Sometimes a single building becomes the focus for an architect's endeavours and reputation. For John Bancroft, who has died aged 82, that building was Pimlico school. Not only did Bancroft design and see this striking landmark of the 1960s through to completion, he also waged an unremitting and lonely struggle for more than a decade to save his cherished creation from destruction, to no ultimate avail.

Pimlico was political from the start. A monument to the comprehensive schooling policies of the Inner London Education Authority and the architectural vagaries of the Greater London council, it was imposed in 1967–70 on a razed and open urban block in the heart of Tory Westminster. A little earlier, and a school in a tower block might have faced off against the surrounding stucco terraces. But by the mid-60s the experts knew what children could do in and to lifts. So Bancroft, the GLC's inhouse job architect, opted for a walk-up building of four storeys only, linear and compact, with a stepped section to maximise daylight. The lowest storey was sunk to the levels of the former townhouse basements. Out of this pit, like a creature in a zoo, grew the concrete-and-glass school, glaring at the rectangle of streets all round. Boxy projecting classrooms with canted glazing, supposedly self-cleaning, completed the brutalist effect of provocation.

Unluckily for Bancroft, Pimlico school was out of date when it opened. Educational ideas change fast, and he had been handed an outdated brief. The bigger spaces worked well, but the classrooms were inflexibly shaped and grouped, while the double-height concourse that was the school's heart was never put to full use after the departure of the enthusiastic first headteacher, Ken Green. Worse, the heating and cooling system was rapidly vandalised, and no lasting solution to the extreme solar gain in the classrooms could be found.

Pimlico soon earned itself a reputation, especially in music and drama, but did so despite its remarkable building, not because of it. When Westminster council, casting greedy eyes upon the site, decided in 1995 to redevelop half of it with luxury flats and create a smaller school on the other half under a PFI scheme, the idea proved hard to combat. Bancroft, by then long retired but always a doughty campaigner, summoned up influential architectural allies and saw the first scheme off, maintaining that simple changes could renew the school. But he was hamstrung by his inability to get Pimlico listed, ministers taking the expedient view that inherent design faults impaired its architectural value. The last remnants of Pimlico school disappeared this year in favour of a faceless substitute.

Bancroft was born in London and brought up in Nottingham. His civil-servant father was an amateur painter and also collected books, a passion which John fully inherited. He started as a draughtsman in a brewery, where someone noticed his talent and persuaded his father to pay for his training at Nottingham University. After national service at Chatham in Kent, he worked for the local borough council there before moving in 1954 to Crawley Development Corporation, in Sussex.

His ambitions took off only when he joined the schools division of the London county council's architects' department in 1957. There, John caused amusement by wearing a smock at the drawing board, but proved his credentials with designs for Elfrida Rathbone (now Haymerle) school, in Peckham, and an extension to Philippa Fawcett college (now Dunraven school), in Streatham. After Pimlico, he was shunted into an administrative role in the housing division, and retired early in 1980.

Though loyal to the public service and collective ethic, Bancroft was at heart an individualist who regarded his calling as a high art with spiritual aims. Critical of most architecture of his day, as early as 1973 he announced, "I am a Victorian at heart." True to his word, he was active in the Victorian Society. Under his leadership a clique called the Dinosaur Five gingered up the GLC in 1979 to oppose a plan by the Natural History Museum to destroy the side galleries of their Grade I-listed building. The campaign's climax was a cake baked in the shape of the museum, from which Spike Milligan cut the threatened galleries before the attendant press. An alternative scheme devised by Bancroft helped save them.

During his retirement he was involved in the restorations of HMS Warrior, then at Hartlepool and now at Portsmouth, and of the SS Great Britain at Bristol. He also designed premises for Howes' Bookshop at Hastings, the source of many acquisitions decking his walls at Haywards Heath in Sussex.

John was a gravel-voiced character with streaks of grit and obstinacy but liberal views and a saving sense of humour. He is survived by his fourth wife, Janet, and by a daughter, Sarah, from his second marriage.

• John Bancroft, architect, born 28 October 1928; died 29 August 2011

Summary: Architect of the brutalist landmark Pimlico school in central London


New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order Thursday to take over troubled Atlantic City's finances, and he appointed an emergency manager to oversee the gambling resort's daily operations, nj.com reports,

The Republican governor named Kevin Lavin to head an emergency management team and named Kevyn Orr, who led Detroit out of bankruptcy, as a part-time counsel, the news site said.

"I can't wait any longer," Christie said, according to nj.com. "We need more aggressive action, and that's the action I'm taking today."

Lavin is a corporate attorney who most recently worked for FTI Consulting in New York, according to the website.

Atlantic City's municipal finances have declined with the fortunes of the local casino industry, which has suffered steep losses from competition in nearby states.

Orr is a former corporate bankruptcy lawyer who Detroit through the biggest-ever U.S. municipal bankruptcy.

Summary: Gov. Chris Christie's emergency management team for Atlantic City includes Detroit's former overseer, Kevyn Orr.


One of them was a towering figure of 20th- and early 21st-century culture, with an unassailable place carved out in art history for her wild, unsettling and utterly individual art created over an 80-year career.

The other is, depending on your perspective, either a talented if occasionally chaotic national treasure; or an outmoded, overexposed hangover from the heyday of Britart.

Next February a London gallery will show the fruits of a collaboration between the great French artist Louise Bourgeois, who died in May aged 99, and Tracey Emin. The British artist famously showed an unmade bed for the 1999 Turner prize exhibition and has recently earned arguably even more notoriety by voting Conservative in the last election and proclaiming that under the coalition "we've got the best government … we've ever had".

Emin has long acknowledged Bourgeois, the French-born artist who lived for many years in New York City, as an influence. Indeed, a work of 2005 called the Older Woman bore the sentence: "I think my Dad should have gone out with someone older like Louise, Louise Bourgeois."

Both artists have used fabric and embroidery extensively as materials; both have made text and storytelling an integral part of their work; and both, perhaps most importantly, have used memory of family life and sexual experience to inform their art. Working with Bourgeois, Emin told the Art Newspaper, was like "touching a piece of history".

The Bourgeois-Emin collaboration, titled Do Not Abandon Me, began last year when Bourgeois – who was connected to Emin via a mutual friend, the late critic Stuart Morgan – sent Emin a set of 16 delicate gouache paintings of the human form.

According to Gregor Muir, director of the London gallery Hauser & Wirth where the works will be shown next February, Bourgeois gave Emin "carte blanche" to do with them as she wished.

Emin told the Art Newspaper: "I feel Louise was literally holding a baton that I should take, just in terms of passing the work on to me."

The works travelled with Emin to Australia and France while she nervously contemplated how she could work with them.

Finally she began to draw on the images, adding tiny figures and text. According to Muir: "On one of them she has written profusely, making a short story or poem. And on others she has drawn over the phalluses painted by Bourgeois, drawing smaller figures as though of people worshipping at the base of a crucifixion. She has made small figures in relation to these vast phalluses, almost creating sexual landscapes out of Bourgeois's figurative drawings."

When Emin's work was done, she travelled to New York to show the older artist the fruits of her labours. Bourgeois approved, and the works were printed and now exist as a set of 16 in an edition of 18 prints. It was one of the last projects worked on by Bourgeois.

Bourgeois was the first artist to be invited to create an installation for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, and was the subject of a major retrospective there in 2007. She created everything from immersive installations recalling her childhood home and its dark family dramas, to giant metal sculptures, to a humble handkerchief embroidered with the words: "I have been to Hell and back. And let me tell you, it was wonderful."

The Margate-born Emin represented Britain at the 2007 Venice Biennale, and she was given a major retrospective by the National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. Famously, her major work Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 was destroyed by a fire in the Momart art storage warehouse in London in 2004.

As the Guardian's art critic Adrian Searle wrote after Bourgeois's death, "she had a dirty mind". A memorable Bourgeois aperçu is: "I have nothing against the penis, it's the wearer." That earthy sense of humour is also a characteristic shared by Emin, who once made a neon sign saying Is Anal Sex Legal? and a companion piece: Is Legal Sex Anal?

Searle wrote of Bourgeois that she "puts the feeble one-hit wonders, the diamond skulls, the next-big-thing careerist chancers and the defenders of this or that latest tendency in their place".

Do Not Abandon Me will be at Hauser & Wirth Colnaghi, London W1, from 18 February-12 March.

Summary: British artist worked with Bourgeois before her death in May to produce the Do Not Abandon Me collection


CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 2, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been selected by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence to provide navigation suite upgrades to the two Royal New Zealand Navy's ANZAC Class Frigates.

The navigation suites will replace existing MK49 inertial navigation units with fourth-generation MK39s. These new inertial navigational units are next-generation and feature an embedded data distribution system. In addition to a significant reduction in weight and size, the newer MK39 has autoselect features that ensure the highest quality data is made available to the ship. The unit also enables a lower cost of ownership.

"Northrop Grumman is pleased to have been awarded a contract by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence for this crucial upgrade to the Royal New Zealand Navy's frigates," said Todd Leavitt, vice president of maritime systems, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. "This dependable suite combines our latest navigation technology and data distribution capabilities, which include secure network communications capable of transmitting time-corrected data with low senescence. This capability will significantly improve the warfighter's ability to react to potential threats and increase safety at sea."

