim Ban" was cited in court cases attacking the ban.
The new order does not prioritize religious minorities when considering refugee admissions cases.
Administration officials Monday stressed they do not see the ban as targeting a specific religion.
"(The order is) not any way targeted as a Muslim ban ... we want to make sure everyone understands that," an official told reporters.
"The Department of Justice believes that this executive order just as the first executive order is a lawful and proper exercise of presidential authority," Sessions said.
Democrats responded by calling Trump's order a repeat version of the first attempt.
"Here we go again...Muslim Ban 2.0 #NoBanNoWall" tweeted Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, one of two Muslims serving in the House of Representatives.
Working to contain fallout
The newly crafted order also revealed that the administration wasn't just paying attention to the legal criticism in the courts, but also recalibrating in light of the heavy political fire they faced after the first order's messy rollout.
While administration lawyers argued the original travel ban went into effect immediately to prevent terrorists from rushing into the country, the revised ban will phase in after 10 days. The previous order will be rescinded on that date.
Trump had previously said he opposed giving any advance notice of the ban.
"If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the "bad" would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad "dudes" out there!" he tweeted on January 30
The White House also abandoned the sense of urgency with which it implemented the first travel ban, delaying the signing of a new executive order multiple times over the last three weeks. Politics also came into play as White House officials delayed the signing from last Wednesday in part to allow positive coverage of the President's joint address to Congress to continue uninterrupted.
"We want the (executive order) to have its own 'moment,'" a senior administration official told CNN last week.
The President signed the action Monday morning without the fanfare he has given to other executive orders. No media was present during the signing at the White House, an administration official confirmed. White House spokesman Sean Spicer tweeted a picture of Trump signing the order.
White House officials collaborated for several weeks with officials at the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and kept congressional leaders apprised of their progress this time around after the White House drew a backlash for keeping Congress and relevant federal agencies almost entirely in the dark during the first rollout.
To bolster its national security claims, the new executive order also states FBI has reported that approximately 300 people who entered the United States as refugees are "currently the subjects of counter-terrorism investigations."
"The fact remains that we are not immune to terrorist threats and that our enemies often use our own freedoms and generosity against us," Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said. "We cannot risk the prospect of malevolent actors using our immigration system to take American lives."
Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence committee, said the ban "has the same fundamental flaws" as the first order.
"We know that country of origin is a poor predictor of a propensity to commit acts of terror. If it were, Pakistan has been a far more problematic source of attack planning and would be at the top of the President's list, but that country merits not even a mention in the order," Schiff said in a statement.
Why Iraq was removed
But the new order was also delayed in part because of a debate within the administration over how to handle Iraq.
Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster had all advocated for Iraq to be removed from the Trump administration's list of banned countries in the new executive order for diplomatic reasons, including Iraq's role in fighting ISIS, sources told CNN's Elise Labott and Evan Perez. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly also supported the move.
Iraq was removed from the revised travel ban executive order after intensive lobbying from the Iraqi government at the highest levels, according to a senior US official.
That included a phone call between Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on February 10 and an in-person conversation between Abadi and Vice President Mike Pence in Munich on February 18.
Those conversations were followed by discussions between Tillerson and members of the Iraqi government about vetting measures in place that would prevent suspected terrorists from leaving Iraq and coming to the United States. Iraq did not implement new measures; rather, the country provided more detail to US officials about how it screens travelers.
In Trump's call with Abadi, the President vowed to seek a resolution to his counterpart's concerns about his citizens' being unable to enter the United States, according to a readout of the phone call from Baghdad. The US official said Trump asked Tillerson to get greater clarity on vetting measures in Iraq.
Trump also faced pressure to remove Iraq from the order from some American national security officials, who argued the restriction burdened a key anti-ISIS partner. Some of those voices were holdovers from the Obama administration.
Iraq's Foreign Ministry welcomed reports of its removal from the list of countries affected by the travel ban.
"(The) Iraqi Foreign Ministry expresses deep relief regarding the executive order that was issued by the American president Donald Trump, which excludes the Iraqis from the travel ban to the United States," said Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Ahmad Jamal. "This is considered an important step in the right direction that strengthen and reinforces the strategic alliance between Baghdad and Washington in many fields, in particular the fight against terrorism."
This story is breaking and will be updated.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct Kelly's name. ||||| President Donald Trump salutes as he stands on the tarmac after disembarking Air Force One as he arrives Sunday, March 5, 2017, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is returning from Mar-a-Largo, Fla.... (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump salutes as he stands on the tarmac after disembarking Air Force One as he arrives Sunday, March 5, 2017, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is returning from Mar-a-Largo, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump salutes as he stands on the tarmac after disembarking Air Force One as he arrives Sunday, March 5, 2017, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is returning from Mar-a-Largo, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Associated Press) President Donald Trump salutes as he stands on the tarmac after disembarking Air Force One as he arrives Sunday, March 5, 2017, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is returning from Mar-a-Largo, Fla.... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's revised travel ban will temporarily halt entry to the United States for people from six Muslim-majority nations who are seeking new visas, allowing those with current visas to travel freely, according to a fact sheet obtained by The Associated Press.
Trump was to sign the new executive order on Monday. The directive aims to address legal issues with the original order, which caused confusion at airports, sparked protests around the country and was ultimately blocked by the courts.
The revised order is narrower and specifies that a 90-day ban on people from Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen does not apply to those who already have valid visas. The White House also dropped Iraq from the list of targeted countries, following pressure from the Pentagon and State Department, which had urged the White House to reconsider, given Iraq's key role in fighting the Islamic State group.
The fact sheet cites negotiations that resulted in Iraq agreeing to "increase cooperation with the U.S. government on the vetting of its citizens applying for a visa to travel to the United States."
A fact sheet detailing the order was distributed to lawmakers and obtained by the AP.
The mere existence of a fact sheet signaled that the White House was taking steps to improve the rollout of the reworked directive. The initial measure was hastily signed at the end of Trump's first week in office, and the White House was roundly criticized for not providing lawmakers, Cabinet officials and others with information ahead of the signing.
Notably, Trump was not expected to hold a public signing ceremony for the new measure. Instead, several Cabinet secretaries — Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — planned to discuss the order at an event late Monday morning.
Trump administration officials say that even with the changes, the goal of the new order is the same as the first: keeping would-be terrorists out of the United States while the government reviews the vetting system for refugees and visa applicants from certain parts of the world.
According to the fact sheet, the Department of Homeland Security will conduct a country-by-country review of the information the six targeted nations provide to the U.S. for visa and immigration decisions. Those countries will then have 50 days to comply with U.S. government requests to update or improve that information.
Additionally, Trump's order suspends the entire U.S. refugee program for 120 days, though refugees already formally scheduled for travel by the State Department will be allowed entry. When the suspension is lifted, the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. will be capped at 50,000 for fiscal year 2017.
Other changes are also expected, including no longer singling out Syrian refugees for an indefinite ban. Syrian refugees will now be treated like other refugees and be subjected to the 120-day suspension of the refugee program.
The new version is also expected to remove language that would give priority to religious minorities. Critics had accused the administration of adding such language to help Christians get into the United States while excluding Muslims.
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Associated Press writer Alicia A. Caldwell contributed to this report.
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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Jill Colvin at http://twitter.com/colvinj ||||| President Trump signed a new travel ban Monday that administration officials said they hope will end legal challenges over the matter by imposing a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas for citizens of six majority-Muslim nations.
In addition, the nation’s refugee program will be suspended for 120 days, and the United States will not accept more than 50,000 refugees in a year, down from the 110,000 cap set by the Obama administration.
The new guidelines mark a dramatic departure from Trump’s original ban, issued in January and immediately met by massive protests and then ordered frozen by the courts. The new ban lays out a far more specific national security basis for the order, blocks the issuance only of new visas, and names just six of the seven countries included in the first executive order, omitting Iraq.
[Read the full text of the revised executive order]
Trump signed the new ban out of public view, according to White House officials. The order will take effect March 16.
“This executive order responsibly provides a needed pause so we can carefully review how we scrutinize people coming here from these countries of concern,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in announcing that the order had been signed.
The order also details specific sets of people who would be able to apply for case-by-case waivers to the order, including those previously admitted to the United States for “a continuous period of work, study, or other long-term activity”; those with “significant business or professional obligations”; and those seeking to visit or live with family.
Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, sent out an email asking people to sign a petition in support of the new order.
“As your President, I made a solemn promise to keep America safe,” the email signed by Trump said. “And I will NEVER stop fighting until we implement the policies you — and millions of Americans like you — voted for.”
Democrats and civil liberties groups said Monday that the new order was legally tainted in the same way as the first one: It was a thinly disguised Muslim ban. Trump, in his email, used the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism” to describe his concern with the countries whose citizens would be blocked from acquiring visas.
That seems to portend more litigation — though how soon remains unclear. The attorney general of Washington state, Bob Ferguson, who successfully sued to have the first ban blocked, said he was still reviewing what to do.
The new order, Ferguson said, represented a “significant victory” for Washington state because the administration had “capitulated on numerous key provisions that we contested in court.” But he said state lawyers would need two or three days to see what action they would take in the court case.
(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)
“We’re reviewing it carefully, and still have concerns with the new order,” Ferguson said.
The Justice Department argued in a court filing that even if the litigation were to move forward, it should do so at a slower pace, and with the new ban in place. The government noted that visa applicants typically have to wait months and asserted there was “no imminent harm” from the president’s temporary suspension of the issuance of new visas to certain people.
That assertion, though, did little to assuage the concerns of Democrats and civil liberties groups, who said the new ban was just like the old.
Karen Tumlin, the legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, predicted that federal judges who ordered a restraining order on the earlier ban are likely to do so again, and that pending lawsuits filed by her organization and others will not need to be filed anew. “From our vantage point, that litigation lives on,” she said.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman (D), who joined the legal fight against the first ban, said, “While the White House may have made changes to the ban, the intent to discriminate against Muslims remains clear.”
Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said, “The only way to actually fix the Muslim ban is not to have a Muslim ban. Instead, President Trump has recommitted himself to religious discrimination, and he can expect continued disapproval from both the courts and the people.”
The revised travel ban also came under quick fire from refugee advocates, who said it unfairly penalizes refugees without improving U.S. security.
“President Trump still seems to believe you can determine who’s a terrorist by knowing which country a man, woman or child is from,” said Grace Meng, an immigration researcher with Human Rights Watch. “Putting this executive order into effect will only create a false sense of security that genuine steps are being taken to protect Americans from attack, while undermining the standing of the U.S. as a refuge for those at greatest risk.”
Officials from the State, Homeland Security and Justice departments defended the new order as a necessary measure to improve public safety. They said the countries named — Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Syria and Yemen — were either state sponsors of terrorism, or their territories were so compromised that they were effectively havens for terrorist groups. Iraq was omitted, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, because it is an “important ally in the fight to defeat ISIS” — the Islamic State militant organization — and Iraq’s leaders had agreed to implement new, unspecified security measures.
[Iraq, excluded from travel ban, praises new White House executive order]
The ban is among several measures the administration has introduced in the name of border security. Also Monday, Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly said he was “considering” separating undocumented immigrant parents from their children to deter people from trying to enter the country. Those people, he said, are often moved to the United States by a “terribly dangerous network” that originates in Central America.
Civil rights advocates said Monday that the new ban’s sudden exclusion of Iraq, as well as the omission of other countries with active terrorist groups — such as Colombia, Venezuela, Pakistan and the Philippines — underscored the ban’s arbitrariness as a national security measure.
The new order provides other exceptions not contained explicitly in previous versions: for travelers from those countries who are legal permanent residents of the United States, dual nationals who use a passport from another country, and those who have been granted asylum or refugee status. It removes an exception to the refugee ban for members of religious minority groups — which critics had pointed to as evidence the first ban was meant to discriminate against Muslims — and it no longer imposes an indefinite prohibition on travelers from Syria.
Anyone who holds a visa now should be able to get into the country without any problems, although those whose visas expire will have to reapply, officials said.
The order claims that since 2001, hundreds of people born abroad have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in the United States. It cites two specific examples: Two Iraqi nationals who came to the United States as refugees in 2009, it says, were convicted of terrorism-related offenses, and in October 2014, a Somali native brought to the country as a child refugee was sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to detonate a bomb at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Oregon. That man became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
[Trump’s new travel ban still wouldn’t have kept out anyone behind deadly U.S. terrorist attacks]
“We cannot risk the prospect of malevolent actors using our immigration system to take American lives,” Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly said.
The new ban also says that more than 300 people who entered the country as refugees were the subject of active counterterrorism investigations. U.S. officials declined to specify the countries of origin of those being investigated, their immigration status, or whether they had been charged with crimes.
Charles Kurzman, a sociology professor who studies violent extremism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there have been no fatalities caused by Muslim extremists with family backgrounds in the six countries covered by the new ban. A Department of Homeland Security report assessing the terrorist threat posed by people from the seven countries covered by the president’s original travel ban had cast doubt on the necessity of the executive order, concluding that citizenship was an “unreliable” threat indicator and that people from the affected countries had rarely been implicated in U.S.-based terrorism.
The Department of Homeland Security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, criticized the report as being incomplete and not vetted with other agencies, and he said the administration should not be pressed by the judiciary to unveil sensitive national security details to justify the ban.
The order represents an attempt by the Trump administration to tighten security requirements for travelers from nations that officials said represent a terrorism threat. A more sweeping attempt in January provoked mass protests across the country as travelers en route to the United States were detained at airports after the surprise order was announced. The State Department had provisionally revoked tens of thousands of visas all at once.
[Read the fact sheet and Q&A on the new travel executive order]
Officials sought to dismiss the idea that there would be any confusion surrounding the implementation of the new order. They said they delayed implementation so the government could go through the appropriate legal processes and ensure that no government employee would face “legal jeopardy” for enforcing the order.
The revisions to the order will make it more defensible in court — limiting the number of people with standing to sue — but the changes might not allay all the concerns raised by judges across the country. The three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, for example, said that exempting green-card and current visa holders from the ban would not address the court’s concern about U.S. citizens with an interest in noncitizens’ travel.
The administration, too, will have to wrestle with comments by the president and top adviser Rudolph W. Giuliani that seemed to indicate the intent of the order was to ban Muslims from entering the United States, which could run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
On the campaign trail, Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” After the election, Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, said: “So when [Trump] first announced it, he said, ‘Muslim ban.’ He called me up. He said, ‘Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally.’ ”
A federal judge in Virginia referenced those comments in ordering the ban frozen with respect to Virginia residents and institutions, calling it “unrebutted evidence” that Trump’s directive might violate the First Amendment.
Carol Morello, Matea Gold, Missy Ryan, Mark Berman and Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.
Read more:
Federal appeals court rules 3 to 0 against Trump on travel ban
This is what it takes for a refugee to be admitted into the U.S.
Denied Entry: Stories of refugees and immigrants barred from the U.S. | – The White House is rolling out its new travel ban after the first one got hung up in the courts. The big difference, as expected, is that Iraq is no longer on the banned list after promising to beef up screening, reports the AP. That leaves six Muslim-majority nations: Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The new directive, scheduled to take effect March 16, will prohibit new visas from being issued to travelers from those nations for 90 days, but those with current visas won't be affected. The revised order generally makes more exceptions than the first one, notes the Washington Post, including for those who are permanent legal residents of the US. President Trump signed it Monday, though not in a public ceremony as with the first. "If you have travel docs, if you actually have a visa, if you are a legal permanent resident, you are not covered under this particular executive action," adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News on Monday, per CNN. The order also will suspend the nation's refugee program for 120 days, making exceptions for those already cleared, and it will cap the total number of refugees at 50,000 for fiscal 2017, down about half from last year. So will the narrower scope appease critics? Early reaction suggests not. "The president has said he would ban Muslims, and this revised version—in these preliminary fact sheets—still does that, even if they have removed Iraq from the list," says the director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association. |
President Donald Trump smiles as he arrives for rally at the Rivertowne Marina, Wednesday, June 7, 2017, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (Associated Press)
CINCINNATI (AP) — Dogged by allegations in Washington, President Donald Trump traveled to friendlier territory Wednesday and promised to create a "first-class" system of roads, bridges and waterways by using $200 billion in public funds to generate $1 trillion in investment to pay for construction projects that most public officials agree are badly needed and long overdue.
"America must have the best, fastest and most reliable infrastructure anywhere in the world," Trump said, pushing his infrastructure plan in middle America as Washington geared up for Thursday's appearance before Congress by fired FBI Director James Comey.
"We will fix it," said Trump, standing along the Ohio River. "We will create the first-class infrastructure our country and our people deserve."
But the controversies and distractions in Washington continued to dog the president throughout the day. As he was speaking, the Senate Intelligence committee released the prepared testimony Comey is expected to deliver Thursday. It includes detailed descriptions of meetings and phone conversations between Trump and Comey.
In the speech, the president also pressed the Senate to send him a health care bill, criticized congressional Democrats as "obstructionists" and revisited his controversial decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement.
Trump said that as he campaigned across the country last year, people often asked him why the U.S. was spending money to rebuild other countries when the roads and bridges they travel on needed rebuilding, too.
Trump declared the days of spending on other nations are over: "It's time to rebuild our country" and to "put America first," he said.
While infrastructure initially was seen as an area where Republican and Democrats could work together, Democrats have balked at Trump's plan for using tax incentives and public-private partnerships to finance improvements. Many argue such a plan would result in taxpayer-funded profits for corporations with the cost loaded onto consumers.
Before the speech, Trump met aboard Air Force One with a pair of families the White House said were "victims" of the Obama-era health care law that the president and congressional Republicans want to repeal and replace.
Trump said the families — one from Ohio and another from Kentucky — are going through "turmoil" along with millions of other consumers who are facing rising premiums and limited choices for health coverage under the 2010 law.
"Now it's time for the Senate to act and save Americans from this catastrophic event because Obamacare is dead," Trump said. "Obamacare was one of the biggest broken promises in the history of politics. Remember 'you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan?' Didn't work out that way."
The Republican-controlled House has passed a health care bill that no Democrats supported. Senate Republicans are working on their own version.
Trump also mentioned his announcement last week that he was pulling the U.S. out of what he dismissively referred to as the "so-called" Paris climate accord. Trump has said the pact that nearly 200 nations agreed to in 2015 was unfair to the United States.
Trump said as long as he is president "we will never have outside forces telling us what to do and how to do it."
The White House has yet to outline specifics of the infrastructure plan, which it hopes to achieve largely through public-private partnerships. It has proposed funding improvements with $200 billion in public funds over nine years that would theoretically leverage $1 trillion worth of construction.
Trump's speech came the day before Comey's highly anticipated testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday as the White House faced fresh allegations about possible efforts by the president to influence the investigation into potential ties between his campaign and Russia.
Trump has denied the allegations and called the Russia story "fake news."
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president was "very focused on his agenda" in spite of the distractions.
"He's going to continue moving forward with exactly what the people of this country elected him to do. And he's not letting the distractions get in the way of that," she said.
In a tweet early Wednesday, Trump also announced Christopher Wray as his pick to succeed Comey as FBI director. Wray is a former Justice Department official who was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's personal lawyer during the George Washington Bridge lane-closing investigation.
Trump spoke in Cincinnati at a marina, with a barge carrying West Virginia coal behind him.
U.S. inland waterways are critical routes for transporting goods, including coal and agricultural products, but officials say they've grown old and run down.
The White House has billed this week as "infrastructure week" and planned a series of events, beginning with Trump's push Monday to privatize the nation's air traffic control system, separating it from the Federal Aviation Administration. That idea, which isn't new, quickly drew bipartisan opposition.
Trump also planned to discuss infrastructure spending with governors and mayors at the White House on Thursday.
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Superville contributed from Washington.
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Follow Colvin and Superville on Twitter at https://twitter.com/colvinj and https://twitter.com/dsupervilleap ||||| The project was included in a leaked list of Mr. Trump’s budget priorities, but the mayor — who accused the president of a “bait and switch” — and his staff say proposed cuts to the Highway Trust Fund in the president’s outline could delay the project.
“The weekend before the election, he literally promised to build the Brent Spence that carries I-75 over the Ohio River,” Mr. Cranley said. “He’s got to follow through on his commitments.”
Over the past week, an angry Mr. Trump has often undercut and confounded his own aides as they try to shift the conversation toward the infrastructure plan, tweeting out new attacks on the news media and feuding with his own Justice Department over its defense of his targeted travel ban.
Just as he has shrugged off efforts by his lawyers, communications aides and Republican members of Congress to curtail his tweeting, he frequently disregarded the teleprompter here — inviting two of his old New York real estate friends, Richard LeFrak and Steven Roth, onto the dais.