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

CONTACT: Fernando Catta-Preta 434-974-2736 (office) 434-242-9283 (mobile) fernando.catta-preta@ngc.com Gustav Gulmert 703-280-2732 (office) 571-533-9679 (mobile) gus.gulmert@ngc.com

Summary: CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 2, 2015-- Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence to provide navigation suite upgrades to the two Royal New Zealand Navy's ANZAC Class Frigates.  "Northrop Grumman is pleased to have been awarded a contract by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence for this crucial upgrade to the Royal New...


01/28/2016 AT 02:00 PM EST

is stepping into the limelight once again after a tumultuous run on

This time, the 51-year-old is working on her relationship with daughter Kimberly Jackson, 21.

In an exclusive first clip from Lifetime's

, Richards and Jackson argue as emotions run high.

"Don't tell me what to do, I'm defending myself!" Richards yells at Jackson.

Later, Jackson wipes away years as she tells her mother, "I want you to stay healthy always."

The new series partners six sets of celebrity mothers and daughters with therapist Dr. Debbie Magids with the aim to repair their broken relationship through eight weeks of intensive therapy.

Richards has struggled with sobriety and was

and charged with trespassing, resisting an officer and battery on a police officer. She later

. Earlier this week, Richards' ex-husband Monty Brinson

Other cast members on the upcoming Lifetime series – which is produced by 495 Productions – include Heidi Montag and mother Darlene Egelhoff; Courtney Stodden and her mom, Krista; Bad Girls Club's Natalie Nunn and her mom, Karen; Shar Jackson and her daughter Cassie, and Hollywood Exes' Jessica Canseco and her daughter, Josie The Mother/Daughter Experiment: Celebrity Edition premieres March 1 at 10 p.m. ET on Lifetime.

Summary: Other stars of the Lifetime show include Courtney Stodden and Heidi Montag


The announcement last month that ConocoPhillips plans to break up into two separately traded companies took Wall Street by surprise, raising uncomfortable questions as to Big Oil’s raison d’etre. If COP proves that it can indeed unlock value from separating its exploration and production unit from its refining and marketing units, then other companies, namely BP and ExxonMobil, could soon find themselves under pressure from their shareholders to follow suit, forever changing the energy landscape.

Up until now, it was widely accepted that being bigger was the key to being a better oil company. That view was taken to its logical extreme in the late 1990s when the “Super Major” oil company was born. In the United States, Conoco merged with Phillips, Chevron merged with Texaco and Exxon merged with Mobil. In Europe, BP snapped up U.S. oil companies Amoco and Arco while France’s Total acquired Belgium’s Petrofina and fellow French oil company Elf Aquitaine. Only Royal Dutch Shell avoided the merger mania.

The reason for the mergers was clear — oil prices had collapsed. In the late 1990s, oil traded down as low as $10 a barrel due to a myriad of events — some situational, like the Asian economic crisis of 1998, and some structural, like the decreasing link between oil consumption and economic growth in Western nations. In addition, the number of oil fields that were open to commercial development had diminished, while royalties from existing fields were on the wane as oil-producing countries demanded a larger piece of the revenue pie.

The mergers were seen as a success for most of the majors as they were able to rationalize their business models and streamline operations. Being bigger gave them more pricing power when dealing with oil service contractors and greater leverage when negotiating with foreign governments. But the benefits of being bigger seemed confined to separate business units: While a refining unit got more efficient through the merger, it wasn’t because the company had a strong exploration and production unit, and vice versa.

That’s because the exploration side and the refining side of the oil business have little to do with one another. Contrary to popular belief, Big Oil has almost no control over the price of oil these days. That power squarely rests with oil-rich nations that hold most of the world’s oil reserves and the Wall Street banks and hedge funds that speculate and make markets in the oil trading game. So even though ExxonMobil pumps oil, it can’t guarantee that its refining unit will be able to profitably process a barrel into gasoline or heating oil.

Investors who wanted exposure to the oil and gas sector noticed this disconnect. As they put more money in the smaller, pure-play companies that focused on one industry vertical, Big Oil began to trade at a discount. In fact, since the merger mania of 2000, Big Oil has traded at an average discount of between 11% and 12% compared to their smaller pure play competitors, according to a recent study by Citi Investment Research and Analysis.

That discount translates into billions of dollars in lost value in companies this big. Take the case of Marathon Oil. The small integrated oil and gas firm announced in January that it was splitting up into two companies – one that concentrated on exploration and production and one that concentrated on refining and marketing, similar to the COP split. The day before the announcement, Marathon had a market value of around $28.9 billion. Today, the two independent companies, Marathon Oil Corporation and Marathon Petroleum Corporation, have a combined market value that is 30% higher at $37.4 billion, which means the split potentially unlocked $8.5 billion in value.

If COP were to ultimately gain 30% in its split, it would add a whopping $33 billion in value, based on its market valuation on the day before the deal was announced. But unlike with Marathon, COP has seen its share price fall since its announcement — down around 3% on lackluster earnings.

Of course, Marathon and COP were trading at different places when they announced their decisions to split up, with Marathon MRO trading at around a 20% discount to other integrated oil companies, while COP was trading more or less on par with its peers. It seems like the market revalued Marathon to trade in line with its peers and then credited it an additional 10% in value to make up for the average discount between integrated oil companies and pure-play companies. If that logic holds and COP pops 10%, it could still stand to unlock $18 billion in value – not too shabby.

The remaining oil majors — ExxonMobil XOM , Total, Chevron CVX , Shell RDSA and BP BP — as well has the smaller integrated oil companies, like Hess, will undoubtedly be watching COP COP intently as it begins its dismemberment. Analysts have already started to fiddle with the numbers. Most have pointed at BP as being ripe for a break up. The oil major currently trades at a fraction of its net asset value, thanks mostly to the black eye it took from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. Deutsche Bank estimates that if BP were to spin off its refining and marketing unit, it could unlock $15 to $20 billion in value if it were to trade in line with its peers.

But the analysts at Deutsche Bank say it’s “foolhardy” to believe that the company would make any major strategic split given the billions of dollars in potential losses it still faces in connection to last year’s oil spill. It could take years for that mess to be sorted out, keeping BP together by force. Then again, BP is already taking steps to reduce its refining presence without a split by selling off some of its largest refineries to help pay for damages in connection with the spill.

BP is not alone in selling off its refineries. For example, Shell has cut 40% of its refining capacity in the last 12 years through asset sales. A split in Shell’s case therefore might not yield the same value as it would for COP.

Furthermore, oil companies are conservative, so convincing them to make a radical split, even if it could potentially unlock billions of dollars in value, won’t be easy. Take ExxonMobil. Just a 10% increase in value through a split would be worth $43 billion to shareholders, which is equivalent to the GDP of Tunisia. But ExxonMobil is known as the most conservative member of Big Oil, making any split hard to imagine.

“Although ExxonMobil would the ideal candidate since a split could unlock the most value, it is the least likely to do so, as management is convinced that the integrated model will serve it in the future as it has in the past,” says Fadel Gheit, the energy analyst at Oppenheimer.

But even ExxonMobil isn’t immune to shareholder pressure. COP is slated to complete its split in the first quarter of next year, giving the company’s shares some time to turn to the upside.

If the ConocoPhillips story is a success for shareholders, there will be calls to break up Big Oil just in time for the annual meetings in the spring. So by this time next year, it is possible that Big Oil will go the way of Rockefeller’s once gargantuan Standard Oil — with the markets, not the government, forcing a break up this time.

Summary: How the break-up of ConocoPhillips could lead to similar moves by oil conglomerates like BP and Exxon Mobil, forever changing the energy landscape.


02/07/2016 AT 03:35 PM EST

Win or lose at this year's Academy Awards (and he's

is guaranteed to get at least one little metal man – all the way from Russia,

from Russian state news agencies (translated to English), that a group of filmmakers in eastern Russia are gathering donations to create their version of an "Oscar," though they plan on renaming it.

notes, the speculation about DiCaprio's lack of an Oscar, despite a long and storied film career, has gone international, even earning chatter on Chinese social media.

While the Russian award will look more or less Oscar-esque, it will hold a "Choron," a a three-legged goblet, instead of a sword – a substitution symbolizing peace, according to the

Local women have also been told, according to the paper, to give half of their jewelry for the statue so that "one half will be with Leonardo DiCaprio and one half with them."

Russia Today, the state-backed TV network,

Russian "Oscar" or no, DiCaprio, 41, (who has two Russian grandparents) "is widely perceived to have a special link" to the country, according to the

, and reports there have recently seized on comments he made

in a future film role.

discovered in a joking tweet a few weeks ago.

Summary: As the Post notes, the speculation about DiCaprio's lack of an Oscar, despite a long and storied film career, has gone international, even earning chatter on Chinese social media


The Harvard Lampoon staff in the documentary “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead.”

Back in the ’60s, a bunch of wasted slackers from an Ivy League school transformed American comedy. For better and worse, three Harvard graduates — Doug Kenney, Henry Beard, and Michael O’Donoghue — transformed the school’s hoary humor magazine into the National Lampoon, a scurrilous, scatological, and subversive publication that combined the inanity of Mad Magazine with the genius of Lenny Bruce and Jonathan Swift.

The magazine then metastasized into a brain trust spinning out such ribald Hollywood comedies as “Animal House” (1978) and “National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983),” spread into TV with “Saturday Night Live,” and ultimately inspired a whole generation of wise guys pushing the envelope of transgression and bad taste.