The broad outlines of Mr. Trump’s $1 trillion proposal, thus far little more than a blueprint, have been public since the campaign. The plan, conceived by the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, and Peter Navarro, an economic adviser, calls on the federal government to spend $200 billion in cash and tax credits that would, they say, result in $800 billion in additional private investment.
In congressional testimony this year, the transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, predicted that a more detailed proposal would be released by late May. But last week she would say only that it was “coming soon.” Instead, the administration on Monday unveiled with great fanfare a longstanding proposal — which one Trump aide described as “low-hanging fruit” — to privatize the nation’s air traffic control system.
The plan earned rare bipartisan praise and gave the president an opportunity to hold a celebratory announcement ceremony of the type he likes in the East Room of the White House. ||||| CINCINNATI, Ohio (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday trumpeted plans for $1 trillion in U.S. infrastructure spending as he struggles to gain momentum for his economic agenda amid growing attention on the probe into alleged ties between his campaign and Russia.
"America wants to build," Trump said. "There is no limit to what we can achieve. All it takes is a bold and daring vision and the will to make it happen."
Speaking in Cincinnati, Ohio, Trump reviewed a proposal announced earlier this year to leverage $200 billion in his budget proposal into a $1 trillion of projects to privatize the air traffic control system, strengthen rural infrastructure and repair bridges, roads and waterways.
Trump said he would not allow the United States to become a “museum of former glory.” He spoke about backing large transformative projects but did not give specifics.
“We will construct incredible new monuments to American grit that inspire wonder for generations and generations,” he said.
Trump pointed to a government program that allows the private sector to tap into low-cost government loans called the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act as a way to leverage federal funds with state, local, and private sector funding.
U.S. President Donald Trump smiles as he arrives for rally along side the Ohio River at the Rivertown Marina in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. June 7, 2017. John Sommers II
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that administration plans to unveil a detailed legislative proposal by the end of September.
Democrats want $1 trillion in new federal spending and proposed a plan that includes $200 billion in roads and bridges,$20 billion in expanding broadband Internet access, $110 billion for water systems and $75 billion for schools.
Slideshow (4 Images)
Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer said the Trump budget unveiled in May cuts $206 billion in infrastructure spending across several departments, including $96 billion in planned highway trust fund spending.
The Ohio visit was the second leg of a week-long White House focus on infrastructure. On Monday the president proposed spinning off air traffic control from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The proposal to privatize air traffic control has run into skepticism and opposition from Democratic senators and some Republicans.
The infrastructure push comes as the White House seeks to refocus attention on core promises to boost jobs and the economy that Trump made last year during his presidential campaign.
Those pledges have been eclipsed by the furor over Russia's alleged meddling in the election. That drama will come to a head on Thursday when former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who was leading the Russia probe until Trump fired him last month, testifies before a Senate panel. | – Speaking in front of a coal barge in Cincinnati, President Trump promised Wednesday to construct a "first class" system of roads, bridges, and waterways along with "incredible new monuments to American grit," the AP reports. Trump was in Ohio talking up his infrastructure plans, which include turning $200 billion in public funds into $1 trillion in infrastructure investment. "There is no limit to what we can achieve," Reuters quotes Trump as saying. "All it takes is a bold and daring vision and the will to make it happen." Trump's plan would see the repairing of bridges and roads, the privatizing of air traffic control, and more. He told those assembled that he didn't want to see the US become a "museum of former glory." Trump's infrastructure plans remain short on details, and his speech Wednesday lacked specifics. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao says a detailed proposal is coming by the end of September. Infrastructure was originally one of the areas where Trump had the most bipartisan support, the New York Times reports. But that has eroded. The mayor of Cincinnati called Trump out for promising to rehabilitate a major bridge in the city then cutting funding to the Highway Trust Fund. And Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer says Trump's proposed budget actually cuts $206 billion from infrastructure spending. Trump's speech was quickly overshadowed by the Senate releasing a transcript of former FBI Director James Comey's planned testimony. |
Qatar Airways Embraces Emotional Intelligence Training To Drive Excellence
Published on : Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Qatar Airways has partnered with Six Seconds to introduce enhanced emotional intelligence training. Seventeen members from the Customer Experience Training Team have successfully completed a customised training programme developed by Six Seconds, to become certified practitioners in Emotional Intelligence.
Qatar Airways’ Customer Experience Department has also commenced training of its on board leaders in the area of Emotional Intelligence and these workshops will be extended to all Customer Experience staff from April onwards.
Emotional Intelligence, also referred to as EQ, is the ability to perceive, manage and effectively communicate by understanding one’s emotions as well as those of others in order to facilitate higher levels of communication and successful interaction.
Qatar Airways Senior Vice President Customer Experience, Rossen Dimitrov, who oversaw the recent certification ceremony honouring the new EQ Practitioners said: “Qatar Airways is highly supportive of learning and development and this effective training programme will be highly beneficial for our trainers, our staff and ultimately for how we communicate with our customers.
“By involving our Customer Experience staff in emotional intelligence training, they are able to develop the skills and knowledge to better understand our passengers’ needs, how to manage their expectations and ultimately leave our passengers with even more positive memorable experiences.
“We also recognise the importance of emotions and want to create an organisation that is emotionally intelligent because that brings about numerous positive changes, including training effectiveness and customer service excellence, as well as an improvement in employee performance. Our staff are one of our most valuable assets and on-going training is a vital part of their development.”
Six Seconds, originally established in Silicon Valley in the United States, is one of the global leaders in turning the science of emotional intelligence into practical tools. Commenting on the partnership with Qatar Airways, Jayne Morrison, Six Seconds’ Regional Director, Middle East & Africa, said: “We are delighted to be working with Qatar Airways to strengthen their reputation in delivering service excellence by integrating emotional intelligence into all their learning and development offerings for the Customer Experience staff. We believe that this will ensure they continue to excel in developing teams that thrive and provide memorable experiences for all who fly with them.”
Qatar Airways, the national carrier of the State of Qatar has seen rapid growth in just 18 years of operation, to the point where today it is flying a modern fleet of 150 aircraft to 146 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America and South America.
Qatar Airways’ cabin crew are renowned around the world for the high levels of inflight service, winning the Best Cabin Crew in the world award in the Middle East edition of the prestigious industry magazine Business Traveller. In 2013, Qatar Airways also won for the second year in a row, the Skytrax award for the Best Airline Staff Service in the Middle East.
Source:- Qatar Airways
Tags: airlines news, Qatar Airways ||||| Local laws and customs reflect the fact that Qatar is an Islamic country. You should respect local traditions, customs, laws and religions at all times and be aware of your actions to ensure that they do not offend other cultures or religious beliefs, especially during the holy month of Ramadan or if you intend to visit religious areas. There may be serious penalties for doing something that might not be illegal in the UK. You’re strongly advised to familiarise yourself with and respect local laws and customs.
In 2019, the holy month of Ramadan is expected to start on 6 May and finish on 4 June. See Travelling during Ramadan
Be aware of cultural sensitivities when filming or photographing people and religious, military or construction sites. Some visitors attempting to film or photograph in sensitive areas have been arrested. If in doubt, seek permission. If you’re working as a journalist, you’ll need to get permission from the Qatar News Agency (QNA) to film or photograph as part of your work and enter the country on a visiting press permit. This permit will clear technical equipment like cameras through airport customs and provides other necessary information.
Importing drugs, alcohol, pornography, pork products and religious books and material into Qatar is illegal. All luggage is scanned at Doha Airport Arrivals Hall. DVDs and videos may be examined and censored. Penalties for drug offences are severe, often resulting in prison sentences.
It is an offence to drink alcohol or be drunk in public. Alcohol is available at licensed hotel restaurants and bars, and expatriates living in Qatar can obtain alcohol on a permit system. Don’t carry alcohol around with you (except to take it on the day of collection from the warehouse to your home).
Qatar law also prohibits the importation, sale and purchase of electronic cigarettes, liquids and other similar products (eg electronic shisha pipes). The law applies regardless of quantity and intended use. Customs officials may seize and confiscate any such items found entering the country by any means, including in passengers’ luggage or sent by post.
You should dress modestly when in public, including while driving. Women should cover their shoulders and avoid wearing short skirts. Any intimacy in public between men and women (including between teenagers) can lead to arrest.
Homosexual behaviour is illegal in Qatar. See our information and advice page for the LGBT community before you travel.
Financial crimes, including fraud, bouncing cheques (including post-dated and ‘security cheques’) and non-payment of bills (including hotel bills) can often result in imprisonment and/or a fine in Qatar. Bank accounts and other assets may also be frozen. You may also be liable for cheques that have been signed by you on behalf of a company.
If you have unpaid loans or financial commitments you won’t be able finish your employment in Qatar and exit the country. Any debt will need to be settled in full before your residence permit will be cancelled and your exit permit issued. ||||| A Qatar Airways executive has emailed the firm’s entire cabin crew a picture of a drunk air stewardess because he was “ashamed and disturbed”.
She appeared to be incapacitated on the floor outside staff accommodation in Doha after a night with friends and it was unclear who took the photograph.
Rossen Dimitrov, the airline’s “senior vice president of customer experience”, sent his email, revealed to the Daily Star, on Sunday.
He wrote: "Attached, please see a photo of a CSD who had returned heavily intoxicated to her accommodation.
"She was dropped off at the entrance of her building and left there sleeping until other crew members found her and carried her up to her apartment.
Foreigners need permits to buy alcohol in Doha and only specially licenced bars and restaurants can sell it
"I am so ashamed and disturbed by this behaviour displayed by a tenured member of our team, an adult who has been with the company for over nine years.
"How can we change rules when we do not behave as mature individuals. I am very disappointed."
Mr Dimitrov’s email came less than a week after he underwent “emotional intelligence training” with other Qatar Airways staff.
“We also recognise the importance of emotions and want to create an organisation that is emotionally intelligent because that brings about numerous positive changes, including training effectiveness and customer service excellence, as well as an improvement in employee performance,” he said in a company press release.
“Our staff are one of our most valuable assets.”
Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker
The national carrier of the State of Qatar has seen rapid growth in its 18 years of operation, flying 150 aircraft to 146 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Pacific and America.
Qatar Airways told MailOnline the email was sent to remind staff to respect the “norms and values” of Qatar, where the consumption of alcohol is severely restricted under Islamic laws.
“In Doha, the consumption of alcohol is not permitted for nationals and, although drinking is permitted for foreigners, being seen to be drunk would be considered highly disrespectful – it would have negative implications for both the individual and those associated with them,” a spokesperson said.