In short, anything you laughed at recently probably can be traced back to that primal trio of Lampooners whose story is told in Douglas Tirola’s rollicking documentary “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon” (2015).

Were they puerile and misogynistic as well as hilarious? Tirola tends not to delve deeply into those issues, nor does he dwell much on the negative side of the four adjectives of the title: The road of excess might lead to the palace of wisdom, but for some of these guys it took a detour to an early death. Instead, Tirola taps into the creative fervor, stylistically re-creating the slash-and-burn brilliance of the magazine’s graphic style and offering commentary from survivors and admirers such as Chevy Chase, Christopher Guest, and Judd Apatow.

“Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead” screens as part of Emerson’s Bright Lights series on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Paramount Center. A discussion with Emerson Visual and Media Arts professor Manny Basanese follows.

For more information go to web.emerson.edu/brightlights/event/drunk-stoned-brilliant-dead.

A publication like the National Lampoon probably would not be possible these days when all that was taboo back then is routinely violated — not just in the media but on the presidential campaign trail.

As seen in Mitch Dickman’s documentary “Rolling Papers,” even a staid mainstream publication like the Denver Post can boast of a “marijuana editor” — Ricardo Baca — who’s been on the job since Colorado made the drug legal in 2014. Dickman follows Baca as he patrols the cannabis beat investigating such issues as parental responsibilities, the edible infusion question, and the complications resulting from a state legalizing a drug still criminalized by the Federal government.

“Rolling Papers” will be available on VOD on Feb. 19.

For more information go to www.rollingpapersfilm.com

More timely than ever, the documentary “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” from filmmaker Stanley Nelson (“Freedom Riders,” “Freedom Summer”) outlines the history of the ’60s militant civil rights movement founded by those who decided that passive resistance was not enough to change history, and who dared to claim power and self-protection as the right and duty of African-Americans. Using rare archival footage and interviews with party members, police, informants, journalists, and others, “The Black Panthers” traces the history of the party from its origins to its bloody, tragic end, and examines the legacy it leaves for those who continue the struggle today. It airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on PBS as part of the “Independent Lens” series.

For more information go to www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/the-black-panthers-vanguard-of-the-revolution.

Many locations around the world – the Golden Gate Bridge, the Aokigahara Forest in Japan – have become magnet sites for suicides. Among the most popular is the four-mile-long Yangtze River Bridge in Nanjing, China, which has been the site of many of the country’s 200,000 annual suicides. Authorities took preventative measures, but nothing changed until one man decided to dedicate his life to saving these victims of despair.

Jordan Horowitz and Frank Ferendo’s documentary “Angel of Nanjing” tells the story of Chen Si, a regular guy who one day in 2003 took a sign to the bridge reading: “Nothing is impossible. When God closes a door he opens a window.” That day, he saved his first life. Since then, like the hero of some Frank Capra movie, he has talked more than 300 people out of ending it all.

As the film demonstrates, however, being a saint takes its toll. Chen takes responsibility for the lives he couldn’t save, and the guilt has driven him to drinking and smoking and into family conflicts. Will he become as despondent as those he strives to help?

“Angel of Nanjing” can be seen on VOD starting on Monday.

For more information go to www.angelofnanjing.com.

Meghan O’Hara got a best documentary Oscar nomination as producer of “Sicko” (2007), Michael Moore’s critique of the American health care system. Little did she know that she would be experiencing that system firsthand when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

During her darkest moments, O’Hara came upon Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, a cancer survivor himself, who had become dedicated to finding a way to prevent the disease. With her cancer now in remission, O’Hara decided to make the documentary “The ‘C’ Word,” about the doctor and his system.

On first look, the Servan-Schreiber program doesn’t sound like rocket science: eat well, exercise, avoid stress, eliminate toxins. But people in the film testify that it works, and they say that the reason no one has followed up on this “trite but revolutionary” (Servan-Schreiber’s words) regimen is that it doesn’t involve expensive drugs or machinery that will earn more money for the multibillion-dollar anti-cancer industry.

Nor are his rules easy to follow in a culture that pushes excess consumption, allows toxic ingredients in products, and engenders stress. But what makes it all seem plausible is the example of Servan-Schreiber himself: 20 years cancer-free, with the drive and charisma to pursue his dream of a world where the disease is preventable.

“The ‘C’ Word” screens in the newportFILM documentary series on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in the Castro Theatre. The director will be available for a post-screening discussion. Admission is free.

For more information go to www.newportfilm.com/film-events/films/c-word.

Summary: Anything you laughed at recently probably can be traced back to that primal trio of Harvard Lampooners whose story is told in Douglas Tirola’s rollicking documentary “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon” (2015).


Nicole Vaisey and Stephen Howells

12/18/2015 AT 11:15 PM EST

A couple in upstate New York received a total of 880 years in prison Thursday for sexually exploiting six young girls, including

they kidnapped from their family's roadside farm stand last year.

Stephen Howells, 40, was given 580 years in prison, and his former girlfriend Nicole Vaisey, 26, got 300 years, reports the

The two Amish girls, ages 6 and 11, were abducted in August 2014 in the town of Heuvelton, near the Canadian border. Prosecutors claimed Howells and Vaisey had planned to keep the girls as sex slaves but released them a day later – after sexually absuing them – because they hadn't finished building a soundproof prison cell in their home and were worried neighbors would hear the girls screaming.

"You are the threat that parents worry about every day," U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby told the defendants in court Thursday. "You are the nightmare that never goes away for children."

"The sentences imposed today are a reflection of the monstrous crimes committed by Stephen M. Howells, II and Nicole F. Vaisey against the most vulnerable among us – our children. Howells and Vaisey will never be able to abduct, drug and sexually abuse children again," U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian said at a press conference after the sentencing, reports

Howells admitted to abusing four other children, dating back to December 2012. This May, he pleaded guilty to 21 counts of sexually exploiting children and child pornography.

Howells and Vaisey both apologized to their victims Thursday before their sentences were handed down, reports the

"I'd just like to say that the evil I've done is my own," said Howells, a registered nurse who admitted to using drugs obtained through work to subdue the girls. "The victims did nothing wrong. The things that were done to them were my own illness, and I hope that someday they'll be able to move on and live their lives."

Vaisey's lawyers had argued that she was in a master-slave relationship with Howells and was afraid to turn him in. Howells had also tried to excuse Vaisey's involvement in the crimes, saying he had taken advantage of her and "twisted her around."

But on Thursday, Vaisey said she wasn't looking to be let off.

"I'd like to use this time to say how very sorry I am," she said. "I know that people will think I'm just looking for leniency, but that's not true. I would gladly do anything, pay any price to undo the damage I have done, but I can't."

The sentences match the wishes of at least one of the victims, who urged the judge in a letter to the court: "Isolate them for life."

The sentences Thursday were on federal charges. Howells and Vaisey also face sentencing Jan. 5 in St. Lawrence County Court on various state charges, including kidnapping.

Summary: Stephen Howells and Nicole Vaisey were convicted of sexually exploiting six young girls


The jury trying Alvin L. Mitchell for the murder of Barbara Kralik was dismissed last night after reporting it was hopelessly deadlocked.

The 10‐man, two‐woman panel in Supreme Court, Queens, had deliberated for nine hours. It was learned that one juror had held out for the conviction of the 19‐year‐old Queens youth.

The case had been complicated by two confessions to the crime. Mitchell confessed, but later retracted his statement. Winston Moseley, a convicted murderer in another case, also confessed.

Miss Kralik's parents were impassive when the deadlock was announced at 11:25 P.M. in the nearly empty courtroom, but Mitchell's mother broke into

Justice J. Irwin Shapiro set July 6 as the date for a new trial. Mitchell had already been scheduled to be tried on that date on a charge of having broken into a public school in Fresh Meadows, Queens, last July.

Coincidentally, July 6 has been set by Justice Shapiro for the sentencing of Moseley to death in the electrio chair for the murder of Miss Catherine Genovese of 82‐70 Austin Street, Kew Gardens.

Moseley was a key witness in the Mitchell trial, testifying that it was he, not Mitchell, who had killed the 15‐year‐old Kralik girl in her home at 174‐17 140th Avenue, Springfield Gardens, last July 20.

Moseley said he had crept into the Kralik home in the pre‐dawn hours last July 20, mounted the stairs to the second floor, passed one bedroom with two sleeping figures, and entered the bedroom of the sleeping girl.

“She made a sound,” he told the court. “I put my hand over her mouth. I stabbed her to death.”

Mitchell, who lives at 25‐41 35th Street, Astoria, had confessed to murdering Miss Kralik at the time of his arrest, but later repudiated the confession. Justice Shapiro admitted the Mitchell confession as evidence.

Besides signing a confession that said he had stabbed the Kralik girl to death, Mitchell also gave an interview to television reporters while he was in police custody, in which he said: “She started to scream. I got panicky. I didn’t know what I was doing. I remember hitting her, but don’t remember stabbing her. You know, I just panicked.”

Herbert A. Lyon, Mitchell's lawyer, charged that the confession had been obtained under duress, and that Mitchell had been abused and beaten.

In connection with Mitchell's alleged statements and confession, Justice Shapiro told the jury that if it had any doubts about the manner in which they were obtained they should “throw them out.”

A key witness for the prosecution was George Borges, 16, of 87‐14 HomeIawn Avenue, Jamaica, a friend of Mitchell. Young Borges testified that he had seen Mitchell climb into the Kralik home in the pre‐dawn hours 6f July 20 through a first‐floor window.

Borges said that when Mitchell rejoined him after he left the Kralik house, he told Borges that he had “stabbed a girl.”

Mitchell's trial began on June 17. Moseley, who was convicted June 11, was to have been sentenced to death last Monday byJustice Shapiro, who presided at Moseley's trial. But the sentencing was postponed until next Monday so that he could be readily available as a witness in the Mitchell case.

In his charge to the jury yesterday morning, Justice Shapiro stressed the element of “rea sonable doubt,” and said that if the jury held any such doubt it must acquit the defendant.

After 3 hours and 50 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned in the late afternoon to report that it was “deadlocked beyond any reconciliation.”

The justice urged the jurors that in light of having heard five days of testimony and his two‐hour charge to them, he to retire for what he considered a “reasonable time,” and reconsider the evidence.

In the early hours of the evening, the jury asked that certain portions of the testimony be sent to their chambers for study. An hour later, the jury asked that other portions of the testimony be read to them.

These had not been transscribed by the stenographer, which meant that the jury had to return to the courtroom.

The jury also asked Justice Shapiro questions on physical evidence that had never been introduced. He explained that he could advise them only on the law. The jury then retired again. It returned deadlocked.

This article can be viewed in its original form. Please send questions and feedback to archive_feedback@nytimes.com

Summary: trial ends in hung jury


Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for MTV

04/10/2016 AT 08:45 PM EDT

dedicated her best female performance win at the

to warrior women everywhere – and to one in particular.

"Tonight I accept this award on behalf of my own little Furiosa: my daughter, August Simone," the

star said of the daughter

Theron, 40, also pointed out that her role showed the raw power of women, something she hopes can inspire others.

is in part a story of the power of women and the power to create our own destinies," she said, later adding that she dedicates the award not just to her daughter but on "behalf of all the Furiosas out there: You are the true warriors."

Theron accepted the award from

, and made sure she did not forget her son,

, during her acceptance speech.

"I want to thank my beautiful son Jackson for putting a smile on my face every day," she said of the boy she

. "He was with me while I made this film."

Summary: Charlize Theron accepted the best female performance trophy "on behalf of all the little furiosas out there: You are the true warriors"


The poll that might scare Clinton supporters

Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton 45% to 42% in a new national poll…a statistical tie. Historically, that has not boded well for Clinton. Can she turn her numbers around? Lawrence discusses with Michael Steele, Peter Wehner, and Geoff Garin.

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

Summary: Donald Trump has tried to lower his tax burden by having his lawyers argue that his golf course in Westchester, New York is worth significantly less than its real value.


Exposure to insecticides lindane and DDT can cause cancer, according to findings released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday.

WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has now classified lindane, which has been used “extensively” for insect control, as carcinogenic to humans. DDT is now classified as probably carcinogenic to humans, based on evidence that DDT causes cancer in experimental animals and limited evidence that it does in humans.

The chemicals have been linked specifically to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, testicular cancer and liver cancer. Exposure to lindane can increase one’s risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma by 60%, according to studies conducted in Canada and the U.S.

The chemical 2,4-D, a common weedkiller, was classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans based on “inadequate evidence” in humans and “limited evidence” in experimental animals. Exposure can occur through food, water, dust or residential application, the IARC said.

Agricultural workers have had the most direct exposure to such chemicals. DDT was introduced to control insect populations on farms during World War II and widely proliferated, but most applications of DDT were banned in the U.S. in 1970. According to the study, however, exposure to DDT through food still exists in some parts of the world.

Lindane-based shampoo is also used to kill lice, while lindane lotion is applied directly to the skin to treat scabies. Both these products have been available since the early 1950s and are still approved by the FDA. Dr. Kurt Straif, head of the IARC, told the BBC that there are no studies currently available that assess the risk of these types of exposure.

DDT can still be legally manufactured in the U.S., but only sold to foreign countries.

The full study can be found here.

Summary: DDT was mostly banned in the U.S. in 1970, while lindane is still present in some products


Before you go, we thought you'd like these...

Disneyland is getting a "Star Wars" face-lift. The Los Angeles Times says the change will be the Anaheim park's largest expansion ever.

Obviously, the changes cost money and require space. That's why Disneyland plans to close 10 eateries and attractions — some more permanently than others — starting Jan. 10.

'Star Wars' forces out older Disneyland attractions

ANAHEIM, CALIF. -- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015: Mickey Mouse appears during the lighting of 'It's a Small World' ride, which was decorated for the holiday season during the Star Wars Season of The Force at Disneyland on November 12, 2015 in Anaheim, California.(Photo by Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

ANAHEIM, CALIF. -- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2015: A first-person view of streaming lights while riding on the updated Hyperspace Mountain at Disneyland during the media preview of Star Wars Season of The Force on November 12, 2015 in Anaheim, California.(Photo by Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

FILE - In this Jan. 22, 2015, file photo, Mickey Mouse shaped balloons are for sale at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. Health officials say the number of U.S. measles cases this year has risen to 141. Eighteen of the 20 new cases reported Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2015, stem from outbreaks at Disneyland in California and an Illinois day care center. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse wave during a parade along Main Street at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., seen in this May 4, 2005, file photo, at the start of the "Happiest Homecoming On Earth," an 18-month commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the first Disney theme park. Disney announced a new marketing campaign Wednesday, June 7, 2006, for Disney theme parks around the world called a "Year of a Million Dreams." The campaign will launch in October to replace the 18 month Disneyland 50th anniversary promotion. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Fireworks and special effects illuminate the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Hong Kong Disneyland Sunday night, Sept. 11, 2005, one day before its official opening. It is Disney's first-ever vacation resort in China. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Fireworks expolde behind Sleeping Beauty's Castle during the premiere of "Remember...Dreams Come True" fireworks show as Disneyland's celebrates its 50th anniversary Wednesday, May 4, 2005, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Detail of candy bearing Mickey Mouse's face. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse. In the background is Cinderella's Castle. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

A friendly Disney character rubs noses with a young fan outside of Cinderella's Castle. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Balloons of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters for sale. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

One of the displays in "it's a small world," located in Fantasyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Entrance sign to "it's a small world," located in Fantasyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

One of the displays in "it's a small world," located in Fantasyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Smiling clock face in the exterior of "it's a small world." Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Exterior of "it's a small world," located in Fantasyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Cinderella's Castle at the entrance to Fantasyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Space Mountain. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Snow White and her prince dance at "Sleeping Beauty's Royal Celebration." Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

The Astro Orbiter near the entrance to Tomorrowland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Princess Jasmine and Aladdin participate in "Sleeping Beauty's Royal Celebration" cavalcade. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Cinderella's Castle at the entrance to Fantasyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Toontown sign. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Beauty and the Beast participate in "Sleeping Beauty's Royal Celebration" in front of Cinderella's Castle. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Cinderella and Prince Charming dancein "Sleeping Beauty's Royal Celebration" in front of Cinderella's Castle. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Cinderella's Castle at the entrance to Fantasyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Fountain at nighttime in Disneyland. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

The Monorail passes in front of the Matterhorn. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

Mickey Mouse waves during a parade along Main Street, U.S.A. Photos are part of the presentation of the 50th Anniversary of Disneyland in California. (Photo: Steve Mawyer, AOL)

A photo taken on August 13, 2015 shows the entrance of the Walt Disney Studios park at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallee. AFP PHOTO / BERTRAND GUAY (Photo credit should read BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images)

The park also upped the cost on season passes recently — as much as 31 percent. But that hasn't kept attendance down; one theme park consultant

, "The tourists will come, hell or high water."

It's also probably no coincidence that rival theme park Universal Studios Hollywood has plans to debut its

Because what better competition is there than "Star Wars" when it comes to fighting magic with space magic.

'Star Wars' forces out older Disneyland attractions

FILE - In this Sunday, July 17, 1955 file photo, children sprint across a drawbridge and into a castle that marks the entrance to Fantasyland at the opening of Walt Disney's Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. Fantasyland had been closed until late in the day. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this Sunday, July 17, 1955 file photo, Walt Disney sits on a rock in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle in the Fantasyland section of Disneyland on opening day of the amusement theme park in Anaheim, Calif. A year earlier, Disney made his move. He succumbed to the lure of television and arranged to tie in the TV show (he hosted) with a Disneyland park. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this Sunday, July 17, 1955 file photo, Gov. Goodwin J. Knight, left, Walt Disney, right, and Virginia Knight, wife of the governor, back seat, take a ride in an antique-styled automobile at Disneyland near Anaheim, Calif., at the premiere opening. Twenty-two thousand guests, including many notables, were invited. (AP Photo)

Summary: Disneyland plans to close 10 eateries and attractions ? some more permanently than others ? starting Jan. 10.


WASHINGTON, March 7— Three years ago the Central Intelligence Agency gave S. Peter Karlow a small bronze medal, a citation in a blue leatherette binder and a check for close to $500,000. It was the agency's way of saying there had been a terrible mistake.

More than two decades earlier, the C.I.A. had falsely branded Mr. Karlow as a suspected mole, a spy within the agency's ranks. "I walked down the street and a flower pot fell off the roof and landed on me," Mr. Karlow, who is now 71 years old and lives in Northern California, said in an interview.