Best value holiday destinations around the world
+ show all Best value holiday destinations around the world
1/10 1. Tunisia Low prices are likely to tempt back tourists to North Africa’s most compact package. Fewer crowds will a more rewarding experience, whether visitors stay in cosmopolitan Tunis, or head for the Saharan Star Wars. Lonely Planet
2/10 2. South Africa Whether it's wonderful wildlife watching, bargain public transport or free entry to museums, currency fluctuations mean that South Africa is more affordable for many than it has been for years.
3/10 3.Shanghai China’s most famous coastal city has remained affordable for budget travellers. Accommodation can also be a bargain, as can street food.
4/10 4. Samoa This undeveloped tropical paradise offers cheap, family-owned beach hut accommodation. Visit the markets of capital Apia– especially Maketi Fou - for souvenirs and street food. Lonely Planet
5/10 5. Bali With backpacker-friendly beachside bungalows, reasonable costs for food and transport, Bali is perfect for mid-range adventurers who prefer air conditioning and spa treatments. Lonely Planet
6/10 6. Uruguay Both underrated and affordable, Uruguay’s sandy coasts are a better-value choice for a trip into South America than Brazil. There’s even a Fray Bentos museum.
7/10 7. Portugal This surf and family-friendly European destination is great value, and Lisbon is set to get a whole lot more accessible as Ryanair will soon fly to the capital. Lonely Planet
8/10 8. Taiwan While hotels are a big expense, dorm beds and homestays are great value in Taiwan and camping is common. Rail passes are also cheap, as is admission to many attractions and temples – not to mention the food.
9/10 9. Romania Eastern Europe is often good value for money, but Romania is now better connected to the rest of Europe by budget airlines. Accommodation in Bucharest is cheap in summer, and there are spectacular castles to explore. Lonely Planet
10/10 10. Burkino Faso This little known country in West Africa boasts fantastic markets, friendly locals, a lively arts scene in its capital Ouagadougou - plus affordable wildlife-spotting in the south. Lonely Planet
“The vast majority of our cabin crew would themselves be disappointed at the idea that one of their colleagues should get into this situation, since they share our pride in the reputation of our team, and they would also, as we are, be very concerned about the safety implications for someone in this position.”
The airline said the rule change Mr Dimitrov referred to started more than a year ago and had been “universally welcomed” by staff, although it did not specify what conditions were being altered.
It is an offence to drink alcohol or be drunk in public in Qatar, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Alcohol is available at licensed hotel restaurants and bars, and foreigners living there can obtain alcohol on a complicated permit system that evaluates an applicant’s employment, salary, marital status and religion.
It is illegal to import alcohol, sell it or offer it to Muslims or minors in Qatar, where homosexuality is also banned. | – In Qatar, it's illegal for the locals to consume alcohol, though expats can imbibe responsibly in licensed restaurants and bars or with a permit. Even worse, though, is if you allow yourself to become publicly intoxicated—and a Qatar Airways exec decided that when one of the company's employees appeared to have thrown back one too many, it was his job to make a public spectacle of her. Senior VP Rossen Dimitrov emailed—to the entire cabin-crew team—a photo of an apparently passed-out flight attendant sprawled across the floor of a building where she was said to be staying, the Daily Star reports. "Attached, please see a photo of a CSD who had returned heavily intoxicated to her accommodation," he wrote in the email. "She was dropped off at the entrance of her building and left there sleeping until other crew members found her and carried her up to her apartment." "I am so ashamed and disturbed by this behavior displayed by a tenured member of our team, an adult who has been with the company for over 9 years," he continued in his directive-against-drunkenness diatribe. "How can we change rules when we do not behave as mature individuals." The airline verified the email and added that the e-humiliation was a reminder to employees to respect "the [norms], values, and society of Qatar," the Star notes. Just a week before this email, Dimitrov went through "emotional intelligence training" with the rest of his staff, the Independent reports. "We … recognize the importance of emotions and want to create an organization that is emotionally intelligent because that brings about numerous positive changes," he said in a press release about the training. "Our staff are one of our most valuable assets." (At least it wasn't a drunk pilot on his way to fly a plane.) |
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Close ||||| A South Florida woman who asked police officers to help her hire a hit man to kill her husband and another man was arrested early Friday, authorities said. NBC 6's Claudia DoCampo spoke with Boynton Beach Spokeswoman Stephanie Slater about the investigation. (Published Friday, Oct. 18, 2013)
A South Florida woman who asked police officers to help her hire a hit man to kill her husband and another man was arrested early Friday, authorities said.
Annybelkis Terrero, 38, is charged with two counts of solicitation of murder and two counts of bribery, Boynton Beach Police said. She was being held without bond at the Palm Beach County Jail Friday, and it was unknown whether she has an attorney.
According to police, the incident began several weeks ago when police responded to Terrero's home after neighbors complained about drug activity and prostitution. Officers with the department's narcotics investigation unit met with Terrero, who agreed to become a confidential informant, police said.
Weird News Photos: Man Shoves Snake in Pants
On Wednesday, the officers returned to Terrero's home to have her sign official paperwork to become an informant. While there, Terrero agreed to show the officers where a drug dealer lives, police said.
As Terrero and the officers drove to the house, Terrero discussed how she hated her husband and wanted him dead, and told the officers, who she knew were cops and who were wearing police vests (pictured below), about a plan she had to kill him, police said.
"She wanted her husband dead and that she had come up with a plan to do it," Boynton Beach Police Spokeswoman Stephanie Slater said.
That's when the officers took on a different role.
"At that point the agents switched gears, assumed the roles of undercover officers and implied that they could help her with her wish to have her husband killed," Slater said. "At that point she produced 2 stolen credit cards as a down payment and gave it to the officers.
The officers implied that they knew someone who could kill Terrero's husband, police said. Terrero gave them stolen credit cards as down payment and told them to use them quickly because they were "hot," police said.
On Thursday night, Terrero met with the two officers and an undercover Boynton Beach officer who was posing as a hit man at a shopping center parking lot. Terrero brought a fully-loaded shotgun and ammunition to the meeting and offered it to the hit man as a down payment and sign of good faith, police said.
She also agreed to pay $30,000, and said the money would come from her husband's life insurance policy, police said.
Police said the other man Terrero wanted killed is an acquaintance. The incident is still being investigated.
Weird Stories: | – Pro tip: When looking for a hit man, don't ask cops to hook you up. A woman in Boynton Beach, Fla., has been arrested after police say she hired an undercover agent posing as a hit man to kill her husband and a friend, the Palm Beach Post reports. But the story, as the cops tell it, gets weirder: Annybelkis Terrero, 38, agreed to become a confidential police informant after officers came to her house investigating accusations of drugs and prostitution. She told the cops she'd show them where a drug dealer lived, but while driving there, two officers say she told them that she hated her husband and had a plan to kill him. The cops—both wearing vests with "Police Agent" unmistakably printed across them—told Terrero they knew someone who could help. She allegedly gave them two stolen credit cards as a down payment. The next day, they took her to meet their "hit man"—actually an undercover officer. Terrero offered him a loaded shotgun as a sign of good faith, and allegedly promised $30,000 of her husband's life insurance money when he and another friend of hers were killed, reports NBC Miami. The next day, she was charged with solicitation and bribery. The friend she was trying to have killed says Terrero "has a severe drug and alcohol problem" and "psychological problems" and laughed off the news, reports the Post. |
Features
Scott Brown is the only white guy on his team playing a charity basketball game at the Dunbar Y Community Center in Springfield, Mass., and he’s working. He huffs up and down the court in a gold tank top with a number 10 on it, maroon shorts, and Nike (NKE) high-tops that make it look as if he’s got black-and-white hams strapped to the ends of his legs. The crowd is feisty, Love Shack pulses from the speakers, and the winded, increasingly sweaty Republican senator from one of the most Democratic states looks annoyed as he misses a pair of foul shots. “This isn’t soccer, Senator!” someone shouts from the stands, after Brown goes flying, for the second time, onto his butt. The silhouette of two men jabbing at their BlackBerrys from the sidelines is a subtle reminder that this carefully staged display of athleticism is more than just an effort to raise money for troubled youth on a steamy August afternoon. Scott Brown’s race against Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren to hold on to his Senate seat—formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy and narrowly won in a 2010 special election—has become one of the most closely watched congressional elections in the country, as well as the most expensive, with more than $53 million raised so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Much of Wall Street, in particular, is determined to see Brown reelected.
At stake is the vote that could alter the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, as well as a position of symbolic importance. The race is about two very different views of America’s economic future. For the Wall Street bankers, hedge fund managers, and private equity executives from New York, Connecticut, and elsewhere who are pouring money into Brown’s campaign, it’s also about something much closer to their hearts: stopping Elizabeth Warren. The Harvard Law professor, former head of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and driving force behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, has become the populist champion of government restraint of Wall Street. When asked why he thought Wall Street had become so active on behalf of Brown, Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank says: “Two words: Elizabeth Warren.”
“She makes everybody feel good about financial reform because of her résumé—Harvard, former bankruptcy attorney. You think she gets Wall Street. But she’s never taken risk,” says Lawrence McDonald, a former Lehman trader and co-author of A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, who recently hosted a Brown fundraiser on Cape Cod. “In every financial crisis, you have a pendulum that swings, and she literally is that pendulum.”
Photograph by Jodi Hilton/The New York Times/ReduxWarren in her Harvard office, right before she joined a 2008 congressional oversight panel on bailout funds
Watching Warren speak in public makes clear why some in the money business might feel that way. “The system is rigged,” she told an adoring crowd at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. “Wall Street CEOs, the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs, still strut around Congress, with no shame, demanding favors and acting like we should thank them!” She paused amid waves of screaming and clapping. “Does anyone have a problem with that?”
Since bouncing into office as a Tea Party hero—a truck-driving everyman with great hair—Brown, 53, has been trying to project an image of moderation in the face of the anti-corporate, We-Are-the-99-Percent outrage Warren represents. This strategy creates a number of challenges for him, especially in Massachusetts, where his success depends on his image as an amiable centrist: Be Republican, but not too Republican; distance yourself from Mitt Romney and his conservative running mate Paul Ryan without trashing them; show up at your party’s convention, but act as if you don’t want to be there; accept donations from financiers while pretending that you don’t know why they’re so interested in you. If Warren is a pendulum, Brown is a pretzel.