His case, and those of other agency employees who became victims of the agency's hunts for moles in the 1960's and early 1970's, are detailed in a book by David Wise, "Molehunt: the Secret Search For Traitors That Shattered the C.I.A." The book will be published by Random House on March 16. Into Professional Exile

After 10 years of research and more than 650 interviews, Mr. Wise writes that the agency paid Mr. Karlow and two other former employees a total of more than $700,000 to compensate them for having wrongly accused them of disloyalty. The payments were made under an obscure law that became known within the agency as the "Mole Relief Act."

Paul Garbler, the C.I.A.'s first station chief in Moscow, who also received a payment from the agency, spent years in professional exile after he was suspected of being a mole. Richard Kovich, who recruited Soviet spies for the C.I.A. until his career slid into limbo, also received compensation. Three other unidentified C.I.A. employees sought payments, but the agency rejected their claims.

Mark Mansfield, a C.I.A. spokesman, said agency officials declined to coment on Mr. Wise's book because, they said, they not yet seen it. But he added, "Several agency employees did receive compensation under what has often been referred to as the Mole Relief Act."

The cases of the three former officials were known from news reports and previous books about the period. But Mr. Wise, a longtime Washington reporter who has written several books on espionage and intelligence, documents the mole investigations and their impact on the employees involved. With detailed reporting, he portrays paralyzing distrust within the C.I.A.'s Soviet Division, which was responsible for spying on Moscow.

Mr. Wise says that the files of up to 120 employees were reviewed in the hunt for Soviet agents at the C.I.A. More than 50 employees were actually investigated, and at least 16 were treated as serious suspects, although former Directors of Central Intelligence, like William E. Colby, say no Soviet penetration was uncovered. Christmastime in Helsinki

Mr. Wise's account, which was confirmed by other current and former intelligence officials in interviews, begins shortly before Christmas in 1961, when Anatoly M. Golitsin, a K.G.B. officer who became one of the best-known Soviet defectors, turned up on the snowy doorstep of the C.I.A.'s station chief in Helsinki, Finland.

Mr. Golitsin touched off panic, telling C.I.A. officials that he had seen information at K.G.B. headquarters that came from high in the C.I.A. "The mole, he told his C.I.A. interrogators, was someone of Slavic background whose name might have ended in 'sky,' " Mr. Wise writes. "He had been stationed in Germany. His K.G.B. code name was Sasha. And there was something else: the mole's true last name began with the letter 'K.' "

The defector's account seemed to confirm the worst suspicions of the C.I.A's top counterintelligence official, James Jesus Angleton, the reclusive orchid-grower, fly-fisherman and graduate of Yale who, in the depths of the cold war, operated with icy suspicion.

Mr. Angleton scoured the agency for K.G.B. spies from 1954 until 1974, when Mr. Colby dismissed him. Although some agency officials dispute it, others like Mr. Colby say the counterintelligence excesses of the Angleton period nearly paralyzed the C.I.A.'s efforts to spy on the Kremlin. Mr. Angleton died in 1987. A Master Gadgeteer

To Mr. Angleton and his investigators, the book goes on, Mr. Karlow appeared to neatly fit Mr. Golitsin's profile of "Sasha." His last name began with the letter "K." His last name at birth had been Klibansky. His father had been born in Germany but sometimes said he was from Russia. And Mr. Karlow had worked for six years in West Germany for the C.I.A.

And there was more. At one time, Mr. Wise writes, Mr. Karlow was the closest thing the C.I.A. had to "Q," the master gadgeteer of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Mr. Karlow had worked to develop a tiny eavesdropping device like one the Soviets planted in a carved replica of the Great Seal of the United States that hung on the Ambassador's wall at the American Embassy in Moscow from 1945 until it was detected in the early 1950's.

The mole hunters suspected that the Soviets had obtained information about the project, because when Mr. Golitsin defected he brought with him a technical paper suggesting that the Soviets knew of a United States-British program to duplicate the bugging device. As the head of the American effort, Mr. Karlow quickly became the mole hunters' prime suspect.


The United Kingdom did not invent chocolate, its dental history notwithstanding. You wouldn’t know that judging from the latest confectionary contretemps involving Cadbury, the quintessential British chocolate brand, and Hershey, which has a similar home-team claim in America.

The British press has been in partial meltdown about the fact that a couple of U.K.-owned firms in the U.S. that have been importing Cadbury chocolates from Blighty for expats and Anglophiles have been told by Pennsylvania-based Hershey to knock it off. Hershey and one importer, Let’s Buy British Imports, or L.B.B., came to an “agreement.” L.B.B. agreed to stop importing Cadbury products. Or else. I added that last interpretation.

Behind the uproar is the view held by some that British Cadbury’s is superior to the American version and that this whole thing looks like a case of a giant U.S. company stomping on little guys for selling a beloved chocolate. It’s candy crush!

The outrage has caught fire on the web because MoveOn.org, the liberal/progressive activist organization that normally involves itself in more serious issues, has sponsored a petition to compel the Americans to back off. “This is ridiculous! If Hershey’s can’t compete, then maybe they should make a better product!” noted Kari Chesney from Columbia, Mo, one of almost 18,000 people who has signed the petition.

Do those outraged petitioners realize that Hershey owns the rights to manufacture Cadbury’s products in the U.S.? Which it bought from Cadbury for a large amount of money? And that it might have a legitimate interest in protecting its property? It’s one thing if a shop is importing a case or two of Cadbury’s every now and then, but quite another if it becomes a competing business. Since 1988, Hershey has owned the right to sell Dairy Milk, Creme Eggs and other Cadbury products. Why? Simple — Cadbury needed the money, and decided that Hershey could manage the U.S. business better than it could.

That wasn’t a difficult decision to make. Cadbury was part of Cadbury Schweppes from 1969 until 2008 when the two companies demerged, under pressure from investors. Neither business could survive on its own, however, because the food and beverage industry was consolidating. Cadbury couldn’t keep up with its rivals Nestle, Mars Inc., and to a lesser extent Hershey (which was protected by the Hershey Trust, the controlling shareholder). In 2010, Cadbury was acquired by an American company, Illinois-based Kraft Foods, in a $16.8 billion deal. Kraft, also under pressure, then carved off its junk food business into something called Mondeléz International, where Cadbury currently resides, one of many formerly family-owned brands. So much for that fine British tradition.

There’s ample reason why Hershey manufactured Cadbury its way, which is to say, a bit differently from the way Cadbury does Cadbury. Hershey had already developed its own distinct manufacturing processes. Chocolate, with its high fat content, is not particularly easy to work with. For much of its history it was a drink, and liquid gave way to solid only after much manipulation (the addition of condensed milk being primary). But the price for solid chocolate was so high it remained a gourmet treat.

Milton Hershey’s accomplishment—after failing several times in the candy business— was to reverse engineer German chocolate-making methods he witnessed at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and make modifications that led to the Hershey milk chocolate bar. The Hershey bar was shelf stable and much more affordable than European varieties. Created in 1900, it became synonymous with chocolate in the U.S. Cadbury, meanwhile, launched its Dairy Milk five years later, in 1905.

It isn’t only Cadbury chocolate that differs by country. If you buy a candy bar called a Mars bar in the U.K. it will differ from its U.S. cousin, known as Milky Way. The irony is that Forrest Mars Sr., who created the modern Mars Inc, (M&Ms, Snickers, etc.) developed the business in the 1940s in the U.K. where he had been exiled after a falling out with his father. He returned to the U.S. in the 1960s to buy out his father, but the formulas and labels of the candy bars in both countries were different. As in language, the U.S. and the U.K. are two countries divided by common candy.

The same transatlantic divide applies to common ketchup. The Heinz tomato ketchup you buy here is less vinegary than the version sold in the U.K. There is no petition to import that version—Heinz just caters to local tastes. So does Hershey.

You can argue over whether the U.S. or the U.K. version of Dairy Milk is better. They are both commodity chocolate products not to be mistaken for the luscious, and pricy, artisanal products now available. But you can’t argue that Hershey has the right to call the shots. Cadbury blew it in the U.S. The company lost the right to sell its own chocolate bars, and that’s how the cookie crumbled.

So please stop whining about it, British people. We still like your beer.

Correction: This article originally misidentified the manufacturer of Maltesers. It is Mars.

Summary: This candy was crushed for a good reason


Oxford Dictionaries announced its latest additions on Wednesday, highlighting the things we were talking about in the summer of ’15—like angry Internet commenters, gender identity and what a sweet time of day “beer o’clock” is.

Oxford Dictionaries is the branch of the Oxford family that focuses on modern language—words that people are using now and how they’re using them—which makes their barriers to entry different than the venerable, historical Oxford English Dictionary. Their new words often arise from fresh technology and pop culture and might include Internet slang (like new entry pwnage) that would get laughed out of the OED’s admittance office.

As with every update, the additions reflect who English-speakers are. Sometimes we are microaggressive brain-farters. At other times we are butthurt pocket-dialers. At others still, we are simply hangry fat-shamers or rando Redditors.

Among the lessons about who we are right now: The addition of Mx., a gender-neutral honorific for those who do not want to be referred to as Mr. or Mrs., reflects today’s more thoughtful conversations about gender identity, spurred on by the likes of Caitlyn Jenner. Grexit, a term for referring to the possible exit of Greece from the European Union, points to how global our economy is becoming. And the addition of barbacoa illustrates how much people like Chipotle.

Here is a selection from this latest update, including definitions of all the italicized words above:

awesomesauce (adjective): extremely good; excellent

bants (noun): playfully teasing or mocking remarks exchanged with another person or group; banter

barbacoa (noun): (in Mexican cooking) beef, lamb, or other meat that has slowly been cooked with seasonings, typically shredded as a filling in tacos, burritos, etc.

beer o’clock (noun): an appropriate time of day for starting to drink beer

brain fart (noun): a temporary mental lapse or failure to reason correctly

Brexit (noun): a term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union

bruh (noun): a male friend (often used as a form of address)

butt dial (verb): inadvertently call (someone) on a mobile phone in one’s rear trouser pocket

butthurt (adjective): overly or unjustifiably offended or resentful

cakeage (noun): a charge made by a restaurant for serving a cake they have not supplied themselves

cat cafe (noun): a café or similar establishment where people pay to interact with cats housed on the premises

cupcakery (noun): a bakery that specializes in cupcakes

deradicalization (noun): the action or process of causing a person with extreme views to adopt more moderate positions on political or social issues

fast-casual (adjective): denoting or relating to a type of high-quality self-service restaurant offering dishes that are prepared to order and more expensive than those available in a typical fast-food restaurant

fatberg (noun): a very large mass of solid waste in a sewerage system, consisting especially of congealed fat and personal hygiene products that have been flushed down toilets

fat-shame (verb): cause (someone judged to be fat or overweight) to feel humiliated by making mocking or critical comments about their size

fur baby (noun): a person’s dog, cat, or other furry pet animal

glanceable (adjective): denoting or relating to information, especially as displayed on an electronic screen, that can be read or understood very quickly and easily

Grexit (noun): a term for the potential withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone (the economic region formed by those countries in the European Union that use the euro as their national currency)

hangry (adjective): bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger

kayfabe (noun): (in professional wrestling) the fact or convention of presenting staged performances as genuine or authentic

MacGyver (verb): make or repair (an object) in an improvised or inventive way, making use of whatever items are at hand

manic pixie dream girl (noun): (especially in film) a type of female character depicted as vivacious and appealingly quirky, whose main purpose within the narrative is to inspire a greater appreciation for life in a male protagonist

manspreading (noun): the practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats

meeple (noun): a small figure used as a playing piece in certain board games, having a stylized human form

mic drop (noun): an instance of deliberately dropping or tossing aside one’s microphone at the end of a performance or speech one considers to have been particularly impressive

microaggression (noun): a statement, action, or incident regarded as an instance of indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority

mkay (exclamation): non-standard spelling of OK, representing an informal pronunciation (typically used at the end of a statement to invite agreement, approval, or confirmation)

Mx (noun): a title used before a person’s surname or full name by those who wish to avoid specifying their gender or by those who prefer not to identify themselves as male or female

pocket dial (verb): inadvertently call (someone) on a mobile phone in one’s pocket, as a result of pressure being accidentally applied to a button or buttons on the phone

pwnage (noun): (especially in video gaming) the action or fact of utterly defeating an opponent or rival

rando (noun): a person one does now know, especially one regarded as odd, suspicious, or engaging in socially inappropriate behaviour

Redditor (noun): a registered user of the website Reddit

social justice warrior (noun): (derogatory) a person who expresses or promotes socially progressive views

subreddit (noun): a forum dedicated to a specific topic on the website Reddit

swatting (noun): the action or practice of making a hoax call to the emergency services in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to a particular address

weak sauce (noun): something that is of a poor or disappointing standard or quality

wine o’clock (noun): an appropriate time of day for starting to drink wine

Read next: 15 Words You Need to Eliminate From Your Vocabulary

Listen to the most important stories of the day

Summary: Many terms reportedly 'butthurt' after not being included in the latest update


-- who just recorded a video with

-- was locked up yesterday ... and he ain't getting out any time soon.

-- is on probation in Georgia for possessing a sawed-off shotgun. Cops tell us he violated probation by leaving the state.

Waka will be held without bail at the Houston County Jail until his court appearance in a few weeks. The good news, his song "O Let's Do It" is moving up the charts.

Summary: Rapper Waka Flocka Flame -- who just recorded a video with P. Diddy -- was locked up yesterday ... and he ain't getting out any time soon.Waka -- real…


THE "Far West Side." "The West Bank." Manhattan's "Left Coast." Residents of the huge planned community centered on the Port Imperial ferry station in Weehawken, N.J., employ very New York-centric nicknames for the 200-acre development they call home. How could they not?

The 4,000 or so residents pretty much live, breathe and eat Manhattan, although they sleep  and jog, swim and exercise their dogs at the pet park  in three cities across the Hudson River in New Jersey.

The Port Imperial development stretches over two miles through the towns of Weehawken, West New York and Guttenberg, mirroring 33rd to 85th Streets in Manhattan across the way.

"We didn't come with the mind-set of living in those cities, or anything," said Michelle Las, who with her fiancé, Patrick Chu, has just bought a two-bedroom, two-bath condominium at the Hudson Club in Port Imperial. "We just really love New York, and we wanted something a little more relaxing for our off-hours."

Likewise, Allan Yallof and his wife, Jaimi, adore Manhattan, to a point. A few years ago they decided to leave the city for Saddle River, N.J. There, Mr. Yallof found himself put off by yard work. "And there were these wild turkeys that came by the yard all the time," he recalled with an audible shudder.

The Yallofs now call Port Imperial a "point of moderation" between hyper Manhattan and deep suburbia.

The music from the cruise ships docked on the Manhattan side can lull them into slumber at night, lilting across the mile-wide Hudson undiluted by the braying of car horns or the rumble of subway trains.

And then, the morning ferry trip to work in the city takes just seven minutes flat. Ferry captains report the most frequent complaint they hear from riders is that the trip is too short, giving insufficient time to drink enough caffeine.

There are about 2,000 existing apartments, condos and brownstone town houses at Port Imperial  and the master plan calls for a total of 4,300.

The master developer, the Roseland Property Company, began in the late 1980's with rental towers in Guttenberg and continued building mostly rentals until five years ago when a group of elegant four-story brownstones opened beside the river in Weehawken. This year, Roseland joined the Lennar Corporation to convert the existing 344-unit Hudson Club to condos.

Next month, Roseland and Lennar are also opening sales for Henley on Hudson at 1 Ferry Landing Circle in Weehawken. Construction recently began for the complex, which will have 94 single-level and duplex apartments in midrise buildings and 64 four-story town homes.

Meanwhile, K. Hovnanian, which bought 11 acres at Port Imperial from Roseland several years ago, is at work on a 300-unit condo development called the Grandview II at Riverwalk, also a midrise building.

When the Port Imperial master plan was approved, one thing municipal planners insisted on was that building heights be at least 10 feet below the top of the Palisades Cliffs, which rise abruptly on the other side of River Road.

Roseland says its goal is to satisfy the lust for every possible amenity. All residences have surround sound, DirectTV satellite television, high-speed Internet access, security alarms and multimedia outlets. There is a 10,000-square-foot community clubhouse with a basketball court, screening rooms, a business center and a lounge.

The river walk from one end of the project to the other is appointed with lush landscaping and tiny parks. "You could," Mr. Yallof said, "eat off the grounds."

A ferry terminal opposite the 39th Street terminal in New York, which just opened last week, is a vision in green glass.

Construction is also under way on a 130,000-square-foot retail center, which will include a Starbucks, a Ben & Jerry's, an A&P Fresh, a wine market, a spa, a bank and a variety of restaurants.

Generally, peak prices in New Jersey run 30 to 50 percent lower than those for comparable Manhattan apartments, both rental and condo (co-ops are relatively rare in New Jersey).

At Port Imperial, with its close proximity to Manhattan, there are few bargains, but the discounts relative to Manhattan still can be substantial when amenities and services are taken into account.

Mr. Yallof and his wife pay $3,680 a month, as well as a common charge of around $500, to lease their top-floor three-bedroom apartment with spectacular views that include Midtown Manhattan.

There is usually an array of units for sale or rent from normal turnover, but right now new developments are generating especially plentiful offerings.

Summary: The residents of the huge planned community centered on the Port Imperial ferry station in Weehawken, N.J.,pretty much live, breathe and eat Manhattan.


(Reuters) -- Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's campaign manager said on Friday that he was relieved a battery case against him was over but disputed a reporter's claim that he never reached out after she accused him of bruising her arm.

EARLIER: Charges dropped against Trump aide

Corey Lewandowski told CNN he called Michelle Fields, then a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart, on the night of the March 8 incident in Florida after seeing her boyfriend's Twitter account that something had occurred. He said he never heard back.

"I didn't know what happened, honestly," he said.

Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said on Thursday that Lewandowski, 42, would not be prosecuted on a misdemeanor battery charge involving Fields.