Portraying Brown as a glistening sports hero is a central part of his campaign’s strategy. He’s been pictured biking 100-plus miles across the state and doing multiple triathlons. “He’s definitely not ivory tower,” says Andrew Card, the former White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush. “He is engaged, he gets his hands dirty, he gets sweaty, and he gets in his truck and he shakes hands.” When Brown is asked whether he thinks it might hurt him to be seen as allied with Wall Street, he stiffens. “I think you’re listening to the Democratic talking points,” he says, repeating one of his favorite lines. “All I know is, in Massachusetts I’m considered the independent person I went down there to be.” The senator has developed a reputation as someone who doesn’t particularly like answering press questions, and as he talks, he prepares to rush away. “Professor Warren has said she wants to leave blood and teeth on the floor and not compromise. Well, she’ll fit right in down there.”
Warren, 63, is always referred to by the Brown camp as “Professor Warren,” to emphasize her nerdy elitism. She certainly would never be seen streaking up and down a basketball court. About halfway through the Springfield charity game, things begin to turn around for the senator, and he starts scoring at almost every opportunity. After a stretch of seeming indifference to the political celebrity in their midst, the crowd erupts enthusiastically whenever Brown makes a move; even the BlackBerry wielders look up from their screens. Brown’s team is ahead, 43-42, with 30 seconds left, and Brown has the ball. Then, somehow, one of his opponents steals it and nails a shot just as the buzzer sounds.
Both Brown and Warren are money-raising machines. In January, they made a pact to try to prevent outside fundraising groups, such as Karl Rove’s American Crossroads, from running ads to influence the Massachusetts Senate race. So far the outside groups have respected their wishes, leaving a campaign that’s more petty than nasty.
Warren is on track to be one of the most successful Senate fundraisers of all time, having wrangled $28 million in contributions so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Much of that comes from national liberal groups such as Emily’s List and Moveon.org, as well as individual donors across the country that include the occasional Hollywood celebrity, such as Barbra Streisand.
Brown has raised $19 million during the 2012 cycle, with the financial-services industry giving the most. A joint fundraising committee Brown launched with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Scott Brown Victory Committee, can receive up to $30,800 per donor per cycle, a portion of which can go to Brown directly. As of June 2012, just under half of the $3.8 million raised had come from people in finance. Among the Wall Street titans who have contributed to Brown’s campaign are Cliff Asness, co-founder of AQR Capital Management; Ken Griffin of Citadel; Anthony Scaramucci of SkyBridge Capital; and Louis Bacon of Moore Capital Management.
Brown is not of Wall Street. His hard-knocks-jock childhood in Wakefield, Mass., is an important part of his political identity. He was raised by a struggling mother who cycled through abusive boyfriends and husbands, a couple of whom terrorized Brown and his sister. Brown seemed destined for a life of delinquency when he discovered a passion for basketball, which carried him to Tufts University on a scholarship. He joined the National Guard and went to law school, married TV news reporter Gail Huff, and had two daughters. He also became famous for winning Cosmopolitan’s “America’s Sexiest Man” contest in 1982, which catapulted him into a frothy-but-brief modeling career, complete with hours logged at New York’s Studio 54 in the shoulder-pad heyday of the early 1980s. “I came to be a Republican on my own, and it was partly driven by sports,” he writes in his 2011 campaign memoir, Against All Odds. “I believed in a strong military and in service, and in standing up to those who wanted to do harm,” Brown writes. “But beyond that, I had largely identified with Republicans as the party of fiscal responsibility and fiscal restraint.”
Photograph by Michael S. Gordon/The Republican CompanyBrown (center) drives for a basket at an Aug. 13 fundraiser in Springfield, Mass. Sports have been central to his appeal
He says it was his wife who urged him in 1992 to become a property assessor and later a member of the board of selectmen in Wrentham, where they lived. In 1998, Brown ran successfully for the state House of Representatives. He made the leap to state senator in 2004—a special election he won against all predictions by 343 votes. As a member of the minority party in the statehouse, he hewed to issues that could be described as safe. “Brown has a modest record of legislative initiatives, but he has carved out a niche as a leading advocate for veterans,” wrote political columnist Brian Mooney in the Boston Globe.
Then, in August 2009, Ted Kennedy died. “If you want to make a fool of yourself, go ahead,” Brown recalls his wife saying to him when he expressed interest in running for the seat Kennedy had occupied for 47 years. He met with Andrew Card, who briefly considered pursuing the seat. “He was a bit bombastic when he first started talking to me—‘I am going to run and I am going to win,’ ” Card recalls Brown telling him when they were sussing out one another’s intentions. But then the tenor of the conversation shifted, Card says, and Brown suddenly offered to help run Card’s campaign if he decided to move forward—which he didn’t. “I was surprised that he was so committed to running, and that he also committed to supporting me if I wanted to run.”
Brown met with a trio of campaign consultants who are with him still, veterans of Romney’s campaign for governor and failed 2008 presidential run: Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney’s campaign strategist; Beth Myers, Romney’s former chief of staff; and Peter Flaherty, a former prosecutor. “They’re talented people, particularly in the Massachusetts milieu,” says Peter Blute, deputy chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party. “This is a different place, different from anywhere else. They say in Massachusetts only three things matter: sports, politics, and revenge.”
Brown spent much of the Senate campaign driving around in his pickup truck and calling in to radio shows to gab about the Red Sox—although the truck, it later turned out, had been purchased to haul his daughter Arianna’s horse around rather than be used as his daily ride. Anger over the economy and the battle over the Affordable Care Act, among other things, had mobilized conservatives. There were only a handful of venues in which voters could vent their frustration, which played in Brown’s favor. A Democratic win was still such a foregone conclusion that it took months for Brown to get his national party’s attention, but he finally did. “About a month out from the election, where polls were narrowing, the money came from just about everywhere,” Blute says of Brown’s fundraising. “The money was coming so fast that at the end, they couldn’t even open the envelopes. They had, like, $7 million left over.” After months trailing far behind his opponent, Attorney General Martha Coakley, Brown surprised everyone by winning.
According to a tally maintained by the Washington Post, Brown has voted 66 percent of the time with his own party during his brief time in Washington; he likes to cite a narrower 54 percent figure as evidence of his bipartisanship. He sponsored a bill to promote the hiring of veterans and voted to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. In late 2011, he helped write a bill banning members of Congress from trading stocks based on nonpublic information.
In July 2010, Brown voted in favor of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and mandated rules to regulate derivatives and deal with failing banks. Brown’s support of the bill, which most Republicans opposed, was the deciding vote. However, he used his vote to extract changes that financial institutions wanted made to the Volcker Rule, a central aspect of the legislation that limits proprietary trading for FDIC-insured banks, giving them a little more “wiggle room,” as Frank puts it. As a result, banks are allowed to invest up to 3 percent of their capital in private equity and hedge funds, a change that benefited Wall Street as well as Massachusetts-based Fidelity Investments and State Street (STT). Brown, along with Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Me.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.), also insisted that the cost of implementing the legislation, estimated at around $20 billion by the Congressional Budget Office, come from TARP money rather than through a levy on the largest banks, as the Democrats wanted. “Since we needed their votes,” Frank says, “we had to relieve the financial institutions of that and put it on the taxpayers.”
Then, in June 2012, e-mails between Brown’s legislative director, Nat Hoopes, and the U.S. Department of Treasury came to light showing that Brown had continued to lobby to loosen the rules as they were being written. Hoopes had argued for the most lenient interpretation possible of the Volcker Rule; to allow banks to bring in outside customers to invest in private equity and hedge funds; and to increase the ability of banks to lend money to private equity and hedge funds in need of bailouts—which could further jeopardize depositors’ money, critics say. “Want to make sure that it all goes the right way after all the heat we’ve taken,” Hoopes, who’d previously worked at Lehman Brothers, wrote to Treasury official Barrett Hester on March 3, 2011. “This should be very simple and straightforward and the Fed is over-complicating it.” In another e-mail message, Hoopes referred to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as Brown’s “triathlon buddy.” That and the Dodd-Frank interventions gave Warren an opening to attack Brown as beholden to Wall Street.
“Wall Street people have no Senate race that means anything,” says McDonald, the Lehman alum and Brown fundraiser, explaining one reason he got involved in Brown’s campaign. McDonald says that he’s concerned about the stability of the financial system and that academics have become too influential with policymakers in Washington. “A Hank Paulson-type person versus Elizabeth Warren is like night and day in terms of effectiveness at handling what is going on today.” If Warren were to win, McDonald says, she’d be “seen as an expert” by a second Obama administration, which he finds terrifying. Scott Brown is “just a good senator,” McDonald adds. “He wouldn’t be an adviser to either candidate in a financial crisis.”
On August 14, Brown gave what was billed as a “major policy speech” on taxes at Lombardo’s, a supper club from a bygone era in Randolph, outside Boston. The news media were well represented, along with 400 or so members of the South Shore Chamber of Commerce. Anticipation was high—Brown’s people had been promoting the event heavily, promising lots of “policy.” As the attendees vacuumed up plates of chicken francese, Brown launched into an impassioned defense of “risk takers” in the economy. “I want to say thank you,” he said to the job creators out there, sounding a lot like Romney. The speech turned out to be devoid of policy ideas, however, focusing instead on sharp critiques of Brown’s opponent. He referred to “Professor Warren’s twisted logic” and said she thought successful people “owe a hunk of [their] success back to the government as higher taxes.” He became worked up, referring to the coming “Taxmageddon” and asserting that Warren supported “$3.4 trillion in tax increases”—a number later contested in the press. Then came the wind-down: “I’m going to make mistakes, but I learn from them, and then I grow, and I move on and I become a better senator.”
Photograph by David Burnett/Contact Press Images
Where Brown overwhelms people he meets with a firm handshake and brawny charm, the wisp-thin Warren speaks in soft-but-urgent tones and repeats three names that she evidently believes will carry her to Washington like magic flying teacups: Brown, Romney, and Ryan. The technique hasn’t been working as well as it might have, partly because Warren had a rocky introduction to the joys of campaigning. In April, the Boston Herald reported that she had been listed as Native American by Harvard Law School in an attempt to make it seem more diverse. The revelation became a scandal, which Warren handled poorly as she came to be mocked as “Fauxcahontas” in the conservative press. She also provided the inspiration for President Obama’s infamous “you didn’t build that” line—a botched rendition of a talk she gave last summer—which became the rallying cry of the Republican National Convention.
“This race is about the direction the country will take,” Warren said between handshakes at Sheriff Michael Ashe’s Annual Clambake outside Springfield on August 16. “Scott Brown, Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan believe that the way to build a future for America is to cut taxes for the thin slice at the top and let everyone else deal with the consequences.”
Warren was a well-established bankruptcy expert at Harvard when she was called to chair the congressional panel overseeing the TARP bailout funds. She clashed with members of Congress and Treasury officials who she felt weren’t cooperative. Warren pushed for the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, intended to shield consumers from unfair lending practices at credit-card companies and banks, yet President Obama didn’t nominate her to lead it because of intense Republican opposition.
Photograph by Jay Ellis/Polaris
In Springfield, Warren was asked if she knew that she’d been referred to as “a threat to free enterprise” during a Brown campaign event that morning. “Once again, Scott Brown stands with the big Washington lobbyists,” she said. “I want to close the loopholes and say no more subsidies to Big Oil, and those guys just hate that! I’m out there working for middle-class families and small businesses, nothing’s going to change on that.”
The polls have been tight for months; almost everyone agrees that the race will depend largely on turnout. A handful of people were waiting excitedly when Brown and his wife swept into a True Value hardware store in Braintree, just south of Boston, to accept an endorsement from the National Federation of Independent Business. Brown was wearing a red tie and a blue button-down with the sleeves neatly rolled up to his elbows; Huff was a glamour bomb in full makeup, swirling purple harem pants, and a pair of high heels as she teetered through the aisles inspecting paint thinner and cockroach poison. It was as if the prom king and queen had errands to run.
“Small and independent businesses like the one you’re standing in right now create jobs—not the, uh, government,” Brown said. “As you know, Professor Warren seems to think that entrepreneurs are delusional, that they built their businesses when all along it was the government.”
He cycled through his bit: The government “needs to know when to stand out of the way”; “you will never, ever hear me demonizing our job creators”; Warren wants “3.4 trillion dollars of tax increases over the next 10 years”; “I’ve been an independent thinker, a bipartisan leader”; tax hikes, tax hikes, tax hikes, Professor Warren, Professor Warren. … In spite of his reputation as a likable dude, Brown has become increasingly personal in his attacks over the course of the campaign, with constant references to Warren’s “chalkboard” and professorial mien. He was starting to seem as if he actively disliked her.
Yet when asked whether he thinks she’s an honorable person, he started sputtering. “If you’re talking … of course she’s honorable. We may disagree on policy issues …” he began, as a local television camera filmed away. “You know, I’ve been serving in the military for 32 years, I’ve been serving as an elected official, as an assessor, selectman, state rep, and in the United States Senate, and I think … when you’re talking about honorable, if you look it up in the dictionary, it talks about honor, and if you’re saying, do I have honor, yes, I strive very much to be an honorable person and treat this office with a lot of honor and dignity. Let me ask my wife—Honey, do you consider me honorable?”
Brown turned to Huff, who was standing off to the side. “Yes!” she said, giggling. “Very honest. Too honest at times.”
“Just ask my daughters,” Brown said. “I am very, brutally honest.”
“Thanks for taking the time,” he added. “I encourage you to buy something on your way out, like I’m going to do.”
The people who had gathered disbanded, and Brown and Huff figured out what to buy. Brown approached the register with a bag of Cracker Jack, a bottle of Vitaminwater, a box of bat repellent, and some mousetraps. He pulled out his wallet.
“Scott, Scott, get me a drink, Hon,” Huff said, sliding a Coke out of the fridge. As they gathered up their purchases and jostled out to waiting SUVs, the hardware store cashier said: “They have a bat in their attic.” ||||| Topics: Harvard, U.S. Senate, Elizabeth Warren, Scott Brown, 2012 Elections, Businessweek, Politics News
Ask corporate executives what they really want in a legislator, and they probably won’t use words like “principled” or “well-informed.” If the cocktails are appropriately strong and inhibitions are consequently reduced, executives will likely tell you in a moment of candor that the best politician, from their perspective, is the one who is incurious and who possesses very little policy expertise. They don’t want people with inconvenient morals, ethics or brains getting in their way. They want the equivalent of T-1000s from the “Terminator” films: unthinking, fully programmable cyborgs willing and able to shape-shift in order to carry out a mission.
Alas, it is rare to get such an admission in public, and it is even more rare to get said admission in the pages of a major publication. That’s why Businessweek’s recent examination of the country’s marquee U.S. Senate race is so significant. In looking at the Massachusetts matchup between Republican incumbent Scott Brown and Democratic nominee Elizabeth Warren, the magazine quotes Brown fundraiser Lawrence McDonald, a former Lehman trader, acknowledging that he and his Wall Street friends hate the idea of an independently informed legislator who might bring her own wisdom to Washington.
“If Warren were to win, McDonald says, she’d be ‘seen as an expert’ by a second Obama administration, which he finds terrifying,” the magazine reported. “Scott Brown is ‘just a good senator,’ McDonald adds. ‘He wouldn’t be an adviser to either candidate in a financial crisis.’”
Get that? Warren is disliked precisely because of her years of distinguished research as a Harvard professor, her tenure heading the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, and her overall unwillingness to take orders from corporate interests. Meanwhile, Brown is praised as a “good senator” specifically because he lacks policy knowledge that might help him counsel government officials on how to deal with another bank meltdown. Oh, and because as a lawmaker, he has a proven track record of saying “how high” when Wall Street says “jump.”
To be sure, McDonald’s general lament about the arbitrary assignment of expert status certainly has a grain of truth in it. America is run by false experts – indeed, all you have to do is thumb through Chris Hayes’ recent book “Twilight of the Elites” to know that national politics is dominated by people who have little experience in, and knowledge of, those policy areas in which they claim to possess expertise. And this is a problem in both parties. | – Get Wall Street executives drunk enough, and David Sirota of Salon is pretty sure they'll confess that they like their legislators to be incurious and ill-informed. How does he know? Because one former Lehman Brothers trader recently admitted as much in a recent Businessweek piece on the Massachusetts Senate race. He said Wall Street was backing Scott Brown because Elizabeth Warren would be "seen as an expert" by the Obama administration, whereas Brown "wouldn't be an adviser to either candidate in a financial crisis." "Get that? Warren is disliked precisely because of her years of distinguished research," Sirota writes, while Brown is praised "specifically because he lacks policy knowledge … Oh, and because he has a proven track record of saying 'how high' when Wall Street says 'jump.'" To be fair, the trader's broader point was that the "expert" label itself is arbitrary. That's true enough, but it got that way thanks to these same expert-fearing special interests, who have worked hard to elevate as experts "automatons who are mostly willing to simply take orders." |
SEATTLE — For many people, buying clothing online is not worth the hassle of getting a pair of pants or a shirt that does not fit. Many retailers have sought to eliminate that risk by offering free returns on clothing, but now Amazon is going even further.
On Tuesday morning, the company revealed a new program called Prime Wardrobe that allows people to order clothing — from three to 15 items at a time — without actually buying it. Amazon will charge them only for the items they keep. Customers can return the items they don’t want in a resealable box with the preprinted shipping label that the order came in.
The service will be an option only for members of Amazon Prime, the company’s membership service, which, for $99 a year, gives customers fast shipping at no extra charge, a streaming video service and other benefits. The company did not say when Prime Wardrobe would be available.
It is hard to predict what impact this will have on the company’s clothing sales, but it follows a pattern at Amazon of eliminating so-called friction points to online shopping that have made it surprisingly successful in the apparel category. ||||| Amazon is launching Prime Wardrobe, a new program that will let you try on clothes before you buy them. Once you select at least three Prime Wardrobe-eligible pieces from over a million clothing options, Amazon will ship your selections to you in a resealable return box with a prepaid shipping label.
After you try on the clothes, you can put the ones you don’t want back in the box and leave it at your front door — Prime Wardrobe also comes with free scheduled pickups from UPS. If you decide to keep at least three items you will get a 10 percent discount off your purchase, and if you keep five or more pieces the discount rises to 20 percent.
This is Amazon Fashion’s latest attempt to grow its retail footprint — Amazon launched the Echo Look “style assistant” back in May, and it began working with celebrities like Dwyane Wade to build out mini stores on its website. Given Amazon’s history of entering and methodically dominating retail markets (see: books, electronics, and probably groceries), this likely isn’t the last move we’ll see from Amazon Fashion this year.
Amazon Prime Wardrobe is currently in beta, but you can sign up to get notified when it officially launches. ||||| CLOSE Amazon has unveiled Prime Wardrobe, a subscription service that lets users try out clothing and accessories. Prime members can use the new service for free. Time
Amazon announced a beta test of a "try before you buy" clothing distribution program called Prime Wardrobe on June 20, 2017. (Photo: Amazon)
SAN FRANCISCO —Amazon wants to make clothing purchases easier with a new program it plans to launch called Prime Wardrobe, a service that allows customers to order clothes, keep them for a week and return whatever they don’t like for free.
Prime Wardrobe shares some similarities with other “try before you buy” programs such as Stitch Fix and Nordstrom’s Trunk Club, though these choose clothing options for customers. In Amazon's case, the customer makes all the choices.
Any Prime member in the United States can choose between three and 15 items of clothing, shoes or accessories, which will be shipped to them for free.
They then have up to seven days to try the clothing on. Anything they don’t want, for whatever reason, can be shipped back in the same reusable box, which comes with a prepaid label. Amazon picks up the shipping cost.
There is no upfront charge; payment only comes after the seven days. Customers get a 10% discount if they keep three or four items, 20% off for five or more items.
The consumer is already using the bedroom as the new fitting room so that’s not so much what’s new, said Amit Sharma, CEO of Narvar, a company that offers delivery and return support to online retailers.
“This is more of an effort to drive consideration for Amazon as a legitimate outlet to buy clothing, and to gain visibility for their apparel offerings from well-regarded brands like Calvin Klein, Adidas, Theory and Hugo Boss,” he said.
The play will probably be profitable because apparel has some of the highest margins in retail, which will help offset the return shipping costs, he said.
Items for Prime Wardrobe include children’s, women’s and men’s clothing.
The service is similar to online shoe store Zappos, which became a success story by making buying shoes online painless with free returns and exchanges, a process that had previously been fraught with hassles. Amazon bought Zappos in 2009.
The Prime Wardrobe service is currently in beta mode, but customers are encouraged to sign up for an email notification when it launches to the general public.