Click through images of Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager:

CNN: Trump campaign manager says he called reporter after run-in

PALM BEACH, FL - MARCH 11: Corey Lewandowski campaign manager for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks with the media before former presidential candidate Ben Carson gives his endorsement to Mr. Trump at the Mar-A-Lago Club on March 11, 2016 in Palm Beach, Florida. Presidential candidates continue to campaign before Florida's March 15th primary day. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Donald Trump, president and chief executive of Trump Organization Inc. and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, center, pauses while speaking during a news conference with his son Eric Trump, right, and Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Trump, left, at the Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Billionaire Trump fell short of his goal of winning the two key states he needed to clear most of the Republican presidential field, securing a huge victory in Florida to knock out Senator Marco Rubio while losing Ohio to Governor John Kasich. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In this photo taken Aug. 25, 2015, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski watches as Trump speaks in Dubuque, Iowa. Florida police have charged Lewandowski with simple battery in connection with an incident earlier in the month involving a reporter. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

**HOLD FOR STORY**Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump walks with his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, left, after speaking at a news conference, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015, in Dubuque, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, speaks to members of the media before a news conference at the Mar-A-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., on Friday, March 11, 2016. Ben Carson, who recently ended his quest for Republican presidential nomination, endorsed his onetime rival Donald Trump Friday striking a blow to presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz, who had courted Carson because they appeal to many of the same religious-minded voters. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Donald Trump's 2016 Republican presidential campaign, speaks on the telephone while at his desk inside the Trump campaign headquarters located in Trump Tower in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015. The billionaire front-runner for the Republican nomination continues his momentum this fall by preparing media ads and holding public appearance throughout the country. Photographer: Ali Elkin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (C) is seen allegedly grabbing the arm of reporter Michelle Fields in this still frame from video taken March 8, 2016 and released by the Jupiter (Florida) Police Department March 29, 2016. Lewandowski, 42, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday and charged with battery, police records show. REUTERS/Jupiter Police Department/Handout via Reuters THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (C) is seen allegedly grabbing the arm of reporter Michelle Fields in this still frame from video taken March 8, 2016 and released by the Jupiter (Florida) Police Department March 29, 2016. Lewandowski, 42, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday and charged with battery, police records show. REUTERS/Jupiter Police Department/Handout via Reuters FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Corey Lewandowski (R) campaign manager for Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (C) reaches between Trump and a U.S. Secret Service agent (2nd R) towards Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields (L) after a news conference held at Trump's National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, March 8, 2016. Lewandowski, 42, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday and charged with battery for his interaction with Fields at the event, police records show. Picture taken March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/Files TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

JUPITER, FLORIDA - MARCH 29: A police car sits outside the police department on March 29, 2016 in Jupiter, Florida. Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski has been charged with simple battery after allegedly grabbing a reporter by the arm at a campaign event. (Photo by Mychal Watts/Getty Images)

Police in Jupiter charged Lewandowski on March 29 with intentionally grabbing and bruising Fields' arm at a campaign event. They released a video of the incident showing Fields walking alongside Trump and trying to question him. Lewandowski is seen grabbing her arm and pulling her backward.

Fields posted on Twitter on Wednesday: "For those asking, office of prosecutor asked 2 weeks ago if I'd be ok with an apology from Corey. I said ya but haven't heard back about it."

She could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Lewandowski told CNN his phone records proved that he did try to contact Fields.

"It's not that we didn't try and reach out to get to the bottom of it," he said. "It seems to me that she wanted to inject herself into making it a story, and now I'm glad the story's over."

RELATED: Donald Trump on the campaign trail

CNN: Trump campaign manager says he called reporter after run-in

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump responds to supporters during his rally at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)

Security removes protesters after one of many interruptions during Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's rally at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)

Protesters interrupt Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during his remarks at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 05: A protester yells as he is escorted out of a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the CFE Arena during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida on March 5, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Primary voters head to the polls on March 15th in Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 05: People listen as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the CFE Arena during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida on March 5, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Primary voters head to the polls on March 15th in Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 05: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the CFE Arena during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida on March 5, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Primary voters head to the polls on March 15th in Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 05: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs the arm of a young lady at the CFE Arena during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida on March 5, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Primary voters head to the polls on March 15th in Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A group of young Muslims stage a small protest as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump takes the stage for a campaign rally during the Kansas GOP caucus at Century II in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Bo Rader/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

Anti-Trump demonstrator Bill Anderson protests outside Century II, where the Republican presdential caucus took place, in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Fernando Salazar/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses his supporters at rally during the Kansas GOP caucus at Century II in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Bo Rader/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

Anti-Trump supporters demonstrate outside Century II, where the Republican presdential caucus took place, in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Fernando Salazar/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

LOUISVILLE, KY- MARCH 5: Evelyn Stalevicz shows her support for Donald Trump as voters lined up to vote in the GOP presidential caucus at Zachary Taylor Elementary school March 5, 2016, in Louisville, Kentucky. This would be the state of Kentucky's first-ever Republican Presidential Caucus, participating in Presidential Primaries in May alongside other states. (Photo by John Sommers II/Getty Images)

Donald Trump supporters acknowledge their candidate as he takes the stage inside Century II, where the Republican presdential caucus took place, in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Fernando Salazar/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

A Donald Trump supporter raises his sign inside Century II, where the Republican presdential caucus took place, in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Fernando Salazar/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

Donald Trump supporters and protesters clash outside Century II, where the Republican presdential caucus took place, in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Fernando Salazar/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

Donald Trump supporters cheer for their man inside Century II, where the Republican presdential caucus took place, in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Fernando Salazar/Wichita Eagle/TNS via Getty Images)

Supporters cheer at the Trump For President rally at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)

ORLANDO, FL - MARCH 05: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the CFE Arena during a campaign stop on the campus of the University of Central Florida on March 5, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. Primary voters head to the polls on March 15th in Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

WICHITA, KS - MARCH 5: A Donald Trump supporter stands in line to vote during the states Republican caucus on March 5, 2016 in Wichita, Kansas. People were standing in line for more than two hours to vote in the caucus. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

WICHITA, KS - MARCH 5: A man shows his support as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a speech at a campaign rally on March 5, 2016 in Wichita, Kansas where the Republican party was staging one of its statewide caucus. Trump spoke of making America great again. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

WICHITA, KS - MARCH 5: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump makes a speech at a campaign rally on March 5, 2016 in Wichita, Kansas. The Republican party was holding its state wide caucus in several locations. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

WICHITA, KS - MARCH 5: An anti-Trump protester stands outside the convention center where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a speech at a campaign rally on March 5, 2016 in Wichita, Kansas. About 100 protesters voiced their opposition to Trump. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

WICHITA, KS - MARCH 5: A veteran showed his support as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a speech at a campaign rally on March 5, 2016 in Wichita, Kansas where the Republican party was staging one of its statewide caucus. Trump said he would help veterans. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

A protester chanting "Black Lives Matter" is escorted away as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, background, speaks at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

WICHITA, KS - MARCH 5: Supporters displays their signs as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump makes a speech at a campaign rally on March 5, 2016 in Wichita, Kansas. The Republican party was holding its state wide caucus in several locations. (Photo by J Pat Carter/Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump holds up a child he pulled from the crowd as he arrives to speak at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday, March 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

A protester and activist holds a sign for the "Islam Against Terrorism" before a campaign rally, Saturday, March 5, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

More from AOL.com: Report: Washington mayor calls for city to vote on statehood 5-year-old leads police to gruesome scene inside Grafton home La Niña is officially coming

Summary: Corey Lewandowski told CNN he called Michelle Fields, then a reporter for the conservative news outlet Breitbart, on the night of the March 8 incident.


showed up in court today to support his son Indio who pled guilty to drug charges -- but he could have a clean record in no time at all ... and the judge used Iron Man as inspiration.

Indio clearly impressed the judge with a glowing letter from his rehab facility --

made a point of acknowledging Indio's famous dad by saying, "I know in life people always look up to superheroes, but I think you might have contact or an inside as to one superhero -- that's Iron Man."

Indio pled guilty to felony cocaine possession -- but the judge said the conviction will be wiped clean if Indio stays clean and sober for 18 months and finishes his program.

Indio is prohibited from being around anyone who sells, buys or uses drugs.

The courtroom scene was moving ... As Indio and his lawyer,

, faced the judge, Robert -- who has his own history with drug addiction which he has kicked in breathtaking form -- watched attentively.

Summary: Robert Downey Jr. showed up in court today to support his son Indio who pled guilty to drug charges -- but he could have a clean record in no time at all…


More than 100,000 land and forest fires in Indonesia have engulfed the country in a hazardous smoke, leading to an environmental and public-health crisis that has affected every element of society in this sprawling Southeast Asian nation. Tens of thousands of people have been declared victims of respiratory conditions because of the smoke and the fires alone are now emitting as much carbon dioxide on any given day as emitted by the entire U.S. economy in the same time period.

Widespread fires are nothing new in Indonesia, where farmers regularly burn forests and peatlands to make way to produce palm oil, a key ingredient in a variety of food and consumer products, but experts say the scale of the damage is worse than it has been in a decade. This week Indonesian President Joko Widodo cut short his trip to the U.S. to deal with the problem.

“It’s not just an environmental issue. It’s a public-health disaster as well,” said Nigel Sizer, global director of the World Resources Institute’s forests program. “When air is this poor quality, economic activity almost grinds to a halt.”