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2tLBw0J | – Amazon will soon let customers order clothes and have them delivered to their homes—without paying for them first. The New York Times reports Prime Wardrobe represents the latest in Amazon's ongoing process of eliminating every barrier to shopping online. It works like this: Amazon Prime customers can order three to 15 items of clothing at a time without actually buying them and will be charged only for the items they keep. Customers have seven days to return the unwanted items in a resealable box with a pre-printed shipping label before they're charged, according to USA Today. And the Verge notes customers won't even have to go to the post office to return the unwanted clothing, because the service includes free scheduled UPS pickups. To sweeten the deal, Amazon will give customers 10% off if they keep at least three items. If they keep at least five items, the discount is 20%. Other online clothing retailers have long offered free returns to customers, but few only charge customers for the items they keep and those that do—such as Stitch Fix—choose the clothing they send to customers. It's unclear when Prime Wardrobe will be available, but Amazon has already taken over the books and electronics markets—and is working on the grocery market—and analysts expect it to be the biggest apparel retailer in the US by the end of the year. |
Posted 2 years ago on Aug. 27, 2016, 10:58 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: Micah White, The End of Protest, Innovation
“Micah White argues convincingly that established modes of protest are outdated and sketches the outlines for how activists can and must innovate. His book is a love letter to activists of the future.” — Michael Hardt
Is protest broken? Micah White, co-creator of Occupy Wall Street, thinks so. Recent years have witnessed the largest protests in human history. Yet these mass mobilizations no longer change society. Now activism is at a crossroads: innovation or irrelevance.
In The End of Protest White declares the end of protest as we know it and heralds the future of activism. Drawing on his unique experience with Occupy Wall Street, a contagious protest that spread to eighty-two countries, White articulates a unified theory of revolution and eight principles of tactical innovation that are destined to catalyze the next generation of social movements. Sweeping from contemporary uprisings to spiritual and pre-modern revolutions, The End of Protest is a far-reaching inquiry into the miraculous power of collective epiphanies.
Despite global challenges—catastrophic climate change, economic collapse and the decline of democracy—White finds reason for optimism: the end of protest inaugurates a new era of social change. He argues that Occupy Wall Street was a constructive failure that exposed the limits of protest at the same time as it revealed a practical way forward. On the horizon are increasingly sophisticated movements that will emerge in a bid to dominate elections, govern cities and reorient the way we live.
In this provocative playbook, White offers three bold revolutionary scenarios for harnessing the creativity of people from across the political spectrum.
White also shows:
How social movements are created and how they spread
How materialism limits contemporary activism
Why we must re-conceive protest in timescales of centuries, not days
Ultimately, the end of protest is the beginning of the spiritual revolution within ourselves, the political revolution in our communities and the social revolution on Earth.
Rigorous, original and compelling, The End of Protest is an exhilarating vision of an all-encompassing revolution of revolution.
About the Author
MICAH WHITE, PhD is the influential social activist who co-created the Occupy Wall Street movement while an editor of Adbusters magazine. White has a twenty-year record of innovative activism, including conceiving the debt-forgiveness tactic used by the Rolling Jubilee and popularizing the critique of clicktivism. His essays and interviews on the future of activism have been published internationally in periodicals including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian Weekly and Folha de São Paulo. He has been profiled by The New Yorker, and Esquire recently named him one of the most influential young thinkers alive today. White directs Boutique Activist Consultancy—an activist think tank specializing in impossible campaigns. Dr. Micah White lives with his wife and son in Nehalem, a rural town on the coast of Oregon. ||||| For a few moments on Saturday, the confrontations between the police and the protesters just south of Union Square in Manhattan seemed fairly typical. People pushed, the police shoved and arrests were made, and in the many videos recording the protest, it was not always clear which of the three had come first.
As the police arrested a protester in the street, an officer wearing a white shirt — indicating a rank of lieutenant or above — walked toward a group of demonstrators nearby and sent a blast of pepper spray that hit four women, the videos show.
Numerous videos and photos captured the aftermath: two women crumpled on the sidewalk in pain, one of them screaming. They were temporarily blinded, one of the women, Chelsea Elliott, said.
Ms. Elliott, 25, who was not arrested, acknowledged that “there were some rough people out there” at the protests. She and the other women were penned in behind police netting meant for crowd control. But, she said, neither she nor the women around her did anything to warrant having pepper spray used on them.
“Out of all the people they chose to spray, it was just me and three other girls,” she said Sunday in a telephone interview. “I’m not pushing against anybody, or trying to escape.”
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The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said the police had used the pepper spray “appropriately.”
“Pepper spray was used once,” he added, “after individuals confronted officers and tried to prevent them from deploying a mesh barrier — something that was edited out or otherwise not captured in the video.”
Since Sept. 17, a few hundred protesters have occupied Zuccotti Park on Liberty Street and Broadway, seeking attention for what they say is a financial system that is unjust and flawed. They have embarked on a series of daily marches near Wall Street, but their march to Union Square on Saturday was their largest and most ambitious.
Photo
Returning to the financial district from Union Square, many protesters used University Place, and the demonstration spilled into the street with protesters walking against traffic. The police put up mesh nets to prevent them from going any farther down University Place, and many of the demonstrators ended up on East 12th Street.
Ms. Elliott was one of several protesters on East 12th Street who had been corralled behind the plastic netting, which was being held by a line of police officers.
Ms. Elliott said she spent part of the time trying to engage the police officer nearest her in a conversation about pensions.
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“I’m just trying to converse with them in a civilized manner, and tell them I’m a civilized human being,” Ms. Elliott said. She remembered saying, “Stop! Why are you doing this?” in response to an arrest not far away, but doing nothing else to attract attention.
“A cop in a white shirt — I think he’s a superior officer — just comes along and does these quick little spritzes of pepper spray in my and these three other girls’ eyes,” she added. The officer’s identity was not provided by the police.
The scene around Ms. Elliott verged on the unruly on Saturday. The police made arrests in the area on charges not only of disorderly conduct and impeding traffic, but also of inciting to riot and assaulting a police officer. About 80 people were arrested; some spent the night in jail and were arraigned on Sunday.
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Patrick Bruner, a spokesman for the protesters, said he believed that pepper spray was used several times on Saturday. “I think it is very fair to call it police brutality,” he said.
The Police Department rarely uses pepper spray as a means of crowd control. Although the police used it during a large-scale antiwar protest in 2003, it was not used with much frequency during the protests associated with the Republican National Convention in New York in 2004, although they were some of the largest demonstrations in the city in years.
“We don’t use it indiscriminately like other cities do,” said Thomas Graham, a retired deputy chief who until last year commanded the department’s Disorder Control Unit. “You’re not just spraying indiscriminately into a crowd.”
Police officers, he said, “have the choice between spraying the guy or struggling with the guy with the night stick,” he said, adding, “Get poked with a nightstick good and hard and you might have a cracked rib from that.” ||||| Wall Street protesters cuffed, pepper-sprayed during 'inequality' march
Jefferson Siegel for News Women screamed in pain after police rounded them up and sprayed them with pepper spray.
Scores of protesters were arrested in Manhattan Saturday as a march against social inequality turned violent.
Hundreds of people carrying banners and chanting "shame, shame" walked between Zuccotti Park, near Wall St., and Union Square calling for changes to a financial system they say unjustly benefits the rich and harms the poor.
At least 80 people were carted away in police vehicles and up to five were hit with pepper spray near 12th St. and Fifth Ave., where tensions became especially high, police and organizers said.
The National Lawyer's Guild, which is providing legal assistance to the protesters, put the number of arrests at 100.
Witnesses said they saw three stunned women collapse on the ground screaming after they were sprayed in the face.
A video posted on YouTube and NYDailyNews.com shows uniformed officers had corralled the women using orange nets when two supervisors made a beeline for the women, and at least one suddenly sprayed the women before turning and quickly walking away.
Footage of other police altercations also circulated online, but it was unclear what caused the dramatic mood shift in an otherwise peaceful demonstration.
"I saw a girl get slammed on the ground. I turned around and started screaming," said Chelsea Elliott, 25, from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, who said she was sprayed. "I turned around and a cop was coming ... we were on the sidewalk and we weren't doing anything illegal."
Police said 80 protesters were arrested or ticketed at multiple locations for disorderly conduct, blocking traffic and failure to obey a lawful order but the number could rise.
Officials said protesters did not have a permit for the march and one demonstrator was charged with assaulting a police officer, causing a shoulder injury. The NYPD was investigating the use of pepper spray.
"I was shocked because it seemed like one person after another was being brutally tackled, and it wasn't clear why," said Meaghan Linick, 23, from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, who attended the rally. "I was deeply disturbed to see them throw a man [down] and immediately they were pounding on him. Their arms were going back in the air. I couldn't believe how violent five people needed to be against one unarmed man."
The protesters, joined together under the banner of an organization called Occupy Wall Street, have been stationed in Zuccotti Park since last weekend, attempting to draw attention to what they believe is a dysfunctional economic system that unfairly benefits corporations and the mega-rich.
"The central message is that in this country, there needs to be more conversation about wealth and power," said 23-year-old student Patrick Bruner.
As night fell, those detained were hauled out of vans and buses and into police precincts to be processed.
Hundreds more protesters congregated in Zuccotti Park where for a while another clash with police seemed imminent, but as midnight approached tension eased as die-hards prepared to camp out for the night.With Ashley N. Fleming,
cboyle@nydailynews.com | – You just can't Mace people discreetly these days, given the ever-ready video cams and cells phones everywhere. Now Wall Street protesters are screaming pepper-spray abuse by New York cops, and emerging videos and photos of the weekend's confrontation between police and demonstrators appear to be backing them up. A number of women corralled in an orange net by cops seem to be doing nothing more than arguing, loudly, with police as other cops tackle a protester nearby. As the women chant "shame" at least one cop in a white shirt, indicating a higher rank, sprays them in the face. They crumple to the ground, screaming. “Out of all the people they chose to spray, it was just me and three other girls,” protester Chelsea Elliot, 25, tells the New York Times. “I’m not pushing against anybody, or trying to escape.” She was not arrested, but a police spokesman said the pepper spray was used "appropriately" after "individuals tried to prevent" officers "from deploying a mesh barrier— something that was edited out or otherwise not captured in the video." Other protesters complained about the level of force police used. "It seemed like one person after another was being brutally tackled, and it wasn't clear why," said Meaghan Linick, 23. Members of Occupy Wall Street took to the streets Saturday after camping out for a week to protest "greed and financial corruption." |
3 years ago
Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama attended the Gridiron Club and Foundation’s annual dinner in Washington Saturday night, even cracking a joke on forced budget cuts along the way.
The annual event brings together politicians and Washington’s media elite. Because there’s limited press access, presidents who attend usually act a little looser than when the camera light is on.
This is the second time Obama has attended the dinner as president but the first since 2011.
“As you know, I last attended the Gridiron dinner two years ago. Back then, I addressed a number of topics - a dysfunctional Congress, a looming budget crisis, complaints that I don’t spend enough time with the press. It’s funny, it seems like it was just yesterday,” Obama said.
This year, the president said the jokes were a little harder to come by because of forced budget cuts and also talked of the notoriously long dinner.
“My joke writers have been placed on furlough,” Obama said. “Of course there is one thing in Washington that didn’t get cut: The length of this dinner. Yet more proof that the sequester makes no sense.”
Vice President Joe Biden wasn’t in attendance but his presence was still felt. Biden is rumored to be a potential presidential nominee in 2016 but Obama said he may have different aspirations.
“(The) vice president is still ambitious. But let's face it, his age is an issue. Just the other day, I had to take Joe aside and say, ‘Joe, you are way too young to be the pope,’” Obama said.
Obama even made light of Sen. Marco Rubio’s infamous water sip during the Republican response following the State of the Union address.
“Of course, as I begin my second term, our country is still facing enormous challenges,” the president said, taking a long sip of water. “That, Marco Rubio, is how you take a sip of water.”
The president also brought up his new Secretary of State, John Kerry, and compared him to his predecessor, the famously pantsuit-wearing Hillary Clinton.
“Let’s face it - Hillary is a tough act to follow. But John Kerry is doing great so far. He is doing everything he can to ensure continuity. Frankly, though, I think it’s time for him to stop showing up at work in pantsuits. It's a disturbing image,” Obama said.
Every president since 1885 except for Grover Cleveland has spoken at the 128-year-old organization’s dinner.
The Gridiron is a media organization bringing together the “who’s who” of the Washington press corps. About 650 people attended the dinner according to Gridiron and they included top politicians and journalists. There are 65 members of the Gridiron and membership is by invitation only. The group is a charitable organization and provides annual scholarships to colleges and journalistic organizations.
Despite being a media organization, the dinner is traditionally closed to the television press pool which typically covers the president. But a newspaper pool reporter was allowed into the dinner Saturday for the first time ever and provided updates to the media. The idea behind the limited media access is to allow both club members and politicians a chance to let their guards down and tell jokes they may not otherwise tell with cameras watching and listening.
Still, some have criticized the gathering both for the limited media access and for the perceived coziness between the press and politicians they have to report on.
Obama will be attending the larger White House Correspondents’ Dinner next month which does allow television media coverage.
The president ended tonight’s dinner on a serious note, thanking journalists for the work they do.
“In an age when all it takes to attract attention is a Twitter handle and some followers, it’s easier than ever to get it wrong. But it’s more important than ever to get it right. And I’m grateful for all the journalists who do one of the toughest jobs there is with integrity and insight and dedication and a sense of purpose that goes beyond a business model or a news cycle,” Obama said. ||||| President Barack Obama had a ready excuse for anyone who didn't think he was funny enough at Saturday night's Gridiron dinner: "My joke writers have been placed on furlough."
President Barack Obama walks with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, right, as they leave the Gridiron Dinner through a loading area at a hotel in Washington, Saturday, March 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Associated Press)
Always a target for humorous barbs, the president tossed out a few of his own during the Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner, an annual event that features political leaders, journalists and media executives poking fun at each other.
The so-called sequester that struck the federal budget this month drew another observation from Obama: "Of course, there's one thing in Washington that didn't get cut _ the length of this dinner. Yet more proof that the sequester makes no sense."
The ambitions of 70-year-old Vice President Joe Biden? "Just the other day, I had to take Joe aside and say, `Joe, you are way too young to be the pope. You can't do it. You got to mature a little bit.'"
During a pause in his remarks, Obama took a long, slow sip of water and then said, "That, Marco Rubio, is how you take a sip of water."
Obama also mocked criticism from some quarters that he takes time off from his job. "We face major challenges. March in particular is going to be full of tough decisions. But I want to assure you, I have my top advisers working around the clock. After all, my March Madness bracket isn't going to fill itself out. And don't worry _ there is an entire team in the Situation Room as we speak, planning my next golf outing, right now at this moment."
The dinner was the organization's 128th since its founding in 1885. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar represented the Democrats while Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal cracked wise for the Republicans.
Klobuchar joked that Obama had aged in office. "His Secret Service name used to be `Renegade,'" she said. "Now it's `50 Shades of Gray.'"
Jindal took a poke at Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, telling the audience that Romney had warned him that "47 percent of you can't take a joke." Referring to his own prospects for a presidential run, Jindal asked, "What chance does a skinny guy with a dark complexion have of being elected president?"
Political disputes and feuds between politicians and the news media provided plenty of fodder for jokes and Gridiron parodies. There was Obama's sometimes frosty relationship with the news media, the internal struggles roiling the Republican Party, and journalist Bob Woodward's dustup with White House economic adviser Gene Sperling. He advised Woodward in an email that the veteran Watergate reporter would regret his reporting about the forced spending cuts called a sequester.
In prepared remarks to welcome the 650 people attending the dinner, Gridiron President Charles J. Lewis of Hearst Newspapers noted that the organization had promised to keep the evening short, "especially because Gene Sperling said that a late night is something we'd all regret."
With a nod to print reporters' complaints about dealing with the Obama administration, Lewis said he thought he had overhead Obama remark on the way to the dinner: "So many newspaper reporters. So many interviews to turn down."
Musical skits are a tradition at the Gridiron dinner, and club officials released its musical program ahead of the event. Using the Beatles song "When I'm 64," one skit featured a look at Hillary Rodham Clinton's future with the lyrics:
Got a bit older, Growing my hair, Gained a pound or two
Going home to vegetate in Chappaqua, I just want to be a grandma
It was more than a case of Benghazi flu, Still I'll be just fine.
Will you select me, will you elect me, When I'm 69
Noting the close relationship between the GOP and the National Rifle Association, Gridiron members sang a tune called "My Gun," a takeoff on the song "My Girl." The lyrics included:
If you hate the NRA/Tell my Walther PPK
You're flirting with disaster/With my Bushmaster
And when pigs fly away/You can take me away
From my gun
In a jab at Obama, the Gridiron players offered a version of "Pinball Wizard" that put to music complaints about some journalists' lack of access to the president:
Who knew when his magic/First had us all transfixed
That this politician/Hated politics?
Loves his teleprompter, loves a White House ball
But mighty Obama/Don't schmooze with us at all.
The Gridiron Club and Foundation contributes to college scholarships and journalistic organizations. It limits its active members to 65 journalists based in Washington.
Except for Grover Cleveland, every president since the Gridiron was founded has addressed it. The club is the oldest and most exclusive for Washington journalists. Its motto is "singe but never burn."
No TV cameras were allowed. ||||| President Obama took more than a few lighthearted digs at the Washington press corps in his Saturday night speech at the Gridiron Club's annual white-tie dinner, including a long riff on Bob Woodward, who recently suggested White House aide Gene Sperling had threatened him in an email.
"We noticed that some folks couldn’t make it this evening. It's been noted that Bob Woodward sends his regrets, which Gene Sperling predicted," the president said to the laughter of the room, according to an official transcript provided by the White House. "I have to admit this whole brouhaha had me a little surprised. Who knew Gene could be so intimidating? (Laughter.) Or let me phrase it differently — who knew anybody named Gene could be this intimidating? (Laughter)"
"Now I know that some folks think we responded to Woodward too aggressively," the president continued. "But hey, when has — can anybody tell me when an administration has ever regretted picking a fight with Bob Woodward? (Laughter.) What’s the worst that could happen? (Laughter and applause.)"
President Obama also made light of the press corps' grumbles about acess and transparency.
"Now, since I don’t often speak to a room full of journalists — (laughter) — I thought I should address a few concerns tonight," he said. "Some of you have said that I’m ignoring the Washington press corps — that we're too controlling. You know what, you were right. I was wrong and I want to apologize in a video you can watch exclusively at whitehouse.gov. (Laughter.)"
"While we’re on this subject, I want to acknowledge Ed Henry, who is here — who is the fearless leader of the Washington press corps now. (Applause.) And at Ed’s request, tonight I will take one question from the press," he said. "Jay, do we have a question? (Laughter.) Surprisingly, it’s a question from Ed Henry. (Laughter.) “Mr. President, will you be taking any questions tonight?” (Laughter.) I'm happy to answer that. No, Ed, I will not. (Laughter.)"
But the president ended on a serious note, praising reporters for maintaining a commitment to seriousness and integrity.
"In an age when all it takes to attract attention is a Twitter handle and some followers, it’s easier than ever to get it wrong," the President said. "But it’s more important than ever to get it right. And I am grateful for all the journalists who do one of the toughest jobs there is with integrity and insight and dedication — and a sense of purpose — that goes beyond a business model or a news cycle."
Read more about: Gridiron Club, Bob Woodward, Press, Gene Sperling, Ed Henry | – President Obama put in his second appearance of his presidency at the Gridiron Club last night, lamenting the not-so-funny consequences of the sequester, his vice president, his administration's weird tiff with Bob Woodward, and more. Highlights, as per Politico, CNN, and the AP: On the Woodward ruckus: "Now I know that some folks think we responded to Woodward too aggressively. But hey, when has—can anybody tell me when an administration has ever regretted picking a fight with Bob Woodward? What’s the worst that could happen?" On Joe Biden's higher ambitions: “(The) vice president is still ambitious. But let's face it, his age is an issue. Just the other day, I had to take Joe aside and say, ‘Joe, you are way too young to be the pope.'" On Hillary Clinton's replacement: "Hillary is a tough act to follow. But John Kerry is doing great so far. He is doing everything he can to ensure continuity. Frankly, though, I think it’s time for him to stop showing up at work in pantsuits. It's a disturbing image.” On consequences of the sequester: “My joke writers have been placed on furlough. Of course there is one thing in Washington that didn’t get cut: The length of this dinner. Yet more proof that the sequester makes no sense.” Amy Klobuchar on how Obama has aged: "His Secret Service name used to be 'Renegade.' Now it's '50 Shades of Gray.'" Bobby Jindal on his own presidential ambitions: "What chance does a skinny guy with a dark complexion have of being elected president?" |