Read More: Watch Eerie Drone Footage of Indonesia’s Vast Forest Fires

A top concern for Joko upon his return will be protecting the health of his country’s 250 million people. Air-quality conditions have worsened dramatically in recent days with air pollution far exceeding levels deemed healthy by public-health officials. The particulate matter concentration (PM10), which measures small solid or liquid pollutant particles in the atmosphere, was 1,357-micrograms-per-cubic-meter air in the city of Palangkaraya, one of the worst hit areas, according to the Jakarta Post. There is no perfectly safe level of PM10 exposure, but the U.S. Environmental Protect Agency says particulate pollution shouldn’t exceed 150 micrograms per cubic meter for 24 hours in any given community. More than half a million people have been treated for respiratory illness in six affected provinces, according to numbers from the country’s national disaster agency.

The fires are a regular man-made disaster that has been exacerbated by climate and weather patterns. Landowners burn forests in the country at this time of the year to make room for new palm-oil plantations. “This is an amazing crime against humanity,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesperson for Indonesia’s national disaster agency.

The smoke from the fires is always bad, and this year’s El Niño has worsened the problem. The climate pattern brings torrential rain to some parts of the U.S. but causes drought in Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Once land starts to burn the fires are hard to stop because of the abundance of peat, decayed organic matter that burns easily and almost indefinitely. “Where you have a lot of peat, you get a lot more haze and these absolutely extraordinarily levels of air pollution,” said Sizer.

Read More: How Climate Change Is Making Wildfires Worse

The fires are also contributing to climate change at a massive scale — by one estimate enough to account for 3% of global emissions since this year’s fires began, according to a Scientific American report. Tearing down healthy forests — which absorb carbon dioxide — also destroys a vital carbon sink that can otherwise slow global warming.

In advance of his Washington visit this past weekend, Joko announced a commitment to stop issuing permits for the development of palm-oil plantations, part of a broader effort to reduce the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions. More than half of the country’s emissions come from deforestation and land destruction. The country, the world’s sixth largest emitter, set a goal of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by 41% below what they would be without action by 2030 on the condition that it receives support from wealthier countries. The commitment comes before a major U.N. conference on climate change that begins next month that will draw leaders from around the world in hopes of reaching an agreement to reduce global greenhouse emissions.

“One of the main issues we discussed was the issue of climate change,” Obama said after meeting with Joko on Monday, “and why it’s so important in large countries like ours work together to arrive at the strongest possible set of targets.”

Summary: More than 100,000 fires in Indonesia have engulfed the country in a hazardous smoke, leading to an environmental and public-health crisis


Jun 16, 2016 8:00 AM EDT World

BAGHDAD -- A two-year-old boy was killed by militants while fleeing Fallujah with his family amid a government offensive to retake the Iraqi city from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an aid organization said on Thursday, highlighting the dangers faced by civilians trying to escape the nearly one-month military operation.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, cited a relative as saying that an ISIS fighter shot the boy as he was being carried out of the city by his mother on Monday. The gunfire hit the mother's shoulder and killed her son, it said.

It was the mother's fifth attempt to flee Fallujah since her husband's escape three months earlier, the relative told NCR. On her previous four attempts, ISIS fighters had forced her to turn back.

At 3:00 a.m. Monday, the mother and her two sons and three daughters, all under eight years old, joined other residents on a perilous journey out of Fallujah.

"They had to walk for an hour through agricultural water channels, immersed up to their chest, to avoid the fighters," the relative was quoted as saying in the NRC statement. "The children were getting agitated and uncomfortable in the water, making noises just as they were about to dash out. At that point they must have attracted the attention of the fighters, who opened fire," he added.

The toddler was killed instantly. His mother was bleeding heavily and had to be dragged out of the water by her companions. Her other children escaped unharmed.

The names of the mother and her relative were withheld to protect other family members still living under ISIS rule.

As dozens of families began trying to flee the city, ISIS deployed snipers and planted bombs to prevent them from escaping. There are no official figures for how many civilians have been killed while fleeing Fallujah.

Aid groups estimate that 50,000 civilians remain trapped inside Fallujah, which has been under ISIS control for over two years. It is the last major city in western Iraq still held by the extremist group.

The United Nations has said that about 42,000 people have fled since the military operation began in late May. Aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders and the Norwegian Refugee Council say the number of those who have fled Fallujah is lower, and closer to 30,000.

The conflict in Iraq has forced more than 3.3 million people to flee their homes. Iraq is also hosting up to 300,000 refugees who have fled the civil war in neighboring Syria. Most are living in camps or informal settlements.

Summary: Aid organization says woman tried 5 times before escaping ISIS-held city with kids in dark of night, but one wouldn't make it


06/24/2016 AT 12:00 PM EDT

As the host of Discovery Channel's

knows a thing or two about sharks.

But one surprising fact about the ocean's apex predators? They don't like bubbles.

"The biggest misconception about sharks is that they are genuinely interested in attacking and eating people," says Roth.

"When they see humans underwater we are very large so we're almost their size. They're curious and they want to know what we are about, but as soon as you blow bubbles they swim away."

Roth spent a week diving in Tahiti for this year's

and if anything, he only wanted them to come closer!

"They are very shy, very sweet and they are beautiful creatures," he says.

And he's passionate about educating others on the important role sharks play in our oceans.

"The function of shark is to cull the ocean of sick, dying and diseased fish," he says. "There are a lot of fish down there and they are not going after the live fish. They are only interested in the dead ones."

Roth returns as host of

's hit late-night talk show

for a second year in a row starting June 26 at 11 p.m. ET on Discovery.

"The truth about sharks is that they are endangered and itâs up to us to protect them."

returns to Discovery Channel with all-new compelling shark stories Sunday, June 26 to Sunday, July 3.

Summary: The actor, director and Shark After Dark host says blowing bubbles underwater makes sharks swim away


"Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star Karen King is staring down some serious prison time for allegedly going on a shopping spree ... with someone else's identity.

King was arrested in May after cops say she strolled into Saks Fifth Ave in ATL and racked up a $5k bill on dresses, perfumes, shoes and other accessories. The D.A. just hit her with 3 felony charges -- one for financial identity fraud, and two for credit card fraud.

Each carries a sentence of at least a year behind bars if she's convicted.

TMZ obtained video of the arrest when it went down, and at least Karen can say ... she was dressed to the nines for her arrest! Unclear if the outfit came from Saks though.

Summary: "Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta" star Karen King is staring down some serious prison time for allegedly going on a shopping spree ... with someone…


Lil Rel Howery stars as Jerrod's ever-hustling brother, Bobby Carmichael, in the NBC comedy "The Carmichael Show."

Hailing from Chicago, Howery has been seen on his own Comedy Central special, "Last Comic Standing," "Russell Simmons Presents Stand-Up at the El Rey," "Martin Lawrence Presents 1st Amendment Stand Up" and "Diddy's Bad Boys of Comedy." He has also made appearances on "The Arsenio Hall Show," "Shaq's All Star Comedy Jam" and "Chelsea Lately."

Last year, Howery appeared on BET's "Comic View," Fox's animated series "Lucas Bros Moving Co," Comedy Central's "Comedy Underground with Dave Attell" and the recently renewed TruTV sketch show "Friends of the People," for which he also writes and executive produces.

Summary: Meet Lil Rel Howery on NBC.com.


FORTUNE — Last month, BMW and Mercedes Benz each released online-only commercials within 48 hours of one another. Both quickly went viral, but couldn’t have been more different. “The Catch” features the just-released Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Roadster, a Formula 1 driver, and a golf pro. The pro tees up, smacking drive after drive while the Roadster screams down a runway, trying to catch the ball. And eventually, it does, setting the Guinness world record for the “Farthest Golf Shot Caught in a Moving Car” in the process. Mercedes doesn’t disclose the amount it spends on individual ads, but the video is designed to feel inexpensive. The most expensive thing about it was probably the car, which goes for $277,000.

More: Mercedes vs. BMW: Big fight over small cars

“Bullet” depicts BMW’s M5 model as a rifle round fired into an open plain. The car smashes through a giant glass apple and three colossal, hanging water balloons before careening through a car-sized bulls eye. The ad is designed to transform the $90,000 M5 into a piece of “high performance art,” says Kevin Marcotte, Director of Marketing for BMW Canada. It is scored to classical music.

So which ad was more successful? BMW’s slickly produced video raked in over 1.3 million more YouTube views than the cost-effective Mercedes spot. According to Unruly Media’s Viral Video chart, BMW’s ad, “Bullet” has at 209,045 Facebook shares, more than three times the amount of the Mercedes ad. “Bullet” has been posted on 248 blog posts — double that of “The Catch.”

Summary: Both German luxury automakers have ads on the Web. Which one's more click-worthy?


Shauna Jean Redford, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Redford, and Eric Matthew Schlosser were married yesterday on the lawn of her parents' home in Provo, Utah. The ceremony was performed by Justice Michael D. Zimmerman of the Utah State Supreme Court, who was assisted by Ted Wilson, the former Mayor of Salt Lake City.

The bride is a graduate of the University of Colorado. Her father, the actor, director and producer, is founder of the Sundance Institute in Provo, a nonprofit center for young directors, writers, actors and producers. Her mother, Lola Redford, is a doctoral candidate in history.

Mr. Schlosser, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert S. Schlosser of New York and Saltaire, L.I., is a cum laude graduate of Princeton University who is due to receive a Master of Literature degree this month from Oriel College of Oxford University. His father, formerly the president and chief executive officer of NBC, is an executive vice president of RCA. His mother, Judith Schlosser, is the vice chairman of the Martha Graham Center in New York.